splendid

The other day I hand something to Oliver and he says, no joke, "I can't thank you enough, I feel splendid"  Wait, what?  "I can't thank you enough, I feel splendid"  Okay, your welcome buddy.  Scratching my head I wonder where on earth that came from.  When Jim gets home I ask him if he taught Oliver to say that.  Umm no Trisha, that wasn't me.  Okay. 

Dinner is eaten, Oliver is congratulated for peeing in the potty all day, and thus is allowed to request a DVD.  As usual he requests "Cranky Bugs" which is a Thomas DVD that has a few different 10 minute episodes.  Jim is washing the dishes, I'm putting stuff away, and Oliver is watching the show.  Then I hear it "I can't thank you enough, I feel splendid"  says the Old Slow Coach after Thomas and friends have saved her from being turned into scrap. 

Such a random line to remember, but such a wonderful one!  Hilarious. 

late? me? never!

It's been an issue all of my adult life.  It was brought up in premarital counseling and may continue to be the thing that I stress over the most.  I can't be late.  Scratch that, I can't be anything but early.  If you are having a party that starts at 6:00, I'll be there at 5:55.  Jim recently taught me that if a party is at 6:00 you shouldn't be there before 6:10.  If I'm "late" for your party, you can rest assured it was Jim's doing and most likely argued over before our arrival.  At both my teaching jobs I was almost always the first teacher there.  I get to my current job five minutes early and that's after waiting for a few minutes at the local park. 

I heard this rumor that once you have a child you throw this whole punctuality out the window and you will be 10 minutes late for everything for the rest of time.     No.  Way. 

This rant comes to the forefront because I was late for yoga class today.  It wasn't my fault, I blame rush hour, a traffic accident, a closed exit, and all red lights.  Usually if I'm running late for something like that I just won't go, but I really like yoga and Oliver enjoys playing in the kid's place, so we trudged on.  We made it to the parking lot by 5:27 for our 5:30 class, Ahhhh!  Parked, ran, signed in, paid for kid's place, dropped him off, told the teachers not to let him drink water, and made it to already quiet, already dark yoga by 5:33.  I didn't feel particularly disruptive, and a bunch more people came in after me, but I still hated it.  What's my issue?  Wait, don't answer that. 

vegetable soup

Always in search of ways to consume more vegetables, is that true for anyone else?  I made vegetable soup a couple nights ago.  Night one I served it was these.  Click the link, and check out the BEST BLT!  I've never enjoyed a BLT because raw tomatoes are so icky!  However, once slow roasted they are simply amazing.  I will point out that the recipe says to cook the tomatoes for 4 hours.  I read that about 1 hour before I was hoping to have dinner finished....am I the only one that see the picture and fails to read everything else?  Oh well, increased the temp and decreased the time and called it yummy.  The next day I sauteed some Italian turkey sausage and threw it in the soup, because my husband refuses to call it dinner if it doesn't have meat. 

Vegetable Soup

ingredients
-olive oil
-yellow onion, diced
-2 celery ribs, chopped
-1 bay leaf
-some thyme, fresh or dried, as much as you like 
-3 carrots, peeled and chopped
-2 parsnips, peeled and chopped (parsnips look like white carrots and have a spicy flavor)
-1 medium turnip, peeled and chopped
-1 can of diced tomatoes, 12oz
-1 1/2 quarts of chicken stock or vegetable stock, just be sure to use stock not broth, broth is lame
-1 can of garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
-salt & pepper

1.  Heat up a drizzle of olive oil in a soup pot, add the onion, celery, bay leaf, thyme and cook for five minutes or until the onions are soft.
2.  Add the carrots, parsnips, and turnips.  Continue cooking for five minutes
3.  Add the tomatoes and stock and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat a simmer for 40 minutes or until all the vegetables are tender.
4.  Add the beans and salt & pepper, heat through
5. Enjoy!

chicken salad sandwich

I'm fussy about chicken salad.  Too much mayo, yuck.  Celery, no thanks, No apples, No nuts, No grapes.  Here is my most favorite...

Ingredients
-couple chicken breasts (more of less depending on the size of your crowd or appetite) 
-bay leaf
-pepper
-salt
-some mayo
-handful of crasins
-small onion
-your bread of choice (ciabatta is nice)

Optional
-olive oil
-clove of garlic

Directions
-Poach (simmer) the chicken in a pot of water with some pepper, salt, and a bay leaf.  Cut it in half after 20 minutes to see if it's fully cooked
-Cool the chicken
-You could dice or shred the chicken but I think it's better if you pulse it a few times in a food processor.  Only a few times!  We are not making baby food.  It just stays better on the bread when it's small.
-Put the chicken in a bowl and then dice or pulse the onion in your food processor
-Add the onion to the bowl, throw in some crasins, and enough mayo to make it come together...don't go crazy, unless mayo is your thing.
-chill then enjoy

Bonus
-heat the oven to 400
-drizzle some olive oil on the bread and bake oil side down for 5-10 minutes
 -take the bread out and rub the cut side with a clove of garlic