blizzard #1 preview.
02/09/2010 · Leave a Comment
→ Leave a CommentCategories: lily · weather
Tagged: blizzard, snow
blizzard = food.
02/09/2010 · 1 Comment
What do you do in 30″ of snow? Well, besides shovel … er, unless you’re lucky enough to not have to. Oh, and stay warm, of course.
Me? I love to cook. When I learned that we were in for more than 2′ of snow, I planned a full menu and shopped it up.
What did I make that I’d be delighted to share with you? How do macaroni & cheese and beef stew sound? I also managed to make homemade bread and cucumber salad, but the bread isn’t all that exciting and while making the cucumber salad, my daughter was into just about everything (Including discovery of the dog’s water bowl … argh!), making pictures a very bad idea.
But … if you want the recipe for the cucumber salad, it’s by Ina Garten aka Barefoot Contessa and can be found here. I could have used a bit less onion (for my taste) and I did add in some extra white wine vinegar, but otherwise, it’s perfect just as it is.
(Note: I’m a Food Network junkie. While the beef stew recipe didn’t come from Food Network, the mac & cheese did.)
I’d say that just about everything I made this weekend falls into the category of comfort food. Homemade bread, mac & cheese and beef stew are givens, but cucumbers happen to rock, in my mind, so that counts for me, too.
So … stay tuned – the recipes are coming! Until then, here’s a snapshot of our crazy weekend. We ended up with somewhere around 30″ of snow, and there’s another storm on the way this afternoon that’s expected to bring another 10 to 20″.
Oh. My. Gosh.
→ 1 CommentCategories: food · weather · yum
chaos.
02/05/2010 · Leave a Comment
The past 24 hours have been chaos. Well, not really, but things become a bit crazy when there’s major snow on the way.
I decided to hit the grocery store last night. We would survive if we needed to without last night’s grocery run, but I’d be far happier with the appropriate ingredients for some awesome meals – more on that later. Anyway, I was rather impressed. Yes, there were tons of people in the store, but most of the checkouts were open, and there was barely a wait. The parking lot and drive home were the worst of it – people were driving like they were crazy!
So, what did I come home with? Ingredients for the following, among other things:
- homemade bread
- beef stew
- homemade macaroni & cheese
- cucumber salad
- black bean hummus
I’m psyched, now let’s just hope the snow brings the energy for all of that! I also sat down last night and wrote a to do list for each day. Have I mentioned the fact that I’m so excited about being snowed in!? Two full days in with Peanut – what could be better?! I have plenty of projects to work on. I know there’s no way I’ll get to all of them, but a girl can dream, right?
Lily is, here and there, saying ma ma ma. It’s awesome! She started on Wednesday night and my mom heard it over the phone last night. I know it doesn’t mean anything yet, but it’s still cool!
Are you guilty of this? I just finished something and went to cross it off my to do list, only to find that it was never on my to do list. So … what did I do? Wrote it on there, and then proceed to cross it off, of course! Have you ever done that? I felt so silly when I was done, but I needed that sense of accomplishment. Yeah, I’m goofy.
Well, if you’re in the path of this weekend’s mega-snowstorm, be careful over the weekend. From what I hear, it’s already started here, and it seems like it’s going to be quite messy out there by the time it’s all said and done!
Stay warm!
→ Leave a CommentCategories: life · lily
teeth.
02/03/2010 · Leave a Comment
So I’ve mentioned these teeth Peanut is rockin’ these days, but have yet to provide photo proof. There are 2 reasons for that – (1) because I’ve taken so few pictures since she’s gotten those teeth that it’s shameful, and (2) it’s like she’s hiding them in there!
I was on a mission last weekend, and thankfully, I was able to get a couple not-so-great but qualifying photos of those teeth …
Oh, how I love this girl …
→ Leave a CommentCategories: lily · parenting
car seat.
02/03/2010 · Leave a Comment
→ Leave a CommentCategories: lily · parenting
Tagged: convertible car seat
recipe: taco soup.
02/01/2010 · Leave a Comment
A dear work friend introduced me to this recipe late last week and I immediately knew it would work for my husband and I. After some minor adaptations, I’d say it’s just about perfect!
.:| taco soup |:.
What you’ll need …
2 lbs. ground beef (would also be great with ground turkey)
1 large onion, chopped
1 can pinto beans
1 can black beans
1 can whole kernel corn
1 can diced tomatoes – zesty chili style
1 can Rotel tomatoes
1 package taco seasoning mix (I also added an additional 1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp.)
1 package Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix (dry packet)
approximately 2 cups water (use whatever you like for the amount of broth you prefer)
What you’ll do …
Brown ground beef and onions in large pan; drain off fat. Add all ingredients to crock pot (Note: I have a 6.5 qt. crock pot and it was 3/4 full.) and cook on low for at least 2 hours (I let ours cook for 8 hours.). Serve garnished with sour cream and Fritos.
→ Leave a CommentCategories: food · recipes · yum
Tagged: crock pot, recipe, soup, taco soup
january in review.
02/01/2010 · Leave a Comment
I must admit – January was a good month. And let me tell you, February will be even better! Over the past 31 days …
- … I wrote 29 new posts! Happy to be keeping up with my promise to blog more!
- … I set out on a mission to make 2010 my year – and so far so good!
- … a very dear friend got married – yay!
- … little miss mastered inch-worming and sitting, mixed inch-worming with real crawling (We didn’t think she’d actually crawl.), added “ba ba ba” and “da da da” to her vocabulary, started pulling up on her knees, caught us by surprise when she was standing up in her crib, and transitioned into a big girl car seat (Ehem, this weekend. The daggone things showed up early!)! She also started holding her own bottle … eh, sometimes. Yippee!
- … I got my ant back! (More on this later – I keep forgetting to take a picture of it to accompany my already written post on what the heck that means!)
- … we celebrated my non-bleeding brain, but I was again unsuccessful in fighting a sinus infection. Nice.
- … girl’s day was totally spontaneous and tons of fun! When are we going again, ladies?!
- … dive travel plans were set in stone for March!
- … I practiced something I haven’t done in forever, but that practice didn’t really make it anywhere as I followed my gut instinct. I’ll practice my patience in February (and probably beyond) on this one.
- … my husband started a new amazing job and is loving every second of it!
- … jealousy overtook me – and it was admittedly not flattering. It’s something I’ll focus on in February – and probably the rest of the year, for that matter.
- … the course of 2010 was defined in one word: explore.
- … I stayed fairly true to my promise of better communication. Improvement in February would be awesome!
- … we did not manage to take our Christmas tree down. Yep, it’s true, and I most certainly do turn on the lights every night!
I’m looking forward to what this month will bring, and am so excited about the progress made in January. So far, 2010 is living up to expectations!
→ Leave a CommentCategories: blogging · family · life · lily · one word: explore
burnt biscuits.
01/29/2010 · 2 Comments
Many thanks to my wonderful sister for sending this to me. A, your timing was perfect, and you, too, have touched my life in many more ways than you’ll ever know and could ever imagine. I love you!
And now, I share with you the forward A sent to me on a gray day in January, “Burnt Biscuits.”
When I was a kid, my mom liked to make breakfast food for dinner every now and then. And I remember one night in particular when she had made breakfast after a long, hard day at work.
On that evening so long ago, my mom placed a plate of eggs, sausage and extremely burned biscuits in front of my dad. I remember waiting to see if anyone noticed! Yet all my dad did was reach for his biscuit, smile at my mom and ask me how my day was at school.
I don’t remember what I told him that night, but I do remember watching him smear butter and jelly on that biscuit and eat every bite!
When I got up from the table that evening, I remember hearing my mom apologize to my dad for burning the biscuits. And I’ll never forget what he said, “Honey, I love burned biscuits.”
Later that night, I went to kiss Daddy good night and I asked him if he really liked his biscuits burned.
He wrapped me in his arms and said, “Your Momma put in a hard day at work today and she’s real tired. And besides – a little burnt biscuit never hurt anyone!” You know, life is full of imperfect things … and imperfect people. I’m not the best at hardly anything, and I forget birthdays and anniversaries just like everyone else. What I’ve learned over the years is that learning to accept each others faults – and choosing to celebrate each others differences – is one of the most important keys to creating a healthy, growing, and lasting relationship.
And that’s my prayer for you today. That you will learn to take the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of your life and lay them at the feet of God. Because in the end, He’s the only One who will be able to give you a relationship where a burnt biscuit isn’t a deal-breaker!
We could extend this to any relationship. In fact, understanding is the base of any relationship, be it a husband-wife or parent-child or friendship! Don’t put the key to your happiness in someone else’s pocket – keep it in your own.
God bless you … now and always. So please pass me a biscuit, and yes, the burnt one will do just fine!
Please pass this along to someone who has enriched your life … I just did!
→ 2 CommentsCategories: life






















