Winter Vegetable Stew

I have to credit my sister-in law for posting this site for the recipe. I made it last night and I liked it a lot. Brady ate most of it and Lani was coerced to eat it, if she wanted some healthy banana bread for our FHE treat.

Winter Vegetable Stew

1 cup onions, cut into 1/2 inch wedges

1 sweet potato

2 carrots

1 lb. banana or Hubbard squash

1 cup parsnips

2 cloves of garlic

1 red bell pepper

2 cups low sodium vegetable broth

1 cup pureed tomato (I used tomato sauce)

2 Tbsp. lime juice

1/4 tsp. cayenne (or desired amount)

1 (10 oz) package of frozen peas

1/4 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. pepper

1 bunch of cilantro sprigs rinsed or thinly sliced green onions (I used green onions)

Directions:

Peel onions and cut into 1/2 inch wedges. Peel parsnips, carrots and sweet potatoes into 3/4-inch pieces. Peel and mince the garlic or press garlic. Rinse bell pepper cut into 1/2-inch strips, I cut smaller, to hide them from my non-pepper lovers!

Cook onions, parsnips, carrots, sweet potatoes, squash and garlic in 1 cup of broth for 10 minutes in covered pan, stir occasionally. Add a few tablespoons of water if it starts to stick.

Add 1 more cup of broth, along with bell pepper, tomato sauce, lime juice and cayenne to taste. Return to boil and then reduce heat. Simmer covered until vegetables are tender when pierced about 12-15 minutes. If stew sticks to pan or gets thicker then desired, add more broth as needed.

Add peas and stir occasionally until hot, about 2 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Ladle soup in bowls and garnish with cilantro or sliced green onions.

It was quite good, I added some saltines for some more texture and my kidlets liked that a lot. I was hoping to serve with freshly baked whole wheat bread, but I took a little nap and didn't get to that!

I found this recipe by searching under ingredients. I got some parsnips from bountiful baskets a couple of weeks ago and wanted a different recipe. I had almost everything in my fridge, my friend gave me a squash and all I needed was the pepper. Good for a colder fall night like last night!

Green Curry

I have been meaning to post this for a long time and I apologize for no picture. This is so yummy, I wish my husband liked it more, but that doesn't stop me :)

I make this with chicken, but it could easily be omitted for those that don't eat meat.

Green Curry
1 c. chicken
1 medium onion thinly sliced
1 red pepper, thinly sliced
1/2 c. frozen peas
2 Tbsp. green curry paste
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. fresh basil
1 can coconut milk
1 Tbsp. chopped garlic
2 Tbsp. fish sauce
2 Tbsp. palm sugar (I have used sucanat and turbinado) I add to taste, how sweet do you want it???
Kaffir leaf (I can never find this, so I have made without)

Saute: chicken, garlic, onion, pepper remove from pan.
Over medium heat add: coconut milk, don't boil, then add curry paste add your saute mix, then add fish sauce, sugar, basil leaves, kaffir leaf and peas. Heat until peas are cooked, but try not to boil.

Serve over rice and enjoy!

Brother and Sister

Since Brady started school, my youngest children have really started to have a lot of fun together. At first, Leilani didn't know how to play without Brady she seemed very lost without him. Lately, she has no problem being the "leader" and Carter has no problem following her! He adores her! I love how sweet and loving they are to each other, hoping this lasts! This will help Carter with the adjustment of our new addition coming in the spring.

Soccer fun

As I am posting this, we are finished with soccer. Brady had his last soccer game this morning and since I haven't posted any pictures from the season, I figured we would have a lot of pictures all at one time.

Since this is the first sport he has been able to play, since they aren't available where we live until they are in kindergarten, it was a change. At first he was having a hard time, "Mom, I'm not good!" I kept telling him that everyone else was just learning too, so stop worrying so much!

By the end of the season he had a blast and loved it! He had so much fun playing and had a smile on his face the whole time. He seemed to understand the rules and was quite intense about following the ball. You should have seen the last game when he was goalie, hilarious! He needed some reigning in, because he was going to get that ball!

It liked watching him learn and start to excel at something, but now we will take a break. I am not too excited for the next sport, touch football, so we will take a break and hopefully will have a basketball player next!

Carter enjoying his breakfast, too cute not to post!

Brady's first soccer black eye! I believe this was from his second game.


Brady as goalie


Brady throwing the ball, love that Carter is right on the field!


Brady with his trophy, the soccer ball rolls, he thinks it is so cool!

Team picture, I wish he would smile!

Pumpkin patch and corn maze

Last year we went north and we did the same this year. It was a lot of fun, getting pricey the older the kids get and they love the corn maze, so that makes it even more. Here are some pics from our outing.

Bryce with the kids

Creative Canning

This year was the first time that I really canned. Last summer I did some peaches with my at my in-laws and that was a learning experience, since I had never canned before in my life. Crazy, since my mom canned like crazy when I was little, but I was too little to remember.

So I went crazy, I ordered a 26 pound box of apples from Bountiful Baskets and then I ordered 96 pounds of pears, yes, crazy! Over conference weekend I canned like crazy. I made: apples, applesauce, pears and then fruit cocktail, because I added a half a box of peaches to make it more fun!

The fruit cocktail is frozen so no canning there, not that it didn't take a lot of time to do. I am happy with the results and glad that canning really is only once a year! Maybe next year I will do it again, if I am that crazy again!

I was amazed at how Leilani and Carter were. They were so awesome to make up games and keep themselves entertained, without tv. I had to put up a table, since I had no where to put all of the unfinished cans and they made a cute game using old lids and tops from other cans.

Here are all of the cans and the kids' air-hockey table:

Rollin' and eatin'

A month or so ago I made some whole wheat buns using our favorite bread recipe found here . I have tried making buns by just balling them up and then cutting them in the middle, I found that they are crumbly and very messy. My sister-in-law gave me this idea and it worked great!


I rolled out the dough and took a big cup to cut them into circles. Place on a cookie sheet and bake, I believe it was for about 12-15 minutes. Match up similar circles for your sandwiches or burgers and yum! They weren't crumbly and were very soft, even Bryce said, "Not nearly as bad as I thought they were going to be." Thanks babe!

Here are some cute pictures of the kidlets helping me roll them out.

I think Carter liked eating the dough raw, more then cooked!