Chicken Tortilla Soup

I'm sharing a recipe.  I was asked on facebook, but I'm just going to put it on here because it's easier.  It's moderately easy, and super yummy!!!

Chicken Tortilla Soup

3 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped
3 tbsp butter
3 (14 oz) cans chicken broth
4 cups half and half
1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 cup fresh salsa
1 can creamed corn
1 rotisserie chicken or 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced
2 tsp ground cumin
1 packet dry fajita seasoning
3 tbsp chopped, fresh cilantro

To Serve:
16 oz tortilla chips
8 oz shredded Monterey Jack cheese

In a large pot over medium heat, saute the garlic and onion in the butter for 5 minutes.

Add flour and stir well, cooking for 1 minute more

Add the broth and half and half.  Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low.  Add the soup, salsa, corn, chicken, cumin, fajita seasoning and 2 tbsp of cilantro.  Stir and continue to heat for 15 minutes

Crumble tortilla chips into individual bowls, add shredded cheese to each bowl, and ladle in soup.  Top each bowl with more crumbled chips, and remaining cilantro and serve.  Also yummy with a dollop of sour cream.

Just For You, Bill

Since you're not on FaceBook, Bill, here is the much wanted recipe for the chicken tortilla soup. I also emailed it to Mom. Enjoy!!!!

Chicken Tortilla Soup

3 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped
3 tbsp margarine or butter
2 tbsp all purpose flour
3 cans chicken broth
4 cups half and half
1 can of cream of chicken soup
1 cup fresh salsa
1 can creamed corn
6 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cooked and skinned. OR you can use one oven roasted chicken from the grocery store.
2 tsp ground cumin
1 packet of dry fajita seasoning
3 tbsp chopped, fresh cilantro

To serve:
16 oz tortilla chips
8 oz shredded monterey jack cheese

In a large pot over med. heat, saute garlic and onion in butter for 5 min. Add the flour, and stir well, cooking for one more minute.

Add the broth and half and half. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to low. Add the soup, salsa, corn, chicken, cumin, fajita seasoning and 2 tbsp of cilantro. Stir and continue to heat for 15 minutes.

Crumble tortilla chips into individual bowls, add 1/2 oz shredded cheese to each bowl and ladle in soup. Top each bowl with more chips, remaining cheese and cilantro.

dinner inspiration, January 2024

 

Happy Wednesday, friends! I am always up for some dinner inspiration, and I wonder if you would feel the same this week? Here's a compilation of things that we've eaten in the last few weeks. I hope this inspires you! 

On New Year's day, I made a pot of white chicken chili and cornbread. It was delicious! I used some chicken that was leftover that I shredded, and to that I added a couple of cans of corn, some green chilis, and pinto beans with chicken stock and a mixture of milk and cream. I think I used cumin powder as well, but it was amazing! I loosely followed a recipe that I saw on Pinterest, and changed it up according to what I had in my pantry. The recipe called for cannelloni beans, for instance, but I had pinto beans on hand. 

For my mom's cornbread recipe, I use two cups of white cornmeal mix, two tablespoons of flour, some salt and pepper, one egg, and milk (I keep slowly pouring until it's the consistency of thick pancake batter). To my skillet, I added a tablespoon of olive oil and heated it in the oven at 450 until it was bubbling; when I pour the cornbread mixture into it, it sizzles, which is what gives it that crispy crust. I baked it until it was golden brown. 

One night recently, we had smoked sausage cooked in the air fryer, tortilla chips, cheese cubes, and shrimp cocktail that we bought from Costco. I love to buy that from Costco; it's delicious and something we both love either on its own or with something like this. 

On another night we had these bratwursts that I cooked according to the package instructions, spinach squares, and bell pepper and onions tossed with low sodium soy sauce and cooked in the air fryer. The spinach squares are another recipe that I found on Pinterest and loosely followed. Todd loved this night of dinner and had it two nights in a row, he enjoyed it so much. 

Last week I made this chicken tortilla soup, and another night I made taco soup. Click the link for the tortilla soup recipe, but for the thousandth time, I'll share this taco soup recipe again, because it's a huge crowd pleaser. I've modified it over the years to make it a bit healthier, and here's what I do.

I either brown a pound of ground beef, or I use leftover taco meat. To the cooked meat, I add a packet of taco seasoning, a packet of ranch dressing seasoning, and one container of the lower sodium beef broth. I let that come to a simmer, then I add a can of corn, a can of black beans, two cans of kidney beans, and a can of Rotel tomatoes. I let it simmer for 30 minutes, then we eat it with tortilla chips. It's so good, and the longer it sits, the better it tastes. I also like to drain and rinse all the beans, and adding in one extra can of Rotel tomatoes kicks up the spice and makes it even better. I usually add in a tablespoon of cottage cheese to mine as I put it in a bowl, for some added protein and creaminess. 

And lastly, this is what we had for dinner last night, which is a new favorite. I add six chicken breasts to my crockpot, two packets of ranch dressing seasoning, and two packs of the less fat cream cheese. I let it cook on high all day long, then I either shred it or break it into big chunks, but at the end, we sprinkle bacon bits on top, and it is to die for! It's great with either roasted potatoes or rice, and last night we added green beans. Todd loves this meal and it's great as leftovers. I don't have an actual name for this, but I think it's something like King Ranch chicken or something similar. 

What are you eating for dinner this week? I'd love to hear about it and be inspired for next week! Thanks for reading my blog, friends. Love to all! 

what's for dinner this week

I am always in need of some inspiration for dinner, and in light of that, I thought I'd share what I'll be cooking this week.  Also, I made a giant pot of delicious soup last night and shared a picture on Instagram, then had several folks reach out for a recipe, so I'll share that as well.  I'll start with the recipe first.

This Dutch oven was FULL of chicken tortilla soup. 

Here's what you need:

2 cloves of garlic, minced (or about three TBSP of minced garlic out of a jar)
1 onion, chopped
3 TBSP of butter
2 TBSP of all purpose flour
3 cans (14 0z) of chicken broth
4 cups of half and half (you can use milk to cut the fat) (But why do that?)
1 can of cream of chicken soup
1 cup of fresh salsa
1 can of creamed corn
about 4 cups of chopped chicken, or one rotisserie chicken (which is what I used)
2 tsp of cumin
1 packet of fajita seasoning
3 TBSP of fresh cilantro

And here is what you do:

Start with the butter~melt it in your soup pot, along with the garlic and onion.  Saute this until the onion is translucent, then add in the flour.  Stir together and cook for two, so the taste of flour will be gone. 

Add the broth and half and half.  Bring this to a boil (I turned the heat down to medium), then reduce the heat to low.  Add the soup, salsa, corn, chicken, cumin, fajita seasoning, and 2 TBSP of the cilantro.  (I actually used a lot more than that, because I LOVE fresh cilantro.)  Stir, continuing to heat for fifteen more minutes. 

To serve, we topped it with a bit of shredded cheese, more fresh cilantro, and tortilla chips.  As good as it is right away, it's even better the next day. 

......................................................................................

Originally I was going to book club tonight, but we're not meeting this week, it turns out.  I had already gotten the ingredients to make Beer Cheddar Joe's, and I'm sticking with that.  This is equally delicious, and something my kids love.  Click here for the recipe.  (This is a Mix and Match Mama recipe.  The only thing I added that was extra was salt...I don't think the original recipe had that in it, and you will miss it, if you don't add a pinch or two.  My boys add hot sauce over theirs, as well, and sometimes I add that into the pot while it's simmering.)

On Wednesday, with the kids at church, we usually snack or eat leftovers.  The boys like to go to Chick Fil A with friends after church, so Todd and I usually do our own thing.  On these nights, I love making oven roasted potatoes with lots of toppings.  I wash and cut up a bunch of potatoes, pouring olive oil, salt, and garlic powder over the top, mixing them well.  I bake them at 400 or 425 for about an hour, until they're golden brown, and shriveled up and crispy.  We top them with shredded cheese and homemade ranch dressing, and sometimes, turkey bacon that I've cooked and chopped.  This is delicious and so easy!  My homemade ranch dressing is easy too.  It's a cup of mayonnaise, a cup of sour cream, salt, pepper, 3 TBSP of worcestershire sauce, and 2 to 4 TBSP of taco seasoning.  While whisking this together, drizzle in milk until it's the desired consistency that you prefer.  We like ours a little on the thin side.  My kids like my ranch dressing so much, that I no longer buy it in the store.  Thanks to Ina Garten, for showing me how easy it is to make, and it so much better than anything you would buy. 

I bought some dried pinto beans from Kroger yesterday, and plan on making that for Thursday, along with some sort of meat and cornbread.  I love meals that are just beans and cornbread, but my family would argue.  For them I'll add some meat, and other than soaking the beans overnight the night before, they're super easy to cook~you just simmer them low and slow for a few hours, adding salt and tasting often.  Beans can be hard to season.  I usually add a little something extra, like cumin or garlic, and some chicken broth.  (Can you tell we are Mexican food lovers around here?) 

That takes us all the way until Friday, and by then, I'll have to figure out something else.  Call me crazy, but when the weather turns cool, I love to cook even more, usually opting for something warm and comforting. 

So, what are you having for dinner this week?  I would love to know!  I am always looking for ideas of new things. 

Thanks for reading!  Love to all. 

What's for dinner?

 

Happy Tuesday, friends! I thought I'd share what we're having for dinner this week and some other snack type things we sometimes have when we're a light crowd. 

One of our favorite things to have is a baked potato bar. I wash and dry a bunch of russet potatoes and coat them with olive oil and sea salt, and bake them for about two hours on 350. I made homemade bacon bits and grated some sharp cheddar and diced green onion for me. I like to make a whole bag of these at one time and we'll eat on them all week, or I'll turn into potato soup one night. 

I love it when the skin gets all crispy on the outside. 

Drew asked for tortilla soup this week, so I'm making that tonight. I love this soup! I don't make it often enough, but it's one of our favorites.

Here's a recipe, if you're interested:

2 cloves of garlic, minced (or about three TBSP of minced garlic out of a jar)
1 onion, chopped
3 TBSP of butter
2 TBSP of all purpose flour
3 cans (14 0z) of chicken broth
4 cups of half and half (you can use milk to cut the fat) (But why do that?)
1 can of cream of chicken soup
1 cup of fresh salsa
1 can of creamed corn
about 4 cups of chopped chicken, or one rotisserie chicken (which is what I used)
2 tsp of cumin
1 packet of fajita seasoning
3 TBSP of fresh cilantro

And here is what you do:

Start with the butter. Melt it in your soup pot, along with the garlic and onion.  Sauté this until the onion is translucent, then add in the flour.  Stir together and cook for two minutes, so the taste of flour will be gone. 

Add the broth and half and half.  Bring this to a boil (I turned the heat down to medium), then reduce the heat to low.  Add the soup, salsa, corn, chicken, cumin, fajita seasoning, and 2 TBSP of the cilantro.  (I actually used a lot more than that, because I LOVE fresh cilantro.)  Stir, continuing to heat for fifteen more minutes. 

To serve, we top it with a bit of shredded cheese, more fresh cilantro, and tortilla chips. (I always make a huge pot of this, because it's so good as leftovers.)

Wednesday night I'm going to church, so they'll probably eat leftovers if they don't go out to eat. I'm trying a new one pot beef stroganoff recipe I found on TikTok and Friday night I'll either have leftovers or I'll get pizza. Other things I keep on hand that are easy and good are things like pasta with sauces and veggies to throw in, I'm making some quiches again this week, and we love to eat charcuterie type things for dinner complete with smoked sausage, cheese cubes, wheat thins and peppers. 

I love reading the books I'm reading right now, because I am always inspired to cook after reading them. I love books that incorporate food into them. I'm reading another series by Pamela Kelley, the Quinn Valley series.

My family will be gone all weekend, because of a youth event going on at our church and because they help with all the technical things. Noah is going out of town and Graham will probably be at the church as well. 

I always love to be inspired to try new things, so I'd love to hear what you're eating this week! Thanks for reading, friends. Love to all!

Tuesday's Musings

As you can probably tell from the lack of blog postings, I've had yet another crazy week.  I'm recovering from whatever junk I had...and although I really didn't feel good on Monday, I really felt like I needed to go to work.  So I did, praise the LORD.  When I got there, they were soooo shorthanded.  They're still short one teacher's assistant, and both the gals that work in the front office were not there.  One was sick, the other had a sick child.  LC (my boss lady) asked me to stay yesterday and to come in this morning and work the office both times.  I obliged.  It's been YEARS since I've sat at a desk and answered the phone.  Some things you don't ever forget...it's true.  By ten o'clock today I had everything figured out...some by trial and error, some taught.  My phone voice came back very quickly.  And my ability to act like everyone's best friend while on the phone answering some RIDICULOUS question.  Seriously, people, have you nothing better to do than sit and complain????

So, while that was fun, I've been busy this week.  And so far it's not stopping, I have a full day tomorrow, and probably Thursday, as well.  I will have to make time to stop and make our Halloween dinner for Friday night, however.  And figure out something for dessert.  Unless someone reading this blog would like to make and bring dessert.  Or a couple bags of tortilla chips.  We're having chili made by my sister Lisa, and I'm making chicken tortilla soup.  Yum.  I just have to find a recipe for it.  If you have one, feel free to share it with me in the comment section.  One thing: it has to be like McAllister's chicken tortilla soup.  I don't want it tomato based, and so far that's all I've found on FoodNetwork.com.

I cannot wait until Friday night!!!  I am going to have, trick or treating with me, one clown, one injured soldier home from Iraq, one baseball player and one football player.  Guess who's going as what?  Well the clown is not hard to figure out...the one, the only, the amazing DREW!  Ha ha, laughing as I write that. Graham will be the injured soldier home from Iraq complete with a bleeding head wound, Jonah will be the football player and Noah is the baseball player.  It's simple.  We went with what we had, except for Drew's clown ensemble.  I bought him a wig and a red nose.  Aunt Trish bought him some glasses with a moustache, and I think he has some gadget he's going to carry~like a water squirter or something.  

I will be going as a tired mom.  Well, not really.  I'll be pumped up by then!  I'll load myself with good food and some caffeine, and I'll be fine.  We'll also be making our annual trip to the Haunted House in the Woods in Collierville.  Lots of caps there.  Sorry.  The Woods is a neighborhood down the road from us, and every year there's this house that puts on an amazing show for us all to see.  There's a graveyard, and usually some sort of chainsaw action going on.  The boys don't really go up to it, they just stand across the street and laugh.  

One year my sister and her husband Jim went with Todd and the boys...me and the little ones stayed behind.  Lisa went up to get some candy from the man standing at the front porch...he may have been dressed like a ghost or something, but she went to get candy because Graham and Drew wouldn't.  So when she got up there, she held open their bags for him, and next to him was a coughin with what she thought was a fake dead body.  The body jumped up and Lisa started beating the poor man half to death with one of the boys' goodie bags.  She was trying to put him seven feet under, as Medea would say.  Don't ask...if you haven't seen it, it's not worth the explanation.  I'm quoting my favorite movie of all time, The Diary Of A Mad Black Woman.

I'm thrilled that all this is falling on a Friday night this year.  I really think that trick or treating should occur on Friday nights every year.  It's too hard to have to try and get them all home and bathed and non~sugared by bedtime.  They've never gone to bed before 10 in years past...the deal was that they had to wake up "happy" the next morning.  And sometimes breakfast the next day consisted of....you guessed it.  Chocolate.  I know.  Sometimes I'm a really bad mom.  I've even been known to let them having chips for breakfast.  GASP.  Don't tell, okay?

As I write this, my kids are watching It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.  I love this show.  Thank you, Papa, for calling to tell us about it being on.  I didn't know.  Haven't had the t.v. on all day.  Can you tell?  Well, I'm going to go for now, Noah's asking me to read him a story.  And I am in need of some cuddle time with all my sweet babies.  Two of which are sitting in the floor playing Phase 10.  Can you guess which ones?  Good night.  

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday, friends!  I'm joining up with Andrea from Momfessionals, and her friends for this Friday Favorites post.

The weather has been PERFECT this week, and inspired me to pull out all my fall decorations and spruce up my house for my favorite season.  The highs have been in the seventies, and the lows in the fifties.  I love cooler weather!  Also, I have been saying "sweater weather" for way longer than Bath and Body Works came up with that name for one of their famous candles.

Speaking of....well, more about that in a minute.

I have some actual useful things that are on my favorites list this week.  Usually I post about my favorite happenings, but I thought I'd switch things up a bit.

I'll start with what's for dinner tomorrow night.  Taco soup {and all things soup} are one of my very favorite things about cooler/cold weather.  I could eat soup every night of my life, and never find one that I didn't like.  My friend made the recipe for broccoli cheese soup that I gave her a couple weeks ago, and she's had me thinking about that for a few days.  I'm thinking it'll be on the dinner menu next week.  But taco soup and chicken tortilla soup are my favorites.  Taco soup is so easy to make!  For my family, I brown about three pounds of ground beef, with a little diced onion and garlic thrown in for flavor.  Once that's done, I add in three packets of taco seasoning mix, two packets of ranch dressing mix, about four cans each of corn, chili beans, black beans, and diced tomatoes, a jar or two salsa, and a couple or three containers of tomato juice.  I add water to thin it a little, if I use two tomato juices.  You just let it simmer on low for a few minutes, maybe about twenty or thirty, and I like to serve it with Fritos or tortilla chips.  For toppings, I add sour cream, shredded cheese, and fresh cilantro.

YUM.

I cannot WAIT for dinner tomorrow night.

{Thanks, Google, for your image.}  I love fall.  It is my very favorite season.  I love to decorate for this season, and for Christmas.  I would love to decorate for all the seasons, but realistically, I'm not going to ever do that.  I used to do more when my kids were young, at least with things like window clings for each holiday, but they don't really care about all that anymore.  Fall is my best, though.  Hands down.  And honestly, I combine fall, Halloween {just jack o'lanterns and scarecrows}, and Thanksgiving, and call it all "fall".  I do take the Halloween stuff down the day after.

Here's a hint of what I did yesterday.  I'll show more next week, when I do a little "come on in" tour of my house all decked out.

 I found a new favorite nail polish this week!  I will probably get this color a lot before spring comes.  It's called Suzi and the Arctic Fox.  It's the newest OPI line {Iceland} and I love it.

If you're familiar with any of the older colors, it's similar to Road House Blues.

Of course I know that.

Teenage girls believe that nail polish naming is my super power.

Every fall makes me want to watch Gilmore Girls all over again.  I don't always do that, but I started watching all over again this week.  There have been some days that I've woken up not feeling great or rested, so that's what I've done in the mornings.  And maybe for one whole day.  Maybe.

Every time I watch, it reminds me that this is my favorite show ever.  I think I say that about three different shows, but seriously.  This one wins.

About those Bath and Body Works candles, this one is my favorite.  I know it's so cliche, but I really do love this one.  I don't love the pumpkin flavor (pie, lattes), but I do love the scent when it's added in with another scent, like cinnamon.

These candles make me hungry, though, and that's not great.  But my house smells yummy.

On Wednesday, I went and ran errands with my mom, and one place we stopped at was this fabric store, Premier Fabrics.  It's my favorite fabric store!  I say that like I sew, but I don't.  She does, though!  She has a little upcoming project she's working on, so we stopped for that.  I could look at fabric all day long.  I love it so much, and all these bright colors make my heart sing.

Interesting library book stacks are my favorite thing.  I have been on a reading kick, but sadly, this week it slowed down a little.  I think because of my head and the way I've been waking up each day.  I haven't read as much as I would have liked, but I will make my way through all of these quickly, providing they can hold my interest.  If I don't like a book, I have to put it down.  I don't have time to waste reading books I don't love, and I have no qualms with quitting one if I don't like it after the first few pages.  It needs to grab my attention fast.

I know, I have just caused someone to have panic a little, at the thought of not finishing a book.

It's been a great week, and I am looking forward to this weekend, and spending some time with the Goodwin side of the family.  Thanks for reading my blog, friends!  Love to all.

weekend wrap-up

I love the cool weather we had this weekend!  And I love that Halloween fell on a Friday night, even though we didn't have many trick-or-treaters.  It was kinda strange, actually, but we have lots of leftover candy.  That makes the kids happy.  ;)

I made a huge pot of chicken tortilla soup for dinner.  My mom made chili and brought it over.

I have enjoyed eating on this all weekend.  :)

The kids all went trick-or-treating with their friends.  I didn't get any pictures!  I don't even know what they went as, how's that for mom of the year?

I did get a picture of one of my children, the only one I have who would be willing to dress this way.

He went with a group of girls and they said he could come with them if he dressed as one.  So he did.

After my mom, step-dad and sister left, Todd and I sat around this.

It was a loverly night.

Saturday morning dawned bright and early for us, since we went to bed at ten thirty.  Todd had a lot to do that day, though, and he got an early start.  One of the things included replacing our old, broken fence with a new one.

It was cold!  He had lots of help.

The boys thought it would be fun to give me a heart attack.

Eek!  Toddley found a black widow on the wood in the backyard.  Drew thought it would be fun to bring it inside.  She's back outside now, though, still in this jar.

My mom came and picked me up and we did some running around together.  Our last stop was Target, and we got our first red cup of the season!

I was freezing, so I came home and put on something a little more warm.  Brrrr!

I stayed in this all night at my mom's house.  Seriously, I was freezing, until I had a cup of coffee, then I got hot and took off the scarf and jacket.

Sunday morning found us at church very early for a teacher meeting.  Afterward, we came home and enjoyed...you guess it...chicken tortilla soup.  :)

Todd and I watched a little telly.

I took a nap right after this.  Last night our community group met at a different house and we sat around the bonfire and talked about the book we are reading together.  We also enjoyed s'mores.

I am so bummed, because we are not having community group next weekend.  :(  But, we are having a girls retreat Friday and Saturday, so yay for that!  I look forward to spending the weekend with some of my favorite people.

It was a great weekend!  I hope yours was too.  Love to all!

What's for dinner?

 

Happy Wednesday, friends! It's officially soup season in the Goodwin house, and we kicked it off with tortilla soup on Monday night. We ate it as leftovers last night as well, since we were preparing for the little trick-or-treaters. The great thing about this soup is that it gets better with each day. I usually triple this recipe when I make it, it's that good. We eat it on it for days, and I always send Drew home with some when he joins us. This is his favorite thing that I make, if I had to guess. 

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 onion, chopped

3 tablespoons of butter or margarine

Sauté all of that until the onions are translucent. Once that happens, add 1 tablespoon of flour to make a roux. Add 3 cans of chicken broth and 4 cups of half and half. (I make substitutions here to make it a little less guilty.) Stir until that comes to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and add the rest of the ingredients.

1 can of cream of chicken

1 cup of salsa

1 can of creamed corn

1 rotisserie chicken

2 teaspoons of cumin

1 packet of fajita seasoning

3 tablespoons of cilantro

Mix it all together really well and continue to simmer on low for 15 minutes. When it's done, add some shredded cheese and crushed tortilla chips to a bowl, and top with soup garnished with a bit more cilantro, if your heart desires. My heart does desire that, but I ran out of what I had when I made the soup. 

It was a great night! All my kids were here, even our bonus son, Alex. It's so rare for that to happen, and even though I'd been sick the day they were all here, it was worth it to have some time together. Quality time is my love language! Do you have a recipe that's a favorite of your kids'? I'd love to hear about it, if you do! Thanks for reading my blog, friends. Love to all! 

the Wednesday hodgepodge

 

Happy Wednesday, friends! I'm here with Joyce again today for the weekly hodgepodge...this is a post that I dearly love; thank you, Joyce, for your inspiring and thought provoking questions each and every week! I'll jump right in. 

1, What gives you energy? What takes it away? Marilyn and I talked about our answers to these prompts Monday night, and I told her that right now, work is giving me energy. I love making connections with different students, and our Resource S students are the sweetest. Seeing their smiles makes my day, as does them stepping out of a line to give me a goodbye hug every single day. I love these students so much, even the ones who are difficult! The ones who are tricky come from homes that aren't as stable as they need; many of the families are divorced, and that affects their kids in all the ways that you can imagine. Something that takes away my energy is when I have a setback like I did on Monday. I don't want to talk about that again, but I wrote about it yesterday. 

These are my sweet little first grade friends. I adore them! 

2. How often do you shop for clothes? What accessory do you always wear? I shop for clothes on an as-needed basis. I don't love shopping, but when I need things (like I do now), I'm always keeping my eye out for something. I've done a lot of online shopping for clothes lately; I'll post about that soon! I always wear accessories, period. Right now this is my Apple watch, my chunky gold earrings, a dainty gold necklace, and my favorite gold bracelet stack. 

3. What's something that's free that you feel grateful for? God's abounding love. Friendship. Communication. Laughter. Moments that bring joy. Hugs. Phone calls in the afternoon.

4. Breakfast, lunch, dinner...which meal of the day do you enjoy most? What's your go-to comfort food? I'm always the hungriest at lunch! But my favorite meal is always dinner. My go-to comfort food is something warm; last night I Door Dashed our dinner from a local Mexican restaurant. I had some delicious chicken tortilla soup since I didn't feel great, and I ordered veggies with rice and black beans. 

I plan on making my own soup when I start to feel better. I love to eat it for leftovers! Do you do this? 

5. This week the world remembers the tragic events of 9/11. Do you mark the day in any way? How do historical events shape your perspective on personal challenges? I usually take time to pray for the families of those who lost loved ones on 9/11. I like to watch The Today Show on this day each year, but I'll be at work. I may record it, honestly. I think that travel has changed the most in the days since those terrorist acts. That's when TSA guidelines tightened up, and when they started forbidding non-travelers at the gates. 

I'm so glad I got to see this memorial when I was in NYC several years ago. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. I spent some time scrolling on Spotify for a song to share with you, but I couldn't find one that was worth sharing. So I'll say this instead: I think it's important that we listen to our bodies. I was thinking of this as I came home after work yesterday; I had grand plans to go to the bank, get my car washed, and go for a pedicure all before coming home. I left work not feeling great, though, so I skipped all of that and came straight home to lay down. I wanted soup for dinner, which is why I Door Dashed our dinner; before it got there I washed my face and put on pajamas. It felt good to stay home all night, and I'm glad I made the choice to forego all of the plans that I'd had for that afternoon and evening. I'd also signed up for a women's event at church, but I definitely knew I didn't need to go to that. All of this being said, I think it's smart when we listen to what our bodies tell us we need. This week feels like it's kicking my butt, so I want to take it easy on myself, you know? Have you experienced this? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks for reading my blog today, friends. Love to all! 

Jenn