Decorating for Christmas

I love Christmas time, so every year the day after Thanksgiving we decorate for Christmas. This year we had our first real tree. Thanks to John's parents who let us cut one from their grove.

John is ready to start cutting, hand me that saw!

Timber!

Hopefully it fits!

Good thing we've got a big station wagon!

Lucy helped us out with the tree. Nice job lucy!

Isn't she a cutie :) Love her!

Our new hood warmer! (j/k!)

Bull riding

Anna and I always seem to find things that we've always wanted to do and go for it. So for Anna's birthday a group of us took a trip to wildwood just out side of Iowa City. The thing we've always wanted to try: bull riding!

Anna did a good job staying on the bull!

Next Katherine was up, she rocked it!

I learned that riding a bull is much harder then it looks :)

And thus I feel off....hehe

Paul stayed on the whole time, nice!

Nolan rocked it (see his blog for the video I took of him).

Over all bull riding is fun. I was a little sore, but I'd do it again. Bring it on!

Happy Birthday Anna

Happy Birthday Anna!

I don't know what I'd do with out you to :
1.keep me sane everyday
2. laugh with about the stuff we deal with at work
3. feed me
4. be a great friend
Happy Birthday!

Chocolate angel food cake made simple

Growing up my birthday cake was always angel food cake. One year when I was about 10 I wanted it to be chocolate so I found a recipe and learned how to make it from scratch. Eventually I took that cake to the county fair, and won a purple ribbon plus the change to take it to the state fair. At the state fair I got a blue ribbon. Yum! Its a lot of work to make an angel food cake from scratch so after that I searched for a faster way to get that chocolate taste. After much experimenting with cake brands and cocoa powder brands I came upon the correct solution. I am not a "brand loyalty" person for many things, however, for this cake you must use these brands to get it to work correctly and taste great!

What you'll need:

1 box Betty Crocker white angel food cake mix

1/2 cup Hershey's cocoa powder

water (as directed on box)

What to do:

1. Mix cake mix with water according to package directions. (hint start with a little water and little mix and work your way up to all of it being added this will give you maximum cake "lift")

2. Add in 1/2 cup cocoa powder. Mix your cake until it holds a stiff peak (this is hard to get with box kinds, do your best so that if you lift a bit of the batter up it makes a "mountain")

3. Pour into un-greased angel food cake pan. "cut" through with a knife to ensure no air bubbles. Tape lighly on the counter to make the top even.

4. Bake according to package directions.

homemade vegetable broth

Buying vegetable broth can get expensive when you cook a lot. A few years ago my husband decided to research and figure out how to make it. It turns out that it is really simple and really inexpensive to do and it tastes so much better then store boughten stuff. A lot of things I've been making latley require broth so I thought it would be a good time to share how to make it.

What you'll need:
A large ziplock bag of vegetable parts such as carrot peels, potatoe, peels, onion skins, pepper tops, etc
           -note I often gather my veggies in a Ziploc and freeze them until I have enough or need to make broth














Water
Something to strain the broth with when you are done such as cheese cloth

What to do:
1. You'll have to gage the amount of water verious how much vegetable "parts" you have. I reccommend 3 cups of vegetables to about 8 cups of water

2. Heat your water and vegetable parts on the stove until you reach just below a boil.

3. Let the vetables and water soak at just under a boil for about an hour or until broth starts to change to a carmel color and vegetables lose most of their color

4. Store broth in the refridgerator for 3-4 days or in the freezer 6-7 months

(sorry this doesn't look very appetizing I am trying to show more the color you are going for, it tastes good in things promise!)

notes:
storage you will want to very based on how you use the broth. I typically store in a cleaned out 1/2 gallon milk container or in 1-2 cup portions in ziplock bags.

our first 5k-we did it!

John and I ran our first 5k this weekend. It was a lot of fun and we both met our time and distance goals. Yes, I ran with the camera...  (did you expect nothing less of my to run w/ my camera take pictures on the go and blog about...i think not!) ...Its to hard to run and take pictures....ok maybe harder then I thought but still fun!
Here are some pictures of our first race!

Looking like real athletes!

Pre-race stretches

Statefair 5k thats me!

relaxing before the race

Go!

See John run (faster then Kristel)

rounding the first bend

still doing good (note the progression of red on my face)

right after mile 1 we had hill city..ugg

not a fan

middle of the hill view of the dairy barn

just a little further!

yeah! i made it

and i'm still alive!

now the down hill part as we round into the campground

my favorite...the down hill run

lovely day!

passing the parking lot, not to far now!

backside of the grandstand

one more turn after this...

finish line!!!

post race treats...got to love the chocolate milk!

WE DID IT!

chocolate-chipotle chili

CHOCOLATE-CHIPOTLE CHILI
Adapted from http://urbanvegan.blogspot.com

What you'll need:
1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, sliced

2 cans beans of your choice (I used pinto and  navy)
½ cup textured vegetable protein
1 6 oz can tomato paste
1 28 oz can tomato puree
1 cup red and/or green pepper, chopped
1 cup corn (frozen is fine)
1 T dried parsley
1 T dried cilantro
3 T olive oil
1½ -2 tsp chipotle chili powder (Start with less and add to taste)
2 tsp cumin
½ tsp salt
Water or veggie broth to add, as needed 

½ cup dark chocolate buttons or chips, minimum 60% cocoa

Optional ingredients to add if you like:
¼ tsp of cayenne pepper
1 carrot, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
1½ T agave nectar

What to do:
1.Heat olive oil to medium in a frying pan. Add onions and garlic and cook until glossy—a few minutes.

 2. Mix onion and garlic with all vegetables, textured vegetable protein, and seasoning in a large crock pot (the only thing you should not add at this point is the chocolate)
3. Cook in your crock pot until veggies are semi-soft and all ingredients are mixed well, stirring occasionally. The recipe should reach a boil before you move on.
4. You may want to add water or veggie broth if you allow the chili to cook for a while. You may also need it if the chili is to thick. Keep your eye on it in the crock pot and stir occasionally.   
5. Add chocolate, mix in well. Add seasonings to taste

6. Cook chili until everything is well mixed and soft. This could be a an hour or longer deepening on how hot you cook and how much time you have. I often times like to start this on Friday evening let it cook until I go to bed, refrigerate over night, and then reheat Saturday morning and serve for lunch.7. Serve 6-8 people

Notes:
This works well for lunches during the week
The longer you cook the chili the better the flavors blend together. This is why I offten cook chilis like this for 2 diffrent days.