Winter Vegetable & Fish Soup

With the weather suddenly turning cooler, I had a craving for soup. This soup was really, really easy to make and it tasted yummy. I actually doubled the recipe below, so that's why the pot looks extra full!

Here's the leeks in low-sodium chicken broth.


Adding in the broccoli.....

Adding in the zucchini (these were leftover from our summer garden):

Adding the fish......

Adding in the spinach and spices....

And we're done! Enjoy!

Winter Vegetable & Fish Soup
~serves 2 generous bowls, 221 calories, 8g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 0 trans fat, 48mg cholesterol, 646 mg sodium, 10 total carbohydrates, 1 g dietary fiber, 3 g sugar, 28 g protein, 3 mg iron.

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 leeks, chopped
• 2 14-0z cans low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 cup fresh/frozen broccoli, chopped
• 1 small zucchini, diced
• 8 oz frozen halibut fillets, cut into bite-sized pieces (you can use any whitefish; I used orange roughy)
• 1 cup baby spinach
• 1/8 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 tsp dried oregano

1. Heat oil over medium heat in a large saucepan; add leek and saute for 2 minutes. Stir in broth and bring to a boil.
2. Add broccoli and zucchini and simmer for 3 minutes.
3. Add fish and simmer until it turns opaque, approximately 3 more minutes.
4. Add spinach and seasonings and simmer for 2 more minutes. Serve. Enjoy!

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Matthew & Jenn's Wedding

On Saturday, Matthew & Jenn (aka Melvis & Laugh) finally tied the knot at their wedding, or as they called it, their "Crazy happy fun time"! I didn't get very good wedding photos; it was just too dark in the church for my simple point and shoot camera. Here's the two that are decent.

Jenn coming down the aisle with her dad:


And I caught the two newlyweds laughing their way back out of the church!


The reception had a Dios de Los Muertos type theme to it. There was lots of color and Mexican touches. The tables were decorated so cute!

There were little flags for placemats with the silverware wrapped up in different colored napkins and tied with a flower. They used paper Fiesta flowers for centerpieces accented with a few candles and the cutest, most unique favors I have ever seen:


Skull cookies! Anything edible is great in my book, but when it's cute AND tastes good? Perfect!

I didn't get a picture of the food because......well......I was hungry. But it was good! They served bar-b-qued chicken & brisket made by a friend.

The wedding cake was unique as well, with the bride and groom opting for a green cake! This one was spice flavored. I can't say I tried it and you'll see why in a second.


One of the groom's cakes was a Patriot cake since that is his favorite team.


And the last cake is why I didn't try anything else. Take a look at this baby.


Okay, I know what you're thinking. It's not nearly as cool as the wedding cake. But I must educate y'all. That's right, I said y'all. This cake was GOOD. It was pure chocolatey heaven on my plate. I would've eaten a couple pieces, but I didn't want anyone giving me the stink eye for taking more than my share!

Just like the good little papparazzi that I am, I snapped a pic of Matthew & Jenn showing their true colors. (And weirdness)


And finally, before the night ended, we had to get a picture of Jenn with all of her Sister Goddesses!

Congrats to Melvis & Jenn! Wish you both a lifetime of happiness together!

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Jenn's Bachelorette Party

This past Thursday was my friend Jenns's (aka Laugh) bachelorette party. We had a Moulin Rouge themed party (think can can outfits) and the costumes did not disappoint! Here I am about to leave the house:


We had dinner at my friend Deseere's house beforehand and then held a "pleasure party" for the bachelorette. I'll spare those pictures. ;)

However, I will show you the group photo before we left to go downtown:

Yeah, we were can-can-erific! We headed downtown to go to Howl at the Moon. This was an old stomping ground of mine back in the day, so I knew we were in for a good time! Here's Laugh and I before she got too "happy":


Check out those feathers! Laugh totally rocked the peacock feathers that night! And you better believe that we made her work that night. We got her up on stage to be mocked by the piano players.


After making a scene, Laugh returned to the tables where our hot waiter, Josh, asked us if we needed anything else.

We needed his shirt.

Oh yes, you can buy the shirt right off his back. Literally. And Josh did not disappoint either. He is currently a fitness model! Lucky us!! Ha ha!


After a million cameras flashed on Josh, he - unfortunately! - reclothed himself in a new shirt and we moved on to the stage. Yup, all of us.

Look carefully at the picture now. Can you find me right next to the flash in the mirror. Do you also see the mustard-shirt lady hiking her leg across me and my companions? Now look below:

See mustard-shirt talking to me? She informed me that Amber (the tall girl to the right) and I were supposed to PICK HER UP when she did that.

I kid you not.

What I should have done was boot her off the stage, but I just let her walk away. I'm a sissy like that!

We had a great time until about 12:30 when Laugh decided that she was too drunk to go on. We headed back to Deseere's where she made mac and cheese. There is always mac and cheese at this house! Yum!! Just before I left, I made Jenn take one last picture:

And I think that picture just about sums things up! Ha ha!

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Catching up, part 4

Jason & I finally made it to the hometown and we spent the evening doing what else?

Eating and drinking.

What can I say? We're a little predictable at times. :)

Anyway, the next morning was my friend Katlyn's baby shower. It was held just one town over from me......I had to trek all of 10 miles from my parent's house. Here's Katlyn with her mum that I helped Stacy put together. I had never heard of making mums for baby showers, but I think it turned out cute.


Her cake was made by Lucy's in San Antonio.


Stacy, myself and our friend Misty got together to make a diaper cake. None of us had made one before and I think it turned out cute as well.


While Kat opened her presents,


This little cutie, Cymber, stole the show:


Cymber decided that she needed to help unwrap gifts. She was so cute walking around with leftover tissue paper and bows!

After the shower, I headed home to celebrate Thanksgiving early with my brother. I forgot to get the camera out for it, but we had turkey, cranberry sauce (my fave!), yummy stuffing, veggies, pecan pie and pumpkin pie. Let's put it this way........we were stuffed!

Later that night, my brother started a fire and we all brought out lawn chairs.


Jason decided he needed to add his special touch to the fire as well. Notice the beer in hand? Anyone catching a theme here?


We sat out for a long time talking, petting the family dogs and just watching the flames.


It was a perfect end to a great night.

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Catching up, part 3

On Friday the 6th, Jason & I left to go to Woodsboro to spend the weekend with my family and brother. We went to get diesel for Jason's truck, but the line was soooo long! We put some air in the tires and decided to forfeit the diesel and get some farther down the road. We headed down 1604 (the long way) and as we approached Randolph Air Force Base, we started seeing cars parked on the side of the road. We stopped at a Valero and as Jason turned off the truck, I looked across the highway and saw a huge cloud of dust. As I followed the cloud, I looked up to see 4 old-style planes in the air and they were doing acrobatics! We stopped in time to see several planes practice for an air show on Sunday.

This was the view I saw from just outside the truck as the planes circled back in front of us. If you look at the picture, you'll see dust in front of those buildings. That's the runway right across from us!


I got a lot of the telephone poles in the pictures. I couldn't really get them out of my way and I'm not good having to take pictures quickly under pressure!

See how close they flew to each other?

Scatter!


A great singlet shot!


Here's my first attempt at posting a video here. You can hear how loud the planes were...it was so cool!




This was such an awesome thing to stumble across. My entire family kept asking us where we were and I had to explain that we spent half an hour outside a Valero watching an air show!

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Catching up, part 2

After my family left, Jason & I cleaned up around the house and prepared for the next weekend. I met with my friend Stacy on Thursday to help her complete some details for her sister's baby shower on Saturday, the 7th. We were making her sister a mum for her to wear when Stacy's husband Javi text messaged her. He is active National Guard right now (after serving many years in the army) and was at training. He told us about the Fort Hood shooting...this was probably just 20 minutes after it happened.

After hearing about this, my heart sank. Not only did I feel horrible for the people who might have been injured, but I also knew that my brother had gone to Fort Hood a few days prior to visit some injured soldiers in his unit. He's stationed out of Fort Hood. I immediately called my dad and asked him if Houston had come home yet.

He didn't know. I told him to turn on the news and he said to call my mom's cell phone (my brother had it) but not to call mom until we knew something. I called the phone and he had been home for just a few hours. He had left Fort Hood just before 7am that morning and hadn't heard the news yet. After calling Dad back to tell him Houston was okay, I finished up with Stacy and then went home.

I came home, read the news more in-depth, and cried. This one was just too close to home for me. Soldiers aren't supposed to die in their own house where they should be safe. They never even see it as a possibility. Knowing that that could have been Houston in their place scared the hell out of me. I'm so grateful for the blessings in my life. I have prayed so much for those families that have lost their loved ones. I truly hope that they will get the justice they deserve.

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Catching up, part 1

So.........it's been a while since my last blog post. Raise your hand if anyone is surprised.

Anyone? Anyone?

I'll admit it; my hand was down, too. Here's what's been going on. My brother came home for a two week leave from Afghanistan two weeks ago. He had been overseas for 6 months and will return afterward for at least another 6 months. He flew in the day before Halloween into San Antonio. It had been a several day wait for him because no one knew when he was in the air. He called to let us know he would be flying to Kuwait first and would give us a call to give us more details. Unfortunately, his cell phone that he bought overseas doesn't work anywhere except Afghanistan. So, when I got a phone call at 2 am from an unknown number, I didn't answer, I went back to sleep. I felt horrible! He had called to say he was in Kuwait and that he would be leaving soon. Long story short, he called me again from Ireland to let me know he would be arriving in Dallas the next day and from there, he hoped to catch an earlier flight into San Antonio.

Because he was able to catch a last-minute standby flight to San Antonio (rather than have his original 7 hour layover), my parents weren't able to get here fast enough to meet him at the airport. My aunt, Grandma and I decided to meet him instead. My cousin had made him a welcome home sign even though she couldn't come! Poor Houston....he was so embarrassed when he saw us waiting there with a sign! He hates flying in his military gear because of the attention it attracts and we made it worse by singling him out! He was happy to see us and ready to get out of airports. There are pictures, but they're on my aunt's camera. I'll post them if I get a copy.

I took him back to my house, let him change and then we went to eat at Chuy's. I know he was deprived of Mexican food and beer, so I made it my mission to alleviate that! He had his first Shiner Bock and just stared at it for a while and then took about a 5 second chug. We probably should've ordered two to start.

We got our food and he chowed down. He couldn't remember when he had eaten last because he'd been in an airplane so long. Afterward, we headed to Sam's so that I could stock up on some essentials in our house.....namely toilet paper. As I headed towards the bread, I felt the basket take a sharp right. My brother left me in the dust quickly as he discovered we were passing the beer section! Ha ha! He picked up a case of the Shiner Family Reunion before we could move on.

Later that afternoon and a few beers later, my parents arrived and another hugfest commenced. We made dinner, talked and drank more beer. By Halloween morning, we were in dire need of more beer. I didn't want to disappoint my beer-starved brother, so we headed to the grocery store to get some food supplies for dinner and beer.

We spent Halloween night cooking shrimp on the grill and also made some type of shrimp diablo indoors. Too bad I didn't bother to take pictures. Blame it on the Kosmos! I handed out candy to a ton of trick-or-treaters and tried to keep Cassius from escaping outside. I was not successful at least two of the times.

We had an excellent weekend spent catching up. My parents and brother left that Sunday to go back to the hometown and Jason & I planned to catch up with everyone again the following weekend.

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