Our new couch has finally arrived. It was delivered around 8 o'clock on Friday night. One of the recliners is a little messed up and seems like it may of been stuffed with the wrong padding (its much more stiff than the rest of the couch) so we'll have a technician come and check that out. But other than that, we're really happy about our purchase. Now we're just waiting on our Sofa table and Coffee table! It should be here by the weekend or shortly after.
We've realized that Wendy's new favorite spot is under the recliner once its popped up. So we've found that we have to continuously ask each other "Is she under mine?" "No, is she under mine?". I guess we'll get used to it. She's always enjoyed laying in little sneaky spots.
I had an extremely productive day yesterday. I don't know what came over me! I got so much done. I guess I just got on a mission and ran with it. My mom had given us an old metal file cabinet that was rusted and painted a lovely shade of khaki. So I decided to sand it down and spray paint it. Sounds easy, right? Except that I had to do one side at a time and then wait for it to dry. So in between my painting sessions, I managed to reorganize our pantry, move some furniture around and tape off where our new tables will go, 4 loads of laundry, a trip to Home Depot, the dry cleaners, the bank, and Publix.. AND I watered the flowers/garden and picked up dog poop (my personal fav). On top of all that, I organized some of my recipes and cooked us a homemade meal for supper! Which, by the way, was delicious- here's the recipe for that:
Zucchini and Rice Casserole
3 cups Chicken Broth
1 Zucchini sliced
1 medium Onion chopped
2 Bell Peppers chopped (any colors will work)
2 Jalapeno's chopped and seeded (or leave the seeds in if you want a little more spice)
1 cup of Corn (frozen- thawed or fresh)
1 1/2 cups of milk
2 cups jack cheese
4 oz. cream cheese
1 1/2 cups brown long grain rice
3 tbsp all purpose flour
1 lb turkey sausage
Pre-heat your oven to 375. Chop up all your veggies (except the jalapeno) and pop them into a casserole dish. Add your dry rice as well. Pour your Chicken Broth into a pot and bring it to a boil. Then, pour the broth over the veggies and rice. Cover the casserole dish and pop it in the over for 40 minutes. Remove the foil, give it a stir, and then leave it uncovered to cook for an additional 30-40 minutes.
In the meantime, brown and rinse your turkey sausage (I chopped the jalapeno here and let it sautee with the turkey) Also, once the casserole is close to coming out of the oven, mix your milk and flour and bring to a boil on the stove (I just re-used the chicken broth pot!). Simmer on low until thickened (continuously stir with a whisk!) and then add in the 2 cups of jack cheese and 1 cup of corn. Pull the casserole out of the oven and add in your sausage and cheese mixture. Also add in your dollops of cream cheese evenly. Stir the entire dish well.
The recipe didn't call for it.. but I added a cracker topping. I melted 2 tbsp of butter and crushed up several club crackers, mixed them together, and then crumbled them over the top. The casserole goes back into the oven for 10-15 minutes and then its complete!
It seems like a lot of steps, but it was relatively easy. And I think it'll make for a great leftover's dish as well. And luckily, with this recipe, I was able to get rid of a Zucchini and 2 Jalapeno's from our garden! I love cooking with fresh ingredients!
Thomas and I are headed to a braves game tonight to see our FIRST game of the season and enjoy their fireworks display. And tomorrow, we'll be spending the day with some friends. We're looking forward to a little creek time, good food, and more fireworks.
I'll head back to work on Friday once the kids are back in town. And Thomas will be in town for the next 3 weeks! He's been traveling so much lately.. it'll be nice to see his face a little more often.
Next week, I'll start my next session sewing class so I'm really excited about that. It should cover a lot more skills and hopefully I'll be on my way to making lots of fun new projects. It'll meet Monday and Wednesday (7-9:30) for 2 weeks. It'll be a lot.. now that I've started back to work.. but I'm still really looking forward to it.
Hope that everyone has a safe and fun 4th of July!
