Questival

I honestly can't explain this event better than the video you can see here: http://questival.cotopaxi.com/questivals/salt-lake-city-ut/

Ryan and I were in a group of 5. We went out to Wendover, to the salt flats, to the salt lake, to Provo canyon, to sleeping wherever possible (it's not really), to eating for other challenges.

Holiday Leftovers

We all love getting together with family and friends for the holidays (at least I do) and everyone loves eating yummy food. And then the next day the preparer of the food, and any lucky participants the yummy food was delegated to, have, well, a lot of leftovers. The leftovers I'm talking about here are the turkey and ham. Both so delicious, but what about after they're cold? My dad will not eat turkey cold, and it is too much effort to heat turkey up when he could eat ham cold. A few weeks ago I stumbled across this recipe, like almost literally, I was jogging on the treadmill when I found it. And OH MY GOSH it is so good that I made it three times and served it to people.

Leftover rolls
Shredded mozzarella cheese, enough for each sandwich
A few pieces of ham and turkey
1/2 C butter
2 T brown sugar
2 T Worcestershire sauce
2 T yellow mustard*
1/2 t onion powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a casserole dish. Slice open each roll and place in casserole dish. Place in each roll in this order: mozzarella cheese, ham and turkey, mozzarella cheese. Close rolls.
In a small saucepan melt butter and stir in rest of ingredients until well combined. Brush generously on top of rolls, letting the sauce run down the sides of the rolls.
Bake 15-20 minutes, eat warm.

*I didn't have any Worcestershire sauce so I used brown spicy dijon mustard (or something like that).

Yield: sauce will cover approx 8-10 sandwiches

Recipe was found on Good 4 Utah.

Interesting People

You know, in my mind I'm a pretty cool person. I'm funny too. And I'm good at comebacks. And I'm a good writer. But in reality I don't come across that way. I don't know exactly how I come across, but it's not the cool, funny, witty person I hear when people hear nothing. And they usually hear nothing because I think of the witty comment a few hours after the opportunity of saying the comment had passed.

Sometimes I think my life could be a book or a movie.

But I hate drama, and dramatic happenings are the plots to movies and books.

And I'm not very interesting. In fact, the most interesting things in my life have nothing to do with me. I'm connected in some sort of way, you know, like how Yzma is Pacha's third cousin's brother's wife's step-niece's great aunt. Twice removed. But I, myself, am not very interesting.

My book's plot would somehow get turned into someone else's story. Like how Goosebumps made you turn to a certain page to finish out the rest of the story, my book would turn you to a different book. It would be a great money maker, for other people's books. Pretty soon my book would be good at collecting people's shelf dust and would have a never ending cycle of being encircled about by other people's books.

Let's face it, the most interesting subjects in my life are the people I know. The excitement in my book would come when I talked with other people, because their lives are exciting.

Like the seminary class I've taught for the past two weeks. Two of the kids went to prom together. One always has a family story to tell. One is nicknamed Beyonce. One used to have the hair of Will Smith when he was the Fresh Prince.

Or like my cool brother. Anything he is doing is interesting. He's just graduated, is moving to a new city, and has a sister who looks up to every move he makes.

Or like my cool brother's darling little girl. My niece. Anything she does is so captivating. And almost everything she does is so funny. The way she sees the world as her constant playground, the way she walks when she's tired and "tipsy," the way she plays with hair by flipping her hand back and forth, creating more tangles, really.

Or like my beautiful cousin (who wouldn't be closer to me if we were from the same parents). She is surrounded by friends, everyone loves her, and she's constantly doing spontaneous acts of funness.

Or like the lives of close friends. The other night I went through my contacts with the intention of deleting people I no longer remember or ex boyfriends (it's relieving, really) and ended up texting several friends because I simply hadn't heard from them in a while. One just moved and has a darling infant boy. One is getting married in a couple months. One is working on getting her body in shape (which, come one, she's a dancer, she is in shape, she should be working on getting my body in shape) (just kidding) (maybe). And one just bungee jumped off the stratosphere.

So, really, my life is only interesting because of the people I'm surrounded by and the people I keep in contact with. I have no children. I have no husband, heck not even a boyfriend. The only way I could be remembered at this point in my life is because I listened to other people tell their stories.

For now I'll chase the sun and keep in touch with people because I want to. I'd consider that a high honor as something to be remembered by. The book of people I had the pleasure listening to.

Vegetable Pizza

This recipe came about by accident. I didn't have much food in my apartment, but I had a pizza crust and a few vegetables. I knew these vegetables would be good together because Lindsay Stoker taught me a vegetable/cheese medley using most of them, and I have a white pizza sauce recipe from a spinach-broccoli pizza. So here is a healthy pizza, I eat this when I've had a lot of meat and I want some veggies and I want something filling.


Vegetable Pizza
Shaylee Droubay

Sauce:
1 Tbsp butter
1 Garlic clove, minced (or ¼ tsp garlic powder)
1 Tbsp flour
Pinch of Fresh ground black pepper
Dash of nutmeg
¾ cup Milk
6 Tbsp finely grated Parmesan cheese
Salt, to taste

For assembly:
Pizza dough or precooked pizza crust
Olive oil, for brushing
1 Tbsp butter
½ Red onion, sliced thinly to make small rings
1 Green bell pepper, diced
1 Green zucchini, large dice
1 can Kidney beans, drained
Salt & Pepper, to taste
1-2 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese (enough to cover the pizza)
Finely grated Parmesan cheese (enough to cover the pizza)

Preheat oven to 425˚F (bake/roast), or according to packaged pizza crust instructions. Place a baking sheet in the oven to get hot, if using dough.

In a small skillet on medium heat, melt the butter. Add onion and sauté until clear and soft. Add bell pepper and zucchini, sauté until soft. Turn heat to low, add kidney beans, cover. Remove from heat if kidney beans get too soft.

In a small sauce pan over medium-low heat, heat the butter and garlic. Whisk in flour, black pepper, and nutmeg. Let cook for 1 minute. While whisking, slowly pour in milk. Cook until bubbly and thickened, about 3-4 minutes, whisking frequently. Whisk in the finely grated Parmesan until melted. Add salt. Remove from heat and set aside.

If using pizza dough, dust counter with flour and gently stretch pizza dough to a 12—14” round pizza, or divide to 3 miniature pizzas. Or use pre-made pizza crust. Place dough onto parchment paper that is sized to then pan.

Brush a ½—1” border of the dough with olive oil. Spoon the sauce onto dough, leaving a small border for crust. Evenly drop/spread vegetable medley onto pizza, may need to rearrange onions. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover with mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses.

Remove pan from oven and place parchment with pizza onto the pan. This will give a slightly crispier crust to the pizza.

Bake for 13—17 minutes, until dough and cheese are browning. Or according to packaged pizza crust instructions, cheese should be melted and slightly browning.

The Fellowship of the Unashamed

I am part of the fellowship of the unashamed. The die has been cast; I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, I won't look back, let up, slow down or be still. My past is redeemed; my present makes sense and my future is secure. I'm finished and done with low living, small planning, smooth knees, and dwarf goals. I no longer need preeminence, position, promotions or popularity. I don't have to be right, first, recognized, praised, regarded or rewarded. I now live by faith, lean on His presence, walk with patience amplified by prayer and labor with power. My face is set, my gait is fast, my goal is heaven. My path is narrow, my way is rough, my companions are few. My guide is reliable, my mission is clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, divided or delayed. I will not negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity or meander in the maze of mediocrity. I won't give up, shut up or let up until I have stayed up, stored up and paid up for the cause of Christ. I must go until He comes, give until I drop, preach unto all I know and work until He stops me. And when He returns for His own, He will have no problem recognizing me, my banner will be clear!

Elder Henry B. Eyring