Fruit snacks made out of ... FRUIT!

Courtney and I have been best friends for a bijillion years. Topics we talk about have evolved from what we are going to wear to prom, to where we are going to live the next year in college, to where in the world we are going to travel the next fall, to where we are going to go on our missions, to where we are going to get married, to where we are going to buy our homes, to how to put our kids to bed, to well, um, dehydrating. I wanted to start dehydrating, researched which brand to buy (the Excalibur got the best reviews), and asked Courtney if she wanted to share. So, even though we live 25 minutes, it has worked out well.
I started out with strawberries and apples. I got the strawberries on mega sale and didn't want to do jam because of all the sugar (never mind that I eat enough sugar in one molten lava chocolate dessert to make an entire jar of jam). Granny smiths are my favorite because of the tang when they are dried.

Wash, dry and slice. I am a kitchen gadget nerd. The little scoopie thing takes the stems and any blemishes out the the strawberries without taking out any of the good stuff. The melon baller works well to takes the seed part out of the apple halves, and like the scoopie thing leaves the good stuff. The knife is a Miracle Blade III, one of my favorite, "as seen on TV" purchases. Jenn, one of my favorite people of all time, told me about this knife. It really works

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Line them up. The kids can help with this.

The kids are "stealing" the fruit. It made me happy to have them so excited about something good for them.

This is what is looks like after several hours in the dehydrator. The instructions say "7 to 12 hours." Not a minute more, not a minute less.

This jars are on the counter and every once in a while the kids will grab some. It also helps for when I want to just eat something and this is ready to grab.

Flour Girls and Dough Boys

We heard about this place from Annie and decided to check it our for ourselves before we went to the Tulip Festival.

The Goods about this trip:
-Great company- You can see Lillie, Kristi, and Courtney.
-Super tasty bread- as you can see by their name that bread is their specialty. I brought home an asiago loaf and it was super chewy, cheesy and delicious.
-The play kitchen in the corner-Hooray

for being able to order while all 5 kids cram into a plastic play kitchen.
-My Chicken Pesto Sandwich- I kept saying, "This chicken is so good!" In a world of so much mediocre chicken breast it is nice to see a flavorful moist one.
-The bookshelf of books- some for sell and to Eva's

delight, some to read.

The Okays about this trip:
-My salad was good but not fantastic.
-Samuel ended up on top of the play kitchen several times. I wanted to pretend like he wasn't mine but he kept saying, "Mommy, look!" Oh, and we were in Utah county so the it kind of gets obvious as to who the little Asian kid belongs to. This was not the restaraunt's fault, though.
-I ordered a ham and cheese roll for the kids and Samuel didn't like it and stole my delicious sandwich. I still need to instill the fear of messing with my food in him.
-Kind of far for me, but yes, I do realize that people in American Fork need a yummy place of their own.

Pho Green Papaya

Included in my passion for eating, along with cooking, is eating out. This has been my latest crave. We found this place called Pho Green Papaya when we were on our way to our favorite pho (a Vietnamese noodle soup) place, Pho Hoa. I like it because you can get the great taste and price of all the semi scary dives but the atmosphere is non scary. It is Vietnamese and Thai and a little bit of a few other asian flavors. I am not the authentic food police but you definately won't find chicken chow mein here. I love their presentation, the food comes out in funky dishes that somehow make the food taste better. The best part is that my kids like the food there. They always polish off the Chicken Satay (basically chicken on a stick) and love the noodles. My favorite thing there is the mango dessert (I can't remember the official name. I always just say, "Can we have two mango desserts, please?"). It is a sticky rice with coconut milk and mango. We always end up fighting for the last pieces of mango (my kids don't like the sweet sticky rice). I didn't like the pho here as much as Pho Hoa but I there have been several dishes there that I loved. They have this lunch and dinner set where you choose two main dishes and then you get rice, pot stickers, soup, and salad. It comes out in this cool tray and now I wish I would have just taken a picture of it to show you. I love having a little bit of everything. It is at 2000 W 3500 S in West Valley. This may be scary for some but I for sure acquired the taste for this place.

Quinoa Salad

Paula, a super good cook, took this photo the first time I made it

Southwest Quinoa Chopped Salad with Chicken and Creamy Salsa Dressing

Kami is one of my "Settlers" friends. When we can, a group of us play Settler of Catan on Thursday afternoon while our kids play. We laugh at how when we first started Samuel used to sit in his high chair and quietly and happily eat Cheerios. Almost three years later Samuel sure has changed. Kami told me about this great salad that she got at Wildoats. I found their recipe on line. I love to make the whole batch and keep it in the fridge for those times when I am so hungry that I either eat something lame or something delicious and healthy like this. Samuel loves this salad and I love that he loves it because it is all healthy stuff in it. Eva... not so much. Quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) is a seed that you can cook just like you cook rice. You can buy it in a box or in bulk at the health food store.

I made this for Women's Conference and packed a container for all five of us. It was a hit.

Total Time: 25 minutes Serves: 6 (6 REALLY hungry people, it makes a ton)

1 c. organic quinoa

1 tsp. sea salt

1 c. Wild Oats Medium Salsa (I used whatever kind I had)

1/4 c. organic sour cream or plain yogurt (I tried it both ways. There is so much flavor you don't miss the fat when you use yogurt.)

3 Tbsp. chopped cilantro

2 tsp. Wild Oats Extra Virgin Olive Oil

juice and zest of one lime

sea salt to taste

2 c. rotisserie chicken, chopped into bite-sized pieces

1 c. Wild Oats Organic Black Beans, rinsed (I used the whole can of store brand low sodium, what else are you going to do with the 20 beans left over after you measure out 1 cup?)

1/2 organic red or orange bell pepper, diced

2 ears corn or 1 c. Wild Oats Super Sweet Organic Corn, thawed

1 avocado, chopped

1 large, ripe organic tomato, chopped

1 large head organic romaine, chopped

chopped cilantro and lime wedges for garnish

Bring 1 1/2 cups of cold water to a boil. Place quinoa in a fine mesh strainer and rinse thoroughly under cold water. Place quinoa and salt in boiling water. Bring back to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook for about 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and let sit covered for about 5 minutes. Drain quinoa in fine mesh strainer and set aside to cool. (I skipped all of this, bought pre-rinsed quinoa and cooked it in the rice cooker exactly like I cook rice).

Place salsa, sour cream, cilantro, olive oil, lime juice and zest in a blender. Pulse until smooth. Season with salt. Place in refrigerator to chill.

Toss cooled quinoa with chicken, beans, pepper, corn, avocado and tomato. Add just enough dressing to coat evenly. Divide romaine on six plates and top with quinoa salad mixture. Garnish with wedges of fresh lime and cilantro.