Hello

I am not starting this blog for the public. Though, I suppose, all bloggers say that to start with. I am starting this purely for me. This is my place to record my journey through parenthood, marriage, and me. I am wife to D, mom to L (19mo), and currently preggo with #2. We recently moved from UT to CA for work and I have found myself with the largest kitchen of my entire marriage! I have always loved to bake and cook, and I've been finding that the longer I'm married, the more interested I've become in the culinary arts. Well, that was one heck of a run on sentence. Frankly though, I'm not interested in editing it! After all, this is a place for my thoughts!

Now, a little about us. D, my hubby, is a graduate from BYU with a degree in Supply Chain (that's business management). L is our fun loving toddler who is obsessed with the outdoors and animals. #2 is currently growing in my stomach, so I don't know anything about him/her yet! As a family we're big outdoorsy people! We love hiking, fishing, camping, and travelling. L has already visited 24 states and 2 Canadian provinces! We are also proud members of the LDS (Mormon) faith. As for me, I love the kitchen. My favorite books are chef memoirs, I love pretty much everything on the Food Network and the Cooking Channel. And, aside from parenting and being a wife, my greatest joy is feeding people!

Luckily for me, my husband has an adventurous appetite and will eat whatever I attempt to make. 

For instance, we were watching Iron Chef: America tonight. D is running back and forth between the kitchen and living room claiming that nothing looks good because, shocker, the stuff on Iron Chef looks amazing. Finally he looks at the clock, announces that he's got a half hour before he needs to leave to meet the missionaries and requests a good dinner. "WHAT?!?" I'm thinking, "you want a nice dinner in less than 30 mins!?" Normally in such a time rush, I would whip up some mac and cheese. But that wasn't "fancy" enough for him. So, instead, I try my hand at spätzle. Spätzle, for those who haven't had it, is a delicious German pasta that almost dumpling like. I've enjoyed it in restaurants both stateside and in Germany. Plus, one of the chefs had made a batch on the Iron Chef episode we were watching, so it was already on my mind.

Now here I am, standing over the stove, pouring over Pinterest for a spätzle recipe while my water starts to boil. Pinterest, of course, has about 7 bajillion ideas for me, so I pick a random one and go with it. It's eggs and flour, just like any good pasta. Now when you're making traditional Italian pasta, you have to let the dough rest before you roll it out in order for the gluten to hydrate. That is not the case with spätzle. You mix the dough and then push it through a colander, ricer, or if you're feeling fancy, a spätzle maker, right into the pot of boiling water. As the dough is pushed through holes of whatever device you're using, it drops into the water forming the little dumping. It cooks super fast and then it's done! I've always had it topped with some cheese, but all I have at home right now is cheddar (I used the last of my white cheeses last night making pizza!). Cheddar, while delicious, doesn't sound particularly appetizing on any pasta, expect for mac and cheese! I needed to think of something to season it with! Luckily I had just made a big batch of garlic, rosemary compound butter for fathers day and had some left over. I melted that in a sauté pan and tossed in my spätzle. Holy heck! My husband loved it! My toddler loved it! And so did I! 

Now don't get me wrong, it was super tasty. But I feel no drive to post the recipe until I've tweaked it and perfected it. Spätzle was definitely something we enjoyed and I loved how easy it was for my toddler! The little dumplings were the perfect size for her!

So I've got to say that I enjoyed my own little "Iron Chef" challenge tonight. And I am grateful for a hubby who encourages me to try new things, regardless of how simple the dish is! I am excited to see where I take this blog, and what direction it heads. Should be a fun adventure!