superbike championships 2012

In another life, Kevin would choose to either be:

A) a fighter pilot or

B) a super bike racer.

He is crazy.  So when I heard there was a super bike race, a championship race non-the-less, here in Utah,  I knew we had to go.  We decided to bring along the brothers, since were good older siblings like that.

It was beautiful weather luckily.  It wasn't hot, but the sun was beating down on us pretty good.  We all got nice sunburns.  Next time, we will bring umbrellas.  And better food; actually a whole cooler full of food and drinks.  These boys would not stop eating; and snack food only lasts so long.  You live, you learn.

It was amazing to watch these world class racers go up to 200 mph.  200 mph! On a bike!  There were a few crashes, but amazingly, no injuries.  They jumped right up and ran off the track.  Too bad I was busy finding that last good piece of kettle corn out of the bag when one racer crashed right. in. front. of. me.  ROOOAR!!!  I threw that bag down and didn't touch it for the rest of the day.

Lately

We started the sanding and painting of our dresser my sweet MIL gave us.

We went on a 34 mile bike ride from North Salt Lake to Farmington on the Legacy Trail.    Even though we pushed ourselves and averaged 19 mph during the entire ride, I really enjoyed it!

At the halfway mark was a Harmons.  So we stopped to have a yummy lunch to take a break.

Our date night dinner that night was In N Out.  We love that place.  We then followed this with the movie The Avengers.   It was entertaining enough, but what happened with all the good dialogue in movies lately? 

recipe: Thai Chicken

I loved this chicken!  Give me any sauce that includes peanut butter, and I am a happy girl.

I adapted this recipe from howsweeteats.com.

Thai Chicken

serves 2

2 chicken breasts, sliced in half

2 TB olive oil

salt & pepper

Sauce

1/4 cup rice vinegar

1/4 cup light coconut milk

3 Tb brown sugar

3 garlic cloves

1 TB creamy peanut butter

1 ts ginger

1 lime, juiced

1/2 Tb soy sauce

Garnish

1.2 cup fresh cilantro

1/4 cup chopped peanuts

Preheat oven to 375 F.  

Pat chicken breasts completely dry and season with salt and pepper.  

Combine all sauce ingredients.

Heat a large oven-safe skillet on medium high heat and add olive oil.  Add chicken and sear, about 2-3 minutes per side.  Remove breasts and set aside on plate.  Add sauce to skillet, bring to a boil and let simmer for 2 minutes, whisking constantly.

Add breasts back in, turn to coat on all sides in sauce and place skillet in oven.

Bake for 25-30 minutes.

Serve over rice, spoon extra sauce on top and garnish with peanuts and cilantro.

weekly meal plan #3

Monday:  Family took us to Cafe Rio :)

Tuesday:  Falafel with a cucumber-yogurt dressing in homemade flour tortillas. Watermelon on the side.

Wednesday:  Marinated pork tenderloin with sauteed cabbage and sourdough bread with a balsamic glaze.

Thursday:   Thai chicken wings with basmati rice, sliced cucumber with sea salt and fresh dinner rolls.

Friday: Date Night!!

Saturday:  Homemade cheese pizza and a side salad with homemade sourdough croutons.

recipe: Falafel wraps with a cucumber & dill dressing

Do you know what falafel is?  

Yeah, I had no idea what falafel was either.  

I decided to educate myself in falafel-ism and just go for it.  I found this recipe on foodcomablog.com, which I really have loved lately, and got excited to try it out.

I am pretty sure falafel is a power food.  

Yes, I know it is a fried food, but I don't care I am calling it a power food.  I killed it on my bike ride the next morning.  Killed it.  And I am giving all the credit to these deep-fried falafel balls.

To make things easier on me; I tend to prep for dinner during the day before I go to work.  I made the falafel early so it would have time to set up in the fridge before I fried it; I made the cucumber dressing so all the flavors would combine; and I made the homemade flour tortilla dough as well.  And yes, I found the tortilla recipe on foodcomablog.com as well.

Falafel

2 cans chick peas

1 large red onion

4 Tb chopped parsley

4 Tb chopped cilantro

2 ts salt

4 cloves garlic

2 ts baking powder

1/3 cup flour

Combine everything in a food processor until roughly combined.  In a medium bowl, combine flour and baking powder.  Add chick pea mixture to flour.  Combine until you can form it into balls.  You might need to add extra flour if it is hard to form.  Place parchment paper on a baking sheet and place formed balls on sheet.  Cover with plastic wrap and let sit in fridge for a good 2-3 hours or overnight.

Heat 2 inches (or so) of canola oil in a heavy cast iron skillet (I find these work best for good deep frying) on high heat.  Roll the balls in flour and place them in the oil.  Fry for 2-3 minutes, or until a golden dark brown all around.  Allow to cool over paper towels.

Cucumber Dill Dressing

1 cup greek plain yogurt

3/4 chopped cucmber

1 1/2 Tb fresh dill

Combine and let flavors sit together in the fridge.

Homemade Flour Tortillas

3 cups flour

1 ts salt

1/2 ts baking powder

1/3 cup olive oil

1 cup warm water

In a bowl, combine flour, salt and baking powder.  With your hands, mix in the olive oil into the flour mixture until well incorporated and crumbly.  Pour in water and combine completely.  Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes.  Divide the dough into 8-10 pieces.  When ready to cook, roll out until thin and cook in a non-stick pan for 2 minutes per side.

For the remainder dough, I rolled them into balls and wrapped them separately in plastic wrap.  I placed them all in a plastic bag and put them in the fridge.  Now whenever we want fresh tortillas, we just grab a dough ball, roll it out and cook it.  Fresh, yummy tortillas in minutes!

Now to assemble the wraps!

Tortilla.  

Freshly chopped romaine (out of all my excitement I forgot the romaine in our wraps, I am still mad about it, they would have made the wraps even yummier).  

Falafel balls.  

Cucumber Dill Dressing.

Yummy!!

Oh and by the way, falafel is a middle eastern food.  It originated in Egypt.
Consider yourself fooducated.

life lately, according to my iphone.

And these are completely out of order...

Went on a bike ride together along the Jordan River Parkway to Lake Utah.

My parents busted out the Rokenbok from storage.  These awesome toys were my brothers favorite growing up, but I have a soft spot for them too.  We spent many of hours building and moving balls around.
Here, Kevin and Tyler are in the middle of a Rokenbok war.

We watched the Solar Eclipse with four sunglasses.

Went up to Park City and ate at Loco Lizard Cantina for a late lunch.  Sooo good!  Get the fish tacos.  
I then scored at the Pearl Izumi Outlet store.  I got a bike jersey, socks and new gloves (mine are thrashed) for 50% off.
Kevin didn't do so good.  Our annual shoe trip for him was unfruitful.  

Refinished and painted our dining table.  Now we need to find us some chairs.  Don't fail us KSL. 

Decided we are soccer people now.
Much more entertaining to us than basketball or football.
And the Chelsea game last week...holy cow!

weekly meal plan #2

Monday:  Spinach fettucini with a Garlic-Oil sauce and topped with sauteed shrimp, breadsticks (made from rhodes dough) and fresh tomatoes with a balsamic glaze.

Ok, this sauce was amazing!
Here is the recipe via The Rachael Ray Magazine


Garlic-Oil sauce
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley
1-2 Tb minced garlic
3/4 ts salt


It says to add to a small skillet on medium-high heat, and remove once the garlic sizzles.  I totally skipped this and just mixed it all together and drizzled it all over my fettucini and it was excellent.  

Tuesday: Brown basmati rice topped with sauteed cabbage, a fried egg and drizzled with soy sauce, sesame oil and our favorite topping for rice: furikake; which is a japanese condiment of mixed seaweed, sesame seeds, salt and sugar.  You can get it at your local asian market for cheap.  

Wednesday:  BBQ chicken and freshly baked rolls (rhodes dough). (Sauteed spinach was supposed to also happen here, but so goes it when I get home super late and Kevin doesn't know how to cook the spinach.)

Thursday:  We got spoiled and I brought home food from work this night.  We shared a filet mignon and a new york steak.  Yum.

Friday:  We went camping!  Tin foil dinners.  I layered cabbage, sweet sausage, onions, potatoes, carrots and broccoli.
I also made homemade sweet cornbread.

Saturday:  Sauteed shrimp and sourdough bread drizzled with the Garlic-Oil sauce and a balsamic glaze.  

camping in the uintas

We try not to pay to go camping, so we usually drive up into the mountains until we find a good spot.  We found a great little meadow up in the Uintas this weekend.  The whole mountain felt like it was ours.

We brought up good food, a good book, and some good company. 

Even though it got chilly that night, we still had a great time.

I love tin foil dinners.   This time I did sweet sausage, cabbage, onions, carrots, potatoes, broccoli, sea salt and a drizzle of olive oil.  Mmm mmm good.
I also have an obsession with s'mores when I camp.  I can eat a lot.  But this time every one was making fun of me so I only ate two.  And... maybe five extra marshmallows.  One time camping in Bryce, I was known to have eaten s'mores for every meal.  It happens.

I even wore my camping shirt. 

The Machete.

Oh yeah, these guys came!  They almost got away with no pictures.
They love their new car.  We made sure we went off road so they could test it out. 

weekly meal plan #1

To help encourage me to make diverse, balanced and yummy dinners every night; I am going to post my past weeks meal plan.  With moving, painting, organizing and renting going on over here for the past few weeks, dinners have been put on the back burner.  

Well, no longer my friends!
Hopefully posting our meals will help me be better.

Weekly Meal Plan

Monday:          Mediterranean Flatbread with yogurt and fresh cilantro.

Tuesday:          Paula Deen's Taco Soup with freshly grated cheese, sour cream and tortilla chips.

Wednesday:       Sweet Italian Sausage with J-Dawg sauce, sauteed cabbage and freshly baked rolls.

Thursday:       Whole grain homemade waffles with fresh berries, raspberry syrup and freshly whipped cream.

Friday:      Date Night!

Saturday:     Homemade Cheese Pizza with fresh blueberries on the side.  

Recipe: healthy chocolate ganache cake

I made a chocolate cake!  

It's rich and moist.

And it's healthy...Well there still is sugar in it, and the frosting is no compromise... But it is as good as it can get for an edible, actually awesome, chocolate cake.

This recipe replaces oil and butter for zucchini or carrots (I added both for good measure) and applesauce.  I used pear sauce because that is what I had on hand.

I got the recipe via Yammie's Noshery.

I modified only two things.

Healthy, or shall I say, Better For You, Chocolate Cake

2/3 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup cocoa powder

2/3 cup applesauce

1 egg, slightly beaten

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup shredded zucchini or carrots

1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)

I doubled this to fill two cake pans.  And I put chocolate chips in only one.

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine everything before applesauce and mix.  Add the rest and mix until just combined.

Pour into a greased cake pan or bundt pan and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

I then wanted a really good ganache to put on top and in the center of my cake.

Chocolate Ganache Frosting

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate ( I added some real milk chocolate as well)

6 ounces heavy cream

Heat the heavy cream in a microwave safe dish for 2-3 minutes on high, or until it begins to simmer.  Pour the cream over the chocolate and let stand for 2 minutes.  Using a stand mixer, mix until combined and chocolate is melted and smooth throughout.  Let it cool.  

my cousin's wedding/zombie faces

My cousin Zach got married!  

We were getting worried about him.  I mean, he was 23.  He was getting old.

Him and his (now wife) Chè got married in the Draper LDS Temple.  It was a wonderful sealing.

While we waited for the bride and groom, we took pictures.

My beautiful great aunt Katie.  She is like a grandmother to me.  She has always been a big part of our family.  

She is incredibly smart.  If you think you know politics and sports, she would give you a run for your money.  Believe it.  

Three generations.

My wonderful and handsome grandpa Headman.  We really love him.

Ok.  So have you seen Walking Dead?

Well, it is all about zombies and me and Kev started to watch it a while ago.

This is when the zombie face started. 

Kevin would randomly pull this scary face out of nowhere and freak me out.  

And I started doing it back. 

We then showed my family.  

And now my little niece Hadley does it.  She thinks it's hilarious.  She even helps baby Afton make the zombie face. 

So now we always do the zombie face.  

And since we were all bored it was perfectly entertaining.

My grandpa's first zombie face.

My cute cousin Spencer, the grooms brother.

We even got him to do the zombie face.

The grooms father, my uncle, my moms brother.  

Did you notice his awesome silver hair?  

Well, he hates that you noticed it.  Thanks.

Oh look!  They finally came out! Hooray!

I thought her dress was so cute and so perfect for her.  

I loved that it was a cream color; I am not a fan of the stark white dresses.  

The proud father and groom.  Look how handsome they are!

I love my husbands tie.  Foxy.

Zachs best buds.

Oh, hey there.

Just talking with the gramps and aunt.  So cute.

The happy family.

And now we cut to the reception.  It was held at the Draper Cactus & Tropicals; which I think is a classy place for a reception.  Thats where my reception was held; so I have a soft spot for it.

The mother/father dance.  Zach said something funny.

The first dance.

And then the music stopped; and the party music began.

And then they broke out their moves. 

And then it cut back to the first dance song like nothing had happened.  It was hilarious.  

Good work you two, good work.

And then here are some pictures of baby Afton for good measure.

She partied hard that night.  

Anytime she hears music she starts moving and bobbing her head.  She was loving the whole night.

The cake cutting and shoving in each others face came next.

I will just say that I am so grateful Kevin didn't smash our cake in my face.  

So grateful.

We ended the night by getting our fair share of photo booth pictures.  

Thanks Zach & Che.  It was a party.  

We are so excited for you two!