Southwestern Fall Soup

I stumbled across the blog, Budget Bytes a couple months ago and have been loving Beth's recipes. 

She breaks ingredients and recipes out by cost, so you aren't shocked at a $30 grocery bill for one meal. I've been very happy with every recipe I've tried. This one is no exception. 

Chicken + Pumpkin Soup

I love soups during the chillier months. Hearty, warm, and typically healthy.

Start with 1 diced onion, 2 minced garlic cloves, and 1 Tbls of olive oil in a pot. 

Cook over medium high heat until transparent. 

(Little shout out to Trader Joes. This little pack of crushed garlic cloves makes life so much easier.

You keep them in the freezer and it looks like a mini ice cube tray. Each cube = one clove of garlic.

I love chopping vegetables and such, but it's nice to have the option to add these in a pinch.)

After the onions are translucent. Add 5 cups of chicken broth and 1 large, whole chicken breast. 

Cover and cook on high to bring to a boil.Then, let simmer for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, take out the chicken and shred it, using 2 forks. Return to pot. 

Mince 1-2 Chipotle peppers in Adobo sauce (depending on how spicy you want it) and add to pot along with 1 tsp. of the Adobo sauce.

Add 1/2 cup of frozen corn kernels and 1 can of drained, rinsed black beans.

Stir in 1 can of pureed pumpkin and 1 Tbls. ground cumin.

Stir together all ingredients and let simmer for 10 minutes. 

Top with anything of your choosing. We chose green onions, cilantro, and cheddar cheese. 

Bon apetit!

F and I couldn't get over how amazing it was. The depth of the creamy pumpkin, the spice and smoke of the peppers, the freshness of the cilantro. The delicious southwestern flavors with the comfort of Fall. 

You HAVE to make it.

And if you do, let me know what you think. 

Recipe credit: Budget Bytes

images: hilaryclair

Weekend celebrations

This weekend was happy.

Not just normal "it's the weekend!" kind of happy, but "not a care in the world, Monday seems a world away" kind of happy. 

We were celebrating our first year married. (1 down, 110 to go.)

Friday, we "camped" out in my in-laws' backyard. I use the quotations, because we had access to indoor plumbing, so we weren't quite roughing it. It was so fun to cook dinner and s'mores over the fire. Chat over Fall ales, and drift to sleep listening to crickets and ducks on the pond. 

Saturday, we woke up early, packed up. (Being able to fit the tent neatly back into the packaging it came in is being noted as a major success in my life.) Then, we headed to the orchard. F said it was too early in the season because the leaves hadn't even changed, so we agreed we'd go again in a few weeks. 

We took a hayride through the orchard and found out there were raspberries and strawberries for the picking. We had so much fun tasting, and talking - and took a small bunch to-go.

We also treated ourselves to a gallon of cider. 

A staple of Fall and a favorite of ours - hot, spiked, with a cinnamon stick ... heart be still. 

We've been talking about opening a credit card for awhile and haven't gotten around to it, so thought we'd use our time before dinner to handle one adulty task. Mission accomplished.

The bakery we chose for our wedding offers a complimentary fresh 4" cake for your one year anniversary. Though a traditionalist, we opted for this since fresh cake sounded oh so appealing and I'd been dreaming about it for, oh, 365 days. The bakery called to remind us that they closed at 5, just as the bank meeting was wrapping up. 

Off we were to the land of all things delicious. 

We hurried home to have time to fancy ourselves before dinner. 

Dinner. Guys. I don't have words for how unbelievable it was. Scrumptious. Simple. Elegant. Innovative. Perfection. I felt very grown up and blessed to be there (and kept staring all googly eyed at Francis). Just loved it and the perfect way to celebrate our 365 days toward forever. 

Tell me - what was your weekend like? Any fun adventures or perfectly restful days?

images: hilaryclair

The Best Adventure

F and I are celebrating our one year wedding anniversary this weekend. 

I dreamed of being married since before I could talk. 

I would clean my room - shuffling about - in a veil my aunt had given me and a huge diamond ring I'd splurged for (all of 10 cents) at the local Skate-town. 

I'd pretend that I was married, waiting for my husband to get home from work
and dream of what life would be like. 

And suddenly, it was here. 

Sure marriage takes work, prioritizing, and giving up some of my girly TV shows. All the cautious, loving pieces of advice that people shared with us during engagement ring through my mind every now and then.

But more than anything, it has been so much fun.
Having sleepovers every night, coming home to my best friend, laughing until my belly aches because its 2 in the morning and everything is hilarious. 

F - you are the best.

The keeper of my secrets, the protector of my heart. You make me feel that anything is possible. You tell me when I'm being a nut job and love me anyway. You are the rational thought to my idealist spontaneity. You educate me in finance when I'd rather choose pillow fabrics. You affirm me and always make me feel that you are proud to be mine. (Even when I never stop talking and throw "that's what she said" into otherwise G-rated conversations.) You tell me I look beautiful when I feel anything but. You google like a boss to fix any computer, car, or tech problem we are having. You always smell good. You check the oil on the car before I'm driving - even if only to Whole Foods. When we feel off and just aren't seeing eye-to-eye, you have a "let's figure it out" attitude, instead of "get me the heck outta here."

Field trips, travel, errands, walks around the lake - they are all things that make me swoon. 

This adventure that we are on, though, it's my best one yet. 

image: Louis Vuitton

All stamped up

  This, ladies and gentlemen (do boys even read this blog? Doubtful. Except for F - shout out for being a rocking husband! Whew, I digress..) is my passport. Isn't she a beaut?

The passport is filled with stamps and documentation,

and a picture of me right after I learned to straighten my hair. (Shield your eyes.)

More than that though, it's filled with reminders of some of the best times of my life. 

I page through it every now and again feeling incredibly blessed to have traveled to faraway places -  Ireland, Mexico, Paris, Rome, Milan, Bologna, Florence, Venice, Brugges, Amsterdam, Holland, London.

Remembering the smells, the twisted roads, the uneven cobblestones, the flowers and windmills, the bridges, the people, the transportation, the languages and accents, the sights, the sounds, the crowds,

the street names.

I see the stamps and try to remember the Customs people who put them there. Were they crabby, pleasant, suspecting, curious? Did they ask about  my travels or avoid eye contact altogether? 

I think of how these adventures that shaped my life and widened my horizons are documented only by mere stamps and wild memories. 

 

I see my student visa from studying and working abroad and remember the mounds of paperwork, expensive overnight shipping costs, and how many times I almost thought, "This is too much work."

And, then I'm all wrapped up in the feeling I had when I was there. 

"I did this. I made this happen. I'm living my bucket list."

Nothing like it.

Nothing that makes my heart beat fast quite like travel. Being somewhere completely new and yet familiar. I'm always struck that the places that are a world away from me are home to the people there. That the people walking around me all have stories to tell, have fallen in love, sigh when bills come in the mail, and have bad hair days. 

This passport and I - we had a good run. 

Since my name changed when we got married, it needs to be replaced. 

Hopefully with one that gets even more stamps and a better photo to boot (fingers crossed).

One that has just as exciting a story to tell.

images: hilaryclair (special thanks to TW for the passport background)

Foyer decor

We live in a shoebox - I'm talking 450 sq. ft. 

We love our home and adore our neighborhood.

Though tiny places can be seen as squished and difficult, I have come to love it. 

Here are some of the reasons:

It keeps my addiction to buying furniture and home accessories to a minimum because we literally don't have space for them. It helps us to simplify and stay organized because one paper out of place and the entire house looks messy. I can clean - top to bottom, every crevice, every surface, windows inside and out, mop floors - we are talking sparkling, in 2 hours.

Another perk is that it challenges me to be more creative with organizing and decorating. 

Behold, our "foyer". I use the term foyer loosely because in actuality, its just a wall next to our front door. 

I've been a bit perplexed what to do with it, since I wanted to do something fun, not just another frame arrangement. 

Here it is in all of it's plain and ordinary glory:

Then, last week, I saw Lauren Conrad's office makeover and fell in love with the idea of dots. 

Inexpensive, playful, and fancy. 

I cut out small, scrap pieces of paper, just to get an idea for how it would look. 

I'm still deciding, but leaning towards doing it. 

I've also thought of hanging a faux animal head of sorts, like this sweet paper mache one from the Land of Nod.

My husband teases me that I'll never be finished decorating. I finish one thing and no sooner see another area that could use a splash of newness. I suppose he is right. 

Some changes in life, like moving, jobs, bambinos can flip your whole world - making everything new and unrecognizable. Gold dots and a fun zebra just make the foyer say "welcome home" a little bit happier. 

images: hilaryclair, Land of Nod

Falling

I adore fall.
the spicy scents
the brisk air
layering clothes
needing to wrap in a blanket
orchards
our wedding anniversary
my birthday
pumpkins and apples
the changing leaves

I'm strict about no Christmas music or decor before Thanksgiving, but with so many things to love about fall, September 1st and summer is a thing of the past.

Everything about the weather yesterday felt like fall.

Since F was golfing, I spent the day fall-ifying (please just pretend that's a word).

With candles lit and Bossy Pants playing on Audible, I changed into an oversized sweatshirt and threw my hair into a messy bun - things were getting serious ladies and gents.

I scattered small pumpkins in unexpected nooks and tucked faux leaves behind picture frames. I plan to take a walk around the lake this week to gather a handful of acorns (I think they would look pretty in a bowl) and we'll add to the fall menagerie on our annual orchard visit. I boxed up our summer-y decor and put out a vase with fresh maroon and gold flowers (school pride!).

When I was little, my mom would put citrus and spices in a pot on the stove to make the house smell like all sorts of autumn deliciousness. I decided to play copycat. Easiest.thing.ever.

I used cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon sticks and half an orange, lemon, and lime.

Slice the fruits and throw the spices into a pot filled with water. (I zested the nutmeg  and added ground cinnamon as well for a stronger aroma.) Simmer it on the stove for as long as you please (just make sure to keep the water level up) and restrain from sticking your face into the pot because you want to be as close to the delicious smell as possible. 

(Fear not - though it looks like there's an insect of sorts on my cutting board, it's just a pinch of whole cloves.)

When Francis came home, he said the house smelled delicious at least 8 times. Success.

For dinner, Francis made tomato soup and grilled cheese and I whipped up a couple of spiked ciders to sip on. (Recipe to come.)

It may not be officially fall until the 22nd, but for this girl, there's no going back.

images: hilaryclair