89 Calorie Kitchen Soup

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!!

As you probably already know, this past Christmas was my mine and Chris's first Christmas together as husband and wife. I had been looking forward to last week since Chris and I became engaged, and it definitely didn't let me down.

Our Christmas was filled with lots of shopping, seeing our family, witnessing two first Christmases with Chris's cousin's daughter and my cousin's son, opening presents, waking up on Christmas morning together for the first time, and TONS of food.

It was definitely a Christmas to remember!

******

I had warned Chris that I wouldn't be cooking much over the Christmas break. With us eating so much while celebrating with our families for the first part of the week, I didn't even want to think about cooking food for the rest of the week.

We ended up getting a few things at the grocery store to tide us over until 2014 to have on hand on days we weren't chowing down on Christmas goodies, including some things to make this easy soup that's super delicious. 

Of course, I found this recipe on Pinterest. I am happy to announce, though, that I received three cookbooks for Christmas! I'll tell you more about them later.

This soup is called the 89 Calorie Kitchen Soup, which immediately grabs my attention. Anything that is 89 calories that includes an entire meal will most definitely catch my eye, and I love soup when the weather starts to become chilly.

The greatest thing about this soup is you can clean out your kitchen with it.

I'm guessing that's why they call it a kitchen soup.

The recipe I found is a little confusing, just because it shows a picture of the ingredients with chicken broth, states that you use vegetable broth, and then has chicken stock listed in the actual recipe.

I used chicken broth.

I started with 6 cups of chicken broth in a large pot over medium-high heat, and then started adding a bunch of different things I had.

I tossed in two cans of diced tomatoes: one with Italian seasoning and one regular

Some cabbage I had chopped up

Five red potatoes that have been quartered 

A medium chopped onion 

A cup each of frozen corn, frozen green peas, and frozen lima beans (I threw in some more corn since that's Chris's favorite)

And finally, I took a pound of turkey sausage, cut it into 'moon' shapes, and tossed it in as well.

I topped it off with some salt and pepper, then put the lid on.

Here's the best part: you just let it simmer. That's it! I accidentally brought it to a boil, so it ended up softening the potatoes, cabbage and onions fairly quickly, but normally I just set it on medium-low and forget about it for a little while.

You can make more or less, depending on how many you're feeding. I go ahead and make as much as it calls for, that way we have something to eat for at least two days.

In fact, that's what I'm eating for lunch today!

Here's the recipe I used as a reference, but I don't think I'll need it anymore.

How hard is it to throw whatever into a pot of chicken broth and let it cook?

If you enjoy soup, I promise, this won't disappoint. You can probably brown some ground beef and use that instead of the turkey sausage, or make it completely vegetarian and not use any kind of meat. You can cater this recipe to satisfy your family in their favorite way.

You just can't beat it!

*******

I'm pretty pumped about the cookbooks I received this Christmas!

Funny thing, my husband and one of my students at the dance studio ended up getting me the exact same cookbook.

I guess great minds think alike!

The one I received two copies of is The Pioneer Woman Cooks: A Year of Holidays. It's nothing but recipes for every holiday there is in America. It's absolutely fabulous! And it makes me so happy :)  I spent a good bit of time just browsing through it, trying to figure out which ones I'm going to attempt to make for all of the many occasions we will see in 2014. I tell ya, you can get lost in this cookbook for a while!

My husband also gave me Giada's Feel Good Food. I am actually super pumped about this one! It is full of healthy recipes that will fit into our busy schedule and will also satisfy our taste buds. It gives recipes for breakfast, juices and smoothies, lunch ideas, and, of course, many dinner options. My goal next week is to go through the entire book and pull out a few recipes to try in the next month or two. I also love how Giada talks about how her recipes are not a part of a diet, but are a lifestyle change. That fits perfectly into my goal for Chris and I as we try to live a little healthier this new year.

The last one I opened up for Christmas was Miss Kay's Duck Commander Kitchen. My inner child came out a little when I opened this one. Now, you're not going to find a healthy recipe in this one! But, oh my, does it have some amazing-looking food in it. There are also some recipes for squirrel that will probably go un-touched in my kitchen, and there's quite a few for duck that I'm not brave enough to even read, but there are so many pies and sides and fried chicken that I can't wait to get my hands on. It is also filled with pictures and stories from Miss Kay herself, which reveal just how down-to-earth and humble this woman is. Family is so very important to her, and you can feel it throughout the entire cookbook.

******

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas, and I wish the absolute best as we welcome in 2014. There is no telling what 2014 may bring, but one thing is for sure, there is One who does not change as we see a new year and will continue to be the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. It is He who brings the hope and peace that comes with January 1st, and is the reason I have faith that this year will happen just as He has planned.

 

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!

Luke 2:14 (NKJV)

The Christmas Lists of Old (and New)

Are we seriously 9 days away from Christmas?!

Why does this time of year have to go by so fast?

Every year, I tell myself I'm going to slow down, enjoy more cups of hot chocolate, watch a few more Christmas movies, and just enjoy everything that Christmastime brings.

Every year.

And every year, I look back and regret that I didn't do it. I didn't slow down, I have a box of hot chocolate still in the pantry, some movies are still in the original wrapper, and Christmas is gone for another 365 days.

It's just so sad!

So, I have 9 days to make the most of this 2013 Christmas season. And, believe me, I WILL make the most of it!

Get ready Chris, we're about to go Christmas-crazy this week.

*******

I have been asked quite a few times what I would like for Christmas by my family.

I feel like this was such an easy question when I was a kid. All I had to do was look through the JC Penney's Christmas catalogue, the Toys 'R' Us wish book, and watch a ton of TV to see what the new toys were. Toys 'R' Us even included little stickers I could place on what I wanted!

Toy retailers sure knew how to hypnotize and convince us children to NEED these cool toys. Not want, NEED.

Everywhere you looked, there was a Nintendo GameBoy or a Furby being shoved in your face. You couldn't help but feel like you weren't cool if you didn't have what they were advertising.

And our poor parents, who had to endure long waiting lists and Black Fridays, just to get that stupid toy we played with on Christmas morning, then put it in our play room to rot away.

Don't lie, you played with the 'got-to-have-it' toy for an hour or two, then completely forgot about it. We are all guilty of it.

I remember I wanted a Barbie doll that had a purple stand for selling your cute little bubble gum creations. You used large bubble gum pieces, pressed them in a mold, stuck a stick in it, and voila, you have a little terrier-looking dog bubble gum pop that you could place in the stand for all to see.

I didn't know this little fact of using already-made bubble gum. I thought you made the bubble gum, too.

I was, like, 5. I was naïve. Don't judge me.

But I HAD to have this toy! My Christmas would not have been complete if Santa did not put this Barbie out for me to see when I walked in our living room Christmas morning. I would have been heartbroken if Santa forgot it.

Santa definitely didn't forget!

I can still picture exactly where it was at when I walked in. That's probably because I've watched the home video of it several times, but that doesn't matter. It was to the right of our entertainment center, all set up and looking absolutely wonderful.

Then I noticed the pre-packaged gum.

What the heck?

At that moment, I realized this beautiful bubble gum stand was just that: a stand. It didn't make the delicious gum. The Bubblicious and Bubble Yum factory did.

If that wasn't crushing enough, the awesome molds that were used to make the amazing shapes were pieces of .... poo. They barely worked. The little terrier dog came out looking like a blob.

Talk about not living up to the commercials of the perfect bubble gum pops!

I think I played with it until I ran out of bubble gum, and then to the play room closet it went, never to be played with again.

I'm sure my parents can tell you of PLENTY more times that this happened, but this is the only one I can remember so vividly. Probably because it was such a disappointment.

Why must they make the commercials look so awesome, yet the actual toy is so not-good?

I finally left the toy catalogues to my sisters and moved on to CDs, movies, and clothes. They usually didn't let me down like the toys did. Although, there we a couple of CDs that ended up in a drawer or on our kitchen desk after I listened to it one time through.

This year, though, my Christmas list has changed quite a bit.

It's non-existent.

Up until last night, I really had no clue what I wanted! I mentioned a thing or two to my husband and my mom, but I honestly could not come up with what I wanted.

Then it hit me.

A trash can!

I want a nice trash can.

Got to love being an adult, huh?

We have a plastic one that we bought when I moved into our house back in June. It serves its purpose, but just isn't cutting it anymore. So, I text my mom last night and told her that's what I want!

I also want kitchen stuff. Cook books, cooking utensils, towels, whatever I can use to make my life easier while I'm whipping up some food.

I never understood why my mom would get so excited about things like a Dust Buster or a bunch of Pyrex dishes.

I get it now.

It's funny to think back on the toys that I had to have, or else my Christmas was ruined, and now to look at what I really do have to have to make dinner happen every night!

Oh, how I wish I enjoyed my childhood Christmases just a little more.

I'm glad I finally thought of something to tell my mom that I really could use, not something that's going to end up in storage somewhere. The luxury of putting Christmas gifts in a closet or in a play room just isn't there anymore.

******

It's crazy to think back on all of the Christmases I've had (24, to be exact) and how much my viewpoint on December 25th has changed. It's no longer about what Santa has left under the tree, but the time spent with my loved ones and enjoying each other's company.

I'm really excited about waking up for the first time in our own home with my love on Christmas Day. Since Santa will not be visiting our house this year, we will be able to take our time getting up, open some gifts, eat some breakfast, and spend sweet time together before the crazy-awesome day gets started.

I still can't believe it's only 9 days away, though.

I better get on the ball and wrap up the gifts! I want to be able to enjoy looking at them under our tree before they're ripped open :)

To Santa, or Not to Santa. That is the Question...

I just want to start off by saying I made one of the best dinners I have ever made in my entire life.

AND it was healthy.

Score!

I made salmon with a Dijon glaze, honey-glazed carrots, and brown rice. It was absolutely delicious and super easy to make. It only took about 45 minutes to get it all on the plate, and that's including putting two things in the oven at separate times. I was stoked!

 

It's not exactly a Martha Stewart Magazine-worthy photo, but I'm telling you, the recipes are worth being on the cover. It's that delicious.

 

Here's the recipes for Salmon with Dijon Glaze and the Honey-Glazed Carrots. I just used a Success Boil-in-the-Bag brown rice and didn't add absolutely anything to it.

 

So good.

 

Anyways, on to the next topic.

 

I've seen a few posts on Facebook about a blog entry entitled, 'Why the Haefs don't "Do" Santa.'

 

I have to be honest and tell you that it took me a little while to realize that 'Haefs' was actually a last name, not a group of people. I felt pretty dumb once I came to my senses. I guess changing your hair color doesn't help with the little moments of blonde-ness.

 

I decided to give it a look, just kind of curious as to what their reasoning's were behind not including Santa in their Christmas morning.

 

If you would like to check out the article before you read my thoughts on it, you can find it here.

 

If you don't really care to read it, here's a small summary of it:

 

They Haefs have chosen not to include Santa into their Christmas traditions because they feel it takes away from the real reason Christians celebrate Christmas. They see that Santa is like a 'distraction' from the love and grace of God that is to be celebrated, and they want their children to understand what December 25th is really about. They conclude that Christmas isn't about making a 'Naughty or Nice' list, but is about understand God's love and grace that was shown when He sent His Son. They don't shelter their children from Santa or any other Christmas traditions (Christmas tree, Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, etc.), they just don't allow their children to believe Santa rides a sleigh and travels down the chimney to leave presents on Christmas Day.

 

I really encourage you to read the article if you haven't, though. It brings some really interesting thoughts that I wasn't able to include in my summary, and really explains why they chose this.

 

Being the usually-silent-but-opinionated-person that I am, I'm going to share what I think!

 

Growing up, we believed in Santa. We sat out the cookies, wrote the letter, lost sleep while trying to hear the hoofs of reindeer walking across the roof, and finally walked into the living room to see what Santa left behind. We also knew the real reason we celebrated Christmas, which was the birth of Jesus. I don't feel that we put too much emphasis on Santa, and we didn't feel like it was a lie that our parents told us that led to us questioning anything else my parents told us. It was just a part of Christmas. Even up until this Christmas, my parents sat out gifts from Santa, and we all have long stopped believing. We didn't think it was a super-big deal when we realized our parents were the ones buying our gifts, at least I can't remember either one of my three sisters being upset over it.

 

I always figured I would carry on the same traditions with my family, but probably include the cute little 'Elf on the Shelf' as well, just so I can be the creatively-cool mom and figure out cute little set-ups our elf could get into.

 

After reading this article, though, several points the author made has brought quite a few things about Christmas to my attention.

 

Of course, Chris and I's main intention of every Christmas will be to celebrate the birth of Christ and what that brought to out lost world. Because of our faith, we believe there is no point in celebrating Christmas without Christ. We want our kids to understand that it's not about the presents, the tree, the lights nor the traditions, but about the greatest Gift of all, who came to die on a tree to bring Light into this dark world.

 

But what's the hurt in throwing the tradition of Santa in there, too?

 

This article really has me torn, and I don't even have kids yet! There's so much fun in the excitement of writing letters to Santa with all of our wishes, in the magic of believing there is a man named Santa who makes toys in the North Pole, that reindeer can fly, and that this guy eats all of the cookies and drinks all of the milk left in every home, yet can still go up and down the chimney without getting stuck. But it's so easy to get caught up in the magic of Santa and forget about the realness of the Messiah.

 

I don't want our Christmas to become about being 'naughty or nice' so Santa can bring presents instead of coal. I want our kids to understand that we give gifts because we were given the Greatest Gift of all. I want them to fully grasp exactly why December 25th is a special day for us to celebrate, and if Santa comes in between that understanding, then we may take the same approach as the Haefs.

 

But I also don't want to ruin Santa for other kids. I feel that if you teach your child that Santa is just another character like Mickey Mouse, they will then feel obligated to teach other children that Santa isn't real. That's not mine, nor my child's place to tell others that Santa doesn't exist if their parents choose to let their child believe. I remember trying to convince other kids Santa wasn't real when I found out he didn't exist, and I don't want my kids to do the same.

 

Being a parent during Christmastime is tough!

 

Of course, I will definitely talk to the hubby and get the OK from him before anything is set in stone. Good thing we have a while to figure this one out :)

 

I'm really glad I read this blog entry, even though it's given Chris and I one more thing to figure out when we talk about raising our little Johns babies. It brings up some seriously valid points, but doesn't show any judgment towards those who chose to 'do' Santa. It's so very well written, stuffed full of a lot of things to ponder on this Christmas (and every other Christmas) season.

 

It also makes me see just how serious and daunting of a task it is to raise kids in the world we live in today. Even if the world wasn't as scary as it is, raising kids is still some serious business! Even down to something such as Santa Claus, every little thing has to be address, understood, then taught to a child, who will then build the foundation for their own life from it.

 

It's quite frightening, yet so amazing.

 

I am very thankful that Chris and I have at least another three years before we have to worry about whether or not Santa will be 'believed' in or not in our house. And, more than likely, we will let our kids believe there is a Santa. But this article has definitely brought up many excellent points that I haven't always thought about. I will now, though!

 

It's exactly two weeks until Christmas, and I have a little more finished on my list of gifts to buy. Still a ways to go, though.

 

Christmas, would you please slow down? Just a little?

 

.......

 

Yeah, I figured you wouldn't. Oh well :)

Creating Our Christmas

I'm still in a little bit of shock that this Thursday is Thanksgiving. 

Where did 2013 go??

The awesome thing about this Thanksgiving is that I have the entire week off. With the exception of babysitting for a couple of hours Friday night, I have absolutely nothing on my agenda except eat and decorate for Christmas. 

And clean. I need to do that, too.

As I have mentioned before, Chris and I had absolutely no Christmas decorations at the beginning of the month. I feel one of the perks of being a wife is getting the opportunity to collect and plan how you want your house to look for holidays, so I really wanted to start from scratch and buy/make as many of our decorations for Christmas as possible. 

I've kind of gotten a little obsessed with it.

Hobby Lobby has become my favorite place recently. I've made the wreath that will go on our front door, plus a couple of canvases that I'm going to hang up somewhere, and I want to do so much more.

I love any opportunity I get to indulge in my creative side, but I really don't like how expensive my indulging gets.

Even with many of my purchases being 30%-50% off, it still adds up when you're purchasing 10-12 items each time. 

I just can't help it though, I enjoy being crafty so stinkin' much! 

Bad thing is, once I do all of this, I then change my mind and not like what I've created, so I drop it and buy something already made. Every single time.

I'm a fairly confident nanny, a pretty confident dance teacher, and I'm becoming a confident wife.

I am not a confident artist/crafter.

I'm determined to like what I do and decorate our house with my creations this year, though. It's too much time and money spent to let it sit in our junk room.

Once I get everything made, I'll post pictures of it all. Maybe even take a few orders if, by chance, anyone wants something? Or I can find out if I need to stick to my day job.

I'm hoping to go on another Hobby Lobby run today. I've been fighting the urge since Friday, but I'm not sure I can fight it anymore.

And I need to clean our house so we have somewhere to put all of these decorations. That probably needs to happen before I bring more stuff in.

But, then again, this bed is mighty comfy...maybe I'll just stay in it until Chris gets home.

Yep, that sounds like a good plan.

The Terrible World of Sinusitis

Sorry it's been a little while since I've posted last. I normally write on my blog while the little boy I nanny takes a nap, but I've had some days off, so I wanted to put the blog off for a little bit while I got caught up on everything. 

But I'm back!

In my last entry, I had mentioned that I had made our wreath we're going to use on our front door for Christmas. Here it is!

 

I have to admit, I'm pretty proud of it! There's something about making my own creations that makes me so happy.

It's also super addictive. I'm thinking about making a wreath for each door in our house. Or at least make something to put on every door. There are just so many possibilities! 

For as long as I can remember, I have had sinus problems. I honestly don't remember a time when I didn't have a stuffy nose and constant hacking during the winter. It's been such a reoccurring ordeal that I'm running out of different combinations of antibiotics to try because my body has become immune to so many. 

It never fails, I will get a sinus infection once the weather turns cold, and I will keep it (antibiotics or not) until it turns warm. Most of the time I can tolerate it with Sudafed and Alka-Seltzer gel caps, but sometimes it finally gets to the point where I have to get a prescription. Normally, I don't mind it all too much, just because it's worse at night and nobody sees me while I sleep.

Until this year.

Chris said I was 'gettin' it' the other night with my snoring. That's so embarrassing. 

I've told him so many times that if he nudges me, I'll stop snoring and go right back to sleep. But, being the sweet man he is, said I was finally sleeping so good that he didn't want to bother me. 

Still doesn't ease the embarrassing fact that I was snoring loud enough to wake him up, especially since it takes a lot more than an air horn to wake him up when he's passed out. 

(I'm assuming it would take more than an air horn. I've never woke him up with anything more than a vigorous shake and poking him in his side until he opens his eyes. I feel like he would retaliate if I set off an air horn while he's fast asleep, and I'm not sure I want to know what his mind would come up with for payback, so I'll stick with the shaking-poking method.)  

I have also woken up in the morning with my mouth wide open and drool that has been dried around the edges of my lips. I know that is not an attractive face to turn over and stare at, and I feel like if he knew that was what he was going to get to wake up to during sinus-season, he may have thought twice before he asked me to marry him. 

My poor husband. 

It doesn't matter how hard I try to sleep 'attractively' each night, I wake up looking like death x5. And that's on a night when I can actually breathe through my nose! Thank goodness he loves me enough to kiss me every morning, even though I could be Bride of Frankenstein's twin sister.

I know we have only been married for three months, and I have a feeling there will be a lot more in our future that will test just how much he loves me, but I believe this has been the peak thus far. You have to be in love with me to allow me to keep sleeping beside you every night, even though you know the not-so-great sight you will see when you wake up.

Although I miss my little guy, I am thankful for a couple of days off to tackle this sinus junk. The Lord was gracious enough to me to hold the sickness off until I had some time to get a handle on it during a break. But it is definitely kicking my butt right now.

Unfortunately, laundry and the messy house didn't get the memo. So, off to do some chores, I go. 

But not before I watch What Not to Wear and eat me some amazing soup I whipped up over the weekend. I think both of those are necessary on my path to recovery :)  While I recover, enjoy this little meme that I feel perfectly explains my entry:

 

Christmas Time is Here, Happiness and Cheer!

So...I just want to clarify something from my last entry. 

I was not saying that I wasn't going to do my thank you notes for our wedding gifts. In fact, I have already finished about half of them since I started yesterday. I think thank you notes are a great thing to do and a very sweet suggestion. It definitely lets the gift-giver know that you appreciate their willingness to help jump-start your new life, whether it be a wedding or a new baby or whatever else it is. 

What I am saying is that I wish people didn't think you are rude or unappreciative of your gift if you don't send out thank you notes. I feel some put more esteem on the thank you note they receive instead of the gift that they gave. I completely understand people wanting to know that you received their gift and that you enjoy it, but I don't understand having your feelings hurt or feeling under-appreciated if you don't receive a written thank you. 

Also, I have gifts that had no name on them or the name tag was lost. There's no way for me to thank you if I don't know who it's from. 

For anyone who ever receives a gift from Chris and I, please do not worry about sending us a thank you note. Like I mentioned in my previous entry, I know you either appreciate it or you returned it to get something that you wanted/needed instead. You can cross us off your list of who to write to :)

Anyways, moving on.

As you are probably already aware of, this is Chris and I's first Christmas together in our new house. Well, this is our first Christmas together as husband and wife also, but I feel like that doesn't change too much from our Christmas as an engaged couple. 

Except the fact that we'll be waking up the same bed on Christmas morning.

We have absolutely no Christmas decorations. At all. Whatsoever. And when I say absolutely none, I mean absolutely none.

I know there's probably some people reading this that are going through their list of all of their decorations they don't use anymore and are wondering if they are willing to part with them for me to use.

It's okay, you don't have to contemplate it! I probably wouldn't take them.

Not to be rude! But just because I'm really looking forward to building up our own Christmas collection. I'm excited about starting from scratch!

Chris and I were bored last week, so we decided to go to Target to look at some Christmas trees. 

Because of my asthma and allergies, I would rather have a fake Christmas tree than getting a real one each year. I also plan on putting the tree up during Thanksgiving break, and I feel like that's a little too long for a real tree. 

Sorry for the side note, back to the main topic.

While we were there, we decided to go ahead and figure out how we wanted our tree to look. We haven't collected any ornaments yet, so we're able to pick out the colors and the 'theme' for our big tree this year.

Can you guess what colors we went with?

If you know us well, you probably guessed red, black, and white.

You're close! It's red, black, and silver.

And it makes me really happy.

So, we got one box of ornaments and a couple boxes of clear lights, but no tree. Target employees were not hanging around long enough for us to ask about getting one of the trees, so we didn't buy one this time. 

That's it, though. That's all we have. Just ornaments and some lights.

Oh! And wrapping paper with some gift tags. I have a small addiction to wrapping paper, so I purchased that the day after Christmas last year. It's a lot cheaper then!

This past week, I decided our door needs a Christmas wreath. Christmas wreaths are ridiculously expensive, so I made ours. I went to Hobby Lobby and bought a Styrofoam circle, some yarn, a spool of wired Christmas ribbon, and small, wooden letters to spell out JOY. Everything was on sale except for the Styrofoam, but since I have the Hobby Lobby app, I was able to use a 40% coupon on the Styrofoam circle. I think I spent about $15 total on all of it.

I wrapped the yarn tightly around the Styrofoam until it was completely covered, I then pained the wooden letters and glued them on the side, and I finished it off with a bow that I tied onto the wreath. Voila! It was finished! 

The entire project took me around 2-3 hours once I finally finished it, and I think it looks really cute! It definitely beats buying one just like it for $50.

Unfortunately, I haven't taken a picture of it yet. I meant to yesterday! But then I forgot. I will take one tonight and post it on here tomorrow. It really makes me happy!

So that concludes our list of Christmas decorations. Not very long, but it's a start.

I haven't even hit on my list of Christmas gifts yet, but hopefully that's coming next week. And hopefully we'll actually buy the tree we picked out, too. 

I cannot believe Christmas is sneaking up this quickly! But I'm very excited about it. I absolutely love this time of the year, and I'm so ready to fully experience everything Thanksgiving and Christmas brings! From turkey to hot chocolate, pretty leaves to Christmas trees, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving to A Charlie Brown Christmas, I'm indulging in it all.

And loving every minute of it!