Sore Throat Soup

I, like the rest of the free world, am sick today. So far none of us have H1N1, but I do have a killer sore throat and a cough. This soup has been my favorite thing.

It's full of lovely ingredients that are good for you and really help my sore throat to feel better. So if you're into yummy food, whip up a pot of this and keep it in the fridge for a chilly or yucky afternoon.


The original recipe for this came from Lindsey of Cafe Johnsonia, but I make it differently than she does. Here is my version.

Thai Lemon Coconut Chicken Soup

2 chicken breasts, thinly sliced
1 can coconut milk (use light if you are concerned about fat content)
6 cups low-sodium chicken broth (or homemade if you have it)
1 lemongrass stalk or several lemon balm leaves
Soy sauce
Mushrooms (shitake, baby crimini or button if nothing else)
Thai chilies (I used Thai chili oil and it worked just fine)
Zest and juice of 2 limes
Lemon juice
Chopped scallions or onion

Rice for serving

Simmer the coconut broth in a large pan. Add the lemongrass stalk and let it steep. (You can also add Kaffir lime leaves at this point, if you can find them.) Taste and see if the flavor is as strong as you like it. Bring it back to a simmer. Add the chicken, chicken broth, lime zest and juice, and mushrooms. Cook until the chicken is no longer raw. Add soy sauce, chili oil and lemon juice to taste (I like mine pretty lemony, not too salty and a little spicy.)

Ladle over hot rice and enjoy.

Holiday Card Giveaway!

Head on over to Vanilla Joy for your chance to win a set of custom holiday cards!

Sanford Family Pictures

I did this cute family's pictures last week and I love how they turned out. It was such a beautiful fall day and we were lucky that it was warm weather.

The two girls were completely different, one was 100% cooperative and easy to take pictures of.


And the other was SO tired but we did get some lovely shots of her.


Thanks you guys!

Editing, editing, editing...

I've been taking and editing tons of family pictures this month, but here is something new. I did a maternity shoot with my sis-in-law Jackie. I'm sure my neighbors did not think anything was weird about the various fabrics hanging out of the trees in our backyard, or the half-dressed girl running around in 11 different outfits. Check out the results!

The nice thing about working with not-children is that they are patient and you can play around with different settings and lights. We had a great time.

Autumn Pork Roast

We had the most delicious dinner last night and I wanted to post the recipe. It was a slow-cooker pork roast and when we got home from church, our house smelled so strongly of roasting pork and apples that it made your stomach hurt. The meat was tender and the gravy was delicious with the herbs and hint of sweet apples.

Add to crock-pot:
Pork sirloin roast
2-3 apples, cored and sliced (flavorful apples like Jonathon or Fuji work best)
1 onion, chopped into large pieces

Spray the top of the roast with cooking spray or rub with a bit of olive oil. Sprinkle with coarse-ground salt and pepper, garlic powder and rosemary. Sprinkle generously since it will be seasoning the entire roast. Cover and cook for several hours until meat is tender and falling apart.

Remove meat from crock-pot, cover tightly with tin foil and let rest for 10 minutes. In the meantime, pour all the cooking juices into a shallow pan, straining out the large chunks of apples and onions. Add 2 cups of chicken stock (or 2 cups of water and 2 tsp. chicken bullion). Mix 2 tbsp. cornstarch in 1/2 cup cold water, bring juices and stock to a boil and whisk in the cornstarch mixture. Whisk until the entire mixture boils and gravy thickens. Add salt, pepper or additional seasoning to taste.

Serve roast with candied carrots and mashed potatoes.

Grandma's brownies

I've been reminded a few times this week that on the Regular Blog Updater scale, I rank somewhere between Completely Negligent and Slacker McSlackins. I have totally good intentions, I just can't seem to get on top of things right now.

My sweet and lovely grandmother passed away 2 weeks ago. Our friends were kind and awesome enough to pass the kids around between them so that we could travel to Price for the viewing and funeral. I'm really grateful that we were able to spend so much time with our family - there's a special healing spirit there. Because I've felt a little better since then, I unwittingly opened and read this newspaper article sent from my aunt.

Apparently I was just kidding myself about the 'feeling better' because halfway through the article I realized that I was crying my eyes out - giant tears splashing all down my front, trying to convince Minnie that it was just a sneeze and could someone please get Mommy a tissue? However, it was a very nice article and I particularly love this family recipe so I thought I would share it here.

Field family pictures

You might think that 5 kids would make for a difficult family photo session... and in this case you'd be wrong. These guys were awesome and so much fun!

We got so many great pictures that I had a hard time narrowing them down to post here. So enjoy!




The leaves were so beautiful here and all 5 kids were very helpful coming up with poses.




They were lucky that I didn't sneak this one home in my bag with me - she's so precious!

Early Bird sale!

Get the jump on your holiday cards by ordering now! You'll have less stress later AND save money! What could be better? View all available card designs here and place your order early.

Don't forget that you can use any pictures you like for your holiday cards. But if you still need family portraits taken and you live in the Utah County area, be sure to e-mail me!

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