Clam Chowder

I remember growing up and it was tradition to have Clam chowder on Christmas Eve.. we did it for years and then we switched it to French Dip sandwiches because none of us kids would eat the clam chowder... Now that I have more developed tastebuds and a passion for food, I love clam chowder and we've decided to make it our Christmas Eve tradition. Of course I serve it with chicken strips so my kids will at least eat something that night! So I made it for Christmas eve and my oh my did it turn out good! Iwas even told by several of Darwin's family members thatit was better than their grandma's!!! yes, I can die happy now! I didn't really write out my recipe... but here is what I did.

1/2 lb bacon
3 leekes
2 stalks celery, small diced
1/2 cup flour
6 cans of diced clams, save the juice
2 T butter
2 cups chicken stock
1 T garlic minced
2 cups milk
5 large potatoes, peeled and diced
salt and pepper to taste

Start by dicing the bacon and cook till brown and crispy, drain and set aside. Now one might say, bacon in clam chowder? Won't that take away from the sweet chewiness of the clams?? But I tell yo trust me, it adds a nice smokiness to it and it is tasty!! Next slice the leeks in half then slice then place in a bowl full cold water to clean, the dirt will sink to the bottom and you can scoop out the leeks on to a dry towel. (I use leeks rather than onions because they add a suttle onion flavor) In a large stock pot, melt the butter, saute the garlic and leeks, add the celery and potatoes and cook for a few minutes. Add the bacon and flour. The flour should heavily coat all of the chunks of goodness, if it seems like you need more flour go ahead and add more. Add the drained clams. season with a bit of pepper. Add the clam juice and chicken stock, stir well to combine all of the flour. Add the milk and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and allow to cook for at least 45 minutes. If it is too thick add more milk, too thin you can mix some flour and milk and combine it but be sure to bring soup back to a boil to get the full thickness. Season to taste and serve hot with crackers. Mmmmm Mmmmm good!

My sister Jessica

I always seem to be emotional around the holidays especially when I know I'm not going to be with my family. Having my grandmother recently hasn't help and we also found out Darwin didn't get a job we really felt he was going to get. So keeping with my emotional state and sentimental feelings of late, here is a recipe and post about an example in my life. My sister Jessica. Now don't get me wrong all of my sisters are amazing examples to me... but I'm pretty sure Jessica is the only one that cooks and this is a cooking blog so... :) I love you Laura, Miranda and Jana! Jessica is incredible and I look up to her so very much. She is the mother of five active kids and still manages to keep the house in order the kids in order and still look amazing and stylish. She has given me many encouraging talks and words of wisdom. She has always been there for me. This past weekend at my grandmother's funeral I was going through some of her photos and found pictures of her and I playing the leaves. I wish we were closer to each other so I could get pictures of our children playing together. She is a great example to me of what a good wife and mother and member of the Church is and I pray that I can someday be as wonderful as she is. I love you Jessica! This is a recipe she sent me. I haven't tried it yet but it sure sounds Delicious.

1 cup Catalina dressing

1 can cranberry sauce or 1 cup prepared cranberries

1 pkg Lipton soup mix

chicken breast

Combine and cover over top of the chicken breast. Bake at 350` for 1 hour. Serve hot over brown or long grain rice, with the extra sauce.

Grandma Grace Macbeth

This post is in honor of my Grandmother who passed away this week. 99% of my readers will already have this recipe but I wanted something to remind me of my grandma. I started by showing the kids a picture of Grandma, I explained to them that she died this past week and that mommy was really sad. I explained that it is okay that she died because she is with Grandpa and Heavenly Father and that she is happy. I then told them we were going to do something fun that will help us remember Grandma. I then told them that Whenever Grandma Macbeth came to visit I would wake up in the mornings and she would be in the kitchen rolling out scones to make. I loved it! We would cut them into different shapes and fry them up. I rember Grandma always cut them into rectangles then slit the middle and inverted one end into the other to twist it a bit. We would eat them with honey butter and jelly and powdered sugar. Such found memories. So then we made them and I decided I would share it with you all... even though you probably already have the recipe!

Scones:

3 T yeast

1/2 cup warm water

2 cups milk, scalded

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup sugar

2 tsp salt

3 eggs

6 cups flour

Scaled milk and allow to cool. Combine yeast and water and set aside. Cream sugar and shortening. Add remaining ingredients and combine well. Allow to sit in the fridge for at least an hour or over night. Roll out on to a floured surface and cut into strips. Fry till golden brown on each side. Serve warm with honey butter, jelly and powdered sugar.

I Love you Grandma and I will miss you! Give Grandpa a hug for me and till we meet again!

So...thanksgiving...

Well if you've been reading my blog you have noticed that I didn't post everyday my thanksgiving recipes. I apologize... this week was FAR from what I planned. Oh well though, it was still good. What might you ask is the reason my plans crashed and burned? It was the sick kids, those darn little buggers spoil my plans all the time! Just kidding! It was the sick kids though. Parker started it, he was sick all last weekend hacking cough fever, the whole ten yards, then Denver woke up Monday hacking so no school for him, that night he really didn't do well, the cough turned to croup and we were up all night with him. I took him in first thing in the morning and his oxygen intake was so low they immediately admitted him to the hospital. I spent all day with him there, doing breathing treatments and oral steroids. We were sent home later that evening, to find Porter hacking. It was a crazy week, and they are all still trying to get over it. Though I must say it was the quietest my house has EVER been with the kids awake, none of them had voices, I must admit it was kind of nice :) Our Thanksgiving was nice, we brought the meal to Darwin's great grandparents and shared it with them. They couldn't believe how much food there was! It was fabulous, I made this fabulous sweet potato recipe that will now be a regular, it is divine! Don't be too shocked mom, my taste buds have fully developed now and I love things like, sweet potatoes and squash, not sure they are ready for mincemeat though;) here is the recipe for you all to try, super yummy!

4 medium sweet potatoes
1 cup white sugar
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp salt
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup pecans
1/2 cup flour
3/4 stick of butter

Bake the sweet potatoes till fork tender about 30-40 minutes at 350` split open and scoop out the goodness into a large bowl. Mash, add the milk, eggs, vanilla, white sugar and salt. Mash till well mixed and smooth. Spread into an oven safe dish. Chop the pecans finely. In a small bowl, combine the pecans, flour, brown sugar and butter. Top the sweet potatoes with the "crumble" topping and bake for an additional 20 minutes. Serve hot. Delicious!

Thanksgiving....Gear up!

The week is here! I can't believe it! Sadly I'm not in a very festive mood. I'm hoping this fun week of cooking and baking will get me excited for the holidays. I have a busy busy schedule this week. Between, the normal stuff of, school, homework, kids,and getting ready for the holidays...that is right my kids are sick :( But we can get through it! At least the primary program is over and the super saturday I was in charge of is over and I can breath a little easier. I like to schedule out my cooking for this week, one because I have to do it all, which is fine by me, and two because I have a small kitchen and it is much easier to spread things out and three make thursday a bit more relaxing for me. Here is my plan of attack for this week and I will try and blog through it as well...
Monday: caramel, celery stuffing, pumpkin pie
Tuesday: Green Bean casserole, cheesy onion dip, another pie...not sure what kind :) Sweet pototoes
Wednesay: Rolls, stuffing prep potatoes, Get turkey a moving,
Thursday: finish it all and devour many times over.
But for now, here is a recipe for you to enjoy...
Tradition: the handing down of cutoms through generations...
this is a tradition in my house, no matter how strange it may sound it is delishious and it wouldn't be thanksgiving without.... wait for it......

STUFFED CELERY

this comes from my mom's side of the family and no it isn't celery stuffed with easy cheese, or celery with peanut butter and raisins. And no we won't dis-own you from our family if it comes out that you really don't like stuffed celery. ;)

1 head celery, cleaned
1 pkg cream cheese softened
1 small jar green olives with pimentos sliced

Combine green olives and pimentos with the cream cheese. Mix well and fill the celery with cheese mixture, cut stalks into 3 inch pieces and serve cold.

Shrimp or Steak tacos

Alright there are a few post that go with this post. I posted on facebook today that I was off to make dinner and that if it was successful then I would post on my blog...well it was tasty. We had shrimp and steak tacos with a cilantro lime sauce and house salsa. Here is the marinades for the proteins and the salsa and sauce recipes are following posts. Hope you enjoy! we sure did!

Steak marinade for tacos
1/2 c soy sauce
1/4 cup white vinegar
splash lime juice
1 T cumin
2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp paprika
2 T minced garlic
salt and pepper
2 lbs thin cut sirloin, fajita meat cut into thin strips

combine all in a bag and coat the steak completely. let marinate for at least 1 hour up to 8. remove from marinade and pat dry. Cook in a hot skillet for about 2 minutes then toss and cook for another minute or two depending on how thick it is cut.

Shrimp Marinade for Tacos
1 lb shrimp, peeled and de-veined
splash lime juice
splash of vinegar
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
salt and pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 cup olive oil

Combine all and coat the shrimp allow to set for 20 minutes. Drain the marinade and pat dry, cook in hot skillet till cooked about 3-4 minutes.

serve both the steak and shrimp in corn tortillas that have been lightly fired then formed into taco shells. top with the cilantro lime sauce(recipe follows), lettuce tomato and cheese. Serve along side the house salsa(recipe follows) and tortilla chips. Super yummy enjoy!

House Salsa

So before Darwin and I got engaged I worked at a Mexican restaurant in Idaho Falls that will remain nameless because I probably shouldn't have memorized this recipe;) anyhow, this is their house Salsa that I would make almost daily when I worked. It is different but I really like it. The heat come mainly form the onions and the garlic and it is SO easy! Darwin's cousin makes a salsa alot like this...I think hers is better though! :)

1 can diced tomatoes Italian style
1 can diced tomatoes with garlic
1 can diced tomatoes with green Chiles
2 T minced garlic
6 green onions
2 onions
1/2 bunch cilantro
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup water

Take the green onions, one of the onions and the cilantro and water and blend in a blender till smooth. Combine the cans and the garlic and add the pureed green goodness. Dice the remaining onion small and add to the mixture. Season to taste and serve.