Easy "potato" card

How about making this cute, cheap and easy to make "potato" card. Potato serves as a stamp after you can something from it with your craft knife or even a paring knife.

Draw a shape.

 Use a knife to cup the shape. Be careful!

Put some acrylic pain on it.

Stamp and decorate the card as you wish.

Soup week

It was supposed to be a soup week. But as always there were a few hold backs.

Monday - White chili
Tuesday - Split pea soup
Wednesday - Chicken tortilla soup
Thursday - Lentil soup
Friday - Hearty cream of chicken soup

On Monday, when I was about to cook dinner, I discovered that I didn't have any white beans. I usually always do. Beans are a staple in my house. I did have dry white beans, but seeing that it was half an hour before dinner, I had no time to cook the beans. So we ended up having a regular chili, that turned out delicious.

On Tuesday, I did make split pea soup. We don't eat bacon often, so having a soup with bacon is a treat. Unfortunately, half of that delicious crispy and salty bacon doesn't make it the pot :) Husbik (aka my husband) took the leftovers to work, and when he came home complemented my soup again.

On Wednesday, our family went to the nursery to look at the trees, so we ended up eating out.

On Thursday, I felt like pure vegetable, so we had steamed broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots with mashed potatoes and delicious grilled lemon chicken.

On Friday (aka today) I am making Chicken tortilla soup. So good!

It's been very hot the last couple of days, so I guess I should be surprised that my soup week didn't quite work out.

Here is the recipe

Split pea soup with bacon

1 onion, finely chopped

2 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced

2 celery stalks, thinly sliced

1 clove garlic

3 potatoes

2 bay leaves

1 ½ cup dried green split peas, rinsed

6 cups water

½ lb cooked ham, diced

6 slices bacon

Salt and pepper to taste

Chopped fresh parsley

Cut bacon into small pieces.  Dry-fry bacon in a large saucepan until crispy. Remove from bacon from the pan with a slotted spoon.

Add the onion, carrots, and celery to the fat in the pan and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and sauté for 1 minute longer.

Add the split peas, potatoes, water, and bay leaf, raise heat to high and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer for 50 minutes hour. Add diced ham and simmer for another 10 minutes.

Using a blender, puree HALF of the soup until smooth and creamy. Return to the pot with the soup and reheat if necessary until very hot.

Ladle into warmed soup bowls; sprinkle with crumbled bacon and parsley over tops. Serve. 

Chicken soup with rice

My kids and I had so much fun eating today's dinner. Daddy was with us too, but he didn't know what we were talking about. We checked out "Chicken soup with rice" book at the library and have read it a couple of times during last week. Today we made a simple chicken soup with rice. It was so simple, I am not even going to post a recipe here. However, the kids loved eating the soup. During dinner we made up different verses using the line "chicken soup with rice" just like the book did. Needless to say, the bowls were cleared.

Go and have fun with your food. Eat it together with your children. Nutrition for the body and family time for the soul - dinner doesn't get much better.

Christlike attributes

Today in Young Women we discussed how much need we have to develop Christlike attributes in us.

In 2 Nephi 31:16 we read:

"And now, my beloved brethren, I know by this that unless a man shall endure to the end, in following the example of the Son of the living God, he cannot be saved".

To find true happiness, we need to live according to the plan that loving Heavenly Father prepared for us. Who lived the plan perfectly? Of course, our Savior, Jesus Christ.

My goal for this week is to learn more about Christ's attributes, so I can concentrate on developing them too - sincerely living, loving, and forgiving like He did.

I will use the a lesson from "Preach My Gospel". If you want to do it too, here is the link: http://lds.org/languages/additionalmanuals/preachgospel/PreachMyGospel___13_06_ChristlikeAttributes__36617_eng_013.pdf