Snowmagedon

...at least that's what everyone called it.

the flowers hubs brought home to me- playing in the snow

I got 2 days off work (didn't know I could get big kid snow days!) and hubs got to come home early those days!! In Cincinnati the weather may have given kids a snow day but that's about it. But Seattle is a scardy cat when it comes to snow plus we have big hills downtown. (I actually saw a car slide down a hill and t-bone a bus; everyone was fine)

fogged up lens =ed awesome photo of hubs sliding

our second snowman together

What was incredible about the storm though was that for 2 days it consitently fell from the sky. The snow wasn't coming down overly hard but it never stopped coming. All day I watched it pile up on the table outside on our patio wondering how it had already gone up an inch

The first day off I went into work and then it was cancelled so that one didn't feel as fun but I went home and did things on our January list. We also went up to our neighbors and had chili and mini bundt cakes and played with her cats. It was nice to just relax and chat with her over comfort food.

But Wednesday felt awesome! I got to do my dream job for a day- bake and cook all day and edit my photos and organize them.

We now have 12 meals already made and ready to take to work - three bean chili, chicken and dumplings veggie soup, and mushroom tomato soup! We're really excited to have it all made and ready to go. Winter just feels like soup and chili and now we don't have to have sandwiches again for over a week!

Then that night our friends Jessica & Kenneth came over for dinner. We were so happy they braved the crazy snowy streets to come eat with us. After dinner we lounged around trying to convince Jessica whiskey was good and ate pastries. Perfect kind of snowy night in with people you love being surrounded with!

Bean and Beef Chili:

1 tbs. olive oil
1 onion; chopped
6 stalks of celery; chopped
5-7 carrots; chopped
4 cloves of garlic; minced
2 red peppers; diced
1 jalapeno; minced
2 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. chili powder
1 lb of ground beef
2 cups of water
28 oz can of diced tomatoes
2 cans of black beans; drained and rinsed
1 can of garbonzo beans; drained and rinsed
kale; chopped

1   in a large pot heat olive oil with the onion, celery, carrots, peppers with lid on for about 10 minutes
2   once the are tender toss in the garlic and spices and cook for 1 minute
3   then put in the ground beef and cook on high until it is no longer pink at all
4   pour in the water and tomatoes and kale, simmer on medium heat for 30 minutes partially covered
5   put in the beans and cook for 20 minutes partially covered




chicken dumpling soup:

1 tbs olive oil
3 chicken breasts cooked and cut into bit size pieces
5-6 cups of chicken broth
6 carrots; chopped
6 celery stalks; chopped
1 onion; chopped
2 cloves of garlic; minced
kale; chopped
S&P
basil (I used 2 cubes of basil that I froze in ice cubes from the summer)
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp paprika

the dumplings are the same as for chicken and dumplings

1   put olive oil in a large pot and cook veggies until tender
2   pour in broth chicken and kale along with the spices and simmer for 30 minutes
3   while it is cooking make the dumplings
4   drop them in the soup and cook for 15 minutes (if there isn't enough liquid add more broth or some water)

yes it really is that easy! And it tastes pretty amazing!