Salsa Recipe

Earlier this year when we planted our garden, we decided that we'd try for primarily a salsa garden - tomatoes, peppers, and onions. Of course we added cucumbers, carrots, and broccoli to go with some volunteer lettuce. We changed up the watering system this year which I think really helped our tomatoes thrive compared to years past. The harvest was big for our small garden. The result was 60+ pints of salsa!

I decided to venture out on my own this year and create my own recipe from ideas and portions of other recipes that looked good, also basing it on the recipe I used a couple years back. I think the result was a pretty successful salsa. Since I'm not very good at documenting and sharing recipes, I thought this would be a good place to start...

Caleb's Salsa 2010

about 6 qt (24 c) diced roma tomatoes (this is a large bowl full)

2 c cider vinegar

4 chopped yellow onions (as fine as you prefer)

2 c diced jalapeno peppers (as fine as you prefer)

1 c diced serrano peppers (as fine as you prefer)

1 head garlic, minced

1 c brown sugar

1/4 c kosher salt

2 T black pepper

2 T cumin

Simmer ingredients together for about 10 minutes. Hot pack into pint jars. Yields 14 - 16 pints. Mild-Medium salsa depending on the potency of the peppers.

I also made a batch of hotter salsa by exchanging some of the jalapeno peppers for habeneros which gave it a nice little kick.

Fresh Peach Pie... Mmmmm

This post is for the siblings... the first Silvey peach pie for summer/fall 2010 made from peaches off our tree. Eat your heart out.

This message approved by fathers everywhere.

"Pickey Nose"

Sounds disgusting, right? Well, Sara's new fascination is with Mickey Mouse. Most of the time she'll get it to sound correct, but tonight I heard her say something that very much sounded like "pickey nose". I immediately started checking her fingers and face to see if everything was clean and okay. I finally clued myself in when she ran over to the shelf with the movies and pointed to one that had Mickey on the cover. Loving the parrot stage of this toddler... :P

Pizza Fridays - BBQ Chicken (and Bacon)

Earlier this year we started doing pizza Fridays at our house (when we're home). We throw the dough ingredients into the bread machine for mixing, then we roll them out, add sauce and toppings (purchased in bulk at Sam's Club) and stick them in the oven. We've tried several variations including adding herbs to the dough, treating the outer crust to butter, garlic, parmesan cheese, and herbs. After our vacation we decided to branch out and try something other than our typical pepperoni and ham/pineapple toppings. Heather came across a BBQ Chicken pizza recipe in a local recipe book that we tried (and modified) which turned out pretty tasty.

The original recipe included a dough recipe, as well as the topping. I'll only be including the topping - I think any favorite dough recipe or store-bought pizza dough would do fine.

2-3 chicken breasts, diced

1/2 green pepper, diced

1/2 red pepper, diced

1 3/4 c. bottled barbeque sauce

3 - 4 c. mozzarella or pizza cheese

Cook chicken in frying pan (sprinkle with garlic salt while cooking). Set aside. Sauté peppers until crisp-tender. Add chicken and barbeque sauce to peppers and heat through. Spread chicken topping over partially cooked pizza dough and top with cheese. Cook until cheese is melted and beginning to brown. Makes one pizza.

Original recipe credits to Kara Knapp, Mapleton, UT

Most of my family and friends know that I enjoy playing around with recipes and inventing a little - I just couldn't leave this one alone because I felt it needed more that just a BBQ sauce with bell pepper flavor added. For those that are interested, here's my interpretation of the recipe above...

Caleb's BBQ Chicken Pizza Topping

2-3 chicken breasts

1/2 green bell pepper, sliced

1/2 red bell pepper, sliced

1/2 sweet onion, sliced

1 1/2 cups BBQ sauce (we currently prefer Sweet Baby Ray's)

about 1 cup water

1/2 lb. package bacon, cooked and crumbled

2 - 3 c. pizza cheese

Step 1 - Chicken

Grill option:  Prepare chicken breasts with pepper and garlic salt to taste. Grill on medium heat until done. Slice against the grain into 1/8 to 1/4 inch pieces. Large pieces may need to be cut in half.

Pan option:  Slice uncooked chicken into 1/8 to 1/4 inch pieces. Large pieces may need to be cut in half. Season chicken with pepper, and garlic salt to taste. Preheat 1-2 tbsp vegetable oil in pan and cook over medium heat. Remove from pan and set aside.

Step 2 - Peppers

Preheat 1 tbsp vegetable oil in pan. Over med-high heat, sauté peppers until crisp-tender (about 5 minutes).

Step 3 - Sauce

Combine chicken, peppers in pan over med heat. Add BBQ sauce. Slowly mix in water until the BBQ sauce is about the consistency of tomato sauce or slightly more runny.

(Due to the varied consistency of BBQ sauce, add more or less BBQ sauce or water depending on the sauce you use. If you add too much water, just boil the sauce a little longer.)

Step 4 - Top the Pizza

Makes 2 pizzas for the amount of sauce/topping we like - do more if you prefer. Add the BBQ chicken mixture to the pizza crust. Add onions and bacon for texture and flavors. Top with cheese. Cook until cheese is melted and beginning to brown.

If you try it out, let me know what you think or changes you try. I think I'd try this without sautéed peppers and just put them on the top raw (like the onions).


Our next Pizza Friday adventure will likely be along the lines of chicken or spinach alfredo or something similar. If that one turns out we'll be sure to share it as well.

Summer Vacation - Part 3 (finally!)

So you might be wondering why it has taken so long for this last post. Well, not long after my first two posts i get very distracted with the family coming home, projects, vacation recovery, and other things that I hope we'll be able to post about in the near future. The largest impact to my posting was a recent hard drive crash which caused me to replace and rebuild my operating system. If you can't get the computer to run, you can't access pictures and post a blog...

So finally I get to share some of our beach pictures. This was one of the main reasons we decided to take some extra time on this SC trip. When we found out that Michele was getting married out that way we announced to Heather's family that we intended to go to the beach as well. We started coordinating the beach trip back in February with Heather's brother Paul (my age) and his wife Alexis and family. By the time we would go to the beach we had Ben's family and David's family as well.

We booked a beachfront hotel called the Ocean Reef resort in Myrtle Beach and got a good rate because we booked in February. We checked in on Sunday afternoon and arrived at about the same time as the other families. We had a two bedroom condo unit to ourselves with full kitchen, washer/dryer, 2 baths, and a few TVs for the few times we were inside with kids/etc. (I caught a couple world cup soccer matches)

Here's the view from our room that evening and the next morning before the crowds came in:

Also knowing that we'd be at the beach, and how much Heather and I love the beach, we decided it would be a good time to do some family pictures. Alexis has a nice camera similar tom mine, so we asked her if she would take some pictures of our family that evening (before the sunburn hit and while we had energy for it). Here are a few pictures that were taken:

Because of the chaos of kids at the beach, an approaching storm, and fading light, there were a number of pictures taken, but hair was out of place, people were looking different ways, and the lighting was a little funny. Most pictures turned out to be a little dark and blue like in the picture of Heather and I up above (which I have not yet taken into Photoshop). I played a little with the family picture and we got a pretty great shot. I'll  do a separate post on the Photoshop work I did on the lighting and Bryant's head in a later post. Couldn't tell, could you?!

I mentioned the storm... Storms in South Carolina come in fast and with lots of rain. By the time we were done with pictures the storm was close with lightning and thunder. They closed the hotel pool so we decided to put the kids to bed and play some games. Alexis pulled out her camera and we tried to capture some lightning with a timed exposure and here's one of the pictures that turned out.

The next morning was clear and calm. We had great weather for the rest of the week which we didn't complain about one bit. Our days at the beach went pretty much like this - wake up, eat breakfast, go to the beach for a few hours, come inside for lunch, some kids down for naps and others to the pool, dinner, then back to the beach for the rest of the day. Here are some pictures of us having fun...

For those that have not been to a beach on the east coast, the water is warm and pleasant with the current coming from the warm Gulf of Mexico - unlike the cold Pacific current which comes south from Alaska. The waves were fairly calm, but big enough at times to body board - which we did.

I heart waves...

Digging in the sand to construct a sand castle with kids playing in the distant waves. This was one of our regular evening activities.

Sara was a little timid with the waves, and was often found sitting in the shallows with Heather, playing in the sand, finding shells, shark teeth, and other sea treasures.

Kaylee showing off her shells.

Fun pictures...

A view from the condo balcony at the pool below....

And to wrap up the beach pictures, a series I took of Sara as a wave came in and caught her off guard. She and her cousin, Sabrina (Paul and Alexis 2nd), were playing in the sand...

We loved every minute at the beach and wish we could do this more frequently. We stayed Sunday to Thursday and then drove to wrap up my leg of the trip at Heather's brother Joseph's house. We went swimming with them a couple times (surprise) as well as other daytime activities. We got to spend some time with another brother, Sam, while there as well.

Overall, with everything that could have been chaotic and not much fun, I had a great time and it was a true break from work - one that I have not experienced since I started working after graduating. Two full weeks of near detachment and recharging did me well.

I flew home on Father's Day (best day ever since I didn't have to drive home!) and Nate was kind enough to pick me up at the airport. Went back to his place for dinner and to pick up my car and make my way home.

Summer Vacation 2010, Part 2

Part 2 of our vacation posts picks up on Monday, June 7. After a much needed night of sleep we had an easy morning and then went swimming with sister-in-law Heidi and her kids. When we got back to their house, some of the kids went swimming again in their bathtub to rinse off.

Monday evening means family night. Heather's brother, Brian and his family came over to visit. Heidi had picked up some beef and turkey after hearing about our Brazilian garlic sirloin and bacon-wrapped turkey skewers, so it was a cook out night. Although I was on vacation, I couldn't help but offer to grill. We loaded up the grill with meats and veggies - mmmm!

Little miss independent Sara trying to eat with her utensils with uncle Aarron looking on...

... And then howing Aaron and Heidi how she can take off and put on her sandals.

Heather and Heidi

In preparation for the wedding, the women decided it would be fun to get matching dresses for the 20+ girl cousins. They found a great deal online for the dresses and wanted to add a little purple sleeve on them. Carrie (Brian's wife) and Heidi took on most of the stitching and Heather joined in to help wrap up the work.

We had a Family Home Evening, played games, told stories, and had a great time.
The next morning we had planned to go to the zoo. We happened to go during international oceans week (who knew?) and there were several activities for the kids. Most decided to get their faces painted to match a fish of their choice. Bryant, like his dad, didn't want to have his face painted. My nephew, Jacobi, was one of my favorites...

The girls on a bronze bear statue.

"Look, dad. Bamboo!"

Sara enjoyed the petting station and nearly had her pecked by the chickens as she tried holding a cracker for them to eat.

After the zoo we went swimming again, and that evening went to the minor league baseball game in Greenville. We had a great time with Aarron and Heidi and a good visit with Brian and Carrie as well.

Wednesday morning came a little early as we had to travel about 2 hours to Columbia, SC for Michele's temple session. After that we traveled another couple hours to Ninety Six, where Heather's parents live. From then on, Heather was tirelessly working on the wedding cake and helping with decorations for the reception. I had the pleasure of doing some end of quarter work while on vacation that happened to be in the middle of all the decorating chaos on Thursday. Did I really miss out? I don't think so...

Friday came and we got loaded up again to go back to Columbia for the wedding. We all stayed at a hotel near the temple, played in the pool, hung out, and got ready for the wedding on Saturday.

For those that are familiar with some of the stories of Johansen weddings, this one was surprisingly normal. No marriage licenses were forgotten, everything was on time, and seemed to move very smoothly. I guess that's what happens on the 11th wedding out of 12 kids. Practice and planning must have played a part. Saturday was hot and very humid to be dressed up. The kids did relatively well during the wedding and everyone seemed patient for the pictures afterward.

Sara was tired and ready for a nap by the time we got around to taking this picture. Her friend is Benjamin's (the groom) sister who Sara made friends with earlier in the week.

The happy couple - meet Benjamin and Michele Gibson!

After all the pictures and lunch we had to travel another 2 hours to where the reception was being held. On the way out of town I saw this and had to take a picture. The "El Cheapo" gas station had gas at the lowest price we had seen on the trip. It certainly was el cheapo - look at the hole in the sign!

The final preparations were being made at the church for the reception. Heather asked me to help her assemble the tiers on the cake. We had to insert dowels and position the tiers around fresh flowers. Kinda tricky. Here's the finished product:

The kids were troopers. In fact, I think the kids lasted better and longer than I did that day!

Sara decided she wanted in on the bride's dance. She got some giggles going in the crowd while trying to steal some attention.

And one more picture of the Gibsons just after sharing some cake.

We ended the day with another 2 hour drive to Heather's sister Jennifer's house which was on our way to the beach. Because of the travel we missed the clean-up duty which is a first for us. We had a great time visiting with all of Heather's family. Despite the confusion that can ensue with 12 kids and their families, everything went really well.

We learned that after the reception while families were traveling home, Heather's brother Joseph blacked out at the wheel and drove off into a field. His wife, Becky, who was following in their van (and obviously freaked out by seeing her husband go four wheeling in the dark) stopped to make sure everything was okay. No injuries and they were lucky it was a field. A couple minutes later their son, Jared, noticed flames underneath the van that Becky had parked on the side of the road. It was too late to move the vehicle. They got everyone out and watched it go up in flames - tires popping, airbags, and the gas tank all blew out. It melted power lines overhead. They didn't lose very much in the fire (aside from a vehicle) - fortunately most of the luggage was in the other vehicle.

That wraps up week 1 of the two week trip. The next installment will cover the rest of my time in SC.

Summer Vacation 2010, Part 1

On a Sunday afternoon I find myself sitting in my home office sorting through pictures of our latest family adventure. It's taken me a week to catch up to home life, work, and home projects that have occupied my mind. Alone in the house (because the rest of the family is not home yet) I am enjoying the peaceful bliss of silence, broken now by the sound of my keyboard. I've decided it's time to blog and let everyone know what my clan has done for the first part of the summer. I think it will take a few posts to adequately cover the events of the past few weeks, so here's the first installment...

We found out in February that Heather's sister, Michele, was engaged to be married in the Columbia, South Carolina temple. Heather insisted that she wanted to spend some quality time in SC with her family. This seemed like a good idea and almost too convenient - the kids would be out of school, she could make the wedding cake as a gift, and could stay some extra time to see her other siblings. Aside from the wedding and seeing Heather's family (the obvious reason for going), I had one agenda on my mind - get to the beach! I arranged to have two weeks off at work, something that I haven't ever done since entering in to the workforce, and we began to plan a trip that some might compare to the Griswolds in one of their National Lampoon excursions.


A number of factors went into the travel plans, and we decided that it would be best for us to drive. After a couple months of preparations, lists, and planning, we finally loaded up the Grand Caravan with luggage, food, and entertainment for the kids and left Utah valley at about 4:30pm on Friday, June 4. Less than an hour on the road, we had to pull off for a potty break. Needless to say, I was not thrilled with the prospect of stopping every hour.

We got back on the road and then everything seemed to click. There was no major road construction in Wyoming. The kids didn't need the frequent potty breaks. The weather was clear, and I was feeling good behind the wheel. We stopped for a late dinner at dusk and got back on the road. Crossing into Nebraska at nighttime, we could see storms in the distance. As the night got later, the storm turned into one of the most fantastic displays of lightning I have ever seen. The storm lit up the sky continuously like a fireworks display on the Fourth of July. I tracked the storm's time for at least a half hour before the road turned enough to remove my view.

It was about 3:30am before I was tired enough to have Heather drive. She drove for a few hours until the sun came up. She got us to the corner of Iowa before I took the wheel again. We stopped for breakfast in St. Joseph, MO and then made our way to Kirksville to stay the night with my grandparents.

Kirksville is one of those towns that doesn't seem to change very much. Granny's house was very much the same as I have always remembered it. Different colors inside, but the same. We were all happy to be there after being in the car for so long. We spent the afternoon visiting and the kids went exploring around the porch. There was a light rain when we got there and the kids were fascinated by the buckets that caught the water.

We got there in time for lunch - dog sandwiches. Heather was a little confused and asked what a dog sandwich was - was it a cut up hot dog? For those who are uninformed, "dog" in this case is actually Grandpa's word for bologna. We all had a good laugh about that one.

After lunch we found the porch swing.

Sara enjoyed walking around, however she wouldn't let go of her blanket. I wasn't going to argue. It got washed that night.

And as a special treat, Granny made brownies to go with some ice cream after our nice roast and veggies for dinner.

Gina and Dennis joined us for dinner and Sammie and Joe came over a little later. It was a good visit and was fun to catch up with aunts and uncles I haven't seen for a couple years.

At bedtime, everyone was exhausted. I laid Sara down on a bed and about 5 minutes later she was out - didn't even turn over to her stomach like she usually does. The next morning it was still evident that everyone was tired. I woke up with the sun shining into the bedroom, but everyone else was pulling the covers up to get as much sleep as possible.

After a country breakfast of eggs, bacon, toast, and orange juice (my and Bryant's favorite) we took some pictures and loaded up again to make the second half of the drive.

We left about 9:30am on Sunday. It was another uneventful drive across MO, into IL, KY, TN, NC, and finally to our first destination in SC. We arrived at midnight eastern time at Heather's brother Aarron's house.

With that, I'll summarize a few things for this post.

• Car DVD players, iPods, Nintendo DSi, music and audiobooks make this type of travel much more fun and enjoyable.
  
• Gas prices in Utah were at $2.97. The cheapest we saw gas was $2.37. Average price in Wyoming was $2.69, and from Missouri to the east the average was $2.49.

Relatively speaking, we had a pretty good time and pretty easy travel across the US. We live in a beautiful country and it was fun to see the scenery change from mountains to plains and hills, desert to fields and trees, and everything in between.