Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Tasty Tuesdays: Corn Chowder

This is good stuff.  And it's easy.  Ready?  You will need:
  1. 6 ears fresh corn or 3 cups frozen whole kernel corn (I used frozen)
  2. Medium chopped onion
  3. Medium chopped green sweet pepper
  4. 1tbsp cooking oil
  5. 14 oz can chicken broth
  6. Medium cubed and peeled potato
  7. 2 tbsp flour
  8. 1/2 tsp salt
  9. 1/2 tsp black pepper
  10. 1 1/2 c milk
  11. 4 slices bacon
  12. snipped parsley for garnish (I didn't have any)

This recipe is adapted from a Better Homes and Gardens cookbook (just like the last Tasty Tuesday soup).  

  • Chop the bacon and fry it until it is crispy.  I suppose you could also just buy bacon bits if you are in a time crunch.  They would still be delicious.
  • In large saucepan, cook onion, sweet pepper, salt, and pepper in oil until onion is tender.  Stir in corn, broth, and potato.  Bring to boiling; reduce heat.  Simmer, covered, for 10 to 15 minutes.
  • In small bowl, stir flour and milk until blended.  Add this to the corn mixture in the saucepan.  Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly.  Cook and stir 1 minute more.  Add bacon, heat through.  If desired, garnish with parsley.

My bowl


Josh's bowl
We both agreed that this is soup we will make again.  We also both agreed it was not super exciting.  The flavors were good, though.  It does mention in the cookbook that you can make it a "corn and crab chowder" but just eliminating the bacon and in step 3, after cooking for 1 minute, stir in a 6 oz can of crab meat.  I seriously considered this but couldn't find a can of crab meat less than 16 ounces... and none of them were on sale.  But now that I know we like the soup, I will probably wait for the crab to go on sale and double or triple the soup recipe so we can freeze some and pull it out on a busy day in the winter.  It would also be super delicious to use fresh corn, but it simply wasn't the right time of year.  Maybe next summer.

Monday, November 28, 2011

My Grown Up Christmas List

Last year I posted my "In-Your-Dreams" Christmas list.  The kind where I post a bunch of stuff I would love to have but just know that I won't get because it's too expensive...   I was thinking about doing that again (and I just may).  But for today, since it's officially "after Thanksgiving", I want to post my Grown Up Christmas List.  I sang this song in high school and always loved the message it sent.  Plus, everyone can use a little Michael Buble in their life...



Do you remember me
I sat upon your knee
I wrote to you
With childhood fantasies

Well, I'm all grown up now
And still need help somehow
I'm not a child
But my heart still can dream

So here's my lifelong wish
My grown up christmas list
Not for myself
But for a world in need

No more lives torn apart
That wars would never start
and wars would never start
And time would heal all hearts
And everyone would have a friend
And right would always win
And love would never end
This is my grown up christmas list

As children we believed
The grandest sight to see
Was something lovely
Wrapped beneath our tree

Well heaven only knows
That packages and bows
Can never heal
A hurting human soul

No more lives torn apart
That wars would never start
And time would heal all hearts
And everyone would have a friend
And right would always win
And love would never end
This is my grown up christmas list

What is this illusion called the innocence of youth
Maybe only in our blind belief can we ever find the truth
(there'd be)

No more lives torn apart
That wars would never start
And time would heal all hearts
And everyone would have a friend
And right would always win
And love would never end, oh
This is my grown up christmas list

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Today I am Thankful For...

...Josh.  Who purchased these flowers for me on Sunday night when I was having tremendous tooth pain... and gave me a reason to use my new $5 thrift store vase.


Happy Thanksgiving!  What are you thankful for today?

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Wedding Gifts: Make it Count.

One of my favorite things is giving gifts.  I will admit: it can be scary sometimes, though.  Christmas time is kind of frustrating.  As much as everyone loves giving gifts, what's the point if you don't even know what to get them?  Why buy a gift just because you feel obligated?  I figured out the solution: only give personal or sentimental gifts.  Or a mixture between something they need and something personal.  I posted over the summer about my BFF's wedding and how we made them their tiered-towel-cake in their wedding colors:


The best parts about this gift?
  1. We purchased the towels from their registry, so they got what they needed/wanted.
  2. I made it myself and gave it a personal touch.
  3. It matched their wedding colors and looked so darn cute on the gift table.
So, at the last two weddings that I have been to (both in the last month) I wanted to replicate that feeling (but still trying something different.  For my friend Meghan's wedding, I decided to make them some picture frames to remember their wedding.  Meghan and I had been talking about how she wanted more personal stuff in her house, so I did it for her :-)

I purchased three white frames:


An 8x10, a 4x6, and a 5x7 shadow box.  In the 8x10 I printed a big monogram "R" (for their new family name) on white cardstock and stuck it in there. 

not a very good pic


For the 4x6, I found this cute card at WalMart and LOVED the little love birds, so I bought that, cut it to size, and placed it in the frame.




I put them in a pretty bag (which I forgot to take a picture of) and gave them a really nice card with some cash.  Once again, they get the personal side and something that they need/want (money!).  I also told them that there was one more frame to come.  While at the wedding, I took this picture of Meghan holding the train of her dress by the little ribbon "strap".  It is about as artistic as my photo-taking-skills get.


I also stole the place card with their new "Mr. and Mrs. Wesley Rice" name on it from their actual table at the wedding.  I kept the stamp from the invitation I received from NY because it had her wedding themed stamp on it from her hometown postal office.  I also dried some leaves and flowers from my bridesmaid bouquet, put them in the shadow box frame, added the other stuff, and gave it as the final part to their gift a week or so later.

also not a very good pic

I did the same thing for my brother and sister-in-law's wedding on Saturday.  They were registered for a bunch of kitchen stuff and I knew they needed it.  Some of my favorite things in my kitchen are the little gadgets that I picked out and received for our wedding.  Especially because they all match and are in the same drawer.  Yeah, I'm type-A like that.  So I bought all that kind of stuff off their registry.


I also needed to give a personal touch.  So I bought them this beautiful and inspirational book:


He is the author of The 5 Love Languages.  And this book is basically a collection of a bunch of very inspirational faith-driven love stories that test time and test everyday life.  I thought it would be a beautiful and motivational way to start a marriage.

Another cool thing in this wedding was that my brother married a woman who already had a daughter from a previous relationship.  In the ceremony, they wrote and spoke beautiful vows to my new three-year-old niece, Baelee, and presented her with a necklace in which my brother promised to love her as his own and keep her safe forever.  It officially made me cry.  Here is a pic last Easter of my family with my dad:

My dad is holding sweet Baelee.

And her is a picture of Baelee on the wedding day showing off the flower girl dress (that I bought for her).  I just needed to throw that in there because I am proud of it :-)


So, I thought it was really important for me to give a gift to them that could be appreciated by their whole family.  I saw a few things online about creating a Thanksgiving jar.  So, I bought a little jar and put some cute gold stickers on top to say "give thanks".


I tied a ribbon around the jar and decorated some cards using white cardstock, markers, ribbon, some rhinestone stickers I already had, and a hole punch.


I wrote on their card that every day from now until Thanksgiving, they could each write something that they are thankful for, fold it, put it in the jar, and then on their first holiday as a family, they could pull them all out and read them together.  And if they kept the jar, they could make it a tradition each year (which I also plan to do someday when I have a family 'cause its just so cute). 

I also included a pack of colorful dry erase markers because 3 year old Baelee can't really write her thanks on cards this year, but she can decorate the jar with markers.  And the best part, she can wipe it off and redecorate it each year.



I bought matching gift wrap, bag, balloon, and tissue paper from the dollar store and bought hot pink ribbons and bows, too.  (Her colors were black, silver, and hot pink).

Once again, it looked absolutely adorable on the gift table.



There you have it.  Give sentimental gifts.  Take a few extra minutes and make it personal.  Think about your gifts ahead of time.  They will be remembered forever.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Tasty Tuesdays: White Chicken Chili

Fall is my favorite season.  I love to cook soup in the fall.  This is my favorite soup to cook and it's SO easy.  I originally got this recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, but I have made some changes since.
This is by far one of the easiest dinners I have ever made.  This is what you need:


  • 3 15 oz cans of cannellini (white kidney beans)
  • about 2 1/2 c chopped cooked chicken (I always have frozen chopped cooked chicken because I buy it in bulk when its on super sale, then boil and chop it for later.  So I just pulled out 2 sandwich-bags-worth)
  • large onion, chopped
  • green, red, yellow, and orange peppers; chopped
  • 3 jalapenos, chopped (sometimes I seed them, sometimes not)
  • 2 serrano peppers (sometimes I seed them, sometimes not)
  • 3 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • a lot of chicken broth (this time I used about 46 oz)
  • shredded cheese for topping
I typically make this as a slow cooker recipe and let it cook on low all day.  Since I don't feel like chopping tons of peppers and onions at 6am, I do that the night before and put them in the fridge.



In the tupperware are the chopped yellow, red, green, and orange peppers.  I love using tons of colorful peppers in recipes, as you probably know by now.  In two of the sandwich bags: chopped, cooked chicken.  In another: a large chopped onion.  In the last: the chopped jalapeno and serrano peppers.  This time I didn't seed any of them and it was SPICY!  But we loved it.  If we do seed the peppers, then we typically top the chili with hot sauce.  

Next, I got the rest of the stuff ready for the morning.


The crock pot is ready, the cookbook is opened to the right page, I have all of the ingredients set out and even the can opener, garlic press, and measuring spoons.  Can you tell I'm not a morning person?

The next morning, I drained the beans, added them, the broth, the spices, and everything else EXCEPT the green, yellow, red, and orange peppers.  We don't like soft peppers.  We like them to still have a bit of a crunch to them.  On this particular day, I wasn't going to be home until about 7:45pm.  So I added everything else and turned in on low.  When Josh got home around 5pm, he added the peppers.  So they only cooked for about 3 hours in there, leaving them fresh.


And that's what I smelled when I got home. mmmmmmm......


I love how it's so colorful.  And spicy.  And healthy.  And it reminds me of my favorite season.


We added some shredded cheese on top, gave it a minute to melt a little, and dug in.  We have also been known to crush up some tortilla chips and sprinkle those on, too.  Yeah, sooooo good.

Monday, November 21, 2011

A Man, A Plan, A Canal: Panama

It seemed like the most appropriate title.  I tried to come up with a palindrome about a root canal, but couldn't do it.  Let me know if you think of one.

So, we went to my brother's wedding.  It was a good time and my new sister-in-law got her dream wedding.  They were both so happy :-)  More updates on that later.

For the past week, I have been dealing with some serious tooth pain.  It was at its worst at the wedding and then the peak was on the drive home last night.  I think I deal with pain fairly well.  I try not to complain much when I'm sick and I believe I am good at hiding it when I need to (like at work or something).  Well, that's what I had to do over the weekend.  I knew in my mind that something was seriously wrong.

I told Josh last night in the car that if I couldn't get a dentist appointment today that I was going to have to head to the ER.  I got one.  I have been taking what is probably 3 times the recommended dosage of ibuprofen and tylenol the past few days and was so relieved when the dentist walked in that I just started crying (for the first time).  He took an x-ray and came back and said, "Well, there's no question.  You have a severe abscess.  Here is a narcotic.  Here is an antibiotic.  Call this endodontist and schedule a root canal immediately."

Shucks.

I have had a root canal before.  Then one of the posts in my tooth broke and I had to have a re-treatment of that same root canal.  I know people complain about root canals like they are the worst thing in the world.  The truth is: they aren't.  If you have ever had an abscessed tooth giving you what is without a doubt the worst pain you have ever felt and your dentist tells you that you need a root canal... you thank him and make the appointment.

The worst part is that my insurance only covers 50% so we have to spend our holiday money on my eff-ing tooth.  Whatev.  Such is life.

I took my narcotic.  All is well.

Friday, November 18, 2011

Gallery Wall Part Dos

A Sequel to Gallery Wall Part Uno.  In a recent post, I mentioned that the gallery wall was no longer going to be in the living room.  Better judgement led us to believe that it belonged in the office.  So, true to younghouselove's tutorial (my favorite home-decor blog), we decided to use magazine pages cut to the size of each frame.  We labeled everything (of course) and arranged them on the wall in the office to figure out spacing issues. I filled all the frames with art that we I love, labeled them with numbers, cut the magazine pages to size and labeled those with the same numbers.  Then, I arranged the frames on the floor in a shape that I liked.

The rest was up to Josh.  His job was to "replicate" the floor version of frames with the paper on the wall taped with painter's tape.  This was his job, as he is the "spacing" and "measuring" person in our house.  I get overwhelmed with those things and I am certain that whatever part of the brain that deals with those things is missing from my body.  Anyway, here are some in-progress photos of our gallery wall, which I have more appropriately coined as "The Gallery Cloud".

Frames aligned on the floor with their respective magazine pages on top (to hide the art that will be revealed later)

Josh "hanging" the magazine pages in action.

The temporary final product (until frames are actually hung)

I love my cloud.  23 frames of happy.
On another note, I am headed to Cumberland this morning with Josh for my little brother's wedding, which is tomorrow!  Weird to think that my baby brother is going to soon be a husband.  I hope to take lots of pictures and share some details later :-)  Have a great weekend!

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Office Updates

Our office looks a little different since the last time you saw it.  I have been wanting these awesome flower-on-the-wall things ever since I saw this photo from younghouselove's first home office:


I love how they are placed on  the floating shelves.  I just knew I needed them.  I had been eye-ing them up at Bed Bath and Beyond for quite some time and they were never on sale.  Well I found them (in silver) for 50% so I swooped them up and figured I could spray paint them someday.


Our bookshelf went from this:

 

to this:


So, temporarily I filled them in on our bookshelf and in the vase above it.  I also added some dried flowers from my bouquet from my friend Meghan's wedding.  Then, I bought some white boxes and filled them with office-related stuff.  Until we paint our new craigslist desk, we have absolutely no storage.  I keep paper in the long thin one and scissors/pencils/etc in the thicker one on top.


I was also very inspired by this little guy, who I have named "Chirp".  I found him in a fabric store Christmas Clearance section for like a buck.  How could I not?  He's so cute.  So I plan to use him somehow in our future office plans.  Maybe a bird theme of sorts?


Things definitely aren't even close to finished.  We still need to hang the gallery wall, paint the walls, paint our new desk, get a new office chair, put some floating shelves on the wall, and probably get some sort of other seating.  I have found some really cool tiny loveseat couches that pull out into a twin sofa bed.  How functional!