5 Going On 15

Today I was hanging our laundry because our dryer is broken (broken dryer - grrrr). Felicity was watching me work and commented on how much this situation sucked (paraphrasing). The thought popped into my head that maybe this would be a great opportunity to teach her that not everybody's life is so easy. I understand that this is not a life-changing lesson, but mothers live for these sorts of moments. Anyway, I proceeded to tell her that her Auntie Sarah hangs her laundry all the time because she doesn't own a dryer. That's not technically true, but Sarah's drying situation, like EVERYTHING ELSE in Japan, is complicated and not worth explaining to a 5-year-old. So I tell her this little tidbit to give her a broader perspective of the world. She looks me dead in the face and mutters "classic".

Classic.

Six months later...

Xander now prefers "laserbreath" to "werewolf", and Felicity is still a little iffy when it comes to pink. More to come.

It's Late

It's 10:59 pm. I'm still wearing my scrubs. I haven't taken my shoes off since I got home from work six hours ago. I ate too much ice cream after dinner, and I'm having trouble finding the perfect couch for a house we're not buying for another 8 months, and not living in for another year. Felicity told me today that she no longer loves sandwiches or pink. Xander has started calling everybody "werewolf" because he gets in trouble when he uses the word "poo-poo". Between mouthfuls David raved about dinner, which makes me feel like I got a merit badge on my wife sash. Today I wore my new glasses -

- and automatically raised my IQ by two percent, which ironically is the exact percentage Xander will lose by being on his anti-seizure medication for the next two years. I guess it all really does balance out in the end.

It is now 11:13 pm. My children are sleeping, sweaty and sweet, and my husband is somewhat patiently waiting for me to come to bed and turn off the light. My life is good.

From one lousy good cook to another...

I would rather spend my time cooking than doing anything else, but I'm lousy at being a good cook. I share all of my secrets, I can eat an entire box of Kraft dinner by myself, and I recently have attempted to cut carbs out of my diet. See what I mean? Cooks that are good at being good chuckle when guests ask for a recipe, eat only great food, and would never, EVER in a million years dream about cutting carbs.

So in the spirit of being a crappy good cook, here's my new updated, slightly healthier version of chocolate chip cookies. You can still eat them with ice cream and chocolate sauce...I won't tell.

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

1 cup butter, at room temperature

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup whole-wheat flour

1 tbsp ground flax seed

1/2 tsp coarse salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1 bag or 2 cups of chocolate chips

Bake at 350F for 10-13 minutes. You know how to put cookies together so I'm not going to give a play-by-play. However, here are some tips, which you probably already know as well but I'm going to write them down anyway.

1. Cream the butter for a good 5 minutes before adding the sugars.

2. Undercook the cookies ever so slightly, then let them cool on the sheet before transferring them to a cooling rack.

3. If you want to go even healthier, use lard or applesauce instead of butter, all whole-wheat flour instead of half-and-half, or all light brown sugar instead of using both white and brown. I haven't tried any of these yet, but I'm very curious to know how they'd turn out.

4. The cinnamon helps cover the taste of the flax seed. BTW, don't buy toasted flax seeds. I'm serious.

Good luck with the cookies, and if this is a recipe that you love share it with your friends in the spirit of being a lousy good cook.

Back in the saddle again...

Here's a basic recap of the last 7 months, the highs and lows, if you will.

Low: My nana died and I didn't get to say goodbye.

High: I got to spend an entire week with my siblings. Unprecedented.

Low: I found out I have a bunion, a sure sign of getting old and all that comes with it.

High: I had a 30 minute appointment in Chilliwack and got to spend a whole week with my mom. By myself. With no children. I almost passed out from all the free time.

Low: We miss our friends and our church.

High: God brought us new friends who willingly hang out several times a week without us driving them crazy. AND they haven't once referred to our kids as "great birth control".

Low: Christmas was quiet.

High: Christmas was quiet.

Low: I turned 30.

High: I finally know what I want to do with my life, which is apparently a symptom of turning 30 so...yeah.

Low: After several terrifying episodes, Xander has been diagnosed with epilepsy. Epilepsy with no cause, which is a high and low within itself.

High: Turns out God is good. And faithful. And He loves Xander even more than we do, which seems impossible, but is truer than true.

So now it's May 3rd. We have all been sick in varying stages for the last five weeks, but the end of that is in sight. The weather is beautiful, the snow is melting, we ate hot dogs roasted over a fire last night, a sure sign that this is the Dease Lake version of summer.

This is also our last year here. We debated, still debate, whether or not we should move early. Watching your husband perform chest compressions on your three-year-old changes you, your priorities, and your perspective. I still don't have a peace about moving, not quite yet anyway. We are planning - after all, we're planners, right Mom? - our life in Chilliwack knowing that the details will change but the big picture remains the same. Our home filled with life and love and laughter, our kids freaking us out on a daily basis, our future intact and secure in the knowledge that we are forever in the hands of God.

If Heaven Was Made Out of Cheese...

It would taste like my new pizza recipe. I'm not bragging. I didn't invent cheese or pizza or heaven, but I experimented in the kitchen last night and come up with a recipe that so impressed the judges that an encore performance was requested.

I've been testing pizza dough recipes for a while. Some of them are basic and quick, some are complicated and time-consuming, but not one of them has been truly satisfactory. Then I heard my boss say that she puts oregano in her pizza dough, so I thought I'd give it a shot, except that I didn't have any oregano. But I do have Epicure's Pizza spice, which is super yummy but almost too much for my kids when I dusted the pizza with it. So here's the recipe I came up with.

1 cup of warm water (warmer than body temperature, but not hot)

1 pkg. or 2 tsp. of yeast

1/4 tsp sugar

2 1/2 cups white flour (or a 50/50 blend of white and whole wheat)

1 tsp. of pizza spices or dried oregano

1 tsp. of coarse salt

1/4 tsp. of cracked black pepper

2 tbsp. olive oil

1/3 cup spicy red pepper spaghetti sauce

3 cups mozzarella or blend of cheeses

Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm water and set aside for 10 minutes. Pre-heat your oven to the lowest setting, then turn it off. Whisk together the flour, spices, salt and pepper. When the yeast is ready, add it and the olive oil to the flour mixture. Blend either with a fork or in your mixer with the dough hook. If using a fork, turn onto a floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes. Form into a ball and place in an oiled bowl, turning so the entire ball is oily. Cover with a clean dish towel and place in the warmed oven for 30 minutes.

After the dough is risen, remove it from the oven and pre-heat to 400F. Roll the dough out and place on your pizza pan, pushing all the way out the edges and forming a crust. Then put on your toppings and bake for 15 - 20 minutes, or until the cheese is nice and brown.

The only think-ahead part of this recipe is the time the dough takes to rise, but I usually do the dishes or get my toppings ready. Both of my kids only like cheese, but this time I used the Classico Spicy Red Pepper sauce and I think it made the pizza. I also really like the pre-shredded cheese packages. Not only are they easy, but the blend of cheese is always something I would either never think of or wouldn't be available up here. Either way, you can use pretty much whatever cheese you have in your fridge.

Some other yummy toppings include:

1. Pesto (as the base), prosciutto, pine nuts, and bocconcini
2. Caramelized onions, portabella mushrooms, and sage with ricotta cheese and no sauce.
3. Back bacon (Canadian bacon), peppers, olives, and a little cheddar mixed in the the mozzarella.

The kids still pick everything off, but at least we enjoy our half of the pie. I love to eat, and I love to cook, so I'm going to start posting some of my favourite recipes. Not that I have time to make them...

Pixie Dust

I love this picture. I can't believe the sun hit the bubbles so perfectly, so precisely. Thank you, Nikon, for delectable digital wonder. Thank you, God, for the sun and for the precious gift of Felicity.