Snowed In

Okay so it’s not really that dramatic. We did get a bunch more snow Friday night into Saturday but we weren’t stuck at home.

Saturday morning Chris and I drove up to meet the officiant for our wedding to go over ceremony details. Chris drove because I get super nervous driving in the snow. We live right near the OH border and it was interesting that the KY roads were much less clear and more difficult to navigate than the OH roads. The Panera we met at was having their parking lot plowed as we arrived. And the meeting went great! We found our officiant through The Knot website and are so happy we went that route. I highly recommend using the Marriage Chaplain service if you are getting married but do not have someone to officiate the ceremony.

We did stay home the rest of Saturday because it continued to snow most of the day. Sometimes it was coming down pretty hard and it looked like a winter wonderland out our back door. We mostly relaxed and watched the snow pile up from inside. I mentioned the dogs aren’t fans of playing outside while it’s actively snowing and they stuck to that principle.

Sunday morning it was sunny and the snow had stopped. It felt downright tropical when the temperature reached 32, even though that’s actually freezing. We took a walk/march and played around on the snow piles. Chaos tends to hide the fact that he’s actually very athletic because he’d rather lay around but he leaping skills were highlighted as he bounded through the drifts. Ares preferred to pose for me. Typical.

We are almost finished Spring cleaning the entire place but I had to empty out the pantry, wipe it all down and reorganize our dry goods. I know this probably doesn’t look all that neat and functional to some of you but it had gotten to be a hot mess before so this is definitely an upgrade.

Chris and I made our weekly Kroger run in the afternoon and I got all the ingredients for homemade soup. I spent the rest of the afternoon cooking while Chris went to help a friend with some dog training. My soup turned out fantastic if I do say so myself. It’s a modified version of the 10-Spice Vegetable Soup recipe from Oh She Glows. It’s completely vegan and even Chris loves it. Here’s how I made it.

Ingredients

8 cups vegetable broth
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
3 large cloves garlic, minced
1 sweet or yellow onion, diced
3 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 1/2 cups peeled and chopped sweet potato
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 (28-ounce/796-mL) can diced tomatoes, with their juices
1-1 1/2 tablespoons Homemade 10-Spice Blend (recipe follows), to taste
1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas or other beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup of pearled barley
3 cups of water

Homemade Spice Blend (makes 1/2 cup):

2 tablespoons smoked paprika
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon dried basil
2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons fine grain sea salt
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Directions:

Add the barley and water to a medium sized bot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 40 minutes.
While the barley is cooking, in a large pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and onion and sauté for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the onion is translucent. Season generously with sea salt.
Add the carrots, bell pepper, potato, celery, and diced tomatoes with their juices, the vegetable broth and 1-1.5 tablespoons of 10-spice blend. Stir well to combine . Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce the heat to medium-low. Season with salt and black pepper.
Add in the partly cooked barley and simmer the soup, uncovered, for at least 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender. Season with salt and black pepper.
During the last 5 minutes of cooking, stir in the drained beans.