Home Made Soup and Bread

Yesterday I made the perfect Sunday meal. I found both of the recipes on the blog of the wonderful Alicia Paulson, called Posie Gets Cozy.

Curried Cream of Chicken Soup

4 tablespoons butter
2 yellow onions, finely chopped
3 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 tablespoons yellow curry powder
5 cups chicken stock
1 handful of parsley, chopped
1/2 cup long-grain brown rice
1 cup (or so) of shredded chicken
1 cup of frozen peas
1 cup half-and-half

Melt the butter in a large soup pot or Dutch oven. Add the onions, carrots, and curry powder and cook over low heat, covered, until vegetables are tender. Add the stock, parsley, and rice. Bring soup to a boil, reduce heat, and cover; simmer until rice is thoroughly cooked, about 30 minutes. Pour the soup through a strainer and be sure to save the stock. Put the solids back into the soup pot, add 1 cup of the stock, and puree everything together with a hand-blender. (If you don't have one you can run it all through the food processor in batches.) Add the remaining stock to the puree along with the shredded chicken and peas and heat everything through. Add half-and-half, heat through again, and season with salt and pepper.

I did not puree the soup. We ate it chunky. It was so good. We also have a great store, Market of Choice, where you can buy spices in the bulk section, so I was able to just get the small amount of curry powder I needed without buying a whole container. The soup was great for lunch and it was really yummy with the bread below dipped in it.

Ann's No-Knead Bread

Combine and set aside:
2 c. flour
1/4 c. sugar
1 T. salt
2 pkgs. dry yeast (1/4 oz. each)

Heat until warm:
1 c. water
1 c. milk
1/4 c. vegetable oil

Have on hand:
1 egg
2 to 2 1/2 c. flour
butter

Mix egg with liquids, then stir all into flour mixture. Blend at lowest speed on mixer, then blend on medium for 3 minutes. By hand stir in another 2 to 2 1/2 c. flour. Cover, let rise 50 minutes until light and doubled in size. Stir down. Spoon into greased 6" x 9" loaf pan. (If your pan has short sides you might want to split it up and put it in two smaller pans; it rises quite a bit.) Bake at 350 degrees F for 30-35 minutes. Brush top with butter.

I used half unbleached all purpose flour and half whole wheat flour. Either way, it was great.

Happy eating!

Cozy Sunday

Our day started with all three of us lounging on the new couch. We both got in a workout and other activities, but lounging was the best part!


Then Trooper got a bath. He was slightly stinky. We bathe him with Good Buddy all natural shampoo for sensitive skin and hot spots.


And I baked a no-knead bread. It turned out pretty well!


I made a curried cream of chicken soup with wild rice. Look how pretty the curry powder looked with the carrots.


Trooper had a great night at dog school. The teacher even said he looked "regal" while he was practicing stay. He was lulled to sleep by Jim's guitar playing.


So tired!

Game Night

Another fun weekend.

On Friday night, it was so cold. I think we woke up on Saturday morning to 19 degrees, which is pretty cold for Eugene. Our apartment complex had signs up saying "turn on your heat" and what not. I made us spaghetti carbonara and I fell asleep watching Curb Your Enthusiasm reruns.

On Saturday, I took my Little Sister to Brush Fire, a paint your own pottery place. It was really fun! We both painted a mug and will pick them up next week. I tried to take her to a deli for lunch, but all she wants are chicken nugget Happy Meals. Even though I'm very anti-McDonald's, I couldn't bring myself to send her home hungry, so got her one.

Last night for dinner, Jim made some Pioneer Woman steak sandwiches. OMG. They were so yummy! I highly suggest that you make them.

After dinner, we hosted a little game night. There were five of us and two doggies. It was really fun! The dogs devoured their toys (a lot of stuffing was picked up!) and we had drinks and played Split Decision, a pretty fun game. I made Ina's macaroons (always a hit, especially since I add chocolate chips) and had some snacks out (including Trader Joe's fried macaroni and cheese bites!)

I am going to work on some sewing and cooking today which will be so nice on a cloudy (with a chance of rain/ snow) day. Trooper and I have puppy class later this afternoon and Jim will be studying away. Otherwise, I hope we all get some relaxing in.

Also, we haven't seen Trooper have any shakes since Friday night. We've stopped giving him the steroids. He's been itching a bit, but we're wondering if it's all thyroid related. He seems healthy and happy otherwise (except when he gets jealous that his dad is playing with other dogs!) Thanks again for all of the concerns for my sweet little doggie.

Also, less than two weeks until my wonderful, darling Vanessa arrives for the weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pioneer Woman

If you haven't checked out the Pioneer Woman site, this blog entry is ADORABLE! (I especially love the first pic of the doggie in the cowboy boots!)

Book Club?

So last night over girlie drinks, a friend and I decided we'd like to start a book club. I have always wanted to be in a book club. Perhaps partially due to my love of reading, but also due to my love of talking, drinking wine, and eating snacks (which I all imagine happen at book clubs.) It sounds like something hip ladies do. I'd like to drink wine with the facade of intellect. So if you live in Eugene and would like to join our book club, let me know! I'm hoping we can find books that are available at the library and/or in paperback to keep cost down. And even some books that are (sigh) available on e-readers at the Eugene library, even though I am ANTI e-reader. (Don't get my started on the sad end to paper books.)

Thank goodness for happy hour

And thank goodness for my husband. I'm very thankful to have met some very nice, intelligent, and interesting gals in Eugene. Tonight there were only two of us at happy hour, but it was a great night of unwinding and eating cheeseburgers. I'm always happy that Jim knows I like to go out and have my friends and never gets jealous or anything. He has also been the best listener about my concerns for Trooper. I may be over worrying, over anxious, and slightly neurotic, but he just listens and lets me be as emotional as I want. I really appreciate him.

In other news, Jim only saw Trooper have one shaking episode today. Otherwise, he was playing, walking, sleeping, eating, and doing the usual Trooper routine. Hopefully we know he's at least happy and cozy while we figure out what's wrong.

Snow!

There is around an inch of snow on the ground and all schools (except U of O) are closed! I still have to work.

I made it to the rally for about a half hour after work. It was cold and turned to freezing rain/ snow, so I didn't last to long, but was glad to support the cause.

The vet called yesterday to discuss Trooper's lab results. Still baffled. He had slightly low levels of magnesium, CPK, and a thyroid hormone, which could all be related to muscle function. However, the vet said they aren't at very low levels. They are sending the lab work to another vet to get their opinion. We didn't see a tremor last night, but he did seem to have a few twitches in his legs. Hopefully it will all be figured out soon.

No Snow!

So we were supposed to get a few inches of snow. Nothing! I was hoping to see Trooper play in the snow today.

Are you tired of reading about Trooper? He is doing okay. Jim saw him have one more shaking episode last night. Have I mentioned that it's only his head and neck? Really weird. But I took him on a jog and he played with his toys. Right now he's lounging next to me on the couch. He seems like he's okay other than his little seizures. Thank you for all of the concerned calls and emails I've received. He means so much to me!

I may be attending a Planned Parenthood rally after work! It's an organization I care deeply about and am hoping their funding will not be cut. Then I'm hoping to get in a workout and make Ina's Indonesian swordfish. (It's a great marinade! Jim even liked it, even though I have to overcook his fish and then he covers it in hot sauce to make it more palatable to him :) .) All in a modern gal's day.

Trooper Update

Well, I took Trooper to the vet this morning. The results: inconclusive. The vet said his temperature, heart, lungs, etc were all healthy. He was wagging his tail and having a great time. (I was crying a bit.) She thought maybe it's the steroids he's still taking for his allergies/ skin condition. She didn't seem too worried. It may be a small seizure disorder. If it is and he's not in pain, we'll just have to adapt and live with it. We mainly want Trooper to be happy and comfortable in life. We haven't seen him have a trembling moment since last night when he was lying in bed. I will just try to remember to be thankful for him in my life and to give him the best quality of life I can.

My Puppy

Trooper has had two more shivering moments. One was while I was at work and Jim was at home at 9am this morning. Another was this evening. He seems to only loose control of his head and neck, and can stop the shivering himself (when he thought he was getting a treat.) He is still eating and drinking and acting like himself. I am taking him to the vet tomorrow morning. Jim worries that we will now be entering the realm of the philosophical debate about how much medical care you put into an animal. I just want my doggie to be healthy and happy.

Where Did My Weekend Go?

Isn't that the never ending question?

Last night we watched the movie Shine, which was really good. I think I fell asleep on the new couch (Jim gave me the chaise for the evening!) by 10pm or possibly earlier. And I slept until after 8am this morning. Darn, it felt good.

We woke up to sunshine and no rain, so I took Trooper to the dog park and on a long walk. We were outside for at least an hour and a half. Jim went to school, as he has some sort of paper/ brief type thing due tomorrow. Lucky for him, all of his classes have been canceled tomorrow, so he can focus on that. Trooper and I went to dog school, which went really well, then I came home and made really yummy stuffed peppers.

I don't want to alarm my blog readers, but Trooper exhibited some weird behavior while we were eating dinner tonight. His head and neck started shaking as if he was shivering very hard. We thought we'd seen this one morning a few months ago, but then thought maybe he was just sniffing or something and brushed it off. It happened twice tonight and there was no denying it was some sort of seizure or tremor. I don't know if it was a full seizure, as his eyes didn't roll back and he was fully alert the whole time, it just looked like he was shivering. A few minutes later he was walking around and wagging his tail. I, on the other hand, was sobbing. If you've read my blog or know me at all, you know that I love my dog so much and he's been my constant during the last nine months of major life changes. As he is estimated to be around two years old or so, I assume I have at least ten to fifteen more years with Trooper. I've put a lot of love into him, whether it's healthy to do so or not. Therefore, I started crying. We decided we would keep an eye on him for now and see if he does it again. Right now he's curled up like a fox on the guest bed and seems a-okay. Maybe it was just an act to see if I'd give him some of the Italian sausage that was in my stuffed pepper. Either way, he's getting some extra love and cuddles tonight.

(If you are concerned about Trooper, please call me, as Jim would like a "Do Not Disturb" sign up for studying purposes.)

New Couch!!

I've always dreamed of having a couch with a chaise. So has Trooper.


This couch is already puppy approved.

Hooray for our new couch! We ordered it a month ago and have been so ready for its arrival. Our friends took our old Ikea model this morning. We went with them to the Keystone, a yummy breakfast cafe. This afternoon I took my Little Sister to the YMCA. She LOVES it there and we get in for free together, so it's a good deal. I bought the makings for shrimp etouffee for dinner tonight and stuffed peppers tomorrow. It's about to be serious lounging time for me!

Weekend!

Last night, I had a very lovely girlie cocktail evening at Davis's. At 6pm on Thursdays, "Ladies Night" begins, which means that ladies get half off of their drinks and food on the bar menu. They had really great cocktails (that tasted "like vacation" as one of my girlfriends said) and good food. It was fun to chat and have fun drinks, such as my pineapple and jalapeno vodka drink. We were trying to keep up a weekly Grey's Anatomy viewing, but it doesn't end until 10pm, and that's pretty late for working gals.

Tonight I am planning to make veggie quesadillas (see Pioneer Woman's latest post) and get a good nights sleep. Our friends are adopting our old couch, and we're planning a breakfast outting before they pick it up. I LOVE going out for breakfast! Such a nice way to start the day. If all goes according to plan, we should have our chocolate brown sectional couch by tomorrow evening! Puppy? Check. Girl Scout cookies? Check. Pretty excited and can't wait to post pics for my blog readers!

Pioneer Woman

If you haven't read her blog yet, you should certainly check out Pioneer Woman. (I linked it to her post on her beautiful mixers :)

New Guest Bedding

At around 7am, as Jim was frantically preparing for his longest day at school, I told him I'd decided I was going to change the guest bedding. He may have not heard me, but was pleasantly (I hope) surprised to see the new bedding in our guest room tonight. I picked these out at Target at lunch today. I think the green and orange look good together. I'm hoping they will make our guests all the more cozy when they are in town!

PS Our new couch is coming on Saturday!!

My Love

Jim is such a great Valentine. He bought me flowers after school and held them the whole bike ride home, in the pouring rain. Then he made me this amazing heart shaped pizza (actually two, so we both have lunch tomorrow), complete with home made whole wheat crust. What a great hubbie!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Although I know that Valentine's Day is a commercialized, silly holiday, I still like hearts and pink. My Valentine got these sugar cookies.


Trooper fancies himself a cat.


I made this cute change purse for my girlfriend.

The Truffle Shuffle was great! We finished at around 38:15 and did get a chocolate truffle at the end! It drizzled a little while we ran, but it wasn't too bad.

Trooper and I had puppy school and he did so well. We started working on stay and walking nicely on the leash. He hasn't thrown up since Fri night/ Sat morning, so we think he's okay.

After puppy school, we went to dinner with friends for one of my girlfriend's birthdays. We went to Agate Alley Bistro, which is both cute and had great food. I ordered the meatloaf sandwich and fries, which were a delight. I also ordered the mac n cheese to share, and that was awesome.

Rumor has it that Jim and Trooper are making me a heart shaped pepperoni and mushroom pizza for dinner tonight! What great Valentines :)

Brew Ha Ha

I can't believe there are crocuses blooming!

The Microbrew Fest was a blast!! I wish I could document the hilarity. The beer was good and the characters were awesome (I'm sure the beer helped with that.) The only problem with the night was that we were worried about Trooper. He'd thrown up a few times earlier on Friday, which is really unlike Troop. He actually threw up again last night at around 3am. All over our beautiful duvet. (Luckily it washed out this morning.) Jim called the emergency vet this morning and she didn't seem too concerned, but said to bring him in if he threw up again (which he hasn't.) Jim made him mashed potatoes today to settle his puppy tummy. Jim was so helpful today. He steam cleaned the carpet to get rid of the doggie vomit stain and smell. He also watched Trooper while I was hanging out with my Little Sister. I took her out for pizza (she was too excited to eat) and to a Darwin celebration at the little history museum on campus. It was another positive day! She had a small taste of science, which was really great.

I just made us BLATs (bacon, lettuce, avocado, tomato sammies) and garlic fries for dinner and Trooper is sleeping soundly. It started raining. We've had unusually dry weather and I knew it would end. (Just in time for the Truffle Shuffle tomorrow.) I'm really excited to veg out tonight. We just wish our new couch would arrive for ultimate vegging!!

New Dress A Day

Do you ever read the New Dress a Day blog? It's pretty fun and in its second year of renovating old, bad dresses. Maybe I should have a blog for renovating old, torn up dog toys.

Cute Puppy

Look at my Little Angel sleep with his foxie. We met a friend and her dog at the dog park after work (so happy it's been light out later) and the doggies ran around like mad animals. Now he's pooped.

I made Giada's whole wheat spaghetti and salmon for dinner. It's a really easy, healthy dinner. We did follow it with ice cream, but that's okay!

A Normal Tuesday

It's been a pretty quiet start of our week. As usual, I am already daydreaming about our weekend. We are heading to the KLCC Microbrew Festival on Friday night, which should be tones of fun. On Saturday I am taking my Little Sister to Darwin's Birthday party at a museum on campus and then I am hoping she'll want to read to the doggies at the library again. And Sunday is the Truffle Shuffle! My friend and I have been jogging twice a week together and will be running the 4 mile run together. I'm excited and hope it gets the word out about how wonderful Committed Partners for Youth/ Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eugene is! I am actually meeting with someone on Feb. 20 to talk about joining the Leadership Board for CPY/BBBS, which is a group that helps with fundraising, recruitment, etc. I think it sounds like a good cause and will be another way to meet people and be active in our community.

A Lovely Weekend

We were so lucky to do quite a few fun things this weekend! On Friday after work we went to an Art Walk in downtown Eugene. I think there's one the first Friday of the month. The weather was pleasant and people were everywhere. Most galleries had drinks and snacks, but we had no cash with us. We called it a night early due to hunger, but it was a really nice walk. Hopefully we'll do it next month.

On Saturday, I had a really positive day with my Little Sister. I took her to the Cascades Raptor Center, which is such a neat place. They have dozens of rescued birds. There were four bald eagles, a bunch of falcons, hawks, owls, etc. My favorite was the Snowy Owl. I forgot my camera, but I'm hoping to go back with Jim. It's in the South Hills and it was so nice to be outdoors. After, we went to the public library. I've been wanting her to participate in this program where kids read to therapy dogs, but she's been shy about it. So I asked her if she'd listen while I read to the dog. And she did! I read a Sponge Bob Square Pants book to a small black pug named Ricky. She even told me we could do it again next week! I was so proud of her for having an open mind about it.

And last night was our big Date Night! We'd ordered a PF Chang's gift card with our bank account rewards, so we went there for a really tasty dinner. Then we saw Legally Blonde a the Hult Center!! It was so cute. Jim saw quite a few fellow law students too.

I took Trooper to the dog park where he ran around like a crazy dog. Now we are getting ready to head to a super bowl party. I made some really decadent cookie bars. They include coconut flakes and butterscotch chips among other things. I may post the recipe for you all. Jim's making Giada's white bean dip, sort of like an Italian hummus. It's really good!

Happy Sunday readers!

Snow Jealous!

Although I may feel differently if I was living in Illinois, I was rather jealous all week of the fun blizzard pics I kept seeing on Facebook. I love snow, especially early in the season. By February it gets old. The college that I used to teach at part time has been closed since Tuesday. I loved snow days! I loved baking and watching the big white flakes fall out of our large living room window. Jim's response to that is the he remembers having two hour commutes and scraping off the car. I do too, but I'd still like one or two good snow falls. I do not miss driving in the snow and ice or the biting cold winds of February. But when March arrives you are so thankful for spring and daffodils and robins and all those fun spring things. I've already seen daffodils poking their heads out here. It freezes a bit at night but by the end of February we may have spring flowers. We've also been so lucky to not have rain for quite a few days. I rode my bike to work three times this week which feels great. I especially love it when I leave work and can get some fresh air. I'll have to post a pic of my super cute pink bike that Jim bought me for my birthday last year.
Another busy weekend is in store. Last night I watched Grey's Anatomy with some gals. We are hoping to get some major relaxing in tonight. I love those Fridays when we put in a movie and fall asleep early! Saturday is my day with my Little Sister. I'm on the fence about what to do with her, especially if it rains. I was thinking about visiting a raptor rescue center, but we'll see. Then we are going to dinner and to see Legally Blond The Musical! And Sunday is the Super Bowl. Puppy classes have been postponed just for the game. We'll be watching it at a 1L's apartment.
In other news, Trooper seems to be doing well. He's still on steroids (which I hate to give him, but he does get some short term relief). No news of our couch delivery. I can't wait to get it! Jim's working hard (he had 150 pages of reading last night!) and is searching hard for a summer job. He's also doing stuff with a Green Building club and I think he's going to a conference or something in Portland in the beginning of April. An overnighter. Trooper and I will miss him but will probably stock up on wine and Hugh Grant movies while he's gone.
So TGIF readers! Hopefully I'll have some new arts and crafts to blog about this weekend!

Change Purse

I made myself this change purse with the Cash and Carry pattern I blogged about earlier. It's great for beginners. I just need a rotary cutter to make sure I cut straight lines when I cut out my fabric.

Can I tell you all I love getting comments on my blog? Thanks for leaving them :)

Last night I met up with four other gals and tried B2 (B squared) in Crescent Village. The wine was good but we didn't realize they close at 8:30pm on Tuesday. They were really nice and stayed open later just for us. Jim met up with some guys at the Bier Stein. We have been so lucky to have met nice and interesting people since we've been here.

I don't know if I've posted that on Feb 19 I am taking my Little Sister snowshoeing with BBBS! I will keep you posted and let my readers know how it goes!

If anyone would like to run, Big Brothers Big Sisters is hosting the Truffle Shuffle on Feb 13! I am running the 4 mile run. You get a chocolate truffle at the end from the Euphoria Chocolate Company! And it benefits a great program!

Doggies

I finally finished this painting for a friend in Illinois!

Jim took Trooper to the specialist and we don't have a lot of answers. We are doing another strict food test (only venison for this dog!) and changing his flea and tick medicine. She said he's healthy otherwise. We'll be strict with his diet and if that doesn't work we'll try allergy testing.
I finally rode my bike to work again. The weather has been so nice and I had previously made a goal to ride at least once a week. I especially like it when I leave after sitting inside all day.
We are going to see Legally Blond this Saturday at the Hult Center! I am really looking forward to it.
Another day at work then drinks with a few gals. It's nice to have that to look forward to :)