"New Recipe Week"

Lately I have been trying lots of new recipes for fun. I jokingly call it "new recipe week" when I try several new recipes the same week. It has been fun to try new food and find some dishes to add to our rotation. Here are the recipes for a few of our favorites.

Peanut Thai Chicken
2-3 chicken breasts
1 red pepper, chopped
1 ¼ cup chicken broth
¼ cup soy sauce
3 cloves garlic, minced
¾ tsp red pepper flakes (I just sprinkled a few in, maybe ¼ tsp?)
2 TB cornstarch
3 green onions, chopped
1/3 cup creamy or crunchy peanut butter
¾ cup peanuts or cashews
Put chicken, pepper, 1 C broth, soy sauce, garlic, and red pepper flakes into greased crockpot. Cover and cook on low for about 6 hours, or until chicken is cooked. Break chicken into pieces or shred. Mix cornstarch with ¼ cup chicken broth until smooth. Turn crock pot on high. Stir in green onions, peanut butter and cornstarch mixture. Stir, then cover and cook for 30 minutes or until sauce is thickened. Serve over chow mien noodles or rice. Sprinkle with nuts.
This one is so yummy and very different from what I usually cook. I know this picture makes it look like some nasty hash, but I swear it's good!


Mexican Pizza (From The Last Supper by Diane Mott Davidson)
Dough for pizza crust (it included one, but it wasn't anything amazing)
Picante sauce
Cheddar cheese
Toppings- chopped red pepper, green onions, olives, etc.
Roll out your dough, put on pizza stone. Follow your pizza crust directions for temp. (I think mine is 425) Cook crust for about 10 minutes. Take out and spread picante sauce on it, then sprinkle cheese. Put desired toppings on and put back into oven for 10 more minutes. It is so good! I'll be doing this now rotating with my BBQ chicken pizza when I make it. (My favorite of the 3 recipes)

French Peasant Bread- from my RS Recipe swap. Thanks Emily!
1 pkg active dry yeast
2 cups warm water
1 T sugar
2 t salt
4 cups flour (can use white or wheat- I did 1/2 and 1/2)
oil
corn meal
melted butter

Place yeast water, sugar and salt in a bowl and stir until dissolved. Add flour and stir until well blended. Do NOT knead. Cover and let rise 1 hour until doubled in size. Flour hands (dough is sticky), remove dough from bowl and divide in half forming 2 round mounds. Place the 2 rounds on an oiled cookie sheet sprinkled with corn meal. Let dough rise an additional hour. Brush top of dough with melted butter and bake at 425 for 10 minutes. Reduce temp to 375 and bake an additional 15 minutes. Remove from oven and brush tops again with butter. Serve warm.
This bread is so easy because you don't have to knead it and you just drop it onto the cookie sheet. It tastes so yummy with soup!

Try some out and let me know what you think!

Crafts

I have been making several crafts lately. Some are for Christmas presents, so I'll post pictures of those later. Here is the cute cross-stitch picture I made for my sister, Carrie, who just had a sweet baby boy. We can't wait to meet him!
I also made these cute Christmas ornaments with some girls in the ward this week. Cinnamon stick Santas and candy cane North Pole signs. Such a good idea to make more ornaments to offset all of Tyler's ugly sports ornaments!

Happy Thanksgiving!

This year for Thanksgiving we got together with our friends, the Mildensteins, and one of Tyler's classmates, Frank. Traci hosted so I got off doing the turkey. Instead I got to make the rolls, 2 pies, mashed potatoes and a salad. I made a cherry and toll house (chocolate chip) pie and they were yummy! All the food was delicious and we had a great time! This is us eating the pies.


This morning we finally woke up to some snow! Sadly, by noon, it was basically gone. Hopefully we get some more soon so it feels like Christmas time.

My Big scientist

This summer Tyler did some research in an Ortho lab and today he participated in a poster session along with all the medical students who did summer research. I went to check it out and document it. Tyler did a great job on the poster. Although I don't really understand the research he did, somehow he can explain it!

Happy Halloween!!

We had a great Halloween this year! To start it off, we went to a pumpkin carving party hosted by our friends, the Petersons. We carved one HUGE pumpkin together.


We were lazy doing costumes this year, so we had to come up with last minute ideas. I think my Minnie Mouse costume turned out pretty cute! The only thing I had to make was my mouse ears- painted cereal box cutouts.
Tyler was the Asian version of himself. Creative huh?
I made these adorable ghost cookies for a party we went to. Just dip Nutter Butters into melted white chocolate and use mini chocolate chips for eyes. We had a blast going to the parties, we had yummy caramel apples, fresh apple cider (the good stuff), Halloween sugar cookies and of course candy. We played fun games like pin the smile on the jack-o-lantern and Fear Factor trick-or-treat. Tyler got two terrible "tricks" where he had to eat 3 spoonfuls of Spam and raw pumpkin. He had a childhood taste aversion to pumpkin so he did a great job! Poor thing...

We also have been having a ladybug problem. Sure, I used to think lady bugs were cute, but I have changed my mind! Apparently, this time of year ladybugs find a place to "winter" which is usually somewhere covered and slightly warm. Well, somehow they can crawl through tiny holes in our sliding glass door into our house! (Of course before this, we had no idea our door was "leaky"). One day I caught about 40 ladybugs on our window inside the house. I talked to the pest control guy who told me there was nothing I could do to stop them! He told me to just keep catching them or to vacuum them up. It is nasty! Luckily, it has mostly stopped and I think I have about 60 or 70 ladybugs in a parmaesan cheese can.

We finally harvested our carrots, which would have been great, but we never thinned them so they are all tiny! So adorable. Sadly, our best crop this year!

Tyler's Top 10

Before I mentioned I would do a list of Tyler's top 10 most embarrassing pictures. So as promised, enjoy my favorite Tyler moments! Sadly it was tough to choose just 10!

#10- Basketball injury right after we were married. This is how he came home to me! As it ended up, he needed 10 stitches in his head, although the BYU EMT guys told him it was no big deal. Whatever.#9- Nasty ponytail. When we were dating, right before I made him get a haircut. Enough said.
#8- Emily's wedding, sporting my headband. Sexy mama!

#7- I have no idea. Packing I think, finding my do-rag from girl's camp.

#6- This is of his summer job reading meters and his cool "uniform"... Notice the flashlight.#5- First Halloween after we were married. We were Tarzan and Jane, I tried to talk him into wearing a shirt underneath, but "Tarzan doesn't wear shirts." He turned quite a few heads!#4- Dorky cut out face at the farm.
#3- Our first official date, believe it or not. The game? Putting the person in the most awkward pose you can think of, then take a picture. Wondering what the name of it is? Blackmail, of course. #2- This one just happened this month on our bike ride on the canal. I had worn 2 jackets because I thought it was cold, but got hot and didn't have anywhere to put my spare jacket. Tyler being the gentleman he is, offered to carry it for me. I had no idea it would turn into this dorky outfit! I pretty much love everything about this picture- the rolled up pants, snowgloves, the pose and how he thought I was taking a picture to document the pretty leaves behind him.#1- I came into the bathroom once to brush my teeth and Tyler popped his head out of the shower wearing my shower cap, so I ran to get my camera. This one cracks me up! I hope you enjoyed it, I think I had way too much fun going through these pictures! Should I feel like an evil wife??

Cutest Commercials Ever...

These make me giggle every time I see them on TV. I swear they are targeted at me! Let me know what you think. I love them...

More Fall Activities

Every month the group of Mormon 2nd year medical students get together for Sunday dinner. There is 5 students and 2 wives plus 1 kid. We always love getting together. This month I was thrilled to get the dessert assignment, and since it was October it was obviously GHOST CAKE! This is a tradition that the Melville family has done in October ever since I can remember, and it was my opportunity to make a big cake without having to eat it all. You use egg shells for the eyes and put a sugar cube in each one that has been soaked in an extract (with high alcohol content) and then light the eyes on fire! It was really fun and I think everyone thought it was funny. We took pictures, but you can't tell the eyes are on fire.This is us singing the traditional "HALLOWEEN" song while the eyes are lit.Last Sunday it was nice weather (it's been FREEZING here), so we went on a bike ride down the Eerie Canal to look at the pretty fall leaves. It was still pretty cold, but it was beautiful! Seriously, if anyone wants to come visit us, I would recommend the fall, it's gorgeous!!This is Tyler trying to be a fancy photographer, it kind of worked right?Other than that, Tyler is staying busy with his school work, and tutoring 2 1st year students, while I sit at home all day and relax! Still no leads on jobs, but I'll keep you posted!

Fall Time

We are loving this beautiful time of year so far. This is the view from our back window. Isn't is pretty?Most days it has been rainy, but this week we had a perfect day so we went raspberry picking (again). We love the fresh berries here, and I made one more batch of jam to get us through the winter. We like going to pick our own berries, because you get about 1 free container with the ones you eat right off the bush! YUM...
There was a HUGE pumpkin at the farm. We also got 2 pumpkins there that we'll be carving later for Halloween.
I would consider this as one of Tyler's top 10 most embarrassing pictures. Maybe I'll do a post later about the others...

PUMPKINS!

With my new-found free time, I have been able to do things I have been missing out on! I am loving the chance to sleep in a little, exercise every morning and most of all make cute crafts! Today I made these adorable pumpkins for Halloween and Thanksgiving decorations. They were super easy and pretty cheap too. You use a roll of toilet paper and wrap the fabric around it. I think they turned out super cute! Thanks for the idea Mom!

Hooray!

Today I passed my registration exam to be a dietitian!!

Yea, the whole long process is finally over. It feels so weird to be done with, well, everything! Now if only I could find a job...

Big Man on a Little Couch

Rebe thinks we need a new couch. I say it seems to work just fine.

Labor Day 2009

For Labor Day we decided to give summer one last hoorah and go camping in the Adirondacks with a few people from Tyler's class. The Adirondacks is a huge State Preserve/Park in upstate New York, but on the other side of the state, so we had to drive four hours to get there. We left on Friday at about 2pm and got there at 6pm. We then had to wait FOREVER for the campsite directors to give us our reservation, but we got set up and had a great dinner of tacos, watermelon, and vegetables.
The next day we woke up and went canoeing, fishing, and swimming at Lewey Lake. It was so beautiful and pristine. However, all the scenery didn't help the fishing because between 3 boys fishing, not a single fish was caught. Tyler still loved fishing even though he didn't catch anything because he could relax from school. We had a great dinner later that night of dutch oven stew and s'mores.

The next day most people went climbing on some rocks and then went home, but we stayed one more night. During that day we went hiking on an "easy" hike. It was not as "easy" as they said it would be. It was all uphill and the last half mile was straight up a boulder face. The view was good though, and there was an old fire tower at the top we could climb up and see all around. I think this fire tower might fall down very soon.

The next morning we had some pancakes and went home. It was a great break from life, and our first camping trip together. Rebe even made it without flushing toilets and she was an amazing camp cook. The other students kept telling her thanks for her cooking and that her food was the best part of the trip.

Osteo-Ferocious!

Tyler played on the medical student softball team this year "Osteo-Ferocious". I love that name, I think it's hilarious! The season officially ended tonight, but they had a great time and played well! They made it to the playoffs, but lost a tough game in the semi-finals. Good job guys!
My cute third baseman! Always so intense.
Once again, an injury-free season, wow! Until football season...