Christmasy Activities!

It's so fun getting out the Christmas tree and decorations! It's so fun going to ward activities and doing Christmas activities! This last Saturday we went to a Sunday School teacher party and we made nativity sets out of clay, it was so fun, and ours turned out so cute! I really enjoy doing crafts, I don't get to do them often, but I enjoy it when I can.

I'm all alone...

I have a huge paper due on Friday and Monday (half on Fri and half on Mon) and Jonathan had an awesome service project he got to do today, the Food Science department made a ginger bread house of BYU campus, and are going to submit it to the Festival of Trees for an auction. I really wanted to go with him, but alas, I'm home all alone...

Penne Rosa

Penne Rosa
1 box (1 lb.) Penne pasta
1 T chicken broth
2 T olive oil
1/2 tsp. ground or crushed red pepper
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup marinara sauce
1/4 cup sliced mushrooms (canned, drained or fresh)
1/4 cup fresh spinach, packed
1 (14 oz.) can Italian -style diced tomatoes
Fresh grated Parmesan cheese
Grilled chicken breast, sautéed shrimp or asparagus

Directions:
Boil pasta according to package directions; set aside.
In a large skillet, heat chicken broth, oil, marinara, tomatoes, and red pepper over medium heat; stir liberally for 4-5 min. add pasta, mixing well. add cream and continue stirring. Fold in spinach, stirring till wilted. Stir in cooked chicken, garnish with parmesan on top

Also got this recipe off the internet. Oh how I love the internet. It makes it possible to cook anything imaginable!

Just in case you want the recipes (Mozzarella Sticks)

Mozzarella Sticks

Ingredients
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 1/2 cups Italian seasoned bread crumbs
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup cornstarch
• 1 quart oil for deep frying
• 1 (16 ounce) package mozzarella cheese sticks
Directions
1. In a small bowl, mix the eggs and water.
2. Mix the bread crumbs and garlic salt in a medium bowl. In a medium bowl, blend the flour and cornstarch.
3. In a large heavy saucepan, heat the oil to 365 degrees F (185 degrees C).
4. One at a time, coat each mozzarella stick in the flour mixture, then the egg mixture, then in the bread crumbs and finally into the oil. Fry until golden brown, about 30 seconds. Remove from heat and drain on paper towels.

I got this recipe from the internet and we really love it!

Happy 6 months!

Wow, we have been married for six months! What a wonderful time it has been. Marriage really is bliss sometimes, it takes work to make it bliss, but I'm so grateful that I have married such a wonderful man. He is truly wonderful!
ok... enough with the mushy gushy... this month our anniversary fell on our busiest Halloween partying day, so we decided to celebrate on a few other days. On Friday, Jonathan suggested for our gift we could get new pictures for our frames. So we looked through our wedding pictures and picked out our favorite. Then on Sunday we made one of our favorite recipes (Penne Rosa from Noodles and Co. and we had Mozzarella sticks mmmm.) It was a good weekend of fun and parties.

I promised recipes (Bread)

Jonathan really likes home-made bread, so I found a recipe for bread and I have started making some. Here is my recipe, I hope you enjoy.
(I don't have Whole Wheat flour yet, so I just use all purpose flour. It still works well.)

Bread
Ingredients
• 1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 2 (.25 ounce) envelopes active dry yeast (4 t)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup milk, room temperature
Directions
1. Measure the water into a large bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer and stir in 1 tablespoon of brown sugar. Sprinkle the yeast over the top and set aside until foamy, about 10 minutes.
2. Add 1 cup of the all-purpose flour and 3 cups of whole wheat flour (I just use 4 cups of all purpose flour) to the bowl along with the brown sugar, salt, vegetable oil and milk. Mix on low speed to blend ingredients. Continue to mix on medium speed, adding the rest of the flour 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough clings to the hook and cleans the sides of the bowl. You may not need to add all of the flour. Mix on medium speed for about 5 minutes. Oil the bowl and turn the dough to coat. Cover loosely and set aside to rise until doubled, about 1 hour.
3. Punch down the dough and place on a floured surface. Divide into two equal portions and use a rolling pin to roll each one into a rectangle that is about 16x8 inches. Be sure to press out all of the air bubbles. Roll the rectangles into loaves and pinch the seam together. (the second time I used it, i just rolled the dough into cylinders, and it worked just as well)
4. Place loaves seam side down into greased 9x5 inch loaf pans. Cut a few slits across the top of each loaf using a sharp serrated knife. Set aside to rise until your finger leaves a dimple when you press into a loaf, 30 to 45 minutes. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
5. Bake the loaves for 15 minutes in the preheated oven, then reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Bake for an additional 30 minutes, or until loaves are deep brown. Remove from pans to cool on a wire rack.

updates coming soon

We are busy, just like everyone else, and finding time to blog is not the top priority. But I'm excited to learn how to do this, and start posting fun recipes! (the only exciting thing that is probably going to be posted) I have an awesome bread recipe that Jonathan found for me, so that'll be up soon. Plus our granola bar recipe is worth posting as well!

Our first post

Hello Family! This is Jonathan and Melissa's first blog ever! We are excited to figure out how to use this and make it fun and exciting! Hope you enjoy reading whatever we decide to post (which we aren't sure what that will be yet...)
... that's all...