Chicken Amatriciana OH. MY. WORD.

My favorite pasta dish of all times I found at East Side Mario's. Chicken Amatriciana. SO GOOD! And now that East Side Mario's has closed down in Lethbridge I have been with out for quite some time. I had seen a recipe on Pintrest for Olive Garden's Spaghetti Carbonara and that got me thinking about my favorite pasta dish. So last night I decided to google it and see if I could come up with a recipe. I found this recipe. It sounded about right, but I was disappointed with the canned alfredo sauce and Four cheese tomato sauce. For me, a recipe from scratch means the sauce is from scratch too. So I did some searching and found this recipe for Rose Sauce. I followed it almost exactly with a few simple changes. I knew that my kids would not like this dish so I made them a version of the Spaghetti Carbonara, but with thinly sliced hot dogs instead of bacon. Since I was making a cream sauce for this recipe I thought I would use it in my rose sauce. Alright now that I have given you all of that preamble, I'll share the recipe that I came up with using these three as a guide.

Mandy's Chicken Amatriciana

The Tomato Sauce
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons minced onion
3 cloves garlic, presses
1 398ml(14oz) can of crushed tomatoes
1/4 cup water

Heat olive oil in sauce pan med-high heat. Add basil, thyme, oregano and red pepper flakes. Cook until fragrant, but be careful not to burn them. Add minced onion and pressed garlic, and saute until onions are translucent. at crushed tomatoes and water. Bring to a boil and let simmer.

The Cream Sauce
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
1 1/2 cups milk
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 tbsp onion

Heat olive oil in sauce pan over med-high heat. Saute onions until translucent. Remove onion to a bowl. Melt butter in a sauce pan. Add flour and stir until paste is formed. Add milk, salt and pepper and stir continually; until it just comes to a boil, reduce heat and stir occasionally until thickened. Add sauteed onions, remove from heat and let sit 5 min.

The other stuff
1 large chicken breast, diced or sliced
7 strips of bacon
1 green pepper(if I had a red one I would have used it)
1/4lb Asparagus( a last minute addition. When I opened the fridge to get the pepper I saw it and had to have it)
and some past of your choice...how ever much you think you are going to eat. I have no idea how much I actually cooked.

Cook bacon in fry pan until crispy. Drain on paper towel. Add chicken to fry pan and cook until cooked through. Set a side. Add a little olive oil to the fry pan and saute green peppers. Cook until tender crisp. Set aside. Add a little more oil and saute asparagus until tender crisp and bright green. This is where we put it all together. Stir the cream sauce in with the tomato sauce. Now I only used about half of this sauce the rest I put away in the fridge for another day. (But if you want to make a bigger batch you can double the "other stuff" ingredients.) After you have set aside half of the sauce, add the chicken, bacon, and vegetables. You can either spoon this over you cooked pasta or add the pasta right in. I ended up with enough to make two big plates of pasta. And yes, I ate one entire big plate of pasta. It was so GOOD, I just didn't care.

A short but long walk

We all went for a walk to the grocery store this afternoon. I pushed the boy in the chariot the 6 blocks down to the store. I parked the chariot outside and let the boy out and walk around with me in the store. We bought our groceries and then headed back home. Once you let the boy out of the chariot, he doesn't usually have any plans on getting back in. Today was no different, but that was OK considering that I had put the groceries in the chariot and there wasn't all that much room left over for the boy. So we began our very slow walk home. Today he actually walked all the way home. In times past he has given up and wanted to get back in after we have walked about half way home. The boy makes me smile. The entire trip is one discovery after another. He has to walk through all the fresh snow and every foot print he makes in the snow is amazing. He stops at the sound of every big truck that passes and watches it until he can no longer see it. He stops and bends down to examine pine cones, rocks, sticks and piles of dirt. There is a little cement block barrier that he loves to walk along while holding my hand. He says all kinds of things with excitement. I wish I knew what he was saying. He points to things off in the distance. Sometimes he asks "what's that?" sometimes he exclaims something else that I don't understand. I try to just tell him about what he is seeing, giving him names of things and colours. He'll pick up a pine cone or a rock and carry it for awhile before throwing it on to the road. We talk about how it feels and what it is. I love to just watch him. I couldn't help but smile the whole way home. The two older girls had ran off ahead so it was just Munchkin and the boy. It was nice to just take our time and enjoy everything around us. I love these moments.

A Request for Pancakes

My SIL requested my pancake recipe after a posted this picture on my Facebook.

Strawberry Chocolate Chip pancakes topped with whipped cream, strawberries and chocolate.

So here is my basic recipe

Good Morning Pancakes

2 cups flour

1tbsp baking powder

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

3 eggs

1 cup milk

1 cup water

1/2 cup melted butter

1 tsp vanilla

Mix dry ingredients together. Beat eggs. Add all wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until just mixed but still lumpy.

OK, so that is the basic recipe, but I frequently make the following changes

2 eggs instead of 3

1/3cup(ish) apple sauce and 1/4cup(ish) oil  instead of 1/2cup melted butter (I never measure out the apple sauce and oil, I just kinda guess, sometime because of my guessing I need to also adjust the amount of water to get just the right pancake consistency)

This recipe works for me all of the time. At times I have added my canned pumpkin pie filling instead of the apple sauce and this makes a very tasty breakfast. We have added blueberries, diced apples, cinnamon, peaches, raspberries and of course strawberries and chocolate chips. We've also been known to add all kinds of strange colours to our pancake batter. No matter what we add, they have always been delicious. This is also the recipe that my 9yr old uses when she makes pancakes, something she's been doing for a couple of years now.

What do you like in your pancakes? If you give this recipe a try let me know how it goes.

New Vision

Can you see the difference?  I can!

I don't really understand the changes that have taken place in regards to Kymberly's vision over the past 6 months or so. But this is what I know. Today when her new glasses came in the mail and she wore them for the first time, she was amazed at all the things she could see. Over the past 6 months her eyes have being slowly adjusting to the changes that surgery brought on. But in that time she also developed astigmatism in one eye. So even though her eyes have started working together, one of them began seeing things somewhat blurry. On our walk home from the post office she exclaimed "Mom, I can even see the green sign!". She was looking at the small green street sign a couple blocks ahead of us. "Mom, these glasses make me see really far away!" What a thrill it must be for her. For the first time in her 4 and half years of life, she's beginning to see things as they really are. She is still developing that sense of depth and learning to trust what she sees.

Here's a little shameless plug. I purchased her glasses online at my favorite place zennioptical.com. We got 2 pair of glasses(including shipping) for under $50. Seriously, if you are in the market for new glasses or know somebody who is, GO CHECK IT OUT! You won't regret it.

A Pinterest inspired Valentines day.

Oh we had so much fun this year making all kinds of fun Valentines crafts. I shared some with you already over here. Some projects went unfinished, in spite of my best intentions. Here is a peek at some of the things we did do this year.

"You make my heart Glow" valentines that Kymberly made for her class.

"You Rock" valentines that Tansley made for her class. The hear flower was of her own creation for her teacher.

Robot Valentines that Kathryn made for her class and Valentine wood stack for her teacher.

 Feetprint Valentine, Handprint Valentine, 3D I Love you valentine made for Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles and Cousins.

Secret message Valentines and felt envelopes for the girls

 Strawberry Oreo Cookies (we had to flavour our cake mix strawberry), made for an FHE treat.

 Family Valentines pockets

 Treat Boxes for Primary kids

Lemonade cupcakes with real raspberry frosting
., I also made some chocolate cupcakes because I knew some of my kids wouldn't like the Lemonade ones. These were for an FHE treat.

And here was our Valentines Day Breakfast. Not quite as fancy as in past years, but pink pancakes are always fun.

Cupid managed to turn our bread pink. Naturally I had to then make heart shaped sandwiches to send in the kids lunches.

If you think you already know, think again.

Here is a quote from the World Wide Training on February 11, 2012

"Unfortunately, we sometimes don’t seek revelation or answers from the scriptures or the handbooks because we think we know the answers already.

Brothers and sisters, as good as our previous experience may be, if we stop asking questions, stop thinking, stop pondering, we can thwart the revelations of the Spirit. Remember, it was the questions young Joseph asked that opened the door for the restoration of all things. We can block the growth and knowledge our Heavenly Father intends for us. How often has the Holy Spirit tried to tell us something we needed to know but couldn’t get past the massive iron gate of what we thought we already knew?"DIETER F. UCHTDORF

This quote really stuck out to me. I wondered how many times in the past I have done this exact thing. I don't know, but I hope it hasn't been too often. I find myself now wanting to be more conscious of the decisions that I have to make and being sure to go to my Heavenly Father in prayer to ask for his guidance in making them.

We can do hard things

The following thoughts may be a bit disjointed, but some how, one thought led to the next, and somehow they are all connected in my brain, hopefully you can see the connection and not get lost in the process.

On Saturday we attended the World Wide Leadership Training of the church. It was wonderful, and if you didn't have a chance to attend you can view it here.

During the training they shared this video.(The one from the training was a little different you can view it here starting at 24:00)

It made me cry, as it does every time that I watch it. But it brought to my memory another Mormon Messages video that I watched recently that moved me greatly.

Elder Holland is talking to the young men, but all he says can easily be applied to the young women as well. His words "You must be ready and worthy to act" has stuck in my mind since I first saw this video. It is one of my  greatest desires as a mother, that my children will be ready and worthy to act, in what ever situation they find themselves. That in that day when "lightning strikes" they will know to whom they must turn for strength and guidance. They will be ready, they will have already made those hard choices in their hearts and in their minds, and they will be able to press forward in righteousness.

A few weeks ago I finished reading Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites with Kathryn and Tansley. In those last chapters as the three youngsters are preparing to make their journey back to their own time, the Prophet Helaman councils them with these words
"Your visit to this people has been a very wonderful gift. It was meant to prepare your minds and hearts for the great struggle of the last days. The Lord has told me that the last generation before his final coming will consist of his choicest children since the creation of the earth. But you will face a world filled with much pain and evil. Men like Amalickiah will gain great power over God's children. You such as yourselves, will have a great responsibility to build up a pure and undefiled people in the midst of all this pain."
 I know these are fictitious words written by the author, however they provided me with a teaching moment for my children. I told them that the choice generation that was mentioned included them. They are among Heavenly Fathers most righteous spirit children, and they were saved for this day, when things will be hard. But Heavenly Father knew that they could handle it. He knew they would have the strength to do hard things. I told them to always remember that, especially when things feel to hard or when it seems impossible. Remember, Heavenly Father know you can. You can do it. Don't ever forget it.
Yesterday, I was asked to do a hard thing. I had to remind myself that I was among this choice generation. That Heavenly Father knows that I can do these hard things. Just like Spencer from the first video, I have learned, in times past, that I can do hard things. I can do this.

Another cool thing

In my adventures traveling through my genealogical lines I took a little detour from the line that takes us to William the Conqueror. Eight generations into that line if I follow the mothers line instead of the fathers line, and keep going another 11 generations I come across a name that caught my eye. Lady Agnes Tansley of Hertfordshire England. Born in 1528 to Thomas Tansley and Mrs Tansley(possibly Agnes Andrews). Lady Agnes Tansley married Thomas Chandler the I. Lady Agnes Tansley is my daughter Tansley's 18th great grandmother. I also found Lady Agnes Tansley through the Campbell line so she is also Tansley's 15th great grandmother. Now, how cool is that?!

Umm...I've just discovered the coolest thing.

OK, so I didn't discover it, as in it's never been found before. But I discovered it for the first time for myself.

It all started when Kathryn asked me about our family tree because she wanted to do something with if for a heritage project that she will be doing at school. So I went straight to the Churches New Family Search website to show her that we could go back at least 15 generations on some family lines. I just started clicking randomly on a name after we went about 12 generations and before we knew it the name we were looking at was William I, King of England, The Conqueror. Now I already knew that we could trace our lineage to Royalty, I didn't know which ones for sure. Once I had hit the King of England I knew that we would be able to go back a lot farther. I never anticipated that we would find. I literally traced my blood line to Ephraim and right on through to Adam and Eve. My Patriarchal Blessing tells me that my blood line flows predominately through the blood of Ephraim, but I never imagined that I would actually physically see the link. VERY COOL.
If you are a Forsyth Relative and you want to see it for yourself here are a few key names to get you there.
Elna Bohne, Robert Cobb(married Mary Terrell), William Tyrell(married Eleanor Montague), John De Montague, Joan "of Acre", King Edward I, William I King of England the Conqueror, then I just follow the Father's line through to the end.

So I've been on the computer all morning exploring. I have come across the most interesting names. Here are a few;
Halfdan II Eysteinsson "The aged and Stingy", King of Norway (b735-d800)
Sveidi Svidrasson "The Sea King" of Noway(b705-d780)
Braut-Onund "The Cultivator, Roadmaker" of Finland (b280-d301)(there are more names form Finland)
Konung Fornjotursson of Finland (b135)
Robert II Capet "The Pios" King of France(b972-d1031)
Philip I "The Fair" King of France
Louis VI "The Fat" King of France (b1081-d1136)
Boaz of Bethlehem and Ruth of Moab
King Uzziah
1st King of Judah, Rehoboam
David ben Jesse

and one of my favorites Joseph Barnabus(born 5BC) and his wife Ruth(born 7BC and died around 61AD) of Jerusalem. This couple lived during the time of Jesus. Did they know him personally? Did they seek him out and listen to his teachings? Did they witness any of his many miracles? Did they believe? It will give me something to dream about. And lots of names to look into and learn more about. Kathryn and I are going to have so much fun putting together her Heritage project.

She cracks me up.

Not to long ago Kymberly came to me and we had this conversation,

Kymberly: "Mom, did you know that Mrs. Gamble doesn't live at the school? She has a real house!"
Mom: "Really? Is there somebody that does live at the school?"
Kymberly: "yes, the girl in the room with the big open window."
Mom: "Do you mean Mrs. Russell?" (Mrs. Russell is the school secretary)
Kymberly: "Yes, she is at the school all the time."

The kid cracks me up I tell you.

When I picked her up from Pre-K back in December, Mrs W, the assistant told me that that morning she had asked Kymberly to punch out some foam shapes. So Kymberly held up the foam sheet, made a fist, and started punching it. Then she said "they're not coming out!" It gave them all a chuckle. The funny thing is, she knew very well what Mrs. W meant, but being just like her dad, decided to take it literally.

The thing is, she has always been this way. She has always looked for any opportunity to make people laugh.

Today when I picked her up from Pre-K, her teacher said "Kymberly tell your mom what your prediction is for the ground hog." Kymberly replies with "I think that he maybe won't see his shadow." And that clears up everything.

What a kid.