Pomegranate Pistachio Crostini

I had this recipe published in the December/January issue of Simple & Delicious.  It was the 2nd place winner in the appetizer contest!

Here's how I developed this recipe:

1) I also tested an Indian-glazed chicken skewer recipe.  This was definitely the better recipe, so I'm not too surprised that it was the winner.

2) When I saw that one of the categories they were considering was fruit, I decided that I wanted to work on something for that area.  It seemed like it would make for a different type of appetizer than other submissions they might be getting.

3) I knew it would be published in a December issue, so it needed to be a winter fruit.  Pomegranates are my favorite winter fruit...so that's what I decided to go with :)

4) At first I was thinking about making some type of dip.  I ditched that idea pretty quickly and decided to go with a crostini instead.  Bruschetta are some of my favorite party foods so I thought "Why not try a sweet version?"

5) Then I needed to decide what to pair with the pomegranates.  I finally settled on dark chocolate, pistachios, and an orange-honey cream cheese.

6) Final step: taste testing!  I made these for our New Year's Eve last year and they were a big hit :)

Personal Progress v. 2.0: Knowledge

I finished this in July.  The pregnancy wiped it out of my memory, so I'm blogging about it now :)

It's been six months since I blogged about doing my Personal Progress again, so here's the first two installments.

The third value I worked on was knowledge.

Flashback to 2002/2003:

My high school knowledge project was to prepare for college by taking the ACT and SAT and applying to schools.  It was one of those nice projects that I would have had to do anyways!


And here's the 2014 version:

Required Experiences
* I read several scriptures about knowledge and the importance of studying the scriptures and gospel principles.

* I decided to learn stress management skills as my "new talent."  Let's just say that this is always a critical one for me.  I get so overwhelmed between taking care of the kids, keeping the house reasonably clean and managed, my church calling, my job, and all of the other myriad responsibilities!

I'm also glad that I decided to focus on this earlier this year, because I'm prone to anxiety attacks during my pregnancies.  I'd focused both on coping strategies and prevention strategies, and it's made such a huge difference!

*The last required experience is to memorize the Thirteenth Article of Faith and then apply it to an art/dance/music/drama event.  Gerrit and I went to a Cougarettes concert.


Optional Experiences

*The requirement is to pick a gospel principle and share a five-minute talk.  I give 20 to 25 minute lessons on gospel principles twice a month for the Mia Maids already :)  In all seriousness, I LOVE teaching the girls.  I love being able to study the topics like repentance, tithing, work, or family in depth and then ponder  how to best share that with them.

*I also needed to review the Girl's Camp safety and first aid skills (which I did this summer) and then share with my family our emergency preparedness plans.  Miles really loved my fake earthquake drills :)

*For the last one, I had to make up my own experience, since they either related to skills I already have or were aimed pretty directly at the teenagers.  I decided to memorize four scriptures and then teach those scriptures either to the youth or to my own children.

Value Project

* I decided to pick something that would be really meaningful and needed, so I decided to focus on exercise and nutrition.  I struggled SO MUCH with this project.  I wanted to be just perfect, so every day that I missed my workout or ate too much dessert, I felt like such a failure.  I finally had to stop myself in the middle of it and realize that every effort, even if it didn't work perfectly, helped me learn more about what it takes to be healthy.

Eating and exercising appropriately will probably be a lifelong project for me.  It isn't going to be something that I magically fix in a one-moth experience.  It was really valuable, though.  I've been trying my best to keep up with whatever principles I can during this pregnancy, and I'm excited to work in a few more of this principles when I'm not constantly exhausted and battling a digestive system that can't handle most foods :)

Day at the Zoo

The zoo in Salt Lake City is free on the last Wednesday of the month all through the winter.  That was actually perfect for November!

A) The last Wednesday of the month was part of Thanksgiving break, so we didn't have to worry about going after school.

B) It was 60 degrees outside.  It didn't even feel like winter, so the kids weren't freezing AND the animals were much happier than the time we went to this in February.

I was certain it would be really crowded.  Luckily, it was only mostly crowded.  I can handle that!

Here were some of Miles and Molly's favorite animals.  They mostly liked animals that were easy to see and were doing something at the time.

 For example, the zebras ran around a lot.

 Molly like the elephant because it was "little like Molly!"

They really loved watching the seals and sea lions under the water.                                                                                                

The grizzly bears were the best, though, because they kept running around and playing.

 And everyone loves giraffes!

I think that their very favorite things were not animal-related, though.  They loved having a picnic lunch!

Especially because I was nice and bought the M & M cookies instead of the way yummier-looking molasses or oatmeal raisin ones :)

Animal statues were a particular favorite.

 As was the playground.

 We really did have a lot of fun!  I've decided we'll go back again some future year, but only if the weather is this nice again :)