…. and I’m so glad he’s “gone country”. Not sure what I was thinking but I honestly didn’t see that coming as I watched him on American Idol last year. I expect nothing but good things from him! This is his new music video. Love it!
I discovered this little gem of a recipe about 5 years ago. I’m not even sure what the original source was (I sincerely apologize to the creator!). I saved it and made it for Easter one year… seems like carrot cake is just such a traditional recipe for Spring. Is that because bunnies eat carrots and a certain special bunny visits on Easter? I’m not sure LOL. but for whatever reason, I was on a hunt for a recipe and this is what I found. I have never been big on carrot cake. After all, who wants a vegetable in their CAKE for goodness sake? But this recipe, when I omitted the nuts, turned me (and my family) into carrot cake lovers! It’s David’s favorite dessert and what he requests anytime a special dessert would be on the menu.
Did you miss the link to the recipe at the top of this post? Here it is again: Best Ever Carrot Cake. Yum!
Money is tight, so big elaborate gifts aren’t in the budget this year for Father’s Day. Instead, we are celebrating David with giving him a day off from the kitchen. Yes, he’s the head chef here at The Ullom-Clark household. He cooks while I clean up his messes. Don’t mistake that for a complaint. This is something I’m very thankful for! I work until 5pm every day, and I love that cooking a meal is not something that I have to worry about each evening.
Today, he didn’t have to worry about breakfast, lunch OR dinner. Instead, he got to pick the day’s menu, and we are cooking for him. I made breakfast burritos and hashbrowns for breakfast, we skipped lunch and snacked instead. Dinner is his choice of beef stroganoff with his favorite yummy garlic breadsticks. He requested his favorite carrot cake, which is baking in the oven now — delighting all of our noses 
It’s a lazy day, with movies, games and relaxing — which is a gift for the entire family. Happy Sunday!
The makings of a fantabulous breakfast burrito!
Bailey was my little game buddy today.
Nice to be lazy and watch movies together
Snacks and games — that was our day
We made these about 7 years ago for the first time… David and I were sitting around talking about our favorite foods and one of us remembered these yummy cheese zombies. I remember them being served in our school cafeteria at Lake Shore Elementary and also at Jason Lee Midlde School. They’d serve up the Cheese Zombies with a bowl of tomato soup. At no other time in my childhood did I like tomato soup, except alongside a Cheese Zombie. 
David and I went to different schools in Washington, but anytime I’ve mentioned these in passing, nobody knows what the heck I’m talking about! Yet, he did remember them also! We went on an internet search of the best zombie recipe we could find, and this is it. Tried and true, old school recipe that is exactly like we remember. It’s basically two layers of french bread dough with your favorite cheese in the middle and Viola! Cheese Zombies.
Directions
1. Combine 1 ounce of baker’s yeast with 3 cups of warm water.
2. Place flour, sugar, salt and vegetable shortening in a mixing bowl. (Add a “scant” of garlic in the mixture to hold edges of dough to pan.
3. Add yeast and water to the mixing bowl. Beat for about 10 minutes or until the dough is of one consistency.
4. Weigh dough into 2 pound, 2 ounce hunks and let rise until the hunk about doubles in size. We guesstimate…. basically — just split it in half!
5. Roll one hunk evenly into a bun pan. <~ That’s what the official recipe says — we use a jelly roll pan or a cookie sheet with 1″ or taller edges.)
6. Top with 8 slices of Cheddar cheese cut long way from the brick. (Place cheese no less than 1/4-inch from edge.)
7. Roll out another hunk of dough to almost the size of the bun pan. Place this over the cheese and press down the edges. Let rise.
8. Bake at 425 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Let sit and cool. Brush top of sheet with melted butter or margarine. Cut sheet 6 by 4 inches.
Makes 24 Servings that I promise will take you right back to the old school days
It’s a running joke in my family that plants come to our home to die. It’s actually pretty true. Most plants that we bring in, do eventually die. My thumb is more black than green, what can I say? It’s not for lack of effort… I keep buying the occassional plant, pot of flowers, etc. etc. because I do really love them! I water them and talk to them and have even tried fertilizing them. What’s the deal? David got a small bite from the gardening bug and planted a few things in our yard earlier in the Spring. We have huge lettuce plants growing into lettuce bushes is what I’d call them. They are HUGE. I need to get a picture. We had cucumbers but they are gone. 
We have a pepper and tomato topsy turvy growing. These little guys have been growing for a couple of months now, and I’m beginning to get impatient. I want some ‘maters!
We do have a tiny flower bud on the pepper plant. I’m thinking that would have to be a good sign?
The tomato plant looks like it has a long way to go still. I love tomatoes… and this thing had better work! At some point both should look a little something like this:
Tonight was our Home Owners Association’s Ice Cream Social… the girls talked us into heading down to the neighborhood park to take part in it. We went about 20 minutes before it was over, and they were out of ice cream. Awh, bummer… so the kids played for a little bit and then we decided we’d make our own sundaes instead. I baked a batch of brownies to go with them on request from the hubs. Tanner and I enjoyed some brownie batter instead.
So our evening went something like this:
None for us, but we got a few minutes of play time in anyway
Came home and made our own ice cream sundaes after dinner
Giggly girls
This is what we affectionately call “the stink eye” here
All that followed up by some Pretty Little Liars for me and the 2 little ladies
And some Transformers Chess for my boys
David won this game, but I suspect that he won’t always have an easy time of winning.
What an easy, enjoyable night –
And not to forget my Ashlyn… who was with her grandparents… she hasn’t seen her daddy in several weeks, so she’s very excited to spend some time with him this weekend. Miss you Ashlyn!
Another school year behind us. So crazy. We have an 18 year old that is finished with school, unless she decides to go to college. We have a 15 year old headed into his Sophomore year of high school, a 13 year old headed into her Freshman year of high school. Then, we have two left in elementary school: our 10 year old entering 5th grade and our 7 year old baby, who is going into 2nd grade. And me? I am left with a lump in my throat. Time is passing too quickly.
We won’t get the older two kids’ report cards for a little while, though I have an idea of their grades already. McKenzie and Bailey brought theirs home today. Both are doing very well, and just for the fact that they even brought their cards home, says that they had no lost library books at the end of the school year. This is no small feat for my kids. I’m serious! LOL.
Bailey at the end of the school year:
She has grown SO much this school year.
McKenzie at the beginning of the school year:
McKenzie at the end of the school year:
The page the yearbook is flipped open to is the first page in the book. She’s pictured with her group of friends, the one in yellow
When you have a super lean grocery budget, BFD is a nice inexpensive option for dinner. Good thing for the kids, it’s one of their favorite things to eat! We had pancakes, eggs, and potatoes for dinner. Yum.
And a few leftover for breakfast tomorrow.
Gretchen Cooks
All Recipes
5 Dollar Dinners
Hillbilly Housewife
Miss Kenzie is 10 years old.. holy moly does time fly! Take a peek at pics from her Amazing Race birthday party we held in our town… with 12 of her friends from school and softball
Take a peek at pictures taken with Great Grandma in Portland, OR over the weekend.
REG’s Free Family Film Festival is Now Showing!
We have planned a fun-filled summer of select movies for kids and parents. Regal has proudly offered this free summer fun since 1991. Oh, did we mention that it’s FREE!
Selected G or PG movies start at 10:00am every Tuesday and Wednesday during the festival. Tickets and seating are first-come, first-served and are limited to theatre capacity.
The Free Family Film Festival is safe, lots of fun and a great way for kids to spend a weekday morning in the summer. Tickets for our 2010 Free Family Film Festival are exclusively available at select theatres’ box office on the day of the show.
Here is a listing of movies for our closest theater, so you can see an example of the movie titles playing. I’ve been more impressed in previous years. Rugrats The Movie, really? But, they are free — and there are a few good ones in there. They pretty much rotate the same titles at other theaters in the area also, but you can check your local free movies showtimes here.
06/22/2010-06/24/2010 Tale of Despereaux (G) Coraline (PG)
06/29/2010-07/01/2010 Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything (G) Astro Boy (PG)
07/06/2010-07/08/2010 Charlotte’s Web (G) Planet 51 (PG)
07/13/2010-07/15/2010 Rugrats The Movie (G) Ice Age: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs (PG)
07/20/2010-07/22/2010 Rugrats In Paris (G) Kung Fu Panda (PG)
07/27/2010-07/29/2010 Wallace and Gromit (G) Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs (PG)
08/03/2010-08/05/2010 Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (G) Monsters Vs. Aliens (PG)
08/10/2010-08/12/2010 Doogal (G) Hotel For Dogs (PG)
08/17/2010-08/19/2010 Muppets From Space (G) Paul Blart: Mall Cop (PG)
08/24/2010-08/26/2010 Muppets Take Manhattan (G) Aliens In The Attic (PG)
