Sunday, August 31, 2008

Long-awaited Random Thoughts V

Well... long-awaited at least by my girl Cheyenne! I'm not sure anyone else reads this, so these thoughts are for you, Chey!

1. Stuffed Green Pepper Soup.... is my most recent cooking experiment! Rich and I have a favorite little itailian restaurant in Louisville called Gaettano's, and while the Italian food is given in huge portions, with delicious meatballs, extra sauce in a bowl, and free garlic bread (which should be provided in ALL italian restaurants, in my opinion), the thing that keeps bringing us back is their stuffed green pepper soup! Rich hates green peppers, but he would eat this soup every day of the week, I think.

So... i went to my favorite website allrecipes.com and found a few options for this kind of soup. Most seemed quite tomatoey (is that a word?) which is also not something Rich usually likes, and our soup is definitely more meaty. But I found one that seemed simple enough to doctor up a bit. Cooking is NOT something i usually experiment with because honestly, it doesn't usually work out :-) But this time, after an hour of "prep" and then 6 hours of crock-pot cooking and adding a little more broth and water... the soup came out delicious!!! It isn't quite Gaettano's, but it's nice to know that I can now make a homemade soup that comes close to another fantastic homemade recipe!

2. Does anyone else "stress eat" like I do??? I have found since I went back to work just a month ago that I am SOOOO far off the awesome eating routine I had stuck with for 3 straight months. And the thing is, the routine before was so easy and it satisfied me completely and it didn't keep me from going out to eat, etc... But now i'm looking for a 15-minute break from the office so I run to get a little lunch. Or, I'm working at the computer late in the evening and i want a snack so I grab a twinkie or something... I've got to tackle this before it replaces my good habits.

3. Turning 30 in 4 months! I'm working hard to NOT let myself get overtaken by the thought that I'm going to be an "old mom".

4. On the other hand, Rich and I are continuing to save like crazy in order to hopefully pursue this dream of building a home next year. I will be starting my job at Walsh this week (which is going to be quite a learning experience!), and I am continuing also my Sunday shift at Grinders. It's busy, but if all works out, one semester of madness should help to bring about quite a grand result!

5. Gramps has his back surgery on Wednesday the 3rd of September. Keep him in your prayers!!

1 comment:

Cheyenne and John said...

It brought a smile to my face to see a BRAND NEW random thoughts!!!
I LOVE allrecipes! What a great site- I love the ratings so you can figure out what's tried and true! I, unlike you tend to ad lib quite a bit (which it doesn't always turn out yummy either- just ask John.. haha) but it makes it such a victory when it does come out yummy! If it makes you feel better, my mom had me when she was 34. And I don't think she's old now! You're so vibrant and energetic that you'll never seem like an "old" mom. Saying prayers for Gramps!! Gotta run for now.. oh wait.. TTFN (I like the Ta Ta part of that and wanted to use it)
LOVE YOU!!