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.

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Have a Rockin' New Year!


There are benefits to being the one behind the camera!






Thursday, December 25, 2008

Merry Christmas!


Everything looks so peaceful on Christmas Eve!
Gunnar got to play with Lola, he was so excited! He kept asking "What's that? What's that?"

Lola continued to pull presents from under the tree, run away and chew them up right until the last one was unwrapped. That along with the fact that she had a couple of playmates (Marley and Kia, Uncle Phil and Dawn's boxers) really wore her out. See below:

We really had a wonderful Christmas with lots of family time. Big hugs to our friends and family that we didn't get to see. Love you!

Sunday, December 7, 2008

This one's for Grandma and Grandpa...

The first video is the "childhood routine" Belle is in the second row, right on the edge of the green circle.

The second one is the "holiday routine" Belle is the 5th from the right.

Wish you could be here, but I'm sure you're glad that you are watching this from the comfort of home and didn't have to trudge through the wind and snow into a packed gym where you sit crouched in the bleachers (and pay an admission fee for the pleasure of watching your granddaughter dance). Ha!

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Lola











Meet the newest member of the Sinkler Family, Lola. We picked her up last night, she's an 8-week-old yellow lab.