Elsa Johnson

Banana, Nutella and Peanut Butter Milkshake

2012-02-09T10:54:00.005-06:00

So there I was, about to make my usual fruit smoothie when I remembered a milkshake recipe I had seen on Pinterest made with bananas, nutella and peanut butter so I went for it. I was too lazy to actually look up the recipe so I just made my own version (I figure it's hard to go wrong here).

The Recipe: (this is not the most exact recipe)

3 frozen bananas, cut into pieces
2 heaping spoonfuls nutella
2 heaping spoonfuls peanut butter
a bit of sugar (just a teaspoon or so)
some milk (maybe 3 cups?)
about 8-10 big ice cubes

The Method:

Combine all ingredients and blend together until smooth. Add more milk if it's too thick. Enjoy!

Yum.

Pasta and Quinoa Salad with Creamy Balsamic Dressing

2012-02-04T12:34:00.005-06:00

This recipe has a few things going for it: it's healthy, easy and good. It's also easy to adapt to your taste so just add whatever veggies you like or add some feta cheese for even more flavor. I like to use rotini pasta because the quinoa gets stuck in the spirals. And quinoa may sound fancy but it's really easy to cook and very good for you.

The Recipe:

1 lb rotini pasta (whole wheat if you want even healthier)
1 cup quinoa
1 cup cucumber, cut into chunky pieces
1 cup fresh tomato, cut same size as cucumber pieces
1 cup yellow/red pepper, cut same size as other veggies
1 can white cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
salt and pepper
Creamy Balsamic Dressing (combine 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar, 1/4 cup mayo, 1 tsp. honey, some salt and pepper, then drizzle in about 3/4 cup olive oil while whisking. It's hard for me to put this into measurements though cause I do it by sight and taste...so make sure to taste! I use this dressing for lots of different salads and pasta salads. Like this recipe.)

The Method:

Cook pasta as directed with one added piece...add quinoa to the boiling water at the same time as the pasta as it takes around the same time to cook. Drain with fine mesh sieve or colander with smaller holes to make sure to catch all of the quinoa. Transfer to a medium/large bowl and allow to pasta/quinoa to cool a bit.
Add veggies and enough dressing to coat. Taste, add more dressing if necessary and salt and pepper to taste.
Eat immediately or after cooled in the fridge. Leftovers store well in the fridge.

Oh, one more thing...I usually add baby spinich to this as well. Just add a few cups to the pasta/quinoa right after you drain it, stir and cover for a few minutes. The heat from the pasta wilts the spinach just a little and it shrinks just a bit. Stir again then continue to follow the recipe by stirring, transferring to a medium/large bowl and allowing to cool before adding veggies.

34 Weeks

2012-01-21T17:30:00.004-06:00

34 down...6 more to go (mas o menos)

This point seemed so far away back in June when I first found out that I was pregnant. But here I am and I am still feeling good...not much to complain about here. I am now at the point where people tell me I look like I should be "heading to the hospital" or I look like I'm "ready to pop". Oh so funny when you still have 6 weeks left. But really, I don't actually mind the comments, it's all a part of the package and I'm sure it will just become more and more frequent as I keep on growing. The baby continues to be active, healthy and is growing well.

In other news, we have finally had some some snow here in Chicago. It can be a pain but also beautiful...

Chocalate Chip and Cream Cheese Danish

2012-01-16T16:29:00.004-06:00

I saw this recipe on TV and was so tempted by them that I made them the next day. I'm glad I did, they are delicious! I have made them again since then with some slight adjustments. I know it sounds hard to make danish but it is super easy if you use store bought puff pastry. And once you make this recipe then you can make tons of different kinds by just changing the filling.

The Recipe:

(I basically followed Giada Di Laurentiis' recipe with a few slight modifications. Her original recipe can be found here.)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (4 ounces) cream cheese at room temperature
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
2 (9-inch-square) sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed (check package for thawing directions)
1 egg, beaten

Directions

    Put an oven rack in the center of the oven.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment  paper. Set aside.
Make the filling: In a small bowl, mix together the cream cheese, egg yolk, flour, sugar, vanilla and salt until smooth. Fold in the chocolate chips. Set aside.
Cut each sheet of pastry into 4 equal-sized squares. Put 4 pastry  squares on each prepared baking sheet. Spoon about 2 to 3 teaspoons of  the filling into the center of each piece of pastry.
Beat the remaining egg and brush egg on each of the corners of the pastry (this acts like a glue). Bring all four corners up over the filling and pinch together to secure (leaving some space between all of the sides on top so that air can escape while baking). Brush the top with beaten egg as well (this makes the pastry shiny and golden brown.)
Bake until puffed and  golden, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for 5 minutes  before serving. 

Like I said above, these are really easy and very delicious so give em a try!
Two additional suggests: pop the danish in the fridge for about 10 minutes after assembling and before baking so they can cool down and bake well (this keeps the chocolate chips in tact during baking instead of mixing in with the cheese and overpowering the filling). And 2nd suggestion, store left over danish in the fridge but then let come up to room temperature before eating (I also tried baking leftovers again to crisp them up but found it was better just to let them come up to room temp.).

Our holidays this year

2012-01-06T10:24:00.029-06:00

We had a wonderful Christmas and New Years this year. It was a time for starting new traditions as our family grows and things change. I am grateful for a wonderful family that truly loves each other and genuinely enjoys being together. But we are also sad that we weren't able to celebrate with the Johnsons this year.

We started things out with church and then a gathering with the whole Wallgren family (well, almost whole, missed you Anne, Pete and Chris!) at my aunt and uncle's house...

Here's our part of the family with all of my sisters, brother, brothers in law and nieces.

Two of our nieces, Gwen and Sonja

Without the heaping pile of presents this year we found other stuff to do! The most popular activity was playing this dance game...Cam is in the zone.

Me and Matt

My mom and dad with two of their grandchildren, Sonja and Naomi

Then it onto my parents' house to continue the celebration and start our own sleepover tradition...

Here are some pics from Christmas morning...

Sonja

Caroline and Addison

Gwen with her prized American Girl doll

I love this sweet picture of Linnea and Naomi

I also love the new camera that Matt got me! Here we are testing out the smile detecting timer.

Matt getting some baby practice with our niece Naomi on Christmas at Marcia and Alan's house.

Another holiday tradition for our family is going to high tea at The Drake the day after Christmas. This year it was a smaller group and we had a great time.

My aunt Julie, my grandma and my mom.

My sister Greta, grandma, cousin Beth and me

And I love being able to see great friends who come in town for Christmas! Luke, Jaime, Molly and I all live in different cities (Chicago, San Fran, New York and Austin.) so it is rare when we all four get to be together. I guess we never took a picture with Jaime too, oops.

I love the week between Christmas and New Years...it still feels festive and relaxed. Matt had the whole week off from work so we enjoyed spending some extra time together (and trying to soak in the quiet before the baby comes as all new parents keep telling us to do!). Then as it always does, New Years Eve came so quickly. We spent ours this year with some friends.

Here are some of the girls.

And some of the boys...don't ask.

Up on the roof catching some of the downtown fireworks

Happy New Year! I think it'll be a good one...

Showering Baby Melsa

2011-12-24T10:02:00.005-06:00

You know, Matt + Elsa = Melsa

Our wonderful friends threw us a wonderful baby shower. It was lots of fun to be together and just having a shower makes this whole 'baby' thing a lot more real. I remember back when we first found out we were pregnant that thinking of the third trimester felt so far away but it is here and it time to start preparing.

It was extra special since our friends Carolyn and Ashley came into town from MN to help with the celebration. You guys are such great friends! It was also very important to make sure our friend Christine was able to be there as she is moving to Africa very soon for two years. AND our friend from Ecuador happened to be in town so she was also able to join in! (We didn't even take a picture together, Natalia!)

Me and my sisters

Some good name suggestions. So I pretty much failed in taking pictures (I think my sister got a few more good ones, maybe I'll add those). Thanks friends for everything! We are so appreciative to have you in our lives and now our baby's life.

Also it was our nieces Caroline and Addison's 2nd birthday this month. I can't believe they are already 2! Here they are at their birthday party with dad...

Happy birthday and we love you Addison and Caroline!

28 Weeks

2011-12-15T20:58:00.006-06:00

So here I am at 28 weeks. I can't believe that I am already in my third trimester! Time really is flying by which is just fine with me (at least for right now). Things are progressing just fine; the baby is growing well, moving a lot and I am feeling pretty good.

And in the spirit of taking weirdly clothed baby bump pictures...here is a gem of an outfit that I dug out of my mom's closet...

Reminds me of my childhood when she used to wear this lovely warm-up suit. I have to say, it was very comfortable. I mean, VERY comfortable, like almost the most comfortable thing I have ever put on.

Goodbye 1417 Redbud Lane

2011-12-10T19:26:00.034-06:00

It was the end of an era in the Wallgren family...our grandparents moved out of their house a little over a month ago. We all have spent so much time in that house that I wouldn't even know where to start but I have to say that one of my favorite memories are spending Sundays there. Growing up, we used to go to grandma and grandpa's house every Sunday for dinner after church then hang out (cousins, aunts, uncles and all) for the whole day.

And of course the other favorite memory for all of us is celebrating Christmas there (starting with dinner on Christmas Eve, continuing with a huge family sleepover, then finishing with a Swedish pancake breakfast and spending the morning in PJ's playing with all the new Christmas toys). We will miss the house and the traditions that go with it but we also know that their house was just a place.

A few months ago (before knowing they were moving) I just happened to walk around their house snapping shots of some of my favorite vignettes...

And here are some pics from Christmas morning a few years ago...

Yes, that is "A Christmas Story" on in the background

As you can see from the above photos, my grandma has a great eye for antiques and has spent her life collecting them, too many to take with to their new two bedroom apartment, so she decided to divvy it all up between the daughters and granddaughters...and we were all happy to comply.

So after everything was sorted, we had a few days of "give-aways" where every one of us ended up with loads and loads of 'new' (old) treasures and great pieces. Here are a few pics of the piles of loot...

And all the women ready to pounce.

Before

and after

Here are some of the things that I brought home (and this was just part of the stuff from one of three days).

And some of my favorites (although its hard to choose because I love it all)...

A copper pot and tray that originally belonged to my great grandmother. She had the same initials as me (her maiden name, Elvira Martha Johnson, and my married name, Elsa Martha Johnson) so my grandma saw fit to give these pieces to me since her initials were engraved on the tray. The tray was given to her as a teenager when her family left her behind on a trip to Sweden and they brought it back for her since she couldn't go (kind of a consolation prize I guess).

Love this large glass jar

The special birthday plate

These dishes also belonged to my great grandmother.

I love this drawer piece (it was in one of their upstairs bathrooms). And the powder box was another one of my great grandmas from the 1920's.

This bench was in their basement and used as a coffee table by us kids on all those Sundays. Now I have it at our dining room table and just love it.

The bell that grandma used to ring when dinner was ready.

And one random thing that I got from their house that I love is this book "The Century Book of Facts". It is filled with facts about how things were in the world in 1900 and I could look at it for hours.

So we gathered together one last time to share memories, give thanks for our family, cry, pray together and celebrate many great years of traditions and many more to come.

And then the house was empty.

But like I said before, we know it is just a place. It's fun for all of us now to have some of the special pieces of their house live on in ours. And it has also been fun to see how my grandma has put together her new space...very inspirational for my own designing.

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-12-10T18:41:00.008-06:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. We were lucky to be able to celebrate with both sides of our family since Matt's family was able to come out here to Chicago for the holiday weekend...and our little one bedroom apartment was bursting at the seams with all of us Johnsons! We had a great time catching up, hanging out, playing pinocle and eating. It's always fun to have some time to relax and just be together. And it's great to have our families together once in a while since they live so far away from each other.

The Johnson clan

At Tre Konor

We're glad you were able to come, Mark, Debbie and Jeff! It was fun to have you and celebrate the holiday together.

Weekend in MN

2011-11-29T17:46:00.008-06:00

I had a great girls weekend in Minnesota a few weekends ago. It was a short time that by way too fast but it was wonderful to have some solid quality time with some of my favorite people (it's crazy to think that we have known each other for almost 10 years now!). And we have to spend as much time as possible with Christine before she moves to the other side of the world...aka, Africa.

Love you girls! Ashley, Janine, Me, Carolyn and Christine at the apple orchard. How did we spend so much time in that random building?

Relaxing with some tea at Ashley's.

I could really get used to waking up to this view.

We did a lot in a short amount of time but we probably had the most fun with the viewfinders. "I can't even believe what I am looking at!" May the fun live on through Manu.

Thanks for hosting us Ashley! And thank you Carolyn for taking time out of your crazy schedule to hang out with us! It was great to be with you both and I only wish that we all lived closer to each other. I guess the distance just makes our time together even better.

25 weeks

2011-11-20T10:08:00.002-06:00

It's been a while without pictures so I guess it's time for a new one, no matter how weird it is! 25 weeks...playing dress up with the 'treasures' found while going through old stuff at my parents house. It didn't quite zip up due to the belly bump. Oh, and my 5 year old niece Gwen took this picture. I have grown a lot since the last pic as you can see.

Vanilla Sugar

2011-11-12T09:56:00.004-06:00

Do you know what? I think vanilla bean is too expensive, which is too bad because I would love to experiment with vanilla bean recipes. Awhile ago, I went to the Spice House in Old Town and tried some of their 'vanilla sugar'. It was so yummy and aromatic but also about 10 bucks...way too much for this cheap girl. I thought, I could make that for WAY less! It looked like it was just made with sugar, vanilla bean and cinnamon (there was also a version with lavender). The problem is that some stores sell one vanilla bean for almost 10 bucks which is why I was so excited to find it at World Market for only 3 bucks!

So I made my own version of vanilla sugar by combining the seeds of one vanilla bean, sugar and cinnamon and ground them all up together in my mini food processor. I have used it so much since I made it...on toast, bagels, in my coffee, in pancake batter, to sweeten whipped cream and to make homemade granola.

I would definitely recommend adding some vanilla bean to your cinnamon sugar...and also going to Spice House if you haven't...and World Market.

Spicing Up Waffles

2011-10-29T10:16:00.004-05:00

I love making a good, yummy breakfast on Saturday mornings to celebrate a break from the week and give us a chance to relax a bit. (I would love to be the kind of person that makes a great breakfast every morning but that isn't going to start happening anytime soon...or ever.)

I was feeling a little bored with waffle mix one recent Saturday morning when making waffles and started to think, "How can I spice this up?" So I added vanilla extract and cinnamon to the batter and topped off the waffles with butter, powdered sugar and warmed raspberry jam instead of syrup. The changes were small but made a big, delicious difference!

And you can really add anything you like to spice up a simple waffle recipe...any extract or spice you like. For fall you can add pumpkin pie spice and top with apple butter or you can even make waffles savory by adding cooked bacon, cheddar cheese and green onion, topped with some sour cream (ooh, I'm going to have to make those!) The possibilities are endless.

Happy Saturday morning! What's your favorite waffle recipe?

20 Weeks

2011-10-23T21:37:00.005-05:00

Well, it is hard for me to believe it but I am over half-way through my pregnancy so I guess it's time to post some bump pictures (however cheesy I think it may be). So here I am last week at 20 weeks. Everything is progressing well and the baby has already been on the move a lot!

Hawaii

2011-10-16T20:50:00.036-05:00

We had the wonderful opportunity to go to Hawaii a few weeks ago. Matt and I spent a week with my parents on the big island of Hawaii, near Kona, and just loved every minute of it! There were so many interesting things to see and we tried to take advantage of all that but there were also long, lazy days in the sun and soaking in some rest. I don't want to post a million pictures but I thought I would share some...

One of the beaches we went to.

One of my favorite things that we did was rent some kayaks to get to a beautiful reef for some snorkeling...

We unloaded our kayaks...

...then kayaked across this bay...

...and enjoyed some amazing snorkeling. This is not my picture (it came from here) since I didn't have an underwater camera, but this is a picture from that same bay to give you an idea.

Afterwards, my mom and I were walking around and saw this sign in front of a house which we thought was pretty great. And yes, we had seen the lady without teeth so we knew who the sign was talking about.

One of my other favorite things was going to the farmers market for fresh fruit and veggies.

(especially since I have been craving fruit ever since I have been pregnant.)

and I love anywhere that has fresh passion fruit.

Black sand beach

(Look Mom, the picture isn't even that great so now it is up for debate again...was it worth it or not?)

We also went to the volcano national park...this is looking into the caldera of Kilauea volcano.

And inside a lava tube ( which is made by flowing lava during an eruption)

Some famous arch that everyone goes to see...I mean it was cool, but whatever.

Layers of lava

This was a spot where a lava flow had taken over the road in the national park.

And we didn't get to see any actual lava flowing because it was a little too far away but we did see this...the glow of lava from an open crater on the volcano (close second?).

Sea turtle

You may also notice emerging evidence of me being 17 weeks pregnant in this photo.

Goodnight Hawaii! I hope to see you again someday!

I was a little dissapointed when I looked back on these pictures just because I feel like the pictures don't fully capture the beauty. Oh well. We had a great trip, have wonderful memories and as always on a Wallgren family trip, we have lots of jokes that will live on long after coming home. The other reason I was excited to go to Hawaii is that now that I have been there, I only need to go to North Dakota and then I have been to all 50 states!

Oh, and here is a picture of Joe Jackson at LAX. I like to think that this pose is like a tribute to his late son...

right?

(photo from here)

Leaving World Relief and the Many 'What Ifs' in Life

2011-09-29T19:55:00.005-05:00

(A picture from a field trip last year to Garfield Park Conservatory.)

It has been a few weeks now since my last day at World Relief but I still thought I should document it. All-in-all, I had a great experience working at World Relief...I learned a lot, I did a lot and I met a lot of great people along the way. And although it wasn't extremely long, I am thankful for my time there.

I had an interesting last week as it was the first week of After School Program and that kept me pretty busy. Among all the other tasks, my last responsibility was to drive all the kids home after programming. I was looking forward to it as it was my last time with the kids and a good chance to say goodbye. So the drop-offs were going well, I was having some good conversations, the kids were being really sweet and I was busy reflecting on my time when all of a sudden...one of the kids threw up in the van! So then all the other kids starting freaking out, screaming and gagging which was quite the scene (and made me laugh a little). It had never happened before in all of my hours spent with kids in the van so I thought it was ironic that the absolute last thing I did was some serious cleaning.

But the circumstances just made me keep going to back to the 'what ifs' of it all. We were only about 30 seconds away from his apartment when it happened, only 30 seconds! So I'm thinking what if we had left just a bit earlier? Or what if I hadn't driven past one of the kids' apartments on accident which made me loop around and waste precious time? Or what if I had chosen to take that kid home first like I had originally planned on? Well, I guess the answer is that if one of these 'what ifs' had been reality then the dirty deed would have happened somewhere other than the van, which would have been great, and I would have never known that I had been spared from the clean-up...which makes me wonder...

...how many times am I spared from something that I am unaware of? It's interesting if you really think about it (and some of you may disagree and say that if something never happened then it was never going to happen so it's not worth thinking about). But thinking about it made me appreciative of all the little unknown events or annoyances that I may have been spared from and never even knew about. I guess it's kind of a weird backwards way to be thankful but I was thankful none the less.

So it was an unexpected way to end my last day at World Relief but at the same time it was very fitting since every day there was filled with the unexpected.

"Finger" painting during After School Program at World Relief...the kids turned it into full hand and arm painting.

Last week I started my new job as director of the Parenting ProGRESS program at Ravenswood Covenant Church. The program serves to provide support in various ways to teenage parents whose children are enrolled in the day care at Ravenswood. I am also subbing in the day care for now (before the baby arrives). Things are going well so far, I have a lot to learn but I think I will really enjoy it!

Celebrating Five Years

2011-09-17T20:08:00.008-05:00

A few weeks ago we celebrated our fifth anniversary. It seems like every year we say, "Wow! I can't believe it has been ____ years!" And it felt like that even more this year but I guess that it is the way time works. Looking back, we decided that it has been a wonderful 5 years (not that that was really in question). We have had some great and interesting life experiences together and those experiences just wouldn't have been the same without each other. I guess that is one of the things I love most about marriage...you get to hang out and experience everything with your best friend.

Some of you know that we have an anniversary tradition of breaking a glass each year. This started when I accidentally broke a glass on our first anniversary and it has continued on. That first year I became a little obsessed with starting a tradition on our anniversary so weeks before I kept thinking and thinking and came up with nothing. Well, right before going to dinner I had an idea...maybe every year we could drink coffee out of some special glasses that we bought on our honeymoon. I know, a little stupid but it was down to the wire. So as I'm pouring steaming hot coffee into our beautiful Mexican hand-blown glass....it shattered all over the counter. The tradition changed to breaking a glass instead.

This was the winner (or loser) this year. And after 4 years of breaking one of our actual glasses, this year I opted out for a thrift store purchase...a bit more practical.

Recently I was walking through North Park and realized that I had never taken a picture of the staircase where we got engaged. Well, here it is. It is a staircase by a river path and it was a special spot for us in college...a place where we would go to talk, reflect, pray and figure out our lives so it was a fitting place to begin the whole journey. I'm also pretty sure it is a special hangout for nearby high school students but for sketchier reasons.

I think these are the actual steps where it all went down.

And the path leading back to campus.

It was great to look back on these past five years. I feel lucky to have such a wonderful husband and a marriage that is growing, deepening and gets better with each year. Here's to another great 5 (okay, maybe a few more than that!) Love you Matt!

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Cream Topped Shortbread Cookies

2011-09-09T14:31:00.006-05:00

Lately I noticed that Matt has been eating straight up peanut butter with chocolate chips as a snack. I know he has a habit of having a sweet snack at night but I thought this one was a little weird...until I tried it. So simple but so good. It reminded me of those chocolate and peanut butter girl scout cookies. So then I thought...I want to make a cookies like that! Once I said that, Matt did not let it go until I actually made them.

I started with a basic shortbread recipe then made my own version of a creamy peanut butter layer and topped with melted chocolate chips. They turned out delicious and decadent and most importantly, Matt approves (he supplied the inspiration after all). He likes them so much that he actually counted how many I made so that he could pace himself in eating them.

The Recipe:
Shortbread part adapted from foodnetwork.com

2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons powdered sugar (plus 2 more for peanut butter cream)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 sticks room temp. unsalted butter (plus 1 tablespoon for peanut butter cream)
1 teaspoon water
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

The Method:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Beat butter, sugar (the 1/2 cup plus 2 T.) with hand mixer until fluffy. Add vanilla, salt and water and mix to combine.
Add flour and mix just until dough is formed.
Shape dough into a log about 1 1/2 in. wide, wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
After chilled, cut log into 1/2 in. slices. Place on parchment paper lined cookie sheet and bake for about 12-15 or until golden around the edges. Allow cookies to cool. (I made indents in the center of each cookies with a spoon before baking. This made it easier for the peanut butter cream to stay on top.)
Mix peanut butter, 1 tablespoon butter and 2 tablespoons powered sugar. Spread some of this mixture onto each cookie and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
Melt chocolate chips either on the stove or microwave (in the microwave only for about 30-45 seconds). To drizzle chocolate more easily, place melted chocolate into a plastic baggy, cut a small hole in one of the corners and drizzle in any pattern you want. Chill finished cookies for another 30 minutes for chocolate to harden. The cookies are best when kept in the fridge until right before eating.

Spreading the peanut butter cream.

Chocolate drizzling method. If you don't want to use a bag, you can add a little cream to your melted chocolate to thin it out then just use a spoon to drizzle.

Yum! Next time I'll probably come up with a better looking chocolate drizzle. Oh well, they still taste good.

March 3, 2012

2011-09-02T15:36:00.009-05:00

So we have some exciting news to share with you! Have you heard? March 3rd, 2012 is an important day.

According to scienceray.com, this will be the next night that Mars will be in opposition to the sun! This means that Mars will rise after sunset and shine high in the sky, it's red-orange color visible to the naked eye. If you miss this one, you'll have to wait again til July 2018.

Oh yeah, and it's also my due date!

Matt and I are excited to say that we are expecting our first baby, woohoo! We are very excited and can't wait to meet our little one. And it is a leap year this year, so we could have a leap day baby.

Of course I had to take a picture of us right after we found out.

Well, maybe a few pictures.

And I know there will be some people out there who are legit excited about the first piece of news about Mars (ahem...Mom)

Italian Beef Sandwiches

2011-08-24T18:48:00.007-05:00

When we're in the mood for a hearty meal (that takes minimal effort on my part) this is one of our go-to's. Here's my version of an easy Italian beef sandwich using only five ingredients (and only about 5 minutes)...

Giardiniera is key, if you like spicy. I think you could use it even if you don't like spicy because it cooks so long that the flavor is more prominent than the spiciness.

And you are going to need a crock pot.

The Recipe:

4 lb (approximately) beef pot roast
salt and pepper
3 cups beef broth/stock (or enough to cover the meat half way once in the crock pot)
1 jar hot giardiniera
Sub rolls or hoagie rolls

The Method:

Season both sides of the meat with salt and pepper.
Place in your crock pot along with beef broth and giardiniera (pour all the contents of the jar of giardiniera if you like it spicy; strain out the oil and only add the peppers if you want it more mild).
Turn crock pot to low and let cook about 6-8 hours (I say, the longer the better)
Once cooked the meat will be so tender that you won't need to shred it; just fill up a sub roll and enjoy!

Add some mozzarella or provolone and melt for an even better version!

Some of Our Summer in Pictures...

2011-08-12T16:56:00.027-05:00

...cause it's not over yet!!!

This is by no means an exhaustive summary of all the wonderful things we have done this summer so far but I thought I would share some since most of my posts lately have been about food.

Camping waaaay back in May to kick off the summer

Janine and Tatum

"No camping beyond this point"

Hanging out with Ashley in May (I think I already posted this pic, oh well)

At church some random Sunday

Hanging out at the beach/park on Father's Day (before Ingrid and Nathan's wedding which I have NO pictures from, oops!)

Gwen hanging out at our place

The infamous SVU party

Take out boxes and to-go coffee cups are a must for an SVU party. And yes, that is Stabler in the background.

Getting in from the beach before this looming storm blew in. There have been a lot of thunderstorms this summer! You can't see our building in this picture but it is to the left of these buildings.

Good times at the Golden Angel

Hanging out at Ravinia

Enjoying a church service at the beach.

A bit of Afterglow...

Everyone hanging out at the ice cream/candy shop.

Sonja probably enjoyed it the most.

Matt and Pete

Sonja and her favorite guy, Chad. She was a little obsessed with him that week, it was really cute.

Hanging out at the go-kart track...

"The best" -Chad

Loving Grandma and Grandpa's coordinating outfits.

And finally, hanging out with some good friends from Bolivia who came all the way from Australia to tour the States. We did lots of fun stuff with them (went to a Sox game, hung out on a friends' boat on Lake Michigan, went to a concert at Millennium Park) but this is somehow the only picture I got of Adrian and Renae! Oh well.

Looking back, we have been fortunate to hang out with lots of good friends from both near and far this summer. Spending quality time with wonderful friends and family just makes me feel so lucky. Unfortunately, I was not able to join Matt in Washington this weekend to see his family. I hope all you Johnsons and Andersons are having fun together...I know you are!

Caprese Mac-n-Cheese

2011-07-22T16:50:00.004-05:00

I realized that I haven't posted in some time. Part of the reason for that is because we have been busy enjoying summer in Chicago. The other reason is because it has been SOOOOO hot here that I haven't been cooking much (or doing much of anything around our place since it has been as hot as a sauna for days on end!).

It's a little pathetic to think of the meals we 'enjoyed' this week but in hope of less stifling heat and more home-cooked and tasty meals, I would like to share an idea for a good summer pasta recipe that I made before the heat set in. This one is inspired by my intense love for Caprese salads which traditionally include tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, fresh basil leaves, and a simple balsamic vinaigrette. I start with the same cheese sauce base that I use for mac-n-cheese but then change it up with a few fresh ingredients.

The Recipe:

3 Tbl. butter
3 Tbl. flour
2 cups milk
1 lb. pasta (I used rotini but lots of other types would work well)
2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
1 handful fresh basil leaves, chopped (about 1/4 cup when chopped)
2 cups (white) cheddar cheese, shredded
1 cup fresh mozzarella cheese, chopped into smaller pieces
salt and pepper to taste

The Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cook pasta, drain and set aside.
While pasta is cooking, you can start the sauce. Melt the butter on low heat in a large skillet or saucepan. Once butter is melted, whisk in flour. Keep mixture moving on medium-low heat for about 5 minutes. (This mixture will help sauce thicken.)
Turn heat to low and slowly whisk in milk. Turn heat up a little to gently bring to a simmer and simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. The sauce should be pretty thick at this point.
Turn heat off. Add cheddar cheese and then salt and pepper to taste. Stir sauce until cheese melts.
Add pasta to sauce, then basil and tomatoes. Check if more salt and pepper is needed.
Pour entire mixture into a casserole. Top evenly with fresh mozzarella and bake until the cheese melts (about 10-15 minutes).
Serve immediately while the mozzarella is still hot and oozy!

Enjoy!

Leftover Creations

2011-07-13T20:21:00.006-05:00

This may be one of the most random meals I have ever created but surprisingly it was so good! It was one of those nights where I looked in the fridge and thought, "Hmm, what can I do with this random stuff?" So I combined some left over fried rice with onions, jalapenos and sauteed together with soy sauce. Then I fried an egg, leaving the yolk runny, and toasted the tortilla and layered them up.

The picture, like the recipe, isn't too terribly enticing.

I'm not saying you should make this exact recipe but I wanted to throw out some encouragement to all of you out there to get creative with your leftovers. You just might stumble upon something very surprisingly delicious!

Being Forced To Be Silent

2011-07-09T12:48:00.003-05:00

I think the media outlets in this household have turned against us. Last week our wireless went out and this week our T.V. broke. Then last night when we were listening to Pandora, the server went out and didn't come back. Oh yeah, and the new camera that I bought broke (but I did buy it used off eBay so that one might be my fault).

So as I'm connecting the computer to the modem instead of using wireless, watching movies on the computer instead of T.V. and listening to iTunes instead of Pandora, I start to think...

Why am I working to hard to get these things back so quickly and why am I actually annoyed that I can't watch T.V. and listen to music in the background...do I really need this stuff? And even worse...are these things filling a void that they shouldn't be?

So then I start thinking that maybe I should stop rigging everything up again and think about the fact that maybe someone is trying to tell me something! The kicker is that last night as I was reading before bed I just "happened" to be at a section of my book titled "The Avoidance of the Painful Void" that went like this...

" It is the most basic human loneliness that threatens us and is so hard to face. Too often we will do everything possible to avoid the confrontation with the experience of being alone, and sometimes we are able to create the most ingenious devices to prevent ourselves from being reminded of this condition.

Our culture has become most sophisticated in the avoidance of pain, not only our physical pain but our emotional and mental pain as well. We not only bury our dead as if they were still alive, but we also bury our pains as if they were not really there.

We have become so used to this state of anesthesia, that we panic when there is nothing or nobody left to distract us. When we have no project to finish, no friend to visit, no book to read, no television to watch or no record to play, and we are left all alone by ourselves we are brought so close to the revelation of our basic human aloneness and are so afraid of experiencing an all-pervasive sense of loneliness that we will do anything to get busy again and continue the game which makes us believe that everything is fine after all."

So here I am, sitting in silence, thinking about the fact that I do not spend enough time being quiet without distractions. But at the same time I am on the computer rather than actually experiencing my 'aloneness' so this whole thing is a contradiction anyway. I guess I'm left with the challenge of living life more fully not by doing more to avoid pain but by by spending more time in meaningful solitude and taking time to experience and reflect on the pain that makes me human. Henri Nouwen sums it up well:

"The few times, however, that we do obey our severe masters and listen carefully to our restless hearts, we may start to sense that in the midst of our sadness there is joy, that in the midst of our fears there is peace, that in the midst of our greediness there is the possibility of compassion and that indeed in the midst of our irking loneliness we can find the beginnings of a quiet solitude."

Both excepts taken from the book 'Reaching Out" by Henri Nouwen.

Mazto Toffee Bark

2011-07-01T08:32:00.009-05:00

I know, I know...pretty random. The story behind this is that we get a bunch of "freegan" goods from work (aka stuff that is getting tossed because it can't be sold for one reason or another but is perfectly good to eat). I can't take the credit for actually diving in the dumpster myself; there is a guy from work who goes to Whole Foods and gets all the stuff they are going to throw away and brings it in and puts it up for grabs. You would be surprised at all the great stuff that comes in (and that is not expired and perfectly edible).

So anyway, after Passover there was tons of matzo and I had seen this recipe for matzo bark on a food blog so I took a bunch. And I'm glad I did because it made for a very tasty bark.

The Recipe:

Adapted from The Sassy Radish

4 sheets matzo
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, cut into small pieces
1 cup brown sugar
1 (12-ounce) package semisweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup slivered almonds.
1 teaspoon sea salt

The Method:

Preheat oven to 275 degrees

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (not wax paper because the toffee will stick to it). Place matzos in an even layer on a 13×17-inch jelly roll pan (break some matzos up to fit the pan).

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Add brown sugar, reduce heat to low and cook, stirring, until sugar has completely dissolved and beings to bubble. Drizzle toffee over matzo and spread evenly using a spatula.

Bake toffee-covered matzo for 15 minutes.

Remove from oven and sprinkle with chocolate chips. Let stand for 5 minutes to let chocolate melt then spread melted chocolate evenly over matzo. Sprinkle with the almonds and sea salt.

Transfer matzo to the refrigerator and chill for at least 2 hours.

Break chilled matzo toffee into pieces. Keep in the fridge to last longer.

Lining the pan with matzo

Spreading the toffee. I found that it was really yummy when some of the toffee slipped underneath the cracks of the matzo and coated both sides.

It doesn't take the chocolate chips too long to melt since the toffee is so hot.