Moncur Family Reunion

Moncur Video

Banana Muffins

Cream together:

1 cup butter

2 cups sugar

6 mashed bananas

4 well beaten eggs

Mix in:

2 1/2 cups flour

1 t. salt

2 t. baking soda.

Don't over mix. Bake at 350 for approximately 45 in a bread pan, 20-25 minutes in muffin tins.

Tips:

Cream butter and sugar first.

Make sure bananas are mushy, but not rotten (bad experience!)

Stuffed Peppers and Pudding Pops

I am finally getting back in my groove after my two trips home to Utah. I feel so blessed that I was able to go home to see Nick and go again for his funeral. If you would like to read about his funeral go to nick-raitt.blogspot.com. Nicholas was just the coolest guy ever...plain and simple. We love Nick!

It has been nice to come back to Bear and get life back in order. Before the summer, I think Austin had this vision of me making gourmet meals every night, him coming home to a clean apartment and fresh cookies waiting on the counter. That has not happened yet, but I still have a few months to redeem myself before we move back to Utah!

A co-worker of mine brought stuffed peppers to work for her lunch one time and they looked sooo good! Ever since then I've wanted to make them so this week I finally did!

Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients

• · 6 green bell peppers
• · salt to taste
• · 1 pound ground beef
• · 1/3 cup chopped onion
• · salt and pepper to taste
• · 1 (14.5 ounce) can petite diced tomatoes
• · 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• · 1/2 cup uncooked rice
• · 1/2 cup water
• · 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• · 2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed tomato soup
• · water as needed

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cut the peppers in half (remove stems), and remove the seeds. Cook peppers in boiling water for 5 minutes (completely submerged); drain. Sprinkle salt inside each pepper, and set aside.
2. In a large skillet, saute beef and onions (add garlic salt) for 5 minutes, or until beef is browned. Drain off excess fat, and season with salt and pepper. Stir in the tomatoes, rice, 1/2 cup water and Worcestershire sauce. Cover, and simmer for 15 minutes, or until rice is tender. Remove from heat, and stir in the cheese.
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. (175 degrees C). Stuff each pepper with the beef and rice mixture, and place peppers open side up in a baking dish. In a medium bowl, combine tomato soup with just enough water to make the soup a gravy consistency. Pour over the peppers.
4. Bake covered for 25 to 35 minutes, until heated through and cheese is melted and bubbly.

While I was making these I was a little worried that they wouldn't be good, but I really liked them! They weren't too hard and it was fun to make something different. I even had some of the guys come over for dinner and they approved.

Tips:

• Make sure you boil your peppers for AT LEAST 5 minutes
• Season your meat with taco seasoning, otherwise it will be a little bland
• Serve with sour cream and tortilla chips

Next we have Pudding Pops...

Isn't Austin cute in all his Vivint glory??

These are so easy and fun to make! I love vanilla pudding so making it into a popsicle sounded like a fabulous idea. I bought the popsicle molds at Target. All you have to do is:

• Prepare a small package of pudding as it directs you on the box (I used vanilla)
• Add fruit, candy, cookies, etc. (I used Heath Bars)
• Mix it all together, freeze for a few hours (I did it overnight), and voila! you have a popsicle!

Some ideas that I have found and want to try are:

• White chocolate pudding with rasberries
• Vanilla pudding with peanut butter and bananas
• Vanilla pudding, vanilla yogurt and strawberries
• Chocolate pudding with crushed Oreos (I think mint Oreos would be awesome!)

Pretty much do whatever combination that sounds good to you!

You also could make these a healthier treat by just using yogurt.

Nicholas William Raitt

January 17, 1989 - June 2, 2011

I love you Nicholas!

Chansi

I love this little girl! This is Nicole and Jason's little girl, Chansi. I have a feeling we will be taking a lot more pictures of her this summer :-) Today we all went to the pool. So much fun!

It is 95 degrees here! I needed a little bit of happy sunshine this week.

Last week I made a little trip home to Utah to see Nick. It was so good to see him. If you would like updates on Nick you can go to nick-raitt.blogspot.com. I got back to Delaware on Sunday. It's good to be back and fee like I have a little structure in my life!

My goals this week include: keeping my apartment clean, finishing Katelyn's graduation present (more to come on that later), working, making dinner for my husband every night (no more Mac & Cheese...Sorry Aust), playing tennis with Austin, and spending my afternoons at the pool. I know...life is rough. This week of relaxing is much needed :-)

Wedding Pictures

We got our wedding pictures back! I am so excited about it! Rebekah Westover did a great job.

Here is the link:

Wedding Photos

The password is my name.

If there are any pictures of you let me know the number and I will get you a copy :-)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

You know those days when you just need something sweet and REALLY bad for you so that you can forget all your troubles. This pie will totally do that for you. It is delicious. This is a picture before I baked it (I forgot to take an after shot). I got the recipe from Our Best Bites. If you ever need to find a bunch of never fail recipes, that is the place to go. After I baked it, I topped off each slice with a little bit of cookies and cream ice cream. It was so good!!

I used:

-Ghirardelli Milk and Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips (Ghirardelli makes everything better)

-Pillsbury Frozen Pie Crust (best and easiest way to go)

I didn't use:

-Nuts

Here is the link to the recipe:

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

Our Attempt to Visit Fort Delaware

After church on Sunday we went with Kenny and Andrea to Delaware City.

We were going to take a ferry to Fort Delaware...

This was as far as we made it (the little island behind us is Fort Delaware).

The ferry was closed because of a triathlon.

Our cooool friends.

Austin is really excited about eating at Crabby Dick's.

My handsome husband with Crabby.

Delaware City is cool because it is really old and has lots of history. Apparently there are a lot of ghosts that live in the local shops and homes. A woman told me and Andrea that there was a ghost standing right behind us in her store....creeeepy.

We will definitely be going back to Fort Delaware when it is open. I will let you know how it goes!

I Hate Cancer

I know I don't have a lot of readers on this blog, but for those of you who do read this, please keep a special prayer in your heart for Tyler Smith and Nick Raitt. Thanks!

Tyler Smith's Support Page

Nick's Blog

I am a Gardner

I potted these flowers this morning. I probably did it all wrong, but I think they are pretty and I love having flowers on my porch. I have been wanting to do this since we got here.

Flowers always make everything better.

This is my little pot of strawberries. I don't know how long they will last in this little pot, but it was all I had! I feel more and more like a grandma every day. Today Andrea, Nicole, and I are making bran-muffins to go with the homemade jam we made a couple days ago. I know, I know...but it keeps us busy. The bran-muffins we are making are really good though..they don't taste like card board. I will put the recipe on here after we finish!

Good Morning Baltimore

This brought me pure joy on our way to DC...Austin was embarrassed by this and there wasn't even anyone around! How rude!

If you haven't seen Baltimore before, now you have :-)

Washington DC

Austin and I went to Washington D.C. on Sunday because my dad was there for work. It was so much fun! I absolutely love D.C. My new dream is to live in one of those cute colonial homes with red brick, black shutters, and a cute porch. Our kids will play catch in the backyard while I bake cookies in the kitchen.

We went to a singles ward because it was the only time we could go to church. It was a huge ward and I felt like everyone there was way smarter than me. They are all going to be doctors, lawyers, and politicians. I will feel much more successful than they ever will when I open up a bakery with my friends. It will be even better than Georgetown Cupcake.

We waited in line for an hour for those things, but it was well worth it. I know it was Sunday, but geez if you are going to sin you might as well get a cupcake in the process.

Notice that some of the cupcakes are missing. We had a little pre-dinner dessert. I have to say that my favorite was the red velvet! We paid $30 for a dozen cupcakes. Isn't that ridiculous? Who does that? My bakery will be much more affordable.

I love how much history is in DC. We saw...

The Capitol Building

La casa de Obama (Sorry the picture stinks..it was a drive by)

It was fun to just drive around and see all the cool buildings. I cannot wait to go back. First, I will go to Georgetown to shop, then I will go back and take a picture of myself in front of the white house, and then I will get another cupcake.

Overall it was like the greatest day ever. It was so good to see my dad, we ate yummy food, and I got to see the Nation's Capitol for the first time. I am way more patriotic now.

Wilmington

We went to lunch in Wilmington a few days ago! It is a way cool city. We ate at this cool little local place on the river called Timothy's.

These are their famous chips with jalapeno cheese sauce. So good, but so bad.

DC Temple

Andrea, Rachel, Brittney, Alex and I all made the trip down to the DC Temple!

It is beautiful!! It was an all day trip, but so worth it! We were able to do a session which was really neat. Hopefully we will get to go a few more times before the end of the summer and hopefully our husbands will be able to come too!

(I forgot my camera so these photos from my phone will have to do!)

Meet Pete

Andrea and Kenny found this little guy last Sunday on their bike ride.

Michael and Rachel have taken Pete into their home and nursed him back to health.

They are way nicer than I am. My poor future children will never have pets. :-)

Parker House Rolls

This is a never fail recipe and they are yummy too!

They weren't very pretty because I didn't have a biscuit cutter or a rolling pin.

1 pkg. active dry yeast

1/2 c. warm water

1/3 c. sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 c. butter

1 c. milk

1tsp. salt

2 eggs, beaten

4 1/2 c. flour

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Add sugar and baking powder and let rest. Melt butter.

Add milk and salt. Cool slightly.

Stir into yeast mixture. Add eggs. Gradually add flour until well mixed.

Cover and refrigerate.

About 2 hours before serving, roll out dough to 1/2 inch thick. Cut with biscuit cutter, score with a knife across middle, and fold over. place in greased baking pan with rolls touching. Bake at 425 for 12-14 minutes or until golden brown. Brush with butter.

Sunday BBQ

Pond by our apartment!

Rachel & Michael

Andrea & Kenny

The Ladies!! Recipes coming soon....

The husbands.

The Pyromaniacs.

Bear

We finally made it! Our apartment is officially unpacked after staying up until 3am building our "entertainment center" for the TV, lysol/clorox-ing every drawer in the apartment, and several trips to Wal-mart (which is 5 miles down the road...in Maryland).

It's pretty plain and simple, but we like it! As you can see I need to do laundry. I love having a walk-in closet! It's the greatest thing ever! Now I just need fill it with new clothes!! just kidding...kinda. It is going to be a fun summer in Bear, DE. :-)