Almost a new month. . .

I hope everyone has been warm!  I know it's been a very snowy and cold winter for most of the country.  I hope you're getting some much needed sunshine and drier weather.

Outside my window - We finally got some much-needed snow! It’s been such a dry winter, so we were truly happy to see white fluff falling from the sky. We only received about four inches, but that’s more than we’ve had all winter, and it felt like a gift. Our world looked fresh and clean again.

I'm hoping that March will come in like a lion, bringing lots snow and rain.  Then it can go out like a lamb, with warmer weather and sunshine.  

Something from my playlist -  I love the message in this song . . . 

Something I'm thinking - We don’t go all out for Valentine’s Day. Bob and I get the gift of being together every day, and I like to think we find little ways to love each other all year long. But this year, I made a special dinner (the recipe is in my last post!), and it was absolutely delicious. Sometimes we just like to have simple food, a quiet evening, and the comfort of being home — and that feels pretty fabulous to us.

Peach Glazed Chicken, green salad, rice pilaf and homemade buiscuts

Peach cobbler with ice cream and caramel sauce

On Sunday, we celebrated Valentine’s Day with all of our children, it was so much fun. We made Cafe Rio-style salads and topped the evening off with warm brownies, ice cream, and every sweet “fixin’” you could imagine. The food was delicious, but honestly, that wasn’t the best part. Having everyone together — hearing the laughter, watching the conversations around the table, just being in the same room — that was the real gift. Days like that remind me what Valentine’s Day is truly about.

I had so much fun, I forgot to take any pictures to remember the Day!  

What's cookin' - Last week I made one of our favorites -  homemade mushroom soup!  I make this recipe in the InstantPot, it's so easy and always delicious.  

Bob likes lots of salt and pepper, I like lot's of oyster crackers ;0)  This is a recipe from, Step-By-Step, Instant Pot, by Jeffrey Eisner.  The recipe looks complicated, but it's not, I promise!  And what I love about this book, is that you can make the recipes your own.  For instance, I don't use truffle oil, and I didn't have heavy cream that day.  I did have evaporated milk, so that's what I used instead.  I also like my soup a little thicker, so I added and extra 2 tbls. of flour to the sauted mushrooms, and it turned out perfect.  

There are so many delicious recipes in this book.  I'm looking forward to making more of them, especially this coming summer.  

I must have been in the mood to cook last week, because the very next day I made bread. I rarely buy store-bought bread unless I absolutely have to — I just don’t care for it, and truthfully, I really enjoy the process of making it myself. There’s something so satisfying about kneading the dough and watching it rise.

Sometimes, instead of shaping two loaves, I’ll turn one loaf into cinnamon rolls or dinner rolls to go with a meal. We don’t eat a lot of bread, so when I do make two loafs, I always freeze one. When I pull it out later and let it defrost, it tastes just as fresh as the day I made it. There’s nothing quite like homemade bread.

I'm creating - I only have one more color to do on my cross stitch project.  There are so many mistakes, but cross-stitch can be pretty forgiving - thank goodness.

Something cute - Our cute little, Indy really needs to have some time outside.  She doesn't like to go out without one of us with her, so, this is what she does all day...

And at night, this is what she does... Sleep all day, play all night... Such a stinker!  I really need to do something about that. 😕

Just sayin' -

I hope everyone has a great week-end.  And I hope you are safe, happy, healthy and feel loved.

Hugs and love,

Barb