Family Photos & Kyle 6 months

Strawberry - Pear - Applesauce

Strawberry Pear Applesauce

3 apples, peeled, cored, cut into small chunks
2 pears, peeled, cored, cut into small chunks
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 cup water
12 strawberries, stemmed and chopped
1/4 cup sugar

Directions
In a large saucepan, bring apples, pears, cinnamon stick, and water to a boil and simmer until apples are tender when poked with a fork, about 15 minutes. Add strawberries and cook 5 minutes more. Remove from heat. Stir in sugar and then use potato masher to smooth out sauce. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Makes about 2 1/2 ozs.

Pumpkin Waffles

Cleaning out the freezer and found the last tub of pumpkin puree and I knew that I wanted to make waffles.  These were great!  The kids ate them up and asked for more.

 Pumpkin Waffles 

2 1/3 Reduced Fat Bisquick Baking Mix
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1 1/2 cups 1% milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
1 teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spice
2 eggs

Beat ingredients with whisk until smooth. Pour batter onto hot waffle iron. Makes about 20 waffles.

Triple Berry Pie Recipe

Triple Berry Pie Recipe

Pie Dough needed only for bottom crust

Filling
3 cups fresh strawberries, washed and hulled and roughly chopped
3 cups fresh blackberries
3 cups fresh raspberries
2 Tablespoons Grand Marnier
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Crumb Topping
2/3 cup flour
2/3 cup whole oats
2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup pecans
1/2 cup cold butter

1) On a lightly floured board, roll out the dough into a 12-inch circle. Fit into a 9-inch pie pan, trim any ends hanging over the side, and flute the edge with your thumb. Chill until ready to use.
2) Preheat the oven to 350.
3) For the filling, in a large bowl, add the strawberries, blackberries and raspberries and toss with the Grand Marnier. In a separate bowl, combine brown sugar, cornstarch, and cinnamon. Add to the berries and gently toss.
4) For the topping, combine flour, oats, brown sugar, pecans, and butter in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the mixture resembles small peas.
5) Fill the chilled pie shell with the filling and cover thoroughly with the topping. Bake for 1 hour, until bubbling and golden brown on top.

Basic Pie Dough Recipe

Basic Pie Dough Recipe
(for double-crust 9 inch pie)

2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup vegetable shortening
5 Tablespoons ice cold water

1) In food processor, mix flour and salt.  Add chilled shortening and pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs with pea-sized pieces remaining.
2) Slowing add water over flour mixture while pulsing until dough holds together.
3) Divide dough into two, with one ball slightly larger than the other.  Flatten dough into 1/2 inch thick round disks, wrap in plastic wrap; refrigerate at least 30 minutes.

Cuban Pork Chops

Cuban Pork Chops

INGREDIENTS
3 teaspoons olive oil
4 bone-in pork chops
2 bell peppers, sliced
1/2 white onion, sliced
1 jalapeno, sliced
1/2 cup grapefruit or orange juice

DIRECTIONS
Heat oil in pan. Add pork chops; cook 2 min per side; remove from heat and set aside.  Add bell peppers and onion and jalapeno; cook 4 min. Add pork chops back to pan with juice; cook 2 min.

Serves 4

Elk pizza

Elk Pizza

INGREDIENTS
3/4 lb ground elk
3 Tablespoons oil
1/4 white onion, diced
fresh oregano
pizza crust
7.5 oz ricotta cheese
3/4 cup tomato sauce
fresh basil
parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS
1. Cook group elk in skillet until browned. Remove from heat and set aside.
2. In another skillet add oil. Add onion and oregano, cooking until onions become translucent and soft about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
3. Heat oven to 400 degrees.
4. Cover the top of the pizza crust with the ricotta cheese. Add tomato sauce, top with ground elk, and add onion mixture and then top off with chopped basil and parmesan cheese.
5. Bake about 14 minutes.

Serves 4
Adapted from: Nevada Foodies

Elk Enchiladas

Elk Enchiladas

INGREDIENTS
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1.5 lbs ground Elk
5 slices turkey bacon, chopped
1/2 white onion, chopped
1 Tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 can Miller Light
Salt and pepper
10-12 small corn tortillas
28oz green chili enchilada sauce – Medium
1 cup shredded mexican 4 cheese

DIRECTIONS
1. Over medium heat, add oil, bacon and onions to pan. Cook until onions are translucent. Add elk to pan and cook thoroughly. Add cumin, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, Miller Light, salt, and pepper. Continue cooking for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
3. Place some of the meat filling into each tortilla, roll up and place seam side down in a 9x13 baking dish. Pour the green enchilada sauce over all enchiladas until they are covered completely. Add shredded cheese to the top of enchiladas.
4. Bake about 25 minutes (until the cheese begins to brown).

Serves 4-6
Adapted from: Nevada Foodies

Baked Artichoke Dip

Baked Artichoke Dip

INGREDIENTS
2 cans (14 ounces each) artichoke hearts in water
3 Tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1/8 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole milk, warmed
1 teaspoons coarse salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/16 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup grated pecorino cheese
1/4 large onion, finely chopped
1/2 Tablespoon fresh thyme leaves, chopped
1/8 cup breadcrumbs

DIRECTIONS
1. Thinly slice artichokes; pat dry.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
3. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add flour, and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Whisk in milk, and bring to a boil. Add salt, pepper, and cayenne, and simmer until thickened, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat, and stir in cheeses.
4. Melt remaining tablespoon butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, and cook 3 minutes. Add thyme and sliced artichokes, and cook for 3 minutes. Add to cheese mixture. Transfer to baking dish. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs.
5. Bake about 15 minutes (until golden and bubbling).

Adapted from Martha Stewart

Brent's Home Brewing - Batch #28 - Cranberry Maibock

The label for batch #28 is seen above.

Take a nap....eat some smores :)

Family Pics and Ryan 6 months old

Week 3 - Andrew at GymStars Summer Preschool Camp

This weeks theme was "Outer Space". Andrew had another blast this week at summer preschool camp! He learned about all the planets, aliens, rocket-ships, stars, the sun and the moon.

Here's his artwork from the week:

cutout aliens with glued on eyes and underpants with buttons glued on, paper earth colored in with paint

foam cutout planets with glue/glitter stars

foam rocket-ship cutout with glued on buttons and picture of Andrew

cutout stars glued on paper (he must of liked this project since he did it twice)

rocket-ship colored in with crayon

Ryan 25 weeks old

Brent's Home Brewing - Batch #26 - Rubus Idaeus Weissbier

The label for batch #26 is seen above.

Ryan 24 weeks & 1 day old

opps...forgot to take his picture yesterday....

Brothers

Hard at work...

Love these boys!

Week 2 - Andrew at GymStars Summer Preschool Camp

holding up sticks to put inside his bug jar

the class holding up their bug jars

This weeks theme was "Bugs and Butterflies". Andrew had another blast this week at summer preschool camp! He learned about ants, butterflies, crickets, dragonflies, bees and ladybugs.

Here's his artwork from the week:

Andrew's bug jar with a cricket inside decorated with foam

ant colored with crayon

popsicle stick painted green and glued with green pom poms and eyes, cut out paper wings and drew in the wings with crayon

butterfly colored in with paint

coffee filter colored in with paint and twisted with a pipe cleaner

ladybug cutout painted red and fingerprint dots, glued with glitter mouth and eyes and legs

foam cutout of bee painted stripes with pipe cleaner and picture of Andrew

Ryan 23 weeks old

Andrew and Ryan went with Mamu to visit their cousins B & L.

Southwestern Spiced Popcorn

Southwestern Spiced Popcorn 
Weight Watcher's PointsPlus = 4


4 cups air-popped popcorn 
Nonstick spray 
1 tsp chili powder 
1/2 tsp ground cumin 
1/2 tsp paprika, preferably smoked paprika 
1/2 tsp salt 
1/4 tsp garlic powder 
Place popcorn in a large bowl; spray with nonstick spray, tossing well. 
In a small bowl, stir together the chili powder, cumin, paprika, salt and garlic powder. Sprinkle over the popcorn, tossing all the while, until well coated.