Carly Minestrone Soup

Food Network

Ingredients

Can Add ground beef or shredded chicken (or leave it out)

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 large carrot, diced
1/3 pound green beans, trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch pieces (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1 28-ounce can no-salt-added diced tomatoes
1 14-ounce can crushed tomatoes
6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 15-ounce can low-sodium kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup elbow pasta
1/3 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

Directions

Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook until translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 30 seconds. Add the celery and carrot and cook until they begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Stir in the green beans, dried oregano and basil, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and pepper to taste; cook 3 more minutes.

Add the diced and crushed tomatoes and the chicken broth to the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer 10 minutes. Stir in the kidney beans and pasta and cook until the pasta and vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes. Season with salt. Ladle into bowls and top with the parmesan and chopped basil.

Caramel corn

12 C popped popcorn (about 1/2 C kernels)
1 C brown sugar 
1/4 C white Karo syrup 
1/2 t salt (if you are using salted microwave popcorn then omit salt here) 
1 stick real butter 
1/2 t baking soda 
1 t vanilla

Pop popcorn and set aside. Place brown sugar, Karo syrup, salt, and butter in a microwave safe dish. Microwave for 30 seconds. That should be enough to melt the butter at least half way. Stir it all to combine. No microwave on high for 2 minutes. Take it out and stir. Microwave for 2 more minutes.

While the caramel is cooking, put the popcorn in a big bowl or brown paper bag. Use one that is way bigger than you think you’ll need.  Also, remove any un-popped kernels.  When the caramel is done cooking, take out of microwave and add baking soda and vanilla.  Stir well and then pour over popcorn and stir up popcorn immediately to coat.
Eat warm straight out of the bowl, or spread out onto waxed paper or foil and let cool to room temperature (for soft, gooey popcorn).
For crunchy caramel corn: spread out on a cookie sheet (you might need 2) and bake either at 200 degrees for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes, or at 300 degrees for about 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.  If you choose the latter, keep an eye on it towards the end of cooking time to avoid over cooking.

THE BEST EVER BAKED OATMEAL

How Sweet Eats

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 1/2 cups quick oats
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 large eggs
• 2 cups milk (whatever you like! dairy or nondairy)
• 3/4 cup canola oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips
• 1/3 cup sliced almonds
• 1/3 cup flaked coconut (toasted if you’ve like!)
• 2 tablespoons hemp hearts
• 1 tablespoon chia seeds
• milk or cream, for drizzling

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9×13 inch baking dish with nonstick spray.

In a large bowl, whisk together the oats, sugar, baking powder and salt. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla extract. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until combined. Pour the mixture in the dish.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and set. Remove the dish from the oven and place the chocolate chips on top right away (so they kind of melt!). Top with the coconut, almonds, hemp hearts and chia seeds. Let cool slightly, then cut into squares and serve with a drizzle of milk or cream.

Baked apples

Logan made these in Bear Lake and they were such a delicious treat and snack.

Apples
brown sugar
oatmeal (or granola)
butter
cinnamon
raisins

Cut top of apple off and scoop out just center section where seeds are, throw away.
saute with butter some oatmeal on the stove top till toasted. Add and stir brown sugar, cinnamon and raisins. Put everything inside the cored apples.
Cook 350 for 40 min.
We like our apples to be tender crisp not mushy.

General Conference

I love conference and love to make it special with food and activities. Its so nice to be home, relaxed and listening.

We like to set up a small tent like King benjamin, faced their tents to him and lots of blankets for a fort. Lots of random coloring pages, cross word puzzles, a possible quilt to tie, 

printables for small kids,  #1 teenager notebook, #2 teenager notebook. 

More challenging wordsearches   

Learn to paint Watercolor beaches/ocean

One time the girls tallied up specific words (Jesus, testimony, church, scriptures, etc...) that were spoken, that really got them listening to the words the speakers were saying, I think we even gave them a penny for each time they recorded it.  They were really motivated.

A week before - buy the groceries for everything

                        - make the chex mix, fruit and veggie dip the week before conference.

Thursday or friday  - assemble the breakfast french toast and let sit in fridge 

                                - cut fruit and veggies

                                - cut carrots, potatoes, onions for beef roast

 I like to have mostly healthy snacks-

Veggies

1. red and orange peppers
2. celery
3. carrots
4. baby tomatoes
5. cucumbers
6. with veggie ranch dip

Fruit

1. strawberries
2. grapes
3. oranges
4. bananas

5. kiwis
6. apples- prepare a few days before- I like to cut 5-10 apples in advance and let them sit in a ziplock bag with lemon juice, then they don't go brown.
7. any type of berries- raspberries, black berries
8. caramel to dip apples in

9.  Coconut Fruit Dip ((added 9/28/21))

Snacks

1.  Chips and guacamole- 1 avocado, dash lemon juice, salt and pepper, 1/4t diced tomatoes, cilantro,
garlic

2. crackers, beef log, and cheese

3. chex mix (added 9/28/21)

and with some treats and some BREAKFAST
1. Pumpkin Muffins
2. Baked Whole Apples
3 .Baked sliced apples
4. Baked Apple Oatmeal or the other Best Baked Choco Chip Oatmeal

5. I've made whole wheat cinnamon rolls,

6. Alli Baked french Toast


Dinner
Pumpkin Chili
Beef Roast

10/6/24

This was the first time Katie was gone at college and lily went with a friend (Anne Marie Fry) to Idaho. So it was chloe, luke, dad and i. 

Chloe wanted- fruit platter, fun pages to color, deviled eggs
Lily likes to have- neef roast, cinnamon rolls, strawberries and fruit dip, beef stick and crackers, smoothie bowls, roasted potatoes

ROASTED RED PEPPER POTATO SOUP

Garden and table

2 medium yellow onions, chopped
3-4 garlic cloves
2 T EVOO
1 jar (7oz) roasted sweet peppers, undrained and chopped (roasted my own peppers)
1 can (4oz) chopped green chilies, drained
1 t  ground cumin (she recommended 2 T)
1 t salt
Didnt have 1 t ground coriander
3 C diced potatoes
2 c chopped tomatoes
3 C vegetable broth
2 T minced fresh cilantro
1 T lemon juice
Didnt have 1/2 C cream cheese ( or coconut milk)

method:
1. In your soup pot, saute onions in oil until tender. Stir in the roasted peppers, chilies, cumin, salt, and coriander. Cook and stir for 2 minutes. Stir in potatoes and broth, bring to a boil.
2. Reduce heat and cover. Simmer for 10-15 minutes until potatoes are tender. Pull off heat.
3. Pour half the soup into a blender and puree with cream cheese until smooth. Pour back into the soup pot with the other half of the soup. Heat through again on medium.  Stir in cilantro and lemon juice. Serve warm. 

10/4/18 I added too many potatoes so I poured half the soup in the blender and pureed it a bit, it turned out amazing

3 ways to roast a pepper

Tori Avey

OPTIONS-
1. In oven at 400 degrees roast 6 at a time, 20 min turn them, turn 20 more min, turn 20 more min and last time turn 20 more min
2. Or in broiler. It is faster but you need to watch more carefully they burn quicker. Place them 8-9 inches away from broiler, roast 20-25 min, turning every 5 min
3. stove top method or on grill - just put whole pepper on top of the gas flame. Let it roast for 20-25 minutes. Use a pair of tongs to give the pepper a quarter turn every 4-5 minutes.

If the pepper is soft and easily yields to the tongs, it is ready. If the pepper still feels somewhat firm, let it continue to roast for a few more minutes until it softens.

 I chose the #1 method- I put 3 whole peppers on a cookie sheet with a chopped onion. I did need to put olive oil where the onions were b/c they were sicking to the aluminum foil. The onion only needed 30-40min

After you roast, then follow -

Steaming Your Peppers

1. Once you have roasted your peppers, you will need to steam them. This process will help you peel the tough skin from them more easily. There are a few ways to steam the peppers. 
2. I like to place the roasted peppers on a flat, smooth surface like a cutting board, then invert a large bowl over the top of them. The bowl traps the steam inside or I wrapped a plastic grocery bag around the peppers. Steam for 15 minutes.

Seeding and Peeling Your Peppers

1. Once you have roasted your peppers, you will need to seed and peel them. This is kind of a messy process, but it's well worth the effort. Note that some people like to seed their peppers before roasting. When I have tried this in the past, the results are never as good as when I keep the whole pepper intact during roasting-- I recommend roasting the peppers whole and seeding after the roast.
2. Strip off the charred skin. If you want a more charred flavor, you can leave a few small blackened bits on the skin.
3. Once you've peeled and seeded your peppers, you'll end up with soft, sweet, tasty pepper flesh. 
4. If you want to store the peppers short term, put them in a sterile glass jar and cover them with olive oil. Cap the jar tightly and refrigerate. If you don't plan on using them within a few days, pressure can them: https://toriavey.com/toris-kitchen/2013/09/pressure-canning/ or freeze the roasted pepper strips in Ziploc bags... they actually hold up well to freezing and retain much of their flavor when thawed.
5. They can be added to stews and pasta sauces or chopped into salsa. They can even be mixed with fresh basil and olive oil to create a peppery bruschetta. I have many recipe ideas on my website, just search Roasted Bell Peppers for ideas. Enjoy!
   See the full post:https://toriavey.com/how-to/roasted-bell-peppers/#D3at7z3RJXIiImeq.99

Hiking and Biking in Northern Utah

Paved and dirt trails for Bikes- (But you can walk/hike on them)
1. Syracuse trail 1300 N 4000 W
2. Denver Rio Grande Western Trail- by Ogden airport, begin around Hinckley Dr (Between Midland and Road 126)
3. River Pkwy Trail around West Haven & Marriot/Slatterville- 1350 S 1900 W, connects to 21st Pond, you can choose two directions. Park on 1900 w or 

A. Go East towards West Haven cemetery

B. Go West/south towards ogden

C. you can park on 2312 W 1800 S, West Haven on the side of the road and head north on the River Pkwy Trail 

D In the dirt parking lot, Park by Kenworth Sales Ogden, the trail goes east and west

4. Riverdale Parkway- goes south along 89
5. Paved path in Kaysville

6. Ogden Trackline Bike park- https://goo.gl/maps/4djqHjfTu9eSuQPJ6

Hiking Trails-
1. Pleasant view trail, can be as long or short as u want, great views- http://thebesstyet.com/hiking-pleasant-view-trailhead/
2. Barker park trail, simple easy walk (Jamie we've done B4)
3. Top of 1050 (all up hill, it'd be hard with kids) but there's a pond at the top
4. Open Canal trail, wide dirt road leads to single walking/biking trail but may be too long for kids
5. Green waste hike (could be good for meandering, better in spring when theres a small runoff)
6. Bonneville shoreline- lookout point (going into North Ogden cyn) going south and a different trail going north
7. Top of North Ogden cyn
8. 21st pond in Ogden
9. Beus Canyon- can be an intense incline if your going fast, but we take it slow with the kids. Plus theres a small creek running along the trail. I always love that
10. Burch Creek- not as well traveled, smaller single trail and runs along a small creek.
11. Jumpoff Canyon- well manicured and kept nice, not many trees but an awesome huge rocky mountain to hike up by
12. Cold Water Canyon- You can get there by starting at #5 green waste hike or starting a little more south by the open canal, theres a dirt road that goes straight up the mountain. Its faster than the green waste dump but is intense.

CAMPING

1. West Haven offers one night only camping sites right by the west haven cemetery. Monday - Thursday , 10:00am - 6:00pm, CLOSED Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Holidays, Email Contact: recreation@westhavencity.com

Phone Contact: 801-731-8882