Soup Project

Over Christmas I spent time with my family in Upper Michigan ... due to road conditions that's about 8 hours from my home here.  Anyway, there were 16 of together in one house resulting in lots of food.  So when things came to a close there was also lots of leftovers, which I was fortunate to get plenty of.  Jackpot!  These were the good kind of leftovers too (not just pasta salad and jello).  Leftover Turkey, Broccoli Sprouts, Tortillas, and Ham Bone, with plenty of meat still attached.  I latched onto that last one, but I honestly haven't cooked it before.  I think I just saw it on a cooking show and new it would be a good idea to grab. It was.

Also, at some point in history I also receive the Firehouse #10 Hot Chili Bean Soup Mix, I am honestly not sure how, but fairly confident I did not purchase it outright.  If you are wondering how that's possible - well you can blame my ADD and the fact that sometimes my roommates leave stuff behind.  Also, a small plug, the Women's Bean Project seems like a great organization to support.

Anyway, this meals was entirely free for me (Thank you Grandparents and Random Ex-Roommate).

Soak Beans overnight

Combine Ingredients in Crock Pot - Ham bone, Beans, Green Bell Pepper Diced, Can of Tomatoes, Spice Packet, 2 Tbsp Garlic (or in my case more)

It's hard to tell in this photo, but the meat will basically fall off the bone.  It's not a bad idea to help it along though.

Serve

The verdict: the soup is delicious.  Also, I'm generally not a huge fan of Ham, but in this soup it tasted like

Y-U-M.  

The sticker price of $5.75 for the soup mix seems really pricey to me (Beans and Spices aren't that much), but it goes to a good cause, so in the name of charity I could see purchasing this once and a while.  Also, meat would be an unnecessary addition as beans have plenty of protein.

Christmas Cookies

When it comes to Christmas Cookies, I can be a little bit perfection orientated.  I like to make those additional calories count.  But don't worry - I'll share a couple tried and true recipes I've found over the years.

First recipe is so simple, but tastes like you worked all day. 

Oreo Cookie Truffles.  

Crush 1 standard package of Oreos - whichever method you choose is fine, but I like to use my food processor because it really grinds the cookies into teeny tiny bits.  Then blend cookie bits with one 8oz package of softened cream cheese.  Roll the cookie material into balls.  Place them on parchment paper and chill.  

  

Once chilled coat in milk chocolate (or any kind of chocolate you like)

Chill to harden the chocolate coating and then serve.  

The other cookies on this tray are called Peanut Butter Cup Cookies - also delicious and I've linked the recipe.  

Things to behold

I've been going through some major purging around here and managed to get rid of several unwanted, unused or unusable things around the house.  It's been a positive process and I would recommend the procedure for anyone.  Most interestingly, I offloaded 2 garbage size bags of clothes from my closets.  It's positively crazy that I had that much in there to begin with.  I honestly don't think that I shop that much.

Anyway, I attempted to write this nice post about how all of us Americans have too much stuff and we don't need it.  It was going to be very intellectual and introspective, but somewhere along the line I feel like it lost any energy and I wasn't exactly sure where I was going with it even if I support the initial sentiments.

So the other, perhaps the more cretin idea I've had in this process is that some things are nice to have.  Some things I will hold onto for quite some time.  The either make my life easier or simpler or just appeal to my sensibilities.

So here are my "Things"

This printer is really awesome, it's color, it's laser, it sync via the wifi network... Oh and yes the Cat owns it (but usually let me use it).

Matryoshka Doll - have been fascinated by these for quite sometime and found this set at a thrift store. (SCORE!) This one also happens to have blond hair and blue eyes just like me. Good ol' ethnocentric-ism.

This years Christmas gift was "The Complete Far Side" by Gary Larson.  My bf got it for me, because he said I deserved something non-practical.  I thought that was sweet and I loved the gift. 

I found this hutch on Craigslist, and it's totally cool and art deco-ey!   The middle shelf has an antique China set I got from my Grandma - it's also a favorite thing.  For those of you who might ask "yes, that is a roomba hiding under the hutch and yes, I paid $35 for it on Craigslist"

My last hair dryer was of the uber-cheap variety.  It died.  This one was is an "ionic wave", and it was originally $40, but I paid $14.  It's a dream in comparison to the old one and I didn't even pay that much more.

Well as is probably obvious, this is not the complete list of things I will keep.  For good or for bad, I could probably have a whole list devoted to Kitchen items.  While I love the idea of simplicity, I think I will be okay to accept the idea of only relative simplicity where I have things like ionic wave hair dryers.

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Also note, my contribution to the blog Divorced before 30 is now up for your reading pleasure.      

Weekend Highlights

Friday night I celebrated the end of the Lego League season with my teams.  Yes, there were two.  Lego League is an organization that teaches kids to program and build robots using the Lego Mindstorms platform.  I've been coaching Lego League for the last three years and it's been a pretty rewarding experience.  

Here's the team competing

After that, I had a nice date with the boyfriend, and we went to see The Muppets movie.  It was terrific.  Really great feel good flick with just enough social commentary to not feel flimsy.

Saturday morning I got together with some friends and we shared brunch - I brought Mimosas, there was a great egg bake, monkey bread, and fruit.  It was also really good conversation and fun.  

This (sunday) morning, I met up with some friends to run.  As I was leaving for the run, I had a headache and wasn't really "feeling" it, so I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have gone if I didn't have people weren't waiting for me (so... good thing they were).  I was worried about being cold, but it was super nice (20 degrees is super nice in MN) out and I totally didn't need to dress as warm as I did.  So far - winter running hasn't been too heinous, and I've been a bit confused as to why I was such a wimp last year.  

Also, I've been keeping up with #RWRunStreak for the most part.  I consciously missed one day due to concerns about shin pain and a difficult schedule.  So, even if I haven't been doing it "100% perfect"  I found it to be a really good challenge and a way to give me something to do without a "race" to train for. I even put in a total of 14 miles this week.