Garbage Can dinner

Someone from Bulgaria and Hong Kong visited my blog yesterday. I guess these camping posts are more exciting than I thought. Just kidding. Maybe.

Every year at my family's campout we do a Dutch-oven Dessert cook-off. This year it was decided to forgo the dessert part (seems everyone is on a diet or its too much sweets or some such nonsense) and the children would vote for their favorite meal and the family that was in charge of that meal would get the coveted trophy until next years campout. My sister Amy and her family were in charge of providing Saturday night's dinner and they made Garbage Can dinner. No lie. It was so cool. They bought a metal garbage can. Inside of it was placed the husks of corn on the cob, followed by layering of different kinds of veggies and meats. They used chicken, little smokies, polish sausages, zuchinni, sweet potatoes, carrots, squash, onions, red peppers, green peppers, potatoes, corn on the cob (broke in half), and seasoned it with salt and pepper and season salt. Then she put about 6 inches of water in it and put it on their camp chef stove and let it come to a boil. Once it is boiling it doesn't take long for all the veggies to get steamed and the meat to cook.
When the veggies are done, you drain the water off.
And then dump the contents of your garbage can dinner on the table.

The kids went wild for it. No surprise that it was the winner of the favorite meal! The best part was that there is so much in it, that you just take what you like and leave the rest for someone else.
Fun, huh???

5 is too many

Last night was our Ward Party. There hasn't been one in forever, so we decided that we should go and have fun. It was pretty great. There was fun games and things for the kids and good food to eat (I took my Snickers Salad), so we were having a good time.

Then came the contests they had planned. Twinkie and Marshmallow eating contests. My curiosity got the better of my diabetic self and I went to watch....and then some. The guys were up first and I thought they were a bunch of sissies only getting through 2 or 3 of their 6 twinkies that they needed to eat in 2 minutes. I mean really! It's a twinkie, right? Who doesn't love those? Then the ladies were up and probably because I had talked smack, they were telling me to go do it, and I caved. I can't help it. Peer pressure is too much. So I, being the good friend that I am, made my activity days co-leader do it with me. There was 7 of us ladies. The Elders Quorum President put 4 twinkies in front of each of us and it was to see who could eat the most in 2 minutes time. Oh yeah. No problem I thought. Meanwhile wondering, "Is there enough insulin left in my body to counteract this much sugar?" The timer started and we began shoving them in our faces. Oh yes, we were oh-so-ladylike. Anyway, I always try not to outdo myself in things like this. I don't want people to think that the reason I am fat is because I CAN EAT, but rather that the fat just miraculously attached itself to my body and I can not remove it. So, being in the twinkie eating contest probably wasn't the best thing for the image I am trying to uphold.

That was the least of my worries though. Two twinkies in and I was feeling it. Others had stopped by then. They were trying not to gag. Garbage cans were brought over. It was insane. And yet, I kept going. THEN, times up! Me and two others in a three-way tie having eaten 3 1/2 twinkies in two minutes. Now the conundrum was how to determine the winner. It was decided to make us eat one more and whoever did it the fastest was the winner. Keep in mind friends that the prize was a $25 gift certificate to Bed, Bath and Beyond. Clearly, whoever won would be spending that on a new garbage can since their other one would be ruined from barfing up twinkies. Anyway.....

I kept telling myself that I could do it. I could do it. I was like the little engine that could, but shouldn't. The lady to my left swallowed and showed her empty mouth a split second before me. And I lost. (After gorging myself on 5 twinkies. More than the winner of the guys eat-off contest.) Then she promptly got up and went into the church restroom and made herself barf. I didn't. I think there should be a clause in the contest rules that says, " If the winner is unable to keep the twinkies down or fails to uphold her position as winner of the twinkie eating contest, then the title of winner goes to the runner up, who clearly is so demented that she has not barfed and is more deserving of the prize."

That's what I think. One thing for sure is that I WILL NEVER EAT A TWINKIE AGAIN FOR AS LONG AS I LIVE. I don't care what they are offering as the prize, I am not gonna participate in the contest.

And that, my friends, makes ME the true winner.

Corn on the cob

I was noticing something tonight as we ate our first corn on the cob of the season. First, it wasn't very yummy. Probably because it was grown in a greenhouse somewhere and didn't just grow naturally in my garden. (Whatev!) Second, I noticed that we all have different ways we eat the corn off the cob. For example, Meghan and I eat it in rows down the length of the cob. Jonathan, Jenny and Mike eat around the cob in neat (well, Jonathan's isn't "neat") little rings. And Rachel takes bites randomly all over the cob until it is cleaned off.

Hmmmmm. So, it made me wonder.....how do YOU eat your corn-on-the-cob?

New York, New York!!

Oh my gosh! It was so fun! We snuck away on Wednesday. Well, we didn't really sneak, everyone knew we were going, I just didn't post it on here when I would be leaving. We had a blast! Our hotel was right on Broadway smack dab in the middle of Times Square. It was great to walk out of our hotel and into another world. Or at least for me, it was like a different world.

We saw three shows. We saw Phantom of the Opera on Wednesday, Wicked on Thursday, and Legally Blonde on Friday. So fun! My favorite was Wicked! My kids were so jealous of us, they wanted to know if we had videoed it for them. We told them that you can't do that and they are clearly disappointed. I guess when it comes to Salt Lake next year we will be taking them! We took tons of pictures! Mike told me that I was a freaky tourist because I kept taking pictures of everything! I just didn't want to miss anything that I might want to remember later...We ate yummy food. Oh yeah! We got cheesecake from Juniors Bakery which is famous for their cheesecake, and we ate lunch one day at the Popover Cafe. We went to the Manhattan Temple. It was so beautiful! I just kept thinking what a wonderful blessing for the people of New York City to have their own temple in the midst of all that hustle and bustle. Definitely a refuge from the world. The Statue of Liberty was magnificent! I absolutely loved it! I took about a bazillion pictures of and around the statue. It was a bummer that you can't go clear up into the statue anymore. I'm not sure that I would've made it anyway. Walking up the five flights of stairs just to get as high as we COULD go was enough for me. We walked everywhere! Or we took the Subway, which was super fun! The taxis left much to be desired...like SAFETY!! We made an observation that there are NO speed limit signs anywhere. So apparently, that means "go as fast as you can without killing yourself". It was crazy!

I missed my kids tons; they were constantly on my mind. I kept thinking, "Oh, Rachel would love this", or "Jonathan would think this is neato". Someday we may take them there to see the sights, but not until they are older!

Food, glorious food

I was at a loss as what to write for this week's Thursday Thirteen list. I asked my kids for help and here is what they thought of. BEHOLD... the list of thirteen things (okay, really they are foods) that we like to buy from Costco.


1. Chicken Nuggets
2. Vitamins - these are Jonathan's favorite. Not because he likes vitamins so much, but because they are DINOSAUR shaped.
3. Capri-sun
4. Cheese sticks
5. Costco muffins -especially the chocolate ones. Mmmmm. Yummm. I have given them up though. Now I can only crave them from afar.
6. Bagels- except not anymore, what with me counting carbs and all these days. Stupid Diabetes!
7. Already cooked bacon- such a time saver! (And who doesn't like Bacon?)
8. Jamaica-me Sweet Hot and Spicy sauce - really good in tonights meatloaf
9. Rotisserie chicken
10. Costco cakes - I think I will buy one for Rachel's baptism day party and that will probably keep me good for a few years. Well, really it WON'T, but if I keep saying it maybe it will come true. Wishful thinking, right?
11. Fruit leather and fruit snacks - Jonathan would DIE if he didn't have one or the both of these to snack on every day.
12. Vegetable lasagna- I always try to have these in the freezer so that when I am stressed out when Mike is travelling, I can whip it out and it's almost like a homemade dinner. And it specifically has to be when he is travelling, since he doesn't like it.
13. Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches! Enough said.

Breakfast,anyone?

This morning we went to breakfast. In the 10+ years that I have lived in Utah I have never eaten at "Doug & Emmy's Family Restaurant and Cafe" in Layton. This restaurant is pretty cool and it used to be the old train depot. It is redone into a restaurant now and serves tons of good home cooking.

Here are my thirteen favorite breakfast foods from Doug & Emmy's (and pretty much anywhere else):

1. Pancakes- the classic is the best.

2. Biscuits and Gravy- for the carb addict this rocks!

3. Scrambled eggs- Mike likes his eggs over-easy. I say, why eat them raw when you can have them cooked?

4. Sausage- in links or patties, this is my favorite!

5. Bacon- my kids could eat this all day long and still be skinnier than rails.

6. Hot chocolate- always a plus on cold days,with lots of whipped cream on top. MMMMM!

7. Orange Juice- yummmmm! (Just not right after I have brushed my teeth, okay?)

8. Syrup - My husband says this is a condiment, not a food. Whatever. On my list, it's whatever I say it is.

9. Hashbrowns- hello, potatoes. What's wrong with that?

10. S.O.S.- **** on a shingle. Mike had to explain that one to me. Seriously, I did not know. It was a yummy gravy on top of hashbrowns. Rachel was not a fan of this, but I sure liked it!

11. Scones WITH honey-butter - OH MY FREAKIN HECK! Their scones were sooooo good.

12. Krispy Kreme Donuts- yummy on-the-go, or not breakfast (and anytime) food. Not offered at Doug & Emmy's, but still had to be a part of my list.

13. Fruit- I have to make my list kind of health conscious ya know.

Because Chocolate IS best

You Are a Chocolate Cheesecake

Rich and greedy, you're attracted to the dark side of life. Nothing ever quite satisfies your inner beast. And somehow, people find that sexy.

What Kind of Cheesecake Are You?