Hearty Italian Soup with Parmesan-Pepper Cornbread Biscotti

Happy Fall Days To Ya!


I know we are enjoying every single minute before the Winter Blast. It kind of gets me into the cooking mood and even soup sounds good!


I made this for dinner a couple of nights ago and it was easy and most delicious!  The recipe is from the October issue of Southern Living. I know this may jinx me, but I have never had a recipe fail from this magazine.  I've had a few near misses, though, including this one, but it turned out really fine.  I won't print the recipe here because you can just google the recipe title and it comes right up.  I will, however, post a few pictures just to whet your appetite!

I used regular Eckrich Smoked Sausage and began browning them in long links as the recipe suggested. Then thought, Hey! I'll blog this!...and started fooling around, trying to take some "stunning" pictures from all angles to give you an idea of my cooking expertise....

...and burned 'em!  

Dang!  Did I say "cooking expertise?" Anyway, so I cut off the burniness and tried the browning process once again...

I diced the onion, added garlic, broth, spinach leaves, diced tomatoes and Cannellini beans...

...then let it simmer while I made the cornbread.


About 40 minutes later: Voila!  It was very good!  I was lucky :)

Our weekend with MMBG (My Magnificent Baby Granddaughter) was excellent.  My husband is an irritatingly natural "Baby Whisperer".  Everytime my little sweetheart cried with horrible gas pains, he picked her up and she cooed with relief.  It was disgusting!  Not that she was relieved, but that Grampa was so efficient!  Naw...I'm not jealous...well....really not alot. :}  He was so good with her. There IS a spiritual connection.  It's evident.  He will play a big part in her life of love.  So will I!  I am sure!  I'm laughing at myself.  My husband is a wonder, he really is.  I'm glad MMBG has realized it so early.  She's s.m.a.r.t.  Here I am being all grandparenty again.


Incidentally, I'm actually not the only one cooking some of Southern Living's recipes.  Here is the delicious looking Pumpkin-Pecan Cheesecake from the November cover that a good friend of mine made.  If she wasn't 658 miles away, I would have lobbied for a slice!  I'll give you a moment to salivate over this one....

Well, that's about all I have for ya' today, kiddies.  Lots of food. Think I'll go downstairs and see if Mammy is cooking up something right now!  Dreaming again....
   

Six Hundred and Fifty-eight Miles...I need a 'copter!

Hello My Wonderful Friends and Random Readers!


I hope you are having an enchanting Fall with lots of Pumpkin Spiced Lattes (lowfat milk, no whip, please), sweater days, beautiful trees and completed projects!  I've had all of the above but the last one!  Oh how I wish I was finished with those blasted stairs!  I love reading lots of decorating websites with all of their inspiring ideas, but toward the end of a project, it becomes just that~a project!  


But I have a good excuse!  I know, I'm using the grandbaby as my excuse, but it's true!  I got to hold her and rock her every day for 10 days!  My projects at home were taking a serious back seat to staring at MMGB's (My Magnificent Grand Baby's) sweet little face!  Now I'm home and puullleeezze!  Somebody push my "reset" button!  Back to reality!  Get that sandpaper and paintbrush and finish this thing!  I've been home two weeks now!!


I really did have all good intentions.  I cleaned the house and went through all the mail.  I got all of the laundry caught up and filled the fridge again.  My sweet daughter-in-law was sending me the cutest little pictures almost every other day. Yes, every~other~day.  Ask my friends who get no text messages from me anymore, just a baby picture.  I decided to just count the days leading up to Christmas and stay busy with my many projects. She won't change that much... 


Then, my husband called. 


I didn't hear anything he said after the part about his upcoming 4 day weekend and good driving weather between here and Oklahoma.


This "Tara" is definitely waiting until "Tomorrow"!  I'm packin'! :)

Big Snow Day!

So far we have around 7 inches, give or take 5 depending on where you are in Denver. The higher mountains are measuring in feet! It is cold, but not a "January" cold.  I can take this!  My pansies were covered and my aspens droopy, but I knocked off as much of the heavy, wet stuff as I could and they all still looked happy underneath!  They were saying, "Naw...this ain't cold, this is just Colorado's white rain."

 After the flowers all go away and the leaves fall off, God sends winter sunsets over the snow-covered peaks that you pull off the side of the road for.  I've about burnt out my hazard lights with these pull-offs!  My camera has it's own slot in my purse for quick draws! All part of soaking in the daily beauty of this majestic place.

Baby Girl~BG~is 2 weeks old today.  She resides 658 miles away from Denver and I need not tell you how F.A.R. that is in Granddaughter Miles. The heart can't calculate it!  But pictures are getting us by for awhile and the way she smelled and the felt when I held her is still fresh. I'm wondering just how long I can go before desperately needing my next fix!

OK, my stairs are painted and the next step is to choose the stair runner and have it installed.  After spending several days looking at decorating sites featuring stairwells, I have decided on a general color and border similar to these:

Tan Runner with Border   or
Dark Runner with Design  or
Solid Tan Plush

Below are my bare nekked stairs right now:

I also have seen a few options re: the banisters.  I do not love these handrails as they are! No, never have, never will!  After I get the runner installed I will decide on either painting them black, leaving the spindles white - or - painting them white, with the spindles black. Some of the links above have some of these options.  What do you think? I think I will like them better either way!

Although my home is far from a "Tara", the more I plan, scheme, paint and stain, it becomes more and more MY HAVEN...and a place for my husband to come home to at night and exhale...


til Tomorrow!!

Six Hundred and Fifty-eight Miles to Grammy's House

I'm writing on my notepad while on treadmill.  I'm only going 2.5 mph with 5 incline.  Just wanted to get the thrusters fired this morning!  Oh, and there was that morning hotel bfast...could have had lowfat yogurt and granola, but why? Baby Girl's arrival is scheduled for noon tomorrow. Family is all aflitter, and daddy and mommy are just READY.  How do you capitalize a capital?  RREEAADDYY!

Found the above entry on my phone this evening.  I had no idea how the next few days would dizzily spin by me.  BG changes daily.  Twenty-four hours is a huge amount of time for a newborn.  She's going to be completing algorithms by Thursday.  Well they do change remarkably fast. ....

.....I hope grandparenting from a distance is actually possible.

Our granddaughter said hello to the world at 12:29 in the afternoon on Wednesday the 12th! A "grander" day has never been had, I'm sure of it. I have been told I would be in love at first sight....it was true!  I have new respect for the word ~doting~.  I am now a doter.  In one day, I have become an intense doter!  I have also seen how God equips new parents.  I have witnessed our wonderful son and daughter-in-law fall in love and become instantly attuned to what makes our little wonderment happy and content.  How did they know? The tucking of the rolled up receiving blanket under her ears, letting her pull her left arm out of her swaddle, the whispers that quiet her to a slumber.  All in one 24 hour day?  Are they Genius?  As their mother and MIL, I would have to say "yes", but as an observer...God is in the Room...His love is complete and consuming, intelligent and tender.  I can "see" Him.  He flows through a brand new family. 

Primer Day for my Stair Painting Project!

Hello Boys and Girls,


I was on a mission today.  Writing this blog has spurred me on to  hopes....dreams....PRIMER!  I not only accomplished that but was able to get one coat of actual paint on the stairs too.  However, not without some stumbling blocks.


The prep taping and Kilz2 primer paint went really quick.  I hopped out to the garage with glee to retrieve my gallon of Ben Moore paint I have glanced over at for 2 years....opened it to find a can of weird, oily stuff. Yyyek..

  
No problem!! I'll just stir :))...

The stick is STUCK. Dang! And things were going so well~~

So one new gallon of paint later....and the first coat of White Dove semi-gloss is applied. Here we are!

A few tips about painting stair risers that I have learned so far:
~make sure the painter's tape is really stuck tight on the stained steps
~start at the top of the stairs and work down
~load the brush lightly and use more coats to cover
~use a low VOC paint - it doesn't smell
~and hammer the heck around the lid of your can to prevent air from ruining your paint!


~oh yes......ibuprofen :}


Tomorrow, the final coat goes on and I'll be ready to attack the banisters.  Hang on, baby granddaughter!  Your due date is not until Wednesday.  Grammy needs to sand and paint her banisters! ;)

The Painting Shall Begin!

Hello Friends~


I have begun the stairwell makeover..inch by inch!  Two Novembers ago, I had my wood floors sanded and stained including the tops of each stair.  About 6 months ago, I borrowed a sander from my handy-girl friend and sanded the risers.  TODAY I have begun the job filling old nail holes and TOMORROW is Primer Day!  Like I wait all summer to do this and I will be opening my windows to a breezy 50 degree day~~Where's my fleece hoodie!?  The finished product I have in mind is to paint the stair risers with Benjamin Moore White Dove, leave the steps stained Walnut, find a carpet runner that blends everything together including the downstairs area rugs, and paint the banisters black to match the front door!  Amazingly ambitious for moi, I assure you.


Here is my before picture...I hope you don't have to wait two more Octobers for the finished product!

You'll notice the advance preparation I have done papering ONE step!  But remember today was spackle the nail holes day? I will be fresh as a daisy tomorrow morning after 3 cups of Mega-Bold! (My decade in Louisiana had a lasting effect on my coffee drinking...) I promise to prep my beautifully stained steps with care and get at least one coat of primer on!!  Oh dear, I promised...better get some sleep!!
Till Tomorrow~