jack the cat

Why hello there, Mr. Jack.



You are looking pretty comfy up there in that basket...that is sitting on top of a CASE of peanut butter patties.



That is sitting on top of the fridge.

Weirdo.

Yes, that really is a case of peanut butter patties, AKA my favorite Girl Scout Cookie ever. Surprisingly, I think I have only eaten one (cookie, not case). Shocking. I paid $20 for the entire case at an auction for Relay, the previous bidder had put down a $2 bid. That is just wrong.

saturday randomness + awesome soup recipe

I have an 18 mile run on tap for today - and in an effort to procrastinate a little bit longer, I give you this very random post. :)

Last Saturday I saw something I never ever thought I would see in my whole entire life.


Maia - what the heck is this cat doing in my dog bed??


Meh - too tired to care.

On Wednesday I received an email from an associate editor at Women's Day magazine asking me if I would like to feature one of my favorite snacks on their "Snack Smart" blog. After I picked my jaw up from off the floor and did quite the happy dance, Nic popped open a beer and we celebrated. I had to call my Mom to share the good news.



We've been having quite the crappy weather here in Iowa lately. Temperatures way below normal and a lot of rain. So last night I whipped up a warm bowl of comfort - soup!  I've had this soup on my mind since Nic brought home a head of cauliflower the other day and the final product surpassed my expectations.  A healthy, creamy soup that doesn't taste healthy. Divine.  Four thumbs up.

Roasted Garlic Cauliflower Soup



In the mix::

• 1t coconut oil
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 2 carrots grated - about 1 cup
• 1 small head cauliflower - cut into small florets, about 2.5 cups
• 2 3/4 cup veggie stock
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 cup navy beans
• 1 whole head roasted garlic
• 1 1/4 t salt
• 1/2 t white pepper
• 1/4 t dried parsley
• 1/4 t nutmeg

Heat coconut oil in a skillet over medium pot. Add onions and carrots and saute 2-3 minutes. Add cauliflower florets and saute a minute more. Add veggie stock and bring to boil.  Reduce to a simmer, add the bay leaf, cover and cook until cauliflower is very tender.

When cauliflower is tender, add beans and garlic. Using an immersion blender, blend until smooth.

Add spices, tasting occasionally for taste. Add more or less to your taste.

Makes about 6 cups of soup.

This soup was amazing. Seriously creamy you wouldn't believe there was no cream in there! Nic and I both thought it tasted like cream of potato soup - without the cream or the potatoes.  Yum.

We served these up with a side of kale chips.



I have been slightly obsessed with kale chips lately. I dunked mine in the soup - and then later had a second serving with ketchup.

The soup would be really good with some kale stirred into it at the end.

Eat more kale.

I have an interesting idea for pizza planned for dinner tonight. I hope the crust that I just made ends up being a good base. This pizza will be epic (I hope!).

Alright. It is shaping up to be quite the nice day.



Time to head out to get a 18 mile dose of vitamin D.



18 miles...its been a while since I've tackled this distance.



But at 55* and sunny - it is bound to be a good run.



See ya on the flip side! :)

for the love of jack

You know, I never thought I would be a cat person. I have a crazy cat lady for a friend, whom I love to death, but never, would I own cats.

Ha. The first chance that Nic and I had to take home a few kittens, we jumped on it. We had our perfect kitty picked out - and then brought two home. Jack and Henry. Lovely kitties.

Henry died.

Jack still annoys us daily.

We love Jack.

He was being all sweet this weekend snoozing it up in the sun on the dog bed and I whipped out the camera to snap a few photos.





So glad I did...



::Yawn::



Must have been a good nap...he was probably pissed I woke him up with all of my picture taking.



Nice portrait Jack!



Ok, that's a little scary...



And that is just plain creepy.  I giggle every time I look at this photo - it MUST go up on our photo wall!

Here's a few non creepy photos...so you don't have nightmares about Jack the Cat.





Cats are the best pets. Everyone should have one. Especially if you get a Jack - you will never be bored! Fun fact about Jack - he thinks he is a dog and his favorite game is to play fetch.  Yessiree! Beer bottle tops are his favorite things to fetch, followed by plastic caps. Whenever you crack a beer in the PS household, don't bother throwing it away, Jack will be at your feet before you can pop it off begging you to throw it for him. :)

give it to us straight

This post is going to be quick and dirty. I (Kier) have got to pack up my things and hit the road back to Iowa.  Oh, I didn't tell you?  I totally made a surprise visit to Minnesota to surprise my bestie while she was shopping for wedding dresses.  Oh I got her...got her good!  Thankfully her response to my presence was one of near tears and not what the heck are you doing here, I didn't invite you.  I was slightly worried, I mean, thinking that you, yourself, showing up somewhere is going to make someone's day is a little big-headed, no?

Anyway...quick and dirty, remember?

You might remember that one of our goals for 2011 is to NOT get another dog.  However, wouldn't having a puppy around be fun and cute and cuddly? :)

Seriously, Nic and I have talked about getting another dog for sometime now, but keep going back and forth.

What are you thoughts on adding a second dog to our household?  Do you have two dogs - is it just crazy at your house?  Are we crazy to want to go through the process of training a puppy again? Do you see benefits as to having a second dog (like finally, Maia would have an animal other than the cat to play with?). Do we find a specific breed, or do we adopt?

So weigh in...we want to hear your thoughts.  The good, the bad and the ugly, give it to us straight, lay your opinions out there.  

lazy day

Yesterday I was lazy.  Super lazy.  The weather was crappy and it was a rest day as far as my marathon training goes so I did absolutely nothing.  Well, I did cook, clean and eat and eat and eat.

But all I really wanted to do was:



And eat sugar cookies I did!  Too.many.sugar.cookies.  But the weather was seriously demanding that the entire state curl up with hot chocolate and Hy-Vee sugar cookies.  So I did, right after I shoveled the driveway - well I helped anyway.



FYI - I didn't eat all 4 of those cookies...I swear!


That mug is seriously the best thing we brought back from Paris.  Every morning I will remember our daily quests for Starbucks in Paris.

On the pet front (because we don't post nearly enough about our pets, right?!), Maia has a love hate relationship with this weather.  She is totally made for cold climates and I could not get her inside yesterday despite the rain/sleet.



However, each morning when she gets up I can hardly get her butt out the door.  Lately she has been looking at me like, "what are you crazy? It is cold out there! No way am I going out."


Jack was intrigued with the weather and always tries to sneak out.





I didn't feel like running outside in my sweats, so quickly put a kebosh on his outdoor activity.

I was really hoping to share last night's dinner as well - but it was so not photogenic.  A quick description will have to do - blue cheese burgers with caramelized onions.  Super delicious.  Make them.

Full day of work ahead.  Have a good Tuesday!

a father's day experiment

Look what we got in our CSA box this week!

You're going to do what to me?

In other news...I need to run about 100 miles to burn off all of the hamburgers, baked goods and snacks I ate at last night's Relay For Life of Washington County. So tasty, but so not worth it. I woke up this morning with a sugar hangover.

So off for a run I go (maybe not 100 miles). But before I head out the door - you have to take a guess at what the heck I will be cooking up later today.

What is in that blue towel?!

Nic decided to spend Fathers Day shooting and golfing - and that is why I am experimenting with a new food. He will pretty much eat anything I cook, but this? I am not too sure.

And Kurt, I KNOW he wouldn't dare eat what I am going to cook. Marissa would turn up her nose and say, "Don't you ever buy anything normal, Kier??" :) (FACT: Marissa did say those exact words on our picnic in Mankato when I pulled out peppered turkey breast. Love you Marissa!)

Happy Father's Day Kurt! Love you!

a good good day

While in the warmth of bed this morning, I knew that today was going to be a good day.  The sun was shining at 7AM and birds were chirping!  I was planning on heading out for a nice long run, but was a bit lazy and decided to just take Maia out for a walk instead.  Poor girl, since it has been so friggin freezing lately, she hasn't been getting her daily walks.

Work was good and a lot of accomplished, minus a Chamber luncheon, but I wasn't feeling so hot and can not afford to get sick this week, next week or the following week.  Daffodils are calling my name...

The sun was still shining at 4 and it was almost 40 degrees!!!!  I could not pass up the chance to get a good dose of vitamin D and decided to sneak in a 5 mile run before our hYped class.  5 miles turned into 4 as I forgot to add on a mile loop at the beginning on my run. Oh well.  We then headed to hYped for a quick 40 minutes of plyometrics, and then home to eat some amazing dinner and veg for a while.

My meals today were stocked full of veggies!  A little overkill I might add...lunch had a little too much green and I could barely force myself to eat all of it.

Dinner - amazing!  Check out this pizza, loaded with veggies, turkey and cheese and only 150 calories!  YUM.

We use these tortillas for the pizza, brushed with just a bit of olive oil, sea salt and hot pepper flakes.  Load it with veggies, some meat if you want and tonight we topped them off with chunks of Laughing Cow cheese.

Oh and I couldn't resist taking a few photos of all the pets sleeping today...

cats and monsters...

This is going to be completely random...

This weekend, I decided to do some deep cleaning while Nic was climbing a wall of ice....

During this cleaning, I took some baskets from our bathroom closet and put them in our bookcase in the kitchen to hold napkins.  Apparently Jack has a new favorite napping spot...

Tonight, while I was waiting for Nic to get home from a late night at work, I was catching up on some of the running and fitness blogs that I read. In more than one, the bloggers referenced having a "green monster" for breakfast or a snack.  So I decided to whip up one of my own!

Verdict - delicious!  Normally I puree spinach and put a few frozen chunks into our morning smoothies, but now I think I will skip that step and just throw in a few cups of the fresh stuff!  Way more nutrients that way too.

My "green monster" consisted of:

2 spoonfuls greek yogurt

A handful of spinach (I would guess it was around 1 cup)

1/2 frozen banana

About 1/4 cup soy milk
A dash of vanilla

Next time I will add some ice cubes

Curtains & Henry

We just put up some new curtains in our bedroom - the dark blue ones.  What do you think?  We are trying to figure out if we should keep or return them.  (Don't mind the curtain rod - we need to spray paint the middle section yet).

And here are some photos of Henry.  He is my favorite...sshhh, don't tell Maia & Jack.

ac hog

Maia's favorite spot in the entire house - right on top of the vent when the AC is on. Hoggin' all the cool air, what a brat.

All of our pets are weird - that is the stipulation for getting to live in this house. Pets have to have some sort of oddity to be allowed. Henry is the paranoid, anxious, alcoholic. Jack - Jack is the cat that really should be a dog - his love of playing fetch amazes us daily. But you can only play with a beer bottle cap - nothing else will do. Henry plays once in a while, but only with a plastic water bottle cap...

Safe!

Poor little guy - had a near death experience this afternoon as Maia was trying to sneak in an early dinner. Don't fear, I - Kierstan, was able to rescue the little fella and send him on his way to live a full and wonderful life.

(or not, I was inside gaging as I thought for sure the bird was a goner and sent Nic out to deal with the mess...hey, what are husbands for?!)

Our Three Adorable 'Kids'

Am I crazy? I am considering making food for these punks from scratch.