Recipe

Lemon Dill Chicken Orzo Soup

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I am going through a soup season in life right now. I have always been partial to soup but lately I have really been craving warmth. Fuzzy slippers, flannel pants, seat heaters, you name it. I’ve never been big on hot tubs (aesthetically or hygienically) but I’ve recently found myself day dreaming about them on more than one occasion. This can maybe be attributed to the fact that after replacing our hot water heater upon moving in, our shower, much to my dismay, just doesn’t get very hot 😦 Is there anything worse than a ‘warm’ shower? The answer to this is of course yes, there are about a million worse things and this is a total first world problem…I know…. but when I’m standing under that less-than-hot spray, the burn your feet off jacuzzi day dreams come on STRONG.

Veggies

So, if I can’t have a hot shower, at least I can have hot soup, right? Or perhaps I can use the hot soup to bribe my husband into calling the plumber again. You reading this babe? I think I’m on to something.

This soup is loosely based on a recipe my mom clipped out of the newspaper and became obsessed with a few years back. Hers was delicious, but I think mine is heartier. If you aren’t into orzo you could use rice (or pearl cous cous) and it would still be equally as yummy. The feta is also optional but adds a little something something I would hate to see go.

Soup with Feta
Beautiful? No. Delicious? Yes.

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Slow Saturday Breakfast: Creamed Eggs on Toast

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After a pretty heavy last post, let’s get back to something lighter…at least in tone, maybe not so much in calories. Most of my breakfasts tend to be on the healthier side, oatmeal, egg and veggie scrambles, protein pancakes, the occasional green smoothie, BUT balance is important and occasionally you have to indulge. Robert’s special breakfasts are usually of the french toast variety, but I tend towards the savory side of life to start my day. This recipe is a favorite, partly because it’s delicious and partly because it’s inextricably linked to two of my favorite people; my grandparents, otherwise known as Nana and Papa.

nana-and-papa
My grandparents on their wedding day ❤

Grandparents are literally the best, especially mine. My childhood is full of wonderful memories of time and summers spent with them and even in my teen years, when we lived 9 hours away from them, they never hesitated to jump in the car and make the drive to be with us. They were always there for the big things; birthdays, graduations, surgeries and the seemingly insignificant, like seeing us get ready for high school prom. When we went through the miscarriage they drove 6 hours just to give me a hug and take me out to lunch ❤ Like I said, the best.

ingredients

When we go to visit my grandparents there is no shortage of good food for any meal, but my grandmother always makes creamed eggs on toast for breakfast at least once during our stay. She told me it was one of the very first things she learned how to make in Home Ec class when she was in high school. I remember exactly nothing that I learned in my high school Home Ec class other than never put dish soap in a dishwasher. One of my group members made that unfortunate error and we all had to come to Saturday school for flooding the classroom.

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Maine! And Homemade Seafood Stock

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It’s Wednesday! Hooray!

Ok, so Wednesday’s aren’t always the most exciting, BUT this one is pretty great. In just a few hours I’m flying to Maine for a long weekend with my college roommates Anna and Michelle!

red-hot-chili-peppers
Probably the most recent picture I have of just the three of us! Red Hot Chili Peppers concert in 2012!

We have been trying to plan a reunion/girls trip for at least two years so the fact that it is finally happening is pretty exciting. The fact that we are going to Maine, all as first timers, is also pretty exciting. We are flying into Portland, spending the night and then driving up to Bar Harbor for the remainder of our trip. We have a rough itinerary but would welcome any suggestions! I’m ready to eat all the lobster rolls and Maine blueberry pancakes my little heart can handle!

Segue time…. speaking of lobster rolls and fresh Maine seafood, how about a recipe for homemade seafood stock?

ingredients

So a few weeks ago, the beautiful island we call home was the unfortunate landing locale for Hurricane Matthew. The governor called for a mandatory evacuation, which we reluctantly followed, and it was a little terrifying  quite an adventure.

tree
Robert cutting the tree off of our house and simultaneously giving me a heart attack

Robert, his parents, Renly and I all evacuated to our Aunt Teen’s house which is just off the island. She had a generator (lifesaver) and welcomed us and all three dogs into her home. After 4 days together with no power/AC or phone service, she deserves a medal!

hurricane-team
The whole gang! Before we lost power…

Now, this was my first hurricane evacuation, and packing the morning before we left was nerve wracking. Its amazing how little most of your stuff actually means to you in a situation like that. My bag basically consisted of comfy yoga pants, plenty of underwear and our wedding and travel albums. It took me all of 5 seconds to throw together and then it was time to worry about the important stuff: Food.

I packed all the non-perishables we had in the pantry and then made a few careful selections from the freezer knowing that we would probably lose power and all of our food (which we did). *side note: food gone bad was a VERY small price to pay compared to others who had extensive damage to their homes.

Our careful selections: Air-dried sausage that my grandparents bring us and I use sparingly because it is the best sausage ever; a bag of boiled peanuts (Robert’s choice) and last but certainly not least, several pounds of shrimp Robert caught this summer that we were saving for a special occasion. No special occasion like a hurricane party eh?

shrimp-shells
A small portion of our bounty

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Life Since Thailand & Leftover French Toast

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Goodness, A LOT has happened since I first started documenting our trip to Thailand. I went back to work, Robert and I both celebrated a birthday, we spent a fun weekend in Charleston with our Aunt and Uncle celebrating the wedding of a friend, I planned my next trip (Maine! More on that later) and oh yeah, we survived a HURRICANE! Per usual, life has been a little busy.

So lets sum it all up rather quickly shall we?

My birthday was fabulous! Robert treated me to a fancy dinner and built me my dream porch bed swing! I had a great celebration with his family and my sweet niece made me my favorite dessert…from scratch! She is an amazing baker and young lady!

To top it all off I got to host a birthday dinner for my dear friend Justice just a week after mine. We played power hour (so college) and she and Lindsay taught me how to use snap chat (still don’t get it) so it was pretty fabulous.

We then spent a wonderful weekend in Charleston with Robert’s aunt Vanessa and Uncle John, remember them from Bermuda? They were gracious enough to host us while we attended a local wedding and we had a great time! Vanessa and I have very similar culinary tastes so it’s always a treat to see what fun (and usually healthy) recipes she is serving!

vanessas-table
Look at this beautiful table!

That weekend it was a delicious shrimp stir-fry with forbidden black rice for dinner and blueberry quinoa for breakfast…a recipe I will definitely be replicating!

That brings me to Robert’s birthday and a much less impressive breakfast recipe. Robert LOVES french toast, and considering I am much more likely to be making blueberry quinoa type recipes for breakfast, he rarely gets it.

bday-sign

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Cool Summer Treat: Snicker Bar Salad

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Wow, the last few weeks have FLOWN by! Mid May already? How did that happen? The end of the school year is quickly approaching which means work has been crazy (and jam packed with state testing..ugh) and summer is in the air! I am counting down the days because the end of school means it’s time for Thailand!!

Crazy to think that my dream trip is only a few weeks away! Craziest of all is that after the initial planning was completed, I’ve barely had time to think about it with everything else going on in our lives! In the last few weeks Robert and I have been out of town, had friends and family in town, bought a new house (ahh) and started down the road of a career change for me next year (more on that later). All very exciting but nonetheless, BIG life changes in less than a month! In the midst of all of that I am also the proud new owner of a very pricey mouth guard since my stressful  err “busy” schedule has caused me to start clenching my teeth in my sleep. Thank you anxious brain.

Last weekend we had some extended family in town to watch my darling niece perform in her school musical and to celebrate Mother’s Day. My niece and nephew are both incredibly well rounded, amazing kiddos. They are both part of a language immersion program at their school which means that 80% of their school day is taught in a foreign language… Chinese! I struggled all the way through my high school and college Spanish courses so I can’t even imagine!

On top of being geniuses, they are also very talented little performers. My niece had a solo in her school musical, “Dear Edwina”. It was about a little girl who gives her neighborhood friends and family advice in a live musical show from her garage. It was really cute and the kids did a great job! Especially my niece who played a fairy godmother who sang about how to properly set the table. Adorable.

Superstar
With the star of the show!

Notice that she is taller than me in the above picture. She was a toddler in diapers when Robert and I first met and now she is going to be giving me her hand me down clothes instead of vice versa! Crazy how fast they grow!

After the show we all went back to my sister in law’s house to have a family cookout. I was tasked with bringing dessert, typically my least favorite thing to make since I am not a baker. Luckily, I remembered this Snicker Bar Salad recipe and thought it would be perfect. The combination of diced apples, snicker bars, pudding and cool whip basically tastes like a candy apple that is 1 trillion times easier to eat. It has been in the 80’s around here lately so this is one dessert that fits the categories of ‘refreshing’ and ‘light’ and is perfect for summer!  It also could not be any easier and there is zero hot oven involvement, win win!

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