Hot Chocolate

We woke up this morning to snow! The car was covered when I went to the gym, then it was recovered (I know, that's not the real use of this word.) when I came out of the gym. It's fun to have snow, but I want it to be Spring! Our daffodils have popped up and are almost ready to bloom, and there's snow on the ground! In the past few days, whenever I say, "I'm so tired..." Brian can easily finish it by saying, "...of being cold." I've been cold to the bones for so long, and I'm tired of it!

So, in honor of the snow, I'm posting our favorite hot chocolate recipe. We had Williams and Sonoma Hot Chocolate at the Genning's, so I went home and while looking for the recipe, found out that "hot cocoa" is made from combining water or milk with a powder, and "Hot chocolate" is when you combine water or milk with real chocolate shavings. So here it is:

3 cups milk
1/3 cup semisweet chocolate, grated*
1 tablespoon white sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 egg

We upped the chocolate to 2/3 cups. Milk chocolate would be yummy.

Beat the egg. (We used our Thunderstick. You want it beaten really really well, or it will be yucky lumpy.) Heat the milk in a sauce pan, whisk in the chocolate, sugar, and cinnamon. Whisk in the egg and heat a little bit more to make sure the egg is cooked. Do not boil.

Marie Calendar's Cornbread

I've tried the package mix of Marie Calendar's Cornbread before, and it is very good and very yummy. It's better than any of the other packaged mixes, but if you have the time and ingredients, this recipe is even better.

3 c. Bisquick
3/4 c. cornmeal
3/4 c. margarine
3/4 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 c. milk

Beat margarine, sugar, eggs, and milk. Add Bisquick and cornmeal. Bake in a 9 x 13 inch pan at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. (I haven't made this for a few months, but I think it actually takes closer to 40-45 minutes.)

Gary's Chicken Enchiladas

This one's for you Megan! You don't know how embarrassed yet happy I was when Brian sat down to eat and said, "Wow, these are actually really good. I'm surprised." I know I had made them before and he loved them, so I don't know what he was worried about.

Anyway, these are the BEST enchiladas in the world. One of the secrets is the cream (or milk-I don't see a difference) that you soak the tortillas in. It makes it so they stay nice and soft. Very yummy.

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1 T vegetable oil
1 chopped onion (although I never use the whole thing)
1 10 ounce can of diced tomatoes with green chili peppers
1 14.5 ounce can of stewed tomatoes
1 10.5 ounce can of cream of chicken soup
1 14.5 ounce can of chicken broth
1 bunch of green onions, chopped
1/2 pint heavy cream (or milk)
6 6-inch tortillas
3 c. shredded cheddar cheese
1 10 ounce can of enchilada sauce

1. Cut chicken breasts into 1-inch strips. Place in a medium bowl with desired marinade, and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. (I always skip this step. I boil my chicken breasts, then wait for them to cool and tear them up.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

3. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute chicken and onions until chicken is evenly brown. (I saute the onions, then add my cooked chicken.) Stir in the diced tomatoes with green chili peppers, stewed tomatoes, chili peppers, soup, and broth. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat, cover skillet, and simmer for 20-30 minutes, or until chicken is no longer pink, and juices run clear. (I just heat everything up until it's hot.)

4. Remove chicken from the skillet, and shred when cool enough to handle. Meanwhile, allow skillet mixture to simmer and reduce to about 2 1/4 cups. (I just scoop out the chicken and put it in a bowl, then I keep the sauce hot.) In a medium bowl, combine shredded chicken and about 1/4 cup of the sauce and mix together to make a paste like mixture. Mix together with half the chopped green onions. Pour remaining 2 cups of sauce into a 9 x 13 inch baking dish. (I just scoop enough of the sauce to cover the bottom of the pan. The rest of the sauce either goes in the tortillas or over them.)

5. In a second skillet, heat cram or milk over low heat, being careful not to boil. Dip tortillas in the warm cream, one at a time, to soften and coat. Spoon about 1/3 cup of the chicken mixture onto each tortilla. Top chicken mixture with some shredded cheese, and roll up tortillas. Place rolled tortillas in a baking dish, seam side down, and drizzle with enchilada sauce. Cover with remaining shredded cheese, and sprinkle remaining chopped green onions over the cheese. Bake uncovered in preheated oven for 25 minutes, or until cheese is melted and bubbling.

Serve with tomorrow's recipe.

A Week of Recipes

So my blog has been pretty slow lately. All the excitement of Valentine's Day and our anniversary has died down, and life is back to normal. I'm not as "inspired" as I was a couple weeks ago, so I've decided to post some of my favorite recipes.

Of A More Intimate Nature

Alyssa, being a "real princess," loves pretty things. As we walk down the isles of any store, she'll point to anything pink, frilly, or lacy object and say, "I wish I could have that." She wears princess dresses as much as I will allow her to. She prefers to drink her water from a tea cup, and she has recently started climbing to the cupboard to be able to use a saucer, as well. She loves to be beautiful. When I do her hair, she'll go to Brian and ask, "Aren't I just beautiful?" and toss her hair from shoulder to shoulder.

Alyssa also loves my underwear and lingerie. When getting dressed for our date on Friday, I had Alyssa help me pick out my clothes. "What skirt should I wear?" I asked her. She kept pulling out night gowns and see-through robes, which wouldn't be quite appropriate for a church dance. I ended up wearing a jean skirt and green (kind of) lacy top. She wasn't happy with my skirt choice.

Last week she put on one of my bras and ran around the house singing, "I am Mrs. Nesbit!"

And yesterday when I was getting undressed for bed, she found my bra on the bed and held it up, examining it carefully. "Oh, Momma," she exclaimed, "I didn't know you had such a beautiful, pretty gold..." (it was cream) "...what do you call these things again?"

"Bras, honey," I told her, putting my fluffy blue robe on.

"I didn't know you had such a beautiful gold bras, Momma. Do you think that maybe, when you die and I'm just your size, that I can have your bras?" I told her that we would get her a bunch of pretty bras of her own when she was older. She can't wait.

The Best Anniversary Ever

After writing that title, I realize how much it sounds like a children's book. Anyone want to illustrate?

The Best Anniversary Ever
By Carrie Jacks

To Brian, the love of my life. You make every day exciting. Thank you for six great years.

(page 1)
I have a husband, and I just happen to think that he's the greatest husband in the whole wide world. Yesterday was our anniversary, which means that we've been married for six whole years. Sometimes Brian pretends to be funny and tells people it's twelve or seventeen, but it really hasn't been that long.

(page 2)
Brian and I were married on February 16, 2001--just two days after Valentine's Day. Normally we don't make a big deal out of Valentine's Day, because our anniversary is just around the corner, but this year was different. Brian gave me roses, and I made prime rib for dinner. The next day, after putting the kids to bed, we set the roses on the floor, ate ice cream, and played games together. It was very romantic. All of this romance made us feel very in love, and set the mood for the best anniversary ever.

(page 3)
On our anniversary we kissed a lot, and hugged a lot, and laughed a lot. We said "Happy anniversary!" to each other all day long. We did a bunch of little things to make the day special, but we also did a couple of really big things, too.

(page 4)
We bought plane tickets to California. We're going to Disneyland! I've been wanting to go for so long, and Brian finally agreed that we could. We'll leave on April 30 and get back on May 4, and in between those dates we'll spend three glorious days in Disneyland.

(page 5)
We also went to a Valentine's dance called, "Taste of Europe." Along one wall they had three booths representing France, Germany, and Italy. They were decorated so well. There was a backdrop that looked like a German house and by Italy they even had a clothes line out, drying some one's laundry. Brian and I danced more than we ever have before.

(page 6)
We danced so hard, in fact, that we were so tired when we arrived home. We dragged our sore feet into the house and went to bed. We were so tired that we barely said anything before going to sleep, but I think that we both agree that yesterday was the best anniversary ever.

THE END

The First To Make Out on Valentine's Day

A little background first:

Brian is a night owl, and I am an early bird. Brian can stay up almost all night and feel fine in the morning. The nights that I convince him to come to bed with me, he says he just lays there for a couple of hours before falling asleep. I usually go to bed around nine--ten at the latest. When I wake up in the morning, I feel great and refreshed, and I love getting up early so I have a couple of hours to myself before the kids are awake.

Last night after putting the kids to bed, Brian and I played a couple rounds of Rummikub. Brian won both times, although I only had one tile left at the end of the second game. It was so much fun to play games together. At 9:30 Brian said, "We should stay up until midnight, so we can be the first to make out on Valentine's Day." He was joking, of course, so I just laughed it off. "You could have done it when we were dating." Yeah, well, when we were dating we didn't sleep and wake up together. I had to stay up until midnight to get my maximum Brian Hours. I didn't think I could make it to midnight, but if that was a challenge, I would accept it.

"What about all the single college kids that are currently making out as we speak? Surely they'll still be going at midnight."

"It doesn't count," Brian said. "You have to start on Valentine's Day." Okay, so the goal was to stay up until midnight. It was 9:30. I could stay up for another two and a half hours. So we started playing games on the computer. At 10:30 I was having serious trouble keeping my eyes open. I knew that if I stayed sitting in that chair I would soon topple over, asleep.

I wimped out and went to bed. I hit the pillow and was asleep in under three seconds. Pathetic? I know. I can't even stay up until midnight. I slept great, though. Last night was the first night that I didn't even hear Ethan all night long! I didn't wake up until the alarm went off at 5:00. While I had been so sleepy the night before, as I turned the alarm off, I was wide awake and ready to go.

It was a good thing I wasn't sleepy and stumbling around, because then I would have missed the beautiful bouquet of roses that my night owl set out before he came to bed. Maybe, just maybe, if I take a nap this afternoon and try real hard tonight, I can stay up long enough and plan some kisses just right so Brian and I can be the last couple to make out on Valentine's Day.

The History of Toilet Paper

No, this is not an educational article about when and where toilet paper was first made, or who was the first person to use it. This is a far more simple telling of the life of a single roll of toilet paper, whose last remnants are sitting in a "Kraft Easy Mac" box on my kitchen counter.

This roll of toilet paper was "born" just before Thanksgiving when I pulled it out of the bathroom cupboard to take on our trip to Washington. I think this was when we had everyday run-of-the-mill head colds, not the horrendous make-you-feel-like-you're-going-to-die colds that we all got after Christmas, so while it wasn't an absolute necessity to have tissues in the car with us for our four-hour trip, it was very helpful.

The roll of toilet paper began shrinking, as it was left in the car and taken again on our drive to Washington. It was stuffed into our diaper bag and brought into both sets of Grandparents' houses, and probably a couple of great grandparents'.

I pulled it out of the car last week and placed it on top of the microwave, where it has lived continuously up until yesterday afternoon. Surprisingly, after three bouts of family illnesses and almost constant teething and runny noses from Ethan, the roll of toilet paper hadn't shrunk all that much. It was still almost half full.

So Alyssa got ahold of the toilet paper yesterday and decided to wave it in the air and fling it around the room. This caused a huge ruckus and both Ethan and she were rolling on the floor with laughter. I let the kids have their fun for a while, and when they were through I realized that most of the tissue they had thrown on the floor was still clean, good toilet paper. So to make a long story short (too late, I know), I salvaged what toilet paper I could and stuffed it in the nearest empty box I could find: a Kraft Easy Mac and Cheese.

It wasn't until this afternoon, when I was reaching for some toilet paper to wipe Ethan's nose, that I realized the silliness of the situation: that our current "official" tissue box is an empty macaroni and cheese box filled with crumpled up toilet paper. It definitely does the job though, and it should count itself lucky. While most rolls of toilet paper hang in the bathroom until they're all used up, this roll of toilet paper has traveled all over the Great Northwest and is now retired and "living" in one of the warmest rooms in the house.

Eeyore Quote Goes Here

I am having just a "blah" sort of day. Nothing bad has happened, it's actually been a pretty good day. I'm just feeling..."blah." I'm so glad that it hasn't rubbed off on the kids. Both Alyssa and Ethan are sitting at the table eating their corn dogs, just laughing up a storm.

I guess it all started yesterday. Brian and I got into a fight that was one of those arguments that start over nothing and escalate to trying to one-up the other by finding fault with every little thing they're saying. It was absolutely ridiculous. We eventually calmed down and talked about things and worked it all out. Brian hates the working it all out part. He's one of those guys that like to figure it out on his own and come back and be happy, and I'm one of those girls that have to talk it out three or four times before I feel better about it. And actually, our talking it out was cut a little short (didn't even make it to the second round) so maybe that's why I've got the blues today. I haven't completely worked the argument out of my system.

It's so funny though. We don't argue that often, but we always have the life-altering, spouse-threatening fights right before holidays. Valentine's Day is Wednesday, our anniversary is on Friday. I can't think of a single New Years Eve since we've been married that we didn't get into a fight. I don't know if I feel extra emotional stress around these times. Not like the stress people get around Christmas, where you have to cook and bake and entertain and shop; but a stress where I'm evaluating who I am and where I want to be, or who Brian and I are as a couple and where I want us to be. If things in my life don't align perfectly with the way I want it to be in my mind, I start nagging Brian.

"We need to do better with couple prayer."

"We're not having regular family scripture study."

"Why don't you spend more time with me?"

"What are we going to do about this?"

I realize that we're not perfect. I realize that sometimes we're going to be on track with things, and at other times we're not. We have gotten very good at having Family Home Evening and family prayer, and I'm proud of that. We do need to keep trying to progress and improve ourselves, but we also need to congratulate ourselves on the things that we are doing right. I need to be able to set goals for our family without concentrating on every little thing that we're NOT doing.

So now Brian is at school and he has a super hard test tomorrow so he'll probably be studying non-stop until it's over. And I'm sitting at home trying to figure out how to get over this rotten feeling. Actually, I believe this is re-hash number three, so I am feeling better. I think I'll pop the sparkling cider that's on the wine shelf (yeah, we have these cute little square cubbies built into our cupboards. I'm assuming it's a wine shelf) into the fridge so we can make dinner a little more special. I think we'll even light candles. That should brighten things up around here.

He Loves Me!

Last night we went to a PAVA (spouse club for optometry school) Valentine's party. We almost won the "How Much Do You Know About Your Spouse" game. They had everyone who got more than 5 answers correct stand up. More than 10 answers? Everyone was still standing. More than 20? No one sat down. More than 25? All but five couples sat down. Less than 30? We all sat down. Stephanie counted down from 30 until all of the five couples were standing again. We all got 27 right. "We can't have a five-way tie," she said. So we did some tie-breaking questions, and Brian and I came in second place. He guessed that when I was younger I wanted to have 5 children, but in reality I wanted 6.

Then we played "Love Your Neighbor," and it was so much fun! At one point someone said, "No, I don't love my neighbor, but I love anyone who has been skinny dipping." After this I was terribly afraid that Brian would say that he loved anyone that has run across a bridge in their underwear. Yes, I have, and Brian teases me about it every time we drive over that cursed bridge. So three people after the skinny dipping person, someone stood in front of Brian.

"Brian, do you love you neighbor?"

"No," he replied. Here it comes. "But I really love...my wife."

Isn't Literacy Grand?

I love to read. Usually when I start a book, I can't put it down until I'm done. There have been days that the housework is left undone, the kids eat the easiest lunch to put together, and then they have to entertain themselves while eating it, because I'm back on the couch with my nose in the book. Then Brian comes home, everyone's hungry for dinner and I keep yelling, "I only have seven pages left, just let me finish!" But at this point, there are so many interruptions that those seven pages take a half-hour to read and by the time I get dinner going, we're all on our way to starvation.

Amazing things are always happening in books. Sometimes I wonder, "Why is So-and-So the main character? Why didn't they write the book about the girl she was sitting next to instead?" But the obvious answer is, that So-and-So is the person that experienced the exciting events to write about, and it's all made up anyway, so it doesn't really matter.

When I read a lot, I start thinking like a book. It might be a sign of insanity, but I start writing my life in my head. She dipped her hands into the sudsy water and retrieved the plate from the sink. Chopped lasagna noodles and melted cheese slowly slid off into the water. She wondered just how much of her daughter's dinner was actually consumed that evening. In my opinion, life sounds a lot more exciting than it actually is, when it's written down.

A Real Mom

Brian's parents gave me a big, blue, fuzzy robe for Christmas. I asked for one, because we turn the heat down at night, and because I was getting up all night long with Ethan. I have to say, that I love my big, blue, fuzzy robe. I wear it in the morning, after I shower, and right before bed. It's come in handy especially during this cold winter. We live in an older home, and when it gets really cold, the house never completely warms up.

Tonight I put on my robe as the kids were putting their pajamas on. I was carrying Ethan around and noticed his face was covered in snot. He's getting his molars, so this is not uncommon lately. I reached into the pocket of my robe to retrieve a tissue, and suddenly I felt very much like a mom.

I don't know why this was exactly, because my mom hardly ever wore a robe, and when she did she usually stole my dads. I guess I learned it from T.V. because I can think of a few T.V. moms in their fuzzy robes. Maybe the writers assume that that's what mothers do all day: lounge around the house, filling their robe pockets with tissues. They're only partly correct; we only do that in the mornings and late evenings.

Anyhow, I'm thankful for my robe, and I'm thankful for the tissues that I keep in it. Now I'm going to go do something I've been wanting to do for about a week now, which is something that I'm assuming most moms do at some time or another. I'm going to watch a chick flick and stuff myself full of chocolate.