TAKING A BLOGGING BREAK

Kinda funny that I'm announcing a blogging break when I've been such a bad, neglectful blogger recently!  I have other priorities right now on which to focus, and I think my humble little blog's gonna have to take a far back seat for a bit.


I hope to get back into the swing of things in a couple weeks . . . maybe sooner :o)



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CHICKEN TORTILLA SOUP

The air is crisp, the leaves are turning . . . 

It's the perfect weather for soup.  

I love soup.  

I could eat it almost every night.  I'm not sure my family are big soup fans.  I think it's psychological to them that an entire meal must be spread out all over a plate, not neatly combined in a single bowl.

Picture from "Back To The Cutting Board"

Anyway, it was chilly the other day, and I was in a soup mood.  But really wanting something different and quick, I found a great recipe for Chicken Tortilla Soup at one of my favorite online recipe sites, All Recipes.  I'm sharing it because, not only was it totally delish, but it was quick and easy and everything was already in my pantry.  I like last minute meals like that - you know, when I actually have everything on hand that I need!

I should have taken pics of my own creation, but, as mentioned above, I was in a hurry to get dinner on the table, and just didn't take the time to grab the camera.  I did, however, find a few pics on the net that very much resembled my yummy finished product.

Picture from "Food Nework"

I'm sure if you try it, you will not at all be disappointed in this recipe's ease and tastiness.  And hopefully you're family will enjoy it as well!

The Ingredients:

1 onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tbsp olive oil

2 tsp chili powder

1 tsp dried oregano

1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes (I used tomato sauce)

1 (10.5 oz) can condensed chicken broth (I used boxed chicken stock)

1-1/4 cups water (I omitted the water, but used extra chicken stock)

1 cup whole corn (I used frozen)

1 (4 oz) can chopped green chilies

1 (15 oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained

1/4 fresh chopped cilantro

2 boneless chicken breast halves, cooked and cut into bite sized pieces

crushed tortilla chips (I used tortilla chip strips)

sliced avocado

shredded Jack Cheese

chopped green onions

The Directions:

1. In a medium stock pot, heat oil over medium heat.  Saute onion and garlic in oil until soft.  Stir in chili powder, oregano, tomatoes, broth and water.  Bring to a boil, and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes
2. Sir in corn, chilies, beans, cilantro and chicken.  Simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Ladle soup into bowls and top with crushed tortilla chips, or strips, avocado slices, cheese and chopped green onion.  

I also added a dollop of cream cheese and squeezed some fresh lime over the soup.

Picture from "Shine from Yahoo"

See!  

Quick and easy and good!  

This will definitely be a repeat performer in my kitchen!

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TRICK OR TREAT!

This year I joined in on some grown-up Trick or Treating hosted by Christine at

A Work In Progress

What a fun swap this was!  We were to send two "treats" and one "trick" to Christine.  Two items were to be handmade, one could be store bought {I choose to make all three}.  Christine asked that we not label our pieces with our names, keeping them anonymous, only labeling which two were the "treats" and which one was the "trick".  Once she received everyone's goodies, she randomly put together two of the treats and one trick per person and sent them back out.

We were to take pictures of the treats and tricks we were sending out so we could post them on our blogs today as well.  Silly me, I totally forgot to take pictures of what I made,  so Christine kindly took a few snaps of my items when she received them.  But when I downloaded them from Christine's email, and tried to upload them here, I kept getting a "server refused" message.  Anyone know what that's about?

Now, here's where the fun starts.  Once we all received back our tricks and treats, we had to wait until today, All Hallow's Eve, to post pics of the ghoulish goodies we received.  Then, we go to Christine's blog where she has all the participant's links posted and we visit each other's blogs, "Trick or Treating", seeing who received the items we sent out.  Pretty neat, huh?!

I received some really great things!  I was like a kid on Christmas morning when my box arrived.  Pulling each adorable little goodie out . . . oooo'ing and ahhh'ing over each one.

And if coordinating, distributing and hostessing this swap wasn't enough, Christine included a gorgeous Halloween vintage-image pendant necklace as a thank-you for participating.  Oh, Christine!  It's so adorable.  I've loved wearing it.  And it's us who are offering you a big thank-you for putting this swap together.

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FRESH PAINT

I can think of almost nothing else that spruces up a room like fresh paint on the walls.

A few posts back, I mentioned we'd been painting pretty much the whole first floor.  

{In case you been wondering where the heck I've been the past week, this is what I've been up to!} 

After having some drywall repair done on many of our walls on the first floor, the painting started up again.  We had the same type of work done on the second floor this summer that I blogged about here.  And after two weeks of work on the first floor, I finally finished the other day.  

YAY!!! 

We've had overcast, rainy days the past few days or more, and I couldn't get real good pics of the color on the walls.  I'm sooo thrilled with the new look.  The colors are a little darker then what we had previously, and I used a satin finish instead of the eggshell I'd used before.  And, again, I used that new paint from Lowe's - the Valspar Hi-Def.  

The color on above the chair rail is called Churchill Hotel Maple.  It's in the "National Trust for Historic Preservation" line.

  The color below the chair rail is Mark Twain's House Tan, from the same line.  

Although painting can be a bit laborious, time consuming, messy, it does help prompt a good, deep cleaning.  Not only are the walls and ceilings clean and smooth and spotless, but all the baseboards and floors behind and underneath furniture get a good scrubbing as well.  Hey, might as well take advantage of the furniture being all shoved to the center of room!

I'm so glad to have all this painting done, especially in time for the Holidays.  The only room not done yet is our master bathroom.  That room's getting a major overhaul ~ new tile floor, new tile surround for the tub, new countertop and sinks, etc.  So far, not much has been done in there.  A few pieces of cement board have been laid around the tub deck.  The list to do in that room is almost overwhelming.

Now I can concentrate on Christmas.  I now it may sound nuts . . . well, maybe not to a lot of you.  Every year I wish I'd started just a week or two earlier in my Christmas preparations.  This year I'm doing it.  I have plans for many handmade, hand sewn, hand crafted gifts, and I need to start now.  I may even start pulling out some of the Christmas trees and decorations November 1st!!!

With the painting done, something else to get busy on are the last few details on the master bedroom redo.  Almost there! Just a few more little odds and ends to finish up, then I can share the big reveal!  It won't be too fantastical, but it's coming along nicely, and a big change from how the room has looked for the past 16 years!

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