December 25 - A Day In My Life

Christmas!!  My favorite holiday and my last blog entry for the year.  I thought it would be fitting to finish with Christmas since I love it so much.  And, doing the ADIML blogs are my favorites...so here you have it.  We had a wonderful Christmas day - my parents came over to open presents at our house and then we ate cinnamon rolls.  Later in the day, we went to my parents house and had a wonderful Christmas dinner.  It was a fun day and a great way to end my 2012 blog posts.  I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and look forward to a Happy New Year! 
Who knows what 2013 will hold!!!

When I was little I would wake up VERY early, but now I appreciate sleeping in a bit!  

We opened presents around 9:30!

The cinnamon rolls before the oven.

Our tree with all the presents - remember, we were only 4 people!!!

Our stockings were hung by the chimney with care, and Santa filled them!

Bill's not sure he likes his present.

Just kidding...he loves it!

(He just wasn't ready for the last picture.)

Mom also loves her new lotion.

Bill opening one of the big ones!

Dad got a new knife...good thing since he's always losing it!

The mess after all the opening.

The cinnamon rolls after the oven (and after we ate some!).

Gadget is tired out from all the activity.

My contribution to Christmas Dinner - Cheesy Potato Casserole.

Mom making sweet potatoes.

Delicious ham and potatoes in the oven...it doesn't get any better than this!

The table without the food...

...the table with the food!

Gadget also got a special Christmas dog biscuit.

After dinner resting!

And we watched the Grinch.

Taking pictures of our pies.

Our pies (we had another one in the fridge).

Four pies for four people!

My choice - German Chocolate Pie with Cool Whip!

Our tree at the end of the day.

We had a wonderful Christmas!

I didn't get any pictures of myself...maybe I can get some from my mom's camera.  It was a great day and we are truly blessed!  I wish we could have celebrated with our family and friends around the world, but I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.  See you next year!

Absolutely Ultimate Potato Soup

Here is my first recipe for the year. I like to make soup in January - even though it isn't cold here, it just seems appropriate. This soup was very delicious and I will be making it again...Bill loved it!

At the end of each recipe, I will give an overall score - judging taste, number of dishes dirtied, and time/effort spent making it. This recipe took me about 1.5 hours to complete (including all the peeling and chopping).

The required ingredients.

Peel and cube the potatoes.

Chop the celery and onion and garlic (I use pre-chopped garlic from a jar).

Fry the bacon in a large pot (we love bacon!).

Fry celery, onions, and garlic in reserved bacon grease.

Add potatoes and bacon, cover with chicken stock, and simmer.

Melt butter, whisk in flour, whisk in cream and herbs.

Add cream mixture to potato mixture. Blend half the soup (I used an immersion blender, but you could pour half the soup in a regular blender too).

Ladle delicious soup into bowls.

Garnish with crispy bacon, shredded cheese, and pepper. Enjoy!

Absolutely Ultimate Potato Soup (from allrecipes.com)

1 pound bacon, chopped
2 stalks celery, diced
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
8 potatoes, peeled and cubed
4 cups chicken stock, or enough to cover potatoes (I didn't have chicken stock, so I used chicken bouillon cubes with about 4.5 cups of water.)
3 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup flour
1 cup heavy cream (I used 3/4 cup heavy cream and 1/4 cup milk)
1 teaspoon dried tarragon (I didn't have tarragon but I used thyme - I like it better)
3 teaspoons chopped fresh cilantro (I didn't have fresh cilantro so I used dried)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
-In a dutch oven, cook the bacon over medium heat until done. Remove bacon from pan, and set aside. Drain off all but 1/4 cup of the bacon grease.
-In the bacon grease remaining in the pan, saute the celery and onion until onion begins to turn clear. Add the garlic, and continue cooking for 1 to 2 minutes. Add the cubed potatoes, and toss to coat. Saute for 3 to 4 minutes. Return the bacon to the pan (I saved some for garnishing later), and add enough chicken stock to just cover the potatoes. Cover, and simmer until potatoes are tender (about 12 minutes for me).
-In a separate pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk in the flour. Cook, stirring constantly, for 1 to 2 minutes. Whisk in the heavy cream, tarragon and cilantro. Bring the cream mixture to a boil, and cook, stirring constantly, until thickened. Stir the cream mixture into the potato mixture. Puree about 1/2 the soup and return to the pan (I used an immersion blender and just pulsed it a few times to blend some of the soup but still leave some delicious potato chunks). Adjust seasonings to taste. (I garnished it with some crispy bacon and shredded cheese - and extra pepper!)

AND, what they don't show you on the glamorous cooking shows are all the dirty dishes. So, I thought I'd show you just how many dishes I used to make this recipe.

The dirty dishes for this potato soup.

Absolutely Ultimate Potato Soup
Taste: 5 out of 5
Dirty Dishes: 2 out of 5
Time/Effort: 2 out of 5
TOTAL: 9 out of 15

Week 52

December 26
We had our delicious ham for Christmas dinner. We also had scalloped hash brown potatoes and peas. As leftovers we mix the potatoes and the ham...it is simply delicious. One of the best things ever! I will probably make more potatoes next week and add the ham to it before baking it! So yummy! (Even though it doesn't look that good, it is...trust me!)

December 27
One of my Christmas gifts was this water pick. I love it. I'm still perfecting my skills - and I still make quite a mess - but it's fun. It makes my teeth feel clean! Thanks, mom!

December 28
I couldn't end the year, and my Project 365, without one more picture of the dog. You can tell he's sick of pictures. This is the last one, I promise!

December 29
Bill and I are trying to buy a house...again! Here we are signing our life away. I'll let you know if we get it!

December 30
After getting out of a late night movie, the mall was empty! The animal statues at each entrance look more ominous when it's dark. We were exiting the "Dino" entrance, so obviously there was a dinosaur! I like the animals in our mall!

December 31
How fitting that I should end the year, and my Project 365, with a picture in the airport. (If you'll recall, I started this whole thing with a picture in the airport on January 1.) This time, my parents were flying through Panama and had a layover. We were able to get in to their gate and surprise them. Unfortunately their incoming flight was late so we only had 15 minutes with them...but we managed to enjoy a few New Year's Eve finger foods and toast to a "Happy New Year" with sparkling Sprite. It was so much fun and a wonderful way to end 2011!

Week 19

May 8
We went to the mall to watch a movie and do grocery shopping. Before all that, we ate at the food court. There is a good restaurant here that has wonderful grilled meats, it's a sit-down restaurant, but they have locations in several food courts. You order and they give you a number...then you sit down anywhere in the food court and they bring your food when it's ready...very ingenious.

May 9
Since Bill is on a small break from school, he has time to play computer games. He enjoys his computer games.

May 10
More grocery shopping in preparation for the upcoming brunch. This time we went to PriceSmart, which is like Costco. After shopping, we enjoyed dinner of fried chicken and pizza!

May 11
Here's my picture for the month of May...just one day late.

May 12
Another orthodontist appointment so all I could eat for dinner was mashed potatoes. But I love mashed potatoes so I don't mind...as long as I have a plastic spoon. For some reason, I hate eating with a metal spoon after going to the dentist or orthodontist!

May 13
Ubi has a new toy - "Mr. Elephant". You can't tell by this picture, but he really loves his new friend.

May 14
Spent the day getting ready for the big brunch! I like to set out all my serving plates and extra stuff the night before. It helps me visualize what the table will look like and it saves time when I'm rushed.

Potato Soup

Tonight I made the next recipe in my adventure to cook thru an entire cookbook. I had the day off and it rained ALL day! It was a great day for cooking and nothing is better on a rainy day than soup. I made Creamy Potato, Onion & Cheese soup and it was delicious. It was fairly easy to make and it really tasted great. Bill liked it a lot! He said it was the best recipe from the book so far. He strongly urged me to make it again sometime. I think the next time I make it, I'll add bacon or ham...a little meat with potato soup makes it even better.

before
Ubi stayed close to the stove - hoping to get a taste!

after