Zuppa Toscana

Ah! I made something wonderful last night! So one of my favorite meals is Zuppa Toscana at Olive Garden. Now, sadly most of my favorite meals are made at restaurants . . . and that's pricy for newly married college students. So, I'm figuring out how to make them at home. The recipe for this one came from: Home Sweet Cozy Home. But to be honest her directions were pretty hard to read so I've redone them. Next time I make it, I'll take pictures of each step for you!

Dearest family. You HAVE to make this. It's easy and absolutely delicious.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb Italian sausage 
• (I used 5th Street Grill Italian Turkey Sausage from Costco and it smelled and tasted exactly like Olive Garden's soup.)
• 2 large russet baking potatoes
• 1 large onion
• 1/2 cup bacon bits
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 cups kale 
• (I used swiss chard 'cause that's what I got in my basket)
• 2 (1.4 oz) cans chicken broth
• 4 cups water
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream

Instructions

1. Slice sausage into thin slices.
2. Add sausage to a small pot and allow it to brown on low while you complete next few steps. (Stir occasionally to brown all sides.)
3. In another large soup pot combine chicken broth and water and turn burner on medium.
4. Wash (don't peel) the two potatoes and cut both in half longwise. Then slice the potatoes into half circles about 1/4 inch thick.
5. Dice the large onion (yes all of it - trust me).
6. Add the potatoes, onion, and garlic to chicken broth and water pot.
7. Boil the potatoes until you can stick a fork through them easily. 
8. Add the browned sausage and bacon bits to the soup.
9. Salt and pepper to taste (I didn't need to add any salt, but did add a healthy amount of pepper.)
10. Simmer for another 10 minutes.
11. Turn heat to low.
12. Add kale and whipping cream.
13. Warm all the way through and serve.

As a side note, we found that it tasted AMAZING with buttered french bread. Yeah . . . we ate a lot of french bread. We'll find out today if it tastes as good as a left over. Next task, figure out the olive garden salad dressing.

A Genetics Problem Waiting to Happen

So, if you're following my other blog you'll know that I just finished reading Genesis. Now I realize that what I'm about to write about will give you an unfair advantage on my quiz I just posted, but hey . . .  .  followers of both deserve an edge right? (More like I couldn't wait to share this.) 

So as I was reading, I couldn't help but sketch some geneology charts to help me figure out what was going on. And now that I'm looking at it, I wonder why this never came up in my genetics homework. This stuff is just dying to be a genetics problem.

Look at this tree!

So now my question is . . . how inbred are Jacob's sons? Let's pick Joseph for example. So throw Joseph in there and let's start calculating paths.

Path 1: 9 Steps

Path #2: 9 Steps

Path #3: 10 Steps

Path #4 = 10 Steps

Path #5 = 6 steps

Path #6: 6 steps

Alright, now assuming I got all the paths (which might be a faulty conclusion since I got tired of looking for paths and hoped that was good), here's the math:

Ta-da! Okay . . . So I may have got it wrong 'cause it's been a long time since I had genetics . . . but I think I did well. (Obviously if I made a mistake, please tell me so I can learn.) Also there's apparently harder equations to calculate that inbreeding coefficient, but I decided to stick with the easy one I learned in class.

Also, as a side note Heather at Women in the Scriptures re-posted my post on her blog. It's the article up right now . . . so you could check that out, just to see how awesome that is for me! Plus I finally wrote a small bio about myself. *Cheese*

Life Update 5/2/13

~1: Educational Update ~

• New vocabulary: Berceuse = a lullaby (comes from precise musical terms)

• New grammar fact: So why do we have those weird verbs? Like why do we have saw instead of "seed"? Or sang instead of "singed". Why do we have irregular verbs? They're relics from the past. If you think it's bad now, apparently it was worse in the past. There were many more rules when English got started and many of our irregular verbs are hold overs from 7 types of "strong" verbs. Many verbs were regularized when lots of foreigners learned it. The more often a word is used, the more likely it is to stay irregular. (have, do, am, go, say, will, see, take, get) The ten most common verbs held on to their irregular forms just because they're so common. (It's like biology! The genes that are used most frequently are least likely to get mutations because they have to be conserved! They have to stay working!) And surprise surprise! British people hold onto irregular verbs more than Americans have. And for some reason, occasionally we start reverting back to the irregular verb! (Snuck and lit). 

• New science fact: Onions have antibacterial properties - which makes sense since many compounds produced by plants are produced by the plant specifically to ward off bacteria and fungus. Onions don't want to get eaten by them any more than we do. 

• Language training: Hello = مرحبا (marh hahbin) Goodbye = وداعا (mah salaam)

• Geography training: 
  
  The marked is Brazil and the capital of Brazil is Brasília. Brazil is the fifth largest country with 193 million people. It was originally a colony of Portugal but obtained independence when they refused to be returned to status of colony after Napoleon's invasion of Portugal. Their economy is the world's seventh largest in the world and was a founding member of the UN. Brazil is also one of 17 megadiverse countries in wildlife and environment. 74% are Roman Catholics, Portuguese is their official language, and their current Dilma Rousseff, their first woman president.

• Memorization: "Hope on. Journey on. Honestly acknowledge your questions and concerns, but first and forever fan the flame of your faith, because all things are possible to them that believe." Elder Holland

• History: I'm studying the history of English right now. So starting off I learned that there are three times as many non-native speakers and native speakers of English. That's pretty crazy, but makes sense. English is the international language. I wanted to study the history to find out why we say boxes but oxen and why we have weird things like gnome. English has a massive vocabulary . . . because English has showed a crazy ability to adapt words from other languages into its language. The arrival of the Normans changed almost everything in England, especially linguistically because French became the official language of the English courts. It wasn't until the late 1300's that there was an English monarch that spoke English exclusively. Language isn't about numbers . . . it's about power. A small number of powerful people can force large numbers of people to learn their language. When the Normans took over, English almost became a dialect of French but instead just became a huge language with a huge vocabulary and that marked the transition from Old English to Middle English and now we speak Modern English. And guess what? Shakespeare spoke Modern English because you don't need a translator to read it. You may not understand all the literary parts, but you can get the gist without a translator. The King James Bible is another Modern English writing. The big difference between Middle English and Modern English is the way we pronounce vowels - and that was called the great vowel shift. The Canterbury Tales is an example of a Middle English text (although what we typically read in school is a Modern English translation). The three key components of English are pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar. English is a Germanic language because English evolved from an ancient language called Proto-germanic. So it didn't come from German . . . it shared a common ancestor with English. So . . . the further back in time we go, the more it sounds like German since the more related it is to its common ancestor. Beowulf is an example of an Old English text (and once again in school we read a modern english translation). 

• Math progress: I never took Calculus . . . for anything. And I really wanted to. So today I started learning about limits. I'm trying to get a head start and then Naty is going to teach me what he knows (and since he's an engineer . . . . that's a lot). Today I just got the basic concept of limits on Kahn Academy . . . but I aced all the practice questions so hooray! 

~ 2: Moving Update ~

Well, a lot is moved in now. We've got all the furniture placed and most everything is put together. The kitchen isn't done yet (still some plumbing to be done and as I type there's some workers here to put in the counter and sink), so there is a huge pile of boxes in Andrew's office that need to be unpacked. But besides that I've got the bedroom, bathroom, living room, laundry room, and Andrew's office all arranged and unpacked. 

One of our fish didn't make the move. He was fine till we put him in new water and we must have done something wrong 'cause he died pretty much instantly. What a shock to just watch him die. It was a split second and I was very distraught. 

I bought three plants to get my garden started. Mint, Rosemary, and Basil. All herbs I used a lot the last year and wished I had fresh versions of. I think I'm going to try and grow them indoors and plant other things in the outdoor garden. I'm hoping for strawberries and tomatoes although I don't have the rest of the garden planned out. 

Inspirational Songs: City On Our Knees

So I just love when I come across a song that has memorizable lyrics. It feels like an uplifting poem. You should really listen to this song. It sounds like something you would hear on the radio, but the lyrics are amazing.

Here:

If you gotta start somewhere why not here?
If you gotta start sometime why not now?
If we gotta start somewhere I say here.
If we gotta start sometime I say now.
Through the fog there is hope in the distance.
From cathedrals to third world missions,
Love will fall to the earth like a crashing wave.

Tonight's the night
For the sinners and the saints!
Two worlds collide in a beautiful display.
It's all love tonight!
When we step across the line,
We can sail across the sea
To a city with one king,
A city on our knees.

Here's a beautiful love song I found too. I love it so much! Does anybody know what the genre is that has just voice and one instrument? I just the simplicity of the sound. Anyway, just thought I'd share!

Love you all!

Kenzie

Be Still and Know That I Am God

Well, I know this is a lesson many of you have already learned, but here I announce that I am just beginning to learn it. There's no lesson school can teach you better than how to deal with stress. This week is crazy. Every day has the same amount of work crammed into it that a normal week would have. I know I have no right to sympathy, as almost all of my friends are experiencing the same thing right now. At some point you just have to say, "Well. I know without a doubt that I CANNOT do all of this on my own. I'll put my best effort in, but if I'm to get everything done that I'm supposed to, I'll need inhuman strength." I haven't made it through this craziness yet . . . but if nothing else I have developed the ability to sit in the hall calmly working on everything, accepting that I can't even list everything I have to do, and that somehow I'll get it done. It's sad that this aspect of maturity has only begun to be developed in my second to last semester. All I can do is sit here . . . and the only word to describe my mind and heart is "still". Not the turmoil that normal clouds my over-stressed brain. Hopefully this sticks!

Love you all!

P.S. And here's a Bohemian Waxwing to brighten your day!

A Follow Up

I posted a few days ago about some important goals of mine and issued a challenge and asked some questions. . . . but nobody answered. I found out a little while later that for some reason nobody knew that I had posted. I'm posting this both to inform you of that post and ask you to read it. And then to let you know that I'm starting a new blog (hooked to this one in the top tab). I don't know how often I'll post, but I am really excited about it.

Women in the Scriptures

Yesterday while looking for FHE resources (for newly married couples) I stumbled across something that I feel will change my life. You HAVE to check this website out! Women in the Scriptures
This lady is so inspiring! She has a challenge to read all the standard works and mark down any reference to women, make a list of how many named women and unnamed women there are in the scriptures, and for as many as you can ponder these questions about their life:


1- What is unique about this woman and her story?
2- How does she fit into the time period in which she lived?
3- What Christlike qualities does she exemplify?
4- What would I ask her if I could meet her?
5- How can I relate to her?
6- What can I (or someone else I know) learn from her experiences?

She has a crazy number of women (groups of women) mentioned! Somewhere in the 500's. Explore her site! Here are some gems I've stumbled across!

How Many Women Are There?
The Spiritual Symbolism of Veils
Getting Adam to Partake
The Type of Feminist I Am
Eve's "Curse"?
Why Don't Women Hold the Priesthood?
Mothers and Careers: The Age Old Question

Please tell me someone wants to take the challenge with me? I was so excited I jumped into the New Testament, Old Testament, and Book of Mormon all at once! I'm doing it all online at lds.org so I can keep a notebook with all of my little highlights of every word pertaining to women. I know I would really benefit from having another person to do it with! Is anyone interested in joining me?

So far I've got Eve, Mary, Rachel, and the woman Soleman married after killing her husband and Sariah.

Anyone?

Love you all!

Kenzie

Valentine's Day

First of all, I know for a fact Stina and Grandma Pat, if nobody else, have been dying to see this post. So, I tried to talk about this on Facebook, but it was being dumb, so I'm doing this instead and have been working on this all day - in between classes. Valentine's Day was amazing. I knew that we wouldn't be able to do much since I had work/school from 9-5 and Andrew had work from 5-9. So I was trying not to think about it and we rescheduled Valentine's Day for Monday and called it Paris night. Andrew had in his own cute little way tried to hide his plans to make me a breakfast. He had asked me how one would hypothetically find out if we had all the ingredients for french toast, and I found some bacon hidden in the back of the fridge. So Andrew's brilliant romantic plan was to make me breakfast. Which was a good idea, I was just a little disappointed I found out about it all before that morning. You know how I love to be surprised. The night before Valentine's as we were going to bed, Andrew noticed I was a little down and horrified I tried to brush it off. I wasn't really upset about our postponed Valentine's right? I mean, I have a special someone to have it with - I must be super ungrateful. So Andrew picked up on that disappointment even while I was denying it.

The next morning, I trudged out of bed at 4 am, eyelids still heavy and vision foggy, and opened the door to start my load of homework. Only to be startled by the following decorations:

Startled and very very excited, I ran out to our spacious living room, grabbed my laptop, and finished my three hours of studying in bed. That way I could wait to look at the rest of the house when Andrew got up. I wanted him to see how excited I was. 'Cause I was very very very excited. I mean. I don't think I've ever been that surprised. 

Once Andrew got up, I followed a treasure hunt and discovered all of the following hidden around the house.

I know it's upside down, but there was a toast imprinter that says I  Love You.

Oh. And I painted my nails for Valentines! Hehe.

 Now, to continue with Paris Day (as it turned into 'cause we ended up taking a whole romantic day just to ourselves). We had french toast with bacon and fresh raspberries for breakfast and a romantic dinner with Angel Hair Pasta, Pesto, Rosemary Sourdough bread, fancy cheese, bubbly, and creme brule.

Oh, yes. Did I mention that Andrew cut and scattered rose petals in a trail to the kitchen and all over the table?

So a wonderful Valentine's and I'm thoroughly impressed with Andrew's apparently hidden talent for surprising me. He has perfected the ability of creating a separate "secret" to set me on the wrong trail. Giving me just enough information and hiding things well enough that I really think I've found out about the big secret. While I thought I'd figured out his whole plot, there were flowers hidden in the bathtub, and candles, chocolates, a balloon (how he hid that in our apartment I have no idea!) and all the other treats hidden places I still haven't been able to figure out. So hurrah to Andrew. He topped my surprises for his birthday.

Oh. And as a side note. I now have fish. And they're living in floral vases. For now.

P.S. Happy early Birthday to Stina! I haven't forgotten no matter what you think tomorrow. Also, tomorrow marks the anniversary of when Andrew proposed. We will have been "engaged" for a full year tomorrow. On our way to an anniversary! (Another excellent surprise from Andrew there, since he drove me around and let me plan for Stina's birthday all while he had plans to surprise me with a proposal. He sure knows how to plan things!)

Birds! Oh the Difficulties.

Let me just say I admire anyone who is a birder. Mr. Webb, I respect you so much. For some reason identifying plants comes way easier to me than identifying birds. I'm getting there I promise. I have over 28 birds to learn by "next week". I've broken them up and here's my first seven:

1) Snow Goose Chen caerulescens (Anseriformes Anatidae)

As far as I can tell, I should look for the white body, orange beak with the black "tooth" line, the black wing tips, and the bigger body.

I need to identify the call of this one too. If anyone has tips on that . . well let me know.

2) Ross's Goose Chen rossii (Anseriformes Anatidae)

This one looks a lot like a snow goose - white with black wing tips, orange legs and bill - but it's smaller and has a shortened beak and more of a squashed head. It's easier to identify when they're side-by-side.






3) Canada Goose Branta canadensis (Anseriformes Anatidae)

Everyone seems to know this bird but me. I know I've seen it, but I'd never be able to tell you that's what it is. It has a black head and bill and a brown body and has the white "stripe" under the eye and head.

I have to know this bird by call too.


4) Greater White-fronted Goose Anser albifrons (Anseriformes Anatidae)

Ok. A small picture, I know. This goose has an orange bill with white right above it. It also has something called mottling - which I honestly don't . . . .  know about yet.

5) Brant Branta bernicla (Anseriformes Anatidae)

A brant has a brown head and top of body with a white neck ring. The bottom of the body is white.

6) Tundra Swan Cygnus colombianus (Anseriformes Anatidae)

So a Tundra Swan is a large bird that I can only describe as "graceful" looking. It has a long black beak with a yellow patch (hard to see in this picture) under the eye.

7) Wood Duck Aix sponsa (Anseriformes Anatidae)

I honestly think this bird is pretty. It has a brown chest with white spots. The male has a green head and a bright red eye. I think the male has some blue on the wing too but I'm not really sure. There's some pretty white stripes dividing clear areas of color.

My Step Into Controversy

So I usually avoid topics that I think are controversial. Not because I'm scared to proclaim my beliefs. I just don't enjoy how angry people can get when they come up. Anyway, this is me dipping my toe in the ice cold water. I won't summarize the podcast. Maybe then whoever reads this will actually listen to the podcast. The Science of Violence Now, I wish I could say I went into this and had my mind changed, but let's be honest. He basically just provides the science that backs my previous beliefs. Not gonna lie, I was worried I'd go into this and have to change some of my ideas. No such thing. Turns out I'm "right". 3 points he covers: Gun control, Disabilities, and Violence in Media. Controversial? Yes? Am I finally right about something? Yup.

Darn Socks

So about a third of my socks are holy. Teehee. Probably another third are holy . . . but have been darned. I never actually learned how, so it's not real darning, but I just sew the holes closed. That's my idea of fixing the problem. Funny enough, I don't darn my socks because I lack the money to throw them out and get a new pair of socks. Instead, it's a random combination of love for the brands of socks I already have and the fact that it actually takes less time for me to sew them closed than to go to the store and buy some more. By the time I've treked to Walmart to get groceries, I've forgotten that I need socks.

Once There Was A Snowman!

Last night Andrew and I made our first snowman together! It was actually the first snowman I've made in a long time and it sure was harder than I remember it being. Nevertheless, our snowman turned out great and I wanted to post the video and took of it. It's going to be so fun to show our kids these videos one day. ;)

Buffalo Chicken Soup

You've got to try this amazing soup. Mom, Sierra, and Caiden might find it too spicy for them though so . . .  oh well. Andrew and I love this soup and it's one of the few dinners I've made multiple times. I always half it because I never have enough ingredients for a full batch, but here's the recipe for a full batch.

Ingredients:

• 6 cups half-and-half
• 3 cans condensed cream of chicken soup
• 4 cups shredded cooked chicken
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup hot pepper sauce (any works fine but I seem to prefer the buffalo flavored sauces)
• 4 diced carrots
• 3 diced celery stalks
• 3 peeled and cubed potatoes
• 5 oz crumbled blue cheese (even if you don't like blue cheese it melts into the soup and gives a great flavor. Andrew doesn't like blue cheese, but he dutifully allowed me to mix it in and he loves this soup. All I'm saying, is give it a try.)

Directions:

1. Combine all of the ingredients (except blue cheese) in the crockpot.
2. Cover and cook on low for 5 hours.
3. Add blue cheese (mix it in) and cook on low for 1 1/2 more hours.
4. Let it cool a little bit and then enjoy!

We like to eat it with tortilla strips. They go great with it! My mouth is watering just thinking about it. You may also want to add more hot sauce afterward. I know it looks like a lot of hot sauce, but it actually turns out pretty mild.

Gingersnaps

So after I gave away gingersnaps to a few people, they wanted to know what recipe I had used. Technically I used one from Allrecipes.com but I changed it, so I'm just going to put what I used here.

As a note, these are super easy to make and you're going to want to double or triple the batch. Trust me. The recipe makes fewer than you'd think.






Ingredients:

• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 1 egg
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1/3 cup white sugar <- this is for decoration and kinda acts like flour to help against the stickiness so you'll probably need more than this and it's totally an imprecise measurement.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
2. In a large bowl, mix together brown sugar, oil, molasses, and egg. 
3. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, salt cloves, cinnamon, and ginger
4. Stir the flour mixture into the brown sugar mixture
5. Roll the dough into 1 1/4 inch balls. This is going to seem really difficult and you're going to get messy. Utilize the sugar. You really can roll them, just make sure your hands are covered in sugar as they get stickier. The dough clings to itself so cover the parts stuck on your hands in sugar and you'll be fine. 
6. Once you get a ball of dough, roll it in sugar and place it on an ungreased cookie sheet.
7. Do that for all of the dough, keeping the balls 2 inches apart.
8. Bake for 10-12 minutes in the oven (or till the center is firm). Keep an eye on them. I started to burn the bottoms of mine (still tasted great though) so the time will probably vary a lot by oven.
9. Cool on wire racks and enjoy!

They're really good cookies and truly easy to make.