Zoup-ah

October 31, 2008 at 2:12 AM (Mr. Linky Things)

I have been lurking over at Boomama’s place today. She is hosting a Souptacular!

 Souptacular08

As Honey and I were perusing the MANY, soupy recipes, I decided I wanted in on it.

We have soup a LOT around here. Well, Honey, Ab-Cat and I do. The other two are soup-a-phobes. It’s easy, good for you and you can use whatever you have on hand. I made soup last Sunday. Ab kept asking me “what  kind?”.  I really couldn’t tell her, cause I was makin’ it up as I went! I used up some veggies that needed to be used, and opened a can of chicken, cause I had no meat. A little of this, a little of that, and it was soup. Very tasty too! Clean Out The Refrigerator Soup, I guess.

Mostly, we make chicken broth from the bones of Sam’s Club rotisserie chickens. Because it is a most scrum-tru-lescent  broth.  As a matter of fact, there is some simmering right now. But we also use good old Swanson’s.

Since I couldn’t decide which one to share, I decided to do a two-fer! The first is one that I had at a BSF fellowship. It was good. I added chicken to make it more of a meal.

Mediterranean Minestrone

 1/2 c. chopped onion

1/2 c. chopped celery

2 garlic cloves, minced    I buy the kind already minced and use about a T.

lg 49 oz. can chicken broth                or use the above mentioned scrum-tru-lescent  homemade

2 to 3 cups of cubed cooked chicken     whatever sounds good to you

2 14.5 oz. cans Italian style diced tomatoes, undrained

2 t. sugar

1/4 to 1/2 t. pepper

1/2 c. orzo pasta             do NOT use more of these itty bitty little rice shaped pasta, or you will NOT have soup. You will WANT to, but you have been warned.

1 to 1 1/2 c. frozen spinach         your choice, I probably use more rather than less

1/2 can chopped black olives.

pepper to taste       we are heavy pepperers  (that is NOT a word!)

crumbled feta cheese

Saute onion, garlic and celery in olive oil. Add broth, chicken, tomatoes, sugar and pepper. Mix and bring to a boil. Add orzo pasta and cook for additional 15-20 minutes until orzo is tender. Stir in spinach and olives and cook for 3-4 minutes. Ladle into bowls and add a generous  sprinkle of feta cheese. Or a lot! Yummo!

Italian Escarole

1 lg can of chicken broth 49 oz.        or your yummy homemade broth.

1 lb. escarole                                     I just buy a head and use it. I have never weighed or measured

1 lb. ground beef

3 c. cooked brown rice

small can of tomato paste

1/2 to 1 t. chili powder                                 Honey is a fan of the HOT.

salt and pepper to taste

Brown ground beef and drain. Add broth, tomato paste, chili powder and cooked rice. Simmer for an hour. Wash escarole and chop well. Add that and simmer another 15 minutes or so. Garnish with Parmesan.

This is one of Honey’s favorites!

Thanks for stopping by! And thank you  BooMama, for inviting us to your Souptacular Crockpotalooza!

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A Walk in the Garden

June 15, 2008 at 7:04 AM (Around Our House, Mr. Linky Things)

A big thank you  to Lisa over at The Preacher’s Wife for inviting us to her Garden Walk!

I am not a wonderful  gardener. I wish I was, but I’m not. But I run with a pack that totally ARE ! So I appreciate lovely gardens.

We have lived here 10 years this fall and it has taken us every second of that time to get our act together. Most of the time was spent undoing what we paid a large sum of money to have done. By our totally unhelpful landscaper. He did not understand our definition of low maintenance. And we are not there yet. Closer though.

Here are some of the spots in the front that I enjoy looking at: So far this is my favorite pot of flowers.

Followed closely by these. The sweet potato vines are just starting to fill in.

Just bought this at JoAnne’s 1/2  off sale. It’s a favorite already.

The lilac bushes in the back are finished now. Love the smell, but they don’t last    : (   I was happy to see the 2 little pink spirea’s blooming this year. It is the 3rd year in the ground for them and I was sure they weren’t going to make it. Honey bought me the 3 tiered shepherds hook at a garage sale a couple of years ago for $3.00. I’m sure  he loves me.

This clematis is another thing that we thought we had lost. It was in the ground for years, I kid you not. Now it just blooms it’s little heart out. To the right is our newest perennial garden. And this is all you will see. Because bunnies have had many meals there and I have yet to remove a dead butterfly bush. So it is not ready for it’s closeup.  A little info on the divot in the hedge. We don’t know why it doesn’t grow there. End of story.     But it actually IS growing. Because I told Honey that this was the first year that I couldn’t step over it!

I may have mentioned before that Honey is really an old Italian man in disguise. He ued to be very particular about his lawn care. You had to cut it in certain pattern. God has been gently  reshaping him in this area since The Boy has taken over this job. It has been an exercise in patience for him. Hopefully, since he has delegated this job, he will have time to spend on his other old Italian man hobby; his vegetable garden. Next thing you know he will be watering his lawn and driveway with a hose!

As you can see, he has 4 pots reserved for his tomato plants that are supposed to grow 60 pounds of tomatoes. EACH.  Remember I showed you the picture of the “blades of grass”? This is all that is left:

So very lucky for us that we WON’T have 240 pounds of tomato’s to deal with! 60 should be plenty. I’d say it’s a good thing Capri Deb has offered us one of her favorite kinds. It’s a pity ‘mater. Thanks Deb!

This is the perennial garden that Honey made me several years ago. I love the wall. We are thinking of moving the Rose of Sharon bushes in the back. They do look pretty blooming, but they send out shooters that annoy me. So maybe we would both be happier if they had a new home. Where they could spread all they want.

The last few years this has been my favorite perrenial. It was given to me with the name of Wild Geranium, but I have seen it with another name. But I don’t remember what it was. It is so lovely and reliable that I have scattered it around the whole yard.  This would be the flower that I give away most. Oh, and those dang Black Eyed Susans that I grow like weeds. I love them, but man!

I love these hanging baskets from Lowe’s. These pots should take off in a week or so. Love those Million Bells spilling over the edges.

Thank you for visiting our garden! Come back and visit anytime!

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Hola, Fashion Fiesta!

April 13, 2008 at 12:06 AM (Mr. Linky Things, Whatever)

 
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I am aware  that I was whining in my last post. The one about wanting to so desperately  join in the Fashion Fiesta fun? And I appologize.

  I may have also mentioned that I love me some Big Mama. I have no idea at this point if I will ever actually  be able  to hook up with Big Mama for her Fashion Fiesta extravaganza, but I am going to do it anyway. Just because. So, if I can’t do it, I’m going to have to have my own lonely little fiesta. Cause I already took a lot of pictures, and have had the post running through my mind eleven thousand times. So here goes.

When I was having lunch with Mousey at Panera’s yesterday after her orthodontist appointment ( just wondering, when did I ever start that tradition? Who ever said that a during school ortho appt. equals a lunch out? It’s not a bad thing, but there is a sense of entitlement there, and I’m just asking.) and I asked what her answer would be to Big Mama’s question of “what do you wear the most?” She said “something brown”. That does not sound fresh and cheerful. But upon looking at my closet, and I will mercifully NOT show you a picture of that, she would be right.

 I am a brown, black, jean and khaki kind of gal. There is color, but only for the tops of things. Cause I like my hindquarters covered with dark fabrics. It is really the better choice. We live in Michigan and have just come through a particularly long, cold, snowy winter, so the way I dress can be only called one thing: desperate to stay warm.  Plus, Honey had us dial the heat down so low, cause he insists  we are poor, that some days I just wore the down alternative blanket around my shoulders like a shawl. A very big and long shawl. Here are about the only pants I wore on a regular basis in my normal everyday life

There were a pair of black velour sweatpants as well, but I don’t know where they have gotten to. I wore the 2 outside pairs the most. You might think it odd to only have 1 pair of jeans. It was all I could find at the beginning of the season. Not that I didn’t scour every store I walked into. But that was all I could find.  Jeans are the hardest commodity to come by for me. I don’t appear  to have an oddly misshapen body, but I can’t seem to find a pair of jeans that fit to save my life. I am tall and long waisted. So to find a pair that are long enough, don’t show an impressive  amount of panty when I sit down, and have some give to them? I must be asking for too much. Cause really, if they can put a man on the moon, they should be able to provide a pair of comfortable, lengthy and crack-less pair of jeans , right????  Just say NO to crack! So that’s my sad jean tale. By the way, I did find a cute pair on vacation. And I was so looking for a pair with a button flap on the back. Cause I think they make my hind end look better for some reason. Best of all they were $ 12.99! I bought 2 pairs. One a size bigger than the other, cause they looked more trouser-y, and better suited for church. Cause I don’t dress up for church anymore, they are pretty casual there. I only dress up for BSF. And funerals. Cause I HAVE to.  But I will need a little altering help from Capri Deb for the bigger pair.  The waist is ginormous. The brand name is Bogari, which I have never heard of, but I was most impressed that the original price was $89.00, WOW, did I say I got them for $ 12.99 at T.J. Maxx???

Here is where the colors come in, on the top. It is mainly a collection of sweaters and zip up hoodies with shirts underneath. Never just one shirt. We layer  here in the Mitten State. All warm, all comfy. Stacey and Clinton would not be pleased. Comfort rules here.

And when I know without a shadow of a doubt that I do not have to go out of the house again that day? This is what I put on.  My favorite “Life is Good” jammies. Cause for me, it’s all about getting the bra OFF. 

 

And these sad, beloved shoes would be the things that I would not have made it without. This season anyway. Actually, last winter either. And they are too ratty to make it another, and I don’t know what I will do. Such a level of comfort, I have seldom experienced. And they go with everything. Everything in MY wardrobe anyway. A moment of silence for the Skechers please.

Since we went on vacation last month, I had to get some warm weather wear in order already. This will do until I go to Mrs. Schmenkman’s in Virginia on Memorial Day Weekend. Where we will have our own little Fashion Fiesta for a glorious 6 days!!!!!!!

I am all about the capri’s. Since the veins in my legs got so colorful, shorts are dead to me. Have a black pair just like the brown pair. Love them.

I have the usual assortment of tanks and colored T’s. Not a words on the shirt kind of gal. I pair them with these 3/4 sleeved sweaters if the need arises. I also have a black one just like the aqua one. I knew it wouldn’t show up.  Stole Permanently borrowed the Old Navy jean jacket from Ab, who never wore it anyway.

Some new summer tops I got at Kohl’s before our trip. Wore them and loved them.

 

 I have been having a black sandal issue for a couple of years now. Those on the left have been my favorite go to shoe for a few years. They are a “go straight to the amusement park after not wearing them for 7 months” kind of shoe. And NO blisters! I started looking to replace them 2 years ago. It is proving to be harder than I thought. Because comfort like that could be a once in a lifetime thing. I’m hoping it’s not. But it could be. Last year I bought the 3rd on the left. They were so not “the ones”.  In Florida last month I bought the ones on the right. They are Bare Traps and they are showing GREAT potential so far. I do have some flip flops (or as we called them growing up, thongs. Which my girls have told me to NEVER call them again.) that I like. But I can only get away with wearing that kind of shoe for a short amount of time. Cause the back is not so great, and it complains mightily if it doesn’t have some sort of heel. Flats are not my friends.

 And last but not least, the jewelery. I don’t wear much, just the wedding ring, the watch and earrings and a bracelet for those fancy days! I made all of these to match clothes I have . I copied the earring idea from Hula Laurie. One pair of hoops and you just slide the “hula’s” on and off to match the outfit. No necklaces, don’t like things around the neck.  I am fairly modest in my jewelery wearing these days. That was not always the case.

As for what I would like? Well, this is where some of those things I was whining about in the last post would come in handy. The here and here thingys. Cause mine are fake! 

I am really liking all the baby doll, empire waist tops that I have been seeing. They would seem to help out with the crack baring issue as well. Also to find a cute skirt or two. I saw some very  cute ones on the other folk’s sites. So when I head down to Mrs. Schmenkman’s next month, that is what my shopping goal will be. It’s good to have goals.  

Here we go, wish me luck.

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