Friday, July 31, 2009

All creatures great and small

Back to M Stewart and Maine, she has partnered up with Purina One to raise money for animal shelters.

Cheyenne was a shelter cat and ever since we picked her up I've been wanting to go back and contribute my time to them. I've been volunteering at the local SPCA for the past few months, and as an avid animal lover, it is honestly one of the most rewarding volunteer projects I've ever been a part of. I don't do what seems like much (I clean cages and show cats and kittens to interested customers), but at the end of the day, I know I'm helping animals off the streets and adopted into good homes. And that means the world to me.

Sign up to help out at your local animal shelter and Purina One will make a donation to a participating shelter.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Bread Bowls Plus!

I have had a recent interest in soups- they are so hearty and tasty and easy. Even though it's summertime, my taste buds have not ceased to crave them.

Last night we were out in Pearland, and stopped in at a Barnes and Noble, where I happened to pick up a cookbook in the bargain aisle. A recipe for a breadbowl soup caught my eye. I have always enjoyed the breadbowl soups at Panera, but it had never crossed my mind to actually make it myself. Salivating, I memorized the soup recipe, canceled the original spaghetti dinner plans, and off we went to the H-E-B across the street from Pearland Town Center. Nate's first H-E-B experience, and my first H-E-B plus! experience. (Did you know that you can buy furniture in H-E-B plus?!). This is pretty much now my favorite grocery store in the Houston area, hands down. It's like a cheap grocery store on steroids, and a clearanced Central Market. Anyway, I could go on and on about how awesome this store is, but I'll cut to the chase.

We restrained ourselves from buying out the entire store and arrived home with this:

Here is the final product. So easy. And... Yum!
Obviously, these bread bowls are about 3x the size of the breadbowls Panera uses, but Nate ate his entire bowl, and although I made a valient attempt to eat all of mine, I just couldn't. However, I will finish it... no food goes to waste in this house!

Summer Travels

Pictures say more than words to describe our recent travels.

COLORADO

Rachel and Ed's wedding (Grand Junction)
Norrie
From GJ-Norrie


DALLAS
Sarah and Jaime's wedding