recipe wednesday - mom's salsa

i've been craving my mom's homemade salsa, so 2 weekends ago i asked her to teach me how to make it. oh boy is it good, and i've made it twice since. i have a container of it in my fridge right now actually. yum!!

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mom's salsa

1 (14 oz) can diced tomatoes

1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce

1/2 onion - finely diced

1/2 bunch cilantro -stems removed

juice of 1 small lemon (or about 1.5 Tbsp)

2 jalepeno peppers - veins and seeds removed

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blend with your trusted stick blender, or your normal one.

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then dice up 2 small tomatoes and add for just the right chuckiness. and stir to combine. enjoy!! the last time i made it i also added some lime juice. mmmmm sooooo good.

aidan loves his daddy!

more older pictures, can't ya tell? aidan's hair is short and he's too short to reach the door handle ... hehe, he's growing SOOOO fast!!!

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aidan love's it when daddy comes home (i think he gets sick of me after awhile)

and he loves cuddling with daddy on the couch and watching star trek, they are my favorite trekkies. (don't ya just love the picture of aidan looking at me while standing next to the door giving me a "thumbs up"?? i LOVE it!!)

it's a ...

um ... yeah, those are the only pictures the technician gave us. one of the baby's head and one of the baby's foot. what the crap??? the ultrasound was very frustrating and robby is still pissed ... but it's over now and we can't change how bizarre the whole thing was. oh well. the upside? well, that would be that i was right. we're having a GIRL!!! huzzah!!! i'm really excited about that.

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i've been telling everyone since i found out i was pregnant that it was a girl. and robby has been telling people its twin boys just to spite me. ARG. oh well, i won. its a girl!! (well we have an 80% chance its a girl, according to the technician ... since she couldn't find a penis. robby's not sure she could find anything and doesn't really trust her judgement.)

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moral of the story: IT'S A GIRL!!!

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and we don't have any names picked out either, so don't ask. and once we do decide on one we will probably keep it a secret like we did with aidan. so you're all gonna have to wait until october. sorry!!

blurry pictures

this is why i'm surprised i have any pictures at all of aidan ... he just moves too much. he's always on the go.

recipe wednesday - nutella swirl ice cream

this past weekend we had our annual "time out for hendrickson's", oh the girly fun. you can read more about what we did on my sister's blog, and check out the pictures.

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i had found this recipe on the internet while i was doing research on recipe box for writing my description for this post. anyways, you can read the whole original blog post, or i'm only going to post the recipe. my mom has the same fancy ice cream maker as the person who we got the recipe from.

Nutella Swirl Ice Cream
This brown sugar ice cream, rich but not overly sweet, has just a swirl of Nutella. Even better, a simple method for making the custard base means no standing over the stove.

Ingredient - Volume - Weight

Milk - 2 1/2 cups - 20 ounces

Cream - 1 1/2 cups - 12 ounces

Brown sugar - 1/2 cup - 3 1/2 ounces

Egg yolks - 4

Nutella - 1/2 cup - 5 1/4 ounces

Oil (flavorless or nut) - 2 tablespoons - 1 ounce

Method
1. Heat the milk, cream and sugar in a heavy saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, to just under a boil.
2. While the milk is heating, whisk the egg yolks in large mixing bowl until combined. Run tap water until it is hot and put a couple of inches of water in the larger bowl. Float the mixing bowl on the water (hold it to stabilize) while continuing to whisk the yolks until they are warm and frothy, a minute or so. (The yolks should be just under body temperature, about 90-95F.)
3. When the milk is just starting to bubble, put the mixing bowl on a towel next to the stove. Slowly pour the milk into the warmed yolks, whisking constantly. Continue whisking for a minute after everything is combined.
4. Chill the mixture thoroughly. I generally dump the hot water from the big bowl at this point and fill it with ice and water to cool the ice cream base faster. Just float the bowl in the ice water - remember to make sure it is stable so it doesn't tip over- and give it a little time (30-60 min) to cool. (The texture is a bit better if the ice cream base is chilled overnight before churning but it's really not necessary.) When the ice cream base is thoroughly chilled, strain the mixture and freeze it using your ice cream maker.
5. While the ice cream is churning, stir together the Nutella and oil. The oil keeps the Nutella from freezing, although it occurs to me now that a shot of alcohol would accomplish the same thing. I'll obviously have to try it.
6. If your ice cream maker has a hole to drizzle it through, add the Nutella to the ice cream in the last 30-60 seconds of churning. Watch and stop it quickly so it remains in swirls. If you can't add it while the ice cream machine is running, fold it in quickly when the ice cream is done, while you are scraping it into a storage container.
Notes
You will need two bowls, one for mixing and a larger one that your mixing bowl will fit inside of with a couple of inches of room around it.

Recipe Box - Design Your Own

now available in my etsy store!! you know you want one to spice up your kitchen. stay tuned for more new tyvek creations and more tyvek designs coming soon!!Keep all of your favorite recipes, whether handed down, borrowed or invented, in this recipe box with style. It holds 3" x 5" recipe cards. This box is made out of light, but sturdy cardboard and is covered in printed tyvek. Keep your recipes neat and organized with 12 coordinated blank tabbed dividers.

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Check out all of our available designs that can be printed on all of our Tyvek creations at the Jocole Library! Colors may vary slightly due to different computer monitors. I reserve the right to choose the best part of the design for your wallet. Or choose an image of your own and make the creation truly unique. How can you go wrong when you choose your own design or image?

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Dimensions:
5.5" w x 4" h x 3.5" d

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** This item is made to order – Please allow approximately 2 weeks for shipment after payment is received. **

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Designed, printed and handmade by Jocole.

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About Tyvek:
Tyvek offers all the best characteristics of paper, film and fabric in one material. The raw materials for Tyvek include recycled plastic milk jugs, providing an excellent reuse of post-consumer materials.

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Tyvek is considerably lighter than other materials, yet considerably stronger. Incredibly water- and moisture-resistant. Liquids simply run off its smooth surface, keeping the contents perfectly dry. Tyvek is unaffected by moisture, common acids or bases, which makes it ideal for long-term storage and archival purposes.

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Tyvek is puncture- and rip-resistant, which allows it to stand up to rough handling that it might be subjected to. That’s nice to know when you’ve got something important inside.

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Tyvek starts out as bright white and silky smooth. It has a distinctive look and feel that instantly sets it apart. The exceptional whiteness of Tyvek enhances images, which makes printing images and designs on it beautiful. We only use 100% waterproof archival pigment ink, so rest assured, your image or design will stay put.

dad's art ::UPDATED::

ok, nicole nicely pointed out in her blog that i haven't played along and posted the pieces hanging in my house, so here you go nicole. i'm posting them in the order in which they were painted.

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this is an oil painting of lions. it used to hang in my dad's "studio" above the washer and dryer and i loved looking at it all growing up. when i got married my dad let me take it and put it in my bedroom. then nicole had it for awhile, and when robby and i moved into the house we are in now nicole gave it back. it now lovingly hangs in our entryway and greets you when you come inside our double red doors!

this is an oil painting that used to hang in my grandma hendrickson's dining room. i always admired this one as a child as well. when we were cleaning out her house i was talking to my dad about which paintings were left ... and he mentioned "the one with asparagus". all i remembered from when i was younger were the nectarines/peaches so i had no idea what he was talking about. but it turned out we were talking about the same painting. this painting currently does not have a home in our house and gets moved around often. currently it is resting on the mantle to the side of "1960s suburbia".

this is "1960s suburbia" and his hanging over my fireplace. i've already discussed this in a previous post. but the thing i love about this painting is that you can see the way he painted it outside of the lines on the paper (around the edges) ... i love that, when we have it framed i will make sure you can still see that. if i had it my way, you'd see a lot more of that in his work.

this is a giant pink painting (acrylic i think) and it hangs in my bedroom. scott and i fought over this one and i won. my dad was working on a school art project and was having technical difficulties. i came in and helped him out (gotta love computer skills) and his reward for me helping was this beauty. i absolutely LOVE it. its abstract and you can totally see the texture of how it was painted and splattered. it greets me every morning and wishes me sweet dreams every night. and i'm pretty sure it gives me license to now decorate my room with pink, no?

we also have copies of some prints (either wood or linolium? maybe both), but they are not framed or hung on the wall ... so taking pictures isn't as easy. i'll try to get to it this weekend.

well my little brother scott has decided to play along, here is his blog post with pictures of the 5 pieces that him and his wife amanda own. thanks for playing brother!! if my other siblings decide to play along, i'll add links to their posts here as well!!

nicole has posted her pictures as well, check 'em out!! she has 6 lovely pieces. go nicole!!

heidi, you're next!!

aidan loves being outside

aidan loves being outside, it was so sunny the day i took these pictures. we crawled all over and had a great time.

just beware of the fungus that has infested the grass by the street.

art pictures

okay, for all of those who have asked to see some of his pieces when i talked about them in my last post. i'll have to take pictures of what i have around my house, but here are some that he has posted on the redbubble site. these pictures were just lifted from that site. but i'll tell you a little about them. and i put them in order in which they were painted. (i think) maybe my siblings will play along and take pictures of the pieces they have hanging around. i know scott and nicole have more than i do.

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this is called "the line-up" but is lovingly known as "the masterpiece" in our family. its 23"h x 33"w, watercolor and hangs in my parents living room. absolutely stunning in real life. this picture doesn't do justice at all!

this is "1960s suburbia". it is 24"h x 30"w and is mixed media (take a look at those bushes and the tree, yeah its little bits of nature). and the windows have something on them that make they shiney ... this beauty hangs over my fireplace and i LOVE it. i don't know how i was lucky enough to snag it.

this is "poppies", it's 44"h x 60"w (the thing is HUGE!!) it's acrylic and its currently hanging in my parents dining room. i love looking at it while we're eating dinner on sunday. (but i have a special place in my heart for flowers, especially considering one of my nicknames is flowerhead!!)

this is "shining forth in a world of darkness". it's 24"h x 30"w. it's acrylic and prismacolored pencil. oh you should see the things my dad can do with colored pencils ... AMAZING. (the temple is done in the colored pencils ... just in case you were wondering!) this one is hanging in the home of sean kirtley and his new bride stacey. what a wedding gift. my dad has always told my mom that she has first "dibs" and if he ever paints anything and she wants it, she gets it. to my knowledge this has only happened once before (and that painting is over their piano in the parlor). i KNOW my mom wanted this painting, but she didn't take it. at sean and stacey's reception the painting was proudly on an easel by the entryway. my mom made sure that everyone she talked to went over to look at it and proudly showed off my dad's talents. i know it was overheard someone asking where they bought it from as they had never seen it at deseret books. hehe. sorry this is an original and cannot be purchased from anywhere. DARN. its beautiful.

i'll have to take pictures of the other artwork in my home ... maybe tomorrow after the baby shower. and i'll take pictures of his senior show on the 24th. but i highly recommend to anyone in the area to attend, seeing the pieces in real life is better than any picture!!

cal poly pomona senior art show

cal poly pomona senior art show. opening reception is May 24th, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. and the show runs from may 18th to june 14th. the above pictures are from the flyer promoting the show. thats my dad right there on the cover. i LOVE that picture of him. it totally cracks me up.

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i'm so excited for this. my dad has been working hard at what he is showing for the past several months. he unveiled the main pieces that he just finished to us tonight at dinner. we were the first in our family to see them ... AMAZING ... as all his pieces are! (haha, take that nicole and heidi!) anyways, he's been working super hard and i'm so proud of him. robby and i actually discussed buying a piece from him tonight (so he can't sell it at the show). we've never bought one of his pieces -- he usually gives them to us. but this particular piece we both just absolutely adore. and when my dad mentioned how much he would be selling it for, robby said we would buy it. YEAH!

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i've been loving the pieces he's been working on. they are completely a different style than he used to paint, but they are so interesting and i could look at them for hours. and none of them are really in the same style. the piece he just finished is HUGE ... like so big he can't even hang it in his own house if he wanted to. (although i told him i had the wall space in my living room ... hmmm i just measured our wall and we're pretty sure it would fit). i love it though, its like a painting over a painting over a painting. soo many layers to look at.

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anyways if you are interested in going. we are planning on attending the reception on may 24th. i can't wait to see the collection all hung up together how my dad invisions it. i've seen all the pieces individually, but not all together. apparently he has enough to fill a 33 foot wall!! so he gets his own wall all to himself. AMAZING!!! if you want to come along, the more the merrier. or if you're in the southern california area stop by. i have maps and more details if you're interested. or you can stop by my house any time and see the pieces i do own.

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w. keith and janet kellogg university art gallery

cal poly state university, pomona

3801 west temple avenue

pomona, california 91768

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okay, enough rambling for now. i'm just really excited for my dad. i'm so proud of him!

we need a gate

(okay ... so this post was written AGES ago, and then i saved it and never posted it -- along with 18 others, so i'm going to be posting older pictures. you're just going to have to deal with it!) so we've been using our piano bench as a baricade keeping aidan from going down the hall. well ... he learned how to push that out of the way, so we tried putting a chair behind it to anchor it. it worked for awhile until aidan learned he could do this.

(oh and this last picture cracks me up, when i tell aidan to "smile" for pictures he smiles and cocks his head to the side, that is why i have so many pictures of him with his head like that! he's soooo silly!)

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so we upgraded to 2 chairs, which now works better. someday i'll convice robby to just re-hang the door back on the hinges.

(we just put up a gate last week, and aidan would have just been able to pull it down, so robby screwed it into the door frame! i wish he would have just hung the door like i've asked him to a million times!! oh well)