Homemade Salsa

Our family just loves homemade salsa. I'm grateful it's so easy to make, it beats store bought any day!

Salsa 
Gina H. modified recipe of neighbor Laura B.

1 large onion chopped (very large or 2 little ones)
14 tomatoes peel and crush them (blanch them for 30 sec., then under cold water, the peel comes right off)
8 large green chilies roasted, peeled, deseeded and chopped
1/2 cup vinegar
1/8 cup of sugar
1 tsp crushed red pepper (optional)
1 tsp Cumin
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp chili powder
3 tsp salt

Mix all these ingredients well in a pot and bring to a boil and simmer 20 mins. Then bottle in clean jars and process for 25 mins in a canner. You can make this hotter if you like by adding more chili powder and crushed red pepper or adding jalapenos peppers.

This will last at least a year if canned correctly.
1 batch yields 6 pints

Milestones

2200 yards = relaxation = 1.25 miles = 88 laps = 75 min. = 1 burger + fries Yum! 

Who am I kidding, it's really it's all about the burger!

Happy Easter!! He Has Risen!!

What a beautiful day!!!  It was a wonderful sabbath day.  Dad had no meetings today and was able to spend the WHOLE day with us.  What a treat!!

 The kiddos in their Sunday best.

Our little family after church.

Sunday night dinner prepared by Dad & Sara.  We enjoyed a ham, roasted asparagus (especially requested by Daniel), layered jello, homemade bread (special request by Jared) and a veggie tray.  It was a lovely meal!

Peep Jousting 101

Every year around Easter the kiddos like to do a something we call peep jousting.  It's a joust involving marshmallow peeps (chicks or bunnies), toothpicks, and the microwave.  The peep to receive be impaled with a toothpick loses and gets eaten by the spectators.  There's always lots of cheering and speculation as to who the winner will be along with a running commentary during the joust.  Oh the great fun that it is to blow stuff up in the microwave!

If you've not enjoyed the sport of peep jousting, here's a quick tutorial to get you started.

Peep Jousting 101 part 1 or 2 

Peep Jousting 101 part 2 of 2

Peep Jousting 102  the introduction of riders coming soon

Sunday Night Dinner

Tonight Jared dazzled us with a breakfast casserole, canned peaches from last fall, and a veggie tray.  All very delicious!! 

His favorite part was the bacon in the casserole.  

He loves BACON!!!

Sunday Night Dinner

Daniel helped us celebrate St. Patrick's Day with a themed dinner.  He prepared corned hash beef atop an open faced muffin topped with cheese.  His sides were roasted brussel sprouts, roasted asparagus, and a veggie tray.  For dessert we enjoyed a fluffy lime jello pie.  I especially enjoyed the very clever straws by which to enjoy the root beer and the very green napkins.  Way to go Daniel!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

Sunday Night Dinner

Jared was pretty eager to make today's meal, so he opted to make lunch instead of dinner.  He made macaroni and cheese with octopus hot dogs, steamed broccoli, and ice cream for dessert.  Of course, it was a huge hit with the family!

Sunday Night Dinner

Daniel made a great roast 'beast' tonight!  His sides were baked potatoes, green beans, a veggie platter and brownies for dessert.  Yummy!!  There were zero leftovers.  I'm definitely enjoying this new Sunday Night Tradition!!

Sunday Night Dinner

We've started a new tradition for Sunday night dinners.  Daniel and Jared are going to take turns cooking dinner. So far, it's been a hit! I forgot to get a picture of last week's meal but it was great! Daniel made unbelievable buffalo wings with baked french fries, a veggie platter, and ice cream for dessert. This week Jared made an apple juice and spice marinate for his crock pot chicken, rosemary herb potatoes, a veggie platter, and ice cream for dessert.  Yesterday at the grocery store, he carefully selected shepherd's bread  to round out tonight's meal.  Delicious!!

Cookies?

Typical Sunday afternoon at the Kemps...

Daniel: Mom, can I make cookies?

Mom:  Sure kiddo, knock yourself out.

    30 minutes later

Daniel:  Mom, wanna cookie?

Mom:  Wow!  Thanks Daniel!

 I love that handsome guy!!

I'm grateful for self-reliant kiddos!!

April Fools' Day

Cupcakes for dinner?  

Not really but it sure was a fun way to celebrate April Fools Day!

The cupcake was really a mini-meatloaf.  Recipe found here

Sara was so excited!!  She really did believe the cupcakes were real.

The boys were good sports but being the foodies they are, they spotted the difference right away.

Happy April Fools' Day!!!

Cub Scout Blue & Gold Banquet

Daniel made a F A N T A S T I C cake 

for the cub scout blue and gold banquet.  

Not only did it look great but it tasted good too!!  

End of Day 2

The whole process took him 2 long afternoons of work. The cake is modeled after a Pokémon ball (ball used by the Pokémon character Ash Ketchum).

Great Job Daniel!!!

Blue & Gold Banquet

Each boy had to make and decorate a cake for this year's blue & gold banquet. Daniel is quite handy in the kitchen so he had no problems with the assignment. After doing some research on the family fun website he went to work with minimal help from mom. It was a real blessing that we had gingerbread cookies in the freezer to serve as part of his design.

the frosted cake

the mock up

the finished project

waiting for the judging

Award for Most Creative

Way to Go Daniel!!!

Fun with food

The trifle I made for the Scentsy party. It was just so pretty that I had to take a picture. Sometimes, a girl just has to toot her own horn. Hee-hee

A Pumpkin Pick Me Up

I received such a pleasant surprise this morning!!

My doorbell rang and I was greeted by a sweet gal with a delicious plateful of pumpkin bars. Yum!

Thanks Laura!! You totally made my day!!


For the recipe check out Laura's blog.

Dinner in a Pumpkin

We enjoyed another very yummy dinner in a pumpkin!!

Thanks for sharing your recipe Eva!

Pumpkin Stew

A Taste of Home, Dec 2005

2 lbs beef stew meat, cubed

3 Tbsp vegetable oil

1 c. water

3 large potatoes, cubed

4 med. carrots, sliced

1 large green pepper, chopped

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 med. onion, chopped

2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

2 Tbsp beef bouillon

1 can diced tomatoes

1 pumpkin (10-12 lbs.)

In dutch oven, brown meat in 2 Tbsp of oil. Add water, potatoes, carrots, green pepper, garlic, onion, salt, and pepper. Cover and simmer for 2 hours. Stir in bouillon and tomatoes. Wash pumpkin; cut a 6 to 8 inch circle around top stem. Remove top and set aside; discard seeds and loose fibers from inside. Place pumpkin in a shallow sturdy baking pan. Spoon stew into pumpkin and replace the top. Brush outside of pumpkin with remaining oil. Bake at 325 degrees F. for 2 hours or just until the pumpkin is tender (do not over bake). Serve stew from pumpkin, scooping out a little pumpkin iwth eash serving.

Pumpkin

I absolutely LOVE pumpkin!!

Pumpkin scented candles, pumpkin scented soap, pumpkin soup, pumpkin as a veggie, pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin cookies...Yummy, yum, yum!!




So when a dear friend learned of our love for all things pumpkin, they shared their family recipe for a dinner in a pumpkin. My oh my, was it tasty indeed!!!