Frankenstein Soup AKA Split Pea Soup

Last night I made Split Pea Soup and tricked Salem into thinking that it was "Frankenstein Soup." He was so intrigued with the Frankenstein green soup with orange eyeballs (carrots) and white fingernails (onions.)

I got him to eat a small bowl of the soup by telling him the story of how I caught the Frankenstein and melted him into the pot. As he ate each spoonful I'd tell him more about my adventure of calling the Frankenstein hotline to find a Frankenstein to capture for the soup. His eyes were so big as I was telling him the story, he ran to the mirror to see if he was turning green like a Frankenstein (since you are what you eat!) It was pretty cute.

This tactic worked really well to get him to eat this soup but I'm sure it was a one-hit wonder. He'll be savvy to my scheme next time around.

Here is the recipe that I used, I got it from Great Vegetarian Cooking Under Pressure. I don't currently own this book so I check it out from the library pretty much every other month.

Split Pea Soup with Herbes De Provence
Serves 4 - 6

1 tablespoon safflower or canola oil
1 tablespoon finely minced fresh garlic
2 cups coarsely chopped onion
1 teaspoon each dried basil, oregano, and rosemary leaves
1 teaspoon whole fennel seeds
1 large bay leaf
2 large carrots, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/4 inch slices
2 large celery ribs, diced
6 cups boiling water
2 cups dried green split peas, picked over and rinsed
.....
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
salt to taste

Heat the oil in the cooker. Cook the garlic over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, just until it begins to brown. Immediately add the onions and continue to cook, stirring frequently, for another minute. Stir in the basil, oregano, rosemary, fennel, and bay leaf. Add the carrots, celery, boiling water (stand back to avoid sputtering oil), and split peas.

Lock the lid in place. Over high heat, bring to high pressure. Lower the heat just enough to maintain high pressure and cook for 6 minutes (I cooked it for 15 minutes, as that is what I found works best). For a hearty texture, quick-release the pressure by setting the pot under cold running water. For a smoother texture, allow the pressure to come down naturally. Remove the lid, tilting it away from you to allow any excess steam to escape.

Remove the bay leaf. Stir the soup as you add the parsley and salt to taste. This soup will thicken considerably on standing. Thin as needed with water or stock.

I found this picture after googling the recipe, it looked just like this.

My mom the clown

Darrell can literally say "My mother-in-law is a clown!" For those of you who know my mom, you'll appreciate these pics...

We had a family Halloween get-together featuring M&M the clown. :) The kids thought it was hilarious! Thanks for the fun time!

Mending tape - clothing label

Salem's school asked the parents to have all of the children's outdoor clothing labeled. Here's what I used...iron-on mending tape! I got a package at NPS for $.39 and it will last me a long time.

I debated on what to use for a while, my mom had labels professionally made for me and my siblings that said our names on them. She would have to sew them on, but I thought it was cool that I had my own name tag. :) I found websites to order similar name tags for my kids but I was too cheap to spend the few dollars. I even found some that were iron-on so I didn't have to sew. My mom suggested using a heavyweight interfacing and then labeling and ironing it on. I intended to do that but then I found the mending tape.

During general conference a few weeks ago, I collected all of Salem's hats, gloves, jackets, etc and started applying the labels. It was a quick and painless process. I just wrote his name on the mending tape with a fine-point sharpie marker, then cut the tape around the name to save as much tape as possible (I could fit three names in the width of the tape.) Then I ironed on the label and it was done! :)

If you need to label clothing, I suggest that you use mending tape!

P.S. - I realize that I'm probably not the first one to think of this. I'm sure there are many moms out there that have done this for years, but I thought I'd just pass along this info to those who still haven't been enlightened. :)

Ultrasound Pictures

For those of you who have been too lazy to figure out the gender math equation, maybe this will be a better hint for you:


Here are the pictures from the ultrasound. They even did some 3D images. They looked at the x,y, and z coordinates and the computer produced a 3D image. The computer finds everything and then the technician has to "photoshop" out all the other tissue etc to find the baby, so that's why it looks like a baby that is not all the way formed. (I've seen random pictures online of 3D ultrasounds and thought they looked creepy, but now that I understand how they do it, and that it's my baby, it looks okay.) Our baby's feet were up cross-legged around his head, so the technician even removed one of his legs so we could see his face on the 3D pics.

Gender math

Drum roll...we had our ultra sound and in order to announce the gender of baby #3, I'm going to make you do a little math. :)

(Where D= Darrell and H=Heather)

Here are some hints if you don't know the years:
Sqrt[(Baby’s birth year - D & H wedding year) + (H’s birth year - D’s birth year)]

The answer will be the number of letters in the word "boy" or "girl" and then you'll know.

Discoveries

In honor of Columbus Day, I'll give you some of my random discoveries that I've had over the years...

* Buying dental floss and using it every day is cheaper than a dentist visit for a filling.
* Buying name-brand food on sale with a coupon is usually cheaper than the store brand.
* Counting down from 5 to 1 works to get Salem and other children to do something or focus on the task.
* The attention span of a 2 year old is 2 minutes, a 5 year old is 5 minutes, etc.
* Cleaning as you go is easier than setting aside time to do everyday chores.
* Stop and smell the roses, breath in...breath out.
* Reading the Book of Mormon every day will bless your life, even if it's one verse.
* Keeping your gas tank 1/2 full or more keeps stress out of your life.
* The following letters are the same upside down: H, I, N, O, S, X, Z
* Children learn at an incredibly fast pace.
* You never stop learning.
* You don't "save" money by spending it.
* If you think someone's perfect, you don't know them well enough.
* As a new mom, you think why am I so alone? But then you realize that there are thousands of moms saying that same thing.
* Vinegar can be used for almost anything. I have at least 3-4 spray bottles of vinegar in my house.
* You can make substitutions in recipes very easily and it still comes out okay.
* If you are seeking a school for your kindergartner, you must start looking into a school in October of the year before he starts. (Same goes for preschool.)
* Breastfeeding is calming for the baby and the mother, strengthens the baby's immune system, provides complete infant nutrition, and is 100% the best.
* Attachment parenting is a style of caring for your infant that brings out the best in the baby and the best in the parents.
* Children don't care about "new" toys, they'll love a used toy just as well.
* Nutrition plays a big part in someone's health. Instead of popping a pill, look at what you're eating (or rather what you're not eating.)
* You don't have to be a member of Costco to use their pharmacy, or redeem a Costco gift card.
* Hairspray & gel work for most of my hair styles, I don't need to buy all that gimmicky other stuff.
* The rubber-band trick works well for the first few months of pregnancy when jeans start fitting a little too tightly.
* Children love playing dress-up! Halloween is just like any other day at my house.
* Always "google it" before you purchase something online. You can find product reviews and even coupons.
* A mother's intuition (the spirit) is sometimes better than a doctor.
* Those who understand interest, earn it; those who don't understand interest, pay it.
* Paying bills online is fast and easy.
* Renewing and reserving library books online is even easier.
* You can view demo videos on youtube and learn how to do just about anything.
* Wheat is not just for bread.
* After you shave your legs, put baby oil on them, it feels great!
* If your hair is straight or straightened and it's your off day for washing, sprinkle baby powder on your scalp and brush it through. It'll absorb some of the oil in the hair and make it smell good.
* You are in charge of your own happiness.

Zip-it

Have you heard of the Zip-it? I was introduced to this product a couple years ago, and now love it! I got it at WalMart for about $3 and it's a good preventative maintenance tool for clogged drains. You don't use harsh chemicals, it's just a jagged strip of plastic that you stick down in your drain and pull out all the yuck.

I clean our upstairs bathtub drain every few months with this. I like that it's cheap and really easy to use. This is not for those with a light stomach, some of the stuff that comes out is pretty gross, but I'd rather get it out than have it stay in the pipe!

Here's a demo of it:

The end of my KitchenAid era

When Darrell and I were registering for our wedding, he insisted that we register for a KitchenAid Stand Mixer. He said "to be a true Hendriksen, you have to own a KitchenAid." I thought "Whatever, I don't really understand the whole big whoop over them but okay, I'll register for it, I doubt anyone would be able to buy it for us since it's pretty pricey."

Sure enough, when it was Thanksgiving time (we were still engaged) and we had our annual Hendriksen family Thanksgiving dinner, all of Darrell's aunts started bringing in their KitchenAid mixers into the church to use for mixing & mashing the potatoes! I was amazed that they would literally bring their heavy duty mixer just for that, couldn't they use an easy-to-transport hand mixer? I figured there must be something cool about these mixers.

Later in January, while at work, my boss & co-workers asked me to step into my executive boss's office. There on the desk was a huge wrapped wedding gift. I opened it up and it was the KitchenAid mixer that we had registered for. I couldn't believe it! My mouth dropped open since I didn't expect such a large gift from them. (The standard wedding gift at my office was a basket full of various odd & ends & kitchen gadgets.) My executive boss, who was a single lady and could afford such a gift, just looked at me, smiled and said "you deserve this." That was a nice pat on my back.

I've grown to enjoy the KitchenAid. I liked being able to go get another ingredient from the pantry while the mixer is still mixing. The dough hook is, of course, great for making bread. It has served my family well for over six years.

This past year and a half I have tried (desperately) to make bread for my family. I've always wanted to make bread regularly and am now I'm doing it, but I still would like to perfect my technique and get a nice fluffy whole wheat bread. With my KitchenAid I could only put in a maximum of 6 cups of whole wheat flour (8 cups white flour.) That meant I could only make 2 small loaves of bread at a time, and I'd have to be making bread every few days.

I bought a huge stainless steel bowl($1 at DI) and started making bread by hand so that I could make 6 loaves of bread instead of just two. (I'd freeze 4-5 loaves.)

My family had outgrown our 4 1/2 quart KitchenAid mixer and I wanted something bigger. I was introduced to the Bosch Mixers and fell in love. (Sorry KitchenAid.) I watched a video comparing the Bosch to a KitchenAid for making bread and the Bosch won victoriously. I immediately wanted a Bosch mixer but since they were pricey I needed to "save up" to buy the mixer. (I thought that I'd do that just like Darrell did to save up for his guitar.) I made a spreadsheet (who knew?) to figure out how much I needed to save and entered the info whenever I made a few extra dollars (selling things, birthday money, babysitting, substituting a dance class.)

I was holding out for a brand new model, but this weekend I found a refurbished Bosch Mixer with a warranty from a reputable local store so I decided to purchase that one instead of saving a lot more money for a new one.

I put my KitchenAid up for sale on KSL and Craigslist and sold it today. It was a little hard for me to let go as I was giving the mixer to the lady who bought it. It's an end of an era for me. It was my learning mixer, and I've had fun memories with my boys making food using the mixer. I feel old now that I've upgraded to a bigger mixer, I'm in a new stage in my life.

I feel like I'm still a "true Hendriksen" even though I no longer own a KitchenAid, hopefully the family won't disown me. :)

My quest for bread perfection still awaits me, but I feel that I'm getting closer all the time.

A kid after my own heart

Salem is a kid after my own heart...
I was being lazy this morning and the boys came in my room to wake me up instead of vice versa. They climbed on the bed to snuggle for a minute then Salem quickly rushed out of the room. (I thought he was going to go get dressed for school.) He came back ten minutes later and still had on his pajamas. I was just starting to get out of bed to start the day so I told him to quickly go get dressed too. He started to get upset and then showed me what he was doing.

He made a math worksheet for us to do while snuggling in bed! He said "but we have to snuggle in bed and do math before we get dressed!" How could I say no to that? Two things I love...math and snuggling! We snuggled for another 5 minutes and did our addition. I was impressed that Salem even figured out that 11 + 12 = 23. Salem is also like me and likes to stall and dawdle, right Mom & Darrell? :)

Afterward we rushed to get ready and were greeted downstairs with delicious French Toast made by Darrell. Ah, how nice! :)