Rebecca Homecca

Last night we were sitting in the living room watching TV and I notice Marvin is in the kitchen making funny noises.

Not that it is the least bit unusual for these cats to be making noises, but this seemed odd.

So I go to investigate, because my first thought is Maisy is somewhere she isn’t supposed to be and he’s ratting her out.

I was right. She had sneeked her way into the back utility room and got closed in. This room is of great fascination to both cats, so they both love to sneak out there. However, Maisy is quite a bit, well sneakier than Marv. He’s more, shall we say, lumbering.

Now Maisy, who was the one trapped in the room wasn’t making a peep. But Marvin was clearly distressed by the situation and led us right to her.

I said he’s just like Lassie!

For this month’s cooking group I made Pork Roast with a pineapple sort of sweet and sour type sauce. I essentially made my mom’s meatball sauce, but changed it up a little. You just throw the whole mess in a crock pot and there you go. To go with it I made carroty rice (so easy; shredded carrots, boullion, rice. Cook it like rice).

I am super excited to try the ravioli lasagna. When my friend described the recipe is sounded super yummo.

We also have tortilla soup for one meal and beef fajitas for our other meal. I love tortilla soup and hubs loves beef fajitas, so those sound like winners!

Who knew we were such social butterflies!

I just got home from having dinner with the girls. Always such a good time!! Supposedly we are getting together so they can knit and I can, I don’t know, watch I guess. I just don’t like to be left out of activities. Seems like less and less knitting gets done, but we do get lots of talking in. And eating.

Monday was eye doctor and couch shopping. Tuesday was groceries and making my cooking group meals. Wednesday was art class.

Tomorrow we are going to the auto show. Saturday Hubs has an activity, so I plan on relaxing with some Netflix!After cleaning the house, which is totally trashed from being in and out so much.

Then of course Sunday is my 2nd favorite holiday, The Super Bowl. Football and Snacks, what more is there to say?

Last night we went into town to start couch shopping. We had kept saying when the house was done we would buy new furniture. Well, the house is NOT done, but we are sick of this old furniture! The chairs are totally falling apart and the setee is just too small for lounging.

We went last night and found a couch we liked right away. It’s actually the first one you see when you walk in the door of the place and the first one we sat in.

We borrowed some fabric samples to check against the paint. We also let the cats have a go at it to make sure they couldn’t snag their claws on it. We brought home a green one, an orange one, and a tan one. I suspect most people would pick the tan one (it does match the cat fur the best) but it is too boring for us.

All of them look fine against the paint, so that did not narrow it down any. Marvin prefers to lay on the orange sample, while Maisy laid on the green sample. So they are no help…

Hubs likes the green best, but I think I like the orange best. However, I think the green would be more practical. Greens are kind of like neutrals, you can put a lot of different colors with it (think leaves on a flower).  So if I wanted to re-paint or anything I would have more options.  Also the orange is darker and would probably show more of Marvin’s white belly fur.

We are going to check out a couple of more stores, but I am sure everything will be compared against this first couch option.

We also need to decide on whether we want two chairs, a chair and ottoman combo, or a loveseat to go with it. Then we have to choose fabric for that!

Not to mention the fact that we will then also need a new rug, curtains, and end tables.

And here we just thought we were getting a new couch.

I don’t really have much to talk about today. So when you live in Michigan and have nothing to talk about, there’s always the weather.

Yesterday the weatherman put up the big ol’ down arrow on the forecast. That is never a good sign.

I saw the low tomorrow is 1. Yes ONE. At this point, freezing would seem like a heat wave.

It has also been very windy, so I know the windchills are crazy low. When I open the garage door in the mornings it feels like I am getting punch in the face by Jack Frost. That guy is such a jerk anyway…

When I walked out to my car to day after work it made me cough the air was so cold.

We have a lot of people near where I work that have to walk places or take the bus. I always feel bad for them as I sit at the stop light with my heated seats.

The only positive side to all this cold air is that when it gets this cold, the sun always shines. Seems backwards, but the clouds keep the heat in.

So if you can get your seats heated up enough you can sit and read in your car at lunch and soak up some Vitamin D. And we need all the D we can get in these parts.

I just read that January is National Soup Month.  I am a big fan of soup, especially in January!

Here is a souper easy (ha!) 4 step recipe. This is top secret Rebecca Homecca stuff here, so pay attention!

Step 1: Saute the big three (onion, celery, and garlic) in some olive oil. This is your first flavor layer and how I start most soups. And don’t throw away those leafy tops to your celery! Add them to the soup (or thrown them in a salad for a nice surprise. They also add interest to chicken or tuna salad. Sounds crazy, but try it. Trust me!)

Step 2: Add your liquids. This may be broth and/ or canned tomatoes. For this example let’s go with 1 can chicken broth and 1 can diced tomatoes.

Step 3: Add your mixins. I like to use leftovers. Cooked chicken, leftover rice that you never know what to do with, chopped veggies (any variety), even leftover sauteed veggies works.

For this example, let’s pretend we had grilled chicken breasts and zucchini for dinner last night. Chop that up and throw it in. Oh, you made rice too? Nice! Throw it in. Frozen veggies are also a great option. You know me, throw a handful of corn in everything!

Step 4: Add your spices. Depending on what your leftovers were flavored with, you may just need salt and pepper. Otherwise I am a big fan of Mrs. Dash, she’s got a bunch of varieties, pick your favorite.

OK, now mix it up!

Use spicy tomatoes and green chiles (and corn).

Made too much macaroni or penne? Save it and throw it in your broth and tomatoes with some Italian Seasoning, zucchini, and carrots (and corn).

Leftover turkey finds a new life with rice, chicken broth, and soup veggies (don’t forget corn!)

Don’t be afraid. Because seriously, weren’t you considering throwing all that stuff away anyway?

We have a bunch of activities coming up this week so I decided to plan ahead (it’s a new thing I’m trying…this planning ahead business) and make a big pot of chili to have on hand. I figure that way we can just heat it up and eat it whenever we are around. Since we probably won’t be eating at the same time, this seemed like a good idea.

Besides, who doesn’t love a big pot of chili on the stove on rainy January day?

We had Souper Wednesday this week at work (in lieu of Wienie Wednesday). We had 3 different soups, salad, rolls, dessert, crackers and toppings.

I made Potato and Corn Chowder. I can not comment personally on how it tasted because I ate the other people’s soups instead. But everyone that ate mine said it was good, but could have used a little salt. I skimped a little on the salt because I was afraid the bacon would make it too salty. Guess it didn’t.

This recipe is so easy it’s crazy. You just throw everything in the crockpot and let it go for 3 hours on high or 6 on low.

1 bag frozen hash brown potatoes (I used to O’brien kind)

1 can whole kernel corn

1 can cream corn

1 can evaporated milk (I used skim)

8 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled (I used the pre-cooked kind and just cut it up)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce

1/4 teaspoon pepper

It called for 1/2 cup chopped onion, but I omitted that on account of using the O’brien style potatoes.

To be honest, when I first put everything in the pot it kind of looked like something that someone had already eaten, but once it was cooked it looked (and smelled) quite tasty.

Em brought chopped green onion, shredded cheese, and bacon bits for toppings. I enjoy toppings on my soup.

Tuesday night I went out to dinner with my BFF Em (yes I sit next to her for 8 hours a day…but somehow we still don’t get all of our words in!). We were supposedly knitting, but I don’t knit. I do talk though, so I did that instead! Got home late (and by late I mean 9) but had to talk to hubs (still don’t have all my words out? Good Grief!) for a few before bed and went to bed too late.

Wednesday I had art studio and even though I got home usual time, I still went to bed late!

I don’t know why I am having such trouble getting into bed on time. But it is catching up to me I can tell you that…

There is a “postcard” show that we were all going to enter, but it proved to be more difficult than you would think! Basically, you had to make 4X6 paintings. Since I had just made a bunch of cards for that Christmas show, I was a little burned out on working small. I tried for the past 2 weeks, and finally gave up last night. So I started a new painting with snow.

Snow is very difficult because it isn’t just white, there are reflections of other colors and shadows. But I just read an article in a Watercolor magazine about it.

Yes there truly is a magazine for every interest.

Speaking of art…tonight one of our friends stopped by tonight to buy one of my paintings to give as a gift. How exciting!

Now that we’ve had dinner and are sitting down to relax I feel like I could go right to sleep. And I just might as soon as the laundry is done!

Heard on the way home that the founder of Taco Bell has passed away.

Glen Bell Jr was truly a master. He somehow managed to make a food that is absolutely disgusting and yet totally amazing at the same time. He brought the world of mediocre Mexican food to the masses and we loved it.

Taco Bell is the one food from college that I have not been able to give up. It’s my one downfall. And the more I eat it, the more I want it. It’s like crack in a taco shell.

So here’s to you Glen Bell Jr…for the best worst fast food out there. I’ll be sure to have a couple of tacos in your honor this week.