Oven dried tomatoes (mom)

I have to say that the bruschetta that is posted is DELICIOUS!  But it does call for dried tomatoes.  I did some this summer and they are really easy.  You put your halved tomatoes on a cookie sheet.  Drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper and put in your oven at 250* until they no longer have juice running from them.  Store them in a ziplock freezer bag and in the freezer.  EASY!  and very good for this recipe.

Bruschetta (Amber)

Charles and I were given a lot of tomatoes from everyone's gardens at the end of the summer. Charles doesn't like fresh tomatoes and I couldn't eat them all by myself; so we looked though our cookbooks for recipes that use tomatoes.  We found a recipe for Bruschetta in a cookbook called Smart Cooking.  We both really like this recipe. 

    

Double-Tomato Bruschetta 

8 Campari tomatoes, diced

½ cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil, chopped

4 garlic cloves, chopped

¼ cup chopped fresh basil

½ cup chopped red onion

½ cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided

3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

½ teaspoon sea salt

½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

1 whole wheat baguette

1 cup grated Asiago cheese

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

    In a large bowl combine tomatoes, garlic, basil and onion.  Add ¼ cup oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper; mix well. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 24 hours to let the flavors develop.

Place the top oven rack 5 inches from the broiler element.  Preheat the broiler to high.

Cut baguette into 1/2 inch thick slices. Brush with the remaining oil and place on a cookie sheet.  Set under the broiler and cook until golden brown, watching carefully to avoid burning.  Remove from the oven, leaving the broiler on.

Spread a ¾ inch thick layer of the tomato mixture on each baguette slice.

Sprinkle with grated cheese.

Place under the broiler once again until the cheese melts and begins to bubble.

Remove from the oven, let cool and serve.

Makes 6 servings.  

A great time

Hey, this is Charles by the way, just giving my review of the chili cook off that we had. Amber and I just jumped on line and found a recipe called Debbie's chili, very simple, quick to make, and over all really a good easy chili that is standard no nonsense chili. We got all ready, enjoyed it the first day and for a couple days later enjoyed spooned over baked potatoes with a bit of cheese and sour cream. Great way to keep lunches at work spiced up and not just cold cut sandwiches, as well as keeping fast food out of the rotation.

Family Chili Cook-off (mom)

We did have our chili cook-off on Sunday and it was so much fun.  All of the chili's were great!  I'm glad that I didn't have to judge them.  Dorthy and Rory brought a yummy spicy steak chili, Steph and Kevin brought a pork and apple chili, Mel and Tim brought the obligatory white chili, Charles and Amber brought a very good hamburger chili and Sarah and Colton tried a pork-pineapple chili.  They were all very good.  We ate good food, chatted, played a game and then the kids were done.  It had been a while since we did something like that.  FUN!

Chili Night: Pork Apple Chili Recipe (Steph)

The annual Schmidt Family Chili Cook-off was a lot of fun the other night.  Though, I don't think there was ever a winner declared...?  Justin, you want to get on that?  Just kidding. We're all winners! (insert cheesy smile here)

I just wanted to share my recipe and would like to encourage everyone else to do the same.

Pork Apple Chili- from The Armitsteads

1 1/2 lbs pork meat
2 large onions
1 large bell pepper
1 large Granny Smith apple
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup water
2- 14 oz cans diced tomatoes
2- 8 oz cans tomato sauce
2- 15 oz can beans- your choice (I used 1 can black and 1 can white)
1 small can green chilies

Start by dicing your meat, onions, pepper and apple.

 

This is what my mascara looks like whenever I chop onions

 Next brown the meat in some oil.

After the meat has started to brown, add the onion, bell pepper and apple. Cook until onions turn translucent.

 Next, add the chili powder, basil, red pepper flakes, and cinnamon.  Cook for a minute or two more.

Now drain and rinse your beans, and add water, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, beans and green chilies.

Simmer for 15-20 minutes then transfer to a 5-quart slow cooker and cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4.

Enjoy!

p.s. I did send a message to Charles, Amber, Justin, Sarah and Colton (via Facebook) with the blog info, so if any/all would like to contribute that would be awesome!

Catching up (Mom)

Kudos to Steph for all of the books she has read this summer.  We haven't had alot of posts this year, so we need to get more posts.  I didn't realize that Amber wasn't aware that we had this blog, so we need to get the word out.

Book Review: "Fallen" Series

Books in this series by Lauren Kate: Fallen, Torment, Passion, and Rapture

3½ out of 5 thumbs up.

Lucinda Price is a seventeen-year-old girl who is sent to a school for troubled teens called Sword & Cross. I’m not sure why she was sent there for sure, but I think it may have to do with some fire that she couldn’t explain that killed a classmate. While at this school, she is drawn to a boy named Daniel, who avoids her at first, but then they fall in love.

Luce finds out that Daniel is a fallen angel and that she is the reincarnated version of many of her former selves. She and Daniel have had an “on-again-off-again” relationship for centuries. She learns that in every lifetime, she meets Daniel, falls in love and then dies unexpectedly. Seventeen years later, the whole process starts all over again. Luce begins to discover more about herself and her past lives, and she and the fallen angels she has befriended band together to save all of history.

I thought that this series was alright. There are a few dramatic parts that are a little surprising and the story was good enough for me to want to read all four books to know what happens. There is also a book of short love stories of some of the characters in these books called Fallen in Love that I read which was okay as well. The story drags on at times, and only because the reader is dragged off into Luce’s redundant realizations of her love for Daniel (eye roll). Also, she goes on, and on, AND ON about the beauty of Daniel’s wings (double eye roll) to the point where it starts to get a little irritating. (If you though Bella carrying on over Edward’s sparkly skin in Twilight was bad…) Also, the end of the story seemed a teeny tiny bit anti-climactic. Overall, an okay read.

Book Review: The Infernal Devices Series (Steph)

Because I enjoyed the “Mortal Instruments” series so much, I decided to read another series by the same author. “The Infernal Devices” series by Cassandra Clare is made up of Clockwork Angel, Clockwork Prince, and the not yet released Clockwork Princess due to be released March 2013.

4 ½ out of 5 thumbs up

This book is also about Shadowhunters, but is based in the 1800s London. The main female character, Tessa, is kidnapped (what’s with the kidnapping?) and forced to develop her shape-shifting ability (which she didn’t know she had) by her captors for reasons unknown. She is then rescued by Shadowhunters and taken to stay with them at their academy. As the Shadowhunters attempt to unravel the reason behind Tessa’s imprisonment (and her unique abilities), they are pursued by strange mechanical humanoids, and Tessa falls into the middle of an incredibly tangled love triangle.

I really liked these books (more than the “Mortal Instrument” books even) and I’m anxious know how everything works out in the end. Since it’s also written by Cassandra Clare, there are things that I like in it as with her other series like the writing style and pace. I really like the characters in this series more than “Mortal Instruments,” though I can’t really explain why. These books also have a little bit of a “steampunk” tone about them as well with all the clockwork-type contraptions, which I like.

Book Review: Mortal Instrument Series (Steph)

The books in this series written by Cassandra Clare are City of Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass, City of Fallen Angels, and City of Lost Souls. There is also a 6th book, City of Heavenly Fire that is announced to be released March 2014.

4 out of 5 thumbs up.

This series revolves around a young girl named Clary Fray who lives in New York and seemingly has an ordinary life. It is only after her mother is kidnapped that Clary begins to discover that her life in not as normal as she originally thought. She learns that she is Nephilium (half human, half angel) whose job is to hunt and kill demons who find their way into the human world. They are also known as Shadowhunters.

She meets a group of Shadowhunters and as she searches for her mother, she learns more about the world of demons and other underworlders (warlocks, werewolves, fairies, etc.). Clary and the group of other Shadowhunters embark on a quest to locate “the mortal instruments” (artifacts that, when combined, can summon a powerful angel) before another Shadowhunter-turned-evil (a.k.a. the bad guy) can find them, summon the angel, and “cleanse” the Nephilium race.

All in all, I actually really liked these books, and was so frustrated to learn that the last one still won’t be released for another 2 years (what the heck is that about?!). These books have a very “Buffy”/”Angel”/”Charmed” feel to them at first, but the story is really quite entertaining and the characters are likeable enough that you don’t want to strangle them. The writing is descriptive, without being too wordy and the story is well-paced. I read online that this series was originally supposed to be a trilogy, but the author decided to write three more books. Because of this, the “mortal instrument quest” wraps up in the first three books, and the next three are a different adventure entirely.

Book Review: The Gemma Doyle Trilogy (Steph)

One of the few young adult novel series I read this summer was a trilogy of books based in the late 1800s and is narrated by the main character, Gemma Doyle. The books in this series are A Great and Terrible Beauty, Rebel Angels, and The Sweet Far Thing all written by Libba Bray.

3 ½ out of 5 thumbs up

Gemma is a young English teen who is living with her family in India. After her mother is killed by a mysterious being, the family moves back to England, and Gemma is enrolled into Spence Academy, a finishing school for young girls. Here she is meant to learn how to become a proper lady, but instead unlocks a passageway into a secret realm where magic rules. As Gemma learns more about the realms, the magic, and the impending battle for control of the realm’s magic, she uncovers secrets about her school, her family and herself.

While I did like the storyline enough to read all three books, the story seemed to drag on a little bit at times, especially when Gemma and her friends are goofing around inside the realms. These girls have all this powerful magic at their fingertips, and all they decide to do with it is silly things like turn rocks into butterflies, or make their dresses prettier, or change the color of the trees. I guess I can see doing those things at the beginning when they’re experimenting with the magic, but they do it pretty much every time they go in there. I also found the ending a little bit disappointing, but I guess you’ll have to read it and see what you think.