Recipe #10 Homemade King's Hawiian Bread

I don't know about you but I love King's Hawaiian bread. It just has a great texture and flavor. I came across this recipe on my favorite recipe website recipezaar.com.



So here is the link to the website.



The bread turned out okay. It has a good taste. I forgot to set a timer when I put the in the oven so i went by the color. They should have gone another 5 minutes or so to completely cook the inside of the bead. We will enjoy snacking on them this week.

Recipe #9 Fiesta Cheesecake

This recipe comes from my kitchen aid mixer manual. It is a cheese dip not a dessert cheesecake. I made it for our Sunday school Christmas Party (that is in February). The dip turned out really good. It has a great flavor and looks really nice. I wanted to get a pictures before it was devoured at the party, but we ran out of time. We will definitely make this again for a get-together.

(It really is a million times better than what it looks like in these photos)

Fiesta Cheesecake

2x 8-oz cream cheese, softened

1 package taco seasoning

3 eggs

2 c shredded Marble-jack cheese

1x 4oz can green chilies

1 c sour cream

1 c salsa

Place cream cheese and taco seasoning mix in mixer bowel. Mix on speed 6 for 1 1/2 mins with flat blade mixer. Stop and scrape bowl. Turn onto speed 4 and add eggs, one at a time, beating 15 seconds between each addition. Stop and scrape bowl. Add cheese and green chilies. Turn to stir and mix 15 seconds.

Pour into a greased 9 in spring form pan. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes, or until knife comes out of the center clean. Remove from oven and spread sour cream over top. Place back in oven for 5 minutes. Cool 15 mins. Refrigerate 3-8 hours. Before serving, remove outer ring and spread salsa. Serve with taco chips, if desired.

Yields ~20 servings

Recipe #8 Baked Tilapia with corn and tomatoes

EDIT: Here is a link to the recipe with pictures so you can see how beautiful it really is.
http://www.startmakingchoices.com/recipes/recipeDetails.jsp?action=recipe&recipeid=4239&view=view

Aaron found a recipe that he wanted to try in a ConAgra coupon booklet I got in the mail. This recipe is really simple and cheap (they save it can serve 4 for less than $10). This meal cost us approximately $4.

Baked Tilapia with Corn and Tomatoes
2c frozen whole corn kernels, thawed
1x 14.5oz can Hunt's fire roasted diced tomatoes with garlic, undrained (we used mexican blend diced tomatoes)
1/2 c chopped white onion (we reconstituted some dried onion)
1t dill weed, divided
1/2t salt, divided
Pam cooking spray (we used some olive oil)
1 lb tilapia fillets, 4 oz each, thawed
1/4t ground pepper
3 c cooked brown rice (we used white because it was quicker)

Preheat oven to 425F. Combine corn, tomatoes, onion, 1/2 t dill, and 1/4 t salt in a bowl. For each packet, lay 2 20x12 inch sheets of aluminum foil on top of each other. Place about 3/4c corn mixture in the center of each sheet of foil. Spray both sides of the fillets with pam and sprinkle with the remaining dill and salt and pepper. Place fillets on the corn mixture and bring up short sides of each foil packets and double fold the tops. Double fold each ends to seal packet, leaving space for steam to gather. Place packets on baking sheets and bake 20 mins or until fish is opaque and flakes easily with fork. Open packets carefully to allow steam to escape before opening fully. Place fish and corn/tomato mixture from each packet on dinner plates and accompany each with 3/4 c rice. Serve immediately.

Review: The people in the house who like fish, really enjoyed this meal. The people who are not big fish lovers, found it just okay. We will definitely keep this recipe and make it again. Its a great way to serve fish that is healthy and in expensive.

P.S. I was going to take a picture of Aaron's beautiful work making this dinner, but he ate it all before I could get one. Maybe next time.

January Update

Here is an update on how we did in January

FINANCE
1) Save 9-10% of your annual income in a savings account
2) Save $1000 to go on a honeymoon/5-year anniversary
3) Make 1 extra house payment- I paid an extra 5.45% towards this goal
4) Spend less that $3000 on groceries and household needs for the entire year (does not include baby things but does include toiletries and cleaning products)- Wow I spent a lot this month. We had to restock on a lot of staples and we gave three meals to friends plus some extras for parties and such. Hopefully next month will be drastically less.
5)Never use a credit card -didn't use for us. I had to buy some things for work. But i was reimbursed promptly and i plan of paying it off in full when the statement arrives.
6)Save enough money to buy Aaron a new chainsaw
7) Save enough money to buy a new lawn mower
8) Save $500 to buy a 1/2 cow or a pig for the freezer
9) Have no debt (other than the mortgage) by the end of the year. (Only have some medical bills, but i want to keep it this way)- YEAH NO ADDITIONAL DEBT!! (OK, so its been a month, but it still makes me happy)
10)Pay off all medicals bills from 2009 (Thanks a lot kidney and face)-Paid our regular payment plus a little extra. Still $2000+ to go
11)Make $500 from selling things (yard sales, craigslist, etc)- Set up for a yard sale next month. Its amazing how one small house can accumulate so much stuff you never use. We also tried to sell two slides and a camera on Craigslist. No luck, but we are working towards this goal.
12) Start a savings account for a new car

FAMILY
1) Go on two weekend family vacations- Nothing planned yet, but we do have some Christmas money set aside for this purpose.
2) Visit both families at least once

HOBBY
1) Make at least 2 batches of beer
2) Make at least 1 batch of root beer
3) Grow a successful garden- Nothing in the ground yet, but we have started planning on what we want to plant.
4) Can 6+ months of corn, green beans, pickles, spaghetti sauce, stewed tomatoes, salsa, etc.- We received 6 grocery bags of grapefruit a couple weeks ago. We have all of them sliced ad juice. This week we are going to can the fruit and freeze the juice.

SALLY
1) Get back to pre-Hannah weight- I am 12.5%$ of the way there. I am definitely learning self control with all of the wonderful baked bread and sweets around the house. I want to start working out but am having trouble finding time. This is my mini-goal for February-start a semi regular workout schedule.
2) Make two dresses for Hannah- No dresses yet, but i did have some sewing time with a lady at work. We made a little bag together.
3) Learn a new hobby- Any suggestions on a new hobby? I have no idea what this will be yet
4)Make 2 books on picaboo- I am up to date with Titus's baby book.
5) Read the entire bible 11 out of 260 chapters read. I know this is pathetic. I need to work on finding time to set aside every day to do this.
6) Get more involved at the church. - I really want to do this. But, I'm hesitant to commit myself to too much. They have opening for things i think I would like to do but I just don't have the time to do. Hopefully God will lead me to the right ministry. Too bad there isn't a baking ministry.

AARON
1) Hunt something (Armadillos do not count)- Our neighbor called about a wild boar bothering his pigs. He hunted but was unsuccessful because of the daytime and surrounding obstacles (houses and cars). But the year is still young.
2) Process one animal
3) Make a rocking horse

OTHER
1) Make our own (so my real goal is to not but any sandwich bread or breakfast breads for an entire year)- So far we have not bought any bread. This is going to be a much harder goal than i first anticipated.
2) Make 52 new recipes- I made 7 new recipes this month.

Some thoughts from this month. I am excited about everything that we accomplished or started in motion this month. I know its easy to make a list and dream, but i think because of this list we will accomplish great things this year. I now realize (as Aaron warned me) how ambitious my list really is. I am very thankful of his support and help in my crazy dream of accomplishing all of this. I already would have failed if it wasn't for him (who knew he was an expert bread maker).