Chocolate Date Bars

I know I'm the last person to find out about fads, but this is too good not to share, even if it's old news.

Chocolate Date Bars

1/2 c. oats

2 T cocoa powder

8 large pitted dates

1/2 c shredded coconut

3/4 c cashews

Put everything in a dry vitamix blender and push it down with the mixer.

Dump out and press together in a pan on wax paper, and refrigerate.

Cut into squares.

Dates are great because they make a gooey but not sticky consistency and add a perfect amount of sweetness. Costco was having samples of their newest "date bars" with no sugar added and healthy this and that. This is bizarre and morbid, but a friend of mine once told me that after people die they are preserved for a Long time because of all the preservatives we eat. It was a very picturesque way to make me aware of all the preservatives we eat, and if there's something I can do to cut down on them, I sometimes do. Convenience is always nice in our world, but homemade is ALWAYS better.

This is a mixture of different recipes I found on pinterest, and the combination I like best. I've also started putting dates in our smoothies and love it!!!

Happy Snacking!

Date Benefits...

Iron for your blood, fiber for roughage, vitamin A for your eyes, potassium for your heart, B-vitamins, tannins - these are just a few of the many nutrients in dates, making them one of the healthiest foods in the world. They have a noble history that healers have used through centuries for many of the same properties they're used for today.

Aliso Beach. And mangoes.

The tide was huge for this labor day weekend party

But it's always fun to have smore's at the beach!

We came one evening with a bunch of friends from our ward

Aliso Beach has a short steep beach and the waves break right on the shore so we don't often come to this one,

the advantage though is that our car was 10 feet from where we were at

My pictures don't give the waves justice with the steep incline, but they were HUGE!!! See that guy about to be swallowed up? :

The lifeguards were on careful watch that day and asked Ben and a couple other guys to come in after a particularly huge set of waves.

 Random and unrelated to the ocean, and late now that our costco mango season is over, but this changed my mango eating life. How to peel a mango:

Just Another Day

It's Ben's birthday!

Shh, he doesn't like showy celebrations or too much attention!

Today was the hottest day of 2015...so we went swimming to celebrate.
We thought Cody looked like an owl in this pic with his goggle eyes.

Mackayla adores Ben.

The other day at the waterpark (labor day) she looked over at him in the pool and said:

"Dad looks like a minecraft giant!"

Which was apparently a compliment because she added:

"He's so big and strong."

More than one person has asked if these are decorations:
haha

#workboots

 A favorite meal of Ben's we had for his bday
(even though it doesn't look amazing, it is...my food/picture taking skills haha)

Crock Pot Chicken and Artichokes

1/2 lb. fresh mushrooms, sliced

2 Tsp butter

1 (14 oz.) can chicken broth

4 chicken breasts (3 lb.)

1 (14 oz.) can artichoke hearts, drained

1/4 c. butter

1/4 c flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

3/4 c milk or half & half

1/2 c parmesan cheese

1/2 tsp rosemary or fresh rosemary

Put chicken breasts and chicken broth, s&p, and rosemary in crock pot on low 6-8 hours

An hour before:

Saute mushrooms in 2 T butter, set aside.

Top chicken with artichoke hearts.

Melt 1/4 c butter in pan, add flour s&p until smooth.

Stir in milk/cream. Cook and stir and mixture boils and thickens. Add some broth from chicken. Blend in parmesan cheese.

Pour over artichokes and chicken. Sprinkle mushrooms down center.

Add fresh parmesan on top before serving.

Lemons to Lemonade. and other delicious food.

It starts as a simple trip to Costco.

(can trips to Costco be simple?)

And then because I want a lemon, 

I buy a huge bag of lemons,

 to save another trip to the store.

Then I have 101 lemons.

Lucky for me, I am currently obsessed with lemons.

Last fall it was tomatoes.

Now it is lemons.

We've had a LOT of fresh squeezed lemonade. It's a good one for kids to do.

The night before school started we had a lesson on 

"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade."

We've had a few setbacks in life for a couple kids, and I wanted to help put it into perspective. 

Gosh, I needed it for me, too.

I got five small paper cups and squeezed some lemon juice into each one.

I told everyone at the same time to drink it.

I asked them what they thought.

It's bitter, too strong, not sweet, not good, etc.

Then I gave them lemonade and told them to drink while I talked.

We talked about how we make lemonade.

Lemonade is lemons plus water and sugar.

Lemonade is lemons (trials) plus water (gospel of Christ) and Sugar (positive attitude).

John 4: 14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

The gospel of Jesus Christ through Christ's atonement will help us get through trials, setbacks, or disappointments, and prayer and a positive attitude will make them sweeter and more bearable.

We talked about when Alma and his people were in bondage to the Lamanites.

Mos. 24: 14 And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions.

If Christ can turn water into wine

then He can make our trials SWEET.

And Not by removing the lemons.

Life is about getting lemons - make lemonade.

And these!...

Here's some other things we've been making with lemons (and I love lemon zest) that are SO good:

and this, Tortellini Spinach Bake in Creamy Lemon Sauce

(with chicken)

Yum!!

Island of Spice

Nutmeg, Cinnamon, Ginger, Curry, Saffron

These are the spices we got from Grenada, the "island of spice."

Saffron is one of the most expensive and luxurious spices, according to a totally opinion based blog. I'm sure it's factually correct. ;) but saffron is normally quite pricy.

We bought it from a sweet old woman in a little stand. She had me hold out my hand and grated the nutmeg straight into my hand so I could see how to do it. That sold me, it smells so good!

Here's two recipes we've made with our spices that we love

This is one of Ben's favorites!

Chicken Sate Saute

12 oz. linguine or spaghetti

1 tsp. curry powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 lb. chicken

1 c chopped onion

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 14 oz. can light coconut milk

1/4 c lime juice

2 T brown sugar

3 T soy sauce

1/4 tsp red pepper, optional

1/2 c crunchy peanut butter

2 T chopped cilantro

*Bonus: 1 tsp saffron :)

The original recipe has you saute everything. Hence, the name.

BUT I think crock potting is so much more convenient than standing over a stove forever. So here's how I do it.

Put in chicken with curry powder, salt, onion, garlic, brown sugar and 1/2 cup chicken broth and turn on low. Cook for 5-7 hours. Shred chicken.

Add coconut milk, lime juice, brown sugar, soy sauce, pepper and peanut butter and stir. Let cook another hour.  If the sauce is too runny mix a little cornstarch and water up and add to thicken it.

Cook noodles.

Harvest Bread

This is a recipe I got from my friend and college roommate Ashley

Combine:

2 3/4 c flour

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp nutmeg

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cloves

1/2 tsp ginger

1 tsp salt

In another bowl combine:

2 sticks butter 

2 c sugar

(sometimes I used to use some applesauce and also use less sugar. Not anymore! But it's an option.)

Blend, then add:

4 eggs

1 1/2 c pumpkin

Add dry ingredients

Stir in 8 oz of chocolate chips, or nuts, if desired

Pour into 2 greased bread pans

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

We have the plague at our house this week...hope I don't get it. Hope the other two (Ben and Cody) get better quick!!

Fam Faves Day 6 - Birthday Cake (Fondant Recipe)

The kids love the idea of creating a birthday cake and decorations just as much as I think I do.

I think pinterest has maybe blown everything out of proportion, but it's still fun to plan little parties.

I'm pretty sure we won't be doing friend parties or intricate cakes every year, but when we do, this is the BEST, EASIEST way to make fondant (instead of buying a tiny gross-tasting little lump at the store).

Marshmallow Fondant

1/4 c. butter

16 oz. marshmallows

4 Tbs. water

1 tsp. vanilla

2 lbs. powdered sugar

Microwave marshmallows until melted

Stir in marshmallows, water, and vanilla.

Add powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time until desired consistency.

Sprinkle powdered sugar on the counter and use it like you would flour to knead the fondant like bread dough. 

Add food coloring, then more powdered sugar if you need.

The best part - It tastes good!

I wouldn't just eat it plain like the kids do, but I'll eat some on the cake.

My friend Haley from WSU taught me this recipe for fondant. I'm really unskilled in the world of cake decorating, and even I can do it.

Let's be honest, she did all the cool parts on this cake:

I don't have enough patience to make an actual pretty cake

but I like making fondant! In my head these had clean lines...

 This one turned out beautiful because I made the fondant and cut out all the shapes and then my sisters decorated it!!

No fondant was involved with this but it was the funnest cake we ever did - and more my style since it was supposed to be  a "rugged" and "messy" volcano

and it exploded!

My mom always tries to convince me to buy a cake and finally I decided it was a good idea

and actually the kids LOVED it.

SO. That's a good route too!

They each got their own tiny ice cream cone from baskin robbins on this cake.

Happy Cake Eating!

Family Favorites to be continued in a week...

Fam Faves Day 3 - Eating Places

This day is for Sweet Mackayla

who has been asking for a while if we're going anywhere for dinner

and I just recently put together that her Love of going to eat at "eating places" is

Restaurants.

Which for our family is awesome because, well, we go out occasionally.

That's what makes her questions so cute.

Technically that makes us NOT an authority on restaurants in the area, but since we only go with highly recommended restaurants from others...maybe this is a pretty good list after all.

In general, I'd rather try something unique over a chain restaurant, but that's just me,

going out is always nice...no cooking or cleaning!

Stack's - Mission Viejo (close to us, rated #1 restaurant in the area by TripAdvisor, take it for what it's worth, kinda like a Denny's but better! We sat on the small sunny porch on a perfect day.)

Rider's Club Cafe - San Clemente (mom and pop, Best Burgers EVER - fresh, EVERYTHING homemade even the pickles.)

South of Nick's - San Clemente (classy, delicious, and with it being Mexican food it's always a winner) I also hear Nick's is good - it's American:)

BJ's Restaurant - Newport Beach, Rancho Santa Margarita, Laguna Beach (Great pizza! and if you go you have to get a pizookie (...so I hear:))

El Maguey's - San Juan Capistrano (I've never been, but Ben loves it and they go there all the time for work meetings.)

California Pizza Kitchen - it's a chain, but it is a good one.

 Cheesecake Factory, Cinnamon Productions, Jalapenos, El Adobe, Sarducci's, Diho Siam

This isn't a complete list of everywhere we've gone, but almost;)

The kids would say McDonald's but I just can't do it anymore. Only on long drives when their tricky invention of nasty playlands lure us there!

Fam Faves Day 1 - Salsummus

This month, at least part of it, we're doing family favorites. Last year I did some of my favorite things, but I thought I would involve everyone this year.

Our first post is a contribution from Ben, the inventor of one of our favorite snacks.

Salsa + Hummus = salsummus

I just made that word up, in case you didn't know :p

But it has to be SPECIFICALLY

Jack's Salsa and Sabra Hummus

otherwise you won't appreciate what we're talking about.

 + 

  It's particularly in good in a classy straw bowl

with your favorite tortilla chips.
We always find them at Costco:)...the ingredients...not the bowl, but now you want a bowl, don't you.

Enjoy!

Hot Glue and Egg Nog French Toast

I love finding things that are (1) easy, and (2) make me happy. Here are two recent ones:

Egg Nog French Toast

from pinch of yum

I don't know why I've never heard of this before, but, why not?!

We ate our raspberries the day before :)

so we had fresh squeezed orange juice syrup (google it - it's easy and delicious) with pomegranates on top

I LOVE pomegranates at Christmas!

They're so pretty and yummy.

I discovered the joy of decorating with hot glue

for stockings!
Genius!! It took seconds to hang stockings that had no room to be hung.
and peels off easily afterwards.
(Also used it to hang red ribbon wrapped outside around a pole. Handy stuff.)

What else should I use you for, glue gun?

I carefully decorated our quality Walmart-for-20-bucks-10-years-ago tree

and then the kids improved it.

It's pretty much magazine quality. :p

(They love hanging their ornaments.)

Happy Day!

All Things Pumpkin and Candy. and other ideas...

Happy Halloween!

We were in charge of our ward's trunk or treat party.

This is only like 1/8 of what we bought. Mackayla was buried.

 We made centerpieces by spray painting tree branches in mason jars

 and with Orange Jello Popcorn in mason jars

and this way cute photo booth a friend made that I'm dying we didn't get pictures at.

Our kids were mostly homeless that night but weren't too concerned since everyone was giving them candy.

Ben took a picture of us only because he thought I looked ridiculous BUT it was 90 degrees that day and I didn't want to wear pants. (I brought them but never put them on.)

Macey and Mackayla are My Little Ponies and I am Ben the horse vet. haha. (I brought a stethoscope) I do look odd, isn't that perfect for Halloween?

Macey invited her friend to our primary program and she came and watched, then they invited us to their church's Halloween celebration.

It was pretty amazing. If I didn't know the Book of Mormon was true I would probably go to this church. Just saying.

Other genius ideas at the Crosland home:

This isn't my idea or a new idea, but it's brilliant: write letters with highlighter and have your three year old trace them.

Mackayla begs me for homework every day when the others do theirs and this is the perfect solution. I always have her write her name a few times and the abc's.

Well, This is NOT a brilliant idea, but we tried it anyway.

Ben has always had back pain come and go and he decided to do a little electroshock therapy. I squirted some gel on his back and he turned it low and I shocked away. It was a little intense and loud.

This machine is for HORSES not people but apparently Ben decided it would still work. haha!

The jury is still out since he really can't move all that well two days out.

(Well it's out for him, I pretty much think it was a bad idea.)

We carved pumpkins tonight. 

The kids each designed their own face.

Mackayla actually just ended up designing her pumpkin and not wanting us to carve it.

 I was going to make this dessert tonight with my pumpkin but my visiting teachers brought us Krispy Kreme donuts instead! But make this sometime this year, you will thank me.

 Think Pumpkin Pie - but Pumpkin Pie Cake.

  Macey can't have Halloween without Pumpkin Seeds (from our best bites)

 and I love fresh pumpkin (like canned pumpkin...but more fresh...and more time consuming:p)

Lots of excess energy tonight:)