October Super Saturday

I realize this is a very late post on the subject, and I was hoping to get some photos of the event before blogging about it, but I am going to go ahead and post.  Here is the summary of what we did at Super Saturday.

Cooking Demo
Penny Wardle and Kelsie Goble

In this entertaining cooking class, we learned how to make easy cookies from a cake mix.

Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients:  spice cake mix, small can of pumpkin, 1/2 bag semi-sweet morsels
In a large mixing bowl,  mix together spice cake mix, can of pumpkin, and semi-sweet morsels.  Drop by tablespoon on greased cookie sheet.  Bake in preheated 350-degree oven for 8-10 minutes until done.

Spice Cake Cookies
Ingredients:  spice cake mix, egg, 1 stick softened butter, 1 tsp vanilla
In a large mixing bowl, mix together all ingredients.  Drop by tablespoon on greased cookie sheet and bake in 350 degree oven for 8-10 minutes until done.

Skin Care/Make-up Class
Bobbi Farnworth

We received some excellent skin care and make-up tips during this class.

Skin Care
Bobbi said that it is really important to wash your face twice daily with a gentle cleanser.  This is because of free radicals in the sun and air and what you put on your face whenever you touch your face.  It's important to wash both morning and night.  In the morning, your skin has built up oils from your hair and from sweat and sleeping on your pillow.  It's best if you have long hair to pull it up off your face in a loose bun on top of  your head.  You should also wash your pillowcase once a week. 

She also said that it is important to exfoliate 2-3 times per week and recommends to not use a generic  apricot scrub because it is too harsh for your skin.  Exfoliate by using a gentle scrub in circular, gentle motions with two fingers and use your forefingers for the bridge of your nose.

Use a moisturizer for the daytime after you wash and exfoliate that contains spf (sunscreen).  Benzoil peroxide can help with breakouts.

Make Up
For eyeshadow, you should use a primer but one without a shimmer as a base.  She prefers Mac from Nordstrom's.  Always use brushes, not the little swabs that come with your makeup.  She says smaller and flatter brushes will cause more pigment of color to stay on your face.  A fluffy brush is good for blending.  Darks recede back and light colors will pop out.  She suggests that for eyes, to start under your brow and buff with a blender brush.

Eyeliner should be black and applied with an angled brush.  Brown eyeliners tend to contain red and make eyes look tired.  She also prefers black mascara over brown for the same reason. 

Always do your skin care regime before applying your foundation.  The foundation should be liquid and applied with a flat stubby brush.  A mascara trick to keep it full and longer-lasting is to apply a layer of mascara, then dust with a layer of baby powder, then apply another layer of mascara.  To remove eye makeup, she recommends eye makeup remover wipes, which you should be able to find most anywhere. 

For lips, you want to line your lips, then use a powder foundation to neutralize them.  Use a pointed lipstick and get the corners with your liner. 

For concealing dark circles, you want to conceal after putting on your foundation and use under the eye primer.  And one huge tip to prevent eye circles and premature aging of the eyes is to NOT RUB YOUR EYES!

Repurposing/Staging a House
Sara Beck

This class was good for reminding us how to keep our houses looking market-ready.  The best thing to do is to keep the house as clutter-free as possible.  Allow a lot of light and make the house look open with how your furniture is arranged.  She suggests making your house look like a model home when you stage it.  There were some more specific projects she showed samples of, but I was not able to capture or notate everything she talked about.  However, she did leave us with a flyer, which I will try to put in here as a pdf, when I figure that out.  :)

Projects
There were several projects taking place during the day.  We made sweater pumpkins as decorations for Halloween.  There was a tent that could be used for kids to play inside in and an FHE packet.  There was also a burlap wreath and extender slips.  In addition, a few service projects were ongoing--collecting toothbrushes and other hygiene items for hygiene kits to be taken to China, making newborn hats, also for China, and working on a quilt.

February Enrichment Meeting

At our February Enrichment meeting Ralina K., led our discussion on parenting teens, which was an extension of her lesson the previous month. Many great ideas and points were shared by the sisters in attendance. 

In our next class, Kristen F.,  shared with us ways we can bring the spirit into our homes through our decorating.  Her emphasis, however, was less on the things we purchase and more on the types of family activities we encourage and participate in such as Family Home Evening, Scripture Study, and service to others.  She shared with us some family photo albums.  The memories and good feelings these simple  picture albums bring, have helped to contribute to the spirit she seeks to have in her home.  

Kristi C. then shared with us how to make homemade 

egg noodles for soups. 

Delicious Homemade Egg Noodles

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
3 egg yolks
1 egg
2 teaspoons salt
1/4-1/2 cup water

Directions:
1. Measure flour into bowl; make a well in the center and add egg yolks, whole egg and salt.
2. With hands, thoroughly mix egg into flour
3. Add water, 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition.
4. (Add only enough water to form dough into a ball).
5. Turn dough onto well-floured board; knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes.
6. Cover; let rest 10 minutes.
7. Divide dough into 4 equal parts.
8. Roll dough, 1 part at a time, into paper-thin rectangle, keeping remaining dough covered.
9. Roll rectangle around rolling pin; slip out rolling pin.
10. Cut dough cross-wise into 1/8-inch strips for narrow noodles and 1/4 -inch for wide noodles.
11. Shake out stripes and place on towel to dry, about 2 hours.
12. When dry, break dry strips into smaller pieces.
13. Cook in 3 quarts boiling salted water (1 tablespoon salt) (We use chicken broth.) 12 to 15 minutes or until tender.
14. Drain thoroughly.

January Enrichment Meeting - Gnocchi Recipe

Marta shared with us her recipe for making Gnocchi (pronounced NYO-kee),

a traditional dish from her country of Argentina.  

Gnocchi are fluffy, Italian-style dumplings made of potatoes and flour.  You can serve gnocchi with any of your favorite pasta sauces, or even with a simple sauce of melted butter and grated Parmesan cheese.

The key to making good gnocchi is to use dry, mealy potatoes like Russets.  And we want to keep the potatoes as dry as possible. 

Ingredients:
2 pounds whole Russet potatoes, peeled and quartered
2 cups all-purpose flour (plus extra flour for dusting)

1.  Boil the potatoes in a large pot until they can be pierced through with a knife.

2.  Drain and then mash the potatoes until a smooth, uniform texture is achieved.

3.  Turn out the cooked potato mixture onto a lightly floured surface, and add about half of the flour.  Knead until you have a sticky mass and keep adding flour a little at a time until the dough is smooth.  You won't necessarily use the whole amount of flour.

4.  Cut the dough into smaller sections, and roll each piece into a long cylinder about 1/2 inch in diameter.  Then cut each cylinder into individual pieces about 3/4 inch in length.

5.  Fill a large pot with water and generously salt the water with a good handful of Kosher salt.  The water should taste like seawater.  Bring the water to a boil.

6.  Meanwhile, shape the gnocchi by pressing each piece between your thumb and the tines of a fork, using a slight rolling motion.  One side of the gnocchi should have the imprint of the fork and the other side a small indentation from your thumb.

7.  When the water comes to a boil, drop the gnocchi into the water.  In about two minutes, the gnocchi will float to the surface of the water.  Let them cook about fifteen seconds more and then skim them out with a slotted spoon.

8.  Drain the gnocchi well and serve immediately topped with a basic tomato sauce and grated Parmesan cheese, or with any of your favorite pasta sauces.

January Enrichment Meeting

Thanks Carol B. for sharing your card making talent 

and supplies with us!

 

 

Gingered Carrot-Sweet Potato Soup

Sister Linda Andelin shared with us her yummy Gingered Carrot-Sweet Potato Soup recipe which was served at our recent "Souper" Saturday.

(October 2012) 

Gingered Carrot-Sweet Potato Soup

1 lb. carrots, pealed & thinly sliced

1 large sweet potato, pealed & cut in 1/2

   inch cubes

3 14.5 oz. cans reduced sodium chicken broth

1 tsp. ground ginger

1/2 c. sour cream

2 Tbs. finely minced green onions or

    snipped fresh chives

1  19 oz. can no salt added cannellini

    (white kidney) beans, rinsed & drained

1. In soup pot combine carrots, sweet potatoes

broth, & ginger. Bring to boil. Reduce heat. Simmer

covered 10-12 min., until veggies are tender.

Meanwhile combine sour cream and green onions in small bowl,

set aside.

2. In blender, puree vegetables with beans, one fourth

at a time. Place in soup pot season with salt & pepper

Keep hot until serving, top each bowl with dollop of sour cream.

You can spice up more with more ginger and onions.

This makes enough for 4    318 cal. 

"Souper" Saturday Recipes

Ham and Bean Soup

Rinse 2 cups dry beans in a large pot; discard shriveled beans and any small stones.  Soften your beans in one of the following three ways.

#1.  Place beans in a container cover with water.  Let soak over night.  

#2.  Prepare your beans for the soup by softening them in a pressure cooker.  Follow the directions for your particular pressure cooker.

#3.  Soak beans over night.  To further soften beans pressure them in a pressure cooker.  Follow the directions for your particular pressure cooker. 

Ingredients
2 cups dry Great Northern beans

Ham bone
2 cups cooked ham, diced
1 small onion diced.
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/2 cup brown sugar.

Directions
Stove Top Method:  Place pre-soaked beans in large stock pot and add above ingredients.  Cover with water.  Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until beans are tender.  Add more water if necessary during cooking time.

Crock Pot Method: (This is the method I prefer)  Place pre-soaked beans in crock pot and add the above ingredients.  Cover with water and cook 8 to 10 hours on low or until beans are tender.

Cover dry beans with water and let soak over night

To further soften the beans after soaking, use a pressure cooker

Drain and then add beams to your crock pot

 

Add the rest of the ingredients

Cover with water

Let cook for 8 hours on low

Spring's Roll Recipe

 Spring demonstrates how to make those 
delicious, feather-lite, fluffy rolls.

 

Heather’s / Spring's Rolls

2 ½ cups warm water

2 Tablespoons yeast

2 teaspoons sugar

½ cup powdered milk

½ cup vegetable or canola oil

½ cup sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon salt

7 – 8 cups flour

Butter

Whisk together water, yeast, and 2 teaspoons sugar.  Then add the powdered milk, oil, ½ cup sugar, and salt.

Mix together well.  Add flour 2 cups at a time, mixing well between.

Cover and let rise 1 ½ hours.  Punch down.  Divide dough in half and roll out on floured surface.  Place rolls on greased baking sheet.  Let rise again for 30 – 40 minutes.  Bake rolls at 400° for 8 – 10 minutes, or until tops of rolls turn golden brown.  Remove rolls from oven and brush with melted butter.

Cafe Rio Recipes - Courtesy of Spring

Here are the delicious recipes from our 
Ward Dinner held on November 9th

*COOKING NOTES from Spring Beck: 
... I do 2 pork roasts to feed about 25ish people.  The rice I don't actually follow the recipe, I just add chicken broth, dried minced onions, cilantro and the rice into my rice cooker.  It's less oily and way easier.  Oh, and I just cut a few limes in half and throw those in on top of the rice to add the lime flavor and then I pull the cooked limes out after it all cooks.  The beans are very easy and don't really need to cook for 2 hours, about half an hour will do.

CHILI BEANS
4-6 cans of black or pinto beans (2-3 quarts bottled beans)
1 can diced chilies
1 1/2 c. green enchilada sauce
     Place all ingredients in a crock pot, electric skillet or saucepan.  Cook 2 hours on low until flavors are mixed.  (I use a skillet because I only have 1 crock pot and can be cooked for less time if necessary.)

CILANTRO-LIME RICE
1c. rice                     
1/2 chopped onion
1 tbsp. oil                  
2 c. water (or chicken broth - leave out chicken bouillon)
1/3 bunch cilantro      
2 bouillon cubes or 2 tsp. instant bouillon
1/2 tsp. salt               
zest of on lime
     Brown onion & rice in oil.  In blender, combine water/stock, bouillon, cilantro, lime zest and salt.  Blend thoroughly.  Add to rice and bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes.  When rice is cooked, fluff with a fork and add the juice of 1 lime  (hint:  microwave lime for 20 seconds first)

CAFE RIO PORK
3 lb. pork roast                  
1 can Pepsi, Coke, or Dr. Pepper 
Cook all day in crock pot.  Drain liquid, shred, and add:
 
1/4 c. BBQ sauce                
3/4 c. ketchup
1/4 - 1/2 c. brown sugar      
1 tsp. garlic salt
1 can mild chillies
Mix into shredded pork.



SPICY TOMATILLO RANCH DRESSING
1 Hidden Valley Buttermilk Ranch Packet         
2 c. mayo
2 tomatillos (peel off loose skin)                        
2 c. buttermilk
1/2 bunch cilantro (mostly leaves)
1/2 - 1 small jalapeno pepper (to your taste)   
2 tsp. lime juice (or more if you like)
     Blend ingredients together in a blender or food processor until it is mixed well.  Refrigerate.