White Bean and Bacon Soup

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What to do?

I may be shifting the focus of this blog away from myself and more on to my interests for the next little while.  I am still up in the air on that, but……it’s a long story and basically I am not going to get into the who’s and what’s on here.   There are way too many people that I know IRL that are not privy to any aspect of my life anymore and I would like to keep it that way.

So, I leave you in the grace of the Almighty with a wonderful soup recipe…..that I am making right now……and I can only begin to tell you how good my kitchen smells…..

It is from the City Tavern in Philadelphia. If you are ever in Old City Philadelphia, you must visit.   I did make a couple noteable changes to the recipe….I doubled the amount of slab bacon and added some liquid smoke.

White Bean and Bacon Soup

Serves 8-10

~Ingredients~

1 pound dried navy beans

2 ½ quarts of chicken stock

4 tbs unsalted butter

2 medium yellow yellow onions

3 garlic cloves, chopped

8 large plum tomatoes (1 pound) seeded and chopped

½ pound slab bacon, cut into ¼ inch cubes

1 tsp dried marjoram

salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 bunches fresh parsley, finely chopped, (about 12 tbs)

~~~~OVERNIGHT PREPARATION RECOMMENDED~~~~~~

To pre-soak the beans, place them in a colander and rinse thoroughly with water to clean. Place the beans in a large bowl and cover with water. Let stand at room temperature for at least 8 hours or overnight.

Drain and thoroughly rinse the beans. Place them in a large stock pot, add the stock and bring to a boil over high heat.

Reduce the heat to low and cook for about 1 hour, or until beans are soft.

Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat, add the onions and garlic and sautee for 5 minutes, until light brown. Add the tomatoes, bacon, and marjoram, and saute for 3 to 5 minutes more until the tomatoes begin to dissolve.

Add the tomato mixture to the beans in the stock pot. Simmer the soup for about 10 minutes, until the tomatoes are soft. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Just before serving, stir in the parsley.

(From The City Tavern Cookbook; Recipes from the Birthplace of American Cuisine by Walter Staib)

A Good Day

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Despite the hubby being in a crappy mood and Daniel being cranky with the whole teething thing and both kids being down with a stomach flu this week, for some “strange” reason, I am in a really, really good mood today.  I mean the kind of mood where you walk around with a smirk on your face and a “Kiss My Butt” swagger.  Yeah, that is exactly where I am right now.  Smirking……imagine that!  Ask yourself….when was the last time you smirked?  Or swaggered around?  Well, ladies, it has been far too long for me.  I should have entitled this post “How Kari Got Her Groove Back” but that might give too much away…..and that is all I am going to say about that….and no, it is not caffeine induced…I have moved on to the Folgers 1/2 caff coffee…..

I had a nice visit at mom and dad’s last night for chicken casserole, and then was back over early this afternoon and pigged out on McDonalds.  So much for the diet.  I have been really good since I put on the 10 lbs over Thanksgiving and Christmas.   Food is huge for my family during the holidays…and how can you say no?  But I am back on track….no more cheating…..back to my egg white and tomato omelette in the morning…..yup….swearing off the carbs….. (let’s see how long this lasts!!!! LOL).

Ewwww gross….San Gioorgio Pasta = worms!

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Did I mention that for the second time in a year, I found worms in my San Giorgio pasta.   It was their elbow macaroni.  Yes, worms.  They look like little tiny mealworms but apparently they are  weevils. And I love my carbs as much as the next girl, no way am I eating that pasta.  I called New World Pasta for a second time to complain because I had actually purchased this box with coupons that they sent me the last time.  They offered to send more coupons, but I think I am sticking to Barilla pastas in the future.  I am just a little too grossed out……

If it is FREE it is for ME

and maybe it is for you…..  stop by  here and claim your own brand new stainless steel pizza cutter………..

Sorry, we eat a LOT of pizza in this house…..this is a freebie I will actually use!!!

Oh and you can also pick up some “cover your butt” software here ….

Forever and a day…

Yes, I am still alive.  No, I didn’t take the job.  yes, I am completely obsessed with my wii.  I am the worst blogger ever.

I think about bloggin but am so caught up in what the kids are doing that I never seem to find the time anymore.  I meanm I have to watch the kids like a hawk….they get into EVERYTHING!

The summer flew by, We are into fall…..I love the fall, but it makes it difficult to get the kids outside to let them burn off some energy.  Also, our backyard is a huge mess thanks to my mother driving into our shed.  The hubby and a coouple of halpers tore the shed apart this past weekend and yesterday I paid $450 for someone to haul the debris away.  I only feel alittle ripped off.  We are having another shed built and it should be deivered in the next two weeks.

Rhe kids are good.  Melissa is a chatterbox.  Daniel is vocalizing and occasionally says a word that I can understand.  They are still not the best sleepers……..(am I ever going to get any sleep?).

They are good kids.  They are funny.  Such distinct personalities….but beware of the monkey see monkey do thing.

We also started the potty training thing with Melissa.  She peed in the regular potty once for us……but has yet to go on her pink throne.

I am going to try to write more regularly.  I have lost 15 lbs since the 1st of August (my 35th b-day) and now feel better if I skip a day of training.

I don’t know who is still reading out there….but I am here….I am back….

Ahhhh……sleep, sweet rest…..

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I got 14….count them….14 hours sleep last night.  Talk about feeling refreshed.  My wonderful hubby stayed up with the kids and I got to go to bed at 5:30pm.  It was fabulous!  He even cleaned up the living room! 

The kids slept all night, and got up arounf 7 or so.  To thank the huuby, who is at work today, I loaded up the kids and ran through Dunkin’ Donuts and picked up 2 dozen donuts for the crew.  I think they really appreciated it.  It is a long hot day for them, and nothing works like sugar to keep you going.  I behaved…I only ate the chocolate one….well, me and Melissa shared the chocolate one.

I did almost 40 minutes of Wii fit this morning….including running, which I am not that fond of, but did okay.  I mean, my thought was always, why would you run when you can drive? 

It’s a darn good day so far……………….

Refusal

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Today I feel strong.

I refuse to be in a funk.

I have the day planned out, and despite the forecast of yet more rain and storms, I have every intention of doing what I need to do today.

I just made waffles(that was a disaster…but that is another story for another blog post), got the kids up, folded laundry, got myself dressed, made me a big ol’ pot of cinnamon swirl coffeeand am doing a quick post before I (wrestle the kids to the ground and try to) dress them.

We are off to Super Wally Mart….you know, the kind with the grocery store in it……then it is off to Mom and Dad‘s to drop everything off.  Then back home, hopefully for naps.  Then when the hubby gets home, I plan on going over to the gym to workout.

And to top it off….I have a song stuck in my head…..

Remember Pretty Woman……..and the song “King of Wishful Thinking” (ok…it may be the dumbest video ever made), but the line that keeps sticking is:

I refuse to give in to my blues
That’s not how it’s going to be

And I deny the tears in my eyes
I don’t want to let you see.. no

Darn music from 1990 whatever the heck year it was….it was a long time ago……

So there is light at the end of the tunnel.  The kids are even sort of, somewhat, kind of, behaving a little bit this morning.  There have been no tears….yet.

sluggish….

Image by Cesar R. via Flickr

I know that I have been too quiet.  Things around here are just too much for me to handle some days.  The babies are in their “we refuse to be restrained” phase, and are pretty much kicking my butt.  The hubby took yesterday off to give me a little bit of a break.  I really didn’t get one, but it was a nice gesture on his part.

I had a few days where my depression got the best of me.  I hate feeling like that.  It was 48 full, long hours of me in self-loathing, worst mother and person in the world, feeling like I was going to burst in to tears at any moment kind of a thing.  And I didn’t go off my meds or anything.  It just creeped up on me and felt so dark.  And then I woke up, and felt like I could deal with life again.  It has to be hormonal….I don’t know if there is any other way to explain it.

Our garden is pretty much shot.  We have had so much rain that the slugs…ewwwwww….took over and pretty much ate everything.  I got a dew radishes, and a few peas, but the cucumbers, cauliflower, onions, peppers and cilantro are gone.  We might try again.  I don’t know.  I just hate slugs more than anything in the world.  The slugs won!

My parents are back home on Saturday.  That means at least I can have someone to talk to other than the hubby.  It also means that I can drop the kids off for an hour or two and have some me time.  I know, that sounds selfish, but really, the last week and a half without having my parents around has been so difficult.  I didn’t realize how much they really do help me out with the twins.

We were hoping to have a date night this week, but that isn’t going to happen.  Our sitter is busy and I will not make my parents watch the kids after being in the car for 7+ hours.  So, it, like many things in my life, will have to wait.

I guess the only real bright spot is that we have found a home for the frosties.  The family is “ready to go” and maybe everything that happened was for a reason.  I was really upset about the other family.  But this family, well, it seems that all of the stars have aligned.  Oh, and her name is the same as my sister’s…just spelled differently.  Is that weird or what?  My sister’s name is not at all common.

I have a metric ton of laundry to put away while the kids are taking their nap.  I just wanted to let anyone who is still reading know that I am alive and still somehow, by the grace of God, keeping my head above water.

Miffed….kind of….

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

So, I decided to call the embryo adoption facilitator today to just check in and see what was going on witht he status of the adoptive couple and the frosties.  If you remember, I had to run and get a ton of blood work done to suit the specifics that their lab required.  I had to do this with the twins in tow.  The couple did reimburse me for the blood work and they were essentially all set to take possession of the frosties in April or May.  So, here it is in June and I have heard nothing.

Well, as it turn out…they tried “something different”.  And they are pregnant.  Good for them.  But, the original agreement was that they were going to pay for the storage costs of the frosties.  Now, they want to keep us “on the back burner” in case this pregnancy fails.  We have been paying $125 per quarter since 4/07.  This does add up and we were going to just pay off the credit card that the storage is being billed to.  But, it is really going to be up to these folks if they decided to honor their original agreement.

It also leaves us with frosties again and the search for another family.

I want to be happy for them.  I really do.  But at the same time, I am miffed.  They were all about our frosties.  And then poof!  I am not sure what I am supposed to be feeling.  Our second choice family is pregnant too.

At least the facilitator is on our side.  She has sentthe email requesting that they abide by their original agreement.

grrrr……

Did I say routine?

I meant to say crazy.  I just put up with a 45 minute long temper tantrum from both kids, Daniel broke the wooden holder for the coasters, I superglues it back together, super gluing my fingers to each other and the wooden holder, made potato salad, broke up three hair pulling “incidents”……..

Seriously….I might need to seek professional help…..

Oh yeah, and I getto take a soggy wet dog to get shaved down.  Did I mention that our appointment is at 5pm?  Yeah, so I get to sit in traffic too.

Lucky me.

Yeah, my life is soooo boring.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But sometimes, they are cute…….not today….but sometimes!