Christmas Gifts

Need some ideas for Christmas? All the money made from this esty shop goes to our Adoption Agency, AAI. http://www.etsy.com/shop/socialbug69. Just thought I'd share. She has some really cute pieces!

Mini Thunder Storm

We actually had a thunder storm this afternoon along with a little hail. I couldn't believe my ears! Well, I'm not sure if it was a thunder storm, but we did have thunder and that doesn't happen often here!

Tonight

So today after work, I opted to go to the library instead of the gym! :o) I checked out the Martha Stewart's Cookies cookbook (even more counter productive since I skipped the gym). My friend Alexis has been baking cookies from this book and they have been super tasty! I can't wait to try the carrot cake cookies! mmmm... I'll let you know how they go.

Now we are watching It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown. A classic!

Dinner

Tonight I made an easy dinner even easier! We had a Bell Pepper Slow-Cooker Pasta (recipe to follow). It's an extremely easy recipe and I made it easier by buying frozen bell peppers from Trader Joe's. Here's the recipe:

3 bell peppers (any color), chopped into 1-inch pieces
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cans (14.4 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
2 cans (6 oz) tomato paste
2 Tbsp minced garlic
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tsp dried basil
2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 pound cooked pasta
shredded Parmesan cheese

Combine all ingredients except pasta and cheese in a slow-cooker. Cover; cook on low for 7 hours or high for 3 hours. Mix in pasta and serve with cheese on top. And, dinner is ready!

So tonight, I substituted one bag of frozen bell peppers and one bag of roasted bell peppers & onions for the 3 bell peppers and onions. I actually only used one can of the paste because I miss read the recipe...oops! I just opened both bags of peppers dumped them in my slow cooker and added the other ingredients and cooked on low for about 5 hours and it was bubbly and delish! I think it needs salt, but that's just my opinion. Waymond thinks it could be spicier.

I got the original recipe and the idea for using frozen bell peppers from Stacy at work. And, I'm not sure what magazine she got it from.

Enjoy!

Funnies

These were on my calendar at work while I was away. Just thought I'd share.

We're back!

We made it back to Tacoma! I think we'll be going to bed early tonight for sure. The time change just kills us when we are in the Midwest. And we didn't get a whole lot of sleep. Although we did get to hang out with most of our friends.

I didn't do very well on the picture department while we were in Kansas City! But we did snap a few photos while we were at Tea Drops last night.





















Waymond's favorite drink, frozen bubble chai tea from Tea Drops! mmmm so delish.
















Look how happy he looks drinking it! He almost got another one for the road just because he knew he wouldn't have another for awhile!
















Congrats to Carlos & Sara on their marriage! We had such a great time hanging out with them.
















We stayed with our friend's Tommy & Stephanie (Destiny their daughter is on the end).

KC

We made it to Kansas City for our weekend of weddings! Our first wedding is tonight and then we'll have another Saturday night. And, Waymond will be preaching Sunday at Grace Church. In between Waymond is making sure we are eating plenty of BBQ!

We've been able to see a few friends in the short hours we've been here which has been great. It's a bit strange since its been three years since we've been back. Everything is familiar, but still changed. Slowly highways and streets are coming back to memory.

I'll post some picture when I dig the camera out of the bag!

Apparently you can drive and talk and text in Missouri. Every other driver is texting - seems strange!

Pear Butter

The Metropolitan Market had an amazing deal on local organic pears so we tried our hand at pear butter. I had some this morning on waffles and it's pretty tasty! We used a recipe from a cookbook my Mom got me. We tweaked it a bit and used Cardamom instead of Nutmeg.

Our tomatoes

Our tomato plants are finally started getting red tomatoes! We cut up one our heirloom ones to have with fish tacos and they are amazingly sweet and tasty! They are less acidic.

Here's a nice pic of some of our heirlooms and early girls. The heirlooms are less "perfect" looking, but super tasty!

The Best

Just wanted to share with everyone the BEST tea ever! We were at Cutter's Point for coffee and I wanted Chai. They serve Oregon Chai, which I'm not a huge fan of. I asked what kind of hot tea they had and the barista suggested this Coconut Chai. She added some steamed milk and yum!!

I think I've had a cup of this everyday since I got it.