About Me Monday(s) 3

31. What 3 things do you want to do before you die?

A Travel to some tropical places

B hopefully have some more children

C eat at many restaurants

32. What three things would you want to die to avoid doing?

A yikes, I guess I would just never want to see my family hurt in terrible ways

B

C

33. Is there a cause you believe in more than any other cause? Is Jesus a cause, if so things like supporting missionaries or Gospel for Asia (which we support)

34. What does each decade make you think of:

The 19..

20's: old school, fun dancing

30's: nothing really

40's: when I should have been born

50's: my parents were born

60's: the start of some gross times in our country

70's: too many drugs in our country

80's: big hair and gaudy clothes

90's: my youth/teen years

2000 (so far): college/life/love

2010's: my baby girl

35. Which decade do you feel the most special connection to and why? probably the 90's, youth

36. What is your favorite oldie/classic rock song? um, Livin on a prayer, haha I have no Idea

37. What country do you live in and who is the leader of that country? USA, President Obama

If you could say any sentence to the current leader of your country what would it be? Trust in Jesus and then hopefully everything would fall into place (or sentence #2, please outlaw abortion, so many babies are dying and it is terrible)

38. What's your favorite TV channel to watch in the middle of the night? well we don't have cable AND the tv is in the living room, but I'd go with ABC

39. What Disney villain are you the most like and why? villian, none! Well lets say ursula, because she likes to wear black ;)

40. Have you ever been a girl scout/boy scout? yeppers, I got my silver award (which means I was a big time girl scout ;) I did it until I was in high school)

41. If you were traveling to another continent would you rather fly or take a boat? fly!

42. Why is the sky blue during the day and black at night? The sky

43. What does your name mean? Christina = Christian

44. Would you rather explore the deeps of the ocean or outer space? the sea for sure

45. Word association

What is the first word that comes to mind when you see the word:

Air: fresh

Meat: yum

Different: people

Pink: girly and one of my least favorite color

Deserve: what you get

White: snow

Elvis: you ain't nothing but a hound dog

Magic: is false

Heart: love

Clash: people with the same personality

Pulp:the stuff I don't like in OJ

An Attempt at Homemade Churro's

Well for Cinco de Mayo we had Pollo Asado, brown rice, a salad and I made Churro's.
Boy was this quite the adventure.

It was really simple to make the dough.

I used this recipe.

Ingredients

• 1 cup water
• 2 Tbs brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1 cup white flour
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup sugar

• 1/2 to 1 tsp. ground cinnamon, depending on taste

Preheat 1 1/2 to 2 inches of vegetable (I used canola) oil in a 10 to 12 inch frying pan to 375 degrees F. note to self: buy a candy thermometer otherwise you will have no idea what 375* of hot oil looks like. This will help you in the future. Also, buy a meat tenderizer. That is all

In a sauce pan ( I used a 1.5 qt one but it called for a 3 qt one, mine was in use for the rice for dinner) add the water, brown sugar, salt, and butter and heat to a good boil. Remove from the heat and add the flour. Stir until well blended.

In a separate bowl, mix the eggs and vanilla together and then add this to the pan with the flour mixture. Make sure that the egg gets all combined into the dough.

Put your dough in your decorator (think frosting decorator, if you don't have one you could always cut the tip of a plastic baggy off and squeeze from there, just be very careful) and attach a star tip.

Test your oil by placing a small amount of dough in it. The dough should bubble up right away or that means the oil is not hot enough, now if you were like me, yours bubbled and got dark right away which means your oil is too hot. Not hot enough oil = sogginess, Too hot oil = cooked on outside, NOT cooked on the inside.

Once the oil is hot enough, squeeze some dough (with decorator) into the oil about 4 inches long. Use your finger to release the dough from the decorator, just be careful because you are mighty close to the hot oil, you don't want your finger to get in on the frying action.

You should be able to cook 3- 5 churros at a time. Cook for 1-2 minutes on each side, turning once during the frying process.

Remove the churros with the slotted spoon and place them on a paper towel-covered plate.

I found it easiest while one batch was cooking to roll the last cooked batch in cinnamon and sugar. Then repeat.

So since apparently I let my oil get too hot and it doesn't cool down very quickly I had to do some fast thinking, so I put on a smaller tip from my decorator and used that, since they were thinner, they cooked faster and thus I didn't have a crispy outside and raw inside. Then once it got cool enough I switched back.

I told hubby the ones that were a different shape were American-ized Churro's since I am clearly not Mexican and this just proved it.

None-the-less they were still good! But very time consuming, all frying is I think!

Tomorrow look for a Buttermilk Pie recipe!

Have a great day and God Bless!

About Me Monday(s) 2

16. How is your relationship with your parents? Good, I love them dearly and wished they lived closer

Will you miss them when they are gone? yes!

17. Do you tend to be aware of what is going on around you? most of the time yes

18. What is the truest thing that you know? That God is Sovereign and belief in Jesus is the only way to eternal life in Heaven.

19. What did you want to be when you grew up? A Doctor or Physical Therapist

20. Have you ever been given a second chance? Yep

21. Are you more of a giver or a taker? I think giver

22. Do you make your decisions with an open heart/mind? I think so.

23. What is the most physically painful thing that has ever happened to you? A few REALLY bad ankle sprains, worse than breaking my elbow and worse than my nerve surgery

24. What is the most emotionally painful thing that has ever happened to you? Recently, my grandfather passing away

25. Who have you hugged today? My husband , my daughter and my grandma-in law

26. Who has done something today to show they care about you? Hubby ;)

27. Do you have a lot to learn? it is never ending

28. If you could learn how to do three things just by wishing and not by working what would they be?
A Learn spanish

B how to crochet

C how to ski

29. Which do you remember the longest: what other people say, what other people do or how other people make you feel? feel, do,say if it is good- feel,say,do if it is not good

30. What are the key ingredients to having a good relationship? 1. Jesus 2. Friendship 3. Love 4. Grace 5. Laughing

Homemade Flour Tortillas- A Comparison

So yesterday, I decided I wanted to make some homemade flour tortillas for dinner. I then set off to find a recipe. A friend of mine, Liz sent me hers and I found THIS one on Homesick Texan.

I couldn't decide which to make so I decided to do both and hubby (the mexican food lover) and I would weigh in.

Recipe 1-Liz's
Ingredients
1 1/2 C all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 tablespoons lard, butter, canola or other neutral oil
about 1/2 C warm water, plus more as needed.


Recipe 2
Ingredients
Texas Flour Tortillas (adapted from The Border Cookbook by Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison)
Ingredients:
Two cups of all-purpose flour (can make them whole wheat by substituting one cup of whole-wheat flour for white flour)
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons of vegetable oil
3/4 cups of warm milk

Here is how it went.

First in my Kitchen aid stand mixer I put the ingredients for recipe #1, let it form into a ball and knead for a few minutes until it was somewhat elastic-y (nope, that isn't a word but I am going to use it)

I put the dough ball into a bowl (the blue one).

Then I repeated this process with the ingredients for recipe #2. That went into the silver bowl.

I covered them both with a towel and let rest for a good 30ish minutes (it should be at least 20).

Then I took the dough ball out onto a floured surface and decided that they felt like the needed more kneading (that's a mouthful!) I kneaded both balls until they were where I thought they should be.

Then I separated them into 8 pieces each and placed them on a plate and covered with a towel to rest again for another 20ish minutes (should be at least 10). I put the plates on their corresponding bowls just to keep them straight. As you can see Recipe #2 has larger dough balls because it had more flour- though both recipes said they made 8, so that is what I stuck to.
After they had rested I started with the blue bowl because they had been first all along and I wanted to be fair with resting time.

I took one ball at a time and took it into my hands, starting in the middle I pressed it into an evenly flat disc and placed it on a floured surface. Then I flattened the rest of the way making it as even as possible.
Then I took a rolling pin and rolled it out THIN and they rolled out very easily. (even though my rolling skills are sub par and not all of them came out looking like perfectly round circles) I did this for all 16 balls.

I had Recipe #2 in the lead, because it had felt better while kneading. After rolling I started to think perhaps they were about even and maybe #1 had a slight edge because it rolled out nicer.

At this point I heated a non-stick skillet (because I don't have a cast-iron one, but if you are cooler than I am use that) and I heated it over medium/medium-high heat (I found a 7 on my stove worked well).

I cooked 1 tortilla from #1 - for about 1.5-2 minutes on each side (I flipped the first time when nice bubbles started to appear)- I then tore off 1/4 for myself and 1/4 for hubby- took it to him and interrupted his practice time at the piano and had him try it. He said they were great!

So I went back and cooked 1 tortilla from #2- same thing about 1.5-2 minutes each side (this one didn't show bubbles)

I then interrupted hubby again and said ok tell me which one you like better. He said he didn't really notice a difference so I brought him another piece of #1 and had him compare that way.

His thoughts (and I came to similar conclusions)
#1- thinner and not as chewy
#2- thicker, a little softer and chewy

He chose #1 as did I. We had some vegetarian taco's for dinner with these. They were great!

#2 was very good as well- they tasted almost exactly the same but the thickness of the 2nd tortilla made it kind of bready (which made it great for eating with some butter later (yum) ) but for mexican food we liked the thinner variety.

#1 on Left #2 on Right

As you can see #1 looks thinner and a little more crispy whereas #2 looks thicker, softer and more bready.

You can keep these stored in a plastic bag or tinfoil for a few days in the fridge.

Depending on your "likes" for Mexican food either tortilla is a good option but in our house we will definitely make #1 again!

Have a great day and God Bless!

12 Foods to Buy Organic/ 15 Foods Not to

The Daily Green put an article up called "The New Dirty Dozen: 12 foods to eat Organic"

They also put up "The Clean 15: Foods you don't have to buy Organic"

As it stands now we don't buy much Organic, but I may have to look into some of them that are on the Dirty Dozen with as many pesticides as they test for!

Have a great day and God Bless!

Homemade Peanut Butter

So my hubby and I both love peanut butter, specifically Laura Scudder's Natural Nutty PB. But at $4-5 a pop and one a week that can take a chunk out of your grocery budget.

Lately hubby has been having an apple & PB with breakfast or Toast with PB and raisins, so we have been blowing through it.

It was the end of the grocery budget this week and no room for PB...
*whoops*
So I took the peanuts we had and made PB!

Plain Peanut Butter Ingredients
1 Cup Roasted Salted (or unsalted) Peanuts (we get ours in the bulk bin at Sprouts)
2-3 Tbsp Canola or Peanut Oil
1/4 tsp (to taste) Salt

Honey Peanut Butter Ingredients
1 Cup Roasted Salted (or unsalted) Peanuts (we get ours in the bulk bin at Sprouts)
2 Tbsp Canola or Peanut Oil
1 1/2 Tbsp Honey
1/4 tsp (to taste) Salt

Now *sigh* I only have a blender, if you have a food processor and are much cooler than I, please, by all means use it.

Pour the Peanuts and 2 Tbsp Canola/Peanut oil into your Blender/Food Processor. Pulse a few times and then blend to combine. Add a pinch of salt, blend for about a minute then taste. Then you can decide if you need more. 1/4 tsp or so worked out well for me.

If you want it to be crunchy (like me) then you don't have to blend as long. If you need to add more Canola/Peanut oil go ahead until you reach the consistency you would like. I used 2-3 depending on the batch. If you want Smooth PB just let it keep blending (it will take quite a few minutes)!

For the Honey PB just add 1.5 Tbsp of Honey and you are golden.

This turned out SO great! It made about 5 oz of PB, so we have 2 flavors to choose from and we enjoyed some Honey PB on some wheat bread for a snack!


The whole process to make 2 batches took me about 15 minutes, but that was with figuring out the ratios and using a blender. So, next time I'm sure it will be quicker and if you have a food processor it should go even faster!

Have a great day and God Bless!

Cinnamon Toast

Well many of you know that I love the Pioneer Woman, her website is amazing, as is the recipe she posts.

Yesterday as I was surfing the web I was on here site and the recipe was for Cinnamon Toast, I was about to make breakfast so I gave it a go.

p.s. If you want professional pictures you will have to go look at P.W.'s site. I'm not claiming professionalism here, especially not when I'm just trying to make sure I get to eat while Lucy girl is sleeping.

Ingredients (for 2 pieces of toast)
2 pieces of Wheat bread
2 Tbsp Softened Butter
2 tsp Sugar
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
Dash Vanilla Extract

Take the butter, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla and combine in a bowl.

(before the mixing)

Spread onto bread.

Put into pre-heated oven (350*) for 10 minutes.

Broil on low for 2-3 minutes (keep watch!)

Enjoy!