Happy Happy Birthday!
Holy crap! It’s been a whole year since I hacked into Rhea’s blog! If you’re slightly confused, I took over Rhea’s little bloggy home this time last year, for a very special day. Today is Rhea’s birthday! Since I let myself in last year, I’m sure she’s expecting this post. Plus, I kinda asked her for her password.(Next year, I should try to talk to her mom to get some awesome baby pictures of her!)
This year has been so eventful for Rhea and I! (Not to mention 4 other bloggy best friends we have!) Not only did our relationship become something our husbands are scratching their heads about, we also seem to have adapted our own language. Plus? 6 of us put her brains and beauty (ok, everyone elses brains and beauty too) to good use and launched Eclectic Six Media.
I vowed to Rhea that 2012 is our year to finally meet in real life. Even if I had to sell myself to make it happen. Then it dawned on me that she should probably do that being the brains and beauty of this friendship. There’s this little event called BlogHer happening in NYC in August, I’d be thrilled to go to meet Rhea, so anyone want to sponsor us?!
So, Rhea, thanks for being my beastie. Here’s to many more years of you listening to my melt downs! I’m still bound and determined to meet you this year!
(Poor Amanda… My rendition of her doesn’t do her justice. Also, be sure to check back later for an added surprise!)
Recipe: White Bean and Chicken Soup
I stopped at the store one day on my way to work to pick up something for lunch. I was in the middle of my 21 Day Sugar Detox so picking something from the “quick fixings” deli counter was difficult. I’ve been really good about taking a lunch, but on this day I forgot and crossed my fingers hoping for something…anything that I could buy for lunch.
Perusing through the offerings, I was dismayed at all the added sugar in these “healthy and fresh” meals. It was really depressing. But, then I came across some white bean and chicken soup. Low and behold, there was NO sugar in the ingredients list. I was thrilled! Better yet, it was on sale for three bucks. Score.
That day at lunch, I was relatively happy with my low fat soup. It tasted good but it seemed, well…weak. It was light on the chicken and beans. I decided that I could probably make a better version.
And so I did.
It is important to note that I have NEVER made my own, from scratch, home made soup before. I’m just not a big soup eater so soup in general does not usually get me salivating. I have made a cauliflower soup before and I’m a big fan of chili…but never just a regular soup. This was going to be an adventure.
White Bean and Chicken Soup
Ingredients
- 6 cups chicken broth (I used home made stock)
- 2 cups water (approximate)
- 1-2 lb white beans
- 1 medium organic onion
- 5-7 strips bacon
- 2-3 cloves minced garlic
- 3 boneless/skinless chicken breasts but into cubes
- 1/2 Tbs Italian seasoning
- 5 bunches fresh chopped, organic spinach
- salt and pepper to taste
Preparation
I started out with 4 cups of home made stock along with 2 cups of water covering 2 lbs of organic white beans and the chopped onion in my cast iron pot (Dutch oven). Bring your beans to a boil and then reduce heat to a low simmer. I simmered my beans for about 2-3 hours until tender. While they were simmering, I had to add another 2 cups of stock since my beans had soaked them up.
Once beans are soft, it is time to add the rest of your ingredients. In a cast iron skillet, I sauteed my chopped bacon and garlic until crisp. Then add your cubed chicken and cook until just almost done. Add Italian seasoning and stir.
Add chicken to the beans.
Salt and pepper your soup to your liking. Add in your chopped spinach.
Simmer on very low for about one more hour or until your chicken is tender.
Towards the end, use a potato masher to mash SOME of your beans. You don’t want to mash them all up, but by mashing some, it will thicken up your soup without using any flour. If you like a thinner soup, don’t mash.
**Some Things to Note:
*I used too many beans. I did not realize how many beans I had since I had purchased in bulk and it wasn’t until after they were cooked that I realized 2 lbs of beans was probably too many. This made for a very hearty, chili like consistency…which I liked but some soup lovers may not want it so thick.
*If I had more bacon, I would have used it. Everything is better with lots of bacon!
*This soup was very good with some shredded Italian cheese on top.
*Bob thought my soup was “really, really, really good!” (no joke…he said it three times and it totally made my day) but I kinda felt like something was missing. Because I’ve never made soup, I’m not sure what would have been good added here. If you can put your finger on what might be missing I would love to hear it.
*This recipe does NOT follow the guidelines of the 21 Day Sugar Detox. It has way too many beans! I’m still learning the Paleo Diet way…eventually I’ll figure it out.
It’s my birthday on Saturday and I received a card today filled with very special birthday wishes from my surrogate triplets. It made my whole day!
Remembering my First Car
I learned to drive in my mom’s Camaro, but I’m pretty sure I scared the crap out of her too many times so I certainly wasn’t allowed to keep driving that bright yellow muscle car past a few lessons. I think I took my drivers test in my parents boring beige Ford Escort Wagon…but I’m not 100% sure on that.
Funny how I don’t remember which car I took my test in even though I remember taking the test. I remember that I barely passed, scoring only a 74 *blush*. I think you needed a 73 to pass. I still have the paper that the tester wrote on, it is in my high school yearbook.
The first car that was actually mine was a 1976 Chevy Chevette that I inherited from my Grandma Jean. It was white with a red plastic interior.
I loved that car!
I remember the freedom I felt driving my friends around. I remember my boyfriend (who did not have a license) hot-rodding that old car down our country dirt roads. I remember taking my first road trip with my best friend up to our Church camp three hours away. I remember my best friend getting her first car and it was a red Chevette with white plastic interior (perfectly opposite of mine). We thought that was the coolest thing ever!
Good times.
I also remember the day it died. I was driving my friend and her little brother home and my little car that could suddenly stopped in the middle of a turn lane on our busy Main Street. My friend and I got out of that car and had to push it through the intersection to the side of the road. I was horribly embarrassed!
I did not have my Chevette long, it was on it’s last leg when I got it. But I loved that it was my Grandma’s car and I loved it that it was all mine. Do you remember your first car? Participate in this weeks Monday Mojo from Eclectic Six Media and tell us about it!
Sweet Personalized Photo Valentines
This is not a new idea (I’m not that clever), and I have come across a few different versions on Pinterest and just LOVED how they turned out so I decided to make my own.
I am THRILLED with the results and the boys had so much fun helping to make them. They keep asking if it’s time to take them to school yet. It is really very simple to create a fun, personalized and 3-D “ish” Valentine’s Day card for your kids’ classmates and even family. Here is how I did mine:
Take the kids outside and have them make a fist. Take a gazillion pictures trying to find a half-way decent one to use (what’s up with five year old’s making silly faces in every.single.picture!?). I told my boys to pretend them were giving me a sucker so they would hold their hand correctly.
After I downloaded the pictures to my computer, I used Photoshop and Valentine’s heart brushes to decorate the image along with adding a personalized message. If you don’t have a photo editing program, you can always manually add stickers and write your messages on the back.
Save your images at 4×6 with at least a 300dpi for photo printing and upload them to your favorite photo developer (I used CVS).
I was so excited to go pick them up!
With a sharp utility knife, carefully cut a slice above and below the outreached fist (adults should do this step!!). It’s better to slice a little long because you can add a piece of tape to the back to hold the lollypop. If you cut too small, than the photo might tear (learned from experience). It didn’t take long to find the perfect length…about 1/2 an inch, where the lollypop doesn’t slide much yet the paper doesn’t tear. Use your judgement, it will depend on the size of your suckers (we used DumDum’s).
My boys are seven and five and they were perfectly capable of threading the suckers through the paper. So I cut, they threaded. It was a fine assembly line.
Ta-Da! That’s all there is to it. Of course, Anthony now wants to add a personal message and a “To and From” on the backs…I wish I would have known that before I put lollypops on them all. If you want to add a message, it would be easier to write on the pictures before you add the lollypops.
Have you ever created a fun and personalized Valentine’s Day card for your kids or do you just buy the box sets from the grocery store? I don’t think I’ll ever buy a box again because this was so much fun!
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