Thanksgiving Leftover Soup

Do you have any Thanksgiving leftovers left, or have a plethora of turkey sandwiches decimated your turkey supply? Well, if you have some goodies left, you might try this soup. I made it tonight, and Nathan and Daniel loved it. They kept commenting on how hearty it is, and we all went back for seconds. I adapted it slightly from a recipe that's in this month's Cooking Light. As soon as I looked at the recipe, I knew I would make it, because I had everything on hand except the Canadian bacon. I even had the onion and celery pre-chopped from my pre-Thanksgiving prep, so it didn't take me long to make at all, and the Canadian bacon gives the flavors new life and keeps the soup from tasting like round 41 of Thanksgiving.


Turkey and Potato Soup with Canadian Bacon

1 Tbsp. canola or vegetable oil
1/2 Tbsp. butter
1-1/2 cups chopped onion (about one large onion)
1 cup chopped celery
3 carrots, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced (about one cup, or slightly more)
1-1/2 oz. Canadian bacon, chopped
3 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
3 cups chopped turkey (about 1 pound)
2-1/2 cups mashed potatoes
1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage
1/4 tsp. black pepper

Heat oil and butter in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion, celery, carrots, and bacon; cook 6 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add broth, turkey, potatoes, and chopped sage, stirring with a whisk until blended; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes. Stir in pepper.

*Optional: I threw in one of my frozen kale cubes for a little color and added nutrition. It's the equivalent of 1-2 tablespoons of chopped kale.

Thanksgiving Highlights

Hey peeps.

How was your Thanksgiving? Ours was really nice! Nathan's whole family came, except for Matthew and Emily, for whom a trip across the pond was a little too far to go for turkey. (See the post below for a picture of us pigging out.)

Here are the highlights from this week:

We took a family picture for the Christmas cards I may or may not get to this year. (I am horrible at Christmas cards and photo albums. Hence, we have no photo albums in our house, except for our wedding album, and last year nobody got a Christmas card from us. Of course, last year I had the convenient excuse of being gigantically pregnant....) This picture came out really well of Nathan and me, but not so great of Noah. I think a little Photoshop may be called for here because I really like Nathan and me in this pic.
Noah enjoyed riding on Papa's shoulders.
We all took a walk to the park,

where Noah loved the swing,

Daniel, Papa, and Nathan threw the football,

and Deb played with Noah and stood around looking cute. (Mama B. was there, too, swinging and sliding with Noah, but my camera died before I could take her picture!)

We had a ton of food, and we enjoyed all the after-Thanksgiving snacking. Thanksgiving dinner was pretty darn yummy, although there were a couple of notable mishaps:
- As Nathan was making the caramel for the caramel pumpkin pie, one of the cloths he was using to hold the handles and swirl the caramel in the pot caught on fire. I looked up and saw a flaming washcloth falling to the floor. Oh well. No harm done.
- After extinguishing the washcloth and resuming the caramel making, the heat got a little out of hand, and the caramel turned black. So, at my suggestion, he poured it down the sink. Wrong thing to do. The caramel basically hardened in the sink and down the pipe, like hard-candy hard. Nathan was like, "Lauren, this is BAD." Thankfully, it came off with a little hot water.
- However, the most amazing mishap of the day happened when I added the whiskey to the screamin'-hot pan for the whiskey-glazed carrots. Can anyone say FIVE-FOOT FIREBALL? Yes. I stood there agape, totally silent while this column of fire licked the ceiling. Meanwhile, my mother-in-law had the presence of mind to shout "Help! Help! Help! Help!" The guys ran in just in time to watch it finish burning. I could not believe that there was no black mark on the ceiling or smoke or anything! All the scientist guys informed me, though, that alcohol burns very quickly and cleanly. Anyway, that was an adrenaline moment, let me tell you. The guys were talking to Matthew and Emily over Skype when it happened, so M&E didn't know what was happening, but they did hear all the calls for help and all the guys running into the kitchen. They were like, "What is going on?!" The carrots turned out great, though, and afterward, there was a pleasant smell of whiskey in the kitchen. Ha!

So that was our Thanksgiving! What were the highlights of your turkey day? Leave a comment and tell us about it.

Thanksgiving Dinner

Hope you and yours have had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Story Time

Something funny happened one day while I was working at the College of Biblical Studies in Houston, and it still comes up from time to time, even though it happened like six years ago.

CBS is a pretty multi-cultural organization, with people from all kinds of ethnic backgrounds working there and going to school there. The guy who ran the bookstore at one point was Vietnamese, I believe. His name was Jeff. Although I don't remember him having trouble with the English language, one time there was a funny little episode that has made me laugh ever since. It involves Eric, a friend who was working in the bookstore at the time.

One day, as he was leaving work, Eric said, "See ya, wouldn't want to be ya."
The next day, as Eric was leaving, Jeff said, "See you. Wouldn't want to be like you."

Is that hilarious or what?

So just now, as Nathan was leaving for work, I said, "See you, wouldn't want to be like you."

It lives on.

More Noah

Recent pictures:

Here we are at the mall. We went to have some Chick-fil-A and play at their nifty play area. I'm not sure whether Noah was laughing or whether he was upset that Nathan had walked away momentarily. But either way, he's still pretty cute, isn't he?

And here's the kiddo in his winter wear.

His expression cracks me up.

Noah's Time Out

Please don't call CPS on us.

Just kidding.

That kid is strong! Yesterday, he was really interested in taking a closer look at that window, so Nathan held him up there, and he just grabbed on. We like that first picture because he looks like a little gymnast. His toes are pointed and everything. And he loved hanging--after Nathan took him down, he was trying to climb the wall to get back up there.

I Will Kick You

Remember how I said I'd leave my house and come over and kick you if you didn't brine your turkey? The same holds true if you don't make your own cranberry sauce.

Now, I understand that for some people, can-shaped discs of gelatinous goo may just be a holiday tradition that you can't part with.

But for those of you who are not emotionally attached to gelatinous goo, you should really try making your own cranberry sauce this year. Really, when it comes to cooking, nothing could be easier.

There are different versions of fresh cranberry sauce, some utilizing cinnamon or ginger or brown sugar or any other number of fall flavors. However, I like this one because it's simple, and it's never done me wrong.


Cranberry Sauce

1 cup maple syrup
1 cup orange juice
12-oz. package fresh cranberries, rinsed and picked over (get rid of any that are dry and wrinkly)

Combine OJ and maple syrup in a saucepan; bring to a boil. Add cranberries, return to a boil. Reduce heat and boil gently for 10 minutes. Cover and cool completely at room temperature. Refrigerate until serving time. Makes 2-1/4 cups.

Incredibly Easy Corn Casserole

Thanks to Sara Jourdan for bringing this to our potluck Thanksgiving dinner one year and bestowing the incredibly easy recipe on many of us.

Ever since I first had it, I have been intending to make this corn casserole again. But I haven't gotten around to it until this year, and I'm excited about it for several reasons. One, it's dang tasty. Two, it has a whole stick of butter in it. You can't go wrong with a whole stick of butter. (Or rather, it is very, very wrong. So deliciously wrong.) And third, it is so incredibly easy.


Corn Casserole

1 can cream style corn
1 can niblet corn, drained
2 eggs
1 package Jiffy corn muffin mix
1 stick margarine or butter, melted
8 oz. sour cream

Mix all ingredients together. Spray a 9x13 casserole dish with cooking spray, then pour the mixture in. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Dinner

After putting a lot of thought into it, here is my Thanksgiving menu:

Butternut Squash Soup with Fried Sage Leaves (I saw someone on the Food Network fry some sage leaves, and I thought it'd make an awesome garnish to this soup.)
Turkey (brined, of course)
Gravy
Cranberry Sauce
Stuffing
Corn Casserole (incredibly easy recipe coming soon)
Green Bean Casserole (I like the looks of this recipe because it does not involve icky canned cream of mushroom soup.)
Whiskey-Glazed Carrots
Rolls (not sure if I'm going to buy them or make them yet)
Cranberry Oatmeal Squares (These are in The Cake Mix Doctor cookbook--they are a hit every time I make them)
Hershey Bar Pie (This was a total hit last year.)
Caramel Pumpkin Pie
Maybe, if it's desired/requested, my Quadruple Chocolate Cake

Do you think we'll have enough food? ;)

Actually, I'm aiming for lots of leftovers. Leftovers are awesome, in no small part because it means you don't have to cook for a while after the Thanksgiving tornado in the kitchen. Although I think I will make at least one new dish out of the leftovers, which is Turkey and Potato Soup with Canadian Bacon. Yum.

If you are making something for Thanksgiving this year, be it one dish or the whole meal, tell us what it is!

Winter :(

Hey peeps,

It is officially winter here, as of today. When I woke up this morning, it was 21 degrees outside.
I just realized I'm not mentally ready for winter.

Okay, here is one thing that I've been thinking of the last few days: why don't they make wool socks for babies? WHY? What are those kiddos supposed to wear? Shoes don't stay on (except for Robeez), and they're not that warm, anyway. And the really warm snow boots don't come in a size small enough for Noah. So what are you supposed to do between the time when you just put them in a BundleMe sack as infants and when they are big enough to get little snow boots as toddlers? Right now I'm just putting two pairs of wimpy cotton socks on and covering Noah with a blanket when we go out for a walk. And that is not going to be enough pretty soon.

Am I missing something here? What do you do at this age? I mean, even our house is a little cool at 65 degrees all day, and wool socks would be good just for being at home, too.

Okay, and here is another thing I have just realized, as of yesterday, when Noah and I went to three different stores to get stuff for Thanksgiving: getting in and out of the car seat that many times in a big old puffy jacket is no picnic for Mom or for Noah. His range of motion is really limited (think A Christmas Story, only not quite so bad), and it's really hard to manhandle that darn 5-point harness around all that bulk. Plus, his puffy jacket and my puffy jacket are both slick on the outside, so that makes it really hard to just perch him on my hip and be on my way.

Usually, I love winter. So maybe I'll post again in a couple of days with all the reasons I love the cold. But today, well, ugh.

Completely Impractical

So I want to hear from you all on this one. Leave a comment and tell me what you would collect if it weren't completely impractical to do so.

Whether it's too expensive, too large, too kid-unfriendly, etc., what would it be? What just sends your heart aflutter? What is it that--if you were surrounded by it--would make you oh so happy and make your heart sing?

Mine would be dishes.

I have discovered that I love dishes. I would have like fifty different sets, if I could. I love to browse through the dinnerware sections of Williams-Sonoma and even Target.

Here are some of my recent favorites:

My dishes are white, which I like, because I can pretty much pick up any white serving dish to supplement my set, and it will coordinate successfully. Plus, pretty much any table linens make white dishes pop. Right now, I really want a soup tureen, like this one, because I am going to be serving a soup at Thanksgiving. Wouldn't it be nice to serve it out of a beautiful bowl like this on the table?

When Nathan and I got married, I registered at Williams-Sonoma, and I very nearly registered for this. The reason I didn't was because I just didn't think I would use it all that much for a long while. Back then, I particularly loved things that had a Renaissance look to them because that's the period of poetry and literature that I love the best. I still think this platter is pretty dang cool. It'd look pretty awesome in a dining room with a large fireplace and a thick oak table.

I'm also liking this Christmas platter. It's just festive:
And oh my gosh, I LOVE these. And do you know where I found them just now? Target.com. They are so perfectly ME.

So what would your totally impractical collection be? Converse shoes in every color? Teacups? Cars? Fabric? Pets? Footie pajamas? Do tell.

By the way, Mom, I really hope you're willing me all the different china sets, along with the crystal dessert plates. I want them ALL.

:)

Coventry Street

Time to lighten it up a little bit. I'm going to tell you a little story.

I studied abroad one summer at the University of Cambridge, and as part of that trip, Nathan and I toured around Scotland and England a bit.

For a couple of days, we stayed at a little bed and breakfast in a small English town. After touring around one afternoon, we headed back towards our B&B. We walked for a long while, knowing we were close to our B&B, but we just could not find the right street. So after meandering around a neighborhood for quite some time, we stopped an old man and asked him how to get back to Coventry Street.

"Coventry Street? Hmm. I don't know. Are you sure that's the name of the street you want?"
"Yes, sir. That's where our bed & breakfast is."
Scratching his chin, "Well I don't know. What street did you say it's on again?"
"Coventry Street."
"And you're sure about that?"
"Yes, sir, I'm absolutely sure."

This back-and-forth went on for several minutes. By this time, I was getting a little desperate. It was getting dark, and we didn't want to be lost after sunset. Plus, I was certain that the B&B was located on Coventry. Why in the world did this man say he didn't know of a Coventry Street? This town was not that big, and I knew we were close to it! Eventually, he said,

"Well I've lived here for forty years, and I don't know of a Coventry Street."

Dangit.

"I am just absolutely sure it is on Coventry Street."
"Oh! By any chance, do you mean Coventry Road?"

Our jaws dropped.

"Yes! Coventry Road!"
"Oh, yes, of course. I am going there right now, on my way to the pub. You can walk with me."

Oh, the Brits. Gotta love 'em.

N.T. Wright, Church, etc.

N.T. Wright preached at our church today, and he was AWESOME! Don't know who he is? Well, I guess I have been living under a rock, because I didn't either. You can find more info on him here and here, but basically he's the Bishop of Durham (Anglican Church) and a well-respected theologian. He speaks quite often, is frequently interviewed by the media, and has written numerous books.

The passage he used came from Colossians 1, and the title of his sermon was "Christian Hope in a Confusing World." The sermon was very applicable to everyday life, which I totally appreciated. He touched on the election, postmodernism, and why Jesus is a reasonable and authentic source of hope. It was really good, guys.

As someone who got a degree in English literature, I also absolutely loved how he touched on the literary structure of the passage. It turns out that Paul wrote a carefully crafted poem in Colossians 1, but none of our Bibles reflect it in the text! In fact, the whole chapter has a literary structure similar to an arch, and the verse that falls in the middle--which everything before builds to and everything after refers to--is "and in him [Jesus] all things hold together."My gosh. Is that awesome or WHAT?! Oh, it makes my literary senses tingle. I love it.

The church almost always posts mp3's of the sermons here. I bet the sermon will be up early this week, if you'd like to download it. It will be well worth a listen, I assure you.

The longer we attend Park Street, the more I appreciate and like it. We've been going here for about three and a half years, but we've just now joined. (In fact, we're being presented as new members next Sunday.) The reason we have just now joined was because you have to take a seven-week class in order to do so, and we just never thought we had seven straight weeks to do it (or we had something else going on, like being huge and pregnant and not wanting to get up an hour early on Sunday mornings...). Anyway, in the class you go over some basic Christian, Protestant tenets, like the concept of the Trinity, salvation, and the Bible, as well as the history of the church, the denomination, etc.

Park Street is celebrating our 200th anniversary this year, and one aspect of the class I really enjoyed was learning more about our church and its history. I already knew some little historical tidbits, like that this particular site downtown used to be used as a granary before it was a church (I'm guessing they needed a handy place to store grain for the cows on neighboring Boston Common). It's also the first place "My Country Tis of Thee" was sung, and we were among the first churches to send out missionaries. I believe it was Park Street missionaries who first evangelized in Hawaii, for example, and the emphasis on missions still holds strong today. Next door is a graveyard where John Hancock, Paul Revere, and Mother Goose are buried, among many others. All of this I knew, but I was unfamiliar with some of the more recent history, such as the evangelical movement in the twentieth century, in which Park Street's pastor at the time, Harold Ockenga, was a central participant, along with Billy Graham and others. (In this sense, "evangelical" refers to the movement that broke from fundamentalism in an effort to keep from being anti-intellectual, to avoid legalism, to engage in social justice, to "major in the majors" so as not to divide the church unnecessarily, etc.)

I guess all of that history may be about as interesting as dirt to some of you, but I find it fascinating. I have always loved church history, and it's so interesting to me to be part of a church that has such deep roots in Boston and in this country and that continues to be a beacon of truth in this city.

He's All Boy

1. Noah loves to be scared. His favorite thing is when you jump out from behind a wall and yell. He screams in delight.
2. He loves the outdoors.
3. He has no fear. He'll dive right off the couch. Luckily, Mom or Dad has always been there to catch him.
4. He has recently discovered that his mattress is bouncy and has started jumping in his crib. One day I walked in after his nap, and there he was, jumping away with the biggest grin on his face. I decided I had to get that on video the next time I went in to get him after a nap:

Turkey Tutorial

So I am not going to go into every little detail of how to cook a turkey, but I am going to give you a few tips, because I think that most people my age probably have limited experience with this particular bird. Because Thanksgiving is usually marked by loads of people in one household, sharing one turkey, that means that probably only one out of ten of us cooks one every year, right? Especially people my age, who are probably still going to their parents' house for Thanksgiving. So it's just not second nature to cook up a mean bird.

In my case, Nathan and I moved 2000 miles away from our families shortly after we got married, so it's been up to me to roast a turkey for the past four years. This year will be my fifth. So I think I have a little bit to say about the matter.

First of all, I think the best practice for turkey success is roasting chickens. Have you ever roasted a chicken? You really ought to do it. It is a little confusing the first time or two (which side is up? do I just leave the wings dangling out like that? what's this nifty little bag stuffed in the chicken's cavity? is it done yet? what about now?), but once you have some of the basic questions answered and have roasted one successful bird, you can certainly do another one. To read a bit about roasting a chicken, you can check out my post about it from a couple of months ago.

So now that you know what to practice on, you might be wondering what equipment you need. Well, I recommend a roasting pan, like the one I've got here:I have a V-shaped rack, but it doesn't really matter what the shape is, so long as the bird isn't resting on the bottom of the pan. My rack is also non-stick, which is handy, because then the skin doesn't stick to it as you're removing the turkey. Both the pan and the rack are non-stick, actually, which also makes for easier clean-up, too.

If you don't have a roasting pan and don't want to go buy one, you can always use one of those foil pans you buy at the grocery store. However, you want to make sure it's pretty darn sturdy, especially if you're going to be roasting a bigger bird. And you want to make sure your turkey will fit in it, so choose the size accordingly. The big downside to these pans is that they don't come with roasting racks. So if I were you, I'd stick something down in the bottom to keep the turkey from sitting in its own juices as it cooks. Sitting in the juice would mean some really gross turkey skin, because it'd be kind of limp and gooey rather than crisp and brown. I'd put a layer of large potato chunks down there or something to keep it raised up. Plus, then you can eat the potatoes. :)

You'll also need a meat thermometer. Mine is technically for grilling, but whatever. As long as it gives me a number, I don't care.
I don't trust those darn pop-up things that come in the turkey, because they never pop up when my thermometer tells me the turkey is done. Which leads me to believe they're faulty. And since I've never killed anyone with my un-popped turkey, I'm thinking the actual thermometer is a better bet. You need to cook poultry until it's a minimum of 165 degrees inside (probably closer to 170-180), and you'll want to check both the breasts and the thighs/drumsticks, because white and dark meat cook differently. There's a huge price range when it comes to meat thermometers. You can get a really simple one for a few bucks, or you can buy a really nice remote digital one for a lot more.

The other way to check to make sure your turkey is done is to tip it and let the juices flow out of the cavity. If there's any pink in there, it's not done. Same thing if you pierce it somewhere with a knife--if the juices don't run clear, it's not done. However, go easy on the piercing. Every time you cut it, you're letting out a lot of the flavor and moisture (that's why you always let meat rest for 10 or 20 minutes after it's done cooking--it allows the juices to redistribute, and they won't all come running out as soon as you cut the meat).

Now to the actual preparation. I always, always, ALWAYS brine my turkey. I promise you it will be worth the extra effort. Just do it. Or I will leave Boston, come over to your house, and kick you. Brine the darn thing, people. It makes for a much more tender and juicy turkey. And what is the biggest complaint about turkey? That it's dry. Do you see the gem I'm offering you here?

So what is brining? Brining refers to soaking your bird in a brine (salty water) overnight. The salt tenderizes the bird; it does not make it taste salty. (Though it will make your gravy salty if you make gravy from the drippings, so beware. I buy a gravy base from Williams Sonoma or Trader Joe's and make it separately.) Most people also throw in some spices and whatnot into the brine to get a leg up on flavoring their turkey.

I wrote about brining last Thanksgiving, so you can get some more information here, along with some links to brine recipes. The only other thing I'd add about brining is that after you make the brine, which requires boiling some water, you'll need to let it cool completely before putting your turkey in it (the last thing you want to do is accidentally cook your turkey a little before it's time, or worse, bring it up to an unsafe temperature for an extended period of time). So I would make the brine Wednesday morning, let it cool in the fridge all day, then pop the turkey in it before you go to bed. Then all you have to do is rinse it off on Thursday morning, and you're good to go.

As for turkey flavorings, you can go any route you want. There are so many good combinations out there that I wouldn't presume to tell you what you'll like. I've always used rosemary, but I think I'll use sage this year. Williams-Sonoma has a ton of excellent recipes posted right now, and the Pioneer Woman has a how-to on the actual roasting of your turkey here (she brines her turkey, too, by the way). PW does a pretty good job of explaining the actual cooking of the turkey, so I will leave that part to her.

Okay, if you have read this far, you are a champ. Leave a comment and tell me whether or not you've ever roasted a turkey, whether you're a novice or an expert, and whether or not you're cooking one this year.

Because It Ought to Be On This Blog Somewhere.

Paradise Lost, Book I, lines 1-26

Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste
Brought death into the world, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden, till one greater man
Restore us, and regain the blissful seat,
Sing heavenly Muse, that on the secret top
Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire
That shepherd, who first taught the chosen seed,
In the beginning how the heavens and earth
Rose out of chaos: or if Sion hill
Delight thee more, and Siloa's brook that flowed
Fast by the oracle of God, I thence
Invoke thy aid to my advent'rous song,
That with no middle flight intends to soar
Above the Aonian mount, while it pursues
Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme.
And chiefly thou O Spirit, that dost prefer
Before all temples the upright heart and pure,
Instruct me, for thou knowst; thou from the first
Wast present, and with mighty wings outspread
Dovelike satst brooding on the vast abyss
And mad'st it pregnant: what in me is dark
Illumine, what is low raise and support;
That to the height of this great argument
I may assert the eternal providence,
And justify the ways of God to men.

A Time for Every Season

Oh, fall. Fall, you are fleeting, and I will miss you when you are gone.

Well, that's my attitude today, at least. Last week, I was all about (don't kick me) Christmas. I know, it's barely November. But last Monday I went to Target, and they were already all decked out for the holidays.

Normally I groan in disbelief when the stores come out with all their Christmas decorations the Monday after Halloween. But this year, I was just enraptured by all the glitzy glory. I walked up and down every Christmas aisle and looked at all the ornaments, the stockings, the wrapping paper, and Christmas cards. I was so tempted to spend a ridiculous amount of money on Christmas decor, but I refrained. I did, however, buy some cute little snowflake plates that will be great for serving mini muffins or my family's specialty, sausage balls.

And I bought this tree, which I liked.

And I got ridiculously excited over this:
Yes, I got excited over Funfetti cake. I know, I know. BUT IT HAS GREEN ICING WITH CHRISTMAS SPRINKLES!!!
I don't care what you think. I am still really excited about my Funfetti cake.

So I guess I am just really excited about Christmas this year. For a while there, I completely forgot about Thanksgiving. But then I remembered, and I was glad, because not only do I love Thanksgiving food, but Nathan's family is coming up to Boston to share it with us! So it will be a great holiday, and we're really looking forward to it.

Oh, you'd like to talk about Thanksgiving food? I am sure I'll have lots of posts for you. This will be my fifth Thanksgiving turkey, and I have a few tips for you, if you've never done one of your own before. I'll write a post about that later. In the meantime, enjoy this fall-Thanksgiving-Christmas time of year. I know I do.

Ten Months Old!

Noah is ten months old today!

He is so incredibly active. He keeps me running and ensures that I have tons more respect for moms than I ever did before.

He learned to crawl pretty well while we were in Houston, army crawl style. Just recently, he started getting his tummy up off the ground, as well. And let me tell you, that kid is FAST.

He is also completely uninterested in all his toys. The things he likes to play with are:
- anything with buttons (the remote control, the stereo, the computer, a cell phone)
- doors that swing (such as the gate and the door to the living room)
- poles (such as the exposed pipe in the kitchen and the floor lamp)
- the couches (for cruising back and forth)

He has also started going to the end of the couch and peeping over it to look at us. He understands that it's a joke, a little like peek-a-boo. It's so funny!



As for food, he eats anything I give him, but he definitely has his preferences. He loves (we're talking LOVES) toast. He stuffs it in his mouth until we worry he'll choke. He also loves those Gerber puffs, probably because they're the only thing I give him with sugar in them. They have superseded Cheerios at this point. I think his least favorite food is asparagus. In general, he likes orange veggies and fruit and tolerates or dislikes green veggies. And he loves all manner of carbs (he is a boy after his mother's heart!). We have started him on meat, and he really liked a little baby meatloaf I made him. And here's a milestone for you: he had his very first Chick-Fil-A chicken nugget the other day!

Speaking of orange veggies, a funny thing happened when I took him in to get his flu shot the other day. Upon seeing him, the doctor said, "You must be a little boy who loves his carrots and sweet potatoes and squash." I looked at her quizzically and said, "He is! How did you know?" "Because his nose is orange." Ha! We had walked a ways in the cold, and instead of turning red, Noah's nose turned orange! Too funny!

I cannot believe my baby is going to be a year old only two months from now. Time flies!

A Favorite Snack

Whenever we have a hankering for something sweet but don't have any real dessert at our house, Nathan and I make Nutella Banana Toast. Mmm.

Whatever you do, don't underestimate the power of Nutella.

I could go on about Nutella, but I will leave that to Emily, because she and Matthew go through more Nutella than can possibly be healthy.

Anyway, you'd be surprised at how good some fancy Nutella is on humble toasted wheat bread. And when you add some sliced banana, well I can only say "mmm" again.

Is this a favorite in anyone else's house?

Lauren's Ravioli Soup

I made a lovely soup last night that I thought I'd share with you. It all started because I had some frozen cheese ravioli, and I wanted to do something other than dump some tomato sauce on it and call it a night. So since I'm all into soups right now, I made a chicken soup with carrots, mushrooms, and white wine to compliment the ravioli. It came out very well! I always like the mushroom-thyme-white wine combination. Nathan enjoyed the soup a lot, which is notable for a meal with no actual meat in it. :) (Of course, you could also throw in some cooked chicken at the end, if you're so inclined.)


Lauren's Ravioli Soup

2 Tablespoons olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
4 small or medium carrots, sliced
6 oz. mushrooms, roughly chopped
1 bay leaf
1/4 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 c. chopped spinach or kale
1/4 c. white wine
32 oz. chicken stock (one box)
8 oz. frozen cheese ravioli (tortellini would work, too)
salt and pepper to taste

Heat a stock pot over medium high heat and add the olive oil. Add the onion, carrots, and mushrooms and saute until somewhat tender, at least 5 minutes. Add the bay leaf, thyme, spinach/kale, and white wine, and simmer until the white wine has reduced by about half. Add the chicken stock and bring just to a boil. Add the frozen ravioli, reduce the heat, and simmer approximately 10 minutes until the ravioli and vegetables are tender. Remove bay leaf. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Love One Another

I just have one more thing to say about politics.

I understand that today is the day after the election, and that half of us are disappointed and the other half are elated. It's just an emotional day.

BUT, brothers and sisters in Christ, just because someone is of a different political persuasion than you does not mean they are stupid, purely emotional, or lacking in morals.

I have friends and family on both sides, and, on top of that, I come from the conservative south and live in the liberal northeast. What that has taught me is that just as people on both sides can spout brainless rhetoric, people on both sides can have well-thought-out reasons for believing what that believe. And most of the Christians I know, both Republicans and Democrats, have come to their political conclusions based on Christian conviction.

So I humbly exhort us all to be kind and love one another for the sake of protecting our unity in Christ more than our solidarity with a particular political party.


Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellow man has fulfilled the law.
Romans 13:8

But God has combined the members of the body . . . so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.
1 Corinthians 12:24-25

Politics

I have a lot of thoughts about Election Day. But I'm going to spare you, because I imagine that, like me, you're a little sick of all the political talk. I also don't want this blog to be a place where anyone is uncomfortable, and since politics can be so polarizing, I'm going to stay hands-off for the most part.

But I did want to write something and acknowledge the huge event that happened yesterday. I'm praying that God continues to work in our country and in the hearts of those who run it.

Also, props to all of you who voted! Our voting experience was awesome--we went down to the local elementary school at about 11:00 so we could miss the early morning voters and the lunchtime voters. I took Noah's lunch, in case we were in line for a long time. But as it turned out, there was no line at all! We just walked straight up to a booth and cast our votes. Actually, the only other people there were old people. We don't know if we live near all old people or if it was just the old people time of day. In any case, it went really well!

How did your voting experience go? Leave a comment and let us know. Did you wait in line for hours? Did you experience picketers? Did you have an interesting conversation with someone?

What I Want for Christmas

What I want for Christmas is a couple of days to sleep until I wake up. Oh my. What heaven that would be.

November Arbonne Specials

Have you started your holiday shopping yet? Remember that Arbonne comes out with many special products just for this time of year, and I can help you get the best possible deal on them. Be sure to let me know if I can help! Here are this month's specials:
Holiday Candles for $12 With every $75 order increment, enjoy the option to purchase one of the following candles: Ginger Citrus, Awaken, Reactivate, or Unwind, a $30 value, for $12 each.
Save 20% on Berry Burst Weight Loss Chews This month only, get the Figure 8^® On the Go! Weight Loss Chews — Berry Burst, a $19.50 value, for $15.60.

Have a great November!

best,
Lauren
--
Lauren Benesh
Independent Consultant
Arbonne International
www.arbonne.com
laurenbenesh@gmail.com