Shannon's World

It was *really* cold on Tuesday when we went to the bus stop, so Libby had on her full body fleece AND her winter coat….she totally looks like the brother in Christmas Story that can’t put his arms down!

Parker and Libby can’t keep their hands off each other!  Parker was born on 07-07-07 and lives diagonally behind us.  We took this picture on Sunday night because we thought it would be funny to show the two of them 13 years from now when they are teenagers.

We had another fun fall weekend here even though Libby and I both had snuffly noses. On Friday night, I had another girls night. A few of us went to the Jr. League of Indianapolis Holiday Mart. We did some shopping, visited Heather (who was selling her oh so fabulous work there) and then hit Puerta Vallarta for margaritas and dinner.

The three of us did some shopping on Saturday and finally hit Sweet Lucinda’s shop. That’s right, our favorite sweets from the Farmer’s Market are now available year round on Main Street in Zionsville. We went a little crazy and bought four cupcakes, 2 rocky road brownies and a carrot cake cookie sandwich w/ cream cheese filling. What a treat…and how dangerous to have all this sweet stuff (CUPCAKES) so close!!

On Sunday we took it easy because I was feeling pretty crappy. Mike made his usual big Sunday breakfast (yum!) and I did a little cooking, as well. I made spinach artichoke dip and a fresh apple bundt cake for the neighborhood party where we watched the Colts Game. We got decked out in Colts gear (note: I am the only one without Colts gear, it’s on my Christmas list, don’t worry) and had a great time watching the game (too bad the Colts lost for the first time this season).

We tried Posey’s “7 cans” recipe for dinner on Tuesday and it was delicious, quick and easy (which was key on Tuesday because we needed to carve our pumpkins after dinner and before Libby went to bed). It was what Rachael Ray calls a stoup – thicker than soup but not quite thick enough for stew. It was also a cross between Mexican and Italian flavors. Per Posey’s suggestion, I served 7 cans with egg noodles (homemade Amish egg noodles – yum!).

7 Cans
1 lb ground meat seasoned to taste
2 cans Ranch Style beans
2 large cans of Minestrone soup
2 cans of stewed tomatoes (break up the chunks)
1 can Rotel tomatoes

Brown and season meat and then add all other ingredients. Stir well and bring to a boil.

This makes a lot and as Posey said, it freezes beautifully. We have a batch for leftovers and two batches in the freezer for later.