Wednesday's Wonderful Recipe-on Friday

So I'm a couple of days late in getting this post up. So what? I thought about it a few times on Wednesday and could have gotten a recipe up pretty quickly....but decided to take care of my kids instead.

They both had a Frenectomy done at the dentist's office on Wednesday morning. We gave them a Kiddie Cocktail to make them relax and numbed their upper lips and the awesome dentist used a very tiny laser to cut the extra skin they had connecting their upper lip to their upper gum line. It was keeping their front teeth from growing together, causing a Letterman like gap that could have made dental life harder as they grow older.

Since they couldn't eat anything but soft foods for the rest of the day, they were lucky and got pudding for lunch and shakes for dinner on Wednesday but for lunch on Thursday Colin was starving and needed a little more than junk. He asked me to make some Egg Drop Soup like I did last summer when he had his tonsils removed. 

Egg Drop Soup for Two-Tasty Kitchen

I loved that he asked me to make it! It is a simple, basic recipe and totally adaptable to your family's tastes. If I have some, I add a 1/2 cup of frozen peas and carrots to the original recipe but I also double and triple the recipe since Colin loves it so much. I also 1/2 the amount of egg it calls for, since I'm not very good at streaming the eggs into the broth and I don't want to end up with Scrambled Egg Soup.

Try it next time someone is sick, or as a starter to your next Chinese food meal. Enjoy!

Wednesday's Wonderful Recipe

I know I haven't posted in a week....but we are trying to fit as much FUN into the last few weeks of summer as we can! We spent a day at my parent's having a "Grandkids Day" where all 4 of the grandkids just played in Granny's backyard. It was a lot of fun and really nice to just SIT and let the kids hang out. We spend a morning at a friends pool and we have lots of other fun stuff planned in the days to come! (I might even be able to take a few pics to share)

For now, I'm going to share my favorite cake recipe with you. It is my favorite because it is pretty simple to make (well, I think it is), and it is HOMEMADE FROM SCRATCH. No cake mix required.

Dr Pepper Chocolate Cake 

Everyone loves how rich and moist this cake is, and it is easy to take to a potluck. A 9x13 pan and a spatula and everyone can serve themselves. OR you can always plate it at a fancy dinner party (like I have those) and garnish with a few fresh raspberries on top. Sorry I don't have any pictures, I haven't made it in a while...maybe that will be next week's LL dessert!

ENJOY!

I'm a blogger- reviving my Wednesday's Wonderful Recipe posts!

I haven't shared a recipe in a long, long, long time. Since Christmas, I think. I DO still cook. I DO still take a potluck item to LL once a week. AND I DO want to share a recipe with you. And I AM going to start sharing a recipe every Wednesday. Again.

My husband's favorite dip for chips is French Onion. He loves mixing a carton of sour cream with an Onion Soup Mix packet and going to town with some potato chips (usually Pringles plain). I, on the other hand, find the soup mix to be too salty. So I did some Googling and found an onion dip recipe that I LOVE, my husband LOVES and all of my friends LOVE too. Alton Brown sure knows how to break down recipes and make things simple but delicious.

Alton Brown's Onion Dip From Scratch

• 2 tablespoons olive oil (I use butter)
• 1 1/2 cups diced onions(I do 1/2 diced, 1/2 sliced)
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 1/2 cups sour cream
• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions

In a saute pan over medium heat add oil, heat and add onions and salt. Cook the onions until they are caramelized, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. Mix the rest of the ingredients, and then add the cooled onions. Refrigerate and stir again before serving. 

This dip is soo good with regular potato chips, Fritos and even as a dip for a sliced baguette. I have EVEN used the little bit we've had leftover as a spread for sandwiches (go ahead, try it that way....it makes a GREAT turkey sandwich).

I'm person saying: WTH?

I know I haven't posted in a week but things have been busy around here! I didn't have a Happiness post not because I didn't take pictures, but because I haven't had a chance to go through them all. Next week for sure. 

I just came across this article on the Yahoo News! website. It seriously goes in the WTH? category.

Job listings say the unemployed need not apply

Seriously!? They only want applicants that either currently have a job or have recently been laid off? How the HELL is that possible? Our economy is bad and the number of open positions out there are scarce. How do employers think we are going to lower the unemployment numbers in this country if they don't accept applications from workers that have been unemployed for longer than a few months? If there is a job opening, let ALL qualified applicants apply. It is a start to getting our economy back on track.

WTH people? WTH!

I'm a Mom starting to do new things with my family too...

...things most of you wouldn't think I would do.

First off- I'm a kind of a girly girl. I don't really enjoy being outdoors  unless it includes me sitting on the back deck with bottle glass of wine and a good book or my laptop. That means a shower and a bathroom aren't very far away. If we go camping (which we haven't done since way before the kids were born) it is at an established campground or KOA. We car camp.

SO you would assume I don't like to fish. Well, you are right...I'm kind of squirmy when it comes to baiting the hook with a live night crawler (or part of a live night crawler) and I will never, ever gut a fish, EVER. But I'm pretty good at casting, OK at waiting patiently for a fish and sitting at a fish pond or lake side isn't too bad.

We got gear together for us to go fishing while we were at Bear Lake. Due to a couple of severe sunburns, only Seth and Colin were able to go out on the raft and fish. So before our fishing licenses expired, we decided to take the kids out to a local fishing pond and teach them how to fish.

We didn't catch anything, and we learned a few lessons- don't fish at a place that has a playground or Lilly will complain that she doesn't get to play, make note of the wind so the line doesn't drift as you are casting, and make sure you bring a pair of sunglasses for Colin or he will complain too.

We will go again and maybe try a new spot (one without a playground) and hopefully I'll have some fish to try new recipes on!

I'm the Mom of a kid that finds Happiness in the funniest ways.

My oldest  has a non-typical way of playing most days. He likes to do what we call "Projects". My Dad gives him plumbing parts that don't work anymore (and are not fixable) and he gets to take them apart and see how they work. Sometimes he puts them back together, sometimes he doesn't but these "projects" keep him busy for hours. And I don't mean just 1 or 2 I mean 8 or more. That translates into Happiness for the kid and Happiness for the rest of the house (meaning, we don't have to entertain him).

Colin and his own set of tools

 

 

Studying a circuit board

I'm linking to Leigh vs. Laundry and her 52 weeks of Happiness. Trying to find Happiness in my week. Sometimes it is hard and sometimes it is pretty easy.

I'm a Mom that found happiness this weekend- so did my family!

We spent the weekend at a cabin near Bear Lake, Utah. The kids had a blast playing with their cousins, fishing and riding in the boat. We had a blast doing the same thing. Here are three pics that depict the Happiness we all found while out on the boat on Friday. 

 Colin on the boat for the 1st time

Daredevil Lilly on the tube for the 1st time

Seth just chillin'

We all found some Happiness this weekend, mine was found behind the camera. I'm linking to Leigh vs. Laundry's Happiness Project this week. I'm going to try to get behind the camera more often and force myself to find the happy things in my life.