Sunday, January 18, 2009

How about a recipe?

For as much as I love to cook, I have not posted one recipe or even talked about cooking on this blog. I thought that was a little bit strange! So, here is one of my favorite stand-by recipes. Every time I ask Belle what she wants for dinner she asks for this, even if it's 90 degrees outside! I tend to prefer it when it's cold so we made it for dinner this week (30 below qualifies for cold dontcha think?!). Also, it is easy to keep most of the ingredients in the pantry so you can whip this up even on nights when it seems like you have no groceries left.

Sausage and Corn Chowder

1 lb fully-cooked, smoked sausage (like Hillshire Farms)
1 medium onion, quartered and thinly sliced
2 medium potatoes, cubed
3 cups water
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried parsley flakes
1 can whole-kernal corn, undrained
1 can cream-style corn
1 can evaporated milk

Halve and slice the sausage. In a stockpot, saute the sausage and onion over medium heat, just until the onions are soft. Drain the fat. Add potatoes, water, and seasonings. Simmer until potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and heat through. Enjoy!

I am also working on Project 365, so we've been taking lots of pictures around here. I forgot to get a picture of the finished product, but here's a couple of shots while we were putting it together (one from Belle's perspective and one from mine).

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Serena Rayanne

Jake's sister, Heidi had her baby this morning. Meet Serena Rayanne:


She was so content while Belle and I visited, we did hear her cry before we left though!



~Congratulations Heidi and Johnnie!

Monday, January 12, 2009

Post-Holiday Let Down

I look forward to a clean start in January, but I still can't help but feel like the house is just too bare. Especially this wall here:



Ever since I took down the Christmas decorations I haven't been able to find the right arrangement for the table or the shelves and their contents.



I thought I could get away with leaning my window (found at the flea market this summer) up against the wall- that sucker is heavy! BUT, now I think it needs to go up to give some height. What do you think?

What about the shelves? What do I need to do to make them look more interesting?

FYI, I lifted the idea for the "S" canvas from Susie's blog. She sells much prettier things in her Etsy shop.