The Snowcation Continues

We are now on day four of our "Snowcation." Unreal.


Mark is out shoveling AGAIN.

We have enjoyed our four days off from school and the federal government, but cannot believe what the last week has brought us!

I did not post pictures of the snow yesterday but let me give you a little review.

Blizzard conditions. White outs across the metro region.



No public buses running. No above ground subway lines running. Again.


Yesterday was perhaps the most severe day of weather as winds gusted up to 50 mph.


It was so cold and so windy that the snow even made its way into our house. Yes, that's with the glass door closed. Amazing.



Mark took the opportunity to do a little work inside the house (he only shoveled ONCE yesterday). He recaulked our bathroom tile...and did an outstanding job of it!



I worked on finishing up projects that have been way overdue.

Soba just chilled on our bed with Timmy.


Here are pictures from Mark's daily shovel job.



He's holding up three fingers in the one picture for the third snow storm that he's been a shoveling fool!


Last night for dinner I decided to make a pot roast without the meat---what makes it pot roast then? Well, my argument is that really the tastiest part of the pot roast is the soft potatoes and carrots and onions that come with it. We also bought baby bella mushrooms for our stir fry the day before but forgot to add them in so we added them to last night's dinner. I called mom and got the heads up as to what to do for the broth since I didn't have a pot roast package. She gave me the perfect recipe!

I had already cut up one white onion, three garlics (not the bulb!), four white potatoes, and seven carrots.

To that mom suggested I add:

2 cups of vegetable broth
1 veggie broth bullion cube for extra flavor (I actually added a total of three veggie bullion cubes and found it to be perfect!)
a dash of Crazy Jane's salt
Bay leaves
Parsley
1/2 cup of red wine (I added closer to a cup)

I let it cook in the crockpot for 4 hours and whoop! There it was! A perfect wintry night meal! It was filling but didn't leave us feeling gluttonous. I loved it and so did Mark.



Last night we decided to watch Couples Retreat. HI-LAR-I-OUS! Mark and I had a great evening. Here's the trailer. If you haven't already seen it, we highly recommend it. If you have seen it, we recommend you watch it again. :)



School was out again TODAY, but it's a beautiful and sunny day here. Mark is out shoveling AGAIN--there's just nowhere to go with all of the snow.


We're looking forward to getting out soon and heading to the gym and then to the dog park for Soba.



No word yet if tomorrow will be another snow day. Still no public buses running and no above ground subway today. The kids didn't have school scheduled anyway since it was a PD day for teachers...I will keep you posted!

Stayin' In With Stir Fry

Our outing to the gym and dog park yesterday afforded us the opportunity to go to the grocery store and to pick up some fresh produce. Last night seemed like the perfect night for some stir fry with brown rice. The veggies were just what we needed!

What all was in our stir fry?

Red pepper, yellow pepper, bamboo shoots, yellow squash, peas, broccoli, carrots, baby corns, and Quorn Chicken.

All of it was topped off with one of our favorite stir fry sauces: House of Tsang Classic Stir Fry Sauce.



Mark dug out our chopsticks and we dug into our food! It was a tasty and healthy--perfect as we hunkered down for another night of snow.

Breakfast on Break!

Breakfast on break has been wonderful. Once we got through the snow, and made it to the store, breakfast has been divine. Mark and I have enjoyed a "homemade" breakfast of coffee (with my half and half!) and cinnamon sugar toast on at least two mornings!!! When was the last time you had cinnamon sugar toast for breakfast? It's a personal fave of mine and despite it's ease I find I don't have it often. It's vanquished to breaks...so I have been enjoying my breakfast treat and am looking forward to another week of it! Cheers!

Pumpking Bread...In a Coffee Can

As a teacher you receive a lot of very unique and thoughtful gifts around the holiday season from students.

This year, I had a most unique gift that I thought was really, really clever.

Owen, or rather his mother, made each teacher a loaf of pumpkin bread using her mother's recipe, which called for the pumpkin bread to be baked in a one pound coffee can.


She said the only trouble she ran into is that finding one pound coffee cans has become harder and harder to do and so a few of the "rolls" ended up with muffin tops. (My roll was not one such roll.)


I couldn't resist taking some photos and sharing as we cut into the bread last night. :)

Delicious!

Sunday

We were supposed to run the Jingle Bell 10K this morning. But when the alarm went off at 6 am and we peered out the window we weren't feeling so motivated. The sleet on the awning coupled with the cold temperature just didn't beckon us to the start line. Instead, we turned around and buried ourselves back in our bed.

We felt a little guilty that we didn't do the run, but after the extra sleep, we didn't dwell on it too much. We got dressed and headed to my school for a work morning in my classroom. Mark dropped Snoodles and I off at my school and got us a great breakfast from Firehook Bakery--fresh coffee (from Starbucks), potatoes, and an egg and cheese sandwich on a fresh croissant....decadent!


We graded for a while and left when they were locking up the building. Mark went to the gym to work on his triathlon physique and I finished more grading. Then, when he got back, I decided to go for my 10K run. I was feeling guilty that I didn't run this morning, so I decided to run the race course. I went down toward the FDR Memorial on West Potomac Drive and ran along the water and onto Haines Point. It was perfect running weather--40 degrees, cloudy, the pavement was still wet. I was definitely all alone out on the Point. There were no other runners, two bikers, and some cars parked. It was very tranquil. I was 45 minutes into my run and just about to leave Haines Point when a huge red fox ran across my path. It was a total Chickasaw moment. I'm glad I slept in this morning and waited to go running this afternoon.

This evening we baked these awesome chocolate chip Reese's peanut butter cup cookies that we learned about from my brother's friend Melissa.

They sounded so easy to make that I had to try them myself. We used mini muffin pans and Tollhouse cookie dough. Mark unwrapped the mini Reese's cup.


I scooped enough cookie dough into each tin to fill the tin.


We cooked them at 375 degrees fro 7 minutes.


As soon as the timer went off, we pulled the trays from the oven and put a Reese's cup in the middle of the soft baked dough.



Waiting for them to cool was agony! (Notice the gooey chocolate running in the bottom cookies!)


But when we could finally scoop one out of the tin....



well...



the results were....



DELICIOUS!



What a great start to the week!

Who Doesn't Love Cheerios?

There's nothing like a good bowl of multigrain Cheerios----with of course, half and half!


It's one of my favorite desserts....


And one of my best friends to share it with is Soba...





who loves the half and half and cheerios as much as I do!

My Signature Dish

Everyone has that one dish that they excel at. Mine is not a complicated recipe, handed down from generation to generation. It is, however, a recipe for tastiness. I got it from my sister-in-law, Amy, a few years ago and it has never let me down. It is a classic midwest casserole. It's real name is Pierogi casserole--however, it has become affectionately known as Heart Attack in a Pan.



I am writing it because it made it's seasonal debut today. Every winter for parent teacher conferences the staff has a potluck. This recipe is asked for by my staff by name: Heart Attack in a Pan. So, I made it today, and put in the fridge so I only have to bake it tomorrow.



I must admit, I'm pretty excited to have it tomorrow! I mean, almost four sticks of butter---how could you go wrong?

Don't think calories. Isn't this why you run?? Just enjoy it. You can starve yourself later. In the mean time, let the butter, mashed potatoes and Velveeta slide down your throat and coat your stomach. You're in for a real treat!



Pierogi Casserole
aka Heart Attack in a Pan



1 lb. package of Velveeta
8 oz. package of bowtie pasta (farfalle) (or do as I do and just use the whole box)
1 medium white onion chopped
3 sticks of butter
4 cups of instant mashed potatoes


Sautee onions in butter until the onions are soft and clear.
Boil pasta, drain and rinse.
Make mashed potatoes.
Slice cheese.

Layer in 9x13 pan, in this order:
½ butter and onion, ½ pasta, all potatoes, all Velveeta in slices, ½ pasta, ½ butter.

Cover with foil and bake for one hour at 350 degrees.

Super Saturday!

Mark and I went to bed with dreams of snow...thanks to Bob Ryan, NBC's weatherman. Well, I fell asleep last night before the weather report but Mark assured me on the way to bed last night that snow was coming.


We got up at 8 am and debated going for a run. It was raining and it looked uninviting. But we hadn't run the night before and I was afraid that if it turned to snow we wouldn't be interested in running later. So, we compromised. We agreed to go running right away, but rather than do a 10K, we'd do a 3.5 mile run and save the 10K for Sunday. We donned our tights and our long sleeve shirts (and Mark added shorts, a hat, and I think would have added more if I had given him the time), and headed out. The run was cold. I usually love rain but this rain was just above freezing....it was wicked cold. We parked on the Mall, ran to the Washington Monument and back to the car and then up Capitol Hill, around the Capitol and back down....it was nice in that there were a ton of other runners out, surprisingly enough.

We celebrated our run with coffee from Starbucks and the headed home for hot showers and a little housekeeping. On our way home it started to snow!!!!

When we got home we found one of our squirrel friends camped out on the windowsill outside of our spare bedroom.

Our bedroom had become a living nightmare. We decided to seize the day and do a bit of that cleaning that is required but detested. We weeded through our closets, did laundry, hung up the pile of clothes that builds during the week (or in my class, the last month), and built piles of clothes to donate. We also discovered that we had literally dozens of unused, unneeded hangers, many of them from the dry cleaners. We gathered them to throw out. We felt very productive in our purge.


In the meantime, our squirrel friend made his way around to the front of our house and positioned himself on our front windowsill.


Amidst all of our bedroom dissection Soba slept on our couch, curled up in his pile of blankets.

We took a bit of a break. My friend Sonja was in town from Alabama and we had brunch at Busboys in Poets and then visited our old stomping grounds: the National Portrait Gallery.

Mark meanwhile took care of a few errands and came home to let the dog out. Soba is not so fond of the snow. He always looks so betrayed when we send him out in precipitation.

Mark and I met back up and did a bunch of Christmas shopping. Can't speak too much to that right now...stay tuned.

We also did some much needed grocery shopping and bought ingredients for mom's White Chili (see recipe below), a Michigan favorite. [Sidenote: You can also read my brother's rendition of this tasty recipe on his blog.] While it baked Mark fixed us some crackers and cheese. Isn't he adorable with his new haircut?

The evening was spent wrapping gifts and doing laundry. Mark and I are now in bed watching Night in the Museum: Battle at the Smithsonian---I love these movies!!!


Wooohoo December!!!!

(PS I should mention that our camera has been replaced. In September I dropped it in a puddle---we thought that if given enough time to dry out it might work again. But, after almost three months of no camera we broke down and bought another one....so glad we did! More photos to come!!!)

WHITE CHILI

1 tablespoon salad oil

1 medium-sized onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

1 teaspoon ground cumin

2 whole large chicken breasts, skinned, boned, and cut into 1-inch chunks

1 15- to 19-ounce can white kidney beans (cannellini), drained

1 15 ½- to 19-ounce can garbanzo beans, drained

1 12-ounce can white corn, drained

2 4-ounce cans chopped green chilis

2 chicken bouillon cubes or envelopes

Hot pepper sauce

Parsley for garnish

¼ pound Monterey Jack cheese, shredded (1 cup)

1. Preheat oven to 350° F. In small saucepan over medium heat, in hot salad oil, cook onion, garlic, and cumin until onion is tender.

2. In 2 1/2 –quart casserole, combine onion mixture with chicken, white kidney beans, garbanzo beans, corn, green chilis, bouillon, and 1 ½ cups water. Cover casserole and bake 50 to 60 minutes until chicken is tender.

3. To serve, stir hot pepper sauce into chili to taste. Garnish with parsley. Serve with shredded cheese.

Makes 8 main-dish servings.