Oh What a Beautiful Morning . . .

Good morning world . . .

I wake up every day at the crack of dawn (I always have for some reason, and it's not quite so lovely most days in the wintertime believe me . . .) and I can actually hear the birds singing loudly just outside my window. I love to just lay there an' listen to them for a few minutes every morning before I get out of bed.

Then I have to gaze out my bedroom window for a few minutes. I can't believe the beautiful sight; every morning it takes my breath away - I love it, my grass is now green and lush, the trees have leaves on them, and my flowers are blooming madly!

Spring in Utah, I think it's absolutely my favorite time of year.

I just had to make a photographic journey around my yard today to record my favorite colors, blossoms and textures.



You can visit the whole set on my FLICKR account if you'd like to see the complete collection.

Yep, it's a beautiful morning . . .





There are sooooo many Blissfully Domestic blogs - I love this place!

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Cafe Rio Salads

If you live in Utah or have visited Utah in the past five years, and have been outside the house; you have probably been the beneficiary of Steve & Tricia Stanley, who started the first Cafe Rio restaurant in 1997 in St. George, Utah. (Really!? In St. George, who would have guessed?) (Also, their website is really fun to visit if you get a chance, and has all kinds of really fun and interesting information)

And they are certainly still a HUGE hit today here in Utah and their copy cat recipes are becoming famous across the world. Over the years I've received many recipes that seem to approximate the REAL thing at our local CAFE RIO restaurants. But just recently I discovered a cooking blog who has THE BEST Cafe Rio recipes of all, that I've been able to try. In fact, take a minute right now to go on over to Favorite Family Recipes and see all their yummy offerings.

My family has gathered together a couple times in the last couple months and assembled these DELICIOUS salads using these recipes. With a little searching and preparation of ingredients, one can make a REALLY close approximation to the real thing.

They were voted by my extended family the number one requested item for our get together this week to celebrate Mother's Day. Yum! Can you smell the fresh cilantro? Or maybe it's those delicious fresh limes, hmmmm . . . it's making me hungry again just posting these photos.

Our assignment was to bring the creamy cilantro salad dressing (which seriously is to die for if you haven't ever tried it!) and also the cilantro lime rice. The ingredients for the dressing are pretty easy and you should probably have most of them on hand.


One tip on the dressing; if you don't want to mess with the fresh tomatillos, buy Salsa Verde which is made from tomatillos and substitute 6 heaping tablespoons for the fresh tomatillos and the jalapenos.


We always use brown rice to make the Cilantro Lime Rice. Don't think you an take a shortcut and skip making the rice - it's super easy and is DELICIOUS! You just add a little freshly squeezed lime, a bit of sugar and just chopped cilantro (smells so good!) It totally makes the rice!

Here we are finishing up the final ingredients and assembling the masterpieces.

Ahhh! Dig in - they're the best!

Hints & Tips: be sure to buy the cute little foil pans to assemble and serve the salads in. We have tried the tortillas you cook yourself from Costco, and also the regular already cooked tortillas. Both are great, just brown in a frying pan with a little Olive oil Pam and a sprinkle of grated cheddar/Monterrey jack cheese on top. Then place in the foil pans while hot and toasty. Also, you can buy the traditional Cafe Rio mini tortilla strips and are so popular at Smith's in the produce section with the croutons. Or check any large well stocked grocery and hope you can find them because they really add a lot also.

I just had to include one more photo - aren't they so cute! Some day I'm going to blog about all our wedding plans! Now that is another adventure . . .

So many great ideas HERE!
I could hang out all day

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Happy Mother's Day!

What a fun day!  Anytime my kids get together for any reason is a fun day for me.  Isn't that the way with Mothers?  I know we are gathering with my siblings later in the day to celebrate with MY MOTHER.  And she will be so excited!  

 I sent her this Mother's day greeting through Hallmark E-cards.  It's just a fun little thing!  We have something more special planned for later this afternoon.  (shush - don't tell her, but we're all getting together at my sister's condo in Park City Utah, having homemade CAFE RIO SALADS, and sharing mother's day gifts and creations)

Make a Smilebox greeting

We have a favorite Mother's Day tradition at our home.  Ever since my kids were little, we all gather together, hit my favorite nursery, load up on flowers then come home and plant MOTHER'S DAY POTS.  They turn out gorgeous, and the kids love to watch them grow and blossom throughout the summer.  It's wonderful!  With so many helping hands they all get planted soooo quickly!  

It started out with me telling the kids what to plant where, now that they are bigger they like to design their own pots.  (I do give them little clues about where to put the TALL flowers so they don't HIDE everything else:)

Just thought I'd share MY mother's day flowers 

with all of you!

Have a very happy

MOTHER'S DAY!

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What is a Buckeye?

What on earth is a buckeye?

Because we have several friends with ties to Ohio, who are big Ohio State Football fans, we have become acquainted somewhat and are aware that of course, they ARE the Ohio State Buckeyes.

But what on earth is a buckeye?

Last Christmas, my Ohio State friends gave us a plate of homemade buckeyes for a Christmas Treat . . . they were soooo yummy. Kind of peanut buttery and creamy with chocolate . . . hmmmmmm - yummy!

But I still don't know what the heck a buckeye is!

My daughter, Karianne, is marrying a fine young man from Columbus, Ohio. Karianne and Greg came by the other night for an evening with family, food, games and visiting. Surprisingly, I asked Greg what a buckeye is, he doesn't know.

So we got online and here is what we found out:

A small, shiny, dark brown nut with a light tan patch that comes from the official state tree of Ohio, the buckeye tree.

Oh!  You MEAN a HORSE CHESTNUT?  That's what we call 'em here in UTAH.  

Interestingly enough, I'm quite fond of horse chestnuts, my grandparents had two beautiful trees at their home that I remember with so many fond memories as I was growing up.  I love playing in the shade of those beautiful trees.  Also, my favorite place in the world; Paris, France has an abundance of beautiful horse chestnut trees, and I always bring home a pocket full of chestnuts whenever I have the opportunity to visit there.

(my pocket full of horse chestnuts directly from Paris)

Now that we officially know what on earth a buckeye is,

Karianne and Greg set out to make us a batch.  

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Buckeyes
makes about 13 dozen

2 lbs. powdered sugar
3 cups peanut butter (smooth and not the all-natural kind)
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks)
1 1/2 lb. chocolate chips, semi-sweet (24 oz.)
1/2 bar edible paraffin wax*

Whip the first three ingredients with an electric mixer and chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour. After it's chilled, settle down in front of a good movie or with some friends to roll it into small, 1-inch balls. Put these back into the fridge or freezer on parchment-covered baking sheets.

Melt the chocolate and wax in a double boiler, over, not in, boiling water, stirring mixture until smooth. Keep warm.

Dip balls using toothpick, leaving uncovered spot on top. You may fill in toothpick marks with little bits of peanut butter mixture. Dry on waxed paper. Chill covered in refrigerator or freezer. When completely hard, store in the refrigerator or freezer. If well-wrapped they can stay in the freezer for months, if you can stay away from them. Like I said, really good right out of the freezer!

*The wax makes these a little more stable and less prone to melt. But if you don't want to ingest wax and leave it out, that's fine. You'll just have to be more careful about not letting them get too warm.

Well, I know the original nut from the horse chestnut tree is supposedly poisonous.  But these homemade treats are really delicious.   If you're looking for a fun treat that's easy to make, something the kids can really get their hands into - look no further than the infamous Ohio State Buckeye.  

And who knows, with a daughter marrying someone from Ohio, I just may find myself one of these days at an Ohio State Football game.  At least I'll be well prepared.

(ha ha - just for the record Greg is a Michigan fan!)

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~~ Prom ~~ the last one . . .

This is my youngest daughter Kelsie's last formal dance . . . sigh . . .

She graduates from high school in exactly 24 days. My goodness, how the time has flown by. I remember other mother's warning me that this would happen, but somehow I am still unprepared.

Kelsie was reviewing her summer schedule with me, and thank goodness she will be home from time to time during the summer before she leaves for college out of state in the fall. Gives me a chance to get used to the empty house syndrome. It's slowly dawning on me that the clutter around here is as much from myself as anyone. Somehow, I thought it would disappear when the kids did.

Anyway, I digress . . . she had such a fun time at the prom, and I must admit I splurged a little and let her do her hair and nails. After all, she borrowed the dress, a mom's gotta spend a little money on the prom. I actually bought her a pair of beautiful new shoes for the prom also. She shopped and shopped for them. You can see them in the photo's below.

I'm so glad she had a GREAT time. I'm so pleased she was able to go out and celebrate on this fun occasion with many friends before they all begin to scatter in the wind.

Oh wow . . . the days are winding down . . .

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Just Directing Traffic

Just wanted to direct a little blog traffic over to one of my favorite websites that I also am lucky enough to contribute to.  It's been great fun getting to know the other Modern Molly's.  Each one has a great blog where you can always count on finding lots of fun and interesting information. 

You can also see my latest gardening post - which when I get time, I will recreate for here on my personal blog, but for now, you'll just have to read my gardening tips on Modern Molly Mormon.

Hope you enjoy a little visit. 

Speaking of gardening, sure wish I'd got a few more things planted before all this rain - nothing like a good rainstorm to give those seeds a jumpstart!

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