Aloha Turkey Burgers

These are to die for.  I will never look at a burger the same.  I did make a few modifications to the recipe, such as leaving off the mayo to save a whole lot of calories.  

Ingredients

Sauce

1/4

cup mayonnaise

1

teaspoon Sriracha sauce

Burgers

1

lb ground turkey

1

teaspoon fresh grated gingerroot (or 1/4 tsp ground ginger powder)

1

clove garlic, grated (or 1/8 tsp garlic powder_

1

tablespoon soy sauce

1

teaspoon sesame oil (didn't have this, a little olive oil is fine, too)

4

slices fresh pineapple

4

hamburger buns, split

4

lettuce leaves

4

slices tomato

Sliced onion (I cooked the sliced onion with the burger to add a little flavor)

Directions

• 1Spray gas or charcoal grill rack with cooking spray. Heat grill. Mix sauce ingredients; set aside. In large bowl, mix ground turkey, gingerroot, garlic, soy sauce and sesame oil. Shape mixture into 4 patties. (I cooked all of mine on the stove and it still turned out amazing!)
• 2Place patties and pineapple slices on grill over medium heat. Cover grill; cook patties 8 to 10 minutes, turning after 5 minutes, until meat thermometer inserted in center of patties reads 160°F. Cook pineapple slices 8 to 10 minutes or until browned and slightly charred, turning once. Place burgers on bottoms of buns; top with lettuce, grilled pineapple, onion, sauce and tops of buns.

Pictures and photos are from the Betty Crocker Website.

October Was a Whirlwind

Wow, did it ever blow by.  Literally- look at us at Senior Appreciation Night.  We look like we might blow away.  It was so very blustery but so very fun.

I was pretty emotional.  It dawned on me that is was the last game after 4 years of my oldest dancing at them.  Getting her to practice and supporting her in this great event has been the focus for much of her life.  It seems odd that the fall season has ended, although we still have winter season, which do not involve the football games.

Here we are at the banquet to bring fall dance to a close.

Compare this to Freshman year.  WOWWWW!  She has grown from a girl to a woman.  It is unbelievable.

It is great to be a senior.

                   

This is during Homecoming Pep fest Assembly.

 
The Seniors finally had their chance to do the Guy-Girl Dance.  Her "Guy" was a super-good sport!

And we can't forget the Powder Puff Football Game.  She is #14 in the long ponytails.  She was on the winning team.


My youngest has been busy with her own activities.  She is helping with Tech in a school play, and is busy with piano and cello.  Every day she takes time to draw.  She always been creative and has made time for drawing characters.  She is really getting good!

Since I am looking back at big sister, I thought I'd take a look at little sister 4 years ago.  She still loved music.  Now look at her growing into a lovely young woman.  Here she is with her friends after the assembly.

I found these pictures on my camera roll.  Not surprised I found eyes- she loves to draw eyes.

She also got these of our bouncing doggy.  Can you believe how green and warm it looks for October?

It's been a bitter-sweet fall, but mostly we've loved it.

Italian Ham and Pasta Salad

This is from the Betty Crocker website.  We love it.  Great for a quick Friday night meal where you have people coming and going like at my house with teens.

Ingredients

Salad

1 box (9 oz) Green Giant® frozen broccoli cuts

3 1/2 cups uncooked bow-tie (farfalle) pasta (7 oz)

1 lb cooked ham, cut into julienne strips

1/2 medium green bell pepper, chopped (1/2 cup)

2 tablespoons finely chopped onions

Classic Italian Dressing

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup olive or vegetable oil

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil leaves or 1 teaspoon dried basil leaves

1 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano leaves or 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano leaves

1 teaspoon chopped fresh marjoram leaves or 1/4 teaspoon dried marjoram leaves

1 teaspoon ground mustard

1/8 teaspoon pepper

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons white vinegar

1 clove garlic, finely chopped 

Directions

• 1 Cook broccoli and pasta separately as directed on packages; drain. Rinse pasta with cold water; drain.
• 2 In large bowl, mix all dressing ingredients until well blended. Add broccoli, pasta and all remaining salad ingredients to dressing; toss gently to mix. Cover and refrigerate at least 6 hours or until chilled.

 

Happy Birthday, My Love!

Another birthday has come and gone this year for My Love-- my one and only true love-- my love of my life-- can you feel the love?  I love this man!!!

On my "Before-my-oldest-leaves-to-college-bucket-list" was the dream to attend a broadway show as a family.

So back in May, my husband called and said "I am standing in line for something.  I think I am about number 20."

I had just heard that morning that ticket sales for Wicked started that day.  Could it be…. is he telling me my dream is finally coming true???

"Yea?…. in line for what?" I asked.

"I wanted to surprise you and give you tickets to Wicked for your birthday next month, and then the performance is near my birtday, and I was thinking it could be both of our birthday presents…. but I need help picking out seats.  What do you think?"

Yipppeeeeeeeeeeeeee is what I think.  You are a genious and thank you very much for making my dreams come true.  That is just the kind of guy you are.  In the words of Glenda the good witch "I think you're wonderful."

He went ahead and bought the tickets then on my birthday he sent me and the girls on a little riddle and rhyme to figure out what they were… and now the time has come to pass and we enjoyed our evening together recently.  It was wonderful and amazing and it was worth every penny.  

And have you ever been to the Orpheum?  

 Oh my.  It is magical!

So magical that it at least got a half-smile from my youngest teen.  By the end of the show, the smile was much bigger.  This picture is when we are walking in and she still isn't sure about the show.

Built in the 1920's, there is so much character in every detail.  The giant chandelier and the seats and walls are so ornate.

The only picture we could take of the actual production.  This is what you see before it starts: a gigantic dragon and map to Oz.

Recenty, on the anniversary of the day of his hatching, since we had done the big celebrating a few days earlier, we had a quiet evening at home playing games and football and eating his favorite foods.  We had Australian Meat Pie and Trifle (favorite foods of his after living there for 2 years).  I also had close friends and family each send 5 words that described him, then I made a Wordie.

Have you ever heard of a Wordie?  It is a word "cloud".  It takes all the words and then it makes them into a cloud, the biggest words are the words that showed up the most, the smallest showed up the least.  So if 5 people used "good sense of humor" to describe him, and 2 people said "organized," good sense of humor would be the bigger word.  You can make your own wordie here: http://www.wordle.net/

Happy Birthday, Hon- it was a great day for a great guy!!!

Summer Recap-- Part 3

A friend of ours is in a water ski show, so Mike and the girls hopped on over there to watch (while I stayed home with a headache- boo hoo) on the 4th of July.

We dog sat like crazy this summer.  It was fun times for Daisy with her pals.  

While out west, we visited Temple Square.  I hand delivered the history of the book I made about their visit to the Twin Cities.  It was neat to see the Tabernacle offices.  

Of course, Temple Square was beautiful.  It was a very hot day, though.  We took refuge at the Lion House Inn for dinner, and at the new City Creek Mall which is really quite amazing. 

 While visiting BYU, we enjoyed the art museum.  These are originals of some very famous and amazing paintings- they are huge, which you can't really tell from the picture.

 In the sculpture garden at the museum.  So silly.

 We were in awe with the sky during this storm on the way to Idaho in the Black Foot area.  It was at sunset, so it made for a stunning show of lights.

 My girls can make anything fun…. this is what happens after being cooped up too long as you drive across the country.

 Just practing dance and flexibility.

And we end with a temple trip to Nauvoo, Illinois for the older kids at church.  They got to do a little service, learn some history, and attend the pageant.

I thought it was cute the girls wanted to reinactment from 3 years ago when just these 2 came for a camp to Nauvoo when they were 14.  They've grown up so much!  Still just as fun and silly, though!

Then:

Now (how funny that there hair is the same length as eachother in both pictures):

 And with that, I did it- I got the major summer memories down for the record books!  I can say that we had our dose of sun and fun and lots of smiles along the way.  It seemed there was never a dull moments.  We were blessed with visits with friends and family and several vacations, and lots of time for other things, too.