"Meaningful Decorating"

Not long after we got married, I warned my husband that I wasn't a very confident (or skillful) interior decorator. I hadn't taken any art or design classes in college, and although I grew up in a home that contained many lovely things that my parents had collected as they traveled, their decorating style was eclectic at best. Fortunately, my husband grew up in a similar home, and his response was reassuring. He said, "Let's just decorate with things that are meaningful to us."

Soooo, welcome to "Meaningful Decorating: Part One." Laurel calls it--and truly without any disrespect intended--"Decorating with Dead People."

So much that is meaningful to us centers on our families, and that includes parents, grandparents and other ancestors that are no longer with us. We grew up seeing their pictures, hearing their stories, and learning from their lives. Here are a few ways that we love remembering them:

Of course there are photos, and they can be used in all kinds of ways--individually and in groupings:

This grouping includes my parents' wedding picture in the center with wedding day photographs of their parents on either side. I love the metal flowers and sign above them because all three of these couples were men and women of great faith. (The wooden headboard belonged to my parents, but it is an odd size and doesn't fit standard bed frames. I wanted to be able to use it, so I simply attached it to the wall with Command Velcro strips and pushed the frame and mattress up against it.)

In this collage, Elin found a beautiful way to combine photos with other special reminders of her paternal grandfather. Along with the pictures, she included a paragraph from a letter he wrote while serving as a soldier in WWII as well as a statement of his personal testimony in his own handwriting that we found

 in his scriptures after he died.

My grandparents on both side have large posterities, so I feel very lucky to have anything that belonged to them. Here are a couple of items from my paternal grandmother and grandfather:

This sewing box was awarded to my grandmother when she was a child 

over a 100 years ago. 

It hangs on the wall in my sewing room.

My grandfather served as a missionary in Samoa and brought home 

a box full of beautiful shells. 

I found this lamp at Hobby Lobby--a perfect way to display the small ones.

This collection includes a sea urchin collected by my grandfather, a Japanese fishing float that my parents found decades ago in Hawaii, and a wooden, crab-shaped box that they brought home from the Philippines.

Dried leaves collected, pressed, and framed  by my niece, Kristin, from the yard that my father landscaped and nurtured so carefully are a simple but lovely reminder of him.

Elin made this family tree from a kit she purchased on-line. I love it!

Laurel grouped one of Elin's collages with prints of two portraits that have been painted of ancestors from our family and from her husband's. The top one is a portrait of Drusilla Hendricks painted by Elspeth Young. (Elder Jeffrey R. Holland shared a little of her story in this General Conference talk.

On the bottom is a portrait by Julie Rogers of one of our pioneer ancestors, Ann Malin. 

(You can read more about her life here.)

familysearch.org is an amazing resource if you want to find pictures,
 read stories and histories, and learn more about your own family.

None of these projects was expensive, but they are treasures to us because of whom and what they represent to our family. 

Ramekin Love: Pizookies and Chocolate Angel Food Cake

When Jeffrey and I were engaged and registering for wedding gifts, we learned some important things from each other. For example, Jeffrey introduced me to the wonders of measuring cups that let you see how much liquid you are pouring in from above rather than having to bend over and look at the fill lines on the side. I laughed at the time, but he was right; these things are awesome! No going back...

One thing I insisted that we add to our registry was ramekins. I don't know what it is about them; these small, white, ceramic serving bowls just make me happy. I think I feel like they add an air of sophistication to whatever you put in them. However, Jeffrey was skeptical. Unless I learned how to make crème brûlée, what were we going to do with them?

A lot, it turns out. These wonders are marvelously versatile. For example, they are just the right size for an individual serving of chicken pot pie. Since mother-dear and papi no longer need a whole pie for dinner, mama instead makes several small ones and leaves out two for dinner and freezes the rest. Brilliant, yes? Now when she goes out of town, daddy can just pull one of these from the freezer and bake for 45 minutes at 400 degrees and voila! A homemade entree much better than the yucky Swanson variety.

Or, if one needs a dish for a classy brunch, why not make Crustless Mini Quiches? Again, the ramekin is the perfect size.

However, I really won Jeffrey over to my ramekin-love with pizookies. On State Street in Orem, UT, there's this goofy house which looks out of place among so many businesses. This house-turned-into-a-dessert-cafe is called The Chocolate, and it is simply delicious. Our favorite thing to order is their pizza-cookie (christened "Cazookie" at this establishment.) It's basically a bowl of cookie dough baked until just golden on top and very soft inside, topped with a generous portion of vanilla ice cream.

Boy howdy it's good. But replicating it at home can be tricky. My roommate McCall would make a whole 9x13 panfull and quickly scoop it out into bowls with a giant spoon. This works with big groups and still tastes good, but it definitely doesn't look pretty. I've heard that others bake them in muffin tins. I've never tried it, but I imagine this method results in an awkward dynamic of gathering around the pan to eat them. The real solution? Bake individual pizookies in ramekins!

Perfection. I often whip up this chocolate chip cookie recipe, form individual balls, and store them in my fridge or freezer for cookie emergencies. For example, I had no idea that National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day was Thursday, May 15th this year. Luckily, I had the dough on hand. The cook times vary depending on how much cookie dough you add (I admit we usually use 3 balls of dough per ramekin.) In a 350 degree oven, bake until golden on top but very soft inside. With room-temperature dough, it takes about 14 minutes. Refrigerated? Around 16 minutes. Frozen? 18-20 minutes. Top with vanilla ice cream and enjoy immediately!

Admittedly, one doesn't always have cookie dough on hand, have 20 minutes to wait, or want to consume quite so many calories. The solution is to instead make Chocolate Angelfood Cake or 3-2-1 Cake, as mom calls it. This recipe is the easiest in the history of ever. You ready?

Chocolate Angelfood Cake (3-2-1 Cake)
1 chocolate cake mix
1 angelfood cake mix
2 TB water

Pour cake mixes into a gallon ziplock and combine thoroughly. Place 3 TB cake mix into a mug (or ramekin.)

Add 2 TB water. Stir thoroughly. Microwave for 1 minute.

Voila! That's it: 3 tablespoons of the cake mixture, 2 tablespoons of water, and 1 minute in the microwave. If using a mug, let the cake sit for 5 or so minutes to prevent it from being mushy. If using a ramekin, enjoy immediately (or it will actually get a little dry. If you have to wait, maybe the key is to only microwave it for 45 seconds with a ramekin? But 3-2-45 Cake is a terrible name...)

It will look really spongy like this:

As everything looks and tastes better with ice cream, you'd better top the cake with a scoop of vanilla as well:

Fried Rice With Veggies and Ham - Dairy-free, Gluten-free, and Soy-free (if you so desire)

Does anyone else out there have a TON of leftover Easter ham? I do. So naturally, I have been looking for creative (and healthy) ways to incorporate into our meals. And then I happened upon this treasure. Fried rice. Yum. I love me some good fried rice. In this recipe, I used brown rice as my base, and then just threw in any vegetables that I happened to have in the fridge. The result was quite delightful--and it only takes 30-45 minutes to make. Here's what I did.

Ingredients:

1 cup brown rice (preferable Uncle Ben's brown rice)

2 eggs

1 cup chopped ham
1 small onion or 2 green onions

1-2 whole carrots, diced

1 cup baby spinach or cabbage, roughly chopped
1 zucchini or squash, diced

1/2 cup frozen corn and/or peas

soy sauce, to taste (optional)

Directions

1. First of all, cook up some rice (or use leftover rice if you have it). I like brown rice because it is whole grain, but some varieties are very dense and not my favorite to eat. However, this Uncle Ben's brown rice is SOOO good and somehow seems less dense as the other varieties I have tried. I love the texture and taste of this stuff. To cook it, put one cup of brown rice into a medium saucepan with two cups of water. Add a few sprinkles of salt. Cook on medium high for a couple of minutes until it boils, and then cover the saucepan and turn the stove down to low. Set the timer for 20 minutes and simmer on low. Voila. 20 minutes later you will have some delicious, whole grain rice.

2. Fry 2 eggs in a small frying pan and once they are cooked through, chop them up into smallish pieces with your spatula. Set aside.

3. Chop ham into small pieces and set aside.

4. Dice your veggies into small pieces. I used carrots (1 or 2 carrots (full-size) or several baby carrots) and spinach (about a cup of spinach, roughly chopped) because those are the veggies I had on hand. Frozen corn or peas would work well in this, as well as some zucchini and yellow squash. I kept wishing mine had some squash in it. Or chopped cabbage. Chopped cabbage would have been delicious.

5. Heat 1-2 tablespoons canola oil in a large pan. Add chopped vegetables and sautee in oil on medium heat until tender. (If you are using spinach, sautee the other vegetables first and then add the spinach until it begins to wilt. Add chopped ham and mix everything together.

6. Turn the heat down to low and add cooked egg and rice and mix everything together. Turn off heat. If you want this recipe to be soy-free, then it is ready to serve. Otherwise, add some soy sauce and stir, just a teaspoon at a time, until it tastes just right to you. (Be careful! I have over-poured the soy sauce before and there is no going back once it is in there. So really, just pour it in a teaspoon at a time.)

DIY Sewing Table

Last summer, Delys and her family moved into their first home. I was able to fly out a few days later to help a bit with the unpacking. When we pulled out her sewing machine, Delys mentioned how much she would like to have a designated space where it could live full time so that she wouldn't have to set it up and take it down every time she had a project to work on. Later that day, while we were rummaging in one of the sheds in her yard, we discovered an old shelf/cupboard that the former owner had left there. "Ah ha!" I thought, "A sewing table. . . ."

So, with the help of these little craftsmen, we carried it outside, removed the cupboard door and shelf, and turned it upside down. I drew a gentle curve on a large piece of cardboard and traced it on to the bottom of the piece. (I centered it between the left side of the entire piece and the left side of the cupboard on the right.) Using a jigsaw, I cut out the curve and then repeated the process on the middle shelf. These cut outs created a space for her feet and knees.

I sanded the rough edges, washed off the dirt and sawdust, and then let it dry thoroughly. We headed to the hardware store and bought a small can of primer that the helpful hardware man recommended for painting over laminated surfaces--the primer helps the paint adhere to the slick surface--and Delys chose a paint color. 

We applied one coat of primer and two coats of color. After it was completely dry, we replaced the shelf, reattached the door and, voila, a sewing table! The top of the table gives her plenty of sewing space, and the cupboard on the right provides storage for her supplies. (Delys pointed out that this could also function well as a computer desk or any other work center.)

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars

Pregnancy creates a special kind of eating dilemma. Yes, you're supposed to gain weight but no, probably not as much as you're actually gaining. And yes, you're supposed to gain it from wholesome proteins and vegetables but no, it's not easy to quench your hunger with vegetables. And yes, cooked vegetables make you nauseated, and no, you never feel like cooking or baking anyways.

All you really want to eat is a bag of Cadbury mini eggs or 7 bowls of cereal.

At least, that's my experience. Therefore imagine my delight when I found this unassuming recipe on Pinterest. The peanut butter fulfilled my doctor's order for more protein, while oats and honey fulfilled my craving for carbs and sugar (but in a fairly wholesome, non-processed way.) Plus, it is maybe the shortest and easiest recipe in the history of ever, and it requires no baking. It's a pregnant woman's dream:

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars
1 cup peanut butter
3/4 cup honey (or up to 1 cup, if you'd like it a touch sweeter)
3 cups old fashioned oats

Melt peanut butter and honey in a medium bowl in the microwave (approximately 1 minute) and stir in oats until well combined. Press into a 9"x9" pan. Cover and leave in the fridge until set (a couple of hours.) Cut into bars and enjoy.

That's it. Easy-peasy. And one of these bars will fill me up for a while. I was feeling all warm and fuzzy about this solution to my insatiable hunger until I shared it with my mother. See, she and daddy are on this hard-core healthy eating kick, so instead of congratulating me on my happy internet find, she said, "Oh, don't those sound kind of bad for you?"

What??? Man, mom is always one-upping me with the high standards of her internal healthometer (which seems to cut out all foods but cheese, fruit, and cobb salad, by the way.) Still, I thought she'd find this recipe relatively benign. I mean lets break it down: oats. Oats are good for you. They are full of protein and fibery goodness. Peanut butter. Ok, all things in moderation, but George Washington Carver gave this great nation a precious gift with the invention of peanut butter. It is un-American to condemn it. Honey. Yes, honey is sugar (mmm...) but it's also kind of a nice, natural sugar, right? Look, Elder Ballard calls honey "one of nature's most beneficial foods" in this talk; he clearly backs me up...

I don't know why I felt the need to stick up for my bars. I mean, obviously they were already a step up from the girl scout thin mints or the frozen cookie dough which were also competing for my attention. However, I decided to do a lil math figure to approximate the nutrition facts. Here, good people, are the results:

Nutrition Facts Serving size: 1 bar Servings per recipe: 12
Calories	263
% Daily value (based on a 2000 calorie diet)
Fat	12g	18%
Saturated Fat	2g	10%
Cholesterol	0mg	0%
Sodium	92mg	4%
Fiber	3g	12%
Total Carbohydrates	36g	12%
Protein	7g	14%
Iron	8%
Vitamin E	7%
Niacin	13%

As far as snacks go, it's a pretty natural, non-processed, low-sodium one that also has a significant amount of fiber, protein, iron, vitamin E, and niacin. Plus, a quick Google search suggests that it has significantly fewer calories than an average peanut butter and honey sandwich, and mom sent me off to school many-a-time with one of those tucked into my brown paper lunch bag. I rest my case.

I'm sure my cravings will continue to change as I recover from pregnantdom (at least I hope so!) Yet I'm happy to have this recipe logged away as a quick, easy, fairly-guiltless snack.