We Got A New Puppy!


This is Lucy and Savannah. Savannah's first day of pre-school and Lucy's first day here. Life is pretty crazy!

This is Lucy! And this is Nate with his cast (broken arm at age 2, he is starting early!).

New Baby Tre


That is what Savannah has been calling him, with emphasis on the "new"! His name is Treson Alan Welch and he was born by forcing him to come via inducing! He arrived on Monday, April 25 at exactly 2:00 pm. It is actually the time Todd guessed!

He weighed in at 8 lbs 2 ozs and 20 1/2 inches long. Almost exactly what his older brother, Nate, was!

He is well received by his siblings and especially his older sister, Savannah, who loves him and loves to keep track of him!

Our contribution to the Welch family men!

This picture, taken the night before he was born, makes me realize why everyone I saw was so concerned about when I was going to have my baby!

Christmas Christmas

This year Todd finally agreed to go and cut down a Christmas tree so I finally decided to throw out our fake one! So here it is... keep in mind Todd is 6'9"!

I know it's not the fancy, beautiful theme trees that some of you come up with, but really, we were never good at that kind of stuff anyway! Homegrown, homemade Christmas is a little more our style, even if we think the fancy trees are so so so pretty!

The Most Requested Recipe We Have!

The great part about this recipe is the fact that it makes so much and can last in your fridge for up to 6 weeks. It makes in excess of 75 muffins! We LOVE this recipe.

Refrigerator Bran Muffins

6 c. 100% bran (Todd ONLY buys Kellogg's All Bran Original, don't try anything else!)
2 c boiling water
1 c oil
2 c sugar
4 eggs
4 c milk
5 c flour
5 t baking soda
1 t salt

Pour boiling water over bran, cover and let sit to soften. Meanwhile cream sugar and oil in VERY large bowl. Add 4 beaten eggs, milk, and softened bran. Stir it up really good. In separate bowl combine flour, soda, salt and add all at once to wet ingredients. Fill oiled muffin tins and bake at 350 degrees for around 20 mins. Serve with honey on top. YUM! First batch might take a little less time. After that, since batter has been in fridge it usually takes a little longer to cook. After first batch, refridgerate covered and you don't need to stir it ever again if you don't want.

Modifications -

Todd has been subsituting whole wheat flour in. He has gone up to 3 c whole wheat, 2 c white and he feels like the muffins were a little too dry. The rest of us didn't mind! 2 c whole wheat, 3 c white was non-noticable.

Just Because the World Should Also be Able to Enjoy!
(The Fruits of Todd's Genius that is!)

So we had these waffles this morning and I really felt guilty that I had yet to share this recipe with my friends and family that are so dear to my heart! Todd initially found this recipe online but of course has made some major modifications to it and this morning at the breakfast table there was no talking, no whining, no crying... only Savannah and Nate and Jenny stuffing their mouths as fast as they could and sputtering, "More Please" every time we saw another waffle come out of the waffler maker! Todd didn't even get to try the first 5 waffles from this batch! They were soooo delicious! So here you all go, enjoy.

Whole Wheat Waffles

1.5 c whole wheat flour (Todd has tried and tested and is set on Gold Medal Whole Wheat Flour)
1.5 t baking powder
.25 t salt
.25 t cinnamon
.25 t ginger
.25 t nutmeg
.25 t all spice
.5 c oil (Todd uses Canola in all his cooking now)
2 c milk
2 eggs - separated

Combine dry ingredients. Combine milk, oil, egg yolks - stir. Add all at once to dry ingredients. Stir thoroughly until no lumps. Batter will seem quite thin. (This has proven necessary to Todd for Whole Wheat Waffles for the desired lightness.) Beat egg whites until soft peaks. Do not over beat. Fold into batter. Cook as waffle maker instructs. Best served with homemade syrup, as are all waffles! Enjoy!

Homemade Syrup

1 part white sugar

1 part brown sugar

1 part water

some Mapleline - Maple flavoring from Walmart will NOT due!

Boil.

OH - and an Update!

P.S. Nate is finally walking. At 16.5 months he finally is walking from room to room. Although the doctor kept telling us this was within the normal range, Jenny was getting quite worried about him attending Nursery and getting ran over! As is, since Jenny was called as a nursery leader Nate is going already and is one of the biggest kids in there! Of course...

Breakfast Burritos - Oh Yum just thinking about them!

This is a delicious breakfast. Todd has put the brakes on it lately as he doesn't fill like it gives him enough carbs but I convinced him he wasn't going to be doing anything too physical this weekend so he made it. It was sooo good I think he might be open to making it again in the more near future! I guess I could suggest he have a couple pieces of toast the mornings we have it?!

Saute diced, salted bell peppers. While those are sauteing mix raw eggs, canned chopped green chilies, salt & pepper and add to sauted peppers. Cook until desired consistency and serve over warm tortilla. This picture doesn't show it but we usually add a sprinkle of fresh chopped cilantro on top. Don't add too much. You can also top with sour cream and salsa, but plain is definately worth a try! Definately one of the best parts of this dish is the tortilla. An extra special thanks to Whitney, we now know of the raw, uncooked tortillas you can purchase at the store and cook at home. These are so so so delicious we will most likely never go back to premade/precooked tortillas again. (Plus they are less calories than some tortillas and only like 20 calories more than others! Just an extra bonus!)


And Savannah loves them too!

Al-Pesto Pasta with Grilled Bell Peppers


This is a great, quick pasta dinner. We make up a "Pesto" packet from Knorr and an "Alfredo" packet from McCormick separately. Then we mix them together and serve the sauce over our favorite whole wheat pasta and top with grilled bell peppers. We just do the normal to grill the peppers: put olive oil in a pan and salt and saute until desired tenderness. It's so fast and really yummy! We love this dish.