Shan Made

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Activity Days: Gifts for Moms

Last week we made gifts for the girls’ moms… homemade mugs! I purchased the pens at JoAnns—specifically designed for writing on glass or ceramic. All you do is draw with them then bake the ceramic for 30 minutes to set the color and make it dishwasher safe. We had a blast!

Brown Rice Salad

by: Shannon No comments

When I make rice, I like to make extra to use in lunches and other recipes like enchiladas or salads. This is one of my favorite lunches: brown rice, spinach, avocado, tomato (or you could really use any veggies you have in the house). I like this with the rice chilled so the salad tastes fresh. On top I like a chipotle dressing or even salsa is good too. You should try it!

Caprese Pasta Salad

by: Shannon 1 comment

The best way to have a pasta salad—barely any oil and lots of fresh ingredients! I make this one a lot.

Ingredients:

- Short cut pasta

- Fresh mozzarella (at Costco you can find it fresh in small balls, perfect for the salad)

- Small vine tomatoes or cherry tomatoes

- Fresh basil

- Balsamic vinegar

- Olive oil to taste

I usually cook and chill the pasta, then add remaining ingredients, with a little salt and pepper at the end, to taste. Enjoy!

Activity Days: Easter Craft, Treat, Lesson

by: Shannon No comments

I was recently called to be the activity days leader—quite possibly one of the best callings ever created. I get to teach lessons, do crafts, learn skills, and cook with the 8-11 year-old girls from church.

Last week was my first lesson. I wanted to have a lesson, craft, and treat. Details are below.
First I did the lesson. I followed the 12 Days of Easter lesson found here: http://anordinarymom.wordpress.com/2009/03/26/the-easter-story-in-eggs/

I had each girl grab an egg when she came in, look up the scripture, and read/explain it for everyone. Then I shared a couple stories and testimonies of prophets as well.
Next for our craft, the “He is Risen” print. I made mine beforehand so I could help the girls. I wanted to have a craft that focused on Christ, as opposed to lots of egg and bunny crafts I saw online. I thought it would be good to emphasize how Latter-day Saints focus on the Resurrection when they think of Easter, rather than the crucifixion. I hope this can be a celebratory thing for the girls. I made the prints beforehand and gave the girls options to choose from:

Once they chose a print it was time to paint the (Dollar store) frames in a color of their choice:

I had pre-made all these bunting banners for each girl:

Finished product! We had so much fun.

Then we frosted some sugar cookies.

Happy Easter!

Genevieve’s Quilt

by: Shannon No comments

Before Genevieve was born I made her several blankets and a small crib sized quilt. However, I want to have a nice quilt for each of my kids and still hadn’t finished Vieve’s until last week, even though she just turned 8 months old. Oops!

I’d had the top finished since before she was born, but with my knee surgery and our big move to Minneapolis, I didn’t find the time I needed to finish.

Last week I forced myself to finish. Finally!

And the finished product. Note to self: get blankets done before the baby arrives.

Greek Couscous Salad

by: Shannon 1 comment

We’ve been trying to eat as many meatless meals here as we can. At the beginning of the year I always seem to get on a health kick and am able to stay with it better. I love making meatless meals that have lots of grains, veggies, and of course flavor. Last night we had this Greek Couscous salad with homemade bread. It is delicious.

Here’s the recipe for the salad from Our Best Bites:

2 cups vegetable broth (it called for chicken but I used veggie)

1/2 tsp. dry oregano leaves

1 tsp. basil

1/4 tsp. crushed dry rosemary

2 cups dry couscous

2 cups diced tomatoes or 1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, halved

1 medium cucumber, diced

1/2 cup diced red onion

1/2 cup kalamata olives, pitted and halved

1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

And here’s the Greek dressing (I altered it slightly):

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1 tsp. lemon zest

1/4 c. red wine vinegar

2 garlic cloves, pressed or finely minced

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

1 tbsp. sugar

Just cook the couscous and chill it. Mix all other ingredients with the couscous when chilled, then pour on the vinaigrette. Then chill again for an hour or so. It tastes delicious when chilled. Serve with warm bread!

Lion House Rolls

by: Shannon 4 comments

Make these as soon as you can. They are the most pillow-y, soft, tasty rolls I’ve ever made from scratch. I think this will be my new go-to bread recipe!

LION HOUSE DINNER ROLLS
2 TBL yeast
2 cups warm water
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter, softened
2 tsp salt
2/3 cup nonfat dry milk
1 egg
6 cups flour
Dissolve yeast in water. Add all ingredients except 3-4 cups of flour in a bread mixer. Mix until smooth. Gradually add the remaining flour. Don't knead. (Mix for about 30 seconds after last cup of flour.) Place dough in a greased bowl, cover with a towel or plastic wrap, and let rise until doubled, about an hour.

Punch down dough. Flour a surface and dump dough onto it. Divide dough into three equal sections. Roll each section into a circle (about 12 inches in diameter) and cut each circle into 12 slices (like a pizza). Roll each slice from biggest end to smallest end (like a croissant) and place on a greased cookie sheet (they can all fit on one large cookie sheet). Cover and let rise until doubled.

Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes. Top with butter at once.
Serve with honey butter.

*Note: I made the full recipe, but froze half as I do with most of my doughs. Half of it still made a full cookie sheet of rolls (16 rolls). Recipe could easily be halved.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

by: Shannon No comments

It’s that time of year again—pumpkin is acceptable every day of the week, which is fine by me! It should also be noted that although my husband doesn’t really like baked goods, he scarfs these down. He loves pumpkin cookies.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp clove
pinch of ground ginger
1/ 2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg, room temperature
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 tsp vanilla extract
1-2 cups chocolate chips

Incorporate wet ingredients. Mix in combined dry ingredients, then chocolate chips. Bake at 350 for 15-18 minutes.

BYU Mint Brownies

by: Shannon 3 comments

A layer of brownie, a layer of mint frosting, and a layer of chocolate frosting. At BYU these were hands down my favorite dessert served in the Wilk.

Recipe here: http://dining.byu.edu/mix/classic_byu/mint_brownies.html

I had to give half the pan away they were so good.

Cinnabon-Clone Cinnamon Rolls

by: Shannon 2 comments

Definitely not vegan or healthy at all. Definitely delicious. As I was making the dough, I realized I’d never made a dough with that much fat in it! Butter and eggs in the dough and 1/2 c. of sugar!

Can you tell we like cinnamon rolls around here? I have several recipes. We also love orange rolls.

Recipe here: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/clone-of-a-cinnabon/detail.aspx

Make them this weekend!

Blue Velvet Ribbon Cake

by: Shannon 1 comment

Made this for a good friend's shower last month. Red velvet cake recipe with blue dye substituted for red. Also, because I’m getting a little sick of cream cheese frosting, I made a traditional vanilla buttercream. Delicious!

To keep the frosting from overpowering the cake, I alternated buttercream and whipped cream between the layers.

I read some tutorials online to learn how to pipe the ribbon frosting in—surprisingly simple!

Vegan Quesadillas

by: Shannon 2 comments

One of my favorite meals is still possible vegan-style, thanks to vegan cheese! Veggie Shreds and Rice Shreds are my favorite. I like my quesadillas with cheese, grilled onions, black beans, and avocado.