Spring Weather

I've been MIA for a couple weeks. I won't bore you with the details, but I am back in action. I am pretty excited to post my 2nd Chopped dish. But until then, I'm gonna talk about the weather.

See, someone needs to tell the weather that the first day of spring is here. It is still a little chilly outside. Although it is nicer up here than it was in Provo- it is definitely not as nice as it is in California this time of year. In fact today it was WINDY! And not just an, oh that's a nice wind, let's fly a kite kind of wind. No, it was a holy cow is that a tornado? wind. Pretty Windy. And it has been hailing. I have to admit, it is pretty cool to watch.

While it was storming outside, Brooke and Lily watched through the window. Those little turkeys make me laugh.

They better stop messing with the blinds.

One of the best things about Spring-time is the Flowers. Especially tulips. I really like tulips. Imagine how excited I was to get these from my wonderful hubby.

It made my day. Actually it made my week.

The Dentist and Other Goodies

Yesterday Brooklyn went to our new dentist for the first time. She did wonderful, and I was so proud of her. She wasn't quite brave enough to sit in the chair by herself, but she did sit on my lap and let the Hygienist look in her mouth. It was a "fun" visit so no cleaning this time. The hope is that in a few months we can go back and have an official cleaning. But, her teeth looked great- no decay and no visible problems.

Dustin, on the other hand, didn't have such luck. He endured a cleaning and then was told he needed to come back to get 3 cavities filled. I told him he was trying to keep up with me. (I have an appointment later this month to take care of 3 cavities)

Fun times at the dentist!

So we celebrated with a trip to my friend Heidi's cookie shop Sweet Valley Cookie Co
It is an adorable shop! You can buy cookies, soups, and drinks. They also have cards, jewelery, toys, and other cutesy stuff for sale.
Heidi was so kind and gave us some delicious cookies. The Brookie is my favorite- brownies and chocolate chip cookies mixed together, how could you go wrong?
Then we picked up a couple boxes of girl scout cookies - I had to support the girl scout troop!
We won't tell my dentist.

Chopped

There is a TV show called "Chopped" where the contestants are given different ingredients and they have to create dish using those ingredients. You can add what-ever else you'd like, but you have to use the ingredients given to you. On Sunday we were invited over to our friends house for dinner and to play chopped. The rules were to make an appetizer using the following ingredients:

When I saw the bacon, I first though of Pioneer Woman's Stuffed Jalapenos, but was at a loss as to how I could use the onions and rolls. The onions made me think about a broccoli casserole dish my sister-in-law makes. I decided to take a spin off that dish. So I cooked up all the baconChopped it up

Then I grabbed broccoli, cheese and cream of mushroom soup
Cooked the broccoli for just a couple of minute in a pot of water

Melted the cheese and soup together, then I threw in a couple of onions.

Mixed the broccoli, bacon, and soup mix all together

Then I took the crescent rolls and used a pizza cutter to make triangle shapes

And spooned a little bit of the broccoli mixture on top

Cooked it in the oven 375 for about 15 minutes and it was good to go.

This is a picture of the 4 different entries. They were all really good. My favorite was the top right, Emily made a southwestern flavor, which worked very well with the bacon and onions.

If I had the chance to do it again, I'd probably cook the crescent rolls for a little bit before I added the mixture. I think it was overcooked. But it was a fun appetizer.

The Judge. He said we all won.

Oh dear. Don't worry mom, the can isn't open. I think Lily liked the cold feeling of the can.