Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

Now that’s it’s raining in Destin and we are having a lazy day I can get the soup recipe up on here! We’ve been having such a great time down here. It seems like time has really slowed down and we are enjoying having such lazy fun days. It is sooo slow down here right now!!! This is the perfect time for us to be at the beach because there are no crowds anywhere! We love it!

Now for the recipe.

Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

Cook and prep time: 45mins

Ingredients

• 4 cup chicken broth
• 3 cups water
• Rotisserie chicken
• 2 boxes Rice-a-Roni Wild Rice
• Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste
• ½ cup flour
• ½ cup butter
• 1 (16 oz) container half and half
• 1 cup shredded carrots
• 3 celery stalks (optional)
• 2 garlic cloves minced
• ½ white onion finally chopped (I use onion powder)
• Olive oil

Instructions

• In a large pot add chicken broth, water, pulled chicken, and rice (save the seasoning packets for later)
• Sauté vegetables in olive oil until al dente and add to chicken (if I’m in a hurry I just add it all to the pot at the same time and it’s usually fine, but I’ll admit I don’t always add the carrots and never the celery)
• Add salt and pepper to pot and cook on medium
• In medium sauce pan melt butter over medium heat. Stir in 2 seasoning packs and mix until bubbly.
• Reduce heat to low and add flour slowly to form a roux.
• Add half and half while whisking until fully incorporated and smooth. Cook for about 5 mins until it thickens up, stirring constantly.
• Add cream mixture to chicken pot and cook for about 10 mins. Sometime it can take up to 20 mins to get good and thick but if I’m in a hurry and really hungry I’ll eat it right away.

This makes about 8 servings. I made 2 full batches for the family dinner and by the end of the night there was about 1 serving left!

My family is complete.

He’s home and he looks great!!! No pictures of us from the airport because he was over an hour late getting in and we were both starving and ready to go find some good food! I did get some of him and his girls when we got home.

 

This WEEK!

The boy will be home this week!!!

It’s been a busy weekend of packing and playing volleyball! We had 3 games this weekend. Unfortunately we lost them all but at least they were all close games. Those other girls are just killing us with the spikes. They are hitting the ball so hard that even if you get under the ball to try to bump it back up it hits you with so much force it will fly out of bounds before anyone else can do anything. I tried to get a couple of them and my wrist still hurts from one hit. Some of these teams act like they are trying out for the olympics and well…. lets just say we are still in little league. We are there to have fun though and that’s what we focus on. I’m sure we’ll win a game one day! Maybe. :)

We have had a very very dry summer and I’ve been wishing for rain and well it’s here, right now. Just hours before I’m suppose to be heading home. Of course. I’m praying all the storms will have moved out by mid morning so I can make it home without hitting rush hour or the sun sets. Isn’t that just life. I wanted to have a few days home with the family before the boy made it in, we’ll see if it happens.

Pooh says she’s all packed up and ready to head out! She did mention I should be sure to grab her food container but cheeseburgers for dinner will work just fine too if I forget! lol

Single Digits!!!

Less than 10 days until the boy is home!!! Whoohoo!!!

Dena came and got the daybed yesterday because she had a baby shoot and she sent me a picture of it! I love it!!! It’s so cool to see something I built in pictures that people will have in their house for years to come!!

How cute is the baby girl!!!

October 15!

We are half way through October already!! Woot! I love it! This month is speeding by and the boy will be home before we know it. I just hope time slows down once he gets on US soil! We are both so excited. He can’t wait to get home and see his girls and wear his crocs. lol He’s looking forward to normal clothes and not walking over a mile every time he wants to eat. We can’t wait to head to the condo for a few days, I hope the weather is good while we are there and even if it’s not that great it’s still the beach so eh, can’t really complain!

I have a volleyball game this Sunday and games next Saturday and Sunday. I’m going to help one of my closest friends refinish her dining room table and chairs and then clean my house! It’s time to get all the paint stuff out of the dining room and into the office where I’ll now be painting stuff.

Pooh is about to drive me crazy lately, she is constantly in my face! Nicholas needs to come home and give her some attention so I can get a break!

And because a post is never complete without a dog picture here I am with all the kids. After this picture Hailey got in my lap and snuggled with me for almost an hour.

Photography Prop- Daybed

What I started with….

After a little jigsaw action….

In the house and ready to paint

 

Done painting….

After glazing and a little bit of antiquing……..

 

I really do love the Caromal Colors paint that I’ve been using. It’s like painting with peanut butter and leaves a fantastic texture. If you want to thin it out for a smoother finish you can add a little bit of water. I painted the photography box and this daybed with the chocolate paint and still have almost half a jar left. Then I used the parchment color with the toner  to achieve the final color

 

I will be making a cushion for the daybed as soon as I get the fabric, Dena can’t decide what she wants to use yet. She’s going to have both of the props at a local March of Dimes fund raiser and my business cards. Hopefully I’ll get some more calls that can keep me busy.

Here is a picture of the daybed I referenced to build this.

 

It’s OCTOBER!!!!!!

And I think everyone knows why I’m excited!! I love that I can finally say that I’ll see my boy THIS MONTH!!!!

This R&R we are doing things a little differently and I’ll be coming to GA a couple of days before he’s scheduled to arrive and I’m going to pick him up in Atlanta and we will spend a couple of days in GA then head to Destin for a few days at the beach before heading back home. Instead of going around visiting everyone we are going to have a family dinner at Deon’s probably the day after he gets back. We won’t be doing anything the day he arrives home because he will be exhausted after traveling for around 36-48 hours straight prior to finally making it home. During that time he will get very little sleep so he’s always worn out. Not to mention getting used to the different time schedule, right now he is 8 hours ahead of us and the schedule he’s on right now he’s getting up to head into work around 1am our time and getting home ready to go to bed at 2-3pm our time. That is our plan thought and we are both really excited! When we get a little closer and have a firm date I’ll let everyone know what’s going on but it won’t be on the blog due to OPSEC.

Fall is here! It’s suppose to hit 36* here tonight and our high today was 60* and very windy! Brr! I am actually cool enough in the house to have on socks and a long sleeve shirt! The leaves changed overnight it seems. Everything was green and now the trees are beautiful. I have a feeling though that the leaves are no going to last long though because it’s super dry. We haven’t had any significant rain all summer and everything is just dead. I’ve been watering the yard and it’s still crispy. Tomorrow I’ll plan on getting some pictures of the leaves.

Here is my latest project. I’m working on painting it right now. Letting the latest coat dry. I need to get the fabric to make the seat cushion now and it will be ready to go!

 

And here are a couple of pictures with 2 of my closest friends up here. These girls are a blast. These were taken at Gracey’s daughter’s Sweet 16 party so that’s why we were so dressed up!

Me with Gracey

 

Me with Mari

Being silly because it’s not a party til you have this pose! The kids thought we were cool.