Good morning Nothing new here. I'm doing some chores then heading up to visit DW and have lunch with her. No chance she is coming home today so I'll do the 2 visits, home in the middle thing. I found a recipe for coconut curry butternut soup that I'm making to bring her for dinner. It's hard to find stuff she can eat at the hospital and after 8 days she is getting sick of the black bean burgers. I've been bringing her dinner from the nearby Co-op but thought some homemade soup would help.

It's cold and rainy here after a week of super sticky. Time to dig out the fleece vests!

Happy Sunday, Chickies. I must be up real early if I'm up before the Eastern Chickies. The coffee is ready...

Angie, I'm looking forward to your chili recipe. Hubby LOVES chili.

We had a lovely Saturday night. We went to the thrift stores and found Auston 7 pants, several shirts, and an Under Armour jacket for about $45. He should be good till next summer. He better not grow too much!

We will head for our Sunday trip to the flea market this morning. Local cantaloupes are gone. We still have watermelon and squash. The turnip and mustard greens should be showing up soon. Yum!

Are you doing anything fun today?

Cyndi, I assume DWs a vegetarian like you. Does she have other special diet requirements? You can't beat soup on a cold day.

Good morning, Chickies. I was up, but came downstairs to find Jake taking apart the silverware drawer. Don't ask.

Cyndi, that soup recipe sounds yummy and I hope Julie enjoys it. What other types of foods can she handle right now? I'll have to go through my recipe file to see if I can help. I was going to make stuffed peppers last night, but instead made a chard, chickpea and veggie sausage soup since the weather seemed to call for it.

Chelby, you made out big-time at the thrift stores! I stopped by a thrift store on a whim on Friday and got myself 6 tops for $8, and one of them still had the tags on it. You can't beat those places for great deals on barely used clothing!

It's downright cold here this morning, and I'm thinking it's time to finally switch around the closets. I have to bake two apple cakes today, too, but that's about all I have planned for the day. We stayed home and got more yard work done before it started raining yesterday, and it's looking like more rain is threatening for today.

Well, I'd better go see what I can come up with for breakfast, as Jake is giving me "that look."

I held strong last night at my neighbor's get-together. But, boy, was it hard. Midway I popped home for a jacket (and to take my beans out of the crockpot) and stayed long enough to eat leftover soup. Social event are the bane of my dieting existence. Fortunately, no more this week until I head out Friday for my weekend with fellow bloggers. Travel AND social eating - eek! October is filled with landmines for me. Trying out another new recipe tonight. It is so much easier to make meals with the picky teen gone!

Good morning! Finally a relaxing morning off...I don't work until 3 today.

The scale is sure taking it's time creeping back down. I'm still one up from my ticker but heading in the right direction. Today's plan is trip to dog park, and a little laundry before working 3-midnight. But first...coffee and CBS Sunday Morning

Cyndi - that soup sounds fantastic, I am sure it will revive Julie's spirits and she'll love knowing you made it with love, that's always better than food from a store!
Chelby - way to go at the thrift store! That is awesome! The headquarters for Target is here in Mpls, and there is a "Salvation Army Target" as we call it here. It is a thrift store but ALL of the items are brand new surplus and samples from Target. It is really great! Sounds like Auston is set!
Cottage - Apple cakes?! Sound delish, what are they for?
Karen - Way to go on the social event last night! Great work, and I bet you are proud of yourself today.

Alright...the recipe for Black Bean Sweet Potato Chili is courtesy of Eating Well magazine/website.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium-large sweet potato, peeled and diced
1 large onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons chili powder
4 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground chipotle chile (see Note)
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups water
2 15-ounce cans black beans, rinsed
1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes
4 teaspoons lime juice
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Preparation

Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add sweet potato and onion and cook, stirring often, until the onion is beginning to soften, about 4 minutes. Add garlic, chili powder, cumin, chipotle and salt and cook, stirring constantly, for 30 seconds. Add water and bring to a simmer. Cover, reduce heat to maintain a gentle simmer and cook until the sweet potato is tender, 10 to 12 minutes.
Add beans, tomatoes and lime juice; increase heat to high and return to a simmer, stirring often. Reduce heat and simmer until slightly reduced, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in cilantro.

Tips & Notes

Make Ahead Tip: Cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months.

Note: Chipotle peppers are dried, smoked jalapeņo peppers. Ground chipotle chile pepper can be found in the spice section of most supermarkets or online at penzeys.com.

Nutrition

Per serving: 307 calories; 8 g fat ( 1 g sat , 5 g mono ); 0 mg cholesterol; 51 g carbohydrates; 0 g added sugars; 12 g protein; 14 g fiber; 494 mg sodium; 947 mg potassium.

Nutrition Bonus: Vitamin A (213% daily value), Vitamin C (48% dv), Iron (32% dv), Folate (29% dv), Potassium (27% dv), Calcium (16% dv).

Good Morning

Hello everyone! It's fallish here, but will warm nicely later. We have not had a freeze on the Western slope...it nipped the Eastern small garden but fortunately I had everything out before we left a week ago. Yesterday's exercise was unloading a large horse trailer full of pumpkins for our church youth group...funny there weren't many kids unloading...1300 pumpkins, Kirk and I guessed 5000 pounds. I was very dirty. Today Bing and Kirk both got sheared. It works better before we all wake up fully. Potluck at church..then I'll finish up the case of organic peaches I got at the farmers market yesterday.

Cyndi, I'm glad you're close enough to come home during the day. I'm sure Julie will appreciate the homemade dinner.

jenne, I hope you are feeling better today!

Karen, great job at the social gathering. Having some soup at home sure helped, too!

Chelby, yay for great clothing finds!

Linda, hmmm....what Was Jake doing in the silverware drawer? If it was Kirk I'd get out a thermometer and take his temp!

Angie, yum! Thanks for the recipe!

Twynn, I'll have to look up that slot canyon! You will have such a great time! Which lodge are you staying at? Flying into Phoenix, I assume. My DH has crossed Grand Canyon twice and he was amazed at these super runners. They start early with headlamps and run all the way across and back...so he says.

Ruth, towards Ottawa!

Good morning,

It is blustering 42 right now. I have not put the heat on yet as I hate that first fire up smell in the house I like to do it when no one is home. Maybe I will turn on when we leave for church to take the nip out of the air.

Cyndi- Hugs and prayers headed your way.

Ruth- sounds like you had interesting evening lined up last night

Twynn- your vacation sounds like fun. Yeah to coming home to a clean house.

Chebly- congratulations on losing 10 lbs, you are back on track.

Karen- way to go resisting food at the gathering

Debbie have fun today with the peaches

Angie that sweet potato chili sounds good

Cottage good deal on the thrift stores and Chelby too. We went to one yesterday but had no luck but a couple weeks ago I did find one pair of pants and two tops. Love getting top name brands for bargain basement prices.

Today we are off to church and then going to Eckerts Farm to pick some apples and pumpkins, this a yearly tradition we do, though the two oldest don't come every year any more.

Have a great day

Angie, that chili recipes sounds delicious! Why don't you post it in the Phase II Soups and Stews so it doesn't get lost in here.

Hi everyone,

Rainy day here. We got a lot off the list accomplished for this weekend, including getting that last room unpacked! Well, mostly. We need to still buy two bins to place some picture albums in (especially those albums with other people prior to one another in them ).

So after my baked falafel is done, we are going to nap, then out to Sam's to buy a few bins, Clif bars for DW and paper plates. She's been doing really well in helping me keep the house tidy. Then again, our housecleaner came only this Friday, haha.

We are also beginning the process of TTC and are anxiously awaiting some information on two donors we've narrowed down the search to!

So much to do, so little time!

Done!

How exciting!!!

So far, on my way to winning my 3rd week in a row for fantasy football! 3-1 and I'll be tied for first place in the league! Cross your fingers for me...

Oops... forgot to reply. Sorry. My mom started a charitable foundation in my dad's memory several years ago and my brothers and I are trustees along with her. We give out money typically about this time each year. This year we went to an online application and I took over the admin work for that from our lawyer.

Got in a bike ride today; the weather here has been beautiful and no end in sight. Will be skyping with DS1 later to help him book his flights home for Thanksgiving. Very expensive