Pad Thai Update:

Well, as all of you know my cooking style is a bit here and a bit there and if I don't have or want it then I'll substitute whatever comes to mind. So that is how I treated the Pad Thai recipe that I posted on here some time ago. I have NEVER actually followed the whole thing- it has tofu, pickled radish and little salted shrimp- where do you even buy those things? I decided to try to find some recipe that would better reflecte what I actually cook up for my family as Pad Thai. The first recipe that I looked at online ended up being this one and it is much closer to what I actually make. It has the tamarind, fish sauce, chili powder/sauce, brown sugar that I have found to be the key to a GREAT Pad Thai. I am going to be sure to make a double amount of sauce I love my food to have lots of flavor and be a bit saucy. I haven't tried making pad thai with garlic, but since the garlic and the red chili are just used for cooking the chicken, I'm sure it'll be great. I love garlic and I look forward to trying it! Generally, I use whatever meat I have on hand, chicken or shrimp. My one concern is that it does not have eggs - which seems to just be an omission Here is a more accurate and fabulous Pad Thai Recipe http://thaifood.about.com/od/quickeasythairecipes/r/onepagechickpad.htm The computer wouldn't let me copy and paste the recipe.

I AM watching YOU!

Felicity and I have been having a discussion recently. It goes something like this:

Felicity was explaining why she did something that she wasn't supposed to do.

Felicity: "I did ___ and Danarra helped, but You weren't watching us"

Mommy: "Well, it is mommy's job to teach you what the rules are and your job to follow them whether Mommy is watching or not. Mommy can not watch you all the time."

I'm not sure if it really sunk in or not, but I guess we shall see. And I think we will have to have the discussion a few more times to be sure it is understood.

I'm trying out a new salmon recipe on the grill!

It came from http://hubpages.com/hub/Worlds-Best-Grilled-Salmon-Recipe

Best Grilled Salmon Recipe in the World

Grilled Salmon Recipe Ingredients

• 8 salmon fillets

Best Salmon Marinade Ingredients

• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 5 tablespoons soy sauce
• 4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 3 teaspoons brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, more or less to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced

Place salmon fillets in a large resealable plastic bag. In a separate medium bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients. Whisk together well, and pour over the salmon in the plastic bag. Remove the air from the bag and seal tightly. Marinate the salmon fillets in the refrigerator for 8 hours or overnight.

Wrap the salmon fillets tightly in aluminum foil. Spray the inside of the aluminum foil with non-stick cooking spray before adding the salmon. Lightly oil the grill grates. Grill the salmon for 15 minutes per inch of thickness on a medium hot grill, or until salmon just flakes with a fork. Turn salmon over halfway through grilling.

Baking salmon instructions- After marinating the salmon overnight, place salmon fillets in a glass baking dish that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Pour the leftover marinade over the salmon. Bake in a preheated oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake for about 20 minutes or until salmon flakes easily with a fork.

After you try this grilled salmon recipe, I think that you will agree that it is the best grilled salmon recipe you have ever tasted. You will never make grilled salmon differently again.

And it marinates over night so I get to have something else tonight for dinner.

"Cops help people when they are dead."

Yes, kids DO say the darnedest things. This gem came from Felicity as she was sitting curled up on the playroom couch. It sounded like the "cops" were having it out with the "mean old witch" at the park. The "mean old witch" was a character in a Joy school Halloween song. But I am unsure where the "cops" came from. We have talked about policeman and police cars, but I can't recall the cops being part of any prior conversations. So I asked her "What are Cops?" Her response was "Cops help people when they are dead." Well, I guess that IS part of their job description!

Pad Thai!!!! Yum!

Erynne came over today and we made some amazing Pad Thai! Pad Thai is one of Ben's favorite dishes and he has a hard time trying anything else on the menu at restaurants if Pad Thai is available. Loving wife that I am, I decided to make it. It was a great success and we will be trying it again, and again. Even the munchkins and a cousin loved it and asked for more.

Here is the link for recipe I used. http://www.thaifoodandtravel.com/recipes/padthai.html

I found that it was made using techniques very similar to fried rice, which is quickly becoming a family stable and is very easy to make! Thanks to Katie for the inspiration and encouragement to make Pad Thai!

Philly Cheese Steak Stroganoff

I made this Roast Beef up for our Valentine's Dinner. It is very good.

Roast Beef
Mix
3 tbs kosher salt
2 tbs course black pepper
Rub into bottom round beef roast. Roast in oven at 450*F until a nice crust is formed. Lower temperature to 300*F and put temperature probe into roast. Roast until interior reaches Medium rare. Remove and let cool. Refrigerate overnight. Slice into deli meat. This is amazingly wonderful meat.

I had some left over meat and made this for dinner tonight! It was so quick and easy. I made it up with the thought of stroganoff. My husband loved it and said that it reminded him of a Philly Cheese Steak on Pasta! Two of his favorite things to eat.


1 can Cream of Mushroom
1/4 cup green pepper
1/4 cup onion
1/2 cup white cheese(provolone, mozzarella, or swiss)
1 1/2 lb deli Roast Beef sliced into strips
1 1/2 cups beef bullion
1 cup sour cream
1 lb pasta of your choice

Saute onion and green pepper. Add cream of mushroom soup and cheese, simmer. Warm up bullion to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in beef. Combine soup and beef, fold in sour cream. Serve over pasta.

Asian Sesame Pork Stir Fry

Last week had some inspired ideas for dinner, so I thought I would share by way of documenting for future cooking.
I had some country style pork ribs (they have no bones). I usually cook them with a little BBQ sauce for a tasty (and a bit heavy) dinner. Alas No BBQ sauce in the fridge.... so I sliced it thin on the bias and removed as much of the fat and connective tissue as possible. The trick is to under cook the pork so that it is barely finished when served.

Asian Sesame Pork Stir Fry
2 tbs sesame seed oil
1 tbs soy sauce
1 lb thinly sliced pork
1/2 cup Feast From the East Sesame Dressing (or other kind of Sesame dressing)
2 cups frozen mixed peppers
1 cup sliced onions
Saute pork in oil and soy sauce until barely a little pink. Remove, pour on dressing and set aside.
Saute peppers and onions in the pan adding more oil if needed. Return meat to pan with peppers and onions. Serve over rice. Could be really nice with crunchy chow mien noodles or add pineapple for a sweet flavor.

Things to do

So I want to put together a list of things to do around Anchorage. I decided that this blog would be a good place to put it so that other moms can use it to! If you have something else to add just send me a comment with a link of the info on the new event. I'll keep updating it.
Some of these ideas will come from the Muni's Parks and Rec. Winter 2010 Activity Guide

ZOO
Sing-a-long M 10:30 am Guitar Musician Annie Reeves brings a variety of musical instruments to share with our budding musician. Children are encouraged to sing and play along. (regular admission/passes apply) http://www.alaskazoo.org/singalongs.htm
Story Time W 10:30 Storytime lasts approximately 30 - 45 minutes, including the animal encounter. Children must be accompanied by adults during the program.(regular admission/passes apply) http://www.alaskazoo.org/storytime.htm

H2Oasis

• Parent Child time M-F 11-2pm (P+1 child $6, P+2 children $9)
  http://www.h2oasiswaterpark.com/winteractivityschedule.asp
• Riverwalk time Morning: M W F 7-10 am Evening: T TH 5-8 pm http://www.h2oasiswaterpark.com/riverwalk.asp

*********Punch cards are available for both Parent/Child time and for the Riverwalk. If you buy the discounted gift cards at Costco you can use them to buy a punch card and get it for even cheaper!!!!**********

Library Storytimes
current schedule
http://lexicon.ci.anchorage.ak.us/guides/kids/spspring2008.html

High School pools
Links to the schedules for each of the high school pools are available at the following link:
http://www.muni.org/departments/parks/pages/pools.aspx
Price: Adult $5 Youth (4-18 year) $3 10 punch card: Adult $45 Youth $27

The Wonderful World of Senses

Well, it was my turn to teach Joy School again. This time the lessons this week are on the five senses. It was pretty funny having the kids try to put a ball in bowl across the room without using various parts of their bodies. For instance, blindfolding their eyes, or covering their ears. I think the most fun was when they couldn't use their legs- I had to show them how they might push with their hands or roll across the room. It is not vary easy to roll on the ground when several months pregnant. I was glad that they were the only witnesses since they don't notice things like that!

We got to taste and smell various powders; pepper, jello, cocoa, salt, sugar. When asked what they thought each was, one of the little boys said "sugar" for everything from jello to black pepper!

Below I've posted the audio file of sounds that we made so that we could learn more about hearing.

Ben is back home after a trip to Texas, for work, and Colorado, for play. Ok, so the Colorado wasn't just play- he went to see his brother Jeremiah. They seem to have enjoyed it, and I am enjoying having Ben back to myself- with a couple (make that a few) munchkins in between!

Another one on the way!!

I just glanced at the last few posts and realized that last I posted about the girls, D was only 3 months old. Now she is 14 months old and everywhere. We are 3 months away from having baby #3 with a twist since they are getting a Brother. Felicity Couldn't be happier since that is what she asked for and Danarra has no idea what is coming!

Our curly headed Danarra is into everything and loves Books-she brings them to anyone she thinks might know how to read them to her, Stuffed animals and dolls- she'll grin and give them big hugs- often she categorizes smalled children in this group as well and Mommy has to save the other child from smothering or being knocked over!

Beautiful energetic Felicity has started Joy School (Mommy and two other ladies are the teachers). She is proud of all her pictures and loves to tell everyone about her school. She is a big girl!!!

Mommy is teaching Joy school next week for the first time and is a bit nervous- probably should just make sure she reads and prepares her lessons. It is also a challenge to be prepared for a new little one but I can't wait until he comes- December 18 is the due date and we'll be thrilled to meet him!

Like a bad Penney, I'm back!!!

Well, my cousin reminded me about a month ago that I have been lax about my online blogging correspondence. So I guess that means that someone actually looks at this thing!

So today I was trying to decide what to do for dinner and figured that I can type and think at the same time.

Here are my thoughts:

I have some salmon that should be eaten in the freezer and haven't had salmon since Mom and Dad got back from dip netting on the Kenai River!

I have several Zucchini and a large Ziploc of Carrots that are on the counter from my mother-in-law's trip to the local U-Pick farm

2 Mushrooms

Some red, yellow and orange Peppers

1 Roasted Garlic

Peaches from the freezer

Now to find something to do with all this bounty...

Bake the salmon with something yummy, serve with pasta (Julienne Zucchini, Roasted Garlic, Olive oil, a few red pepper flakes,??)

Salmon en Papillote - Salmon and julienne/ thin sliced vegetables cooked in parchment paper

Hmmm...

Ok I'll Pan fry the salmon with a seafood rub and then finish it in the oven while I saute up some of the Zucchini (julienned) in olive oil, roasted garlic and Red Pepper flakes. Add 1/4 Red Onion (sliced), a tablespoon of Flour, a can of diced tomatoes. Heat until bubbling. Serve it over Angel Hair Pasta .

And the peaches... with strawberries or triple berry blend? Cobbler, Crisp, Pie, tart?

after a search online I found a strawberry Peach upside down cake using cake mix, strawberry and peach jello with peaches- substitute raspberry jello and we have Melba upside down cake

http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,186,147161-252193,00.html

STRAWBERRY-PEACH UPSIDE DOWN CAKE

1 can (29 oz.) sliced peaches 1 pkg. strawberry Jello (4 serving size) 1 pkg. peach Jello (4 serving size) 1 tsp. cinnamon 1/3 c. butter (melted) 1 pkg. yellow cake mix Arrange peaches in buttered 13x9 inch pan. Combine strawberry and peach Jello and cinnamon in small bowl. Sprinkle about 3/4 of the mixture evenly over peaches; dot with butter. Prepare cake mix according to package instructions. Pour 3/4 of the batter into pan. Stir remaining gelatin mixture into remaining cake batter. Blend well and pour over batter in pan. Swirl spatula through batter to marble. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 45 minutes or until fork comes out clean. Cool on wire rack 5 minutes. Turn out onto platter and cool. May top with Cool Whip.

Menu tonight:

Pan fried Salmon with Zucchini Tomato Pasta (topped with a little fresh Parmesan)

Melba Upside Down Cake with whipped cream on top!!!!

Two are more than one!

Well I keep trying to stay up on things. I guess that I just need to be better at scheduling and planning. I seem to have a built in adversion to planning my days out meticulously, even though I am fairly sure that it would help. I bet that has nothing to do with the hours of family planning meetings that have I attended. It just seems like it would be so much work and I have no sense of time.
Danarra is nearly 3 months old and I am learning how much more work it is to run after a two year old when carrying a 3 month old. A stroller is a lifesaver- you can run faster when pushing a stroller than when trying to haul a baby filled carseat. I guess the up side is that I'm expending more energy and have less time to eat! So I hoping to be getting very slender soon! Yeah right! Well, I can dream!

I am back!

Well, I haven't been doing all that well with this keeping up with this Blog thing! School is starting again this week and it will be a busy week! My wonderful sister will be watching the munchkins while go cavorting back to school and try my hand at Fine Dining Restaurant Serving in my Hospitality class. I look forward to seeing ALL of you come in and have lunch with ME!!!

I let my wonderful brother in law talk me into working at a precinct for this election season! Yes, I am going to be a Precinct Chairman (as in I am running the joint!) I have always enjoyed helping at the elections when I can and he took away all my arguments when he said that his wife could watch Felicity and I could just bring Danarra with me. He even sweetened the deal by recruiting two of my brothers to work for me! How could I say no? So, I will be gone working all day tomorrow- see you at the polls!!!

Ben is back in town for a couple of days, his work took him up to Fairbanks last week and he is going to be returning there on Wednesday to try to conclude the business needed up there. Thankfully he is planing on being back in town for my big Ward party that I am coordinating. The Huffman Ward Second Annual Duct Tape Boat Regatta and Ward BBQ
Sounds like fun, huh? It would be a lot more fun for ME if I had some help getting it organized! But alas all others are busy, so that is how the dice rolls and I will do my best!

Thanks to Ben!

Well, as you can see Ben has helped me out with the technical details of the blog and has posted some wonderful pictures of our darling little ones! Danarra is working hard to grow big and strong and is eating constantly! Felicity is overjoyed to hold her "baby sister" even when she shouldn't be! We had some struggles today with trying to convince Felicity that she was NOT allowed to PULL Danarra into her lap when she wanted to hold her.

A few pictures, as promised

It's a GIRL!!!!!!

We are pleased to announce the arrival of our second Daughter, Danarra Clair Marvin. She joined our family at 5:40pm July 9, 2008. Danarra was 7 lb 9 oz and 20 inches long. She has a beautiful head of dark hair and is absolutely beautiful!

Felicity is thrilled to be a big sister and is often found commanding Danarra that she wake up! When Danarra does wake up or end a feeding, Felicity dances and shouts to everyone that "Danarra Wake, Danarra wake!!!!!"

Daddy is helping Mommy to recover by making sure she doesn't move much. Which is driving Mommy crazy- there are only so many times you can read the same book and it is awful just sitting and thinking of all that I could be doing!!!!
Relief is on it's way though! Ben has agreed to go to the library for me and get me some books to read!!! Poor Ben is having to work quite a bit too even though they had agreed to give him leave. They are in the middle of a big project and apparently he is indispensable. He may even be going up to Fairbanks and down to Juneau in the next couple of months. Both places need the same work done as he just finished in Kenai!

We'll get some pictures on soon!

My latest culinary creation was inspired by tring to use what was in the fridge.
We had a bunch of veggie tray vegetables leftover and weren't munching on them.

Crunchy Vegetable Salad

Broccoli, Cauliflower, Carrots, Snap peas
Dried Cranberries
Lime juice
Mayonnaise
Sugar
Dill weed
Salt and Pepper
Feta Cheese
Diced ham

Cut veggies up into small bite sized pieces, carrots into thin slices, toss in a handful or two of cranberries (I like quite a bit, makes it sweeter and chewy!) Mix 5-6 squirts lime juice with a couple of spoonfuls of mayo, a teaspoon or two of sugar, a dash of dill, and a big sprinkle of salt and pepper. Taste and adjust seasoning. Pour over veggies and adjust as needed. I had to add a couple more spoonfuls of mayo to get it the right consistency. Covering the veggies lightly but fully. Toss in some Feta and ham to make it even better!!!
Ben and Jeremiah both liked this and it is quite filling and Very healthy!!!

SURPRISE!!!!!!

Well, I guess all of our children are determined to make a grand entrance all their own! Felicity, of course, joined our family when we found out that she was full breech and had to have a C-Section within the next couple of days! This little one has decided to put up a stink and the doctor has decided to help it into the world a couple of days earlier than the scheduled C Section! We will be going in at 3pm and having it about 5- 5:30 ish. It does look to be a bit bigger than Felicity was and should have a large head according to in utero measurements. No, we still have no idea about gender, but we'll let you know when we do. I figured that today I could relax and go get some books from the library to ease the boredom of feeding a newborn around the clock, but look at this! I got one hour of sleep last night, am itching like you wouldn't believe AND I get to STARVE all day until they cut me open!
Erynne came over to help me pack up. Mom gets to do her grandma duty and spoil Felicity while we are in the hospital for 3-4 days!
Got to go or be late to the hospital!

Taco Mountain

1 lb Stew beef
Taco seasoning
3 cup cooked Rice
1 cup Corn
1 cup Salsa
Cheddar jack cheese
Corn chips
Iceburg lettuce
Tomatoes

Heat olive oil and brown beef, toss in 1/3 cup taco seasoning. Add corn, rice, and salsa. Serve with lettuce, tomatoes, chips, cheese, and salsa.
Would be even better with a can of black beans and some sour cream in it too!

Correspondence

Ok, I am not a very good correspondent at all! I can't even seem to write en mass.
We have been having fun and staying busy. In June Ben had to work down in Kenai for a couple of weeks, Felicity and I were able to join him for the first week and play in Soldotna and Kenai. Since getting back I have begun the count down to Baby time. Thanks to Mom, Erynne, Ben, and his Bro, Jason our house is finally looking like there is a baby coming soon. In fact, we will be having baby Marvin on Friday, July 11, 2008. I am so very ready to have this kiddo out! It will also be nice to know if it is a girl or a boy finally! I don't think I like the anticipation of not knowing- too bad my children never consult me about if I want to know or not!
One of the other things I have been working on is making sure that there is easy to create food on hand for Ben to cook. As we were discussing this and I was trying to figure out what I usually cook, I came to the realization that I don't follow recipes when cooking. I follow ideas from recipes. Yes, I know this is not a great revelation to anyone who has eaten at my house. But it did give me some thing to think about and Ben suggested that I should blog my dinners online. I have decided to try it and see what comes of it. Especially since some of our favorite dishes are lost to time because I didn't write down what in the world I put in them!

Here is my first attempt:

Dinner tonight was Chicken Broccoli Alfredo
What I put in it:
1 Chicken breast, seasoned with garlic and paprika, slice and sautéed
2 cup Broccoli, tossed in with pasta for the last 3 minutes of cooking
1 packet powdered Alfredo pasta sauce mix (knorr brand I think)
8 oz small pasta

Make alfredo sauce as directed, I added a dash of cayenne pepper and about a tablespoon of dried parsley.
Boil pasta as directed, add broccoli for the last three minutes.
Once the sauce is done toss pasta, broccoli, and chicken in sauce and serve with Parmesan cheese.

This was done in about 30 minutes becauce the chicken had to cook. You could use canned or pre-cooked chicken and it would be finished in the 10 minutes it takes to boil the pasta. It serves three adults.

Yesterday's dinner was pretty good too.
BBQ Ribs
1 rack spare ribs
Montreal steak seasoning
BBQ sauce

Slice ribs into 2-3 rib sections. Sprinkle with Montreal steak seasoning and put in crock pot (slow cooker). Cook for 5 hours on high.

Remove from crock pot. (strain fat and use broth for soup) Place ribs on cooking sheet (line with foil to help with mess clean up) brush with BBQ sauce and place in oven set to low broil. Broil for 15 minutes or until sauce has browned and caramelized. Turn over and brush with more sauce, broil 15 more minutes.
We served ours with potato salad and veggie sticks with ranch dip.

Growth Estimates

So Johanna today got very excited about a growth estimate for children she found online somewhere. She quickly typed in her height, and my height, and then Felicity's height and weight. The results? At age 18, Felicity can expect to be a paltry 5 foot 3. Here I was hoping for giant children to look up to, and put me in my place. Instead I get midgets. Sheesh!

Of course only time will tell, and we'll love her just the same. Honest.