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Saturday, October 24, 2009 comments (0) In case you can't tell, there is a bunny on the chair and the child is in tears because it just tried to nibble at her dress. Savannah is a year old here and we were at a photography studio memorializing the moment. It's one of my favorite pictures of her ever. She came running straight to me almost the moment after this was snapped.
This baby will be Sweet Sixteen in March. Where did all the time go? She laughed at me the first day of school when my mouth dropped when she handed me her driver's ed manual and again the day she brought home the order forms for her high school class ring. I know I have watched her growing into the beautiful young woman she is today, but it really hits home when I see this picture and then see her bounding down the hall off to meet friends.
I miss the days when she counted on me for protection and told me everything. We still talk, but these days she is much more reliant on her friends. I guess she is coming into her own.
Nowadays our house can be quite chaotic between all of her activities, functions and outings. I literally live in the bus loop after school and am a constant chauffer on the weekends. I won't know what to do with myself once she goes to college and *YIKES* that's only another couple of years from now.
That being said, I do enjoy the peace and quiet in the house when everyone is gone for a bit, so that's exactly what I plan to do for the rest of this Saturday while the husband is out of town at his brother's and Savannah is at a band competition. Yep, just me and the dog. Maybe we'll go for a walk.


Jammie Day

Tuesday, October 20, 2009 comments (0)

Most of you who follow me on Twitter know that I am graced with the ability to work from home 1-2 days per week. I call those days "Jammie Days". There are many reasons that Jammie Days are good for the employee and the employer. Here are a few.



That's all I got for today. No, I will NOT be posting a pic of me in my jammies for this entry. Thanks for reading!




Sunday, October 18, 2009 comments (2) Wow. Fall came roaring in this week bringing along my favorite time of the year. Soup Season is officially open! In my house that means that pretty much every Sunday from now until spring you will find a pot of some sort of soup (and I have recipes for hundreds of them) simmering away on the stove for dinner.

Soup is such a wonderful thing. A one pot wonder of yummy goodness and recipes range from the very complex to the very simple. Tonight we are having homemade split pea soup. You may take a look at a bag of dried split peas and think you could never do that and it takes forever, but it's really one of the fastest, easiest and cheapest soups in my repertoire. You can even make this no-brainer on a weeknight it's that quick and the items I use for my variation I keep on hand in the pantry.

There are other Sundays of course, that I feel a little more ambitious and will make chicken noodle soup from scratch or a many vegetable beef soup. Those are the days that make the house smell fantastic...all day. We're literally drooling by dinnertime.

Canned soups are great to have onhand for a weeknight. Opening a can of tomato soup and grilling cheese sandwiches happens in our house once every couple of weeks, for sure. By the way, did you know that a can of Campbell's chicken noodle soup has 32 feet of egg noodles in every can? I freaked out when I heard that on a commercial. But I digress...

It's so easy to create your own soup too. Lots easier than you may think. There are so many good packaged stock products available to create a base with. Then add whatever vegetables, pasta, rice, meats, fish or shellfish (remember to throw those shellfish in towards the end though, they don't take long to cook). One of the favorite bases I use for a create my own is a combination of tomato juice, beef stock and water.

So that's a little insight into what is one of my favorite times of the year and what makes it so special to me. Please don't be a Soup Nazi this winter. I'm sharing my easy split pea soup recipe below.


Split Pea With Bacon Soup

1 lb dried split peas
1/2 cup finely diced carrots
3 oz package of real bacon bits

Heat about a tablespoon of vegetable oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Saute the carrots until tender crisp (about 10 minutes). Add split peas, water, bay leaf and salt and heat to boiling. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 30 minutes. Add real bacon bits and cover and simmer for an additional 15 minutes. Remove bay leaf before serving.



