Pumpkin chili and other fall fun!

Hey guys! It's been a while again, but at least not as long as before! As usual things have been pretty busy around here. I've been fighting a cold all week, and some days the cold won. Thankfully, I'm feeling much better now. Steve had some sort of law competition thing today so he's been gone since lunchtime. I must say, I've had a pretty productive day! I went grocery shopping this morning and have been on a cleaning spree this afternoon. Just boring stuff like laundry and going through closets, but still productive. 

So, Steve and I have plans to go see his parents tomorrow. His mom's birthday was earlier this week and we didn't get to go see her because of my stupid cold. Boo! We had told his parents we would bring lunch so I've been a little kitchen Diva today. I've made pumpkin chili and cornbread muffins for lunch tomorrow. And have everything assembled for a pumpkin cake for dessert. My sister-in-law Pam, and I'm sure some others had not heard of pumpkin chili. I must say, it sounded a little odd to me at first. But I made it a few weeks ago, and Steve and I both loved it. I told Pam I would post the recipe, so here it is. 

Pumpkin Chili

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs 99% lean ground turkey
• 1/2 tsp olive oil
• small onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tsp chili powder, to taste
• 2 tsp cumin
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp oregano
• 2 cans white beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 can pumpkin puree
• 4.5 oz canned green chile
• 2 cups chicken broth

Heat a large, heavy saute pan over high heat and lightly spray with oil. Add meat and cook, breaking it up, until white (about 5 minutes). Add to crock pot. 

Add oil to the saute pan, then onions and garlic and cook for about 4 minutes. Add cumin and saute for another minute. 

Add to crock pot. Then add pumpkin, beans, green chiles, chicken broth, chili powder, oregano and bay leaves. 

Cook on high for 3-4 hours or on low for 6-8 hours. 

Remove bay leaves before serving and adjust seasoning. 

May serve with sour cream and cilantro if desired. 

Doesn't that look yummy?! And it is. :) Hope some of you may try it and enjoy it! I promise it doesn't have an overwhelming pumpkin taste. It just adds a certain richness and almost creaminess to the chili. Granted, I'm a pumpkin fan, but like I said it isn't overpowering! Let me know if you try it and like it! 

And by the way, the cake promises to be yummy! I just haven't actually made it yet, so I'm not going to endorse something until I've tried it myself! 

A very Pinteresting afternoon!

For those of you who don't know yet, I'm addicted to Pinterest. As in, I need to attend Pinners Anonymous. It has seriously become my go to spot whenever I want to find, well, anything really. Recipes, crafts, clothing, hairstyles, home decor, gadgets, christmas ideas, pet stuff, you name it, and I bet it's on Pinterest. And chances are, I've probably looked for it.

I've made several recipes I've found on there and they were rather successful. My latest completed projects are a fall wreath and a centerpiece for our dining room table. I had been looking for a pretty wreath for our door for a while now, but had not really found anything that seemed quite right. They all seemed to have too big, dead looking flowers. You know the kind of thing your grandma would have. Now I love grandmas, they're great, but I don't necessarily love their style. So, as usual when faced with this sort of dilemma, I turned to Pinterest. And, Voila! Here is what I found.

This was much more my style! So yesterday, between breakfast and football, I went to Hobby Lobby. Even got my dear, sweet, hubby to go with me. Well, he was already with me, but he was fine with going in too. :)

I picked out my fabric as well as some other things for another project, and we went about our day. We got to spend today just lazing around the house and relaxing, which was so nice. We caught up on some of our favorite shows and just hung out. While we were watching tv, I made my wreath. 

Now, I know. Mine isn't as full as the one on Pinterest. But, that was intentional. I knew that our apartment number needed to be visible. And I wanted the peephole to still be functional. So I made the strips of fabric a little shorter than the directions said. I'm pretty proud of my first crafting effort. I even did the clever trick of installing one of those command hooks upside down and using it as the hook for the wreath, see?

The other project I did today was one that I had been wanting to complete for a while. Steve and I had some pretty bottles from our honeymoon, and I hated to just throw them out. So, you guessed it. I searched Pinterest for a way to decorate and transform them. And I must say, I'm super pleased with these!

And here's a closeup of the scrapbook paper I used. 

The only thing I'm lacking here is a filler for the bottles. Still thinking that one over. Maybe some dry beans or seeds? Not sure. I do know that I fully intend on replicating this project for Christmas. Which by the way, I'm already getting excited about that. I cannot wait to decorate, and bake, and put up the tree. And most importantly, to see my family. I miss you guys and love you so much! It'll be a very happy day when I see them!

I do have plans for one more project this week. Pumpkins! I've gotten paint and some ideas for decorating them, now to just carry out the plans. I'm thinking it might be a good project for Thursday, when Steve is in school for nearly forever. At least it seems like that! 

I'm sorry my posts on here are so sporadic, but I'm still getting the feel for this. It's hard for me to wrap my head around people actually caring about our day to day and what I have to say about it. And oftentimes, I feel as though the moment has passed before I get a chance to write. I'm hoping with winter that I'll be able to sit and write more. I do enjoy it a lot. And I look forward to seeing what you guys think of my newfound crafty side!

Busyness!

I haven't written in here in forever. I truly want to make this blogging thing a bit more frequent but our lives have just been so hectic over the past few weeks. Between my work schedule, meetings, continuing education classes, planning wedding showers, etc. and Steve's doctor's appointments and school schedule, plus trying to keep in touch with family here and in Alabama, and trying to stay as active as we can in church, and keeping things running smoothly on the home front, it's been hectic to say the least. It's been difficult at times to have time for ourselves, much less extracurriculars like blogging.

But I think we are settling into a routine. Slowly but surely. I pray that we settle it sooner rather than later. I'm a creature of habit. I love routine. I thrive on it. I do everything in my power to create it when it's lacking. Steve will tell you, when there's no routine, when I don't know what to expect, I stress. And stressed I have been. But like I said, things are calming down and while still really busy, there is a bit of routine back in our lives. I'm so very thankful for that.

I think it's definitely time for a few updates. A lot of these are mainly for the benefit of my family back home, so if you already know, just bear with me. 

1. We'll start with the most fun part. We are the proud parents of our very own fur-baby. His name is Duke and he's five years old. He's also completely adorable and precious. We got him just this past weekend when our apartment complex hosted an open house for the Humane Society of West Michigan. I walked in, just to look, honestly!! And he totally picked me out. He walked right over and kept nudging at me wanting to be petted. Our building isn't normally one of the buildings that allows dogs, but thanks to our awesome apartment manager, they're bending the rules. She must have a heart for animals like I do. It also probably helped that she witnessed the whole him picking me out thing and saw me loving on him. Puppies are great, but let me tell you, adopting an older dog definitely has its own benefits. Like, he's completely house trained and has great indoor manners. He doesn't destroy and chew on everything like a puppy. He knows how to relax and not play 24/7. So far, we're really enjoying him, even if it is a little more work for us. Totally worth it!

2. This is much more serious, but thankfully is improving as we speak. Many of you know that Steve has been dealing off and on with a wound for a really long time now. It flared again shortly after our honey moon and due to his insurance changing and such, it took longer than it should have for some things to happen. Trust me, not a happy camper about that at all. About 3 weeks ago, we finally got approval for him to get a wound vac. Finally! This wound that has been worsening week after week despite our best efforts is making great strides towards healing! We are so grateful that those prayers have been answered. We're hoping that within another week or two, the vac can come off. For those of you that have ever dealt with wound vac's, you know just how finicky and stressful they can be. We'll be thrilled to have that off of shoulders. It's really been much more stressful than we anticipated. Thankfully, that area is improving as well thanks to some amazing home care nurses and staff at the wound clinic that have really gone to bat for us! They've truly been a great support. 

3. We survived the Michigan-Alabama game! Needless to say, I was much happier than my dear husband, but I tried to keep quiet about it and not rub it in his face. 

4. I'm really settling into this wife thing. I've mentioned it before, but it still continues to amaze me at how much I enjoy doing things for him, whether it be simply cooking dinner, or baking something I know he loves, or even just taking a lot of satisfaction in keeping our home running smoothly for him. I love it. And for me, a generally practical girl, feeling satisfaction and contentment in those things is what makes me know that this is right. I knew going into that marriage isn't all roses, and I was right on that one. It's not about all those lovey-dovey feelings. We do have those, but that's not what makes it real. What makes it real is that every day, we get up and intentionally choose to love one another. Then we do our best to carry out that decision. We're not perfect and I know we have so much more to learn. But I think we're both excited about that. This is just one of those many things. And for me, there's no one else I'd rather learn with!

Until next time!

Settling In

So, we've been home for a couple of days now. And I must say, even though the wedding and honeymoon was a blast, it's a true blessing to be home. We're catching up on what seems to be mountains of laundry, getting Steve moved in, and arranging things for me to head back to work tomorrow night. Which, on a side note, I'm actually a little excited about. I've missed my H3 girls and patients! They've become like a second family to me.

So most of you who know me, know that I have very little experience with domestic things like cooking and such. So it may come as a surprise to you all that I'm actually rather enjoying it. Maybe it's because we're still so newly wed, but if you've been married a while, don't burst my bubble. I rather like this feeling! :)

Now don't get me wrong, I've cooked before. I've even cooked for Steve before. But it's usually fairly simple stuff that you don't even really need a recipe for-spaghetti, mac n cheese, burgers. Stuff like that. Well today, I found an amazing recipe. And it turned out great! See?!

 Maybe the most amazing thing is that I even tweaked the recipe a bit. It was originally just a chicken dish, but I changed things up a bit and made it into a pasta dish. And I got Steve to eat veggies! It had artichokes and tomatoes and asparagus in it. So yummy. And we have tons of leftovers, which is great considering I am heading back to work. :)

I guess I'm done for now. Just wanted to pop in and brag on myself a little!

A Brief Recap

Wedding day! Everything was beautiful and perfect! Many thanks to all who helped make it possible. It was truly a fairy tale, complete with leaving in a horse drawn carriage. Now on to a relaxing and fun honeymoon in the Smokies!

Honeymoon day 1: Slept in till noon, then lunch @ Hard Rock Cafe. Drove through Gatlinburg and part of Pigeon Forge. Then bought some grocery stuff at wal-mart. First shopping trip married! Spent a relaxing evening at the cabin with sandwiches and wedding left overs.

Honeymoon Day 2: Breakfast @ The Apple Barn was delicious! Spent some time there and got an amazing bottle of muscadine wine for our picnic later this week. We decided to head to see some more attractions so we went to the Wonderworks museum. So freaking cool! We got to be big kids for three hours! And we finished up the evening with the Dixie Stampede. Busy day, but oh so much fun! We also got a sneak peek at some wedding pictures. We love Deedra Pike!

Honeymoon Day 3: Another beautiful day! Stayed in this morning, then I introduced Steve to ribs at Tony Roma's. We spent the afternoon in downtown Gatlinburg where we went to the Ripley's aquarium and to Sugarland cellars. We had a great time wine tasting and bought a bunch of stuff for a picnic later this week. I also got my first Coach purse tonight. Definitely a splurge, but I love it!

Honeymoon Day 4: Overall, a pretty relaxing day. We spent the morning at the cabin and the afternoon exploring the mountains a bit and shopping on the strip in Gatlinburg. By the time we finished shopping, we were zapped from the heat and crashed at the cabin with some Mellow Mushroom--the PIZZA guys, the PIZZA!! :)

Honeymoon Day 5: Got to introduce Steve to one of Gatlinburg's most well-known eateries this morning- Pancake Pantry. And they didn't disappoint. We spent some time shopping in one of the little alcoves off the strip. We wasted most of the morning there and then went to the Titanic museum. All I can say is wow. It was so neat. Really an experience more than a mere trip through a museum. Sad in some ways, but definitely glad we went. Then it was off to Fuddrucker's for dinner and relaxing at the cabin.

Honeymoon Day 6: Another great visit to the apple barn! We officially are in love with that place. Picked up a few more things there, then packed a picnic and drove over to Cade's Cove. It was gorgeous! A little disappointing to not really see that many animals, but still a great day. 

When we got back to Pigeon Forge, we had dinner at Joe's Crab Shack. The neat part of this is they were actually just open for training. We had stopped by earlier in the week, not knowing this, and somehow managed to snag reservations for a Friday night. Good luck or what?

Honeymoon Day 7: We got up (kinda) early this morning and checked out of our cabin. A little sad that the honeymoon is coming to a close, but excited to start out on a whole new adventure together. We originally were going to go to Asheville and tour the Biltmore, but after really looking at the amount of time it would take, decided to save it for another trip. I just don't think rushing through it would quite do it justice. 

We stopped at a store in Pigeon Forge on our way out where we had airbrush shirts made and had our saloon-style pictures taken. Slightly corny, yes, but a lot of fun anyway. We headed on over to Asheville anyway since we had already booked a hotel. It might be completely out of the way, but the drive was gorgeous, and in my opinion, completely made up for the time.