Cabbage and Beef Stew

Our cabbage was ready to harvest so I researched recipes for cabbage.  I found this recipe for Cabbage and Beef Stew on Pioneer Woman's Tasty Kitchen.  (I took a ton of super cute pictures of us out in the garden today, but unfortunately none of them saved to my memory card.  Talk about a super bummed out moment when I realized that I had lost them all.)  Anyhow, I tried to snap a few pics of us preparing the stew. 

Ingredients: olive oil, 2 beef bouillon cubes, ground beef, 24 oz. tomato sauce (I accidentally used tomato paste), 1 can drained corn, 1 can drained kidney beans, 1 tbsp cumin, salt & pepper (not picture).

More ingredients: 3 carrots, 1/2 yellow onion, & 3 garlic cloves.

Don't forget the cabbage!

Ground the beef with the onions in the olive oil.  Add garlic, carrots, cumin, and a little salt and pepper.  Then stir in at least 2 cups of water, tomato sauce, and bouillon cubes. Stir. Bring to boil add chopped cabbage, corn, and beans. Reduce heat and simmer for at least an hour.

Then serve.  It was delish (even with the accidental use of tomato paste instead of sauce.)  We should have leftovers for days.

Some Days are Just Boring

Especially when you've been home alone for half the week. Jason's been coaching a soccer tournament in Brenham since Thursday. Work blew up for me this week, so at least I didn't have much time to focus on missing him. He'll be home shortly though - thank goodness!

Today I did some work (brought my work laptop home), ran errands (post office & Petsmart), went to Hobby Lobby and admired all of the Spring home decorations (seriously soooo cute, but I'm waiting until they go on sale before I buy anything), picked up Freebirds for lunch (oh the College Station flashbacks), and started on my taxes. Whooo. Sounds exciting, huh? I'm thinking we're going for sushi for dinner when Jason gets home. :)

Since I was bored, I took a few random pics I thought you might enjoy.

Some of the cute Spring decorations at Hobby Lobby.

We hung some curtains in our dining room recently. I think it helped make the area a bit cozier.

My vintage camera display. My parents finally made me move them from their house, so they are now at home in our living/ dining room.

Even Radar looks bored today. That's a brand new toy - he shouldn't be looking so bored!

~~Warning!!! Graphic topic and image ahead! Just stop here if you're squeamish!~~

Have I mentioned that I was bitten by a spider this week? Tuesday night. Sitting on the couch. Twice. Once on my left index finger and once on my right forearm. By Wednesday at noon, my finger had swelled to the point of inhibiting mobility. I went to the doctor and she prescribed steroids. The bite on my right arm just looked like a hive, about the size of a dime. Thursday the bite on my right arm had swelled to about 4 in. in diameter and was warm to the touch. Called the doctor and she put me on antibiotics. Friday, the swelling on my finger had reduced, but the swelling on my arm kept spreading. Coworkers and my husband were freaking. They had me convinced amputation was the only solution. Luckily, my mom told me that I had the same reaction to a spider bite on my foot when I was younger. And well, I still have both feet.

This is my arm as of 5:45 this evening. It actually feels and looks a lot better today. Doesn't look as angry anymore. I'm hoping for a full recovery. Pretty crazy though, huh?

Guess Who's Moving into the Neighborhood

Walmart.

Yep, that's right. Rumor has it that Walmart is 30 days out from purchasing the old Oshman's property at Hwy. 45 & Wayside.

Residents are anxiously awaiting confirmation from the city regarding the development, but unless someone has a lot of time on their hands to develop a faux site plan, it looks pretty official to me.

Looking at the site plan that was circulated through our neighborhood, it appears that the store will have access from both the Hwy. 45 feeder road and Wayside. The intersection is already horrific at times, so I can't imagine adding more traffic to the area.

And boy do I look forward to all of the plastic bags blowing into my yard! I thought the leaves were bad enough.

More details to come, but I'm thinking that our Civic Club will be very proactive when it comes to approaching the developer about the proposed plans.

A Beautiful Day in the Yard

It was sunny and in the mid-60's here in Houston today. Absolutely beautiful. We had already planned to do yard work, and it ended up being great weather to be outside. This morning, when Jason was coaching his soccer kiddos, I went by Buchanan's to pick up a few replacement herbs (our basil didn't last the freeze and our cilantro had bolted) and a few new veggies/ berries to replace our broccoli and cauliflower that we recently harvested. I also got an annual to put out front.

Pretty flowers I picked for the front porch.

All settled into their new pot.

Flowers in their new home on the front porch. I sure do hope they survive. My porch flowers always seem to have the least chance of survival because I forget to water them.

Yard all cleaned up. I also added mulch to my flower pots on the left of the house.

Here are the new herbs/ veggies/ berries. Clockwise from left - basil, cilantro, buttercrunch lettuce, black seeded simpson lettuce, red sails lettuce, and two sequoia strawberries.

Our little lettuces planted.

The lettuces look so tiny among the other plants! I can't believe our swiss chard is still thriving. We've had the swiss chard grilled, sauteed, & in quiche. I guess I'll need to find some more recipes.

The classic Radar in the backyard photo.

I also bought a blackberry plant, but we haven't decided where it is going quite yet. I can't wait for strawberries and blackberries. I really do hope they do well this spring.

Melanie's Baby Shower

In preparation for the babino coming in April, a lovely shower was thrown for my sister-in-law on Saturday.

The hostesses, friends of Melanie's from college, did a wonderful job with the food and decorations.

The cake was delicious.

The flowers were beautiful.

Mmmm.... deviled eggs. One of my favorites.

I so did not do well at this game.

It's a boy!

Baby boy got some great presents. Lots of cute blue and green outfits. Carseat & pack-and-play. A fun play-mat. Oh, and he'll start off with a great book collection.

The future grandmas and great aunts had fun gabbing and taking pictures of all of the cute presents. It was really a good time!

The Man Cave

Remember how I've accused Jason of taking over the sunroom with his turntable and records? Well, there's one other area of the house he's taken over. But I'm okay with him taking over this area.

Jason, the garage is all yours, honey.

Jason and our friend Steve have become obsessed with playing darts. It started with casual playing at the Flying Saucer. Then they started looking into dart leagues.

They each have gotten themselves nice dart sets. Steve got a dart board in November and Jason got one for Christmas. On nicer days, they usually play darts over at Steve's since it is out on the back patio. Our dart board offers a nice alternative on rainy days since it is in the garage.

There are two areas of the house I would ask you not to judge us by: the garage and the water heater closet. Scratch that - three areas. The attic is pretty nasty as well... eek! We're not quite sure why prior owners decided to try to insulate the garage without finishing it out. Also, on rainy days, water comes in under the garage door. It's not really up to par with the rest of the house. But, it functions great as a dart room.

Jason even set up our old turntable. Right above the weed killer and next to where we store our Christmas tree.

An old patio set provides seating for observers. Don't mind all of the trash bags. They are full of leaves we are saving for our summer compost.

But more importantly, the boys have a place to play in peace.

Cauliflower, Broccoli, & Peas Oh My!

Before the expected freeze this week, we wanted to harvest some of the vegetables in our garden. Our cauliflower, broccoli, and some peas were just right for the picking.

Here's the cauliflower. Don't mind the purple color. Apparently, that's a side effect of getting too much sun. We could have pinned the leaves over it to keep it white. Purple or white - it's delicious either way.

Here's one of the two broccoli heads. We have a third beginning to grow as well.

Our peas are taller than our fence.

I only harvested six pods, but there were a ton more and a bunch of little ones popping up as well.

The harvested broccoli and cauliflower.

We chopped them up and washed them.

We steamed half of them for a chicken stir fry and left the rest fresh to take to work and share with co-workers.

Also, the snap peas were absolutely great! I can't wait to have a full serving of just them. Yum!