As far as I know, our internet is back up and running like normal. Let’s hope it stays that way, at least until I get this post up.
This morning was a little rushed as Nick had to go early to church to do sound and I was going along to help set up, too.
I had some oatmeal with almost the last of my Perk up your Trek Mix from TJs. All of the chocolate covered espresso beans are officially gone :( I’m definitely going to buy this one when I get to TJs again!
1/2 cup oatmeal, 1 cup water, pinch salt
1/2 banana, sliced
pinch of cinnamon sugar
TJ’s mix
I took coffee with me to church and ended up spilling about 1/4 of it down my sweater because my thermos was leaking…but the rest of it got saved, and there are no stains on my sweater :)
We had to run by Petsmart on the way home to pick up more treats for Maggie and I had a few more groceries to pick up, so lunch ended up being a little late.
It was delicious, though!
Nick made some bbq chicken, while I made some “baked beans” and heated up some corn.
We also had some of my homemade sourdough bread with Kerrygold butter – yum. Sour from the bread, salty from the butter…it was perfect.
Nick and I just finished cleaning the house, and I’ve got laundry working until around 6:45.
We’re meeting some friends for dinner at The Palisades! They’ve never been, and we love it, so it should be a good time. Plus, they have live local music on Sunday nights, so it should be a lot of fun.
Today was so much fun – we finally got to take Maggie outside for more than just a few minutes.
The weather has just been so cold since we got her and today’s temperatures were finally in the high 40s/low 50s.
Once I got back from the farmer’s market + grocery store, we ate quick lunches so we could get out to Glen Alton Farm.
I made myself a sandwich with Nature’s Pride Honey Wheat bread, romaine, hard boiled egg, and avocado with a little dijon mustard – and some salt and pepper Popchips on the side :)
Hard boiled egg + avocado is such a great combination! I can’t wait to have it again.
And then we headed out to Glen Alton!
Nick and I first went to visit this property last winter, and it’s just beautiful. It used to be owned by a business man/banker in town, but is now part of the Jefferson National Forest. There are still 2 houses on the property, 2 barns, and tons of little trails to walk.
Maggie got SO dirty, and she loved every minute of it. She was jumping in puddles, racing through the snow, and eating as much deer poop as she could find :\ Which was a lot.
I know – it’s gross. But she’s a puppy…and she seems to like it for some weird reason.
But then she threw it up and didn’t touch it again before we left!
There were a few other people out there, but we were never near them so it was almost as if we had the place to ourselves.
Every time we come out here, Nick and I say that we wished we lived here. It’s just so quiet and peaceful and beautiful.
Maggie also loves sticks. She tries to pick some up that are 3 times her size, and she’s always so proud when she finds one.
But she finds a new one every 3 seconds.
Basically, she wore herself out :)
As soon as we got home, we gave her a bath and she has been sleeping ever since.
It was a fun day!
After we got her settled down, I made us some dinner.
I made my own version of an Apricot Chicken Recipe I saw on Rachael Ray a few days ago.
I used a turkey loin and cut it up in to bite sized pieces before browning it in a pan. After it was cooked, I added in a can of apricots (drained and diced), a tablespoon or so of balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, and some fresh parsley.
We had that over some of the whole grain rice-a-roni mix and some broccoli.
And dessert was easy.
Ever had “poor man’s turtles”?
Just take pretzels and put 1 Rolo on top of each one. Pop them in the oven like that at 350 for about 5 minutes.
Take out and put a nut on top of the rolo, smushing the candy down. Sweet, salty, perfect.
Let cool, then eat! We each had 2 with pecans and 2 with walnuts.
*As I was writing this, I realized our internet was down – and our cable channels aren’t coming in – so it may be late!*
We are ready for the weekend and decided to start it off right :)
I took my starter out of the fridge last night, added another cup of flour and warm water, and let it sit overnight.
Then this morning, I took one cup of the starter mix to make pancake batter, and poured the leftover starter back in my clean jar for next time.
See how foamy?
Nick cooked bacon and made coffee this morning while I worked on the pancakes.
Cast iron pans make the BEST pancakes. Try it.
These pancakes were so good and sour! Definitely better than the first batch of pancakes – mostly because the starter has had more time to “sour up”.
Nick made some coffee in our big french press today, using the Sumatra coffee we bought at Mill Mountain last night. It’s hard to beat fresh roasted, fresh ground, and french pressed coffee.
Big news in this house: I drank my coffee black today! Not really by choice…we were out of milk, cream, half n half, anything I could add to it. And honestly, this coffee was so good, it didn’t need anything.
I had 2 sourdough pancakes (which are also almost all whole wheat!) with a little maple syrup, 1 slice of bacon, and a clementine.
Next up:
Shower.
Go get groceries.
Back home for a fun afternoon with Maggie :) We’re finally having good weather today, and we’re going to take advantage of it.
Skype is awesome! Nick and I talked to my little sister and her husband (who are in Spain) for almost 3 hours tonight! It’s so cool to be able to talk to someone that far away – for free.
It was fun to catch up with them. They just took a 2 week trip over Christmas break to see London, Oxford, Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Dublin so we got to hear all their funny travel stories AND talk about our upcoming trip to visit them in February – I can’t wait!
Dinner was late tonight since we were talking with them, but Nick put some of the leftover strata in the oven to heat it up. I’m glad we had leftovers waiting for tonight – that made dinner super easy and let us talk with them a bit more.
The strata reheated beautifully in the oven. It kept the bread a little bit crisp, but the inside and the pieces with most of the egg/milk were still soft.
And I ended up having a donut this afternoon, right before I left work.
Nope, I didn’t need it – wasn’t even really hungry – but I took it as a sign that I should have it :) My coworker came around asking if anyone wanted the last one, and the flavor left was toasted coconut – one of my favorite donuts from Carol Lees.
So I had it. And every sugary bite was wonderful! Not the best afternoon snack, but I only have a donut every few months or so and I’m not worried about it. And considering my office has donuts every Friday and they’re from this awesome place in town, I’m surprised I don’t eat them more often.
Plus, it was fresh + local. That has to count for something, right?
Can’t wait for tomorrow morning! We have new coffee that we picked up from our local shop today and my sourdough is on the counter…just waiting to be made into pancakes ;)
