Chicken Noodle Stew

Somehow, food has become my hobby. Specifically, making food from scratch and freezing food. I have time now to make my own bread, tortillas, pizza, and other baked goods (like the brownies in my oven right now (but I substituted half of the oil for applesauce, so I don't have to feel guilty, right? (I made the applesauce, too))). I've also been doing research on freezing fresh foods. I have berries, onions, and avocados in my freezer, waiting for my whim. I use to have more, but I've been eating it. I'll make large batches of food for dinner and freeze up individual portions for lunches and quick dinners--soup, burritos, and stir fry have been my last few endeavors. I keep telling myself I will make frozen pizzas, but as soon as I start making the pizza, I crave pizza, so I eat it right away rather than saving it. My bad.

It's been really fun for me to play in the kitchen. Between Pinterest, AllRecipes, and my mom on speed dial, I've had some really great meals. Stephen has been happy with my hobby. He says he likes my fresh bread better than the store-bought kind (though I think that's because I use white flour at home and buy 12-grain loafs from the store). I'm happy I married someone who is not a picky eater. When I ask what he wants to eat, usually his comment is either "food" or "something edible." This is helpful when I tell him we're eating Brussels sprouts, artichoke, and winter squash for dinner. (BTW, the artichoke was weird. Would not recommend.) With my food storage and bountiful baskets, I'm given a lot of creativity and potential. Not everything has been successful, and I eyeball a lot of things so it's hard to write a recipe. However! I did pay attention when I made what I called Chicken Noodle Stew. Well, I kind of paid attention. I still always eyeball spices and change it to taste, but I figured it was worth sharing. So here it is! My first official original public recipe!

Chicken Noodle Stew

2 chicken breasts

½ onion

1-2 cloves garlic

1 TBSP butter

½ celery stalk

2 carrots

2 potatoes

~4 cups chicken broth (or water)

1 cup milk

½ bag noodles

thyme, rosemary, salt, pepper, chicken or beef bouillon

Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces. Chop onion and garlic. Sauté chicken, onion, garlic, and butter in pot until onion becomes clear and chicken is cooked thoroughly. Add chopped celery, carrots, and potatoes. Fill pot until food is covered by broth and milk. Add seasonings. Bring to a boil. Once boiling, add noodles and boil for ten minutes. Remove from heat and adjust seasons as desired.

Fun tip! This freezes! I used an idea from Pintrest and froze the soup in a muffin tin for a while. I then transferred them to ziplock bags and put three to four "soup muffins" into each bag. I gave some away tonight to a woman who is pregnant and due next month, so she'll not have to worry about a few meals. 

I think that's my favorite part of my food hobby--sharing it with others. While I love eating what I make, having others enjoy it is where the thrill comes from. Stephen is good at complementing me. Sometimes, he's so good, I worry he's faking it. But when I ask him if he would want me to make it again, he doesn't hesitate--that's my trick into figuring out if he really likes it.

I've been working on perfecting my Mexican Crock Pot meal, and as soon as I get it down to where I can actually record a recipe, I'll share that here too. That meal, I'm more proud of, because it makes a looot of food for really cheap, and it's versatile. Some days, I'll use it in burritos. I've made enchiladas with it too. I love it as a base for a salad. Stephen likes it as a thick dip with tortilla chips. I'm sure I could come up with more ways to eat it. And that's good, because I have two dozen cans of each ingredient as a result of my case lot sale stockpile, so we'll be eating Mexican Crock Pot for a while.

I'm going to keep this post mostly about food because our lives are pretty standard outside of that. I am applying for apartment manager positions again in hopes of working after I graduate. I had a phone interview today for a complex that's really close to campus, nicely modeled, and rents to married couples, so my tenants wouldn't be crazy single people who like to climb onto roofs or rappel out windows or brawl in their kitchen over who does the dishes (at least, I hope not (and yes I've heard of all those scenarios--I witnessed the rappelling myself)). So if you want to keep your fingers crossed for me and maybe say a prayer or two, I would appreciate all positive vibes to get this job.

Well, Stephen wants to go to bed since he has to wake up at six tomorrow for work. The brownies turned out well--Stephen couldn't tell I used applesauce, so it was a success. He's really cute when he's sitting on the chair across from me and works on his computer--especially when he doesn't know I'm looking at him. He's tugging on his ear right now. Or maybe he's checking the hair cut I gave him for FHE tonight. I may or may not have trimmed a little too high around his right ear. If you see him and notice, please don't comment. Stephen also blinks a lot. And he scrunches up his face randomly. And drinks a lot of water. 

Yeah, I love him. 

School, Sleep, and Sweetheart Stephen

School has started. Not only does this mean papers, reading, quizzes and tests, it means a regular schedule, something I'm enjoying. I have a good semester lined up for me. Knock on wood, but I think I like all of my classes. There always seems to be at least one class that I have to just endure, but this semester, I think I'll actually enjoy every one. I'm taking a Western history class that isn't super exciting, but it's also relatively easy. I'm really learning a lot from my Church history course. I love my creative non-fiction writing class and am excited to practice my personal essay skills. For my capstone class, we are studying Hollywood's romantic comedies from the 1930's and 1940's; basically, I watch old movies for credit. My anthropology of American culture is amazing--no tests or quizzes, just class discussions for the whole semester and a final paper. So overall, I'm looking forward to my final semester.

Stephen is taking a lot of computer classes, a family finance class, and Book of Mormon. He has a lot of reading, but I really don't understand most of it. You'll have to ask him more about school.

School is the only new thing in our lives. I was doing really well at keeping the apartment clean until our dishwasher broke (the piles of dishes are waiting for the repair man to come). But I've stayed on top of laundry, so that's a plus. But with my semester as calm as it is, I'm finding I have enough time to keep on top of everything and still relax at points. Believe it or not, I'm actually ahead in my homework! I've decided that since this is my last shot at being a good student, I would put in extra effort to getting things done a head of time. I'm lucky that the workload has been lighter so far, because I'm sure it'll pick up soon.

I tried asking Stephen what I should write about. He said everything. Thanks, honey.

I will tell a bit about the date Stephen took me on just before school started. To preface, he and I have been talking about going to Ikea since we were dating. We thought wandering around looking at the furniture would be fun (and by we I mean me with Stephen humoring me). We talked about doing it several times, but something always came up. Finally, our plans came together well enough and after attending the Jordan River temple, we went to Ikea. There's something fun about shopping in our Sunday best. We wandered around the store, making comments on different decor and designs. I was relieved to find out we have a similar taste in interior design. Also, I was very proud of Stephen for coming up with honest opinions of things. He is really great at shrugging his shoulders when it comes to preferences. This can be really helpful when I simply want him to agree with me, or frustrating when I'm actually trying to get his opinion.

We stayed in the store until it closed and then decided to get some food before driving back to Provo. Stephen took me to Sonic for a burger. To add background to this, a few nights before our date, I had a dream where I ordered a burger but never got my order. I woke up with an overwhelming craving for one that lasted all day, almost to the point where Stephen offered to pick up some fast food on his way home from work. I told him it was silly to not eat the food I had purchased already and made dinner, disregarding my craving. On our date, Stephen was very good about making sure I had my burger. It's the little things that matter, after all. More so, I was impressed he remembered and complied to my dream-craving. Stephen must be practicing for pregnancy-Jane (No, I'm not pregnant, don't get any ideas).

On a less awkwardly-adorable note, I've been struggling sleeping again lately. No spasms this time, but instead, I've been having nightmares. They're always about different things (like not getting the burger I ordered), so it's not like I'm having a reoccurring fear or anything. Sometimes I die. Sometimes Stephen dies. Sometimes Stephen kills me. Car crashes. Family drama. Bad guys chasing me. Bad guys robbing me. Falling off of buildings and cliffs. Wars. A bunch of different things happen. I've basically have had at least one nightmare every night for the past two weeks. Some nights, I'll have three or four, waking up every few hours crying or yelling or panting. I have very vivid dreams, so it takes me a minute after waking up to discern between reality and nightmare. Stephen has been very good at waking up with me and holding me until I can calm down enough to go back to sleep.

This has been causing me to be extremely tired throughout the day. I feel bad for Stephen, who is also loosing sleep. I'm trying all the tips I can find on the internet and avoiding all the potential causes, but nightmares are something that's hard to avoid or fix, especially when it's not being caused by something specific. Yesterday, I was so sleep deprived and emotional, I was scared to fall asleep. Writing it out, I sound a lot like a three-year-old. Stephen gave me a blessing and tried to comfort me as best he could, but he eventually fell asleep. 

I laid awake for a few hours, thinking about everything and nothing. Around 2:00, Stephen woke up and prayed with me again. I finally dozed off around 3:00. But only getting a few hours of sleep has kept me yawning all day today. If anyone has any extra tips on how to avoid nightmares, let me know. I would take sleeping pills, but in the past, when I do and I have a nightmare, I'm stuck in my nightmare and have a hard time waking up out of it and discerning dream and reality. I've sniffed lavender and stretched and wrote my feelings and showered before bed and avoid certain foods and all that jazz. But really, I'm sleeping like a baby lately--waking up every few hours upset. Stephen jokes I'm practicing for parenthood (again--not pregnant). During the day, I'm fine, just tired.

Well, that's probably more of an update than you wanted to know. Our lives aren't very unusual right now, and because of that, they're not very exciting. But I would rather have uneventful than dramatic.

Recap

I know, I know. I've slacked off. Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up. In my defense, the semester ended, we spent half of our Christmas break in Idaho, and I've spent all week deep cleaning. In other words--I've been busy. Sometimes I'm so busy living life, it's hard to write about it. But as a quick recap of the past month, life has been good.

School ended! Hurrah! Except we start another semester on Monday. This break has been really nice though. And well timed. I got sick near the end of finals week. I felt bad for being sick at my in-laws house, but they reassured me they would rather have me there and be sick than not come at all. It was helpful that I could just rest and not worry about much when I felt congested. But it passed quickly, and I felt pretty much fine by Christmas.

I posted a poem on Christmas about Christmas, and that also seems to sum up the morning nicely. Stephen and I helped Bruce and Teresa Santa prep on Christmas Eve. It was a special moment to look at the tree with all the presents under it and cuddle with my husband and chat with my in-laws. That moment felt the most like Christmas to me. Though there were plenty of other Christmas-ish moments. I really enjoyed learning about the Rollins traditions. Some of them, I would love to implement in my future family. It was a little sad to be away from my family, but I called them on Christmas day and was able to talk with Deborah too. We also skyped Matthew, and I felt really proud when I surprised him and the rest of the family by introducing myself in Japanese (middle-school anime actually came in handy!).

While in Idaho, we saw Frozen (the music is great and I may or may not have been listening to the soundtrack for hours a day). I also shot a gun for the first time in my life. The adults went shooting and both me and my mother-in-law had never shot a gun before. After watching her first shot and the after effects on her shoulder, I became more hesitant, but used a less-powerful gun instead. I actually hit my target a few times I think (a trashcan in an open field). Bruce than taught me about a handgun and I was able to make two shots with it. My second try, I was within an inch of the bulls-eye. We also played a lot of board games as a family, and by a lot, I mean A LOT! Some games I liked better than others, but mostly, it's fun to have that bonding experience.

Stephen had work this past week, so after coming home from Idaho, I've spent most of my time either cleaning or sleeping. I've taken advantage of the luxury of not having a schedule that requires me to wake up at a certain time. But when I am up, I've been cleaning. I finally organized the bedroom, something that hasn't quite happened since we moved in. My closet looks so much better now, and I ended up donating a huge pile of random things to DI. Stephen has been enjoying his evenings off by drawing and programming. I'm so proud of his efforts, even if I can't fully appreciate all the code he works on.

Stephen has been absolutely wonderful to me this past month. We've shared a lot of personal moments together that have drawn us closer as a couple. We listened to a series of talks on our drive to and from Idaho about marriage. There were a lot of helpful tidbits that we've implemented already. I feel like I understand Stephen better, and he understands me better too. I know we're both going to spend our lives learning more and more about each other. I feel like we have a really good foundation and we are able to work through things together and end up loving each other more because of our differences. He's the best.

Some favorite moments from the past few weeks: Stephen and I were sitting on the couch together. He had taught me a new online game (Kingdom of Loathing) and returned to his programming. After fifteen minutes or so, I had a question about the game and asked him, "What happens when you die?" He, no longer thinking about the game, rolled his eyes and looked at me and said, "You've got to be more specific." I laughed so hard for a while until I finally calmed down enough to explain. I know it doesn't sound nearly as funny now, but it's one of those you-had-to-be-there moments. 

Another special moment was yesterday when I was having a harder day. Stephen came home from work and hugged me for a few minutes. I then went to the kitchen to finish dinner and he started playing music on his phone from our wedding. He held me in the kitchen and started dancing with me. I remember telling him when we were dating that something I wanted in a husband was someone who would dance with me, even if he wasn't good. Stephen has never particularly enjoyed dancing, but he's always willing to dance with me. Yesterday, it was so special. He didn't say anything, just rocked me side to side as the gravy simmered. I'm so blessed to have him.

For instance, right now, he's encouraging me to continue blogging as he vacuums the living room. He's so supportive of me. I'm excited for our next semester. We both have some good classes coming up, and I'll be graduating in April, so that's motivation to work hard and get through this semester. Stephen is going to continue working ten-hour days twice a week and I'll be manning the fort here at home.  It's a strange phenomenon that no matter how much I clean, there is always more to clean. And I don't even have children yet! Mothers, I'm sorry! Dirt collects no matter how many people live in a house. One of my New Year resolutions is to spend more time cleaning each day in order to not have to spend so much time on my weekends making up for my lack of attention.

Well, enough talk of cleaning--I need to get to work! Dishes need to be unloaded and laundry needs to be folded. Then my husband is taking me out on a date! Man, am I spoiled!