Granola Bars

Here is a recipe for granola bars that James and I love. I still haven't played to "healthitize" it, so if any of you want to try let me know how it goes.
Melt together until very hot, but not boiling
3/4 C. butter
1 1/2 C. brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla
3/4 C. honey
Pour over dry ingredients and mix well.
2 C. rice krispies
2 C. corn flakes (measure, then crush)
4 C. quick oats
3 tsp baking powder
1 C. slivered almonds
1 C. toasted coconut
1 C. sunflower seeds
(When cool, if desired you can also add 1 C. raisins, chocolate chips, dry fruit, cinnamon, etc.)
Press into cookie sheet or 9x13 pan. Bake at 300 degrees for 12-20 minutes. Cool and cut into bars.

I tried it with chocolate chips one time, and actually preferred it without, which is weird for me because I LOVE chocolate. The toasted coconut and almonds really make a difference, I just spread it out on a cooking sheet and put in in the oven to broil for a couple minutes.

Kung Pao Chicken

In response to Jackie's Chinese Theme request, here is a link to an easy recipe for Kung Pao Chicken. It is from the Cooking Light magazine (so it makes you feel like you are eating healthy). I've made it quite a few times and James and I both love it!
I forgot to make New Year's resolutions myself, so I may have to join the procrastinators group.

Chinese New Year Resolutions

Just when I thought my chance to make New Year's resolutions had past, I realized it is the Chinese New Year in February. It is the New Year for the procrastinator!

So besides enrolling Jonathan in modeling school (that picture is completely uncoached) one of my resolutions is to clean out my closet. Really, that navy blue blazer that was so stylish in the 1990s has got to go. Any advice on how to let go?

Another is to be able to cook something Chinese! Any recipes out there?

Pizza!

Jackie, I love the idea of sharing recipes through the blog! Here is my favorite pizza dough recipe. It's really quick and yummy! I also like to use this for breadsticks-- just put a little butter and garlic salt on top.

1 Tbs. yeast
1 cup warm water
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbs. vegetable oil
2 1/2 cups flour (whole wheat works great, too)

Dissolve the yeast in warm water. Stir in remaining ingredients and mix it all up until smooth. Let rest covered for5 minutes. Roll onto pizza pan.
Cook at 350 for about 20 minutes.

When can I have some of that?

When I had Lucas, the gourmet bunch in our ward brought us dinners--and three of the meals were roast chicken. I considered this a sign that roast chickens were stylish. I've found my favorite recipe, and I'm making it for Sunday dinner: roast chicken with lemons.  It makes the house smell great, and for minimal work it makes a very moist chicken.

Bon appetit!

The Beach Sounds Nice Right Now

We had a great Book Club discussion last night. The book is called Gift from the Sea, by Anne Morrow Lindbergh. It is a collection of thoughts and parables that she wrote while spending a week out on the beach. She focuses on woman's roles through different stages of life as it relates to different kinds of sea shells. I highly recommend it for any of your Book Clubs! I was there for 2 hours, and the discussion was still going strong when I left to get to bed.

We had a fantastic holiday. If Christmas weren't so taxing to girth and wallet, we'd be ready to do it again tomorrow.

Thanks for making it so fun!

Virtual dinner together, anyone?

Over Christmas, some of the Christensen clan (all women, but the men would be wise to agree) decided that it would be nice to be able to swap recipes online. I have wanted to start a food blog, but it seemed self indulgent to write to myself about what I made for dinner. But if we are all contributing to an online sequel to that beautiful blue binder of Christensen concoctions, I feel much better about it.

You can find a few of my favorite online searches for recipes (in addition to allrecipes.com) here and here and here, and here is a wonderful recipe for lemon oatmeal cookies at a fun baking website.

If this feels like a hijack to anyone, we can take our recipes elsewhere. But with blogger's tagging abilities, we should be able to carry on all sorts of conversations together and sort them accordingly. (I would also like to know what y'all are reading. . . .)

Let me know what you all think. In any case, we need to continue sharing pictures of our adorable children in utero or out.

Christmas Trip 2006

It's a Girl!!!

I had to wake up early to start drinking water. Waking up early of course made me nauseous and throw up the water, so I was hoping everything would still go smoothly. Anyway the nurse said one of the reasons for having a full bladder is to rule out placenta previa. We are so excited that we don't have to call our baby "it" anymore. We can at least say "she" or "her" which sound a little bit better.
(James' description) The ultrasound showed that everything was on track and going fine. There was no hesitation in calling the baby a girl by our ultrasonographer so we think we can cross all the boy names off the list now. Based on her development they said her due date might be closer to the 21st of May, but since this due date was not more then a 10 day difference from the original due date (May 27th) then it will remain unchanged on the paperwork. Below are descriptions of the pictures. If you want to get a better view of the pics you can click on them to enlarge.

1. This picture shows that she is a girl. There are 3 white lines where the arrow is pointing and those are the labia. This shot is taken as if you are standing under her while she is sitting in a chair. The structures next to the labia are the femur bones of each leg. There is a question mark after the word "girl" since the ultrasonographer never likes to say for sure one way or the other because people might get upset.

2. This shot shows the bottoms of her feet. This was my favorite shot. During the ultrasound you could see the toes wiggling. Just amazing!

3. This is a shot of the face and part of the body. The head is on the left side of the picture sort of pointing to the word "face." The the right and the left of the face are the hands and the thorax and abdomen are below.