I’m Here!

Hi everyone! and Happy New Year! I can’t believe it’s now 2010. It doesn’t seem like all the hype over Y2K was 10 years ago.

 

I guess I should have thought about my last post and what people might have assumed – I’m so sorry!!!

 

I’m fine – feeling fine, doing fine.

Thursday morning was just crazy with us trying to get out of the house and on the road to Nick’s parents’ house for the weekend, and then I never ended up even turning on my computer this weekend.

I had 5 days of family, friends, food, laughter, Sherlock Holmes, cooking, biscuits, puppies, shopping, and football, and it was great.

I didn’t check my email, read blogs, or do anything else on the computer for 5 days – and I missed blogging so much!

But it was nice to give my eyes and hands and brain a break from staring at the computer screen.

 

But I’m back  :)  I am having trouble figuring out a good schedule with our new puppy as she has pretty much taken over our lives. I’m sure it will work itself out, so just bare with me!

IMG_0990

I guess she’s worth all the work, lost sleep, and puppy bite marks on my hands, right?  ;)

——-

Nick and I came back home from his parents’ house yesterday since Nick had to do sound at church today. Since we got home at 6 pm and it was about 18 degrees and windy, I did not go back out for groceries last night.

I dug through the cabinets and found one of my TJ’s Indian meal packets and made that with some added kidney beans with some brown rice + green beans.

IMG_1004

For not really having a dinner plan, this was great! And really filling with the beans and chickpeas.

IMG_1005

I also mixed up my sponge with my sourdough starter last night so I could make us some sourdough pancakes this morning.

IMG_1007 

IMG_1008

These sourdough pancakes turned out really good – I used all whole wheat flour, too. They’re so fluffy! Of course, I broke the cardinal rule of sourdough and mixed mine this morning with a metal spoon, so I’ve started another batch.

IMG_1009

I went to church with Nick this morning and helped set up + make coffee and almost had my own “I Love Lucy” moment.

I was filling up the pitcher with water to make the next pot of coffee, and they had these big water bottles from Kroger that sit on the table and have a pour spout. Well, I put the pitcher under the spout and went to open it, and the entire cap came off! I had water just pouring out of the bottle onto the floor, my pants, my hands, everywhere! I started screaming Nick’s name and one of my friends came over with him to help me….I’m such a mess + klutz!

Thankfully, I got it cleaned up and the coffee made and everything else went fine :)

Nick and I went out to a new Mexican restaurant after church and then ran some errands and got groceries before coming home today to clean house.

Along with a new year, Winter is officially in full force here. It never hit over 25 degrees, and was only 14 degrees on the way to church this morning. The 30 mph winds don’t help either – my hands and lips are so chapped! It has just been freezing cold the past few days.

Once we got home today and put the groceries away, I started working on laundry and we cleaned and played with Maggie, and then I got started on dinner.

IMG_1010

I made my first ever strata!

IMG_1011

I had half a loaf of a whole grain french bread that needed to be used tonight or tossed.

IMG_1013

  • 1/2 loaf whole grain bread, diced
  • 1 cup diced ham
  • 1/2 green pepper, diced
  • 1/2 cup roasted red pepper, diced
  • 1/2 red onion, diced
  • 2 scallions
  • 4 eggs
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup shredded cheese
  • salt
  • pepper
  • garlic
  • parsley

I just cubed the bread and set that aside while the veggies cooked. I sauteed the onion, peppers, and scallions with a little olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic.

Once those were softened, I added in the diced ham and took it off the heat. Then mixed the veggie/ham mixture with the diced bread in my baking dish.

I beat the eggs with the milk and some salt and pepper, and poured it over the bread mixture, mixing the eggs into the bread + veggies. Once the egg mix kind of coated all the bread mix, I sprinkled the cheese on top and baked at 375 for about 30 minutes.

IMG_1012

Nick and I both loved this! He had seconds + is taking the last piece with him for lunch tomorrow  :)  I’m definitely going to be making stratas more often, for sure. It was so easy.

I’m so, so sorry for just disappearing for a few days! It was a totally unplanned break from blogging, but once 2 days passed…it was just really hard to turn my computer on.

I enjoyed a little vacation from technology, but missed everyone so much! Thank for everyone who emailed me, texted me, or called to make sure I was okay  :) I appreciate it so much!

Regular blogging is resuming – and the next few weeks should be extra fun ;) I have a couple of things up my sleeve.

 

19 comments

  1. Getting away for that long sounds so serene and peaceful. I need to just rip the internet jack from the wall, haha.
    So jealous you’ve seen sherlock holmes! It looks awesome

  2. happy new year! good luck with the puppy schedule… my friend just got a puppy as well and is struggling with the house breaking. she has to go back to work tomorrow, so that should make things interesting as well!

  3. Glad to see you are back, i missed the blog, take care of Maggie and Nick, it was great to see you all over Christmas

    Love you lots
    Dad

  4. Glad you’re back and that you enjoyed 5 days of R & R!

  5. Yay, glad you are back, and ok!!

    http://eatventures.wordpress.com

  6. I was wondering if you were ok!! I’m glad you took a break! You deserved it!

  7. I have missed puppy pictures, I will admit ;)

    Welcome back, and happy new year! I bet a good few days of being completely “unplugged” was awesome! We should all probably do that every now and then.

    I’ve never thought of making something like strata, it looks delicious though!

  8. I would be a WRECK without my computer for 5 days!

  9. welcome back!!! it is good to take a technology break time to time. But good to see you back and writing girl. That strata looks so awesome too. The sourdough pancakes look incredible! How did you make those? Id love to know! Have a great night!!

  10. glad you’re back! i know what you mean about needing a break from technology…right there with ya. i do that when i travel cross country…sometimes. since i’m here, commenting on your blog. :)

  11. What an adorable puppy :)

  12. Welcome back sweety!!
    And Happy New YEAR!!!!
    Glad to read that everything is fine!!
    Have a wonderful start into this new year!

  13. Happy New Year, Bran! Glad to see back to bloggind! Sometimes we just need to take a break.

  14. Welcome back! Good for you for taking a bloggy break. :-) Did you like Sherlock Holmes? I thought it was great!

  15. Glad you are back and had a wonderful little break! :)

    The strata sounds great! This is one of the best ways to use leftover old bread.

    Good luck getting the pup on a good routine. I know it can be rough at first, but no worries, you will find what works best and it will get sooooo much easier. Promise! :)

  16. So glad to hear everything is fine on your end! I hope you and Nick have a blessed 2010 :-)

  17. I was worried about you! Glad you are ok!

  18. I love this strata! So good, om nom nom nom…

  19. I would have gone nuts without the computer for that long. But my family drives me nuts :-)

    I think your post just gave me an idea for dinner. We were going to have just chicken burgers but I might make stratta instead. Thanks :-)

Comments are closed.