Car Wash

Caleb enjoyed helping daddy wash his car today..what a cutie!

Cornbread

I have been loving this cool weather! I am such a fall and winter girl, I am ready for it to be here now!!! Well, the cool weather inspired me to make chili. I embarked on the journey of making my own chili powder, but it turned out much too spicy (too many arbol chiles!) so I will have to wait until I prefect the recipe to post it. But I was able to figure out some good cornbread. Jason asked me to find or create a cornbread that was not dry. So I did some searching on the internet and found a basic recipe that had some good reviews for being moist. I thought for a bit about how to make sure it remained moist, and read a review about someone adding fresh corn to the batter. I decided instead of fresh corn, to add half a can of creamed corn. It is nice and sweet and would add a bit more moisture along with the kernals of corn. Yum! It worked beautifully and I have found that it almost doesn't need the butter and honey, it is so moist and sweet. So here is the recipe. Give it a try if you like, I think it is definately better than the boxed mix! By the way, if you don't have buttermilk on hand, substitute 1 cup milk (skim works best, but whatever you have on hand is fine) mixed with a tablespoon of lemon juice (mix them together and let it sit for 10 minuted or so before using). If it turns out sweeter than you like, you can cut the amount of sugar in half.

Moist Buttermilk Cornbread

Ingredients:
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
2/3 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 can creamed corn

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375. Grease an 8 inch square pan (or double the recipe and use a 9x11 pan).

Place butter in a large skillet and melt over low heat. Remove from heat and stir in sugar. Quickly add eggs and beat until well blended. Combine buttermilk with baking soda and stir into mixture in skillet. Stir in cornmeal, flour, and salt until well blended and few lumps remain. Gently mix in creamed corn just until incorporated. Pour batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool a few minutes before cutting.

Top with butter and honey if desired, say blessing and enjoy!!

Backyard fun!

I realized this week that my blog is covered with mostly pictures of Caleb. I think that's because I don't have to chase after him constantly and can actually sit back and take his picture, while Nattie is always on the move and won't sit still long enough for me to run away from her and snap a picture! Well, the kids have really been enjoying the summer weather and playing in the backyard. We went outside tonight just before sunset and I managed to get a few good shots of Nattie...I just love my little cutie!

Cooking Substitutions

It's been a while since I posted anything about my recent cooking adventures. Here is some information you may find useful. As I was preparing to make one of my favorite recipes for chicken enchiladas, I found that one of the key ingredients for the filling, sour cream, was not in my fridge! What am I do? Should I pack up my two young children and run to the store for just one ingredient? Should I just forget making the enchiladas and find something different? For years I would always do one of those two things...but it sure is a pain to go to the store for just one thing, or to try and find a new recipe where I have everything I need. I would go through recipe after recipe, deciding I didn't have this or that so it wouldn't work! Well I have discovered an easier way! Substitutions! This can be an intimidating thing for some people, but it definately gets easier with a little practice and a few general rules to follow.

First, ask yourself whether the item missing is one that is crucial to the outcome of your recipe. When you are baking, is the item an egg, baking powder, flour or something else that has to do with the chemical reactions that cause the item to turn out? Or if you are cooking, is it a key ingredient that will make or break the dish, such as my sour cream, which makes up a significant portion of the recipe? If the answer is yes to this question, it is important to really think through what you will do to find a replacement. For baking (or cooking really), there are many websites which list common substitutions. The best one I have found is http://www.foodsubs.com/. This is an amazing website! You can find substitutions for everything from eggs to baking powder! It can definately save the day. For my enchiladas, I found some plain yogurt in my fridge. This has the same tang and similar consistancy to sour cream. Perfect! My family did not even realize anything was different with the enchiladas.

Now, if the item is not crucial to the recipe, such as one of the vegetables in the dish, or a particular spice, it can be easy to just leave it out, or to find something else that will taste just as good! For example, if the recipe for calls for garlic and you don't have any fresh on hand, add a little bit of garlic powder (just keep in mind powdered and dried spices and herbs are a lot more potent than fresh, so add just a little and taste before adding more!). Or, look at my couscous salad recipe in the sidebar, it calls for many veggies. If you don't have kidney beans, for instance, add chickpeas instead (the original recipe actually called for chickpeas, but I like the sweetness of kidney beans better). Or just leave them out! You could even leave out the chicken to make it vegitarian. Things like this are very flexible and may make the dish taste a little different, but will not ruin it. You may even find that you like it better with your new substitution!

And the Cake is Cut...

So we had the party and the results are in...

This is the cake made by our wonderful "grandma Pat". It is so cute!!

And we are having...

A GIRL!!!!!!!!!

Baby Day and Photoshop Fun

Life has been pretty busy the past couple of weeks! We had our 20 week ultrasound yesterday, which marks the halfway point of this pregnancy. I can't believe time has gone so quickly, the baby will be here before we know it! The ultrasound was really fun, and we got a great 3D picture of the baby's face. I will post it tonight, but have to wait until after our gender party. Oh yeah, I should explain. We had the ultrasound tech find out the gender and take a picture yesterday, but he put it in a special frame and we didn't look at it. Instead, we took it to our wonderful cake lady who did the cake for our wedding and now does all our family cakes. She is making a cake that is either pink champagne (girl) or blueberry (boy) and frosting it generic. We get to pick it up tonight and all our family is coming over for a bar-b-q where we will cut the cake open and find out the gender together. After that, I will be able to post all of the pictures from the ultrasound CD! I can't wait to find out! When we ask Caleb, he always says that it is a boy, and that has been my suspision all along. We'll see!!

In other news, I was able to purchase some really neat photoshop programs this past week and have been enjoying developing my logo. Here are a couple more pictures from the wedding (of the bride's adorable nephew!) with an idea for my new watermark. Just thought you might like to see a couple more fun pictures. Let me know if you like the watermark logo.

Me... A Wedding Photographer?

I started a photography business a little over a year ago. My focus was to be infants and children and I began by begging all of my friends to allow me to take pictures of their kids! Little by little, I have built a portfolio and a decent website. Well this past week, I had a relative come to me and ask if I would be willing to consider doing pictures for her friend's wedding, LAST MINUTE! I had always said I would never photograph a wedding, as it is not something I can retake if I happen to mess up. But I felt that this was a situation that actually might make for a great first wedding...so I said yes! The wedding was on Sunday. I had about a week to prepare and was more nervous than I had ever been. I called my great friend a couple of days before the day and she offered to come along and assist me. I thought that was a wonderful idea! So together we went went on a journey as the "wedding photographers". The day started HOT, and the wedding was a little off schedule when we arrived. But I think that we pulled it off! Here are a couple shots I took, it's just a sneak peek, I will have more on my business website http://www.terrasphoto.com/, in a week or so, once I am able to show the pictures to the bride and groom. Stay tuned!

And we are exhausted, but had a blast!