Chicken Bacon Orzo Soup

Here in Kentucky, winter is about to give what I suspect is its last gasp. I even woke up to a dusting of snow this morning. Judging from the future forecast though it looks like after this next week, the weather will break. No more nights in the 30's with the fear of frost. Days in the high 60's, low 70's. The garden will flourish. Our privacy fence of densely populated trees at the edge of our property (which lose their greenery every winter) will fill out with leaves again. And chicken soup that warms the soul will lose just a smidgen of its appeal. 

2015: By the Numbers

Oregon Trip 2015

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a healthy, happy, and safe holiday season. Let's wrap up 2015 by summing up last year in numbers, shall we? Here we go!

1- Oregon finally has a Heisman Trophy!
59- amount of points the Ducks scored in the Rose Bowl (new record!) against Florida St. on January 1st

What I Learned In My 2nd Year of Gardening

Well, I think it's time.

I officially put the garden to bed yesterday. Actually, I did most of the work on Friday before our first heavy frost. I was at the gym, walking on the treadmill, minding my own business when the local garden guy came on the news. He advised getting any vegetables you might have in the garden, out of the garden before the cold weather. I still had a few tomatoes and peppers on the vines, so I got to work. 

I pulled the last few green tomatoes, and put them in closed paper bags in the basement. They'll be ripe in a couple of weeks, and that will be a nice treat. I pulled up the tomato and pepper plants, and added them to the compost. 

Lately: Fall 2015

Oh my gosh y'all. It's been forever, 2 months, 3 weeks, and 5 days since I did a Sunday post. In fact, my last "Lately" post was February 1st. Holy Superbowl Sunday Batman! I've got lots of pictures to share, you know, cause I haven't in a million years. Let's dive right in-

Oh, and if you don't like pictures of things like puppies and Chihuahuas, you may want to skip this post :)

Raspberry Lemonade Truffles

Let's wrap up this week of Mexican food with something sweet. Make it a no-bake as well, and you have yourself a deal! These moist, lemon-y, fruity, faux-truffles would be a perfect Mother's Day treat.

Recipe Redux: Tortilla Soup

Happy Cinco de Mayo! 

Tortilla Soup is one of my ultimate favorite soups. In the world. Like, ever. It would be included in my top 5 list. It's a soup that I have on hand at all times, via the freezer, joining the likes of Clam Chowder, Tomato Soup, and Potato Soup. There's rarely a time I would ever turn down Tortilla Soup. In fact, I can't even think of a reason I would turn up my nose. Well, I guess if I had food poisoning, but then I wouldn't be eating anything...

Introducing Mariota!

Hello friends! Happy Sunday!

Well, I had quite the unexpected blogging break here. I normally aim to post 3 recipes a week, and this week I only got one in. And it wasn't even a recipe. It was a round-up. Needless to say, little Mariota is keeping me quite busy. And I'm not complaining :)

Chocolate Graham Pudding Parfaits

Good morning, and happy Friday!

I was bamboozled on what to post today. I opened my archives to look for a recipe to publish, only to find this was my inventory:

2- Recipe Redux's for upcoming months

3- Cinco de Mayo Recipes

1- brunch recipe that is better suited to the Kentucky Derby

5- dessert posts

8- posts that are not complete, still need work

Smoked Salmon Chowder

The hubby gets home tomorrow! Hip, hip, hooray! 

I'm excited, can you tell? I guess you could say I've had my fill of Mexican food. I'm ready to have my best friend back. Sure, it's been great fun slacking on the house work. Watching Days of Our Lives with a bowl of ice cream, hair in a scrunchy, living in my pajamas. Feasting on Mexican food all day, all night. It was all very amusing. But I'm done with it now. I like my life for a reason.

Lately (Summer 2014)

I can't believe it's the last day of August. Tomorrow is September, summer is officially over, and all I have to look forward to is...

-the leaves changing color

-low humidity

-baking with pumpkin

-going to Cancun in October!

-breaking out the long pants. Hoodies. Boots.

-football

-chilly morning runs

-not having to run the air conditioner

-root veggies coming into season! 

-feeling the desire to turn the oven on again

-jacket weather

-apple cider

-Halloween

-all my shows coming back!

Ok. I must confess. I don't hate fall, and I might even be looking forward to it a little bit. But just a little bit. Don't worry summer, I will miss you! To gear up for the switch in seasons, I thought I'd share some summer happenings-

My little bro came out to visit in August. He arrived in Kentucky to relax for a week, right before he went back to school. He's a high school teacher and basketball coach. A little gearing up before the school year, if you will. We had a great visit, with lots of running, sight-seeing, Cincinnati Red-ing, swimming, and eating. Oh, plus an inordinate amount of video game playing. Ok, so I wasn't involved in that part! Haha. This picture was taken at The Yardhouse, a great bar and grill right next to Great American Ballpark. I mean, look at the size of those beers! Heaven...

The hubby and I are never ones to be serious!

Summer is watermelon season, and guess who loves watermelon? My crazy puppies. I couldn't cut into one this summer without being harassed. Come to think of it, they do the same whenever they hear a banana, a bell pepper, or a carrot on the cutting board. At least they're healthy monsters :)

Giz can't jump as high to get his watermelon, but he tries his best!

Sometime during this summer, I was out running by myself. It was a fairly hot day with high humidity, and the 5-miles I ran might as well have been 26.2. It was a miserable run, what with sunscreen-soaked sweat dripping and stinging my eyes every 2 seconds. But I pushed through, and as I was walking to my car, I froze. About 10 feet from my car was this baby bunny. He was so adorable. I'd barely taken a picture on my phone where there was a sudden rustling near me. Something sprang out of the bush close to where I stood, almost making me jump 10 feet in the air. It was his momma. She ran (hopped?) over to him, and they ran (hopped??) away. It was a sweet moment in nature, and it made melting away on that run almost worth it. Almost :)

Gizmo's selfie.

Haloti's selfie. I can't decide whose I like better!

A Chinese fortune I received. I normally roll my eyes at these silly, traditional scraps of paper stuffed inside those crunchy cookies, but I liked this one. In fact, I even put it in my wallet. A positive affirmation to keep on keeping on. 

Bib and goodies from our 7-mile race.

Crossing the finish line of that 7-miler. I'm so super-proud of that time. I've said it before, and I'll say it again- I am not a born runner. It's never come easy to me. In fact, I always tried to avoid sports involving running as a kid. Soccer. Basketball. Track. I stuck to volleyball. Minimal running. However, with the proper training, I'm slowly and steadily getting faster. I may never run a marathon, but I've come a long way since that girl that started out last September not able to run 1 mile. I couldn't feel better about my accomplishments this year.

A brotherly tongue bath is the way these pups start most days :)

To celebrate this holiday weekend, we had a family cookout at the hubby's sister's house yesterday. Everyone in the family has busy, full lives, so we really relish the time we all get to spend together. We grilled hamburgers and hotdogs on the grill, stuffed our faces with cupcakes, and even managed to take some family pictures. Oh, and if you thought I was the one to remember to take pictures, you would be wrong. So woefully wrong. LOL.

Happy Labor Day Weekend friends! I hope anyone and everyone is sending summer out with a bang. Because, before you know it, there will be pumpkin on this blog :)

Lately: 10/3/13

Haloti chased this poor little groundhog up into a tree at our house yesterday, around 3 pm. The poor little groundhog was so scared, he didn't come down until the middle of the night. I kept checking on him all afternoon yesterday, but he didn't move a muscle. He sat like this all day yesterday. I'm happy to say that when I went to check on him this morning, he was gone. Thank goodness. I was having nightmares of trying to get him down after Googling "getting a groundhog out of a tree video". Watch the video. So glad we don't have to do that :)

Retail Value: $127.10
Paid: $45.30
Savings: 64%

Crispy Chicken BLT Salad.

The hubby got me some gorgeous fall flowers last week.

The vacuum scares the beejeezus out of Gizmo. Somehow, he managed to score a ride-along to stay safe from that evil, noisy machine.

Made a batch of lunch burritos to freeze for the hubby.

Fall is upon us, and in this house that means breaking out the heating pad for the pups to share.

Haloti stays true to his namesake, and supports those Duckies!

My shirt for Huntington's Path to the Cure.

After putting in 3 miles on a sunny fall morning last week.

Spaghetti with Toasted Breadcrumbs, Swiss Chard, and Poached Eggs.

One day closer to the weekend! Happy Thursday everyone!

Raspberry Mint Ice Pops

All right, so it's after Labor Day. Which technically signals the end of summer. Malarky, I tell you. It's supposed to be in the 80's the entire week here, with nary a drop of rain. If that doesn't sound like summer, I don't know what does. And that in itself justifies one more teeny, tiny popsicle recipe :)

These are by far my favorite popsicles that I've made. Yes, better than the winesicles and the gummy bear popsicles with their booziness! Now, I may be slightly partial to the raspberries, but it always says something when I prefer fruit to booze. I highly recommend making these with your end-of-harvest raspberry bounties, you won't regret it.

Now, where was I yesterday and Monday? On Monday (the holiday), the hubby and I discovered that someone had dumped 2 very young puppies near our property. Never one to refuse caring for a fur baby and seeing how the animal shelter was closed for Labor Day, I didn't even think twice about boarding these guys for the night. It was a hot day, and we were headed to my sister-in-law's for a family cook-out. We decided to put them in the basement. It was hot that day, the basement is cool, and it has concrete floor (easy cleaning). I set them up with newspapers, food, water, toys, and blankets. I think they did ok while the hubby and I were out of the house, but they did not enjoy being in the basement that night. They cried all night long. I felt like slime. As soon as day broke on Tuesday, I moved them to the front porch. And suddenly, the world was right. The pups settled right down, passed out, and didn't make one peep from the porch. Sheesh. Should have put them there all along. Anyhoo, the hubby and I got them to the animal shelter yesterday. The employees told us that since the puppies were so young, they shouldn't have a problem finding homes. I hope so. They were sweet puppies, but you could tell they were going to be HUGE. I don't know what they were, they appeared to have some shepherd or maybe some Rottweiler in them.

So, that adventure is over. My dogs are exhausted today from "guarding" the house :) I'm having my morning coffee, and hoping these cuties find a good home. Maybe I'll have a popsicle later? Hard to say :)

Ingredients:

1/3 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup mint leaves
4 cups raspberries
1 tbsp lemon juice

Directions:

1. In a small sauce pan, combine water, sugar, and mint. Cook 4 minutes, or until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat, allow to sit for 15 minutes. Strain liquids through a sieve, discard mint leaves.
2. Combine sugar-water, raspberries, and lemon juice in a food processor. Pulse until smooth.
3. Divide mixture among popsicle molds (makes 8 popsicles). Insert craft sticks, freeze pops overnight or until set.

Recipe courtesy of Cooking Light

How Do They Know??

The scene at our house last week upon returning home from grocery shopping-

Yes, mini Dingo bones were on sale, and yes, I picked some up. It seems Gizmo knew they were in that Rite Aid bag as soon as we walked through the door.

He then gave me the look. The look says, "I'm not stupid Mom, I know what's in that bag. What's more, I know that you know that I know what's in that bag."

Inevitably, he's got to bark at that bag. I imagine he's growling, "Get. In. My. BELLY!".

Time to bring in the big guns. He's recruited his brother to stare at the bag as well. I was planning on giving them a bone after dinner that night, but unfortunately, I was persuaded to give them their bones. Right then.

I heart Chihuahuas :)

I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

To Hunt... A Grasshopper

On the prowl...

Is that a grasshopper over there?!

Why yes, yes it is!

You think you can hide from me??

Got em'!

Crunchy...

And delicious!

All right, who's next???

The Weekly Score

Tuesday:

Haloti, 8
Grasshoppers, 0

Wednesday:

Haloti, 2
Grasshoppers, 0