Our Growing Baby

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Trip to India

So, for our anniversary this year, I gave Tommy a passport around the world for monthly dates to different countries. So far, we've visited France and China, and this weekend we went to India. For our trip we ate some very authentic chicken tikka masala and naan. (I meant to take pictures of all the stages of cooking, but whoops...I forgot! I'll still give you the recipe though because it is really really good (thank you to Brianna for letting me borrow a recipe from her India-inspired food cookbook)).
  • Chicken Tikka Masala

    Marinade:

    • 1 cup plain yogurt • 1 tablespoon lemon juice, from 1 lemon • 1 teaspoon ground cumin • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon • 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper • 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper • 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger • 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste • 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces

    Sauce:

    • 4 long skewers • 1 tablespoon butter • 2 cloves garlic, minced • 1/2 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped • 2 teaspoon ground cumin • 2 teaspoons paprika • 1 teaspoons salt, or to taste • 1 teaspoon garam masala • 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce • 1 cup heavy cream • 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

    Directions:

    1. In a large bowl, combine yogurt, lemon juice, cumin, cinnamon, cayenne, black pepper, ginger, and salt. Stir in chicken, cover, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight. 2. Preheat a grill for high heat. 3. In a large heavy skillet over medium heat melt butter. Saute garlic and jalapeno for 1 minute. Stir in cumin, paprika, salt, and garam masala. Stir in tomato sauce and cream. Simmer on low heat until sauce thickens, about 20 minutes. 4. Lightly oil the grill grate. Thread chicken onto skewers, and discard marinade. Grill until juices run clear, about 5 minutes on each side. 5. Add grilled chicken to the sauce mixture and simmer for 10 minutes. Transfer to a serving platter, and garnish with fresh cilantro. Serve with garlic naan. Yields: 4 servings Note: This makes a medium spice chicken tikka masala. If you like it spicy, add an extra teaspoon of cayenne pepper and the whole jalapeno pepper.


    Naan

    Ingredients:

    • 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast • 1 cup warm water (110 degrees) • 1/4 cup white sugar plus 1 tablespoon • 3 tablespoons warm milk (110 degrees) • 1 egg, beaten, room temperature • 2 teaspoons salt • 3 1/2 to 4 cups bread flour • 2 tablespoons minced garlic • 1/4 cup butter, melted

    Directions:

    1. In the bowl of a stand mixer combine the water, yeast, and 1 tablespoon of sugar; let rest 10 minutes until foamy. 2. Add remaining sugar, milk, egg, salt, and enough flour to make a soft dough. Mix with the dough hook on medium-low until thoroughly combined and smooth, about 8-10 minutes. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, cover and let rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour. 3. Punch down dough and knead in garlic until combined. Pinch off small handfuls of dough, about the size of a golf ball. Roll into balls, and place on a rimmed baking sheet. Cover with a towel, and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes. 4. Preheat grill to high heat and lightly oil grate. Roll one ball of dough out into a thin circle. Place dough on grill, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until puffy and lightly browned. Brush uncooked side with butter, and turn over. Brush cooked side with butter, and cook until browned, another 2 to 4 minutes. Remove from grill, and continue the process until all the naan has been prepare. Serve warm. Yields: 14 servings

    After we ate, we watched The Bucket List. Now, I know what you're thinking...what does The Bucket List have to do with India? Well, they go there in the movie, duh. Haha, originally we were going to watch The Jungle Book (which was much more applicable), but I couldn't find it ANYWHERE, so we settled on The Bucket List (wish that Blockbuster was still a thing, because I bet they would've had it for me).

Friday, October 25, 2013

Monkey Bread

This is my favorite breakfast item three times a year: General Conference Sundays and Christmas morning. I've gone through many different monkey bread recipes in my quest for the best one and I finally found my favorite. So here it is, my favorite monkey bread recipe...

Monkey Bread

Ingredients:

1 tube Pillsbury Grands buttermilk biscuits
3 Tbsp. butter or margarine, melted
1/2 C. maple syrup
1/3 C. packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Instructions: 

1. Spray a fluted pan with non-stick spray (since I don't actually own a fluted pan, I just use my cake pan...). Combing melted butter and syrup in a small bowl. In another bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon.
2. Place about half of the syrup mixture in the bottom of the pan and sprinkle half of the brown sugar mixture on top.
3. Lay the biscuits on the bottom of the plan overlapping the edges to form a ring (since I don't use a fluted pan, I cut the biscuits in half and layer them around the pan and then fill the middle).
4. Top biscuits with the remaining syrup and brown sugar mixtures.
5. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool for 1 minute in the pan and then invert bread onto a serving platter. And then you're ready to enjoy!!


Monday, October 21, 2013

Nursery Crafts

Tommy and I have been dedicating our weekends to getting the nursery ready. We're not quite done with everything yet (we have 4 things left on the to-do list), but here's what we've got so far in our Harry Potter-themed nursery...

 Here's a shot of the bookcase I painted gold to match the bedroom light switch. We also cut out the letters on the bulletin board to spell "Oliver" and have a small collage collecting of all of the pictures we have of baby so far.
 On the bookcase, you'll notice this little guy...Tommy and I went with Jenny and Ryan to Color Me Mine for FHE a couple of weeks ago. Tommy made a pumpkin for us to use as our trick-or-treat bowl and I made this owl to hold pacifiers in the baby's room.
Here we have the mobile that Tommy and I made to go above the crib. We got these skeleton keys and super glued feathers on the keys. Then Tommy hung the keys with fishing line to make it look like the keys were flying all by themselves. 
 Our next craft was taking these old books of my grandma's and mod podging scrapbook paper onto their covers with letters cut out to spell out "Oliver". I debated a lot over how to execute this one, and I am really happy with how they turned out. Tommy cut out all the letters for me since I cannot work with an exacto-knife to save my life (we even used Harry Potter font to make the stencils).

Now all we have left is to find a cool broomstick to hang a curtain from for the window and then we have to finish the bedding for the crib (plus get a mattress for the crib...). When it's all done, I'll post a picture of the light switch we painted and some pictures we are planning on putting on the wall after baby has arrived and we've actually taken the pictures I plan on putting up there. And then the nursery will be all ready!!

Monday, September 23, 2013

Gender Reveal Party

After we found out what we are having, we decided to have a party to reveal the gender to our Provo friends. I am so, so ticked at myself for not taking a single picture during the party, but what do you do?
For the party, we melted different chocolates, peanut butter, and caramel for dipping (thank you pinterest for teaching me how to make my own fondue). It was a big hit with everyone, especially Devin who spent his whole time standing next to the fondue jars. And everyone got really excited when I pulled out the Henry Winehart rootbeer and cream soda, it was very fancy! After we did some eating and mingling, everyone asked to watch our ultrasound video so they could guess what we are having (I swear, they really asked to see it...it wasn't my idea at all!) It was fun to watch it with everyone and point out all the different parts (at least the ones we could remember). They best parts were the audible gasps when we pointed out the beating hear, the little fists and feet, and the profile shot...
After everyone put in their guesses, we gave them all these way cute and yummy candy bars wrapped in gold wrapping (courtesy of RaeAnn) with the below notes inside revealing our baby's gender.
Then we played some funny games and continued to snack :) It was, strangely, the first party that Tommy and I have ever thrown since we've been married and I think it was quite successful! It was so fun to share our excitement with our friends. Now that we know we're having a boy, we are busy getting the nursery all decorated and ready and making our wish list for baby stuff, which is very exciting! I love shopping for my baby!! Hopefully all my crafts pan out like I imagine so we can have a way cute Harry Potter themed nursery