Month: September 2016

Avocado Cilantro Dressing

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avocado-cilantro-dressing

 

Feelin’ a bit “saucy” today, so you get two sauce recipes a week apart.  It’s been that kind of week and these are quick and easy to do–lucky for me since I am trying to post these ahead of time so I can do all the other stuff I have  get to do this week.  ’nuff said, let’s get crazy with this delish, multi-purpose dressing!

Avocado Cilantro Dressing
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Ingredients
  1. half of an avocado
  2. 1/4 c. Greek yogurt (plain)
  3. 1/2 c. water (more if needed for consistency)
  4. 1 c. cilantro leaves & stems
  5. 1/2 t. salt
  6. 1 small clove of garlic
  7. squeeze of lime juice
Instructions
  1. Blend together and enjoy over salad, on sandwiches, with tortilla chips...
Adapted from 71 Toes
Adapted from 71 Toes
Mormon Mavens https://www.mormonmavens.com/

Quick Skillet Rolls

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skillet-rolls-4

I love my cast iron skillet.  Love.  Love.  Love.  

So finding a recipe sized down for quick 30-minute rolls was so exciting for me.  I don’t make rolls often because I’m really not supposed to have wheat, and these are so good that I can’t stop eating them.  This size recipe is perfect for my family and means that, even if I do indulge, I don’t have too many to tempt me!

skillet-rolls-3

My cast iron skillet is 12″ across and I got 19 rolls out of this recipe.  It’s great for a family meal!  Brush the rolls with melted butter when they come out of the oven and they will be absolutely delicious!

Quick Skillet Rolls
Yields 1
Delicious dinner rolls baked in a cast iron skillet.
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Prep Time
25 min
Prep Time
25 min
Ingredients
  1. 1 cup plus 2 Tbsp. of warm water
  2. 1/3 cup vegetable oil
  3. 2 Tbsp. active dry yeast
  4. 1/4 cup sugar
  5. 1/2 tsp. salt
  6. 1 egg
  7. 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Instructions
  1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
  2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the water, oil, yeast, and sugar. Whisk together, then set aside to rest for 15 minutes.
  3. Add 2 cups of the flour, salt, and egg to the yeast mixture. Use the dough hook on the mixer to begin mixing/kneading the dough. Add in the remaining flour until the dough is in a workable state (not too wet to work with).
  4. Shape the dough into golf ball sized balls, tucking under to make smooth tops. Place in a cast iron skillet and allow the rolls to rest for 10 minutes.
  5. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the tops are a golden brown.
Notes
  1. Try to use the least amount of flour that you can when adding in the remaining flour. You don't want the dough to be totally dried out. Just make sure that it's got enough body to it that you can form rolls--your fingers will still get a little messy with dough.
Mormon Mavens https://www.mormonmavens.com/

Be Your Own Kind of Beautiful

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be-your-own-kind-of-beautiful-mormonad

These little “MormonAds” would come out in every issue of The New Era, the LDS magazine for youth and as a teen, looking for the new ad each month was a ritual for me as I leafed through each shiny, new issue.

This particular ad was my favorite.  For a couple of reasons.

One, I absolutely love daisies!  And to see a daisy in comparison with all those roses….yeah, I got that, because I’d rather get a bouquet of daisies than roses.  (Not that I don’t also love roses!)

But the main reason I loved it is because I never really “fit in” and needed reassurance that it was okay that I didn’t.  I don’t know that I always internalized the message from this ad as well as I should’ve (and still don’t).  I still spent countless hours wishing I was something I wasn’t (and still do).  

But I have always remembered the image of the daisy among the roses.

And I thought of this ad recently when I watched a documentary about body acceptance.  The film addressed the pressure that women are under to look a certain way in order to be acceptable.  Basically, to all be roses.  But not just any roses.  We must all have perfect petals with no flaws.  Our stems must all be long and straight.  Leaves in just the right places.  If not, then we just don’t belong in the bouquet!  

It was very eye-opening to see just how much we have let the media influence who we should be and that we have reduced the definition of ourselves to the appearance of our outer shells.

How sad that must make our Father in Heaven!

Here we are.  A diverse garden of unique and beautiful flowers.  And all we want to do is look like one kind of flower.  What a boring garden that would be!

How much more beautiful for each flower to be the best flower it can be, “flaws” and all.  To bloom where we are planted.  To face the sun, grow up strong, and be proud of who we are.

Supermodels?

Beauty Queens?

No.

Daughters of our Heavenly Father.

That alone makes us exquisite.  That alone makes us beautiful.

And we enhance our beauty with the lives we lead.  By being kind.  By loving fully.  By serving others.

That kind of beauty is the highest form of beauty.  

And while I’m not gonna stop wearing makeup, I am going to try to look for and embrace my own kind of beautiful.  I am going to try harder to love this imperfect body that has grown and birthed five amazing humans.  And I am going to work on believing in the beauty that is already there, deep down in side.

It’s time to embrace being a unique part of a beautiful, diverse garden of womanhood.

It’s time to be your own kind of beautiful!

Italian Meatloaf

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italian-meatloaf

 

In my opinion, one of the ultimate comfort foods is meatloaf. Seriously, thinking about making a meatloaf for my family just makes me think of being a kid again and watching Mom fixing meatloaf for supper, pouring ketchup on top–and did you know there are about 3 different spellings that are pretty much considered correct on that one word?– and popping it in the oven . 

I remember enjoying the smells of good, homemade food coming from her kitchen.  I have her recipe taped in my family cookbook, and that is my go-to recipe, but I saw this one in a newspaper supplement and thought I would try it out.  Made it tonight and I must say I was impressed.  It’s pretty dang tasty.  Even someone else, who must remain nameless, had seconds after we got back from taking a couple of plates of supper to a friend’s house down the road.

Italian Meatloaf
Serves 6
Tasty version of a family favorite.
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Ingredients
  1. 1 1/2 slices of white bread, torn into small pieces
  2. 3 T. milk
  3. 1/2 medium onion, chopped
  4. 8 oz. button mushrooms, chopped
  5. 1 1/2 lbs. ground chuck
  6. 1 egg
  7. 1/2 cup grated Parmesan Asiago Cheese blend
  8. 1/2 t. salt
  9. 1/4 t. black pepper
  10. 12 grape tomatoes, cut into halves (that's what I had, but cherry tomatoes is what the recipe calls for)
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
  2. Combine milk and bread in a large bowl. Soak for 5 minutes.
  3. Combine bread mixture, onion, mushrooms, beef, egg, cheese, salt, pepper and half the tomatoes. Mix with your hands, then shape into a loaf and place in a baking dish. Scatter the rest of the tomatoes over the top.
  4. Bake about 50 minutes, or until meat reaches 160 degrees F.
Adapted from Relish newspaper insert
Adapted from Relish newspaper insert
Mormon Mavens https://www.mormonmavens.com/

Easy Caramel Sauce

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easy-caramel-sauce

Have you ever tried a new recipe?  Have you tried a new recipe when guests were coming over in a few hours and there was no time to make anything else if it failed?

Sunday morning I had high hopes for the Apple Fritter Bread.  The recipe pics looked amazing!  But here’s the thing about trying new recipes:  you gotta make sure you have all the ingredients and you gotta actually follow the directions!

Both situations got me in trouble.

I didn’t have enough fresh apples so I subbed some freeze dried apples.  And this normally is not a big deal because subbing works well with freeze dried if you refresh them first and then drain them well.

I was in a hurry.

So I didn’t prep the apples well AND I didn’t read the recipe well in my rushing around.

So here I was with dry, ugly apple-cinnamon bread for dessert.  

It was okay.  I mean, it wasn’t gross.  It just wasn’t….right.  And I had no time to make anything else.  What was I gonna do?

Have I told you how much I love Pinterest?  I’m so visual and that’s always the easiest way for me to narrow down a search…Google is just…too many words!  I thought maybe a caramel sauce would do the trick…I could still serve the apple bread, salvaging it with a buttery rich sauce to hide the #recipefail.

So happy to have found this recipe.  I can’t believe how ridiculously easy it is to make, and it tastes delicious!  And NO CANDY THERMOMETER!!

It’s like caramel sauce for dummies! 😉

 

Easy Caramel Sauce
An easy, rich dessert sauce that whips up in no time in the microwave!
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Cook Time
5 min
Cook Time
5 min
Ingredients
  1. 1/4 cup butter
  2. 1 cup brown sugar
  3. 1/2 cup heavy cream or whipping cream
  4. 1/2 tsp. salt
  5. 1/2 tsp. vanilla
Instructions
  1. In a large microwaveable bowl (I used my large Pampered Chef batter bowl), microwave the butter till it is mostly melted.
  2. Add brown sugar and cream and whisk well until smooth.
  3. Microwave on high for 2 minutes. Stir. Return to microwave for another 2 minutes.
Notes
  1. Serve it warm, but you may want to let it sit for a few minutes to thicken a little.
  2. Your microwave time may vary; you just want it to be bubbling and start to thicken a little.
  3. Store any leftovers in the fridge; reheat in the microwave to serve again.
Mormon Mavens https://www.mormonmavens.com/

With Every Decision

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choose-you-this-day-whom-ye-will-serve

Have you ever seen that movie, The Paper?  I saw it once on TV.  It was edited, obviously. It’s a rated R movie so I wanted to make that clear from the get-go.  

Anyway, there is a scene in this movie that I will never forget because it made an impression on me.

The main character (played by Michael Keaton) is working on a huge story for his newspaper, The Sun.  I mean, this story is ginormous if he can get it verified and to press before the paper “goes to bed”.  He’s supposed to be meeting his very pregnant wife (played by Marissa Tomei) and her parents for dinner.  But he’s late.  Again.

He calls her to explain why he’s late.  She’s heard these excuses way too many times and is fed up.  She feels that he cares more for the paper than he does for anything else.

During this phone call, she surprises him with this:

Wife:  You know that. – Let me give you a hypothetical.

Husband (annoyed):  Really?

Wife:  A guy breaks into the apartment. – Breaks into the apartment.  He’s got a gun, holds it to my head.  He says, “I blow your wife’s brains out or I blow up the “Sun” building.”  Choose. Now. What do you say?

Husband:  What do you think I say?  It’s ridiculous. It’s not gonna happen.

Wife:  That is exactly my point. It is never one big dramatic choice.  It is little, vague situations every day…and you’re either there or you’re not.  If you keep waiting for the guy with the gun to show up, it will be too late.

That stuck with me.  Because our lives our mostly about all the little decisions that we make every day.  Those are what really define us, right?  I mean, sure, there are big decisions like marriage.  But we don’t have ginormous, dramatic decisions to make every day.  Our days are crammed with little decisions.

Which, when you think about it, makes each of those decisions a lot more meaningful.   (And obviously, I’m not talking about decisions such as “should I have Frosted Flakes or Cheerios?”)  The mundane (or what we think of as mundane) acts of service each day, such as making a meal for your family or smiling at the cashier.  Decisions on what kind of media we decide to watch or not watch.  The thoughts that we allow to take hold in our minds.  Whether we will read the scriptures.  All these “little, vague situations every day” give us ample opportunities to show what we’re made of. 

And we’re either there or we’re not, to paraphrase Marissa Tomei’s character.

quote-bednar-families-1173309-gallery

from lds.org

All these decisions, like the ones mentioned in Elder Bednar’s quote above, are little brushstrokes “on the canvas of our souls”.  Up close each brushstroke may not seem important, valuable, or beautiful.  But stand back and these decisions and actions are part of a beautiful picture that we paint.  

Every day.  

With every decision.

Let us paint something beautiful with each brushstroke.

 

Fast & Creamy Polenta

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fast-creamy-polenta

 

Ever have one of those weeks where you feel like you just can’t breathe, but you know you have to get certain things done come heck-or-high water?  This week.  Yep.  Pretty much.  For today’s post I thumbed through my magazine clippings for a quick and easy recipe to share with you and found one that I have been wanting to try for quite a while.  How do you feel about polenta?  I have had some yummy versions over the past couple of years and found this recipe in our local paper supplement. Hope you enjoy it!

Fast & Creamy Polenta
Serves 4
"Creamy polenta (cornmeal) is to Italians what mashed potatoes are to Americans." -- relish.com
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Ingredients
  1. 4 cups water
  2. 1 t. coarse salt (I used sea salt on hand)
  3. 1 cup instant polenta
  4. 1/2 cup mascarpone cheese or cream cheese (where in my store is the mascarpone? I used Neufschatel)
  5. Chopped parsley
Instructions
  1. Bring water to a boil in a heavy saucepan. Add salt.
  2. Whisk in the polenta in a steady stream until well combined.
  3. Remove from heat. Stir in cream cheese. Top with parsley.
Notes
  1. Okay, so this doesn't look so creamy. Apparently I thought that the tube of polenta was the instant. LOL! There is obviously another version of polenta that I did not see, and the Walmart guy and I searched everywhere! But this was still good. See how we learn as we go?
Adapted from relish.com
Adapted from relish.com
Mormon Mavens https://www.mormonmavens.com/

Fudgy Banana Skillet Cake

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fudgy banana skillet cake 2

I gotta put a disclaimer on this one.

You may not like this.

No, don’t run away!  Just hear me out for a little bit.

It’s Vegan.  

It’s Paleo.

Okay, if you are a die-hard, flour-filled cake lover you can run now.  (Honestly, my kids did, but they don’t have the evolved taste buds that I do.)

Here’s my situation:  I have Leaky Gut.  And while I do make stuff for the family that has wheat and dairy (two foods I’m not supposed to have anymore) I do try an occasional alternative recipe in an attempt to find treats that might be “legal” for me.  And I’ve found that you have to make a taste adjustment most of the time–that’s something I’ve started to get used to.  

So I actually like this recipe!

What does it have going for it–besides being wheat and dairy free?

It mixes up IN the skillet.  Less dishes.

It’s ready pretty quickly.  Cravings kept at bay while it bakes.

It uses ingredients I already have on hand.  Yes!

It’s rich and fudgy.  Oh, yesssssss!

Is it my favorite cake in the world?  No.  That’d be one o’ them there flour-filled cakes of my yesteryear.  <sigh>

But I think it does fit the bill if you are someone who has to or wants to eat treats without grains or animal products and want something rich and chocolate-y.

I would recommend adding some dairy-free ice cream or whipped topping when serving, though.  It just needs a little creamy loveliness to balance out the fudgy!

fudgy banana skillet cake 1

Fudgy Banana Skillet Cake
A fudgy flourless, vegan "cake".
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Prep Time
10 min
Prep Time
10 min
Ingredients
  1. 1/4 cup coconut oil
  2. 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  3. 1 cup mashed banana (I used 3 small bananas)
  4. 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
  5. 1 cup almond butter
  6. 1/2 tsp. baking powder
  7. 1/4 tsp. salt
  8. 1 tsp. vanilla
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
  2. In a large cast iron skillet set over low heat, melt the coconut oil completely.
  3. Turn off burner and add remaining ingredients, whisking well to combine.
  4. Run a rubber spatula around the edge of the skillet to get the batter down with the rest of the ingredients.
  5. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the center is mostly set.
Notes
  1. It should be pretty moist still so don't bake it until a knife comes out clean--that's too done. It took 20 minutes in my oven. Cast iron retains heat well, so this will continue to cook a little when you take it out of the oven.
  2. Serve with ice cream or whipped topping (dairy or not--you decide).
Adapted from Happy Healthy Mama
Adapted from Happy Healthy Mama
Mormon Mavens https://www.mormonmavens.com/

 

Temper Your Temper

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mormonad-temper-1118308-gallery

It hit me the moment I sat down, all in a huff.  I’m a hypocrite.

This morning I slept in because of the late BYU game last night (No, I don’t want to talk about the game!) and started thinking about what to feed the missionaries coming over for dinner following afternoon church today.  I picked a couple of recipes out–one to make after church and one before–and began working on the dessert recipe.

I could just get it all done in time.  IF I hurried!

In between my rushing around with ingredients I barked out an order for my 7-year-0ld to get in the bathtub.  And he immediately rushed in, got in the tub, and scrubbed up obediently.

NOT.

No, he dawdled.  He whined.  He stalled.

He was ruining my no-room-for-error plan!

And then I remembered….oh my gosh, I haven’t prepared a Morsel post for today!  Dangit!

So I rushed in to the computer trying to remember the topic I had thought of during the week.  What was it…..

Nothing.  Nothing came to mind.  My topic was gone!

Okay, what can I post about?  What have I been thinking about this week?  Lemme check lds.org real quick.  Anything there?  Hmmm.  Pinterest graphic quotes?  Maybe.

And then…

“Mom?”

“What?”

“Mom!!”

“What???”

“MOM?”

“WHAAAAAAT??!?!?!?”

“MOOOOOOOOOOM!!!”

And the anger fueled me as I sprang from my chair and stomped into the bathroom where my little 7-year-old squatted in the bathtub.  

“Um…I….um….I’m gonna…um…wait until the water is….um….cooler before I scrub up, okay?”

<insert ridiculous Mom lecture here on various points including, but not limited to:  listening, hurrying up, making Mom late, what we don’t have time for, etc.>

Then I huffed and stomped back to my chair and sat down, as stated previously, in a huff.

Now, back to my SPIRITUAL THOUGHT POST.

Yeah.  I’m a hypocrite.

Here I was trying to impart some kind of profound/spiritual/inspirational/motivational/thought-provoking message to our readers, and what was I doing?

Being a jerk.

<sigh>

Sometimes “material” presents itself.  

In my Sunday morning rush (and shouldn’t I NOT be rushing around on the Sabbath?) I had allowed my self-induced stress to creep into my reactions to my son.  

Was it his fault that I didn’t get up in time to calmly make a dessert for dinner?  Was it his fault that I had gotten him into the bathtub during the crucial final hour before leaving for church?  Was it his fault that I was too busy worrying about a blog post to “bother” with helping him at bathtime?

Of course, the answer is….no.

So, here I sit.  Waiting for my probably-failed new recipe to come out of the oven.  I’m late for church because it took longer than I thought to bake.  And it stresses me out a little (I hate being late!). 

But I feel pretty good. 

Because I have a 7-year-old who quickly and lovingly obliges his mom when she asks him to forgive her for losing her temper.

So I’m one lucky mom.

h

 

Enchilada Sauce

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enchilada-sauce

So, this beach trip my son-in-law wanted me to mentor him in making Chile Rellenos from scratch.  I was glad to do it, since no one realizes how much work that is and having another family member aware of that will score more points for me on Christmas Eve when I am in the kitchen all day preparing our traditional Mexican meal.  I told Allen I would provide the sauce if he would do everything else.  I found this recipe on my Thrive website and I already had all of the ingredients, so it was easy to take the ingredients to the beach and make the sauce there.

Enchilada Sauce
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Ingredients
  1. 2 1/2 c. water
  2. 1 t. chili powder
  3. 1 t. cumin
  4. 1/8 t. cayenne (or chipotle powder)
  5. 1/4 t. THRIVE Chef's Choice
  6. 1 T. THRIVE Chopped Onions, Freeze Dried (I had to use fresh onion this time)
  7. 1 T. minced garlic
  8. 1 t. THRIVE Tomato Powder
  9. 2 T. THRIVE Green Chili Peppers, Freeze Dried
  10. 1/3 c. THRIVE Espagnole (Savory Beef Gravy)
  11. 1 1/2 t. lime juice
  12. 1 T. THRIVE Cilantro
  13. 14 c. sour cream
Instructions
  1. Combine all ingredients in a small pan, except sour cream, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 4-5 minutes.
  2. Puree sauce in blender until smooth.
  3. Return to pan and heat to a simmer. Turn off heat and fold in the sour cream.
  4. Use as a sauce for enchiladas or chile rellenos.
Adapted from Thrive Recipes
Adapted from Thrive Recipes
Mormon Mavens https://www.mormonmavens.com/