Elder Hinckley and Me

On Sunday we went to church with Tina at the Snow College Institute. Elder and Sister Trythall were there, serving a CES mission. Beckie and Debbie were friends when we lived in Germany. Debbie told me she had a picture of her and Paula and me with President Hinckley. It is amazing that I have no memory of this incident, but isn't it a wonderful picture. Thanks Debbie.

A New Recipe

I tried a new recipe today and I loved it. I will post it here, and post it on the Family Recipes later. I noticed Beckie just posted to the Family Recipes 2 hours ago and I don't want to knock her recipe off-it sounds too good-especially since I have some 3 day old turkey in my fridge. I will try it tomorrow.
I had some boneless pork chops to cook for dinner and wanted to try something new, so I just googled "easy baked pork chops".

Stuffing and Pork Chops

8 pork chops
1 box stuffing
1 can cream of mushroom soup
2 tbsp butter or margarine

Spray baking pan with nonstick spray. Put pork chops in pan and season with salt and pepper. Pour stuffing over top of pork chops. Dot stuffing with butter. Mix soup with 1/2 can water and pour over stuffing. Cover with foil and bake at 350 for one hour.

If you love stuffing like I do, you will love this easy recipe.

Joseph

Actually, Annemarie will post pictures of Annabelle. We tended Joseph while Katherine was in the hospital. I love tending my nieces boys. Joseph was so cute during the night. He would wake up and just wander around the house until he was ready to go back to sleep and then he would just lay down where he was and sleep. He did that three times during the night, but he never cried. Can you imagine a baby who never cries in the night.
Actually when Dutch stayed with me he really didn't cry either. He would wake up in the night and make that funny noise that I think was supposed to be crying and then he would lay by me and go back to sleep. That was fun, too. It is fun being a great aunt and it will be fun being a grandma.
By the way Annabelle is beautiful and looks a lot like Carlye.

A Baby Shower

We are planning to have a baby shower for Katherine on Thursday. I am not sure if she even knows about it yet. Hopefully she can attend. If she is the hospital we will postpone it. We are having it this Thursday so that Doreen can attend. Everyone in the family is invited, so I will be expecting you.

Happy Julianuary!

Happy Birthday, Julianna! I am proud of you and I love you. (How did I ever live with that kitchen?)

Pickles

I am in the process of making pickles. I have a wonderful recipe that is just as good as Claussen and a LOT less expensive. These are refrigerator pickles, so they stay crisp and taste wonderful. I will post the recipe on the recipe blog, but I will also post it here.

Bring 3 cups water, 1 cup white vinegar, and 2 tbsp kosher or pickling salt to a boil.

In quart jars put:
1 clove garlic
1/4 tsp yellow mustard seed
4-6 black peppercorns
4-6 whole allspice
pinch of dill seed
sprig of fresh dill weed
small pinch of turmeric
1/4 tsp sugar or 1 sliced carrot
1/4 sliced onion
sliced cucumbers

Pour brine mixture over cucumbers. Leave at room temperature 1-2 days. Store in refrigerator.

Brine mixture makes enough brine for about 2 quarts of pickles. Buying all of the spices is expensive initially, but will make dozens of jars of pickles. Any clean jar with a lid can be used, not just canning jars. Regular cucumbers from the store work just fine. I usually buy fresh dill but dried dill can be used. I keep all of the spices together in a box and then it just takes a few minutes to make them.

I posted a recipe for Yogurt Smoothie on the recipe blog, but I don't think it showed up as a new post. The recipe is there and those of you with school kids should try it. It is so easy to make and tastes better than regular yogurt.

Also, call my phone at 210 827 5087 so I can put you in my phone directory. I don't have numbers for my sister or my nieces anymore.

1 210 827 5087

I had to get a new cell phone. Our contract still has another year on it, so I bought a prepaid phone and put my sim card in it. I actually like the new phone a lot better than the old one. The problem is I don't have anyone's phone numbers anymore. So call me. Then I can save your number in my phone book. My number is 210 827 5087. The only problem is I will be at Education Week all week and so I will probably not answer my phone. Maybe I will blog again next week and remind you to call me.

We had so much fun on Thursday. Pam and Dutch came to visit and then Katharine, Mitchell and Joseph came over for dinner. Nothing in my life experience has prepared me for 2 two year old boys. They were pretty wild, but it was wonderful. I love my nieces and their kids.