Vampires, Food, and Football

During the weekend of the 13-15 of November, I went down to Salt Lake for Time Out for Women. It was a wonderful weekend. I was able to spend time with almost all of the women on the Gorringe side of my family. Mom, Aunts, Cousins, Cousin-in-Laws; the whole she-bang. We had such a good time with so many different speakers. I committed while I was there that I wanted to share the message that we gathered. We had speakers such as Wendy Watson Neilson, Sheri Dew, Mary Ellen Edmunds, Hilary Weeks, S. Micheal Wilcox, Emily Watts, and Kris Belcher. It was a spiritually high weekend! On my return drive on Sunday I decided I need to stop and check my tires and use the restroom, the first place I came across was a small town exit of Virgina, Idaho. I pulled off the road and the first and what looked like only building was a church building. An LDS church building. ;) I pulled in the parking lot. Check my tires real quick and then went inside, hoping I wouldn't come across anyone who would think I was a suspicious character. When I walked in that small building I heard Primary children singing songs. A man teaching what sounded like a Sunday School lesson. At that moment, I was so thankful for the Church's that we have all over the world.

Thoughts From TOFW

• When a Righteous Woman says, "There is something not quite right here, there is something very wrong." -Wendy Watson Neilson of her abduction
• The Liberty Jail, a horrible memory, a horrible place of darkness in Church History was filled with light and made into a prison temple with all of the Revelations that were received there by the Prophet Joseph Smith. In the most miserable experiences of our lives, they can become moments of light and knowledge to us.
• Live by the words: Not Even Once.
• 2 Nephi 25:26
• Society is made up of families, and when families collapse, so do societies, and when societies collapse so do countries.
• Sometimes we act like we're going to stay here, but we aren't, we can't and we won't. -Elder Holland
• Three Things that the Adversary tries to get us with: 1. Confused about who we are. 2. Keep us from understanding what the Savior did for us and what he will do for us. 3. Keep us from receiving personal revelation. Things we need to keep in mind. 1. We have always been a child of God. Not just now. We're here and were on assignment. The lord wouldn't send us here at this time if we couldn't handle it. Abraham 3:22-23. 2. He didn't just make it possible for us to repent, he made it possible to heal us. 3. Our degree of purify is a prerequisite to feeling the spirit and having it's guidance in our lives. "Receiving Revelation" Richard G. Scott 2009 General Conference.
• It will not always be easy to stand for truth and righteousness, but we will not forgive ourselves if we don't do it.
• Our Life-Assurance Policy is the Great Plan of Happification.
• The scriptures are the handbook for Life Assurance.
• Sweet Assurance- The certainty that comes when you know life's truths.
• At night I turn all of my problems unto God. He is going to be up all night anyways.
• Sweet Assurance is knowing that God is truly with us.
• Sometimes it's the trial of our life who make us who we have to be; who the Lord needs us to be.
• We do all that we can to get the fruit, we water the seed, we feed the seed, we shelter it from storms, but there is something that we cannot control and that is the sun. The son blesses the seed and helps it grow in a way that nothing else can.
• Heavenly Father won't give us anything we can't handle by ourselves.

I know if you know me you're asking "What is that poster doing on her Blog?" One very easy answer. When I came home for Thanksgiving Break my family, my friend Brandan, and I all went to this movie. I'm not going to waste time and space by venting my Twilight thoughts and feelings, but let me just say this. I enjoyed this movie a lot better then the first one (at least up until the point when Edward came back on the screen), I did laugh a lot, but this movie did make me at least want to finish reading the series. I can also tell you that I am most definitely Team Jacob -in the movies at least-.

This is a picture that my brother and I took at Fred Meyer's after we had watched the movie. Love it! He's the best and I miss him already even though my flight leaves in like 15 hours.

This was our Thanksgiving Feast! It was delicious! We had a family in our ward, The Roberts, come and eat with us. It was so much fun to have them all and then we played the game Ticket to Ride. I definitely recommend it!

These are the Elders that are serving in our Ward, the one next to my dad, Elder Gerun is going home on the 30th of November. They are good friends with my family and have helped them a lot with the additions that we are doing on our house. After dinner and the game we went to the movie, The Blind Side and it was a very moving awesome movie! I was so moved and want to someday have that effect in someones life. I'm am so thankful for the opportunity I had to come home for the Thanksgiving season to spend it with my family. There would have been nothing better or more worthwhile for me to do. Hoping that all of your warmest wishes come true...

Food, Food, Food Forever!

With the Salsa and Guacamole that I had made the night before, the next day I then made my special Burrito Dish. You just take frozen burritos and line them in a baking dish (approximate 1 burrito for 1 person) then on top of them you pour two cans of Chili; one can of black beans, drained; 1/2 can of refried beans; 1/2 a carton of Sour Cream; Salsa; Guacamole; and shredded cheese. We cooked it at the temperature it says on the package for the time it denotes for frozen burritos and served it with tortilla chips that we had cut strips from tortilla shells. We put the oven on broil and then placed the strips in the oven for a couple of minutes at a time on each side, watching them as they cooked. It was a delicious meal and everyone loved it! For dessert we fryed more tortilla shells and sprinkled cinnamon sugar on them with ice cream and chocolate syrup. It was delicious. And a perfect meal for a fun get together!

Then one day we made pizza together. It's a very good dough recipe that I got from a cookbook my friend got for me.

Homemade Pizza Crust

1 tsp (1 pkg) Yeast ~ 1 c Warm Water ~ 1 tsp Sugar ~ 2 c Flour ~ 1 tsp Italian Seasoning ~ 1 tsp Salt ~ 1 tbsp Butter ~ 1 tbsp Cornmeal ~ Marinara Sauce ~ Pizza Toppings ~ Shredded Mozzarella (Provolone ot other similar cheese are very very good!)

Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm water. Put the flour, italian seasonings, salt, butter, and yeast mixer in a large bowl and mix until combined being careful not to overmix. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm place for about 15 minutes. Sprinkle a pizza stone or a cookie sheet with cornmeal and stretch or roll dough to fit. Bake in a 475 degree oven until golden brown. Take out of oven and spread with marinara sauce, toppings, and cheese, then bake in oven until the cheese is melted.

I like to double this recipe and it makes just about enough for 6 people. Just be careful to add the butter, once I made it and forgot to add it, and it turned out okay, but the crust was really hard.

Last Sunday we made Breaded Chicken Parmesan in the slow cooker, while we went to church. We also had some Rhodes rolls which we let defrost and rise while we were at church. Talk about delicious! The parmesan was a little salty so I might lower the sodium level just a little bit.

Chicken Parmesan with Penne Pasta

1 egg ~ 1/3 c plain bread crumbs ~ 1/3 shredded Parmesan cheese ~ 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning ~ 1/4 tsp salt ~ 1/4 tsp pepper ~ 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts ~ 1 jar tomato pasta sauce ~ 1/2 c shredded Italian cheese blend ~ 2 2/3 c uncooked penne pasta

Spray 2 to 3 quart slow cooker with cooking spray. In a small shallow bowl, beat egg until foamy. In separate shallow bowl, mix bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Dip chicken into egg, then coat evenly with bread crumbs mixture; place in cooker. Spread pasta sauce evenly over chicken. Cover; cook on Low heat setting 5 to 6 hours. Sprinkle Italian cheese blend over top. Cover; cook on Low heat setting for 10 more minutes. Meanwhile cook and drain the pasta. Serve pasta with chicken. Enjoy!

Food Food and more Food!

With so many things to blog about and so little time i might do this in more then one session. I have been incredibly busy with midterms and projecs and just life in general! I will first discuss my recipes that I've made recently and then next the activities we have been about recently.

Well a while ago now I made a meatball soup (homemade meatballs and all) which I can't really give you the recipe for because I make up my soup recipes on the spot. But it was very delicious, the only thing that I saw that needed improvement was the amount of broth, this of course would be easier to have more broth if I had a bigger pot, but for now I'll have to deal with what I have. Over all there was chicken stock, noodles, stewed tomatoes, black beans, celery, onions, italian seasonings, carrots, and meatballs of course.

I then also made some homemade Salsa and Guacamole, which both are delicious by the way! I made them the night before we had our neigbors over for dinner, so we would have less things to do the next day.

Blender Salsa

6 Roma Tomatoes ~ 2 Jalapeno Peppers ~ 1 Green or Red Bell Pepper ~ 1/2 c fresh Cilantro ~ 1 clove Garlic ~ 1 c Onion ~ 1 tsp Salt

Coarsely chop the tomatoes and peppers. In a sauce pan simmer the tomatoes and peppers until soft and tender, then pour into the blender. Add the chopped cilanto and minced garlic, onion, and salt to the blender. Pulse until salsa reaches desired consistency. Very good served both right out of the blender or chilled.

Chuncky Guacamole with Tomato

Makes about 2 1/2 cups.

2 ripe Avacado's ~ 3 tbsp finely chopped yellow onion ~ 1 Jalapeno Pepper, minced~ 1 tbsp chopped fresh Cilantro ~ 1 tbsp Lime Juice ~ 1 clove garlic, minced ~ 1 large Tomato ~ Salt-to taste

Combine the coarsely chopped avacado's, onion, pepper, cilantro, lime juice and garlic. Mash with a fork until the avacado is chuncky but not smooth. Stir in the diced tomato and season with salt. Cover and keep refridgerated until ready to serve.

Recipes, Roommates and Showers

^Previous Recipe^
Individual Chocolate Lava Cakes

CHOCOLATE CENTERS
1/2 bar Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet baking bar
1/4 c heavy cream

CAKE
Nonstick cooking spray
1 bar Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet baking bar
1/2 c unsalted butter
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
1/3 c sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 c cake flour

Fruit and Whipped Cream Garnish (Raspberries or Strawberries are good)

First you melt the 1/2 baking bar and cream in a double boiler (a pot filled with water and metal bowl works just fine too!) Whisk the mixture gently to blend. Refrigerate about 2 hours or until firm. Then roll into balls, about an inch wide keep refrigerated until needed.
To make the cake you: heat the oven to 400 degrees. Then spray down 6 ramekins or custard cups (I actually used a muffin pan and it made 11 perfectly sized and proportioned lava cakes) with the cooking spray. Melt the remaining chocolate and butter in a double boiler and whisk to blend. Place eggs, yolks, sugar, and vanilla in a mixer bowl. Mix together medium speed for about 5 minutes or until thick and light. Then fold in the melted chocolate mixture and flour by hand until just combined. Then divide between the prepared molds and in the middle of the batter pouring, place a chocolate ball. Bake for about fifteen minutes, or until the cake is firm to the touch. Let it sit in the oven for about 5 minutes, run a knife around the edge of the mini cakes, and then invert upon a plate. Drizzle with chocolate sauce, whipped cream and I fanned strawberries.
^Previous Recipe^

Today I was so lucky to go to my old roommates bridal shower. Kelli and Robbie are going to get married on October 23, 2009. We were so excited to have seen the fruition of their relationship, and wish them all of the luck in the world as their two lives become one! Of all thirteen roommates that I've had 7 of them are now married (yes Kami you are included as a roommate). I just have to say I love married people. :)

The other picture is of my recent haircut.

Today I gave out to Kelli and also whipped up a batch of my famous cookies. I'm still debating on whether I am going to give out that coveted recipe online or not. I'll let you know when the deliberation is over.

I've recently discovered the Artist Owl City, and their song Fireflies. I'm in love with it. I highly recommend them.

I've recently happened upon a definition I love for peace:

Peace is that all is well with that which matters most.

And finally good luck with all of your endeavors whether they be great or small.

Day Number One

This is my family. Mom, Dad, Brother, and Me in Vatican City during summer 08. We love to travel! Our family loves doing things together. I miss them so much while I'm out here at school.

I'm the oldest with my younger brother who is basically the worlds best brother. Ever. His birthday is coming up soon and I am in a quandary of what to get him at the moment.

On the topic of Birthdays, today, actually yesterday I guess, was my roommate Larissa's birthday. We wanted to invite some of our friends over, celebrate her day and play some games. I also wanted to create some kind of culinary masterpiece for her cake ...item. So I attempted to make individual Ghiraradelli Chocolate Lava Cakes, with drizzeled chocolate and strawberry fans. They tasted very good but the problem was that we didn't put in enough of the chocolate center so they didn't burst forth as does lava. So my grade for the overall plate was a C+ for presentation, A- for the taste, overall effect B-. I promise next time to have a picture.

And finally, I only have one thing left to say that has actually been common in my study these last few days for my class and that is:

"We encourage you wherever you may live in the world to prepare for adversity by looking to the condition of your finances. We urge you to be modest in your expenditures; discipline yourselves in your purchases to avoid debt. . . . If you have paid your debts and have a financial reserve, even though it be small, you and your family will feel more secure and enjoy greater peace in your hearts."—The First Presidency

And finally good luck with all your endeavors whether they be great or small.