A few requested recipies!

When I am in the domestic moment, I tend to want to share it. Things tend to end up on my Facebook status. This sometimes generates requests for recipes. So here are a few of the recent picks!

Homemade noodles!
I love the recipe in the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook for homemade pasta. I think it makes my soups and lasagna taste so much better to use fresh or the dried and frozen version of this. Because it is their recipe, I can't post it exactly as is. So here is my slightly modified version. Homemade noodles can be a bit time consuming, so I recommend making a double batch and freezing half for later deliciousness.

You'll need:
2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1tsp dried basil ( or oregano or parsley or whatever, but I like basil!)
2 beaten eggs
1 tsp oil
1/3 cup water

Combine two cups of the flour and the salt and the basil in a medium sized mixing bowl. Use a spatula to stir and make a well in the center. (The key to quick breads, pasta and pancake mixing is contained in a hymn... "All is well, all is well..." Corny. I know.) Then, in a slightly smaller bowl or a 2 cup liquid measuring cup mix the water, the oil and the eggs and beat until consistent. Pour this into the well and stir. (The reason I advocate a spatula, (I love the Tupperware one, it comes apart for cleaning, is because this will get super sticky.) Mix until all of the dry mixture is combined with the wet one. Next, use the rest of the flour and knead the pasta for 8 to 10 minutes, or if stressed, until your worry subsides, whichever comes second.  Let the poor dough rest for ten minutes, covered with a wet paper towel. Divide the dough into four roughly equal parts. Roll each out into a ten to twelve inch square. Personally, mine never comes out square or twelve inches. A little thicker pasta tastes just fine to me.  Let rest for twenty minutes, uncovered. This allows your pasta to dry out some before you cut it.
To cut lasagna noodles, measure about an inch or so wide strips and cut down the length of the dough. To make noodles, roll dough loosely jelly roll style and slice down the roll. (Better Homes and Gardens has a really great picture of this).  Let pasta dry for 24 hours on a hanger if you want to freeze. Otherwise, boil some water, add a little olive oil and boil for 3 or so minutes. Homemade pasta cooks fast! Pay attention! Enjoy. I may have just ruined dried commercial pasta for life for you.

The following disclaimer applies to the following recipes. I cannot, to save my life, make a decent cake from scratch. I love cake mix. So, each of these are quick ways to dress up a cake mix. Make it look a little fancy! 
Chocolate Orange Cake
1 box chocolate cake mix ( I like swiss chocolate! or devil's food!)
Ingredients to prepare cake mix as noted on box
1 orange peel
Vanilla frosting

Using kitchen shears, cut orange peel into tiny pieces. Mix into cake mix. Bake as directed on box or.... for super fun quick results, pour into a microwave cake pan, like the Tupperware Stacker Cooker and microwave on medium high power for 7 to 10 minutes. Cake is done in the oven when a toothpick or skewer comes out clean, or in the stacker cooker, when the cake pulls away from the sides of the pan. Let cool. Frost with vanilla frosting and enjoy! Perhaps garnish with some mandarin orange slices or some additional orange zest.  Enjoy the praise and admiration. ;)

Soda Pop Cake
For more easy, showoff fun.....
1 can soda. Your choice.
1 box cake mix.

Mix soda and cake mix. It fizzles. It pops.. It's so fun to watch! Bake as directed on box or use Tupperware Stacker Cooker.  This would be a fun Family Home Evening refreshment!

To purchase tupperware products

Soy Creamer Potato Soup

So, cooking with soy has always been somewhat of a challenge for me. I find that most soy products have a sweet aftertaste, which can be off putting if I'm trying to prepare a main dish. Today, however, was a potato soup weather day. So I adjusted a recipe from Southern Living Cookbook and created some of the best potato soup I've made yet!

Here goes:

2 large potatoes, or 4 medium ones

about 4tsp chicken bullion

1tbsp basil

1/2 a medium onion

2 cups Soy Creamer ( I used Mocha Mix original!)

about 1/2 cup carrot

3 bacon strips cooked and chopped

1/2 tsp hot sauce

3 cups water

1/4c flour

Wash and peel potatoes. Chop into bite size pieces. Boil for about 5 minutes and drain.

Chop onions and carrot, add to potatoes in large pot. Add in soy creamer, water, flour and stir. Stir in bacon, hot sauce, chicken bullion and basil. Cover and let simmer for 40 minutes... enjoy!

I also made cornbread, but the only substitution I made there was using water instead of milk!

So it's time to be a bit more realistic.

Getting up at four o'clock am is not happening. I'm getting slightly better at going to bed on time, but I think four am is just too early for me. I've also decided that rather than set these huge, lofty goals, I ought to set some smaller ones. For today- Restore order! I've let my room go a bit. It's time to put things to rights. Housework it is, though I think I'll take a slightly slower pace today, I'm a bit sick.

Let's go

I realized today, to an extent, the futility of excuses. I either am or I am not. I either do or I do not. I either learn or I don't. I have the ability to choose, to make the most of my abilities and talents, or not. So I think I will post a list of what I would like to do and to learn.

To learn:

Sewing. I don't have the faintest idea when it comes to sewing. I think it would be a valuable skill to learn.

Physics. I think as an individual, my education in the realm of science and math is seriously lacking.

Calculus and beyond. Math is everywhere. I shouldn't always be trying to avoid it. I am not too stupid to learn it, if anything, what I lack is discipline. So to calculus it is.

Chemistry- see above comment.

Gardening and plant care.

Biology- life is amazing! Yet I know so little about how it works. How does a cell function? What is the roll of DNA or RNA?

Cooking. I am going to have to eat for the rest of my life. I may as well learn to make food that is tasty and nutritious

Spanish- What I know means nothing if I am not able to communicate and apply it. A growing portion of the population of the United States speaks Spanish

Greek- It would be amazing to be able to read the New Testament in Greek

To play the organ- it's the primary instrument for Church music.

Music theory- I love classical music, it would be great to learn how it works. I've tried in the past, but lacked the discipline.

Cleaning- How can I make a space visually appealing? I believe that environment impacts behavior. How can I create spaces that promote the behaviors I seek?

Church History- One of the things we are told to do is remember. How can we remember what we do not know?

To do:
Start getting up at four in the morning. There would be so much more time in the day.

Go to bed at 10:30. Otherwise four in the morning will not go so well.

Be able to run a mile in 10:00- not very fast I know, but I've never been good at running

Be a size 6. I'm not sure anything smaller than that would be good for my 5'9 self.

Serve 100 hours in 1 year.

Go back to school by January 2011

Uphill Battles

Perhaps the greatest accomplishment is to keep going on a day when the rewards of doing so are unclear. Today, for me is one of those days. I find it very difficult to balance training for my two careers, the one as a future wife and mother (hopefully!) and the other as a historian or history teacher. I find myself torn at times between the two. I should probably just focus on the history. Socially, it's easier. I am fighting a war, internally, a war with myself. I want to overcome the natural man and to be better. I am struggling to do so today! One of my biggest flaws can be time wasting. I want to just work on getting my house in order, but I need to focus on school. Then, it seems, that trying to find time to eat, socialize and sleep seem to slip right through the cracks. Well, back to work. The uphill battle has the best view from the top!

Valentine in action Day 2

Well, today I decided to start to put my resolutions into action. I decided that today I would focus mostly on the homemaking aspects of my valentine. So to the kitchen it was! One of my favorite homemaking skills that my Mom did all the time was making homemade bread. I have done this, counting today, a grand total of twice. It was an adventure to say the least. After substituting water for the milk the recipe called for in an attempt to be more frugal, and kneading until my arms ached, I was really tired. The house smelled wonderful, though, and it was very satisfying to have a warm roll. I also made cookies, this time with oatmeal to extend the dough and to add more fiber to the cookie. They were really tasty and I had plenty to store and freeze for future use. I also decided in an attempt to be more organized that I would spend 15 minutes cleaning my room (not my strong suit at all!) I was amazed at how much I got done. Perhaps it was just the timing. My mother has tried to teach me all of this for years, I guess I just wasn't ready to break away from the feminist mainstream that said that sloppy and manly were okay for a woman. It felt really good though to attempt to be a better homemaker and I hope that tomorrow will go as well!

Making Peace with Valentine's Day

I, to be perfectly honest, have been very caught up in the idea of Valentine's Day. I was this year, as always, single for the day which Hallmark cards and TV specials tell me I should be with a special someone. I'm not, and, for the first year, I did not feel alone. It's funny how the world tells me to be something, someone, to make something of myself. I've recently fallen out of love with the idea of being a superwoman, you know, the one who comes home after her day as a CEO, working out without breaking a sweat, to a happy husband and perfect children in her spotless home. I've fallen out of love with the idea that as a single woman, I must be constantly trying to be a feminist, a career gal!
I have, in the past, notoriously hated Valentine's Day. It was, for me, just a reminder that I am alone. It was as if the world was rubbing it in my face that I was still without a boyfriend. I felt the pressures to lower my standards to avoid being alone.
This year, though, I've decided to write my own Valentine. I have decided to make my life a love letter to my future husband.
I am making a commitment to learning homemaking arts. I especially want to establish a habit of order in my home. I want to make my home a place of peace, where the Spirit of the Lord can freely enter. I went to the open house for the Draper Temple and was struck at the beauty and serenity of the temple. I want to create a dwelling where the Spirit is welcome and an invited guest. I want it to be beautiful and lovely, clean and peaceful, just like the temple. I want it to be a place of symbolism, where teaching and learning the gospel and all other good things is possible and encouraged. I want it to be a place of service, where I am cheerfully contributing to making my family and those around me happy. I want it to be a place of music and of art. I want to make it the best I can culturally, where everything in it is uplifting and inspiring. Most of all, I want it to be a place of love, where kindness and charity are the rule.
I am making a commitment to personal loveliness. Part of this is working on my physical appearance. I am especially trying to learn to smile more. I want to be a happy person, filled with the love and the light of the gospel. I want to make myself pleasing to my husband by being well groomed and modest. I want to learn more about how to dress in a manner that is flattering for my shape and in colors that suit me well. I am learning to do more with my hair and want to exercise so that I can be healthy and have the energy I need.
I am making a commitment to spirituality. My goal is to read the Book of Mormon by my birthday. I am working on learning to really pray to discern the will of the Lord in my life. I am learning more about the divine role of womanhood and hope to honor my husband and family by being the type of woman depicted in the Scriptures and fulfilling the role of a woman in The Family: A Proclamation to the World. I am trying to serve and to become more like my Heavenly Father. I am learning about the power of the priesthood and am gaining a lot of respect for the men who honor their priesthood covenants.
I am making a commitment to frugality. I am doing this by trying to reduce spending, learning to garden and to save. I want to build up food storage and am learning to sew. I would like to learn to reupholster furniture and am learning all sorts of things about homemaking.
I am continuing my commitment to living the law of chastity. I want our family to be sacred and pure before the Lord. I am striving to live worthily to attend the temple and am trying to actively prepare for entering and partaking of the ordinances there in.
I am making a commitment to enlighten my mind that we may have learning and laughter in our home. I am learning to make good conversation so that we may enjoy the hours given to us. I am learning in every way I can and am working on developing my talents.
I hope that by becoming more oriented towards family and marriage that we will be able to enjoy the blessings of a celestial marriage. I hope that he is preparing and living the gospel as well. After years of being bitter about Valentine's Day, I am honestly excited now, excited to make my life a living Valentine for my husband. I am excited to prepare to receive the blessings of a loving Father in Heaven. The more I lose myself in preparation to serve and love my husband, someday, the more I find joy and happiness. I am truly learning to find nobility in womanhood and motherhood. I am learning to love you, though I don't know you. I know that I am not alone and that the Savior watches over both of us and stands by us as we prepare. May Heavenly Father bless and protect us,
Cate

Thinking

A popular fable goes something like this: three men were working at a construction site. A passerby stopped the first man and asked what he was doing. The man, tired and worn, simply replied, "I am cutting stone." Another passerby approached the second man with the same question. The response from the man, working, but not without a bit of boredom and discouragement replied, "I am building a building." A third pedestrian asked the the remaining construction worker the same question. The man was working zealously and with passion for his labor, cutting the same stone the other men had been. The man replied, "I am building a cathedral to my God." What was different about the man? He was cutting the same stone, laboring on the same project. His wages were certainly no more than the other two. The weather and environmental conditions were the same. His thoughts, however, were the difference.

Renee Descartes stated, "I think, therefore I am." Our thoughts form the foundations of our words, are the basis for our actions and the molds for our characters. A thought, if repeated often enough, will eventually become a deed. A deed, if repeated, forms a habit, which then plays upon the stages of our fate. We are, therefore, creatures who are and can become, the product of our thoughts. As children of God, we have a divine destiny, an infinite worth and great works to accomplish. We can, in choosing our thoughts and works, either move toward this destiny or away from it. We may embrace the divine or muck in the mire. Our thoughts are heavily influenced by our environment. By creating an environment that is conducive to the thoughts we wish to have, we further our attempts to become the person we wish to be.