Table for Eight

Tomorrow is our sweet Papaya's 15th BIRTHDAY! We are so excited to celebrate! And I know I say this a lot (and it sounded so cheesy when I heard adults say it when I was a kid), but "TIME IS FLYING." I truly remember every single detail of her adoption as if it were yesterday.  Every detail: --The weather the day we got the phone call from our dear friends at church, telling us they had a family member who was considering adoption for her beautiful bambina. --The movie and scene that were playing on tv when I answered the phone to find out that their family member wanted to meet us ... tomorrow! (PS: It was "You've Got Mail" and the Meg Ryan character was getting a drink of some kind at Starbucks in the fall. She'd yet to begin emailing the Tom Hanks character.) --I remember how nervous I was and that I didn't sleep at all for the whole night. I remember how Dave was able to sleep like a baby the whole night. (Which have become pretty co...

We hope you both have a great day. Love you!  PS: I've added a new recipe to Recipe of the Week : Elder Meehan's Taco Soup (It's been too long since I've update that page.)  

Utah weather can be pretty fickle, so you gotta just "go with it." And today it's rainy, cloudy, and around 45 degrees. So I'm thinking it's a good day to make soup. Tomorrow will probably be 80 degrees--so I'll be back to making tacos and wearing flip-flops--but in the meantime, here's what I'm planning to make tonight: *Miso Noodle Soup (*Recipe below) Have a fabulous weekend.  (c) Oprah.com, 2012-13. Miso Noodle Soup From Oprah.com Servings: Serves 6–8 (makes about 4 quarts) Ingredients 2 Tbsp. canola oil or olive oil 2 leeks (white part only), split, rinsed, and sliced 2 cloves garlic , minced 1 medium bunch chard (about 1/2 pound) 4 medium carrots (about 3/4 pound), peeled and coarsely chopped 4 ounces buckwheat (soba) noodles 1 cup edamame (fresh or frozen) 1/2 cup miso 1 cup shredded cooked chicken (optional) 2 scallions , finely sliced Directions Set a large pot over medium-low heat. Add oil an...

  I began blogging March of 2006. That's right, March of 2006! (That's hard to believe.) So in honor of Throwback Thursday, I thought it would be fun(ny) to share a recipe from one of my earlier blogs (8/18/09).  Wow! A lot has changed since 2006 (For instance, our kids are GIANTS now.). And yet, not much has changed. (For instance, I'm still making Potato Leek Soup these days. See below.) ZuZu--the year I began blogging. (At BYU Bowling Alley--how hilarious is that? We were just there Monday!)   O riginally posted 8/18/2009: I didn't even know how to "categorize" the leek until I made Julia Child's potato and leek soup last night. How can I be in my late 30s and not know a thing about leeks? That's just crazy! And it makes me wonder how many other life experiences I've passed over so far? Eeek. That nearly gives me an anxiety attack, actually. But, back to the soup--which is actually called "Potage Parmentier...

(c) Chef-in-Training, 2013. I know it's summer, so the last thing on most people's To Do List is "Make Cauliflower Soup." But this is INCREDIBLE cauliflower soup. Like, my kids can't stand cauliflower, but they get it EVERY time we go to Zupas . (PS: Zupas doesn't know me, but if you are in Utah, Nevada, and Arizona, they have locations near ya. Jussayin'.) Anyway, I have a huge bag of cauliflower, so we decided we are going to try and copy-cat Zupa's recipe for Wisconsin Cauliflower soup tonight. And just in case it doesn't turn out supa, we're making bread. (You can always fill in the gaps with a big chunk of bread. Carbs have a way of making everything A-OK.) My bread. (Tee hee) Here's the complete recipe, in case you'd like to try it, too. It's from Chef In-Training (which is a beautiful blog, PS): http://www.chef-in-training.com/2012/09/copy-cat-zupas-wisconsin-cauliflower-soup/ **** PS: In other...

Summer Salad--thanks Rebecca G., from our Carbon Canyon days! This is how hilarious/ridonkulous our lives are right now: Our oven caught on fire while I was baking bread Sunday and that isn't even in the Top 100 of Nutty Things That Have Happened Since Sunday list. But my point! We're not baking/cooking this week. So, tonight we're having this yummy cold salad w/ some store-baked bread (eeek!). Thanks to my friend Rebecca for sharing it: Summer Salad 4 cups avocados, diced 2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved 2 cups cubed cucumbers, peeled, diced 1 red onion, sliced 4 TBS cilantro, diced 2 TBS garlic, minced 2 TBS lime juice 1/4 cup olive oil salt black pepper * lettuce (if ya like) 1. Toss all ingredients and place on a bed of lettuce (if ya like). Serves 8   **** And in unrelated Meehan news: Zu made this awesome card for a friend. (And yes, I still can't rotate a photo.)   My BFF, Whittney has a bday this coming week (18th). This...

Melon, Mint, Parm Penne! (c) CookingLight, June 2013, Randy Mayor. This is the first May in two years that I have been home with my family -- that fact still blows my mind . (We filmed Survivor South Pacific and Survivor Caramoan from May-July during 2011 and 2012.) But my point! I love May, June, and July in Utah. The skies are blue. The clouds are big and puffy. And the mountains are gorgeous. Truly, there's nothing like spring and summer in Utah after a cold COLD ( but beautiful) winter. So I thought I would share a spring recipe with you--one we loved and just learned to make this week. It's a chilled salad. I made it last night and everyone ate it (which is a pretty good sampling of palettes , s ix kiddos, ages 9-18, all different backgrounds). I think you'll love it, too.  Melon, Mint, and Parm Penne Box of penne pasta, cooked al dente, tossed with olive oil, then chilled ½ cup cubed fresh cantaloupe 2 tablespoons fresh mint leaves 2 ounces ...

A modern take on s'mores. Okay, first things first: YOU HAVE TO MAKE THESE updated S'mores . We got the recipe from a Halloween magazine and tried them Monday. They. Are To. Die. For. And ... so simple to make!  1. Just use graham crackers (chocolate or regular). 2. Add a spoonful of Nutella to the graham. 3. Add a spoonful of marshmallow fluff (aka "heaven"). 4. Smoosh the two grahams together and Ta-Da! 5. Oh, and roll the edges in sprinkles if you like. Our family loved these (so much so, that our teenage boys snuck the ingredients downstairs and ate them as a midnight snack!) Anyway, it's such an easy/fun recipe--I don't know that I will be making traditional s'mores for a long long time. These rock. Okay, and here are some other random things I wanted to share from this past week. (Time feels like it's moving at warp speed! For you, too?) 1. Pumpkin Man. Art with a sense of humor. This welded Metal Man turns into Pumpki...

We've been visiting this pumpkin patch since our oldest was 11  (he's 17 now)--and it's still one of our favorite Halloween things to do here in Utah.  PS: I should note that the Corn Maze totally freaks me out. I mean, I go through it--for the kids--but it scares me the entire time. ( Am I the only person who never saw Children of the Corn but still seems to know the entire plotline? How is that possible?) *** And I have to share this.  It both embarrasses me AND makes me proud: I made my first tater-topped casserole.  (Now, if that doesn't make you laugh, I don't know what will.  PS: Our kids loved it, so I will post the recipe later today. I'm in a hurry now. Sorry!) *** Oh, and Survivor Philippines! We haven't talked about that either! I'm loving this season, especially the strong women playing (Denise, RC, Abi, Lisa, Dana ....). I'll write about that later today, if ya can ...