Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Angie's Black Bean Soup



I am not a cook.  Nor do I claim to be one.  I don't enjoy cooking, so I don't do it often.  But every now and then I will make something.  And when that something turns out really well, then I will post it here.  Take note that this is maybe the second or third recipe I've posted, ha ha.

I made black bean soup about a month ago.   I adapted it from probably three different recipes.  I kind of lost track.  It is vegetarian, of course.  

Angie's Black Bean Soup (yep, I call it mine cuz I made it my own!)
Serves:  at least 6 (hefty portions)

-1.5 tbsp canola oil
-1 medium onion, diced
-6 cloves garlic
-2 medium red bell peppers, seeded and diced
-4 carrots, diced
-3 ribs celery, thinly sliced
-1 tbsp. chili powder
-1/2 tsp. cumin
-6 cups veggie broth
-4 15-oz. cans black beans, drained and rinsed
-cilantro for garnish

Warm oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.  Add onion, garlic, bell pepper, carrots and celery; cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 12 minutes.  Add chili powder and cumin.  Saute for 3 minutes.

Stir in broth and beans, then bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to low and simmer for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Remove 2-3 cups of soup; puree in a blender (this thickens up the soup).  Stir pureed soup back into pot and cook 5 minutes longer.  

Garnish with cilantro and enjoy!

Sunday, April 27, 2014

Target Deal of the Week

There's some good deals in the Target ad this week people!!!

Deal #1:
Planters Nuts.  




Now, nuts in general are expensive.  And we eat a lot of them.  I tend to stick to the Market Pantry brand, because they are usually cheaper.  However, in the Target ad today, you could get a $5.00 Target gift card for buying three cans of Planters Nuts (a variety to choose from) that were on sale for $5.79 each.  I bought three, totaling $17.37.  I had a coupon for $2.00 off two cans of Planters Nuts, bringing it down to $15.37.  Then I got 5% off for using my 5% off card for refilling 5 prescriptions at the Target pharmacy (I get one of these every couple of months).  Then I got another 5% off for using my Target Red Debit Card, bringing it down to $13.84.  THEN, I got 10% off because Planters were in the Cartwheel app, bringing it down to $12.46.  And then they gave me a $5.00 gift card, bringing it down to $7.46.  So I essentially paid $2.48 per can.  Excellent!  That's more than 50% savings.

Deal #2 was a nice surprise.  Charmin Toilet Paper was on my list.  It was on sale for $12.99, and you got a free 3 pack of Puffs tissues with purchase.  I was thinking the free item was the little purse packs, but nope.  It was the big boxes:


Totally free!  One box for me to take to work, one box for my husband to take to work, and one box for my mother-in-law.  These weren't on my list because I already have a couple of spare boxes of tissue in the cabinet, but they were completely free!

Deal #3 was mostly a coupon deal.  A few Sundays ago, there was a coupon for $4.00 off any Almay cosmetic.  $4 off!!  That's a lot in the coupon world.  

I got this tube of mascara.  



Regular price is $4.99.  Minus the $4.00 coupon, bringing it down to .99.  Minus my 5% off prescription card, minus 5% for using my Target Debit Card, I paid a grand total of .89.  Big spender, huh?

There were some other good deals going on too that I took advantage of, stocking up on things we need (like Up & Up brand makeup remover wipes....buy 3, get one free.  This is the brand I use exclusively too!).

I think I solely keep Target in business.  And I love that I can help out my mother-in-law a little.  Usually once every couple of weeks I get to hand her a small Target bag full of free and/or heavily discounted goodies.  :)

Four

On Thursday we celebrated our fourth anniversary.  It was so nice!

We opened up our presents in the morning before work.  My husband got me a very pretty necklace.  I had casually mentioned a few months ago to him that I was looking for a necklace that I could wear every day.  We were at Jared a few months back getting my ring cleaned and I said ‘oooh just like this one, only from somewhere else and way cheaper’.  Ha ha.  Well, he went back later on that day, bought me the necklace, and hid it for months!  I got him a leather bag for work and a watch winder.  He outdoes me every year!

Unfortunately, neither one of us were able to take the day off of work.  I had a conference to attend downtown and he had court.  

Bummer.  I wrote him a love note though while I was at my conference.  I even remembered how to fold a note, just like in middle school!

After work we went to Bravo for dinner.  It was delicious!  I got the eggplant Parmesan which was the best I’ve had.  We split tiramisu for dessert which was just awful (sarcasm).  Soooo delicious! 
After we got home we took the dogs out for an extended play session.  We bought Watson a new tennis ball toy, which he has fallen in love with.  He carries it all over the house.  And all over outside!  He likes to keep it in his sight.  It’s very cute.  It’s Kong brand (on sale at Target!) so hopefully it will last a while.

It was a lovely anniversary!  The four years have flown by.  I guess that means we’re having fun!!  :)

Friday, April 18, 2014

Target Deal of the (Last) Week

Busy busy busy.  That’s what I’ve been.  A new dog is a lot of work!  He’s doing great though and we love him to pieces.
Yes, his tongue is blue.  We think he has a bit of Shar-Pei in him.  it just makes him more special than he already is!  Also....when I took this picture above, I said to him "smile pretty for Marita!"  Marita is the woman who worked with him at the kennel and rescue organization.  I send her pictures pretty regularly.  Anyways, he had been playing with the green frog (background) and I told him to come here and 'sit' and then smile pretty.  He listened!  Such a good boy.  :)
I wanted to share my great Target deal of the week (actually, it was the deal of LAST week…I’m behind).
Suave (the large bottles) were on sale for $2.79 each.  If you bought three of them, you got a $5.00 Target gift card.  I also had a $1.00 off coupon to use.  So I bought three, for a total of $8.37.  Minus my $1.00 coupon = $7.37.  Minus my 5% off for using my Target Red Card = $7.00.  And then they gave me a $5.00 gift card.  So I got three large bottles of Suave for a total of $2.00, or .67 each.  Amazing!

 Suave is definitely not my brand of choice, but my husband doesn’t mind it and I’ll use it too occasionally.  And it makes great bubble bath.  .67 for a big bottle of bubble bath is a pretty good deal!!

Monday, April 7, 2014

Watson

We weren’t sure how long we would wait before we got another dog after Max died.  We just told ourselves that we would get one when we feel ready.  Obviously, we can not and will never be able to replace Maximus.  However, we still had a large void in our lives (and the house) after he died.  We missed the presence of a large dog in the house.

So we did some thinking and some research (well, my husband did research) and we decided we wanted a lab.  At first we thought we wanted a puppy.  But the more we thought about it, the more we decided that a puppy is a LOT of work.  So then we made the decision to adopt a 1-2 year old lab.  A BLACK lab.  Did you know that black labs (and black dogs in general) have the highest euthanasia rate out of any other dog?  People tend to want the yellow and chocolate labs instead of the black ones.  There's actually a 'black dog awareness day'.  Let me tell you…the black ones are just as cute!!!

Meet Watson:


We seen him on the website of the lab rescue organization we wanted to support, and read his profile.  It said he was good with small dogs and cats.  Perfect for our household!  We looked at other dogs, but we kept coming back to his page.  So on Friday we made an appointment with the lab rescue place and went to meet him.  He was so excited.  He played, showed us his skills (he knows ‘sit’ ‘shake’ ‘up’ ‘down’ and ‘no’).  He played, ran through an obstacle course, fetched and generally impressed us (show off).  He’s a very smart dog.  We decided right then and there that we wanted him.  The lab rescue place set up a home visit at our house on Saturday and she came by with Watson at 1:30.  I had asked the day before what they particularly look for at home visits and she said mostly outside issues…gates and fences that can be unlocked, pushed through, jumped over, etc.  So Friday night we put an additional latch on our gate out back, just in case.  Watson would never be left back there unattended, but still.  We didn’t want that to be the reason why we didn’t get our dog.

We also went out on Friday and got an extra large kennel for him.  We put it in front of our front door that we NEVER use.  That way it’s out of the way and he has his own little area.  We bought toys.  A baby gate.  Bedding for his kennel.  A new pillow bed for the living room.  It was an expensive Friday. 

Watson and his person came on Saturday at 1:30.  We did the initial introduction between he and Hannah outside by the tennis court.   It went pretty much how we expected it to.  Hannah is a Chihuahua.  Enough said. She is very possessive of us and she likes her space.  She LOVED Max, but Max was already in the house when she came along.  Now the tables have turned.  So she showed her teeth a few times at Watson, but within a few minutes, she was trotting just a few feet away from him and they were sniffing the same things, etc.  




So she’ll get used to him.  Thankfully he’s pretty mellow around her and doesn’t antagonize her at all.  He’s more afraid of Howie, our orange kitty.  Howie hated Max and now Howie hates Watson.  Oh well.  They keep their distance. The other two cats haven’t even flinched with Watson around.

All went well, we ‘passed’ the home visit, signed the papers and Vader was ours.  Oh yeah, his name was Vader. We changed it to Watson.  He wasn’t even answering to Vader, so I didn’t feel bad about changing it.  He’s already answering to Watson, so that’s good.  How did we come up with Watson?  We were sitting in the living room and just tossing names out there and then we started thinking of TV shows and characters.  "Sherlock!" "Holmes!" "Watson!".  And Watson was the one.  We had it down between 'Sam' and 'Watson', but we thought Sam was too popular.  And I didn't want to call him 'Sammy' which I knew I would.  So I call him Watson.  And Wigglebutt (when his tail wags his whole back end wiggles, it's adorable).

After we got him Saturday the first thing we did was take him to Long Leash on Life.  They have a pet wash service there that is very reasonable.  Basically, you do the labor, but they supply everything else and do the cleanup.  He wasn’t too fond of it, but he cooperated.  He did NOT like the blow dryer though (it was loud).  So we (and I say ‘we’, but I actually mean my husband because I just stood back and let him do all the work) just let him shake himself out and wiped him down really good with towels.  I have a feeling we’ll be frequenting the Pet Wash with Watson at least once a month.




I felt kind of bad taking him to get a bath in a strange place right away, but it was necessary.  He was dusty. 

But look how pretty and shiny he turned out:





Then we just hung out at home and let him get more familiar with his new home.  He’s a good eater and a very good sleeper.  He didn’t make a peep in his kennel all night.  Amazing! 

He’s just a sweet dog.  I think he’s happy to be in a home again.  His previous owners had another kid or something and gave him up.  Grrrrr….I hate people.  You don’t want to get me started.  But you know what? Their loss is our gain.

We do have some work to do with him though.  He is a leash puller, so we’re working on that right now.  And we can’t really let him out of our sight yet at home.  He tried lifting his leg a couple of times on various things INSIDE the house (we stopped him).  It’s a marking thing.  And like the woman that’s been working with him said, he knows how to be a house dog, he just needs to remember.  We think he had been in the shelter for a little over a month.  Dogs can easily forget, but they can also easily remember.  

Overall he's doing really well.  I think he likes us.


Oh, and just because we are 'those' Chihuahua people, here's what we did to our poor Hannah once we seen Star Wars gear at Petco:


We left it on just long enough to get the picture, ha ha.  Poor thing.  She's had a rough couple of days.

Thursday, April 3, 2014

My Seeester and The Piano Guys and a Really Cool Bracelet

I've blogged about my sister before and I'm about to do it again.

I love her so much.  She is amazing.  She knows me inside and out.  We have the same tastes in books, movies, and most music as well.  Aren't we cute?



Today, this package came in the mail to me from her.  Did I mention how thoughtful she is and she gives the BEST gifts!!?!  I was giddy as soon as I seen it.  I knew it would be good, because they always are!!!

A peek:


Eeeeee!!!


The very first thing I opened was from my nephew Micah.  He made me a super cool bracelet in the Seattle Seahawks colors!!!


I love it!!!

Next, I opened this:


Agreed.  I love it!!!  And it's true.  :)

Next, I opened this:


A few weeks ago we got to talking about music, and she mentioned a group called The Piano Guys.  She told me to check them out.  So I did.  Via You Tube.  And then I proceeded to pretty much watch everything they had ever done.  They are a group of four (there are 5 on the back of the CD, but there are 4 on their website....yes, I've looked at their website) who play the piano and cello.  Occasionally they will throw another instrument in, but for the most part it is strictly the piano and cello.  Which happen to be my two favorite instruments (especially the cello).  And they do covers.  They cover everything from Elvis to One Republic to Adele to Coldplay and more.  

They.  Are.  Amazing!!!

And I was just about to buy the CD, and she sent it to me today.  She knew!!!!

Here's my favorite song on the CD (A Thousand Years, a song by Christina Perri):


And I am not a One Direction fan, but this video of their cover of What Makes You Beautiful is simply amazing.  I mean, they are playing the INSIDE of the piano people.



I love this cover as well, it's Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's rendition of Somewhere Over the Rainbow.  It reminds me of our honeymoon when we were sailing in Hawaii somewhere between the islands of Maui and La'nai. (the song was playing on the tiny radio on the boat)


And this one 'Cello Wars' is awesomely good and funny:



Check them out.  They are amazing.

And so is my seeeeester!!!!!!




20 Years of Reading

20 years.  TWENTY YEARS OF READING. Okay, so technically this isn’t true.  I’ve been reading since I was 5.  So (here’s my age)…I’ve been re...