Pain in the Eye

I woke up yesterday with that pain. That pain that said something was brewing in my eye. It was not swollen yet, but lucky for me I had to go get some blood work done at my doctor's office and I hit my doctor up for some free care. She gave me homeopathic pulsatilla that brought it to a head real quick, and an antibiotic that is taking care of the infection. Ugh? I have always been prone to sty's. Just like some people get cold sores or cankers, I get the sty. Now I have to throw my mascara away.



I can't wait to see this movie: I don't even like Chihuahuas. I think they have weird ears, protruding eyes, and they have nasty dispositions. But, the movie looks like a scream!








Malaina finally got the Beetle back. It was a hecka pain in the butt. Don't get in a car wreck, please! If you do get in a wreck..Art City Auto Body in Springville was awesome to work with.
They did most of the go between with both insurance companies. Did you know when you get in a 4 car pile up, the insurance companies pay for portions of each damaged car? What a mess. Also, it is a good idea to ask for medical follow-up. She is getting lots of good care at McLean Chiropractic too. Massages, accupunture, adjustments...lots of love.

I have decided to regain control of my life in many different ways. Things are going to change. I no longer need to do things. I choose to do them. Quality of services may be different from now on. You have been warned.

Emotional Wreck---Oh, and ATV Wreck!

Christina went ATV-ing today with friends. The driver was showing off, flipped them onto their backs with the ATV on top of them. Thank God she was wearing a backpack and a helmet. She had to use her legs to lift the ATV off the driver and pull most of his body out of the bog they were in, or he would have drowned. She ran for help and the rest as they say is history. Look at her poor back!!! She could have been seriously hurt. That poor boy could have drowned. I should have listened to my still small voice when it screamed at me to deny permission for her to go. I didn't want to seem like an over protective mother, so I gave the approval for her to go. Hellooo!!>>>>listen to the voice!!!

It is 2:3o am and I am so stressed out from this emotional roller coaster of a day I have had. You can look at my past blog and read the first two paragraphs to get the gist of the first 12 hours of my day.

At least my pretty big girls had a safe and uneventful night.
Ummm...do you like the jewelry?

They went to the R.S. General Mtg. I was too shell shocked to make it.

Then to try to get me to relax.. Dave took me to the movies. I should have picked a brainless blond bimbo movie (sorry blond people) to numb my emotions. Instead, we saw this Spike Lee, kick you in the gut, then kick your ass, and while you are down, kick you in the crotch, movie.

I found the racism harder to watch than the actual war scenes. I have to say the movie left me very emotionally hyped. It almost had a Shawshank Redemption ending though. (hope this is not a spoiler) I would have liked someone to tell me this before I had seen the film.

My nerves are shot. Sorry for the negativity. Sorry for the filthy language. Sorry you won't see me at church in the morning. I will be nursing a Valium. Or will it be nursing me?


And, sorry for the blantant drug abuse.

Cindy's Posh Lavash

I got on the Internet at about 2:00 and noticed everyone was blogging about the Daring Baker's challenge today! I thought WTH??? It isn't the end of the month yet. These bakers shouldn't be blogging until the 30'th!!!!. We'll the joke's on me. I fiber optically ran over to the website and notice the date was today.

I have been so stinking busy today. I had the Activity Day Girls from my church over at 9:00. Then I had to run to the Provo Art's Council, because I am entering some art in an art contest. Yes, I am an arteest. I have been out of the game for a year and and craving some new challenges, so I ran over to the art store today to get supplies for my next project. And then I had to run home to take some art over to the church for an art exhibit. Then that is when I took a breather and looked on line and saw all the drama!!! I got my fanny into the kitchen post haste!

So yes, I have been thinking about the challenge. I have been wanting to make the:

Avocado and Green Pea Hummus from Nigella Express
to put atop my lavash

Nothing but good in this book. Especially page 201

I did make one change to the recipe though.
I used Edemame peas in place of processed canned peas.

So here are the seasonings I chose for my lavash.
This is from McCormick's steak house seasonings
bold and spicy. It is an item I use almost daily. Look at all the goodies in this spice.

Then I used kosher salt and black sesame. This was my least favorite.
I used too much salt. I didn't press the seeds in enough and lots of them fell off. But the toasty sesame flavor was really nice.

Thank you so much to Shellyfish for choosing such an easy yet different recipe for our challenge. Look at the delightful color of this cracker!

I cut my crackers into concentric circles. I thought they would look really interesting as a Canape'.

You can see I had some fun in the presentation of this fun challenge.

They turned out nice and crispy!

The Avocado and Green Pea Hummus recipe is as follows:
1 ripe avocado
2 T. lime juice
1/2 clove garlic, minced
10 ounces edemame peas, un-thawed or lightly steamed if fresh.
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Mix in a food processor. How easy!!!

It was really fun to knead this recipe. 10 minutes knead time in total. My posh oven has a bread proof setting so this cut the rise time down by one third. From start to finish including blog time and photography time 4 hours. I will make this again and take it to a holiday buffet if anyone ever asks me to their home. You can link to the recipe here at Shellyfish and there are some cute ideas for you to see too!

Move On

Love me or hate me.

My Obama pins arrived in the mail today. I am a proud member of Move On. org

I know a few people in my life will be outraged, but I am out of the closet...deal with it.

Barefoot Bloggers-Cream of Wild Mushroom Soup

The Barefoot Contessa's
Cream of Wild Mushroom Soup

I knew when I signed up with the Barefoot Blogger's I would be gaining weight. I mean, have you ever seen an Ina Garten recipe that does not include at least one half cup of butter? Well kids, this exciting recipe was no exception, and was made even richer with the addition of 1 cup each of heavy cream, and half and half. Thanks to Chelle at Brown Eyed Baker for the challenge.

I just loved this recipe. Why? Well, it was really fun to make. I loved shopping for the exotic mushrooms, and it felt kind of naughty adding all that butter and cream. We had to make our own mushroom stock with the stems from the shitake, portobello and chanterelles ( the recipe asked for cremini). I loved the addition of the leeks. Part of the fun for me in a recipe like this is the prep work; leeks are fun to chop! I could kick myself that I don't use leeks more often in other recipes. They hold their texture and color where regular onion would dissolve in a recipe like this. I think the leeks played a supporting role here in this gastronomic drama. Here is the link to this lovely recipe: Cream of Wild Mushroom Soup
or you can look it up in your own copy of Barefoot Contessa at Home, page 48.

Also, thanks to good friends for sharing this soup with me. Thanks to Sarah for bring a stunning Potato Chowder and Stacy for the the fruit dip. I could kick myself for not getting pictures...What was I thinking?

Birth Control for Tiny

Tiny says: "Now, that's a cute baby".

This is Christina's idea of babysitting: Grab a cute baby (in this case Natalie Harrison). Play with her for about 20 minutes while baby is happy during sacrament meetng, or until baby gets too bored. Send her back over the pew to Daddy to deal with. Voila. Baby success!

Unspectacular Quirks

I have been tagged by Mandy to list my unspectacular quirks 6 of them:

1. I hate when my family serves rice from the center of the pan. It has to be served from the sides and then work its way into the center very organized like.
2. Washcloths have to be folded and stacked in the same identical order. I don't want open ends showing when they are stacked.
3. I have to use "Natural Ice "brand lip balm on my lips at night, but after my drink of water, and before I put the earplugs in. I am freaking out because I think they have discontinued the manufacturing of it.
4. I sleep with 4 pillows, no more, no less. Each pillow has a specific use and shape designed for optimal sleeping.
5. If watched DVD's are not immediately put away, I feel the intense urge to crack them in half. Sometimes I do.
6. I cannot sit down to relax unless I have a cookbook in my lap. I rarely make them same dish twice.

okay now I get to tag some of you. I tag Cari, Jared, Stacy, Blonde Duck, Prudence Pennywise, Tawna

Who are Your Heroes?

Someone sent me one of those get to know you surveys. It asked what my favorite movie was. Right now it is Master and Commander with Russel Crowe.

Yes it may be 5 years old, but I love the soundtrack and the absolute valor and heroism this movie represents. The honor and bravery from days of old is a thing of great satisfaction for me.

If you were asked who your heroes are, do you have a ready answer? Or do you have to think about it?

My heroes are the missionaries. I cannot begin to explain the lump that comes to my throat every time I think of their courage facing opposition at every turn. One time I watched the Elders in Penang, Malaysia navigate a deadly traffic circle on their bicycles. There must have been hundreds of cars, kareening at every speed and oblivious to anyone but their own intents. I know if their mothers knew what they were facing while on those bikes, they would never sleep at night!

Carry on Elders!

One Moment in Time

When is the last time you had a really funny "pee your pants" moment?

Guys don't understand the "pee your pants" from laughter thing. Not many people have the nerve to post about it, but I will. When a woman of child bearing age (or not) laughs, sneezes, coughs, she needs a Depends, sometimes. There are a few select young women in the ward who have the dirt on me regarding this subject. Remember camp about 5 or 6 years ago? You know who you are.

Here is the last time I had the moment. Saturday night we had a" get your freak on" modeling shoot. We woke the neighbors laughing so hard .

Sunflowers and Oranges

I have been kinda jealous and gastronomically suppressed, living here in Provo. You all know I have a sophisticated palate. When a recipe calls for a unique cheese or an exotic ingredient, I get really unhappy when I have very little choice at boring stores like Macey's or Albertson's. I have been watching and reading about everyone in America shopping at Whole (paycheck) Foods. Well ha! We have a Sunflower Market just up the street now!!! Yippee. I got shrimp at 4 dollars a pound. Free Range eggs were only 2 dollars a dozen. (I have a PETA member/vegetarian in my household). Fresh Italian Sausage 2.99 a pound, they had Chicken Basil, Chicken Apple, Chile Verde, Chapotle Jalapeno sausages too. Almonds were only 3.99 a pound. Other than going to Sam's Club for essentials like TP or bulk chocolate chips, and an occasional book, I plan on spending a whole lot of time and money at Sunflower Farmer's Market (they even have an olive bar!!!. )

One of Christina's birthday guests brought this pineapple from Sunflower Market. A Great gift.

Orange Chicken with Scallions
Fine Cooking October/November 2007

1 large navel orange
1 TBs. soy sauce
1TBs. rice vinegar
2 tsp. brown sugar
1/8 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts. I used thighs cut into 1 inch cubes
3/4 tsp. kosher salt
2 large egg whites
1/3 cup cornstarch
3 to 4 Tablespoons canola or peanut oil
4 scallions, trimmed, and thinly sliced. I had some greens, and I used shallots too.

Use a paring knife, to shave the zest from the orange in long, wide strips. Juice the orange and mix in the soy sauce, rice vinegar, brown sugar, and red pepper flakes, in a small bowl and set aside.

Sprinkle the chicken with 1/2 tsp. of the salt. In a medium bowl whisk in th egg whites and the remaing salt, until smooth. Toss in the chicken.

Heat 2 Tbs. of the oil in a large skillet or large stir-fry pan over medium-high heat until shimmering hot. (one of these days I will blog about my cast iron wok and my special wok burner on my stove). Add half of the chicken and let it sit for about 1 or 2 minutes for it to develop a crust. Then turn it and let it develope a crust on the other side. Then break it up and toss it around. Remove it from the skillet or wok. Repeat with the remaing oil and chicken.

Put the orange zest strips in the skillet and cook, stirring until they darken in spots 30 seconds. Add the scallions whites, stir for a minute. Add the juice mixure and the chicken and stir until the sauce thickens and the chicken is cooked through. If you need to you can add a tablespoon of water at a time. Serve with Jasmine rice and scallion greens on top. My family loved this.

Barefoot Bloggers-Grown Up Mac and Cheese

Grown Up Mac and Cheese by Ina Garten, was this weeks Barefoot Blogger Challenge. I was really excited to give this one a try. For once, a recipe of the Contessa's that doesn't call for a cube of butter!

This recipe is "grown-up" because of the mature tastes of the cheeses included. I found them delicious here in this recipe.

Bacon makes anything taste better, n'est pas?

I used large macaroni, it was really a good choice. I cooked a bit undercooked.

I wish it had been gooier.

I doubled the recipe and made a smaller dish for my vegetarian daughter.

A nice change side dish, was this crispy salad.

We all have sophisticated palates at the Glad home and, everyone even my baby daughter who is 16 thought it was nice. If I make this again, I will make more sauce, so it won't be so dry.

NOTE"I had this as leftovers several days later, it was better as a leftover"!

Sweet 16

Behold, the many faces of Christina.

She was my easiest baby. She never whined (until she learned to talk). She has always been obedient, a good student, kind to her friends and beloved of her sisters. She was walking at 7 months. One day, Dave and I were relaxing in front of the t.v., and there goes this little baby, walking across the room. She never even crawled, or walked around the furniture. It was really weird seeing such a small baby walking. She has always been petite too. We still call her Tiny, a name that has been with her all her life, even her coaches call her Tiny. How our lives have been blessed with her in them.

Happy Birthday to my precious baby. Have a great 16th year of life SweetOne.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Inspired from Tyler Florence's "Real Kitchen"; I give to you Garlic Mashed Potatoes. You need to have a kid do the manual labor. As I was thinking about the Weekend Cookbook Challenge hosted by Chocolate Moosey I was going to make Garlic Jelly, since I have been doing a lot of canning. But, I couldn't stop obsessing about Mashed Potatoes. "The heart wants, what it wants, chica". I love Will and Grace, I have every season on DVD.

I roasted a whole head of garlic with some olive oil, (mashed it with a fork, see above) I mashed the potatoes; skins and all, with some heavy cream and part of the cooking water. Loads of salt and pepper. (Sorry Hillary)

Then stirred in the garlic. This took care of my craving, and, now I can go another month or two without them. Then perhaps my king sized ba-donk-a-donk, will have time to shrink back down.

Then I stirred the garlic into some Yukon Gold Potaotes. Tyler's recipe instructed the cook to boil the peeled garlic with the potatoes, but I ask you, "where is the fun in that?" Roasting garlic and them watching them squirt out of their skin is almost as fun as popping your kid's zits.

I also didn't have the chives. So the next best herb seemed to me to be some sage.

I had some of those Swedish Meatballs from Ikea. So of course the dish screamed for some cream gravy.

Tyler Florence's Garlic-Chive Mashed Potatoes, pg. 237
1 head garlic
2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes,( If they are young and fresh, no need to peel.)
1 tablespoon sea salt
1 cup heavy cream, (I used 1/2 cup cream, 1/2 cup potato water)
1/2 cup butter, (I got away with 1/4 cup)
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives

Bang the garlic on the counter to break up the cloves, then peel off the skins. Put the garlic and potatoes in a large pot and cover with cold water. Add the salt and bring to a boil, uncovered. Simmer until there is no resistance when a fork is inserted into the potatoes, about 30 minutes. While that's going, warm the heavy cream and butter in a small pot over low heat until the butter is melted.

Drain the potoatoes and grlic well in a colander and then put them into a large bowl. While the potatoes are still hot, pour in the warm cream and pulverize the potatoes with a potato masher. Season with the salt and pepper, sprinkle with chives before serving.