For Oscar

Growing up, I was desperate for a dog.  My parents are not "dog people," so we never had one.  I had to live vicariously through my friends' dogs.  Needless to say, once I was grown up and out of the house, getting a dog was at the top of my To Do List.

Chad and I got engaged during college, and during our last semester at IU, we started talking about life AFTER the wedding.  Chad was well aware of my dog obsession, and thankfully he was on board with getting a dog.  We decided to take a stroll over to the world's strangest pet "store" (I use that term loosely -- there was a St. Bernard in residence, as well as an over-abundance of Chinese Hairless Crested dogs).  We thought it would be a good idea to "browse" the dog selection to get an idea of what kind of dog we would be looking for after we got married.  Here's a little nugget of wisdom: if you let a dog lover go "browse" for a dog, you will go home with a dog.  While we were checking things out at Delilah's Pet Shop, we happened upon a plexiglass crate full of puppies labeled "American Pit Bull Terriers."  They were all laying sleepily in a perfect puppy pile.  While we peered in, one of those precious babies opened their eyes, and it was love at first sight.  The pet store owner picked him up out of the pile, and set him on the ground.  That pup took one look at us and started sprinting around the pet store.  Some people (ok, most people) would probably look at that as a red flag of sorts.  However, we thought it was hilarious and awesome.  Chad went back the next day to pick him up.  And Oscar was our first official baby.

Over the last 12 years, Oscar has been at the center of our family -- an observer of multitudes of defining moments.  From those first days in an apartment full of guys as IU made a run to the final game in the NCAA tournament, to packing up and moving home from IU, getting married, moving into our first apartment, buying our first (and second) house, starting a family, grad school, job changes, new friends, and two more dogs, Oscar has been there.  A constant companion, a loyal friend, an unconditional supporter, a snoring-under-the-covers bed hog, an ever-patient big brother to Maya, and a happy face to come home to at the end of every day.

A week ago, we had to make the heart-wrenching and impossible decision to put Oscar down.  This was a day I had been dreading for every single day of the last twelve years.  Not having grown up with pets, I never knew what it felt like to lose a pet.  I could only imagine how difficult and painful it would be -- and it was exactly that hard.

I can only imagine that it is always extremely difficult to lose a pet.  They are members of our family.  For many reasons, I knew this would be the most difficult.  Partially because Oscar was my first dog (my first pet) ever, but mostly because of all of the defining moments for which he was present.  For the rest of our lives, we will never have another dog who was a part of our family for so many of life's major milestones.  We have two other dogs who are great, but it will never be quite the same, quite as special, quite as perfect.  Pit bulls are a special breed -- polarizing, misunderstood, but so humanlike and amazing.  Oscar was the embodiment of unconditional love.

The journey from 21 to 33 is bumpy.  The road is full of missteps, mistakes and learning experiences.  Oscar was around for some of the best moments of my life, and some of the worst mistakes and trials.  And he loved me perfectly, no matter which way the pendulum was swinging at the time.  As I've settled comfortably info my thirties, I have felt more at home in my own skin, more confident of my decisions, happier with the person I was made to be.  Oscar was there for all those years I wasn't so sure about myself.  He has been, in the truest sense, my training wheels into adulthood.

When I think about Oscar, the first word that comes to mind is "extraordinary."  But in reality, there wasn't really anything special about him.  Ordinary dogs can seem extraordinary, simply because of their ability to love -- so perfectly, so unconditionally.  It's a lesson for all of us in how we should treat each other.  It's reflective of how much God loves us, embodied in a cuddly, furry friend we are fortunate to share our lives with for too short a time.

Imitation is the Highest Form of Flattery

When Chad and I were in high school, he used to mimic things I would say, and when I would get mad, he would always tell me that "imitation is the highest form of flattery," which usually resulted in making me even more mad.  In any case, that phrase has gotten thrown around the Wilson house ever since then.  But if you take the smart-ass "Chad Wilson" tone out of it, it really is true.  If someone imitates something you have done/said/bought/made, it really is a pretty sincere form of flattery. 

In my last post I shared some pictures of our crazy soup bash a few weeks ago.  Several of my coworkers were in attendance for the inaugural soup party, and one of them decided we should do it over again as a work pitch-in.  Since the Super Bowl is this weekend, we decided to have a "Soup-er Bowl Party."  In addition, everyone who brought in a donation of canned soup got to wear jeans for the day.  You wanna see a bunch of mortgage people get excited?  Let them wear jeans.  We donated the canned soup to the Hamilton County Harvest Food Bank. 

Since we had the soup list ahead of time, I was able to spend a little more time making the soup names look prettier, which clearly brought me a lot of joy.  I wish I would have gotten my act together to do this for the party at my house... Oh well, next time!

I love that my job sometimes involves making silly soup cards.

We gathered in the break room at noon and had a crazy soup taste-off.  Everything was soup-er tasty.  Some people got a little crazy and started mixing soups together, which resulted in an amazing hybrid combination of the chicken & wild rice soup and the beef & mushroom soup.  Everyone voted, and Amy's Chicken & Wild Rice soup was the winner.  Given our love of themes, Amy won a sweet "Soup-er Market" gift card.

Winner Winner, Chicken (& Rice) Dinner!  Isn't she cute?

Soup's On!

If you have ever met me, you know I live for a good theme party.  

Fall Festival?  Epic memories.

Sweat Pants Oscar Party?  You bet.

Favorite Things?  A semiannual tradition.

While chatting with a few friends before Christmas, I said something like "Wouldn't it be great to make a bunch of soup and just sit around on a Saturday and eat it?"  What turned into a random plan for 3 or 4 of us to make soup and eat it turned into 20 adults and 7 or 8 kids at my house with 11 crock pots plugged in.

A thing of beauty.

As has been known to happen, I took a simple idea and overcomplicated it as much as humanly possible.  And it was great.  Amazing mix of friends.  Amazing collection of soups.  Tiny grilled cheese sandwiches.  All good things.  Best accidental idea I've had in a long time!  I've been promising the soup recipes to everyone for a few weeks now.

A food party is best described in pictures, of course...  Recipes follow at the end!

Talk about a wide range of tasty soups

Ummm, Yum.

Tiny cups for sampling.  I never even put soup in a regular bowl.
Who doesn't like eating soup out of teeny tiny cups?

Would you like some crackers on your soup?  Or some bacon?

Tiny grilled cheese sandwiches.  A must have with tomato soup.  

It's supposed to be candid, Scott.

Winner!  

Thai Spiced Pumpkin Soup:

• 2 acorn squash, pumpkins, or other smallish winter squash
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 14-ounce can coconut milk
• 1 teaspoon (or more) red Thai curry paste
• water
• 2 teaspoons fine grain sea salt (or to taste)

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and place the oven racks in the middle.

2. Carefully cut each squash/pumpkin into halves (or quarters). Slather each piece of squash with butter, sprinkle generously with salt, place on a baking sheet skin sides down, and place in the oven. Roast for about an hour or until the squash is tender throughout.

3. When the pumpkin/squash are cool enough to handle scoop it into a large pot over medium high heat. Add the coconut milk and curry paste and bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat and puree with a hand blender, you should have a very thick base at this point. Now add water a cup at a time pureeing between additions until the soup is the consistency you prefer - a light vegetable stock would work here as well. Bring up to a simmer again and add the salt (and more curry paste if you like).

Serves six.

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Chickpea Stew:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
• Fine-grain sea salt
• 3 cups cooked chickpeas or 1 1/2 (15-ounce) cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon saffron threads (2 modest pinches)
• 3 large egg yolks, lightly beaten
• 1 cup plain yogurt (Greek or regular)
• Sweet paprika
• Small bunch fresh cilantro, chopped

Directions

1. In a medium-large pot over medium-high heat, combine the olive oil, onion, and a couple of big pinches of salt. Cook until the onions soften up a bit, a few minutes.
2. Stir in the chickpeas, and then add the vegetable broth and garlic. Bring to a simmer and remove from heat.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk the saffron and egg yolks, then whisk in the yogurt. Slowly add a big ladleful, at least 1 cup, of the hot broth to the yogurt mixture, stirring constantly. Very slowly whisk this mixture back into the pot of soup.
4. Return the pot to medium heat and cook, stirring continuously for another 5 minutes or so, until the broth thickens to the consistency of heavy cream, never quite allowing broth to simmer.
5. Ladle into individual bowls and serve sprinkled with a touch of paprika and plenty of chopped cilantro.

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WHITE CHICKEN CHILI

INGREDIENTS:

¼ cup canola oil

2 lbs. cubed chicken breast meat

½ tbsp. ground cumin

½ tbsp. chili powder

½ tbsp. salt

1 tsp. black pepper

¼ cup butter

¾ cup chopped onion

1 tbsp. minced garlic

¼ cup chopped roasted poblano pepper*

1 small can chopped green chilies

¼ cup flour

4 cups chicken stock

2 tbsp. salsa verde

½ chili garlic paste

½ heavy cream

4 oz plain greek yogurt

4 oz shredded monterrey jack cheese

3 green onions (chop, for garnish 

DIRECTIONS:

Heat canola oil in a large sauté pan or a dutch oven (dutch oven if you're doubling the recipe for sure) over medium heat. Combine chicken and spices in mixing bowl. Lightly brown the chicken, cooking until about 75% done.

Remove chicken and set aside. Melt the butter in the pan, and sauté onions until translucent. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add the poblanos and green chilis. Add the flour, stir to incorporate, and cook for about 2 minutes.

Add the chicken stock a little at a time, whisking to smooth out any lumps. Add the salsa verde, chili garlic paste, and chipotle tabasco. Allow to come back to a simmer over medium heat, and then add the chicken back into pan. Simmer for 5 minutes and add the cream and white beans stir to incorporate. Garnish with green onions.

Makes about 5 servings

*To roast the poblano, you do it over a gas burner on low-medium or a grill on high heat (that's what I did). If you don't have either of those options, I've heard you can do this in a cast iron skillet, but that's just one more pan you'll have to clean later. Put it directly on the grate and turn every now and then to evenly scorch it all over. Once it's bubbled and burned all over, you place it either in a zip top bag or seal tightly in aluminum foil (which is what I did). Let sit for about 15 minutes to steam. Then you peel off all the blackness, cut it open, scrape out the seeds, stem, and any "ribs" inside. Then chop.

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TACO SOUP

Ingredients:

2 pounds ground beef, cooked

1.25 cups diced onion

15.5 ounces kidney beans, undrained (or cooked dry beans)

15.5 ounces black beans, undrained (or cooked dry beans)

15.5 ounces pinto beans, undrained (or cooked dry beans)

2 cups frozen corn (or fresh in the summer)

10 ounces diced tomatoes with green chiles, undrained (again, fresh in the summer)

16 ounces tomato sauce

7 teaspoons Homemade Taco Seasoning

1 Tablespoon dried minced onion

2 teaspoons parsley flakes

4 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a Slow Cooker. Cook on high for 3-5 hours or until heated through. Serve with sour cream, cheese, guacamole, and/or jalepenos if desired.

Homemade Taco Seasoning

Ingredients:

6 teaspoons chili powder

5 teaspoons paprika

4.5 teaspoons cumin

2.5 teaspoons onion powder

.5 teaspoons garlic powder

.125 teaspoons cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

.5 teaspoon black pepper

Directions:

Whisk all ingredients together in a small bowl. Use in recipes as directed. (7 teaspoons of mix equals one store-bought package.)

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Roasted Cauliflower & Aged White Cheddar Soup:

Ingredients

• 1 small head cauliflower, cut into florets
• 2 tablespoons oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 teaspoon thyme, chopped
• 3 cups vegetable broth, chicken broth or chicken stock 
• 1 1/2 cups aged white cheddar, shredded
• 1 cup milk or cream
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Toss the cauliflower florets in the oil along with the salt and pepper, arrange them in a single layer on a large baking sheet and roast in a preheated 400F oven until lightly golden brown, about 20-30 minutes.
2. Heat the oil in a large sauce pan over medium heat, add the onion and saute until tender, about 5-7 minutes.
3. Add the garlic and thyme and saute until fragrant, about a minute.
4. Add the broth, deglaze the pan, add the cauliflower, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes.
5. Puree the soup until it reaches your desired consistency with a stick blender.
6. Mix in the cheese, let it melt without bringing it to boil again.
7. Mix in the milk, season with salt and pepper and remove from heat.

Slow Cooker: Implement step 1, optionally implement steps 2 & 3, place everything except the cheese and milk in the slow cooker and cook on low for 6-10 hours or high for 2-4 hours before adding the cheese and milk and cooking until the cheese has melted.

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BEER CHEESE SOUP

Prep Time: 30 Minutes

Cook Time: 45

Minutes

Ready In: 1 Hour 15

Minutes

Servings: 8

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups diced carrots

1 1/2 cups diced onion

1 1/2 cups diced celery

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

3 cups chicken broth

2 cups beer

1/3 cup butter

1/3 cup flour

4 cups milk or half and half

6 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon dry mustard

popped popcorn, for garnish

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large saucepan over medium heat, stir together carrots, onion, celery, and garlic.

Stir in hot pepper sauce, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper. Pour in chicken broth

and beer; simmer until vegetables are tender, about 12 minutes. Remove from heat.

2. Meanwhile, heat butter in a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Stir in flour with a

wire whisk; cook, stirring until the flour is light brown, about 3 or 4 minutes. Gradually

stir in milk, whisking to prevent scorching, until thickened. Remove from heat, and

gradually stir in cheese. Keep warm.

3. Stir beer mixture into cheese mixture. Stir in Dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce,

and dry mustard. Adjust for hot pepper sauce. Bring to a simmer, and cook 10

minutes. Serve topped with popcorn.

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Tomato Artichoke Soup

1 T olive oil or butter
1 white or yellow onion, finely choppped
2 or 3 cloves garlic, minced
1 bag frozen artichoke hearts (Trader Joe's maybe 16 ounces), thawed in microwave
1 15-ounce can crushed tomatoes
1 15-ounce can fire roasted tomatoes (crushed or diced)
1 tsp dried basil
1 bay leaf
Parmesan or Romano rind (optional)
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/4 C lowfat plain yogurt, sour cream or creme fraiche if desired.

In a large saucepan or medium dutch oven (Le Creuset), heat the olive oil or butter and saute the onion until translucent.  Add the garlic and stir for 30 seconds or until fragrant.  Add artichoke hearts, tomatoes, basil and bay leaf.  Add the cheese rind if you have one (if you buy the big wedges of Parmesan or Romano from Costco, save the hard rinds to flavor soups).  Bring to a boil and simmer to blend flavors for 20-30 minutes or so.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Remove bay leaf and rind, if using.  Puree with stick/immersion blender or ladle in batches into blender to puree if desired (only fill blender half way or you could have boiling soup everywhere).   Stir in yogurt, sour cream or creme fraiche if a little creaminess is desired.  Serve hot or cold (well, not right now save the cold for summer).

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Black Bean Soup:

2 (15 oz) cans black beans

1/4 cup diced red onion

2 tsp chopped pickled jalapeños 

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp cider vinegar

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp chili powder

1. Pour the canned beans along with the liquid into a medium saucepan.  Add the remaining ingredients and mix.

2. Bring the soup to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, for an hour, adding water to obtain desired consistency.

3. Serve each bowl with a garnish of red onion, jalapeño and sour cream.

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Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup:

4 C. Chicken broth

2 C. Water

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, shredded or cubed

1 (4.5 oz) package quick cooking long grain wild rice w/ seasoning packet

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. black pepper

3/4 C. flour

1/2 C. butter

2 C. heavy whipping cream

1. In a large pot over medium heat, combine broth, water and chicken,  Bring just to boiling until chicken is cooked, then stir in rice, reserving seasoning packet.  Cover and remove from heat.

2. In a small bowl, combine salt, pepper and flour.  Set aside.  In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter.  Stir in contents of seasoning packet until mixture is bubbly.  Reduce heat to low, then stir in flour mixture by tablespoons, to form a roux.  Whisk in cream, a little at a time, until fully incorporated and smooth.  Cook until thickened, 5 minutes.

3. Stir cream into broth and rice.  Cook over medium heat 10 to 15 minutes, until heated through.

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Creamy Turkey Noodle Soup:

ingredients:

• 2-4 cups cooked turkey breast (depends how meaty you like it)
• 8 cups low sodium chicken broth
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic
• 4 carrots, peeled and diced
• 8 celery stalks, diced
• 1 red onion, diced
• 1 TB dried basil
• 2 dried bay leaves
• salt & pepper to taste
• 16 oz. package frozen egg noodles
• 12 oz can evaporated milk

1. Sauté garlic and onion in olive oil 2-3 minutes.  Add carrots and celery and sauté for 3-4 minutes.

2. Add turkey and broth.  Bring to a boil.  Add basil, bay leaves, salt & pepper, and noodles.  

3. When noodles have cooked through (15 minutes or so), remove bay leaves and add evaporated milk.  Let simmer for 10-15 minutes.

Simplify

I figured it was time for another blog post... since it's been, you know, 362 days since my last blog post.  What can I say?  2013 was busy.

Here are our 2013 highlights:

I got a new job.  Maya switched schools.  Chad continued to love his job and rocked it out for another  year.  Chad and I went to Vegas in March.  We traded in my jeep and bought a Pilot.  We went on a family vacation to Florida over the summer with Chad's family.  Maya was a flower girl in our friends' wedding.  We got to be front row for the Mumford and Sons concert.  All in all, it was a glorious year.

As I was reflecting on our very busy (borderline chaotic) 2013, I started thinking about what I wanted my 2014 to look like.  I found that while we were constantly busy doing things last year, I didn't get a lot done.  We spent the year collecting tons of memories, experiences and stuff, but I barely had time to collect myself.  The word "simplify" kept popping into my head.  I'm not really one for making resolutions (let's be honest - following through on things is not my strong suit), but the start of a new year is a great time to make some changes.  I don't have huge, lofty goals that I want to achieve.  Instead, I want to focus on simplifying our life in several ways, and also being intentional with how we spend our time, money, resources, etc.  I feel like we indulged in so many things last year... food, clothes, drinks, activities, friends, stuff...

Have you ever read the book "7" by Jen Hatmaker?  It's a perspective changer.  A life changer.  In my opinion, it's a must read for anyone who lives in our society.  It's a story of how Jen and her family fought back against over-indulgence in seven areas of their life over a period of seven months.  I've had this book on my mind a lot over the last month or so.  Time for a re-read.

I've found that there is profound value in putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) to document what I want to accomplish, so here goes...

Simplify... My stuff
I have had grand intentions of shifting some rooms around in our house... moving Maya to our guest room, moving the guest room to the "office" (ha... OFFICE?  Try paralyzing, terrifying junk room... with a desk), and moving the office to Maya's old room.  Jena and I took a trip to Ikea sometime in late spring to fill up my trunk with glorious items that would make this room-shifting adventure easier... better... more enjoyable(?).  Most of that stuff is still in boxes, unassembled.  Life just got in the way.  Work, running, vacation, Candy Crush (ha), sleeping, being lazy, prioritizing other less important things -- you know how it goes.  I heard someone say this recently: "Don't accumulate so much stuff that you wish your house would burn down."  Or something like that.  I looked around my house and I was completely overwhelmed by how much stuff we have.  You can do a lot of nesting/settling/(hoarding) over the course of eight years.  This is the year where we simplify our stuff.

Simplify... My time
Chad and I have a lot of friends.  That's not a brag, it's a truth.  We have collected a lot of friends along the journey of our 18 years together.  Job changes, living in the same city for more or less our whole lives, a husband that has gone to school for a zillion different things, and just possessing a natural love for connecting with people and connecting people to each other -- all have led to a large social circle.  My mom told me a while ago that it doesn't matter how many people you know, one person can really only maintain a certain number of meaningful relationships in their life.  And that certain number is not very large.  I need to do a better job of being intentional with my time, as it relates to the important relationships in my life.  That means planning things out farther in advance (hello, calendar!), letting the important people in my life know how much they mean to me, and spending time nurturing those specific relationships.  Sure, we will still sprinkle in dinners with other friends, throw some random last minute parties, and drop what chores we're doing on a Saturday afternoon to meet up with someone who calls at the last minute.  I love that part of our social life, but I want to make sure I've carved out time for the most important relationships first.

If I can simplify my stuff and my time, I feel like I can find some time to try the things I think I never have time for:

I (begrudgingly) want to try yoga (Kara gave me a monogrammed yoga mat for Christmas -- hint taken, sister).

I want to have time to read some more books (put down the iPhone, Molly.  You've already played 1,000 games of Candy Crush today).

I want to run three half-marathons this year.  I ran two last year and I loved it.  If I challenge myself to do three, it will force me to stay trained throughout the year.

I want to write more -- one blog post at the beginning of January is not gonna cut it.  My cousin and soul-sister Amanda has challenged herself to write more.  I like that challenge and am going to try to do that as well.  I love reading what's on her mind and what's going on in her life.  I also enjoy how it's crazy easy to start a blog and just write about life, and it's documented there for you, so you can look back and remember the moments that seemed worthy of that documentation.

I want Maya to be able to participate in the things she likes doing.  She LOVES dance class, yet she hasn't been enrolled in a dance class since the summer.  Why?  All that other garbage got in the way.  And that's not her fault -- it's ours.

I want to find a place where we can land, spiritually.  We have gone to the same church forever.  It's where Chad and I met.  It's where we got married.  It's where our parents go to church.  But we don't feel rooted there.  Whether that means making more connections where we are, or finding a place where we can really grow our roots, it's something that is worthy of our time this year.

The only way any of this is going to get done is by taking itty bitty baby steps.  One day at a time.  One hour at a time.  One truckload of stuff to Goodwill at a time... Wish me luck, friends.