Sundays ...

Sundays are for football ... unless you don't have a TV connection, which we don't and have for the most part survived.

Sundays are also for lounging around, unless you have to run a $$ Target errand for nothing really all that fun and catch up on reading (not the fun kind, the hard to read journal kind).

It turns out my Sunday was also for helping my poor husband administer cortisone cream to hard to reach areas after a biting caterpillar decided to "ride" with him while backpacking and when irritated, bite him approximately 30 times!! (I would have added a picture, but thought twice about asking R to pose for it).

So yes, my Sunday was spent, running a not so fun Target errand, reading not so fun reading, and being a nurse (which I don't mind doing, but did laugh out loud while doing it). I did however also get to enjoy glorious fall weather (yay for the 60s!), go out to lunch with R once he returned from backpacking, bake Harvest Muffins, take the dog for a long walk, and practice yoga. Overall, it was a pretty nice Sunday.

How was yours?

"Stupid Tired"

A co-worker/fellow student of mine is also pregnant and due just a few days before me. The other day she said, "Wow, I am stupid tired!" and I thought, gosh, that is something. Well, it turns out, I too have been "stupid tired" and the reason I know this is because I finally got a good night sleep and I feel great! Wahoo!

"Autumn" food

We had two glorious days of autumn like weather and all I wanted to eat was tasty fall flavors like apple and pumpkin. Luckily, we received a few butternut squashes in our CSA share this week, so that started the weekend off right with Lucy's butternut squash soup. Initially, R grumbled about having soup for dinner, but he added some red pepper flakes and loved it!

Saturday morning I woke up ready to tackle the kitchen! First, I sorted our spices and filled up our spice rack. Then, I searched high and low for a pumpkin muffin recipe and decided to go with Lucy's pumpkin cream cheese swirl muffins. R was a great sport about these because 1. he doesn't really like pumpkin flavors and 2. we went to four stores looking for pumpkin! While we were out running errands, I "made" some applesauce from the apples we received in our CSA share.

This is a crockpot recipe my mom found and I totally love it ...
Ingredients:
4 lbs. apples (we like to have a mix of red and green apples)
1/3 - 1/2 c. sugar
2 cinnamon sticks

Directions:
1. peel and chop apples
2. Place the apples, sugar, and cinnamon sticks in the crockpot
3. Cook on high for 3 - 4 hrs.
4. Remove cinnamon sticks
5. Mash with a potato masher

(The first time I made this, I thought the apples weren't cooking down and we were going to have apple mush, but lo and behold, around hour 2.5, they started to get really soft and I used the masher to help them along).

I don't have a picture, but trust me, this applesauce is super tasty.

Purse

My purse and pouch are nearly here! Meg gave me a "sneak peek" at my bags before she mails them and I am so excited! I love the eccentric look of the purse and how the inside of the pouch matches the inside of the purse. yay!

The Windy City part I - the food!

R and I went to Chicago this past weekend to visit my brother and meet up with some of R's friends from HS. Overall, we had a blast! Nothing beats the Windy city when you have nice weather and great company. Pretty much, our weekend revolved around walking and eating. Some of our food highlights included:

Tempo Cafe - a great breakfast/lunch place near Loyola University and close to shopping

Vermillion - a latin/indian fusion tapas restaurant ... yes, it was spicy (the chef has been on Iron Chef and will be appearing again in October!!)

Ghiradelli - no explanation needed

Yes, I know no one should ever spend $8 on a sundae, but doesn't it look amazing!

I decided it was a preganancy craving and here is our conversation about such things (it is very logical)...

K: I would really like a sundae.
R: ok, sounds good.
K: I think it is a pregnancy craving.
R: Really, a craving?
K: yes, I'm pregnant and I want it. I think that means it is a craving.