Of chips and salsa...

If you know me at all, you know that I am salsa-lover. I still remember going to a slumber party at a friends' house in high school and spending pretty much my entire evening at the table, bellied up to the chips and salsa, sometimes with a friend next to me, sometimes all to my lonesome self. At that time in my life it might have been homemade, it might have been--it shames me to admit it--Pace picante sauce. But as the years have gone by I could be what some might call a "salsa snob." Don't even think of bringing a bottle of Pace, or El Paso, or any of those others into my home. It defies everything that we have tried so hard to achieve in our family.

Today I have been thinking about this love of mine. I decided to put down for posterity my three main choices for salsa in three different levels of difficulty:

Just open the can: The only store-bought salsa I enjoy these days is, can you believe it:

Yeah, and it's only about 50 or 60 cents a can. Nice, small quantity. Best served cold with really good chips (that's an entirely separate post). I do not enjoy this salsa as much with anything less than restaurant-style tortilla chips. It just doesn't do it for me with regular chips. Only buy if you can handle spicy.

Open-the-can-plus: The second-easiest salsa ever I got from a lady in our previous ward who brought it to a ward party. Mark and I thought it was regular homemade salsa. Tricky woman.

• 1 can Ro-Tel regular or mild tomatoes and green chiles
• 1 can Ro-tel Mexican Fiesta tomatoes
• Fresh cilantro to taste
• salt and pepper to taste

So, drain your tomatoes (one or both cans) and add to a blender. Break off a small handful of cilantro, throw it in, and get a little bit of salt and pepper in there to join the party. Blend to your heart's content. That's it. Really. The trick is in the fresh cilantro.

Warning: This one is also pretty spicy. You might be able to tame the heat by subbing some other brand of tomatoes w/ green chiles and then using a Ro-Tel Mexican Fiesta.

An Actual Recipe:

This, my friends, is Mark's and my favorite salsa recipe. Courtesy of a salsa recipe book that my friend Rebekah gave me that she bought in the BYU bookstore (what a great friend...)

Salsa for a Crowd (altered just a smidge)

3 cans (28 oz) stewed tomatoes

3 medium fresh tomatoes, diced

3 entire bunches green onions, chopped

1 (4 oz) can diced jalapenos (these aren't very spicy, but use less if you're whimpy)

2 cloves of garlic, pressed

1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped

1 (7 oz) can green chiles.

Combine. Makes 6 cups. Yum. And, unless I am making this for a true crowd, I usually make a third of it. I think giving Mark a jar of this salsa pretty much was what won him over six saucy years ago.

Hope I haven't wasted your time. Now, don't all go rushing out to the store at once.

We Really DID Celebrate it....

See, here's proof.....

Here's Dallin and Adam in the bed of uncle Darryl's big truck. Watching the fireworks.

Adam and cousin Daniel

We had my family over for a yummy dinner, then we drove to the upper-level parking at Fiesta Mall. Good view of the fireworks, but a little scary trying to keep track of the little guys as cars drove in and out of a parking lot. Fun times.

For months Mark and I had been talking about taking Dallin out for a day all to himself, where he got to have Mom and Dad's complete attention and he didn't have to take turns with his little brother. So, now that Mark is done with school we were finally able to. My mom was nice enough to come over and hang out with Adam for a few hours while we took Dallin to Jeepers, and indoor amusement "park." Dallin had a great time and loved getting to make all the decisions.

Getting ready to go out with mom and dad to his self!

Dallin was a little nervous to ride the fast ride, but I convinced him because, well, I wanted to go on it and yes, he was my excuse. After he went with me once he wanted to ride it all by himself.

This rocket ride was Dallin's favorite by far. He loved being able to control it going up and down.

This is a rare sight to behold. We must have completely wore him out. He NEVER falls asleep like this.

Come Party for Marriage

Hey folks,
Okay, we know you all agree with us about the marriage amendment but it is kind of overwhelming to get involved in politics. Here's the pitch:

"We have JUST what you are looking for!"

We have a short statement about supporting traditional marriage and we are trying to get as many signatures as possible on this statement. Come to our house sometime between 6:30 and 7:30pm tomorrow, Wednesday night, to get your name and signature notarized on our statement.

This will get turned into the secretary of state for the publicity pamphlet that goes out to all voters. The more signatures that are on it, the more of an impact it will make. Come to our house and bring as many people as you can who also want to sign it! Let us know if you need info or directions to our house! We are trying to make it as easy as possible for everyone that supports traditional marriage to help out in a very small way. "Hurry quick before this limited-time offer is gone!"

Mark and Marily
By the way, if you want to read the statement that LDS church leaders had read in sacrament meetings in California click here.

Mike Rowe on QVC

Apparently Mike Rowe from Dirty Jobs use to be a late-night QVC host. He is absolutely hilarious. Here he is selling a Precious Moments figurine. Can you believe he got away with this?

Beware of the antioxidants!

If you don't wash them, they will suck the oxygen right out of your blood...the next step in bio-terrorism. Might be more effective if they didn't warn you.... Just as well, I s'pose. (Click image and view full-size to read)

Learning Time with Dallin

I've recently been trying to get the kids on a little more of a schedule. One thing I have changed is that after putting Adam down for a nap Dallin and I will spend a little one-on-one time learning time together before he has to take a nap. It has been really rewarding to be able to teach him things or play games with him that are a little more educational, like memory, or go fish, etc. In the above picture he is posing with his lower-case letters that he put in order all by himself. It's surprising how quickly a three-year-old can pick up on learning new things with practice and lots and lots of patience. The first time he put these letters in order he had to sing the ABC's through in order to add each of the next letters. By the second day, he could sing it through and stop then continue where he left off. What a sweet kid he is, and I really am proud of how interested he is in learning and spending quality time with mom.

Muffin Mounds

I have made a great discovery. Recently I got an email from PreparedPantry.com that solved my muffin problems. I always end up with flat, wimpy-looking muffins until I learned these tricks. Maybe these tips will solve your muffins problems too. That is, if you care about it as much as I do.

1. Fill your muffin tin all the way, not 2/3 of the way.

2. Use batter that is spoonable, not pourable.

3. Start your oven at 425 degrees. Bake your muffins for 6-8 minutes, then turn the heat down to whatever the recipe calls for. The extra heat will produce the steam necessary to shoot those muffin tops up.

So, folks, those are the secrets. Maybe none of you care. But, then again it is MY blog, isn't it? :)