I Like to eat, eat, eat...Big Panini Sandwiches

For those of you that didn't know, my sister Sarah comes over once a week for our "Lost Dinner Party." (When Lost isn't on we watch show's like So You Think You Can Dance, Prison Break, The Office, Chuck, Life, or My Name Is Earl.) We try some new recipes and maybe try the meals that would be more on the "gourmet" end of cooking. This week we tried some Grilled Chicken Panini Sandwiches with Sauted Mushrooms, Swiss Cheese, Pesto and Bruschetta on French Bread. They were so wonderful I fixed them for Lunch 4-5 times after that... couldn't get enough of them... (This is a picture of Sarah's sandwich that she made - It was so big I thought I would take a picture of it. lol This sandwich has nothing on her burritos that she makes though.. those are really huge.)

We are Family!

We decorated Christmas Sugar Cookies for Family Home Evening this week. The kids loved it - They of course put on more sprinkles than they had cookie! Maybe we will make this a Christmas tradition of making cookies together for FHE. Those cookies were good too!

Let's Eat the Turkey in a Big Brown Shoe

We had an early thanksgiving dinner with Chad's family about a week ago... We did it last year too (Cause Chad's Dad was out of town for Thanksgiving Day the last 2 years for work.) It really is an awesome deal to get to have 2 full blown big Turkey Dinners! So here are some pictures of the occation. (We forgot to take pictures before we ate all the food! Chad's sister Stefi, her husband Austin and their son William were all there but left before I remembered to take pictures!)...

Here's Chad's brother Jon with Drew:

This is Chad's sister Staci and her boyfriend Jason:

Allison:Chad and his mother Jolene: Chad's paternal grandmother Wilma: Chad's father Dale:Jeremy:

Red, Red Wine

Now you don't have to break the word of wisdom and drink wine to reduce your risk of heart disease! (I'm relieved!) You can just drink grape juice! Amazing and surprising all at the same time, isn't it?
Chad started requesting that I buy Concord Grape Juice and here's a few articles to answer why:

• Grape juice: Same heart benefits as wine?


• Health benefits of grapes

An Apple a day...

Chad sent me a link to a MSN Food and Health article and I found some more that I thought were interesting.

1. Allergy-Fighting Superfoods - This one I thought was interesting and talks about what people with Asthma and allergies are lacking in their diets.


2. 5 Food Rules to Break - Talks about some myths that I thought were true, like Salt causing high blood pressure and High Fructose Corn Syrup vs. regular sugar. It even says that butter may be healthier for you rather than going without.


3. 10 Foods Tough to Digest - If you have some digestive problems this article is for you!


4. Faux Food: Where Have All Our Nutrients Gone? - This one talks about how foods are processed, what the words on labels mean, what to stay away from, and the dangers of eating processed foods.


5. Organics: Are They Worth It? - An in depth look at Organic vs. Conventionally grown produce.

I Wish They Were Burnt Blueberry Binkies...

Hmmmm... nothing like the smell of freshly burnt corn chips. They were soggy and so they were gently placed in the oven. A few minutes later they started to fumigate the whole room. Corn chips no longer.... ashes here we come!

What are Burnt Blueberry Binkies, you ask? Read about them in Pigs at Christmas by Arlene Dubanevich

Some Enchanted Evening

A girl from a family in our ward just got married and they had a reception at her parent's mansion and it was probably the most fancy, extravagant wedding reception I have been to in a while. Unfortunately, the wind was blowing pretty bad at some point so they had to turn off the four chocolate fountains because they were coating all the guests' clothes with chocolate rather than the goodies. They had probably close to 1000 people there. For Music, they had harps and a piano being played. Later they brought in a D.J. to play the current wedding hits and have a little bit of dancing. They were using several golf carts to cart people up and down the hills to their house. The couple had on display their beautiful four tiered lemon and chocolate cake with miniature cakes surrounding it. They had 10 canopies all with different foods to fill you up on catered by Culinary Crafts, accompanied with about 50 servers at your beck-and-call. They offered a delicious Maple-glazed Salmon, homemade breads and rolls, salads, pastas, marinated Pork, chicken, and something that everyone else but me had seen before called a candy bar that had a huge selection of candy and chocolates all in the appropriate wedding colors of red, black, and white. Each guest could make an assortment and put it into a baggie as a wedding favor. It was fun! Mine was probably twice the size of Chad's. (not surprised, I'm sure!)

O, Timbermine! O, Timbermine! Your food is so delicious!

Grandmother and Grandfather Kunz treated us all to the Timbermine for Grandpa's birthday dinner on Saturday. It was delicious! My Aunt Mary gave him the funniest card and I just thought i would share it with you. It pictures an elderly couple getting into a nice car. The wife says to the husband "The Doctor said you need to exercise and go on a diet," and the husband says back, "Huh? I thought he said find a Lexus and buy it!" It is the perfect card for Grandpa. He loves Lexus cars and he is a bit hard of hearing. What a funny card! I took a few pictures of the kids with the Grandparents since we don't have many photos of them.