Just call me Rachael Ray... yeah right!

About a month ago my friend, Cindy, asked me to do a cooking demonstration for a Relief Society activity. I was a little nervous but mostly excited as I thought about what dishes to demonstrate, and of course I had visions of the activity going just like a Rachael Ray show. I'd show the uncooked version of whatever I was making and then voila from under the counter I would pull a piping hot, fully-cooked version of that same dish... just like magic! However, as I started planning for the activity I realized that cooking shows like that must require an army of people in the background, not to mention hours of careful planning to make sure the timing is just right. After I realized how much planning it would require I went through a period of denial that lasted a couple weeks with many kind friends asking what they could do to help... except remember that I was in denial so I didn't know what help I even needed, just that I would probably need a lot of it. Well, after I finally emerged from my state of denial a few days before the activity I started planning and recipe-testing like crazy! My poor husband had to eat caesar salad 3 nights in a row until I got the recipe just right. On the fourth night when we were talking about dinner he reluctantly asked, "Do we have to have caesar salad again?"

After all that the activity ended up being a lot of fun. My army of background helpers turned out to be three of my good friends who really helped make everything a success. Cindy and Tiana also made the church's ugly orange countertops a lot easier to look at with their cute decorations.

Plating up caesar salads for tasting.

Waiting for the mushrooms to cook.

The menu ended up being a caesar salad with homemade dressing, a portabella daniel (which might sound a little strange but is absolutely delicious even if you think you hate mushrooms), and baklava.

Caesar Salad (serves 2)

1/4 tsp. salt

1 garlic clove

1/2 tbsp. lemon juice

1/2 tsp. worcestershire sauce

2 tbsp. pasteurized egg

2 tbsp. olive oil

1/8 tsp. anchovy paste

1/2 medium head romaine lettuce

2-3 tbsp. parmesan cheese

Fresh ground black pepper

Wash romaine lettuce, wrap in paper towels and put in refrigerator to crisp. Sprinkle wooden bowl with salt, rub garlic clove into salt to season the bowl. Add lemon juice, worcestershire sauce, egg, olive oil, and anchovy paste and mix together. Tear lettuce into bowl, add parmesan cheese and black pepper, and toss with dressing. Top with croutons and additional parmesan cheese if desired.

Portabello Daniel (serves 2)

2 portabella mushrooms

4 cloves of garlic, chopped

2 tbsp. olive oil

1-1½ c. chopped frozen spinach, thawed and drained

2 tbsp. parmesan cheese

2 slices provolone cheese

2 tbsp. almonds, sliced and roasted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Wash two portabella mushrooms. Place upside down on a greased cookie sheet. Press garlic into mushrooms and drizzle with olive oil. Bake at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes or until mushrooms are tender. While mushrooms are baking mix spinach with parmesan cheese. Remove mushrooms from oven and pile spinach on top and return to oven for another 5-10 minutes until spinach is warm. Remove from oven and turn on broiler. Top mushrooms with a slice of provolone cheese and broil until cheese is browned and bubbly. Remove from oven and sprinkle with sliced almonds.

Baklava

4 c. (1lb.) chopped walnuts

½ c. sugar

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

½ tsp. allspice

½ lb. phyllo dough, thawed

1 c. butter, melted

Syrup

1 c. water

1½ c. sugar

½ c. honey

1 tbsp. lemon juice

1 tsp. vanilla

Make syrup before you start the baklava. Boil sugar and water until sugar is dissolved. Add honey, lemon juice, and vanilla. Simmer for about 10 minutes. Allow to cool.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9x13 inch pan. Toss nuts with sugar, cinnamon, and allspice. Set aside. Unroll phyllo dough. Cut to fit pan. Cover phyllo dough with dampened cloth to keep from drying out as you work. Place two sheets of dough in pan, butter thoroughly. Repeat until you have 8 sheets layered. Sprinkle with 1½ c. nut mixture. Layer and butter 2 more sheets; sprinkle with 1 c. nut mixture. Repeat 2 more times, topping final nut layer with 6 sheets of buttered phyllo. Trim edges if needed. With sharp knife cut baklava crosswise into 1½-inch strips. Then cut strips diagonally at 2-inch intervals to form diamonds. Bake 50-60 minutes or until golden and crisp. Remove baklava from oven and immediately spoon sauce over it. Let cool. This freezes well. Cover loosely as it gets soggy if it is covered tightly. Best made 24 hours in advance.

Enjoy!

Time Out!

Can you tell she's been in time out a few times?

It doesn't only happen in movies...

Last night my friends and I went out to The Cheesecake Factory to celebrate a birthday. We had a great time talking and laughing like girls do and the dinner ended with all the servers singing Happy Birthday to my friend. When we got the $91 bill we began figuring out to split it up. Just as had put all our cash together, the waiter came over and said, "You're bill has been taken care, you don't owe anything for dinner." We were so confused and started asking who had paid for it, but the waiter only said that it was someone sitting close by. Later we found out that it was the gentleman sitting with his wife at the table next to ours. None of us knew him or had even seen him before and we have no idea why he was so generous to us. I mean how could he know that we were all poor wives of students out splurging for a friend's birthday? Amidst all the rudeness and unkindness that I encounter day to day, it's so wonderful to be reminded that good-hearted, generous people still exist. I can't wait to one day pass that kindness on to someone else.

Potty Training...ugh!

We are currently attempting to potty train Cala. As you can see from the picture, it's not going so well. Today every time we've been able to convince her to sit on the potty, she tells us "not working, not working" and then gets up and runs away only to pee on the floor minutes later.

And this is Cala's idea of potty training her doggie. She put him on the potty and said, "stay doggie." If only it were that easy...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We are having a great Christmas break from Mark's school. I am loving all the time we get to spend together! Here are some pictures of things we've been doing.

This is a picture of Cala after she got into my makeup. I thought she was being a little too quiet, but I was so busy making cookies I didn't even give it a second thought. Five minutes later Mark brought Cala to me looking like this...

Gingerbread houses we made with some friends.

Cala and I at the mall on Christmas Eve after a failed attempt to see Santa Claus (who knew that he leaves at 3pm on Christmas Eve!)

Playing games.

Opening presents.

One of Cala's favorite presents...a Sleeping Beauty princess dress.

Mom shoveling snow away from the grill so my brother could grill up some Christmas morning bacon.

What a cute couple!

Cala coloring with Granny.

Cala in her Christmas outfit.

Mark at the rock climbing place.

Mark and Cala playing with her new playdough.

Mark trying his new griddle on New Year's Day.

Our traditional New Year's Day breakfast... Eggs Benedict. They were yum!

O' Christmas Tree

This is the first year in a while that we've had a real Christmas tree. I always swore that I would never buy a fake tree, but then we lived in an apartment where we weren't allowed to have a real one, so fake it was. Anyways, I have been looking forward to this tree for a while, I thought about driving an hour to a cut-your-own tree lot, but then decided that was a bit too ambitious so we got a tree from a place walking distance to our apartment. Perfect, I thought, that way we (Mark) can just carry it home and not have to bother with strapping it on the car. I picked out a tall bushy beautiful tree and Mark hefted it over his shoulder and carried it home. What a stud! Now he says that next year we are driving no matter how close the tree lot is...apparently it was a lot heavier than it looked :)

Then came the joys of decorating the tree with a 2-year-old...what an experience! Surprisingly, no ornaments were broken, although there was glitter everywhere, and the tree ended up looking pretty good.

Thanksgiving

I'm finally posting about Thanksgiving...phew! It was a lot of fun and so nice to get out of town for a bit and be with family. Thanksgiving day started with the traditional Turkey Bowl.

Followed by the inevitable injury...

Thankgiving dinner with the Hipple's.

Celebrating Pap Moustachio's birthday.

Over to the Broady's for more dinner and more birthday celebrations. Cala's birthday was not being celebrated but she got to open all the presents anyways.

Four generations. We've always got to get one of these :)

Picking out the perfect Christmas tree.

Aunt Amanda and my movie star.

Decorating the trees at both grandma's houses!

What fun!