Worldwide Church, Worldwide Food

amazing food flags originally from here

Growing up, brunch during the Sunday morning session of General Conference was our tradition. A tradition including a ham, pans of homemade cinnamon rolls, raspberries from our garden, granola and yogurt. Needless to say, a tradition I loved.

Then my family moved two time zones east. Now the morning session of General Conference doesn't start for us until noon. And that's just too late for brunch.

In April we started a new family tradition: Worldwide Church, Worldwide Food. I browse the international aisle of the supermarket (or if we're lucky, we get to go to our favorite international market in Chicago before Conference weekend). I stock up on all sorts of food, but heavy on the treats and chocolate! It's a great way to recognize how we belong to a worldwide church and gives us a chance to try foods we normally wouldn't have an excuse to buy. This weekend we'll be noshing on Japanese udon miso soup, Austrian cookies, Korean biscuits, and Mexican juice. Plus we'll be feasting on the word of God, delivered through his messengers. Sounds like the perfect weekend to me!

Five Friday Finds :: Great Canning Resources

If you would like to start canning, but don't know where to start, here are five excellent places to look for inspiration. Before long, you might be hooked and preserving all the bounty you can get!

1. A friend who cans. Canners love to share their knowledge, and having someone walk you through your first recipe can bolster your confidence enough to venture out on your own. Ask around and see if you have a friend who would be willing to help you get started or loan you some of their equipment.
2. Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving (a great first step) or  Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving (for more info, recipes and methods). After a friend initiated me into the ways of canning on my own, without my mom, this was the next step. These books will show you the ropes, help define different terms—headspace? When to start timing a water bath processing? Fingertip tight? Adjusting for altitude? These books have you covered. And once you have the terminology mastered, canning is just like following any other recipe.
3. Your local Cooperative Extension office. A fantastic resource for what's going on locally and most offer pressure canner testing, to put your mind at ease before venturing into pressure canning by making sure you're equipment is working well.
4. Fresh Preserving. Another canning primer, a vast recipe database (searchable by all sort of different factors), troubleshooting, pectin calculator and more. 
5. Food in Jars. Especially Beginning Water Bath Canning and Canning 101, which has answers to all sorts of questions. Marisa includes lots of new, unique and fresh ideas when it comes to canning recipes and products.

Pineapple

Hey Nik,

Do you have all your neighbor and co-worker gifts taken care of? The husband gave his last one yesterday and I got my share delivered to the women I visit teach.

About five years ago I fell in love with the idea of giving fresh pineapples. You could probably say I'm obsessed with it. I haven't met very many people who don't love fresh pineapple, and while we all love Christmas cookies and candy, I've usually had my fill before Christmas even comes. So fresh fruit it is!

I love wrapping the pineapples in burlap and yarn. I got 1/4 yard of burlap for $.80 and it covered six pineapples. (I'm a pretty big spender!)

To cut your burlap evenly, figure out your spacing, snip a thread and pull it out.

This got me thinking that I should do a burlap wreath with barn red burlap instead of the natural brown color. I loved the red ruffles!

You're left with a small little void that is easy to cut down. Doing it this way helps eliminate a mess of strands along an uneven side and make your edges fray tidy!

I sort of ruffle the front to use up the extra length of burlap. I think it gives it a fun look. The pom-pom yarn I bought years ago at the Dollar Store. I'll be sad when it's gone because it's dressed up lots of Christmas packages! I've also used plain white twine and that looks good, too.

Dressed up and ready to party!

The best part of all? When we went to the store to buy pineapples they were 99¢ each! That made these gifts well within our grad-student budget. I bought a few extra for sharing the joy!

Mele Kalikimaka!
Deid

PS—Speaking of Mele Kalikimaka... If you want to play up the Hawaiian theme, there are really cute printable tags you could print and attach to pineapples that you can find here from Loralee Lewis. I guess it's the next best thing to a trip to Hawaii.

General Conference Cinnamon Rolls

 image

I'm excited for our  General Conference weekend, and not just because we get to watch church on the TV like my boys are (but that is nice too!). But because of the little traditions we have for conference weekend, like the traditional brunch with friends complete with conference cinnamon rolls. And while we're watching I hope to finish up a couple of projects. I seem to listen better if my hands are busy. There's a butterfly mobile for the new niece that I need to put together and in the mail before Deidra heads to the hospital. And I'm planning on making a ton of paper flowers for this wreath. She says you need like a million, so that should keep me busy! While I'm crafting I plan to keep the boys entertained with these conference packets.

While the cinnamon rolls are tradition, each of us sisters and our mom all use different recipes. Here's my favorite:

Sandy's Cinnamon Rolls
2 c. warm water
1/2 c. sugar
2 T. yeast
1/2 c. shortening
1 tsp. salt
5-6 c. flour

Add in order till dough pulls from the side of mixer. The dough will still be a little sticky. Put in a lightly greased bowl and over. Let rise until double. Roll out the dough and cover with butter, sugar, cinnamon (and I like to add a little brown sugar). Roll up and slice (I prefer the dental floss slicing method), place on pan and let rise until double. Back at 350 for 25-30 minutes. Frost while still warm.


Do you have conference weekend traditions?

Pi Day

Since celebrating it in ninth grade geometry, Pi Day (3.14) has been a favorite quirky holiday to observe. Lucky for us now, we have lots of nerdy engineer friends who observe!

We'll be celebrating tonight by eating lots of pie at a friend's Pi Day party. If we didn't have other obligations tonight we'd be eating some homemade chicken pot pie, too.

Around our house, Kentucky Derby pie is the all-time favorite. Pecan pie + chocolate chunks--what's not to love? I use the recipe from here, substituting pecans for walnuts. Husband loves pecans, so despite what the recipes says, we've never tried walnuts. This pie is best served cooled, so the chocolate chips set up. And though I don't advocate the use of refrigerated pie crusts, I won't judge you much if you use one. But with cold fats, ice water and a food processor, a homemade crust comes together easily.

amazing stack of pie found here

Hide the Homie

Homie, Homie, who's got the Homie?

Hide the Homie is a simple game that has become a family tradition--everyone likes to find the Homie. And I just like to say Homie.

This game goes back to Deidra's high school days, when one of her friends introduced her to his family's Homie. Back then (maybe still today?) you could buy these little plastic Homies from the quarter machines at KMart. They're only 2" or so tall, and the game is to hide and find the Homie. The finder re-hides him without anyone knowing and you aren't supposed to "look" for the Homie. You should just happen upon them, the Homie is a happy surprise waiting to be found.

Sure it sounds kind of lame, but soon our family had a Homie of our own . Shortly after we were married Deidra gave our new little family our very own Homie. Here he is.

He's survived several moves and recently our boys have found the fun in hiding and finding the Homie. No, he hasn't been splashed with mud, that's peeling paint. What can I say, the guy's been around for a long time.

 Can you find the Homie?

There he is, just hanging out waiting to be found! My boys love, love, love to be the one that finds the Homie. And it kills them when they know where he is hiding and no one has found him yet.

Who would have thought a simple little thing could bring so much excitement to a home? Do you have simple and/or dumb games that you just love to play?