Scalloped Potatoes

I didn't take a picture of my finished potatoes, but this one closely resembles mine (and I feel like I need a picture when I give out recipes)

My scalloped potatoes were a hit at Christmas! A friend asked for my recipe before Christmas so she could make them for her family dinner and my parents recently asked me for it so I figured I would put it on here for all :o)

1/4 cup onion

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp flour

1 1/4 cup milk

3 med potatoes

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

3/4 cup shredded cheese

Saute onion in butter. Stir in flour, salt and pepper. Add milk. Cook and stir until thick and bubbly. Remove from heat. Grease baking dish and layer bottom with 1/2 potatoes and cover with 1/2 the sauce. Repeat. I top the dish with the cheese (some people layer it)

cover with foil and Bake at 350 for 35 minutes. Uncover and bake for 30 min or until potatoes are tender.

Homemade cinnamon rolls with cream cheese icing

Cinnamon rolls

1 Cup water

1 Cup butter

3/4 C sugar

2 tsp salt

1 cup cold water

4 eggs, slightly beaten

2 (.25 ounce) pkgs yeast 

1/2 cup warm water

7 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup cinnamon

In a large pot bring 1 cup of water to a boil. Add the 1 cup of butter, sugar, and salt. Remove from heat. Add 1 cup cold water. When mixture is lukewarm, add beaten eggs. In a separate bowl, dissolve yeast in the 1/2 cup warm water. Allow yeast to rise about 5 minutes, until foamy. Stir into mixture. Add flour and stir together. Cover pan with lid and refrigerate overnight.

When ready to roll out, divide dough into thirds. Lightly flour surface. Roll dough out in to 12x6 inch rectangle about 1/2 in thick. Spread each rectangle with one-third of the softened butter. In a bowl combine brown sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle one-third of brown sugar mixture over surface of dough.

Roll up jelly-roll style and cut into about 12 rounds. Place on greased baking sheet. Follow same procedure with remaining dough. Let raise 2-3 hours*. Bake one sheet at a time at 375 degrees. for about 15 min or until lightly browned. spread cream cheese frosting over rolls when warm. Makes 3-4 dozen.

*I didn't let one of pans raise that long (I let them raise about 5 min) and they turned out just fine :o)

I really dislike powdered sugar glaze and a lot of cream cheese icing recipe's because all I taste is powdered sugar so I use this one for a number things- cookies, cinnamon rolls, and cakes.

Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz cream cheese

1/4 cup butter, softened

2 tbsp sour cream

2 tsp vanilla

16 oz confectioners sugar

Blend all ingredients together with electric mixer. All done!

Christmas in picture form!

I have dreamed of this for a very long time- Christmas with a sweet  husband and  a precious  little child. Even though we have already had one christmas as a family of 3, we really loved this christmas. Greg was so excited about wrapping Evan's presents and even more excited for him to wake up in the morning!

Christmas Eve Santa cookie making

Evan attempts to eat raw dough

check out my rockin' red skinny jeans! I would wear them everyday if it wasn't gross and weird! 

Toy story game for his Innotab! He loves woody's face.

"Papoo" helped open presents and "Mamoo" ctook mucho pictures!

My little sugar was running a fever :o( he's got "sick eyes"

Innotab!

Tunnel o' fun

I will soon post my cinnamon roll and cream cheese icing recipe we used on Christmas eve for Christmas morning breakfast.

You will never frost with another cream cheese icing recipe after you've tried mine!

Merry Christmas Eve!

The festivities have begun! Greg and I started wrapping presents, making cinnamon rolls and dinner rolls for tomorrow and we will soon be making cookies for Santa. Evan gets to open a couple presents tonight, which I am so excited about! I love starting our own little traditions!

Last night we took my parents up to SLC to Temple square to see the lights. We wanted to do the carriage ride and we stood in line, but it was way too close to Evan's bedtime and that child had his cranky pants on, so we nixed it :o(

They had lots of choirs going on too, but it was sooo busy we didn't go listen to any. I was surprised it was so busy on a Sunday, but indeed it was.

Anyway, it was so pretty and I'm glad we finally made it there. After 4 years of living here we finally went to see the Christmas lights at temple square. We talked about it every year, but we just never did it.

look at the temple in the back! So pretty!

I'm so excited for Christmas tomorrow! It's going to be fun teaching him what Christmas is really about and reading Luke 2!

I love this time of year

I love prepping for Christmas, it's so exciting!

It's like Christmas for 25 days because we ordered pretty much every Christmas present for Evan and each other online and we have gifts coming from family, so we keep getting presents nearly everyday and it's pretty exciting.

Christmas Eve will soon be here and we get to make homemade cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning and cookies for santa! 

That tree no longer has ornaments...just lights. All the little child's fault.

Cute little child story I have to share- Every morning when Evan wakes up I always say, "hi, baby!"

This is the conversation Evan and I had one morning recently:

Evan- "Mommy?"

Me- "What sweetheart?"

Evan- "Hi, baby" 

oh that sweet child melts me every second of his life.

What happens when the boys are left home alone together?

a few of my favorite things

Smooth minerals foundation

I use all colors except the blue..

Smooth minerals blush

a note about the previous post

I forgot to mention that I made the tree skirt out of 2 flat sheets. I picked them up at the local thrift store and I don't even know what size they were. I used a white flat sheet on the bottom and a cream colored one for the ruffle part. The flat sheets plus the glue for the glue gun total cost to make this skirt = $7.66

Can I just tell you that I got excited about something the other day and I said, "Holla!" and my little man then repeated it back exactly the way I said it? I love him.

He saying more and more 2 and 3 word sentences and melts me. always. my favorite right now is, "Where daddy go?"

Tree skirt

My husband did the measuring and I did the cutting and glue gunning. His help always makes things go faster.

I love it :o)

I followed these directions here

Crock Pot Roasted Tomato-basil Soup

I love my crock pot and I really love tomato soup that doesn't come from a can.

2 Cans(28oz each) peeled whole tomatoes, drained and 3 cups liquid reserved.

2 1/2 tbsp packed dark brown sugar

1 med onion, finely chopped

3 cups chicken broth

3 tbsp tomato paste

1/4 tsp ground allspice (I didn't use this because I don't like it)

1 can evaporated milk (5 ounces)

1/4 cup shredded fresh basil ( I used dried, but I would recommend fresh)

salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat Oven to 450 degrees. Line baking sheet with foil; spray with nonstick cooking spray. Arrange tomatoes on foil in single layer. Sprinkle with brown sugar and top with onion. Bake about 25-30 min or until tomatoes look dry and light brown. Let tomatoes cool slightly; finely chop.

2. Place tomato mixture, 3 cups reserved liquid from tomatoes, broth, tomato paste and allspice (if you choose) in crock pot. Mix well. cook on low 8 hours or on high for 4 hours.

3. Add evaporated milk and basil; season with salt and pepper. cook on high for 30 min or until hot.

My husband hates tomatoes and therefore tomato soup, but he did say, "well, I don't hate this as much as I hate canned soup." Thank you husband, thank you. 

Our neighbors got lots of tomato soup because there was no way I was eating it all by myself.

remember when...

I made this

Laundry Detergent?

Well it cost me about $10 bucks maybe a little less to make and I still have at least 2 months left of it. I made it March 10th, 2012. Our laundry smells delightful and it gets everything just as clean as the expensive stuff. 9 months and still going strong? I'd say it's a total winner and money saver!