Emmylyn

Our Mystery Plant June 22, 2010

So, about two years ago we planted what we thought was an Icelandic Poppy… yep, pretty sure it isn’t, but have no clue what it is.  It is tall, huge leaves and will have yellow flowers.

Boetje Glazed Salmon finally!! March 24, 2010

We always sit down on Saturday and menu plan and make a grocery list.  After church on Sunday we go shopping, it is our little routine and a way we get to spend more time together.  Well, Saturday night’s dinner was suppose to be Glazed Salmon with Braised Fennel that we saw on Big Daddy’s House the week before.  We made a short list just for this meal, but of course, living in a small town we could not find any fennel.  We decided then to do a Boetje Glazed Salmon.  We were sitting around watching Food Network, a great weekend hobby, especially when it is SNOWING!!  and on Bobby Flay’s Throwdown, they had an omelet throwdown and we decided to make those instead, very yummy!  We pushed the salmon back to Tuesday night.  Tuesday rolls around and I am going over the recipes for dinner to see what I need to prep before work and I get a lovely text at lunch time from my dearest daughter, who lets me know freshman orientation is tonight at 7pm.  Now the only reason she cared to tell me is because I asked our youngest son several days earlier while she was around, “have you heard when freshmen orientation is?” he answers “nope, haven’t heard anything”  I do not get home from work til 6, so no time to fix it, Delayed Again!!

So tonight is the night for the Boetje Glazed Salmon.  It is a dish we had at a  restaurant and I thought, I think I can make this at home.  Not being one to just be able to create a recipe, I looked at several glazed salmon recipes to try and figure it out. Boetje mustard is a stone ground Dutch mustard, made locally where I grew up, about an hour from where I live now.  Just hoping nothing stops us from having it again tonight!  Side dish will be a Quinoa Pilaf, which I am also finally excited to make too.

Boetje Glazed Salmon

1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp Boetje Mustard
1 tbsp Agave nectar
1/2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
4 salmon filets (6 oz)

Preheat the oven to 400. Combine the butter and brown sugar in a bowl and microwave until butter and sugar have melted together. Stir in mustard and honey.

Heat the oil in an oven proof skillet over high heat. Season the salmon with salt and pepper and add to the pan flesh-side down. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes until fully browned and flip. Brush with half of the glaze and place the pan in the oven until the salmon is firm and flaky (but before the white fat begins to form on the surface.), about 5 more minutes. Remove, brush the salmon with more of the glaze and serve.

the icky word Exercise March 10, 2010

My hubby has been doing this workout, not sure it has a name, but he does pull-ups, squats and push-ups.  On the off nights he is doing the 100 push-up workout.  I am telling you, I am really enjoying it, he is getting muscles where I didn’t know there were muscles.  But that also has inspired me to workout too.  I think I made a poor first choice though.  Now, just so you understand, I don’t work out.  I did, before the winter, walk, but that was the extent of my workout.

I love The Biggest Loser, so I thought let’s try one of their workouts… The 30-Day Shred is not something you should do if you are not in some kind of shape!  To be honest, I cried when I was about half way through the first time and had to stop, it was like the first workout at the camp and I was the lady falling off the treadmill crying and saying “I can’t do this!!”  Yes I have a picture to prove it and no I will not post it!

Being a bit stubborn when I need to be, I decided I was not going to let this kill me, so now a little more than a month later I am still working out!  Now I think it is not quite as bad as that first time and thinking even of starting a different workout on my off days… hubby thinks it should be the Flirty Girl workout, I was thinking a nice yoga.

Prosciutto and Shallot Pizza March 8, 2010

Hubby found this pizza sometime in the last week or two and has been wanting to try it… We put the ingredients on our shopping list and finally made it for lunch yesterday.  Oh my is it yummy!!  We did make a few slight changes, not on purpose though, I usually hate it when people want to try a recipe and then complain that it is just horrible, but they changed everything about the recipe and it isn’t the same thing…. Usually I make the recipe as-is the first time, no changes at all, I need a starting point.  But, we didn’t buy enough prosciutto, and had mozzarella on hand so we didn’t buy the Swiss.  I also used twice as many shallots well, because I love, love, love anything garlic, onion, etc.  In my book you can never have enough.

Being a person who loves making bread I did make my own dough, I have been using this recipe for several years, and just love it, I think it makes a very good pizza.

My 14 year old is my foodie kid, and he really liked the pizza.  My daughter usually won’t try anything new, she will turn up her nose and ask for chicken nuggets.  So, I am happy I have at least one that will try anything… I think it is because he is the youngest of four, so if he wanted to eat something he couldn’t be picky

Welcome!

At the beginning of the year I joined  @Recipegirl Ten in 10 challenge as I was needing to lose weight and it seemed like a great starting point.  Soon hubby really got into it also and now according to my 15 yo daughter we have turned into health-nuts! Actually, I think she called us that when, for my 17 yo son’s birthday, I cut our slice of cheesecake in half and cringed because this tiny small sliver of goodness was 150 calories and only two very small but very enjoyable bites!!  So, in my mind a health-nut would not have ate the cheesecake, so there is no way I can be one!

My hubby and I have been together forever, but it doesn’t feel like that at all (forever being  23 years). I am a mom of four, our oldest boy is 21 and lives in Memphis with his beautiful fiance.  At home, we have two more boys; 17 and 14, and one girl 15.  I work part-time at our public library in  youth services, which is preschool – junior high.  We live in a small town in the midwest, which means we need to drive at least an hour to a decent store, yes we have a Wal-Mart.