Monday Picture

Corn Chowder with Chilies

I found this recipe on The Pioneer Woman's blog. It is fantastic.

Here is what you'll need:

Step 1: Put on the cute apron your husband/son got you for Christmas? Don't have one...I guess you can just proceed to step two then (while wishing you had a cute apron like me).

Step 2: Cut up the bacon into small pieces.

Step 3: Throw the bacon in your soup pot and cook until it is nice and crispy.

Step 4: Dice up your onion(s) and saute in soup pot with the bacon.

Step 5: Add the butter to the pot (yes, you have bacon grease AND butter...brilliant I know), allow it to melt and then add your corn.

Step 6: Dice your chipotle peppers.

Step 7: Add your chipotle peppers and green chilies to the pot.

Step 8: Add the chicken stock and cream to the pot (for those of you keeping track - we are now up to bacon grease, butter and cream, AKA the trifecta).

Step 8: Mix cornmeal with water and add to soup pot.

Step 9: Allow soup to simmer for approximately 15 minutes. If you would like it a bit thicker, add more cornmeal mixed with water. Serve and Enjoy!

Corn Chowder with Chilies

2-3 slices of bacon cut into 1/2 inch pieces

2 TBS butter

1-1.5 onions diced

4ish cups of corn (canned, frozen or fresh)

2 whole chipotle peppers in adobo sauce - finely diced

1 4-oz can of diced green chilies

32 ounces chicken stock (I used bouillon cubes)

1.5 C heavy whipping cream

3 TBS cornmeal

1/4 C. water

salt to taste

Add bacon pieces to a soup pot and cook over medium heat. Throw in diced onion and stir, cooking the onion until translucent. Add the butter and allow to melt. Add corn and cook for a minute or two. Next, add both kinds of chilies and stir.

Pour in the chicken stock and cream. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to low.

Combine cornmeal with water then pour into the soup. Cover and cook for 15 minutes over low heat. If you prefer your chowder to be thicker, add another tablespoon of cornmeal mixed with water and cook for an additional 10 minutes.

Outtakes

We all knew it would happen eventually...

Mike realized he can attempt to ride Sammy.

Monday Picture

Snow Sharks

An alternate title for this post could have been: "Brad had way too much free time on a post-call day."

Red

Warning: This may be a ridiculously long post about pretty much nothing. This is probably a pretty good indicator of what our life is normally like though :)

So after I picked Mike up on Thursday evening we ran to Target to buy Brad a new coffee maker. The other day Brad was considering moving our coffee maker upstairs so he could have coffee in the morning without have to run downstairs before he showers (so the coffee will be ready as soon as he gets downstairs). Now this may seem a bit silly to some of you, but consider this. Brad leaves most mornings around 4:30. meaning he wakes up about 4. So the extra 2-3 minutes it would take to run downstairs and get the coffee going are 2-3 less minutes of sleep, which he definitely needs. So we kind of contemplated different options...bringing the coffee maker upstairs so he could hit the button right before he got in the shower and have coffee as soon as he got out of the shower. The problem with this is our coffee maker is big and would take up lots of counter space, plus it would be kind of annoying to have a coffee maker in the bathroom. Option 2 was to buy a smaller coffee maker to put in the bathroom and option 3 is to suck it up and run downstairs.

Me, being the nice wife that I am :) thought of option 4...buy a programmable coffee maker so he could set it the night before and have coffee first thing in the morning without have to run downstairs prior to showering, or have a coffee maker in the bathroom (wow this post is really going nowhere fast)...anyway, so I decided it would be nice to surprise him with a new programmable coffee maker. So while Brad was on call Thursday night Mike and I headed to Target (my love for Target could be a whole other post) to find the perfect coffee maker. On our way to housewares we took a short detour through kid shoes because...well just because. I came across a display of super cute converse sneakers. I searched the rack semi-hoping to find something in Mike's size. Low and behold they had one pair left...in red...in Mike's size!!! So not only did we come home with a fancy schmancy programmable coffee maker, but also awesome RED converse sneakers.

The AWESOME red sneakers!

Mike's face while I was trying to take pictures of the AWESOME red sneakers because I wouldn't let him have the camera.

Still angry that he couldn't have the camera

Not quite so angry, but still not happy...

Oh mom, you are so silly.

Mike finally getting his little fingers on the camera.

To my Wyoming/Utah friends

It snowed in Saint Louis last night (it is still snowing actually). At my house we got about 4 inches. Others have reported 8+ inches. Per usual schools and daycares were closed across the region. This didn't come as a surprise. It doesn't snow much out here so when it does people tend to freak out a little bit. The funny part is as I was driving down the freeway to work this morning there was a sign that said "EXTREME WEATHER - LIMIT ALL TRAVEL." After seeing this sign I called my dad (figuring he would get a kick out of it). His comment- "It snowed 4 inches here yesterday and no one noticed." Well played dad, well played.

Here is our "Extreme" conditions. Watch out those roads are crazy bad, you can't even see asphalt...oh wait...you can.

And because you all want to see pictures of Mike, here is one of him in the snow this morning.

Fashion

Last Saturday I had to work which left Brad in charge of Mike for most of the day. I came home to a very happy little boy who had napped, played, eaten and had an all around good day. I was met a the door by this little guy.

Now, I made a comment about Mike's interesting outfit (if he was a little older I maybe would have thought he picked it out himself) to which Brad replied "what? it matches, it is blue...blue shirt and blue pants...what's the problem." Maybe it is just me but a baby blue tee on baby blue (high water) pants just looks funny. Also for the record, he was wearing mismatched socks :)

Before we left later that day to go grocery shopping I made an act like I was going to change Mike's clothes. Brad took offense so we actually left the house with Mike dressed like this. At least his shoes covered up the mismatched socks.

Hot Wheels

Then we push him around the house and he squeals happily.

Monday Picture

Sorry I was kind of MIA last week. We are in the middle of year-end reporting at work and things are busy busy busy. I will try to be better this week!

Gallop gallop gallop

We have a little game called "gallop gallop gallop." Mike likes it WAY more than I do, but since it elicits great big, belly laughs and high, pitched giggles I tend to give in anytime he wants to play. Basically, anytime I am laying on my stomache he will come up and climb onto my back and start bouncing. This is my cue to get up and start galloping around with him on my back. While galloping I must also say "gallop gallop gallop" and jump around like a crazy person. I usually add a few "whinnies" and "neighs" in just to mix things up a bit.

Monday Picture

Things to Remember

Reading is very important in our household. We are trying to instill a love of books in Mike early to help him foster a lifelong love of literature. We usually read 2-3 books every morning before heading out to daycare and then in the evening before bedtime. Mike has learned that if he brings me a book, I will stop whatever I am doing to read it to him so he will often walk up to me, book in hand, ready to read. The cutest part is if I am sitting down, or as soon as I sit down, he will get close, turn around and back up to me and sit on my lap. He prefers to hold the book himself (and seems to prefer to hold it upside down), and usually listens intently for about 25 seconds before he has wandered away to find another book or toy.

Outtakes

Christmas Vacation

Sorry I was kind of MIA last week but the Warlick family took a much needed vacation to spend the holidays in a remote corner of Wyoming with family. We flew into Salt Lake City on Christmas morning and were met at the airport two ecstatic grandparents, a thrilled aunt and a happy boyfriend. After many hellos and installing a car seat we were on our way...to Denny's...for Christmas breakfast. Just to clarify, Denny's was the closest thing to the airport that was open on Christmas morning. I must admit there is quite an interesting subset of the general population that makes their way to Denny's for breakfast on Christmas morning. After a quick breakfast we were in the car and ready for the two hour trek to my parent's house. During our week there we had a wonderful time. We spent Christmas together, played in the snow, saw old friends, rested, relaxed, rang in the new year and all around had a fantastic time. Per usual the week ended WAY too quickly and I'm pretty sure Mike came home with another chunk of my dad's heart (I don't think he would have it any other way). I can't wait until we can visit again!