our little china doll

happy halloween!!!

let's get a little {snow} on the tires

This evening we drove up in the foothills nearby and did a little off-roading and played in the snow. it was about 6 inch deep and started snowing on us when we got out of jeep. i loved the silence and then gentle pitter-patter of snow falling.

Turkeys and Scones

Do you love Sunday mornings? I do. Our church starts at 10am, so there is just enough time to make and enjoy a nice breakfast. This morning I started to make scones. I got as far as preheating the oven to 425 degrees. Then I saw about 15 wild turkeys waddling through the front yard into the back yard.

My first impression? Grab the camera. Jeremy's first impression? Grab the gun. {Rest assured he didn't - I already had dinner planned for the day ;) BUT... Jeremy is dead set on shooting one for Thanksgiving dinner.}

I got a little distracted. It was so pretty out this morning. It rained last night, so everything was moist and plush. And still a little raindrop here and there. And plus, I love any excuse to put my duck boots on.

I must have been outside for a while, because when I came back in, Jeremy took over making the scones and he was almost done. Pretty impressive. He made great "mounds" with 5 inch diameters. These scones are so delicious. Especially with my in-laws home-made strawberry jam.

7 months

I love celebrating each month like its a real birthday. Not with cake or presents or anything serious like that. But each month I like to tell her all day that she is 7 months! And  I like to take special pictures of her. 

 Pearce is my sweet little angel. And she is also my little song bird. Whenever "her song" (Lady A's American Honey) comes on the radio, I can hear her oooohing and aaaahing in the back of the car.

But she is also my little cuckoo nut. I was saying to Jeremy today that she gets a little crazier as time goes on. And his reply? "Well she does spend alot of time with you." Good point, Jeremy.

Don't you love this old pink chair? It was Pearce's great-grandmothers.

Daddy's turn for some "birthday" love. Pearce definitely has her daddy's eyes and I love it.

And don't forget mommy's turn. How's this for a side yard? We heard coyotes howling all night.

I'm in the kitchen

I've been a cooking fool lately! 

I guess I could say I've finally figured out what I wanna be when I grow up! A Homemaker. I'm really really loving being at home with Pearce, grocery shopping, cooking, and even laundry- believe it or not. Or maybe I just really hated my last job, so I can appreciate doing laundry and chores a little more now. I'm sure I'm just still in the honeymoon phase of {that}.

I love that Jeremy snapped a few photos of me and Pearce in the kitchen tonight, because this is what we do every night. Pearce is my little kitchen helper for sure. But she gets pretty restless after an hour + sitting in that bumbo chair. She'll arch her back so fast you think she's doing a backwards high dive.

I saved a bunch of Pioneer Woman recipes and a few recipes from Bountiful Kitchen, and have tried a few recipes from my new Huntington Beach 4th Ward cookbook that I was so excited to get a few weeks ago. And oh, how I'm loving an island in the kitchen.

Tonight I made {The Pioneer Woman's} brisket for the first time ever. Her's looks so good, so I had high hopes. One of my goals in life is to one day (and hopefully plenty days) make a tender, fall-apart brisket - a favorite dish of Jeremy's. Tonight's....not so much. The flavor was good, but a little over cooked. I need to cook at very low temperature next time. I served with her mashed potatoes, because I LOVE cream cheese.

And here is a rundown of what I've made in the past week or so (with small pictures, because I couldn't get pretty ones late at night in the dark!)

My friend from HB, Jen Schumann's, Stuffed butternut squash. This is an autumn dinner staple. I never knew how much I loved baked squash until this dish. She made it once at a healthy cooking RS activity and it was a big hit and Jeremy loves it, too.

A Bountiful Kitchen's Creamy White Chili. I thought it was only appropriate to make a dish with WHITE BEANS---afterall that is my URL.  This dish is really really really yummy. (I added an extra can of diced green chilis and an extra can of white beans.) It makes a big pot, so I froze half of it in a tupperware and we had it for dinner again several days later and just as yummy. I served with Cake Like Cornbread. And A Bountiful Kitchen's Mixed Greens with Jicama and Orange salad. Very good salad. Pretty simple and taste really crisp and fresh.

Side note: in case you ever wondered why my url is white-bean.blogspot.com.... it is because I grew up in "the city" (New Orleans) as my cajun family would say. So whenever we would visit them out in the country/bayou of Thibadaux, Louisiana, they would always call us "the white beans from the city" because we all had white skin compared to their tan cajun/country skin.

Earlier this week I made Pioneer Woman's Chicken Spaghetti. Can you tell I'm a fan of hers? I want her cookbook. I remember my mom made a similar recipe growing up, and I always loved it. I love creamy yumminess. This is so good. Her recipe makes a big batch. So I split into two small square casserole dishes, and one is currently in the freezer for a lazy night in the future. ( I didn't cook a whole fryer chicken. Instead I boiled 3 small chicken breast. Then used half that water with a can of chicken stock to cook the noodles.)

And that's what I've been up too lately. Pretty fun stuff. 

good morning sunshine

weekend roundup

We stayed in Mercer Island this weekend to celebrate Jeremy's sister Shannon's 40th birthday. So cool, that we can drive just over an hour and see siblings, cousins, parents, grandparents, etc. We also spent a morning cruising around downtown Seattle, and contributed to the "Gum Wall" for the first time. Got yummy Piroshky Rolls and Inca Cola. Perused Watson Kennedy shop. "Pitstoped" at the Edgewater Hotel. And sat by the waterfront for a bit. Who says Seattle is always raining? It was a beautiful day.

What better way to spend your Friday night, than under the Lights. We went to Mercer Island High School Homecoming game. It was Jeremy's first time back since playing many many lights ago. We stayed warm with blankets, jackets, and hot cocoa. 

We came back home Saturday night for our little Branch's potluck dinner. I was asked last minute to make a table centerpiece using "Food Storage" - which was the dinner's theme. It was a creative dinner line-up (including Buffalo stew) and there was a very interesting presentation afterwards about gardening, storing, seeding, and growing your own meat - aka raising chickens, pigs and cows. QUACK, OINK, MOO! It all sounded like a dream until I think about tending to it EVERYDAY - and not being able to leave on weekends...nonetheless, it was inspiring.

"neigh"bors

America's Next Top Horse Model? Fierce eyes.

{no zoom lens here. I got a little nervous, and I think he/she sensed it. :)}

breaking news: our town's getting a McD's!!

I call these her cowgirl jeans

Now She's off to wrangle some squirrels.

It's a good little tree.

I've become quite fond of this tree. It's loosing its leaves and colors are changing. 

Pearce played with leaves for about an hour yesterday. I love free "toys".

Pioneer Woman's Chicken Parmigiana

This is FANTASTIC!! (I'm channeling my best Tyler Florence impression.)

I recently started reading The Pioneer Woman's blog, and I thoroughly enjoy it. I saved about 15 recipes from her site that I want to try. But this one caught my eye the most. Either that, or I already had 2 large chicken breasts in the fridge. The smells of the kitchen are fantastic, and tasting the sauce as I was going was even better. And even fantastic for my lunch leftovers today.

Here is link to her recipe with pictures every step of the way: Chicken Parmigiana
**I substituted a splash of grape juice for the wine, and halfed the recipe the best I could. 

It's getting chilly 'round here.

We, too, like our California friends experienced a bit of a heat wave last week, although nowhere near the likes of 109 degrees. But! the chilly fall air has arrived! And my manly man of a husband started a fire out on the front deck for us last night.













Pearce's new trick: she can wave.

fried spiral potatoes.

We went to Salmon Days Festival in Issaquah today.
One of the food booths was this:

They do this spiral cut with a large potato, put it on a stick, and put it in the deep fryer. Then they sprinkle some salty season tastiness. Doesn't that sound genius? 

Other food highlights: Sugee's giant strawberry shortcake. And a BBQ Salmon plate.

We got to watch some of the jumpy salmon swim up the latter, too. We met up with my niece Nicole and nephew Jake, since they live up the street.

Oh yeah, and Pearce rode on a school bus (aka "shuttle bus") for the first time. I don't remember the seats being so tiny and your knees jammed in the front of you. And pretty sure the seat with the wheel below made it even more cramped. Nonetheless, it was better than the 1.5 mile walk to get there.