Thanksgiving, Part Deux

Yesterday, we went over to my in-laws' house for Thanksgiving with Michael's family. His aunt, uncle, grandfather, cousins, sisters, parents... quite a crowd. And of course, our beloved nephew, Brendan. It was fun.

The best part when we do this every year is that we don't have turkey again--instead, we eat something else fabulous. My mother-in-law made beef and cabbage in the crockpot, as well as a Mexican lasagna (which was delish!). Plus, we had all of the snacks and desserts we could bear.

I was so. full. Worse than actual Thanksgiving!

Several pics from the day:

Ticklish!

Cousins--Michael and his two sisters, and two of his cousins.

Brendan in his new hat. Too damn cute.

Cristina and me, together again (see first Thanksgiving post)--haha

Ladies! Only Michael's mom is missing.

Brendan with his "woobie," and his favorite book (Brown Bear)

Uncle Michael reading Brendan's book to him. Love it.

Looking at Uncle Michael. Awww.

Aside from not wanting to go back to work and normal life, I really do need this weekend to end so I can go back to eating normally. My lord.

And this is only the beginning of the holiday eating! Yikes.

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Chicken Noodle Soup

After the feast that was yesterday's Thanksgiving dinner (and dessert), we wanted to make something simple and "light" for dinner tonight. We have another day of eating scheduled for tomorrow (technically our Thanksgiving celebration with Michael's family), so we needed to take it easy.

Chicken noodle soup was the perfect solution. Another very simple recipe, and it's tasty, too. We always make a big pot so that we have leftovers to bring for lunches at work, and to have for dinner again.

Chicken Noodle Soup

Ingredients:
- 16-20 cups water
- 12-15 chicken bouillon cubes
- 1 lb. boneless, skinless, chicken breasts, cut into tenders
- 1 large onion, diced
- 1/2 - 3/4 lb. small pasta (we used Barilla's Ditalini)
- 1 lb. frozen mixed vegetables
- Extra vegetables, if desired (we added additional carrots and peas)

Directions:
1. Start off with 16 cups of water. Bring to a boil. Add 12 bouillon cubes and dissolve. Add diced onion, and raw chicken breasts. Cook for 20-25 minutes.

2. Remove chicken breast pieces from pot. Allow to cool. Shred chicken.

3. In pot, add frozen mixed veggies and any additional vegetables. Return shredded chicken to pot. Bring broth back to a boil.

4. Add pasta. Cook according to time on package. At this point, judge how much broth you have. If some of it has cooked off, or you don't have enough broth for your pasta/chicken/veggies, add up to 4 additional cups of water and up to 3 additional bouillon cubes.

5. Once pasta is cooked, reduce heat to low. Simmer until ready to eat. Serve hot with toast or sandwiches.

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Happy Thanksgiving

It's hard to believe that the holiday season is officially upon us. I hope everyone had a very Happy Thanksgiving. We had a lot to be thankful for this year.

First off, because it is most recent--we are thankful for Tessa's negative biopsy results. Her lymph nodes are still swollen, and we are already a week into the new antibiotics (which she'll be on for a total of one month). It's still a little bit worrisome, and it's a complete mystery at this point. We're going to continue with the antibiotics, and we're also going to switch her food. We've been feeding her Iams, but my mom has a friend who is sort of a "Dog Whisperer" and he recommended that we switch her to something of better quality to promote better overall health. We're praying that the lymph nodes return to normal soon. But regardless, we are thankful that it is not cancer.

We are obviously also thankful for the health of family and friends. We're thankful that we have such wonderful family and friends whom we love and enjoy spending time with. We're thankful for each other, for our marriage, for the beautiful wedding and honeymoon we had this year.

We're thankful for our home, even though it may be smaller than we would like sometimes. We dream of something bigger, but know enough to appreciate the fact that we have one at all. It is comfortable, it is warm, and we can afford it. We know that not everyone can say that.

We are thankful for our jobs. Again, we may complain about them sometimes, we may sometimes feel as if we're not compensated enough, but we are still grateful for the paychecks that come biweekly. In these economic times, we don't know for sure that we'll have that from week to week--so for now, and for as long as it lasts (hopefully forever!), we are thankful.

I am also thankful for the little things in life. Comfy pajamas, fuzzy socks, HDTV (haha!), good food, Christmas decorations, wine, Tessa snuggles, a full gas tank, sunny days, a short commute.

I hope that you are as equally thankful. Even if times aren't good, there are always things to be thankful for.

Anyway.... We started off the holiday with two hours at the gym. They run a special event with two hours of aerobics and access to the otherwise closed cardio and weight equipment if you donate non-perishable food for a local shelter. My aerobics instructor kicked our asses, then I spent a little bit of time on the elliptical while Michael hit the weight room.

After that, we relaxed around home for a bit, then went to Michael's parents' house for a bit to visit. We're having our real "Thanksgiving" with them on Saturday when Michael's sister and some of their other family come to visit, so today our focus was spending time with my family.

We stopped by home to pick up Tessa, then went to my mom's house. We got there around 3:30 p.m. to hang out and help with the remaining preparations. People started arriving around 4:30-5:00 p.m., and it was a whirlwind from there. Dinner, dessert... lots of eating. :) Overall, it was a great Thanksgiving.

With that, I leave you with some photos from the day:

Do you like Tessa's Thanksgiving sweater? It's a turtleneck, and it is too damn cute.

About to taste test my "famous" (self-proclaimed) mashed potatoes.

My mom's boyfriend carving the turkey.

Marie and I, preparing the rolls for the table.

My brothers and me.

Kara and Marie

Michael and me

Happy Thanksgiving!!

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Easy Apple Pie

This afternoon, I went to my mom's to get a jumpstart on the pies for Thanksgiving. We decided to make two apple, two pumpkin, and two chocolate pudding pies this year. I took on the task of the apple pies, which are the most work--so many apples to peel, core, and slice!

I used Dorie's All-American, All-Delicious Apple Pie recipe as the basis for what I did, but I didn't follow it exactly. First of all, I was definitely not going to spend the time and effort making homemade crust, so I used a package of Pillsbury refrigerated pie crust. Secondly, I didn't have every ingredient that she included, so I left those out. My version of the recipe is below (and a lot easier, I think!).


Easy Apple Pie
(Adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan)

Ingredients:
- 1 package Pillsbury Refrigerated Pie Crust ("Unroll & Fill")
- 4 lbs. (about 6 very large) apples -- peeled, cored, and sliced
- 3/4 cup sugar
- grated zest of one lemon
- 2 tbsp. quick-cooking tapioca
- 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp. salt

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In large bowl, combine apples, sugar, lemon zest, tapioca, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Toss apples to coat evenly. Let sit for 5 minutes, until juices start to gather in the bottom of the bowl.

2. Unroll one pie crust and press it into a 9" pie pan (preferably glass).

3. Fill pie crust with apples. Spread evenly.

4. Unroll second pie crust over the top of the apples. With fingers, press together the edges of the bottom and top pie crusts. Form a pattern with your fingers, or use a fork to press ridges into the edges. Cut slits in the top pie crust to allow steam to escape.

5. Bake for 30 minutes at 425 degrees. Lower heat to 375 degrees, and continue baking for 30-45 more minutes. After about 45 minutes in the oven, if the top crust looks as if it is browning too quickly (especially the edges), cover the pie loosely with a foil tent.

6. Serve warm or at room temperature.

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Cupcake Bites

Yesterday, one of my lovely internet friends, Crafty Bitch, mentioned that she was planning to make Cupcake Bites. Once clicking through to the link, I realized I had been to that blog before, and had admired the cake bites... I had just completely forgotten about them.

But I did want to give them a try, and since I had nothing planned for tonight, I figured--what better way to start off the 5-day weekend? (Besides wine, of course.)

If you haven't already, definitely take the time to check out all of the stuff that Bakerella has done, though. She's really talented, and she was even asked to be on Martha Stewart. Impressive, to say the least.

Aren't they cute?

Anyway, I went to Michael's, bought a candy mold and some candy melts, baked a cake, and gave these a try. They were time consuming, but not as bad as I was thinking they would be.

As far as how they taste though... don't expect to eat more than one! They are really sweet. We're bring them to a party tonight, and I hope people like them.

I didn't take pics throughout the process, so if you want to make your own, the best thing to do would be to go and browse Bakerella's blog.

Working with the melted chocolate wasn't as tough as I thought it might be. I bought the little squeeze bottles, which were helpful for getting the chocolate for the bottom part of the "cupcake" into the mold.

I did get a little bit frustrated sometimes because my fingers are kind of clumsy... I kept accidentally sticking my fingers into the wet chocolate tops when trying to set them down on a cookie sheet to dry.

I was looking to make mine with Thanksgiving colors, so instead of M&Ms, I used Reese's Pieces for the garnish on the top--they are the perfect colors! :)

Here you can see the inside of my cupcake bites. I used french vanilla cake and vanilla frosting. The consistency seems a little bit off compared to Bakerella's... not really sure where (or if) I went wrong.

They are definitely tasty, but just much more rich than I imagined. Much more like candy than like cake, for sure.

No more work for the rest of the week. I am so excited for the break. I am going to be doing a lot of baking over the next few days, so stay tuned for more photos and a few recipes.

Enjoy your holiday weekend!

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Treasure Island

Well, we finally booked our hotel for our Vegas trip in February. We found a hell of a deal a while back, but hadn't yet made reservations. As it turned out, that was a good thing. Because that hell of a deal? I ended up finding an even better one.

We're going to be staying at Treasure Island. I've heard mixed reviews about it, because let's face it--it is your typically cheesy Vegas hotel (A pirate theme? C'mon).

The difference, however, is that all of the rooms have been recently renovated (all new beds!), the location on the strip is very nice, and the rates are still reasonable. And that's our kind of deal. The recent reviews on Trip Advisor have all been really favorable, which is encouraging.

We're "bunking" with friends. As of now, there is a total of eight of us going on the trip, and last night, Lynsay and I booked two rooms to share between the eight of us. We figure we won't be spending a lot of time in the rooms, so we might as well put four people in each room to save us some money.

So... for the three nights? We're paying just under $100 each. The total for each room was $396. For a "nice" hotel in Vegas! We are really excited.

We have airfare and hotel completely taken care of. Now we just have to worry about the fun!

I've heard good things about the spa. ;)

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Meeting Ryanne

Yesterday, I made the 2.5 hour drive to visit my friend Bethany and meet her new daughter, Ryanne.

When I arrived, I immediately got to baby holding. She is so cute and is still such a little peanut. I was happy she hasn't grown too much yet, even though she is already almost a month old. I wanted to see her in all of her newborn glory.

In case I haven't made it clear already, I love babies. Love them. Have loved them ever since I was a small child. And I especially love the newborn variety.

After hanging out for a little while, we packed up the baby and Bethany's two stepkids and went out to lunch. Ryanne's little snowsuit was adorable, so I had to torture her with "the flash" quite a few times.

I was snuggling the baby as much as possible--unless I was eating, she was eating, or we were driving. :) She gave me some good awake time, too, so I got to see her pretty little blue eyes.

At lunch, she sat quietly in her car seat while we ate.

She had on the cutest little jean jumper from Old Navy. I loved her little hat, too.

Ashton (5), and Loganne (6)... Bethany's two stepkids. They're beautiful kids, and they were well behaved at lunch, too. Ashton is a spitting image of his father. It's actually a bit scary.

Ryanne and her beautiful mama.

Unfortunately, shortly after I took this photo, I had to pack up quickly and start to head home because the weather had turned for the worse outside. I had to drive for quite a while (probably about 45 minutes to an hour) in an all-out snow storm. Not fun. But it was worth it to see Bethany and the baby, and the roads did get better eventually.

I can't wait to see them again! Too bad it sounds like it probably won't happen until after Christmas.

Had to leave a snuggly baby, but came home to a snuggly dog. All is right in the world. :)

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After

You saw the before.

Here is the after:

Hell yes. It's about time. Really, until now, we had no idea what we were missing.

We have been researching and looking at HDTVs for several weeks. Our plans to buy were put on a serious hold when everything went down with Tessa's health, but now that she is fine we decided to start to move forward again. After a lot more research and a lot of shopping, we made the plunge on Thursday night and brought it home. My first Thursday night lineup was amazing in HD. :)

Then, last night, we brought the new stand home and put that together. Got everything hooked up again and organized... and the upgrade gets a serious thumbs up from us.

We love it. Merry Christmas to us!

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Five months

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Before

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Winter

It's too early for this. I'm not ready.


(Photos taken en route to work this morning.)

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MNF

Although I will be forever scarred by last year's Monday Night Football experience, I still allowed myself to get a little excited about the Bills playing the Browns last night.

It quickly became clear, however, that the Bills--who began the season with a 5-1 start, but have since fallen to 5-4--would soon be falling to 5-5.

Three interceptions thrown by Edwards in the very first quarter = bad news. I'm convinced that he only sucks now that I bought his jersey.

Somehow, the Bills managed to hold on and actually took the lead in the 4th quarter, with only two minutes to go. Unfortunately, I had a bad feeling that this would not be ending well. As predicted, the Browns marched down the field to quickly score a field goal, taking the lead.

And instead of answering with a good drive of their own to get into comfortable field goal range, the Bills coaches played too conservatively and put all of their confidence into the kicker to seal the deal with a 46-yard field goal into the strong wind.

Stupid, I tell you.

And "WIDE RIGHT" came back to curse the Bills once again. Our pretty reliable kicker hooked it to the right of the goal post and the game was over. Another loss.

Annoying. Disappointing. But typical.

On a more positive note, we had most excellent Monday Night Football food:

Baked Tostitos + leftover chili + melted cheddar cheese = MNF chili cheese nachos. Yum.

As for the Buffalo Bills... there's always next year (as Bills fans have been saying for the last 10 years). The bastards.

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Simple Beef Chili

I am on the hunt. For what?

The perfect beef chili. We have a recipe that we've been making for years, but I've decided recently that I'm not all that impressed with it. And so the search begins.

Last week, we decided to start this search with "Simple Beef Chili" from Cook's Illustrated. After trying it, we quickly came to the conclusion that we are still looking. So why am I sharing this recipe?

Well, because, quite frankly... it's good. It's just not the chili we're looking for.

But for you, it very well may be the "perfect" chili. There are so many varieties of chili, so many versions, and tastes in chili are so different. Maybe this is the recipe you've been looking for. Who knows unless you try it?

Maybe, like us, you're up for the journey. Follow us as we experiment a little bit this winter. Stay tuned... we'll be trying another chili recipe soon. Until then, give this one a shot and let me know what you think.

Simple Beef Chili
(Modified slightly from Cook's Illustrated)

Ingredients:
- 2 tbsp. vegetable oil or corn oil
- 2 medium onions, chopped fine (about 2 cups)
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped
- 6 medium cloves garlic, minced or pressed through garlic press (about 2 tablespoons)
- 2 lbs. 90 percent lean ground beef
- 2 (15-ounce) cans red beans or kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes, with juice
- 1 can (28 ounces) tomato puree
- table salt
- black pepper
- 1/4 cup chili powder
- 1 tbsp. ground cumin
- 2 tsp. ground coriander
- 1 tsp. red pepper flakes
- 1 tsp. dried oregano
- 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

Directions:
1. Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add the beef, breaking up pieces with spoon. Season with salt and pepper. Cook until no longer pink, and just beginning to brown.

2. Transfer beef to crockpot. Add beans, tomatoes, tomato puree, and 1/2 tsp. salt. Add onions, bell pepper, garlic and spices. Stir well to combine. Cook on low setting for 5-6 hours. Adjust seasoning with additional salt if desired.

Serve over rice or noodles. Topping options: cheese, green onions, avocado, sour cream, etc.

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Pumpkin Cookies

Last night, we had my family over for dinner and dessert. Dinner and dessert for 8 people meant making a lot of food. And I couldn't just make one dessert, of course. I had to make two.

I knew right off the bat that I wanted to make Apple Spice Cookie Bars again. You know, just because they're that fabulous and I needed an excuse to have them again. For the second dessert, though, I had many ideas. Another apple something? Chocolate?

The decision came down to two things: what is seasonal, and what is easy. Between making the cookie bars, making the meat sauce, assembling the lasagna (2 pans of it!), preparing the garlic bread, and cleaning the house, I knew we weren't going to have a whole lot of extra time. These pumpkin cookies were the perfect solution.

I originally saw these over at Delicious Melicious, but the recipe came from allrecipes.com. They came out really wonderfully. They are sweet and spicy, with the perfect pumpkin flavor. The consistency is soft and cake-like. Sure to be a hit with any pumpkin-loving family. :)

Iced Pumpkin Cookies
(Source: Allrecipes.com)

Ingredients:
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp. ground cloves
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 cup (8 tbsp.) butter, softened
- 1 1/2 cups white sugar
- 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract

- 2 cups confectioners' sugar
- 3 tbsp. milk
- 1 tbsp. melted butter
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, and salt; set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, cream together the 1/2 cup of butter and white sugar. Add pumpkin, egg, and 1 teaspoon vanilla to butter mixture, and beat until creamy. Mix in dry ingredients. Drop on cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls; flatten slightly.

3. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool cookies, then drizzle glaze with fork.

To Make Glaze: Combine confectioners' sugar, milk, 1 tablespoon melted butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add milk as needed, to achieve drizzling consistency.

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Celebrated

Last night, we had champagne. Tessa had a cannoli (a dog one, of course).

It's still so hard to believe!

Now, I'm off to grocery shop and spend the rest of the day in the kitchen, preparing for my family coming over tonight. I'm making two desserts, and then we're preparing lasagna. Yum!

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Do you believe in miracles?

We do. And you should.

As it turns out, we have had a bit of a miracle occur in our lives.

This morning, I received the dreaded phone call from our vet's office, with the dreaded results from Tessa's biopsy last Friday. My heart sank and I physically braced myself. And then the doctor said:

"It's good news."

I immediately turned into a shaking, blubbering, crying mess, and said, "What?! It's good news??"

Amazingly, incredibly, fantastically, unbelievably...

Tessa does not have cancer.

The doctor explained that the biopsy came back negative. The pathologist said that the results show severely inflamed lymph nodes, but it is NOT CANCER. Instead, it is some harmless inflammatory disease/disorder that will go away on its own.

Can you believe it? We don't even have to do anything. It will just go away with time.

I probably asked at least twice if they were sure, or whether this could still be lymphoma, just in a developmental stage. She said no, there is nothing to worry about. Nothing to worry about.

After that, I don't know that I heard anything at all. I just cried. And cried.

She's going to be OK.

I hung up the phone and found myself just so completely overwhelmed by it all. Not only the emotion of it, but by what this means for us.

This changes everything.

In the same way that the bad news of the initial diagnosis knocked us off of our feet and seemingly changed our lives forever, the good news has picked us back up and changed our lives forever.

I had started to try to come to terms with the fact that most likely, Tessa wouldn't be around next spring or summer. She wouldn't be around when we have kids. I wondered if we would still be able to take our planned trip to Vegas in February. We had discussions about what we might be willing to spend on her potential treatment, and what we would give up in order to pay for it.

And now, magically, that has all disappeared. A huge weight off of our shoulders.

The last couple of weeks have been pretty hellish. And I am so grateful that we are now in the light at the end of the tunnel, and things aren't at all what we originally thought.

As for Tess, she is our little miracle girl. When I picked up that phone today, I never expected to hear good news. I won't lie, I had allowed myself to hope just a little that maybe, just maybe it wasn't cancer. The doctors seemed almost positive that it was lymphoma, and so I believed them, but I still found myself thinking, "But what if it's not?"

And lo and behold... it's not.

I think the doctors are even surprised. They thought it was cancer. They told us it was, and they watched us break down and cry over it. She did say they weren't 100%, but they did seem sure. Sure enough, anyway.

Our next step is to take Tess into the vet on Monday for her appointment to remove her sutures. At that point, the doctor is going to check out her lymph nodes, show us where to periodically check for her other ones (to make sure they don't swell), and tell us more about this condition that she has. To be honest, I don't even know/remember the name of it. She said it on the phone, but at that moment, I was so deliriously happy that I just didn't care. The name was long and complicated, and the only important information for me was IT'S NOT CANCER. (I honestly don't think I can say that enough times. IT'S NOT CANCER!!)

But that's Monday. First things first: A celebration.

Tonight, we are busting out the bottle of champagne that has been sitting in the back of our fridge. Up until this morning, we didn't think we would have anything to celebrate for a really long time. But we do.

And tomorrow night? We are having my family over for dinner. We made the plans and asked them before we knew the results. We haven't been together in a while and I figured it'd be a good opportunity for everyone to get to spend time with and visit Tess. Now, it's going to turn into an all out celebration.

I can't thank everybody enough. All of our family, friends, readers, and strangers who sent us well wishes. Who hoped for us, or prayed for us. I told Michael and my mom this morning that I feel horrible for worrying everybody. I feel bad that everyone thought our dog had cancer. Everyone was so nice, so sympathetic, so sad for us. And it turned out to be nothing. So for that, I am sorry. And I thank you.

She's a little dog, but she means a lot to us--clearly.

Even now that we have a positive outcome, I can say that I hate that we had to go through all of this. All of the worry, the sorrow, the not-knowing, the depression. I wouldn't wish it on anybody else. The last three weeks sucked; they really did.

But I can also see it for what it was: a lesson. A lesson in love, hope, strength, and courage.

A lesson that life is precious. Life is good.

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Yeah. What he said.

Most times, I think Keith Olbermann is a whack job. My husband likes him and watches him pretty regularly, and I always tell him that being a Democrat and watching Keith Olbermann is like being a Republican and watching Bill O'Reilly.

Not very objective.

And as much as I love to listen to people with whom I agree, I find that most of the time, I prefer to get my news from other channels. I mean, come on. I love me some Bill Maher and Jon Stewart, but that's not where I get my news.

But this? With this, Olbermann has won me over.

I could go on and on about my feelings about Prop 8 in California, and the issue of gay marriage throughout the United States, but today, I'm just going to go with: Yeah. What he said.

Because he's right on. And it gives me goosebumps.

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Bobo

Tessa loves Bobos.

First, she loved to tear them apart. We had several Bobos that didn't make it too long in our house. Well, some of them still hang around, but they are only shells of their former selves. Their stuffing? Completely removed by one destructive dachshund named Tessa.

But then came Halloween Bobo, purchased in September 2007. For some reason, he was different, and changed Tessa's perspective about these little stuffed creatures. Halloween Bobo became Tessa's best friend.

In June, my dad gave Tess another, smaller Bobo, and she's since befriended her, too.

Bobos? Tessa's best friends. Her favorite things to play with. Frequently, she even brings them to bed with her at night. Adorable, really.

So, up until last night, Tessa had two Bobos. Big Bobo (aka Halloween Bobo), and Little Bobo.

Then came what has affectionately been dubbed "Giant Bobo."

Last night, my friend Lesley stopped over to bring Tessa a few special "get well" gifts. First, she got to enjoy a couple of gourmet dog treats (which looked good enough for us to eat), and then she was presented with the newest member of her Bobo family.

This thing is hilarious. It's pretty much as big as Tess, and she loves it. Immediately got to work chewing on it, growling at it, and doing her best to run/jump with it in her mouth.

Then, when she grew tired, she got to work snuggling with it, too.

So cute. Thanks again, Lesley. :)

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