W.F.D.T.R: Pizza

Pizza Dough

2 cups hot water

4 1/2 teaspoons yeast 

1 teaspoon salt

4 teaspoons olive oil

4-5 cups flour

optional

handful of ground flax seed

handful of wheat germ

Water, yeast, salt, oil, flax seed and wheat germ.  My trick here...hot water.  Recipes always say lukewarm water but by the time you add the water to the bowl you've lost a few degrees then when you add ingredients you lose a few more. 

Add 3 cups of flour and mix with dough hook.  Gradually add remaining flour until the dough just cleans the sides of the bowl.  My hint here...don't add too much flour.  This is a very sticky dough and you have to use a lot of oil on your hands so you can work with it.

Cover and set in a warm place to rise about 25 minutes

I made 3 pizzas out of this dough.  One cheese, one pepperoni and one barbeque chicken.  I was going to make pesto chicken pizza but Aaron wanted BBQ and I love him so....

This was the reaction the kids had when I told them we were having BBQ Chicken pizza.  Jacob is plugging his nose, Sophie and Jasmine are looking disgusted and Ben was too I just didn't catch his expression.

This was Aaron's reaction when I told him we were having BBQ chicken pizza.  I will admit I was a little skeptical but it was SOOOOO good.

This is what was left when I got home from Wednesday night church activities

A little camera fun.  Oh p.s. I diced the chicken, sauteed it with some salt and pepper and then slightly watered down Sweet Baby Ray's Original Barbeque Sauce.  Spread it on the dough, top with chicken and cheese and bake at 425 until cheese is slightly browned.

Parenting Practices: Guns

We are a family that plays with guns.  There is a lot of controversy about letting kiddos play with guns so I thought I would give my two cents on the topic.


I am not personally a fan of gun play with children.  It is hard for me to see my sweet innocent children playing with things that are far from sweet and innocent.  There are two set backs with my feelings on the subject.

1. Kids seem to play guns no matter how hard you work to keep anything remotely gun like out of the house
2. My husband LOVES guns and we have to have some sort of compromise.

So we have rules.

1. Never point a gun at another person unless you are playing a game and they also have a gun.
2. If someone asks you to not point a gun at them you must respect their request.
3. Muzzle control.  Treat every gun, even toy guns, like it is loaded.
4. We don't have realistic looking toy guns.  Aaron carves guns out of wood and we keep them wood colored.  We also have Nerf Dart Guns.
5. When friends come over who are opposed to guns, we do not play guns.
6. The real guns that are in the house are unloaded, out of reach, locked, ammo in a separate location and keys hidden.

Our goal in all this is to help the kids understand that guns are dangerous things that can hurt and even kill someone.  In so doing we hope that they will learn to use guns properly and safely.

L.S.N.E.D.:First Day of Class

Tomorrow is the first day of my online class, Human Growth and Development.  It marks the beginning of my journey to become a nurse.  I am nervous to the point of mild nausea because of two reasons.

•   I can't believe I am starting this journey.  I have thought about it for so long and now I am actually doing it.
• How in the world am I going to be a student with four kids, a church calling leading 50+ kids, childcare and all the homemaking and crafting I love.  This causes me a lot of the nausea.  I know it is going to be ok, I just need to get started but man I am scared!!!

More news next week I guess.

Hey I just realized I haven't be signing with my signature!

Deep Thoughts: Attitude

I read a quote from the Ensign magazine our church publishes each month.  President Thomas S. Monson quoted the philosopher William James, 

“The greatest revolution of our generation is the discovery that human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives."

Then a few days later I heard an interview with Andrew Weil on To The Best of Our Knowledge where he also referenced the fact that researchers have discovered that when we change our attitude our brains literally change, like scientifically, you can see a difference in the brain.

Andrew Weil was talking about non-medical ways to treat depression and anxiety, and don't get me wrong I firmly believe that there are cases and situations where you can't take a chance with not using medication.  There are very real chemical balances that it is safer to use medicine.  Trust me on this one, I speak from experience.  But it is amazing what we can do if we just have the right attitude.

President Monson  ends the section on Attitude be referencing a boat with a sail.  He says,

"We can’t direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails. For maximum happiness, peace, and contentment, may we choose a positive attitude."

It makes me think of sweet Sister Hinckley when she said, 

“The only way to get through life is to laugh your way through it. You either have to laugh or cry. I prefer to laugh. Crying gives me a headache.”

Bust a Move Saturday: Ballet

Awhile ago I took and adult beginning ballet class.  I loved it.  More than I would have thought.  I so looked forward to Thursday nights and I was so sad when the class was over.  They are having a

second session in March and April and I will be attending again.  It is like taking an anti-depressant.  I never would have thought dancing would make me so alive feeling!  Sophie and I will both be dancing in Ballet Wolcott's spring recital of A Secret Garden.  And no I will not be wearing a leotard.

                          

                       

Wasn't I so cute? I think my form might be better as an adult though.

Family Friday

A photo for each of us for the week and a brief blip about what we have been up to.

Sophie and her cousin have been taking pictures in this chair since infancy. 2012

2002

2003

Ok so I know there are more pictures but I am spending a lot of time looking for them and it is just time to move on.

Ben and his weaponry

Which reminds me of...

2007

I guess I am short on pictures of Jacob

Noah is so pious.  If he sees anyone kneeling or folding their arms he gleefully announces MEN! (Amen)

I need to take more photos of Aaron, but here he his being a good daddy.

And there is not a single picte of me so I'll add one more of Sophie with a very special talent.

And that's the news from the Cornelius Chronicles at Craftsbury Cottage.

Reckless Recreation:The Little Things

The other day Jacob had a little procedure done at the hospital.  It was no big deal and there is little to no recovery and involves a rather sensitive area so we don't talk about it much...any way...(insert awkward pause)  

While he was out I checked out the hospital gift shop thinking it would be outrageously overpriced.  But no, there were tons of adorable little sweet things all reasonably priced.  I picked out things for the kids and  a few things for me.  None of them cost more than $6.95 and most of them cost around $1.50.  At check out I was astounded to see that it totaled $42.

I rooted around in my pockets and slapped down the cash I had snagged that morning.  The cashier praised me for my sly ploy to evade Aaron tracking my spending habit (cash, it's not traceable!!!)  The kids loved their necklaces and charms and I am giddy with joy over these sweet little salt and pepper shakers.  They seriously make me happy.

Don't worry, I promise I won't become one of those people with a hutch full of salt and pepper shakers.

WFDTR: Breakfast for Dinner

Sausage Egg Muffins and Fruit Smoothie

This particular recipe was not fast as I make the english muffins, but with store bought english muffins this would whip up in 10 to 15 minutes.

I used Alton Brown's english muffin recipe but altered it a bit.

Add powdered milk, salt and shortening according to recipe.  I used butter because I was out of shortening.

Add hot water, sugar and yeast.  The recipe has you divide this and add the yeast after it has proofed.  I just add all the water and yeast right to the powdered milk mixture.

Mix well, whip it right up.

See how gooey the dough is?  Cover and allow to rise 30 minutes.

Preheat the griddle to 300 (medium heat) and grease rings and griddle.  They say you can use other things instead of the rings but I forked out the 8 bucks for the rings

Add remaining salt and I add about 1/8 t baking soda to the dough/batter and mix well.  Fill the rings with batter.  The one on the bottom had too much and the one on top didn't have enough.  Cover (make sure you grease whatever you cover it with.  Cook according to recipe, take care when flipping the rings, they are hot!

Fruit smoothie.  There is no specific recipe here.  I personally use plain yogurt, orange juice and 2-3 bananas.  These are the crucial ingredients.  Then add just about anything you want.  I usually use frozen blueberries, strawberries, peaches, raspberries, papaya juice, flax seed, spinach, kale, steamed carrots....the sky's the limit.  Actually once I put sweet peppers in and it totally ruined it.  My kids even know there is spinach and kale in it and they love it.

Cook up some sausage and eggs and top with cheese if you want.  I also put ketchup.  Aaron puts mayonnaise and mustard. Put them all together and YUM!

The finished smoothie.  This meal has a grain, protein, dairy and full servings of both fruits and veggies.  Not necessarily low fat.  Skip the sausage if you are heart conscious.  I have made the english muffins with mostly wheat flour with great success.

Parenting Practices: T.V.

Did your parents have a nickname for the T.V. when you were growing up?  You know something along the lines of, "Boob Tube" or "Idiot Box"?  Mine did.


So now as an adult I think I understand why.  The T.V. seriously makes my kids do crazy things.  Things that prove that I am right when I tell the kids, "Too much T.V. makes your brain mushy."


Today Ben came home from school begging to watch a movie.  Over and over he asked if he could watch a movie, each time with the answer, "Just a minute Ben."  To his credit he was car sick from reading a book on the bus ride home.


I finally settle on a nice old classic, "Gentle Giant." 3.2 minutes into the movie Ben asks, "Mommy, can I have my computer turn?"  Translated this means, "Mommy this screen is not stimulating enough, can we kick it up a notch?"


Then there is Sophie who acts as if I am torturing her because I am forcing her to watch the movie. "Mommy, I don't want to watch this movie," she wails, tears flowing.  For the record when she said she didn't want to watch this movie I told her, "Then don't watch it."

Aaron always says T.V. is medicine, to be used wisely and in the right circumstances.  It might be fair to say my kids need an intervention, some time to detox.  I get on it, right after the end of my show.

Organization

Ok here is my goal for my blog.  I will be focused and organized in a random unorganized fashion.  Does that make sense?  Here is the new schedule:

• Monday=Learn Something New Every Day (L.S.N.E.D.) 
• This will be mostly about my journey to become a nurse but I sure there will be a few random facts in there too.
• Tuesday=Parenting Practices 
• Let's face it, it's a jungle out there.  Hopefully something I say here will inspire or comfort another parents rafting through the white waters of parenting.
• Wednesday=What's for Dinner Tonight Recipes (W.F.D.T.R)
• Recipes with photos and instructions
• Thursday=Reckless Recreation 
• This could also be the miscellaneous section.  It will cover everything from knitting, sewing, photography, literature, movies and who know what else.
• Friday=Family Friday 
• A recap of the week with my lovely family.
• Saturday=Bust a Move 
• Chronicles of a Pleasantly Plump Female; How to Make a Fool of Yourself in Public and Lose Weight (hopefully) in the process.
• Sunday=Deep Thoughts
• My musings on things greater and beyond us based on my beliefs as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and many other virtues that anyone from Muslim to atheist could relate to.

Let's hope I can stick to it and that it is both fun for me and beneficial for others.  Mostly it is what I was doing before but more organized.  

 

New Year

I am taking the advise of a wise lady and forgetting about catching up.  Everything that has happened in the last six months is encapsulated in my brain.  So I am back!!! 

It has been awhile so how about an intro.  (Ok fine I know that everyone that reads this is basically related to me but still I can dream, right?)

This is me!  34 years old and lovin' it!

What have I been up to lately?  My biggest exciting news is that I bought a new camera.  It was a huge deal involving researching for at least a year and lots of fretting about how to make the right choice.  I settled on a Nikon D3100.  I am very excited by it but so far I haven't been able to figure it out entirely.  I need to print the manual so that I can study and experiment with it to figure it out so I don't feel like I wasted A LOT of money.  Here is a sampling of some of the pictures I have captured with it.

I photo I took for photography boot camp.  This is for the week entitled architecture.

Knitting.  This is the first thing I've made for myself.   I love it even though it is a little too big.

Most of what I have been doing is wallowing in the guilt stemming from a serious burn Noah got on his hand from an iron while I was sewing.  He is healing very well but every time I look at his little paw-paw my stomach sinks knowing what he has had to suffer.

This was on Christmas day.  He burnt it on Christmas Eve.

This is on January 6th.  Babies heal so quickly.  We are still bandaging just for the white spot in the center of his hand.  Soon we will be able to just leave it open and massage it with lotion or oil each day.

I think I will call it quits for now.  I am thinking of restructuring this blog so that it has...well I guess more structure.  It will take me awhile to figure out what I want out of it.  I will continue to post while I plan things out.