PSU -- TDAY -- SOUP

Do you ever feel life is moving at the speed of light? Lately that's how life has been for us -- our calender has just been extremely full -- which sometimes is good, sometimes bad. Thankfully in this instance it was very good.

I was super sick 2.5 weeks ago with a chest cold that had me down and out for a full week -- I simply worked and slept. (thankfully Trevor was traveling all week so I just slept) By the weekend of the first week I was doing better. We had plans with friends (& tickets) to go see Penn State football play and hang out with some of wonderful friends. We really enjoyed the weekend & by the end of the weekend I was doing MUCH better perhaps it was all the friend time :o)

We went tailgating, watched the football game, made bread, had late night chats, took a not so brisk but chilly walk, walked around downtown, hit up wegmans (my fav!!), & goodwill! We took in all that happy valley had to offer - it was fantastic.

"Friends are a blessing from God..."

So last week my 'sickness' was still lingering but I was hobbling along still coughing, sneezing, & blowing my nose :) My parents were coming for thanksgiving to visit -- we were super excited to see them but apartment was not... it needed to love & attention.. so we spent the next two days after we came back cleaning and getting ready for their arrival. Of course we were both working too. I actually had to work on thanksgiving day but only for four hours (holiday pay baby!) so I didn't mind.

My parents came Wednesday afternoon and stayed until Sunday. It was really great having them visit and having a full apartment. We spent thanksgiving with Trevor's Dads family and my parents -- we ended up with the turkey bones and made some awesome meals out of them, boy we lucked out :o) Turkey leftover soup anyone? or Turkey bisquits and gravy? yum!

We shopped, made food, ate, did some more shopping, boys played games, talked & overall had a grand ole time. I'll admit I was a bit cranky at times I was still feeling a little down and out sickness wise..

I'm happy to report that aside from a lingering cough which might have more to do with my asthma and the cold front coming through --- I am feeling MUCH better. Thankfully.. now if the cough would dispensary all together I would be one happy girl.


This is quite a loaded post but I wanted to throw a recipe out there that I made yesterday that was really good! Black Bean Chicken Soup.. As some of you know I'm not very good at following recipes to a T -- I like to adjust to what I think would better or what we might like better. The black bean soup was a good recipe but we needed some more protein than just black beans. So I added slow cooker Mexican chicken to it. Instead of doing the black bean soup on the stove for the duration of its life I was started it on the stove and then mixed it into the slow cooker chicken I had shredded and had been warming for awhile. 

I highly recommend this soup it was really tasty & easy too.  So in short I followed the black bean soup & then added the black bean soup to the slow cooker Mexican chicken and let it simmer for awhile in the slow cooker. I skipped the lime too -- I didn't have any. It was would of probably been good though.

Happy slurping! I could live on soup!

In an attempt to write more often..

In an attempt to write more often..
I got my laptop up and running -- yay!

Trevor's traveling to where I grew up -- wish I could be there with him
He is working across from where I played soccer as a 3rd grader.
so many memories where he is.
I'm glad he's able to see it --
It's a beautiful place to be - though I miss him
at least he's somewhere I love.

I am on my third cup of green tea with lemon
I was busy taking care of Trevor over the weekend
he's was terribly sick -- & the goodness of his heart
he decided to share his sickness with me
we share everything, apparently.

hopefully I can scare it away with all my
emergenc packets, green tea, tylenol, &  lots of sleep
-- i love sleep..

I've begun doing 'thankfulness' days on facebook
it was been refreshing to intentionally be thankful.

funny story...

So funny story to tell ya'll..

I recently was given a wonderful Autumn Pork Stew recipe by a friend on facebook (miss sarah)-- lemme tell ya, it's fabulous! I made it a few weeks ago and Trevor and I LOVED it! I highly recommend this dish -- don't let this story change your mind. 

finished product - Autumn Pork Stew

Today before work I decided to make it again. I started prepare everything, cutting up the vegetables and pork. I began cutting & I was off to the races everything was going smoothly. I was trying to follow the recipe closely (which if you know my cooking/baking habits isn't like me) but it was really good last time and I wanted to make it the same way.

I'm half way through preparing this stew and I get to the spice section. I distinctly remember using a certain spice in the recipe last time because I almost bought a 8 dollar container of it, but then thought better of it. I looked down at the recipe it seems I thought tarragon was turmeric. How that happened is beyond me. I discovered the first time I was making this dish, thinking I was suppose to be using turmeric that curry powder had turmeric in it & that was already in my spice rack. So that what I went ahead and used. 

So I used curry powder instead of tarragon.. it still turned out great - So take your pick when you make the recipe -- go traditional or a little crazy. 

Traditional -- Autumn Pork Stew 

or a little crazy 
  
Autumn Pork Stew 
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 1/2 lbs pork for stew
2 cloves garlic, pressed
2 small onions, chopped
1 teaspoon coarse salt, divided
1 32-oz carton chicken broth
1 12-oz bottle beer (rye ipa this time)
4 carrots, scraped and chopped
3 ribs celery, chopped
1 large turnip (about 8 oz), peeled and chopped
1/8 teaspoon dried sage
1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon
1/2 teaspoon curry powder (or turmeric) 
3 whole cloves (I used allspice) - (1 teaspoon allspice)
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup chicken broth or water
1 sweet potato (about 8 oz), peeled and chopped
fresh ground pepper to taste

The rest of the recipe follows instructions from the original recipe   

nom nom