Yumm!

I've been experimenting in the kitchen again and I have come up with a couple of INCREDIBLE new recipes. Here goes:

Apple Pie Pizza
1 pizza dough
4 oz cream cheese
1 TBLS sugar
1 can apple pie filling*
1/4 cup quick oats
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup butter, cold
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 TBLS milk
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll out pizza crust on cookie sheet.
In a bowl combine cream cheese and sugar until well mixed. Spread on dough.
Spread pie filling on top.
In another bowl combine oats, flour, brown sugar and cinnamon. Using a fork or pastry cutter, cut the butter into the dry mixture until it resembles peas. Sprinkle on top of the apple filling.
Bake in the oven for 25 minutes. Remove from oven, allow to cool.
Stir together powdered sugar, vanilla and milk. Stir until a glaze, and then drizzle over the pizza. Eat!


Spinach and Ham Braid
1 recipe for foccacia bread or pizza dough
1 box frozen spinach, thawed and drained of water
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup ham or bacon, chopped
1/2 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup shredded cheese

Roll the dough out on a cookie sheet and cut slits 1 inch apart down the long sides of the cookie sheet and going into the center 1/3 the width of the pan (about 4").
In a pan sautee onion and garlic in a little bit of EVOO or butter. When the onions are transluscent add the spinach, soup and ham. Mix until the spinach is just heated through, about 2 minutes.
Spread the spinach mixture down the center of the dough and sprinkle the cheese on top, then braid the dough using the cut strips.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

2012 is going to be great!

Well, lets be totally honest. 2011 kind of kicked my butt, which is probably why I never got a Christmas letter written. It was a rough year for oh so many reasons, but instead of listing all the crap, lets see what we have to look forward to in 2012!
January- get back on top of the house. I'm getting organized this year if it kills me! And we are working on respobsibility charts with the kids, which suprisingly Alyssa LOVES. Every day we don't have to fight over chores anymore. She comes in, knows what her responsibilities are, and she knows she can't have any privleges until they are done, so she doesn't even ask. I tell you its incredible. We're saving up for the Accountable Kids program, but trying to impliment its ideas even before we officially get the kit. If this is a goal for your family this year, check their program out at
February- Already looking forward to Valentine's day and hopefully some snow. I am really starting to wonder about this global warming thing!
March- Alyssa turns 6! We're so excited for our big girl.
April-Uncle Paul will graduate from BYU-Idaho and we're going with the rest of the family. Yay, Paul!
May- It will be 10 years since we said "YES" and we plan to celebrate the best years of our life together, although we're not sure how just yet.
June- Mikayla turns 4! Carter turns 2!
July- Aunt Jenny marries Jon Rodeback in the Washington, DC temple on July 3rd so we get to spend the 4th of July in DC! And we have family reunions. We won't mention Rebecca's descent into oblivion at the end of the month, though.
August-Alyssa will start 1st grade!
September-Mikayla will begin another year of special ed preschool, and hopefully mom and Carter will take a Mom & Me class
October- Halloween at our house, is there anything more fun?
November-Christopher turns 35! And lots of gratitude for him and all he does for our family.
December- We get to celebrate the Savior's birthday as a family!
See, 2012 is shaping up to be incredible. Hopefully there will be an anniversary trip for Christopher and Rebecca and maybe even a family trip to Disneyland this year, but as long as we can continue to grow and develop as a family, 2012 will rock!