Obsession

So many of you know I love to cook, well one of my little obsessions is to go somewhere at a restaurant and come home and try to figure out how to make it at home! Here are some of my favorite recipes!

CAFE RIO!!!!( I fell in love with this place while living in Utah for three months!)

Cafe Rio Chicken:
3 Chicken Breasts
1 Can Green Chile Sauce
1 C Chicken Broth
1 T Cumin
1/2 Onion
3 Cloves of Garlic, Minced
1/2 Limes Juice
Chopped Fresh Cilantro to taste

Place chicken breasts in crock pot, pour green chile sauce & chicken broth over the top and add cumin, garlic, lime juice, & cilantro. Cut an onion in half a place full onion rings on top of the chicken to flavor...they will be removed when the chicken is cooked and discarded. Cook for 4 hours, shred meat and cook for another hour.

Cafe Rio Beef:
3lb Chuck Roast
1 Can Green Chile Sauce
1 C Beef Broth
1 Small Can Tomato Sauce
1 T Cumin
1/2 Onion
3 Cloves of Garlic, Minced

Place chuck roast in crock pot, pour green chile sauce, beef broth, & tomato sauce over the top and add cumin & garlic. Cut an onion in half a place full onion rings on top of the roast to flavor...they will be removed when the roast is cooked and discarded. Cook on low for 8-9 hours, or until meat falls apart easily. Shred meat into a different container, strain juices from the crock pot and pour over shredded beef.


Cafe Rio's Cilantro Lime Rice:
4 C Chicken Broth
2 C Uncle Ben's Original Long Grain Rice
2 Cloves of Garlic
1/2 Bunch of Cilantro
1 Can Green Chiles-(or equivalent fresh)
1/4 Onion
1/2 Limes Juice

Blend garlic, cilantro, green chiles, & onion together in food processor. Add all ingredients to your rice cooker stir and cook stirring a few times in between.

Black Beans:
1 Can of Black Beans, Rinsed and Drained
1 1/3 C Tomato Juice
2 Cloves Garlic, Minced
1 tsp Cumin
2 T Olive Oil
1 1/2 tsp Salt
2 T Fresh Cilantro Chopped

In a skillet, cook garlic and cumin in olive oil over medium heat until you can smell it. Add beans, tomato juice, and salt. Continually stir until heated through. Just before serving stir in the cilantro.

Pico de Gallo:
3 Vine Ripe Tomatoes, chopped
1/2 White Onion, chopped
1/4 Bunch of Cilantro, chopped
2 Cloves of Garlic, minced
1 tsp Fresh Lime Juice
Salt & Pepper to taste

Cafe Rio Tomatillo Dressing:
1 pkg Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing Mix
1 C Buttermilk
1 C Mayo
1 Tomatillo
1/2 Bunch of Cilantro
1 Clove of Garlic
1/2 Limes Juice
1/2 to 1 Small Jalepeno, seeds removed. For a little spicier add some of the seeds.

Blend all ingredients well in a food processor & refrigerate.

Now listen closely to me....I have the best recipe ever for gucamole

It isn't cafe rios recipe, or any other restaraunts recipe. I actually was given this recipe from my friend Brenda on my mission, but it is the BEST! I have had guacamole haters turn into converters over this recipe! It is AMAZING!!! So just trust me one this one and try it! I have people all the time that say, hey when you come over will you bring some guac! TRY IT!

5 Avocados ( they should feel like a bannana in softness)
1 tomato (small)
1/2 pepper, red or green
1/4 red onion
1 clove garlic
lemon juice
sour cream about 2 TBSP
seasoning salt
pepper
cilantro if you like it
and garlic powder if you want extra
add jalepenos if you want it spicy

Cut Avocados down the middle and remove pit. I cut them in their peel like a tic tac toe board, use a spoon to scoop them out of their peel, and put them in a bowl. I personally dont mash them at this point, if you do by the end of making it the avocado will be like green mush ( nasty!)

Pour about 2 tsp lemon juice over them and loosley mix

Cut all vegetables very finely (mince)
Add them to your avocado
Add spices, really I just do it by taste, be careful to not over salt because there is nothing you can do to correct it.
Add sour cream and then start mashing your ingredients together till it gets to the consistency you like. Personally I like it partly mashed party avocado chunks in it.
Taste it and see if you need more seasonings.
*Realize that when you put it in the fridge that the seasonings will set into it better and taste better!

Also if you take plastic wrap and push it directly on the top of the guacamole it wont turn that nasty green color so fast.

OR YOU COULD JUST BUY MY COOK BOOK!
last Christmas I made and took pictures of Family recipes and then got them published...check out the link below!

MY COOKING BOOKS

Favorite Carrabas recipe...

Chicken Bryan

Serves: 6
Prep. Time: 0:55

1 Tbls. minced garlic
1 Tbls. minced yellow onion
2 Tbls. butter
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2/3 cup cold butter - sliced
1 1/2 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. white pepper
6 boned, skinned chicken breast halves
extra virgin olive oil - for brushing
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
8 oz. caprino OR other goat cheese - room temperature

(you can buy this at walmart in log for ..goat cheese...just make sure you bring it down to room temperature)

Sauté garlic and onion in 2 Tbls. butter in a large skillet over medium heat until tender.
-Stir chicken stock and lemon juice into skillet, increase heat to medium high, and simmer to reduce by half.
-Reduce heat to low and stir in cold butter, one slice at a time.
-Stir in tomatoes, basil, kosher salt, and white pepper; remove from heat; set aside.
-Brush chicken breasts with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and black pepper.
-Grill chicken over hot coals 15 - 20 minutes, or until cooked through.
-A couple of minutes before chicken is done, place equal amounts of cheese on each breast
-Spoon prepared sun-dried tomato sauce over chicken.

DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE RECIPE? SHARE IT HERE I WOULD LOVE TO TRY IT!

Kirtland, Ohio
Last weekend Jacob and I went to visit my parents in Ohio and was able to visit Kirtland. It had been quite awhile since I had been there and Jacob had never been there. It was a beautiful day and an incredible experience.

Some of the incredible things that happened in Kirtland..

• The Kirtland Temple was the first temple erected in this dispensation and the revelation to build it was given in the spring of 1833. It was constructed through great sacrifice by the Latter-day Saints. Eliza R. Snow described their arduous efforts as follows:

"With very little capital except brain, bone and sinew, combined with unwavering trust in God, men, women, and even children, worked with their might; while the brethren labored in their departments, the sisters were actively engaged in boarding and clothing workmen not otherwise provided for-all living as abstemiously as possible so that every cent might be appropriated to the grand object, while their energies were stimulated by the prospect of participating in the blessing of a house built by the direction of the Most High and accepted by him." ¹

• The First Presidency of the Church: Joseph Smith, Jr., Fredrick G. Williams, and Sidney Rigdon, saw the finished temple in vision to help direct for this sacred edifice. Fredrick G. Williams described the experience as follows:

"Joseph received the word of the Lord for him to take his two counselors, [Frederick G.] Williams and [Sidney] Rigdon, and come before the Lord and He would show them the plan or model of the house to be built. We went upon our knees, called on the Lord, and the building appeared within viewing distance. I being the first to discover it. Then all of us viewed it together. After we had taken a good look at the exterior, the building seemed to come right over us, and the makeup of this hall seemed to coincide with what I there saw to a minutia." ²

• The construction of the temple began on June 5, 1833, and was dedicated on March 27,1836. Many significant events occurred at the dedication including the singing of W. W. Phelps' hymn, "The Spirit of God," the performance of the Hosanna Shout, pentecostal manifestations, and angelic visitations.

• One week after the dedication, the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith, Jr. and Oliver Cowdery "standing upon the breastwork of the pulpit," and accepted the Kirtland Temple.

• (postcard)
  
• 
  
• After the appearance of the Savior, other heavenly beings appeared to Joseph & Oliver including Moses, Elias, and Elijah, each committing the keys of their respective dispensation unto them.

¹ Edward W. Tullidge, The Women of Mormondom (New York: Tullidge & Crandall, 1877), 82.

² Truman Angell, Autobiography, Our Pioneer Heritage, Writings of Early Latter-day Saints, 198.

³ Doctrine & Covenants 110:2-6.

⁴ See Doctrine & Covenants 110:111-116

The Newell K Whitney Store: and what happened there..

• The Newel K. Whitney Store served as the home of Joseph and Emma Smith between September 1832 and February 1834. Joseph Smith III was born here on November 6, 1832. The store served as the headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during the time that the Smith family lived here.

• Many significant events occurred here including the organization of the School of the Prophets, the First Presidency receiving the keys of the kingdom, and receiving of the revelation known as the Word of Wisdom, Doctrine and Covenants Section 89.

• During one of the meetings of the School of the Prophets, God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to members of the school. Zebedee Coltrin, a member of the school related the following experience:

I saw a person passing through the room as plainly as I see you now. Joseph asked us if we knew who it was and answered himself, 'That is Jesus our Elder Brother, the Son of God!' After the vision closed, Joseph then told those present to resume their former position of prayer. Again I saw passing through the same room, a personage whose glory and brightness was so great, that I can liken it to nothing but the burning bush that Moses saw, and its power was so great that had it continued much longer I believe it would have consumed us. After this personage had disappeared from the room, Joseph announced that the men had seen the father of the Lord Jesus Christ.¹

• In the late 1970s, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints purchased the store from Wilford C. Wood and restored it. The store was dedicated by President Ezra Taft Benson on August 25, 1984.² On November 18, 1988, President Ronald Reagan presented the Church with the Historic Preservation Award for restoring the Newel K. Whitney Store in 1984.³

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¹ Larry C. Porter and Susan Easton Black, eds., The Prophet Joseph: Essays on the Life and Mission of Joseph Smith (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1988), 110-111.

² Karl Ricks Anderson, Joseph Smith's Kirtland (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1989), 249.

³ "Whitney Store Given Prestigious Award," LDS Church News, (November 19, 1988).

The John Johnson Farm

What happened in the John Johnson farm..

The John Johnson Farm served as headquarters for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for approximately six months between September 1831 and March 1832. Also, in an upper room of the house, several significant revelations were received including Doctrine and Covenants Section 76, the vision of the three degrees of glory.

The Prophet Joseph continued his work of the translation of the bible while living here, and the John Johnson Farm was where the Prophet and Sidney Rigdon were dragged from the house and tarred and feathered on March 24, 1832.¹ Five days later, Joseph and Emma's adopted son, Joseph Murdock, died due to complications resulting from exposure.

Key Events at the John Johnson Farm - On February 16, 1832 Joseph and Sidney received the revelations of the three degrees of glory, Doctrine & Covenants Section 76. - Joseph and Sidney were tarred and feather after being dragged from the farm house on March 24, 1832.

The Johnson's were converted in the Spring of 1831 with the healing of John's wife Elsa from rheumatism in her shoulder.² Two of the Johnson's sons, Luke and Lyman Johnson became members of the original Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and their daughter, Marinda, married Orson Hyde.

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SOURCES

¹ Joseph Smith, History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 7 vols., introduction and notes by B. H. Roberts (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1932-1951), 1: 263 - 264.

² Larry C. Porter and Susan Easton Black, eds., The Prophet Joseph: Essays on the Life and Mission of Joseph Smith (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1988), 163.

³ Susan Easton Black, Who's Who in the Doctrine and Covenants (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1997), 156 - 157.

It really was an incredible day. Especially the Newell K Whitney store. Hearing their experiences and the missionaries testimonies motivated me so much to meet my potential!

It was equally wonderful to spend time with my wonderful parents. Im really enjoying my time with them more and more.

A little bit of this........

Ok.....so, I have been under the impression that I need to have pictures in order to actually blog. But I guess not! Really, I don't write very often because I don't have much going on...but in reality there is so much going on in this little head of mine, why not put it down! especially since I found out that you can publish your blog into a book easily through blurb.com

So this is what I realized lately, Hardly anyone on my side ( friends and family) know Jacob and then a lot on his side do not know me! So here is a little bit about the both of us....

1. Jacob and I met in Chattanooga at institute. I had an internship there creating programs for people with disabilities. He was working third shift in the ER and finishing off college.

- The first time I met him was at a fireside and he was wearing a white sports coat and black suit pants. And I literally thought to myself, "I could never date someone that dresses so WEIRD." Little did I know..( and he was wearing it as a joke..)

- I was there 4 months and he didnt ask me out until I had two weeks left, then we saw each other every day. I moved out to Provo and he came and visited me.

- The first time I thought, " I could marry this man" was when I visited him for thanksgiving and saw him interact with his family.

- The first time he thought "I could marry this girl", was our first date.

- I put a taco bell sauce in his backpack when he flew back home that said, "Willing to relocate."

- I moved back to Georgia and 6 weeks later we were engaged.

- We were sealed in the Nauvoo Temple. And Jacobs parents, brother Aubrey, and sister Dana and her husband Bruce and kids joined us in Nauvoo, along with my entire family but Tim since he was on his mission, and my Aunt Janice also came.

- We drove the day we were sealed, 10 hours to Ohio and the next day had our reception, then we drove down 8 hours to Georgia and had a second reception.. (TOO MUCH DRIVING!) and then Honeymooned in Flager Beach, FL at this place....

http://www.whiteorchidinn.com/

A LITTLE ABOUT JACOB

- He is 6"5 and is an incredible basketball player.

- Some claim his photos make him look very quiet and shy! Believe me he is anything but! He is one of the most outgoing, friendly people I have ever met.

- I have never heard him raise his voice

- My family all loves him, my mom swears that she knew him before this life and conspired with him to marry me.

- He would do anything for anyone at the drop of a hat

- If you are looking for him at a family function, he will always be surrounded by all his neices and nephews climbing on him and teasing him and playing with him.

- He is the 5th of eight children and has grown up in one city all his life.

- He loves to be involved in decorating our house

- He hiccups when he eats hot things ( love it, i think its so cute)

- In the last three days I have heard 3 different people say, "he is so hot" not realizing i was his wife..(LOL)

- He is very down to earth

- he likes to be adventurous and spur of the moment as long as there is a safe plan behind it

- He has dropped everything to come help me with things ( ex...driving across town twice in a week when we were engaged because I locked my keys in the car, driving two hours to come rescue my sister and I stranded on the side of the road with a dead car)

- He LOVES to mow the lawn and take car of the outside stuff of the house, he feels its his meditating time.

- He loves to take a moment, lay down and just look at the stars.

- He's played most sports and loves hiking and camping.

- He wants to give me everything in life and tries to find a way to make it happen

_ He is a manager currently working for Blood Assurance over the training and Protocol of their ALYX machine.

- If he had a million dollars he would want to use it runing around doing secret acts of service for people ( buying them a new car and putting it in their driveway)

- He is fascinated with mythology and would like to go to Greece someday, along with Alaska and the new England states.

_ He served his mission in the Phillipines

_ He paid his way through college by himself semester by semester

- He is often the one family and friends go to for help

- He loves cars and someday wants to rebuild a black 1978 Trans Am with the yellow firebird on the top

- When he laughs these incredibly handsome crows feet show on his eyes

- Before he dies he wants to go to Alaska, fly an airplane, and travel the US in a motor home

A little about Leisa

- I have lived in Utah, Oregon, Idaho, Ohio, Tennessee, Georgia, and Ontario Canada

- I love to run and play volleyball

- I love to cook and would love to become a gourmet cook someday

- The first time I ever made a pie was with my friend Missy and somehow we totally forgot to put the water in to form the dough and had to piece it together in the pan, after that I was hooked and LOVE to make pastries

- I am the oldest of four and am best friends with all my siblings and parents

- One day I want a house with a driveway that no one would come up unless they were on their way to our house, and during Christmas time I want to be one of those houses everyone comes and sees. And on the fron porch I will sell my Christmas pastries!

_ I love photography and the light that filters in to reveal the content of the pictures. And own my own standard film darkroom and equipment, however i do now prefer digital and own a Canon xlt.

- Ive always wanted to run a marathon and do a triathalon

- I love playing the piano, I can't really play technically but I love to play from my heart and have my own music recording equipment and a Christmas CD that I have composed and recorded with my friedn Stephanie singing.

-I love love the water and could swim laps all day, for our first anniversary Jacob took me jet skiing and I dumped us because i was to scared to go fast and did a 360 EXTREMLY slow and just tipped us off

_ I am terrified of birds, especially geese. I broke my wrist after being on roller blades and was attacked by one.

- I have the craziest stories of getting stuck places with no way out, like coming from canada and not having a ride back into the us, my airplane always seems to take off before me on my connecting flights and fo course with no more flights going out that evening, my car blew up in nowhereville Idaho in the middle of the night, etc....oh it really goes on and on.. I just laugh!

- I have had some of the most AMAZING people influence my life and have been so blessed by their friendships.

- Jacob is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me

- I wish I had majored in photography

- Someday I want to go to the Macy's day parade

- I love having a clean house but hate cleaning the bathrooms

- If my mind gets stuck on something I never give up until its done

- I love Utah

- I went on a mission to Toronto, Canada

- I tend to let people take advantage of me and suck me dry

-I would love to get dressed in a beautiful dress and have my hair and makup done just to go to a really fancy dinner

_ I love to read

- I study my scriptures with about 6 books of reference including the Hebrew bible and enjoy translating hebrew

- I loved college and if I could have been a student for life if that was possible

- I gained my testimony at BYUI with help from my incredible friend Reta and its has just been on fire since

- I love doing crazy things and can't wait to have kids and open this creative world to them

- My new favorite store is Kirklands

- I have worked at Taco bell, as a receptionist at a Chiropractors office, Wendys, a potato plant, for Banc One Home loan service, Safelite autoglass taking insurance claims, as a contact lens manager at an eye doctor, cleaning a behavioral unit for children, outdoors backpacking with troubled teens, as a medicaid home health aide for two elderly women and a child with cerebal palsy, for the city of Chattanooga creating programs for people with disabilities, as a dental assistant, for Olan Mills touching up pictures, and finally for a school with 3-4 year olds who are cognitively disabled.WHEW!

- We both want to build our own house one day and work with our own hands on it

- I love love love Christmas and all it brings