Am I lazy or chicken?

Well....today has not been productive at all! I am so embarrassed to admit this, but I am not even dressed for the day yet. I've had a headache, and absolutely NO energy. I'm feeling very run-down & burned out. I am so ready for this school year to be over with. We have started testing, and wow, how incredibly frustrating. Plus, I am fighting insomnia, depression, and CLUTTER! I need to clean house, do laundry, do yard work, plan a lesson and activity for Young Women's combined this week, go for a hike or walk, etc... SO MUCH TO DO! Yet, here I sit. I am so glad to have my recliner again! I love it. Then factor in the laptop and hmmm....no wonder! Have you noticed all the changes on my blog? I've enjoyed spending time with it again. If the music bugs you, you can pause it, forward to a song you like, or put your volume on mute. I got this idea from my friend Sweetie Pie. I love how her blog has a soundtrack to it, so I decided to create my own. I've also been looking for blogs to read and to follow. If you have any suggestions, I'd love your ideas.
I've also been thinking about salads. I'm excited for summer because I tend to eat a lot of salad during the summer. Do you have any recipes to share? I have two favorite recipes. One is Oriental Chicken and the other is Malia's Chicken Salad. I've been on a kick for the Oriental Chicken salad. I've made it a couple of times in the past month, and I have more coleslaw mix in my fridge. I must say, I prefer cutting my own cabbage, as I like a rougher cut. I got this recipe before my mission, when I worked at a deli for a few months. Malia's salad is from my years at Sharon Elementary. Malia was the secretary in the office, and this recipe came from her, hence the name. One warning...both salads are huge! I am posting the 1/2 recipe for the Oriental Chicken salad. I sometimes cut it in half yet again, depending on how many people I am feeding, or if it is just me, or if it is a main dish vs. a side salad.
Spring is here, finally. I have been so ready for it. I love spring flowers! I have seeds sprouting, and Gerber Daisies to put in the flower pot out front. I also have a strawberry hanging basket I'm hoping to keep alive. There is an empty flowerbed out under my front window. I might grow some vegetables in there, but I think I need to amend the soil first. Mom has daffodils along her front sidewalk. She moved her tulips in back to keep the deer from munching them down, but the deer found them anyway by jumping the fence.
Well, I'd better share my recipes and get moving before the day is completely gone. Love to you all.

Oriental Chicken Salad
4 cups cooked chicken
1 head cabbage
2 bunches green onions
2 packages Ramen noodles (chicken or oriental)
toasted sesame seeds, almonds, or cashews. I imagine you could even use peanuts.

Dressing:
1 cup oil
6 oz Red Wine vinegar
Ramen seasoning packets
1 tsp sugar

Wash and trim vegetables. Break up Ramen noodles. Toast seeds or nuts if desired. Combine chicken, vegetables, noodles, and seeds/nuts in large bowl. Combine dressing ingredients and whisk thoroughly. Pour dressing over other ingredients. Toss to coat. Can add chow mein noodles on top of individual servings for accent. I have also added mandarin oranges for a change.

Malia's Chicken Salad
4 Chicken breasts, cooked and chopped
1 can Chow Mein noodles (I don't add these to the salad. I use them as a bed for my salad to rest on)
1 Head lettuce, torn in bite-sized pieces
1 bunch green onions, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
3 cups red grapes, cut in half
Roasted cashews

Dressing:
2 cups Mayonnaise
1 cup sour cream
Dash of garlic salt and seasoning salt
salt and pepper to taste

Fold everything together just before serving.

It's a good night for....WAFFLES!

Hi all,
Today has been a long day. After school, the fourth grade teachers were in charge of faculty treats. Each grade level is in charge of hanging decorations in the main hall for one month. Sometime during the month, the teachers in that grade level bring treats for the entire faculty. Well, this was our month. We have the pictures of animals of Utah hanging in the hall (like my rabbit). We decided to get our treats over and done with early this month. We also decided to go over the top! We made waffles and had strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, warm peach syrup,and cool whip or maple syrup not to mention those who simply had butter and waffles. We also had milk and chocolate milk. It was delicious! There was leftover batter, so guess what I get tonight?! Yup, waffles. I'm excited. I love having breakfast for dinner. I don't have a picture yet, but I will try to post one soon.
Well, I'm tired. So...hope you have a good night. Love you all.

(p.s. Aren't you proud of me? Three posts in a week?)

Good Night Waffles

Most of the mixing for these waffles is done the night before. In the morning, just mix in the eggs, vanilla extract, and a pinch of baking soda while the waffle maker is heating. Leftover batter may be covered and kept in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Heat your waffle maker in the morning, stir the batter and have a freshly baked waffle for breakfast.

Makes 6 waffles

½ cup lukewarm (105° F) water
1 Tbsp granulated sugar
2¼ tsp active dry yeast (1 yeast packet)
2 cups whole milk, warmed (about 105° F)
½ cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 tsp salt
2 cups all-purpose flour (sift, or use a spoon to fluff up the flour!)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp baking soda

The night before, or at least 8 hours before baking; combine the warm water, granulated sugar, and yeast. Let stand 10 minutes, until foamy. Stir in the warm milk, melted butter, and salt. Beat in the flour until smooth; (this may be done using a hand mixer on low speed). Wrap bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let stand overnight (or for 8 hours) on the countertop; do not refrigerate. Be sure to leave room in the bowl for the batter to grow. When the batter touches the plastic wrap it should fall.
When ready to bake, preheat your waffle iron. For best results, do not open the waffle maker during the cooking process.
While the waffle maker is heating, stir the eggs, vanilla extract, and baking soda into the batter. Pour batter onto waffle grids (Depending upon your waffle iron, about ¾ c. batter). Bake in waffle iron until done. Waffles may be kept warm in a slow (200° F) oven on a cookie sheet, or put a heating pad in a towel and put the plate on the top. Cover with a lid.
Serve with butter, fresh fruit & berries, jam, powdered sugar, syrup, whipped cream, or warmed peaches (thicken with cornstarch & water, bring to a boil, and add your favorite spices: cinnamon or ginger are mine!)

Berries and Bunnies for Easter

Happy Easter everyone!
I wanted to share with you the recipes for Strawberry Jam (which means JAM SCUM!) and the easiest homemade bread recipe, the one that Grandma Bone and I use when we make bread. I also wanted to share a photo or two of a project I finished just recently. I drew the picture of the jackrabbit using a grid and a blackline master of the rabbit. That was a couple of years ago, and took me a couple of hours. This year, I decided to finish it. I used colored pencils on the rabbit. I had 14 different colors and it took 4-5 hours just to color the rabbit. Most strokes are individual little hairs. Then, I chalked the background to resemble the natural habitat a jackrabbit lives in, sagebrush and desert. I am so amazed that I was able to have a project turn out like this. I've never felt like much of an artist. Using these techniques, taking the time, besides really caring about the results; I have hope! I am planning on framing it. I think I would like a rustic frame, old barn wood or something like that. What is your opinion? This is a project our fourth graders work on every year. We choose animals of Utah, since in both science and social studies we study Utah. (Oh, I digitally enhanced one of the photos, but the other is true to life.)
Yesterday morning, I ate jam scum on toast as part of my breakfast. I absolutely love jam scum! I love making homemade jam. I found the berries on sale and bought 3 cases. I love strawberry jam, raspberry jam, peach jam, apricot jam, I just love jam!
Well, I am going to leave it at that and watch General Conference. It has been fantastic so far. I really needed to be spiritually fed. I love you all!

HOW TO MAKE HOMEMADE BREAD
BY MARLENE IVERSON

HALF AND HALF BREAD (Can make all white or all wheat as desired)

In large bowl combine:

5 cups lukewarm water
½ cup honey or sugar- stir till mostly dissolved
4 Tbsp of yeast, swirl water- let work.

When foamy over whole surface, add:
Approximately 6 cups whole-wheat flour
½ cup oil
3 Tbsp salt

With hand-held mixer, beat until all ingredients are well-blended. Beat a couple of seconds more. Let mixture rest 5-10 minutes. (This allows the gluten to work). Then add:

Approximately 6 cups white flour
A little shortening

Mix and knead to form a nice dough. Let rise till double in size. You may punch it down once before it gets too high and let it rise again or just give it one high rise. Divide dough into 4 loaves…roll in hands, fold edges under, place in a greased loaf pan, push down, then turn over so top has shortening on it and shape to a pretty top. Then place on top of stove, turn oven on to 400° and let rise in pans till doubled in size.

Bake @ 400° for first 10 minutes, then turn oven down to 350° and continue baking for 25 minutes.

When you remove bread from the oven, dump onto kitchen towel or cooling rack, and butter tops.

For raisin, cinnamon swirl bread, when foaming each loaf, roll dough out and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar mixed, sprinkle with plumped raisins, roll up loaf and press and roll swirl back together so when it is sliced it doesn’t unroll. Tuck ends under and place in pan & bake exactly as above.

To plump raisins…place desired amount of raisins in a pan, add water just until covered, put a lid on pan and bring raisins to a boil. Remove from heat and allow to sit for 5 minutes.


Strawberry Jam
4 c. crushed fruit
2 c. water
1 pkg. strawberry kool-aid
1 pkg. pectin

Stir & bring to a boil. Add 8 ½ cups of sugar & bring to a rolling boil. Boil for 5 minutes stirring constantly. Cool 5 minutes, skim & bottle.
This recipe can be used to make almost any flavor of jam. Just change the fruit and choose a matching Kool-aid.

Molasses and Food Storage...Be Prepared!

YES! Be prepared all. It is a new post from me. I imagine you all think a miracle has occurred. Finally, I am beginning to feel a little better. It's amazing what 2 anti-depressants, spring flowers, sleep, sunshine, walking, and fresh strawberry jam scum will do for a person; not to mention Easter, General Conference, and more than a week off for spring break! WA-HOO! I am actually just wrapping up my spring break...back to school come Monday.
Anyway, to get to the heart of this post, I have been feeling impressed upon lately to be prepared. I have been working on a 72 hour kit, and building my individual food storage, as well as help Mom organize her pantry so we know what she needs to get for her storage and what we need to plant in the garden this year. I bought her some gamma lids (I highly recommend them) for her 50th wedding anniversary. I know, weird gift, but very practical. She was excited, so that's what matters. Today I bought three cases of strawberries. We froze enough for 2 batches of jam, plus some for misc. use later on, we made a batch of fresh jam, and I am dehydrating a tray of berry halves and a tray of banana slices, just to see how they turn out. I'm hoping they aren't hard as rocks. Plus I gave a few strawberries to neighbors, and Mom and I each kept some to eat. I couldn't pass them up. They were $7.99 for a case. My favorite part of making homemade jam is having jam scum to eat! YUMMY! Plus, I like seeing all the pretty jars, and it smells amazing in the house when we make it. Just like spring. Mmmm!

Pop Quiz Time

Nora is feeling impressed to be prepared because:

a- she is the daughter of a scout and emergency preparedness specialist
b- she is housesitting for people who have spent time in 3rd world countries
c- the prophets have warned us for years/our nation's government has me concerned
d- all of the above

Well, I have food storage all over my kitchen, waiting to be hauled downstairs. Now that I have the flooding issues taken care of, I am ready to get serious about food storage. I bought myself a couple of 5 gallon buckets and gamma lids. I ordered a bucket of honey through Kathy, and this month, my goal is to buy the essentials to make bread to go with all that lovely jam! Does anyone know anything about "living yeast"? If so, I'd appreciate some info. I even plan on grinding some wheat into wheat flour. Mom has a grinder, so I figured I'd better make good use of it.
With all of this, I bet you think I am going to post a recipe for jam, or maybe homemade bread. Nope! Had you fooled, didn't I?! (okay, so maybe the pictures gave it away...) I've decided to post a recipe I made clear back in the fall. I've wanted to post it for several months, but life was complicated, and I was stressed. Now I am ready.
The recipe is a Betty Crocker recipe from the Betty Crocker Cooky Book originally published in 1963. Brent gave me a copy of it, and he even called me the cookie queen. (I helped him break his cookie curse, but that's another story!) The recipe is the best cooky of 1930-1935 Molasses Crinkles. These are cookies that my grandparents & dad would have loved. They have been Mom approved! There are some interesting facts and notes on the page. For example, light molasses comes from the first boil of the sugar cane stalks; dark from the second. For this cookie, the recipe calls for light molasses. I didn't have any, so I used dark, and it was awesome. So, my guess is it just depends on taste. These cookies are thick, chewy and have crackled sugary tops. Cold milk is a must. In my oven, 10 minutes baking time is perfection!

Without further delay, (drum roll if you please)
I give you Molasses Crinkles! (please applaud)

Molasses Crinkles
3/4 c. soft shortening
1 c. brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1/4 c. molasses
2 1/4 c. flour
2 tsp. soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cloves
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ginger
granulated sugar

Mix shortening, sugar, egg, and molasses thoroughly. Measure flour, use knife to level off. (Do not tap or pack flour into measuring cup). Blend all dry ingredients; stir in. Chill.
Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Roll dough in 1 1/4" balls. Dip tops in sugar. Place balls, sugared side up, 3" apart on greased baking sheet. Sprinkle each with 2 or 3 drops of water. Bake 10-12 minutes or just until set but not hard. Makes 4 dozen cookies.

The answer to the quiz is d- all of the above! How many of you got it right? Hmm?!

By the way, you may notice the Be prepared buttons on my profile. If you click on them, it takes you to the Emergency Essentials website Be Prepared. If you post them on your blog, you can earn a free $10 card to Emergency Essentials. If you review the food storage analyzer, you can earn another $10 gift card. For those of you super bloggers, they also give gift cards to guest bloggers. AND...they have giveaways, ideas, recipes, links for emergency preparedness, & much more. So, if you need help being prepared, check it out. I might try the Food Storage Analyzer in the next few days. If I do, I'll let you know what I think.

Well, time to close this mini-novel. Love you all. Happy Easter!
P.S. Keep blogging!