Pretties for your Ocular Senses

The rain has been relentless these past few days and I love it. The rain reminds me of Europe, of comfort food, of cozy blankets and hot cups of tea.
Get your ocular’s ready. You are about to have an ocular freak-out session.

It also reminds me that right now my rain barrels are brimming with free water for my garden. Free. I love that word. (Learn how to make your own rain barrel here.)

But mostly, the rain just makes everything more beautiful. And I’d like to share with you three beauty shots that the rain had a part in creating.

Drizzly rain, hot coffee, a sandy beach and Biceps=the perfect San Diego morning.

 

I happened upon this plant in Scottsdale and have no idea what it’s named, or what it wants to be called-maybe Gerald, Harry or perhaps Monique-but whatever his/her name is, it’s unique leaf display caught my ocular’s.

 

This shot of the sun rising over California somewhere wasn’t enhanced, retouched, cropped or straightened. It’s Raw, baby.
And fantabulous.
Hope your ocular’s could handle this much beauty in one day. I’ll stop for now, just so you aren’t ocularly overloaded. I hope you enjoyed my “Pretties”.

Cook-fest & bein’ real

For those of you that have been with me since the beginning when I started blogging in March of 2010, you may already know that I like to keep a clean house. If you are new around here, let me give you a couple of examples that highlight my ridiculousness. I color coordinate my closet, face the labels on all of my canned goods to the outside and have a system for almost everything.
We don’t have any kids, so it’s easy to do.
And thankfully, I married a man that is just as anal retentive as I am.
But, every once in awhile, I get a wild hair and get “my dirty” on.

This is how Cookfest began. I decided today would be the day to experiment, use up my garden’s harvest from the past couple of days, try out new recipes, and freeze a bunch of goodies for upcoming visitors.

 

The peels multiplied as I came up with more and more ideas to concoct.

 

I lined up my projects, pulling out ingredients to make sure I had everything on hand. I didn’t. But that’s never stopped me before. I decided to avoid the grocery store and improvise per usual.

 

For dinner, I wanted to try out a recipe for roasted sweet potato, carrots, onions and garbanzo beans.

 

There was some naughty cross-breeding going on in my garden which produced 2 mystery squash. Add those to a small pumpkin and I decided they would be the basis for my “Pumpkin-ish Pies”.

 

Zucchini Chocolate muffins were next on the list.

 

And my craving for Butternut Squash Soup was satisfied with the few small butternut found in the garden.

 

Pureed Squash was everywhere, pots were boiling over on the stove, dishes were piling up…

 

…every mixing bowl, spatula, measuring cup and appliance was being utilized, covered in some mixture of squash, vegie peel, cinnamon and flour concoction.

 

And my normal sidekick-Biceps-was rehearsing for a show. What’s a girl to do but keep cooking, keep piling up the dishes and wipe down the cabinets covered in bubbly squash juice from time to time.

 

Cookfest started at approximately 2pm and lasted until 8pm. It produced 2 pounds of meatloaf, two casserole dishes of roasted vegies, two pumpkin-ish pies, 4 dozen zucchini muffins, butternut squash soup, mystery squash puree for future soups or lasagna, one extremely dirty kitchen and one tuckered out but delighted Rebekah.
Cookfest was a messy success.

Seriously Delectable Split Pea Soup

I know what you are thinking. I never wanted to eat Split Pea Soup either.
What’s next-Broccoli Soup? Come on.
But, Biceps requested Split Pea Soup. He’s crazy like that and I like to silence his crazy.

She may not photograph well, but this here soup is downright amazingly good. It’s also very simple to make, full of protein and yummy veggies.
Biceps said it’s one of the best soups that I’ve ever made. And now, this Split Pea Soup has now become a staple in our weekly routine. Biceps likes to remind me how not crazy he is for making this suggestion to me.

Here’s what you’ll need to make your very own Split Pea Soup (serves at least 8 as a main dish):
A large stockpot
6 Cups Water
4 Cups Split Peas
3 1/2 Cup Chicken Broth
2 Lbs meaty Pork Hocks or Ham Bone
1/2 tsp dried Marjoram
1/4 tsp Pepper
2 Bay Leaves
1 Cup Chopped Carrots
1 1/4 Cup Chopped Onions

 

Rinse and drain the 4 Cups of Split Peas. Pull out any yucky ones.

 

Combine the water, split peas, broth, pork hocks/ham bone, marjoram, pepper, bay leaves and 1/4 Cup of the chopped onion.
Bring to a boil and reduce your heat. Simmer for 1+hour with the lid on, stirring occasionally, until the meat easily comes off the bone when pried with a fork.

 

Remove the bones and let cool. Cut the meat from the bones and coarsely chop. Discard the bones.

 

(Sorry, forgot to take a picture of this step. Here’s an up close and personal finished product shot instead…)
Add the meat to the stockpot and stir in the chopped carrots and the remaining 1 Cup of onions. Return all the ingredients to boiling and reduce heat. Simmer covered for 20-30 minutes more or until the veggies are tender. Stir occasionally to prevent scorching.

Serve with tasty toast or toast that’s tasty on a cool fall night. You are going to love this, guaranteed! If not, I will come over to your house and personally eat the remaining soup. Seriously, I’ll do it. I have a lot of frequent flyer miles that need to be used up. Enjoy!

Vintage Christmas Gifts & My Etsy Store

Dear Readers:
I hate to self-promote. It seems so trite and ridiculous.
So, if you want to go over to my Etsy site and buy something, by all means, do it. But I don’t want to guilt you into it and beg of you to do it.
That said, I just added a bunch of new stuff today and am excited to share it with you. I thought you might be on the prowl for a great Christmas gift, or an idea of the vintagey finds out there in the world.
If so, here are a couple of sneak peaks at what you might find.

Super cute vintage burnt orange nut bowl ready for your next party-$25.00.

My shop wouldn’t be complete without a vintage cat or two-$15.

Vintage cow bottle opener with tongue and major sass-$22.50.

Cute vintage squirrel that won’t bite through your electrical cords like a real squirrel would-$25.

That’s just a couple of items that I have for sale in my Etsy store. It’s quite often a rotating amount of inventory, so if you don’t like what you see now-maybe I’ll hit the mark with you next time.
-Love, Rebekah