Not So Itty Bitty Anymore...

My little girl's growing up! 

:: sniff ::

Emily's been cruising around furniture since she was about 6 months old, but she has finally started standing on her own! Kirby and I get so giddy when she does it with us. The other night she was on a roll--she even took one step unassisted! I whipped the camera out, hoping to catch her doing it again, but we couldn't get her to actually take steps again. But we got her to stand for the camera!

Several times, in fact.

Which is why the movie is a whopping 3 1/2 minutes long.

BUT--it's full of giggles, screeches, clapping, posing, and sky-reaching! :)

Giggles.

I Love Me Some Picnic Fun!

(I surely hope you read that title with a good thick southern drawl.)

Remember back before it got freezing cold here in Utah?

I do.

Once upon a time way back then Emily and I had a picnic.
With no food.
And in our back yard.

BUT--I got to use the rag quilt I made for Kirby! He kept stealing the one I made for Emily to use as a lap quilt, but it was a little too small. So I figured it was only fair to make him his own. 

Aaaand I also figured it was only fair for it to be made of brown, pink paisley, and green polka dot flannel.

'Cause that's manly and stuff.

Have I mentioned how much I love being able to sit in my yard again? IN THE GRASS!? You can't really do that in Florida, unless you have a death sentence involving being eaten alive by bugs.

I am SOOO loving those teeth right now. Adorable. Don't try and deny it!

Cute, yes? Emily hates grass. Nuff said.

Ummmm, so yeah.

Yup. A month.

Just call me LAME BRAIN.

The skinny of it all is that I got several photography jobs that kept me busy. Not to mention the adorable almost-one-year-old I have running (okay, not quite yet) around. 

Some nights I sit in bed and try to analyze what I did that day. Sometimes it takes me a while to remember. 

I'm guessing some of you can relate.

My house is a mess, but I feel like we just cleaned it. And... rather than getting up to do something about it I am sitting on my patoot to accomplish something that's been on my list even longer :: B.L.O.G.

Priorities, right?

Here's the deal though. I feel so monumentally behind, that if I don't just let some stuff go, I think my head might pop off out of the sheer pressure to get it all posted. Phew. So I'm gonna post a couple of my favorite pictures and move on. :)

Occasionally, when we are having a shortage of food, we feed Emily giant orange rubber balls. 

Sometimes life is just hard, you know?
Especially when you are two feet tall and have someone waiting on you hand and foot...

She's trying SO hard to look innocent here. Yup. Not buying it.

Oh, and um... check out this chair!

I know what you're thinking. "Looks cool, but couldn't possibly be comfortable..."

Well, you would be wrong. 

'Cause it was CRAZY COMFORTABLE! Sold, though. And a million billion dollars.

The company we interned with paid for us to get out to and home from Florida. We discovered we LOVE Hampton Inn & Suites hotels. Here's the coolest one we stayed in...

Yup. I'm totally one of those people who takes pictures of cool hotel rooms.

AND... We got alphabet magnets. 

My life is now complete.

Eggs Davison

A delicious and easy twist on the classic Eggs Benedict.

Seriously, though, guys--this is divine. 

Once upon a time I tried to make Eggs Benedict, but failed at the sauce. So then we decided to make our own egg and sausage McMuffins, and they were pretty good. But then Kirby decided it was tasty (and cheaper) with just the egg and cheese, and would make it for himself periodically for an easy meal. Today was INSANE, and I couldn't make it to the grocery store before dinner, so we went with what we had--english muffins, eggs, cheese, and our newest addition to the dish--SALSA! 

INGREDIENTS:

1 English muffin

2 slices cheddar cheese

2 eggs (fried)

You favorite salsa

DIRECTIONS:

1. Halve the English muffin and toast it.

2. Meanwhile, fry your eggs.

3. When the muffins are roasty toasty, place one slice of cheese on each half, 

followed by a fried egg.

4. Top with salsa to taste, and enjoy!

YIELDS: 1 Serving.

Okay, so Kirby and I actually each eat 3 halves each. But it isn't practical to put "1 1/2 english muffins..." SO. There you go. :)

Easy peasy, lemon squeezy! And SOOO good.

We All Get Caught in a Hard Place Sometimes...

Zuppa Toscana :: Olive Garden Style (only BETTER)

Do I have any Olive Garden fans here? 

Dumb question, right?

RIGHT.

If any of you haven't tried their Zuppa Toscana, your life is not complete.

Or, at least not as delicious or as complete as mine... :)

What makes it so delicious you ask? Well, it could be the juicy chunks of ground Italian sausage, or the melt-in-your-mouth potato slices. Or perhaps it's the creamy, I-could-drink-this-stuff-from-a-glass-because-it-warms-my-cold-exhausted-body-while-simultaneously-warming-my-soul broth?

Oh yeah. And it's a little bit spicy, too. Which, let's be honest, is probably one of the reasons Kirby likes it so much. And the good news? It's super easy to adjust the spicy level according to your own preferences.

And? If I can make it--YOU CAN. It's that easy. :)

Mmmmm... Kinda makes you long for a cold drizzly day, yeah? 

One where you can snuggle up under a handmade quilt with a mug of soup and watch chick flicks all afternoon?

If there are any gentleman readers, please forgive my obvious catering to the ladyfolk...

INGREDIENTS:

1 Tbsp Olive Oil

1 lb. ground Italian sausage, mild

(Make sure you get mild! The first time I made this I wasn't paying attention at the grocery store and accidentally got a spicy version--it was hot, hot, HOT! 

The kind I get is usually labeled as "sweet and mild" or something.)

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

(I actually put in about 4-5 cloves, but this is what the original recipe called for...)

½ tsp. crushed red pepper, or more to taste

(I usually put in 3/4 to 1 tsp. in ours. Want it more mild? Just add less red pepper!)

2 ½ cup water

2 (14 ½ oz) cans chicken broth

3 cans sliced potatoes

(the original recipe called for 3 large russet potatoes that you chop by hand, but I prefer to shave off 15 minutes of prep time by using canned potatoes. 

If you want to go the un-canned route, increase the simmer time in step 5 to 10-15 minutes.)

1 tsp salt

½ tsp freshly ground pepper

½ bunch kale, stems removed, chopped

(I don't put kale in when I make it, but it's just my preference...)

1 cup heavy (whipping) cream

DIRECTIONS:

1.     Saute sausage in oil. Remove sausage to plate and set aside.

2.     Add onion to pan with sausage grease and oil (you may need to add a little extra oil than the original tablespoon), sauté until translucent. Add garlic and crushed red pepper, cook 1 minute.

3.     In a large pot, combine water and broth; add onion mixture. Add potatoes, salt, and pepper. Heat to boiling.

4.     Reduce heat, simmer about 10 minutes.

5.     Add kale and sausage, simmer until potatoes are tender, about 7-10 minutes.

6.     Stir in cream. Heat to simmer over medium heat, cook 2 minutes.

7. Serve.

YIELDS: 4-6 servings.

It usually feeds me and Kirby for three meals! And it is just as good reheated as it is fresh off the stove!

Not tough at all! I have it down to a system. Here's my actual workflow (as opposed to the recipe's listed order), if anyone even cares. :) Yes, I'm an efficiency freak.

1. Prepare water and chicken broth mixture in large pot and set on medium heat.

2. Saute sausage, remove to plate.

3. Cut up onion, peel garlic, get out my crushed red pepper. 

4. Tip plate with sausage (I keep the sausage from sliding off with my spatula while I do this) over skillet to get all the grease back in the pan that settled from the sausage to use when I saute the onions.

5. Add a little extra oil (just a little) to my pan of grease (YUM).

6. Saute the onions until translucent. 

7. Crush my garlic cloves in my handy dandy garlic press directly into skillet.

8. Add crushed red pepper, and cook 1 minute.

9. Dump onion mixture into pre-warmed pot of chicken broth and water, and then add potatoes, salt, and pepper.

10. Bring to a boil, then turn down to medium and simmer for about 10 minutes.

11. Add sausage (and kale, if you choose to do so), and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 7-10 minutes. 

12. Stir in cream. Simmer over medium heat for an additional 2 minutes. 

13. Serve!

This is obviously why I don't write cookbooks for a living. 13 STEPS!? That would scare anyone away! But seriously--I have found that doing things in that order saves me a lot of stress. Cause I do that when I cook. :)