Recipe Exchange

So, at the moment, it's almost time for dinner...I've been thinking about what to write as a confession all day and have come up with nothing. So, in lieu of that, tonight you get a recipe that I made last night for the first time. I loved it! It's a Greek dessert that's not too sweet, but still good. Sorry there are no pics...I forgot until after they were gone, which was quick! And if you don't have the exact dried fruits it calls for, substitute others...apples, cherries, craisins, raisins, pears, etc.

Pyllo Purses with Dried Fruit Compote

1/4 pound dried figs (about 1/2 cup), quartered
1/4 pound dried apricots (about 1 1/2 cups) sliced
1/2 cup packed golden raisins
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup honey
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons sliced almonds
4 (12x17 inch) sheets phyllo dough, thawed according to package directions

1. Preheat oven to 350. Spray a baking sheet with nonstick spray. Set aside.
2. To make compote, combine figs, apricots, raisins, orange juice, water, honey, cinnamon stick, and vanilla in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the fruit plumps and the liquid becomes syrupy, 12-15 minutes. Remove the compote from the heat; discard the cinnaomon stick. Cool 10 minutes, then stir in the almonds.
3. Place one sheet of phyllo with the long side facing you on a work surface. Lightly spray with nonstick spray; top with a second phyllo sheet and lightly spray with nonstick spray. Repeat with the remaining phyllo sheets to form a stack. With a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut the phyllo into 6 equal squares. Place 1/4 cup of the compote in the center of each square. Working one square at a time, gather the four corners of the square together to enclose the compote. Twist the gathered phyllo lightly to seal the packet and form a purse. Transfer purse to the baking sheet; repeat with the reaming phyllo, nonstick spray and compote to make 6 purses.
4. Spray the purses lightly with nonstick spray. Bake until crisp and golden, 12-15 minutes. Serve warm.

Confession #13 -- I Don't Mind Doing Laundry

WOW! Somehow the weekend got ahead of me! I didn't even check my email for over 2 days! That's a record for me.

Anyway, Mondays at our house are designated "Laundry Day" because that's all I do on Mondays. I don't like the idea of doing laundry every day for two reasons. 1. It's hard to do full loads that way and therefore it wastes water. And 2. I don't mind doing laundry, but I certainly don't love it. I only do it one day a week...unless there is some sort of emergency with any kind of bodily fluid. And with children, those happen more often than I would like. Besides, doing it all at once gives me the opportunity to sit down and fold clothes while watching a movie without feeling guilty!

Some people might call me obsessive compulsive about things I do. I have to do things in even numbers (including the number of kids I have). I have to align everything. I tuck the sheets on the bed just so on the corners EVERY DAY. I fold clothing so that it all ends up the same size. I match socks up...even all the plain white ones all three of the boys at my house wear. A new white sock can not be matched up with the old white sock...and I can tell the difference. Clothes are arranged in drawers so as to best use the space available.

I guess this is mostly why I don't mind doing laundry. Nobody else could do my laundry as perfect as I could. I'm sure that someday I'll have to give up all my quirks about laundry, but not today.

And if any of you want to cut your laundry time down, just watch and learn from this video.

Another reason I do my laundry all in one day: I actually stand a chance at having ALL the laundry clean at once...until it's time to get ready for bed and the dirty clothes go back in the laundry baskets, that is.

Confession #12 -- I'm Really Terrible at Washing my Face

I have always been a lucky soul with skin that is usually fantastic. Occasionally I get little blemishes, but rarely even a zit dares show itself on my face. I hardly ever wear makeup...mostly just on Sundays and other out of the ordinary activities. Because of that, I was always lazy about washing my face. I wash it in the shower every morning, but not with anything special. I wash it only on the nights that I wear makeup and even only that if I remember to.



But this has to change. I'll be 30 this year and I'm noticing more and more that my face is not it's youthful self anymore. No wrinkles yet, but it certainly doesn't have even coloring. I have a neighbor who sells Mary Kay. And really, even though I don't wear makeup much, I have absolutely loved anything I have gotten from Mary Kay. I went to my neighbor's house last night and I finally got the basic skin care package. It's been on my mind for awhile, but I never got around to it. But this time I got it. I have loved it. All morning I have been feeling my face and looking at myself in the mirror. I feel a bit silly doing it, but it is such a difference from yesterday that I can't help myself!



So, now that I've shelled out the money for this fantastic stuff, I plan on using it. And then maybe, just maybe, I might be able to take this confession back!

Confession #11 -- I Don't Know Everything

Even though Piglet thinks I do.

Piglet is at that fantastic age of 4 where children learn not only better coordination, and social skills, but masses of knowledge as well. I actually really like to see him learn. He is doing really well with recognizing the letters and knowing what sounds they make. He is not so keen on writing, but that will come in time. I love it when he picks up a new skill or somehow applies the new knowledge that has learned.

But, he is also at this lovely age of 4 where they tend to ask a lot of questions. I usually try to answer them to the best of my ability because I believe that it helps him learn and it conveys the idea that asking questions about life is a good thing. I also try to answer them so he knows that I'm paying attention to him.

This is the hard part because sometimes, the questions are so many and they come so fast, that I really do start to tune him out. And he often asks questions when I'm trying to concentrate on something else...driving during rush hour, cooking dinner, typing on the computer. And sometimes I really do get irritated when he asks so many questions. I try my hardest to not let him know that I'm irritated, but that doesn't always work. And my rule of thumb is that I never ask him to stop asking questions, no matter how much I don't like it.

I'm afraid I don't always follow my rule of thumb. Peter asked if I was going to share this next little quip with you and my first response was. "No!" mostly because it was really irritating at the time and I was really angry about it. But in looking back at it, I suppose there is sort of a funny side to it. Here it is:

We were madly trying to get ready for stake conference. Because we have afternoon church, it was much earlier than we normally get ready for church. In all the hustle and bustle of gathering snacks, toys, and other things to occupy their time, Piglet was asking questions incessantly. We finally got in the car and were on the way to the church and I had HAD it with the questions. I said, much more grumpily than I should have, "Piglet, stop asking questions! It's irritating!"

His response: "What does irritating mean?"

Confession #10 -- It's almost 10am and I'm still in my Pajamas

I LOVE PAJAMAS! And being in them is the greatest thing. But I have to admit that I don't usually stay in them until 10am. I usually have already left the house with the kids for whatever errands need to be done or for a playdate with some friends. As much as I love pajamas, I still feel guilty every time I wear them past 8am. Somehow I think that I should be more on top of it all. And I know that I would get more done if I didn't stay in them and that's what makes me change out of them by 8am. I guess I just have this thought that morning people are somehow better than night people.

I am a night person al the way. I could stay up reading a book until all hours of the morning. I could start a movie at 11 and stay up watching it. I could start to bake something at 11 and stay up until it's done. But ask me to get up early?!?! That's almost impossilbe. And once I'm asleep, you better not bug me until I am good and ready to get up. Unfortunately, my kids often wake up before I'm ready to get up and end up being the recipient of a few grouchy comments. Gotta work on that!

I suppose that it doesn't really matter whether you are a night person or a morning person...as long as you are a person working on making yourself better. Even if, for me, it means trying my hardest to be at least a tolerable morning person!

My Encounter with President Hinckley

Because of the recent passing of President Hinckley, I have been reflecting on some of the things he's meant to me. Although he's not the first Prophet I remember, he is the one that guided me through my most formative years. The years that I was trying to figure out just who I am. I have always appreciated his sense of humor because he was able to be funny without being crass or inappropriate, which seems to be a hard thing to do these days. The following experience with him illustrates that.

At BYU I worked in the Marriott Center where many of the CES firesides took place. I had the chance to meet several General Authorities through this job. I often worked in the elevator, pushing buttons and making sure people got to all the right places. On a day that President Hinckley came to the Marriott Center, I had less than a minute with him in the elevator, but the following conversation ensued:

President Hinckley, shaking my hand, "What's your name?"

I told him.

President Hinckley, "Are you married or single?"

Me, "I'm single."

President Hinckley, "What's your major?"

Me, "Family Science."

President Hinckley, "Maybe you should be in engineering where all the young men are!"

I didn't take that advice to be prophetic...I did finally find my Peter Priesthood after I graduated, but I learned a few things about him from this encounter.

1. President Hinckley was truly interested in me as a person.

2. He cared deeply about young people pursuing and education, AND wanting to be married.

3. His jokes and sense of humor didn't have to be offensive.

How I love that man and I'm sad to see him go. As a family, we have been praying much for his health and that he would be able to do all that he is asked to do. I think Heavenly Father answered our prayers in a way that's better than we imagined.

Goodbye, President Hinckley!

Confession #9 -- I Have a LOVE/HATE Relationship with Food

I LOVE cooking food.



I HATE cleaning up after making food.



I LOVE trying new foods.



I HATE how some new foods (new spices in particular) give me horrible heart burn.



I LOVE crunchy cold cereal...especially Honey Bunches of Oats.



I HATE that no matter how long I wait to put milk on my cold cereal, it always gets soggy because I'm getting stuff for the kids.



I LOVE anything with milk chocolate and peanut butter.



I HATE how the calories of milk chocolate and peanut butter add up fast.



I LOVE ice cream with loads of chunks in them. Especially Ben and Jerry's Peanut Butter Cup.



I HATE ice cream made out of berries.



I LOVE fresh spinach. I eat a lot of it.



I HATE green peas. My poor children are going to grow up not eating them at our house. I can't stand even the smell of them.



I LOVE reading recipes. I check out cookbooks from the library often.



I HATE the smell of burned popcorn.



I LOVE the smell of freshly baked bread. That's one of the reasons I make all of ours.





And that's about all I can think of to illustrate my LOVE/HATE relationship with food. I'm sure as I go along with this blog, I'll think of a few other things I have a LOVE/HATE relationship with.