Road Trip!!

Today is September 23. I can't believe its already the end of September. Only 6 more weekends (counting this one) left in Plattekill, NY. I have to say that number excites me. We have absolutely loved being up here at the KOA but I am really excited about what is ahead. We have already started planning our huge 3000+ mile road trip to our new home in Denver, Colorado. Here's a little preview. Once we leave here we will be heading to Williamsburg, VA to stay with some very dear friends, Debbie and Tex McKinnon. Then we will head to North Carolina for a few days to visit Goldsboro and Chapel Hill, so if you are in the area we want to see you! Then we head to Jacksonville, FL to go on a short cruise to the BAHAMAS!! We found a cheap cruise that just happened to be right on our way home ;) so we are making it a birthday celebration for 24 years of Jin Kook Lee's life. Birthdays are fun when you are married because you get gifts too! Then we head to Dallas, Texas (YAY!) with a short stopover to get some beignets in New Orleans.

Once we are in Dallas, we aren't sure how long we are staying, there's just so much to do! We started making a list of all the places and things we want to do in North Carolina and Dallas and it turned out to be mostly restaurants. Fujis, Bojangles, Chuys, Chick Fila, Hibachi San (Yeah its at the North Park Food Court...) are at the top of the list. We aren't starving up here or anything but lets just say that the highlight of our day off is driving 30 minutes to the Popeye's in the neighboring town. And I love Popeyes but I want some waffle fries! So yeah, that is our road trip, people and food. We can't wait!. We are so excited to see our friends and family, we really have missed you all so much!

But, we still have 6 weeks left here. So, not to get a head of myself, I'll blog later about what we've been up to lately.

 

Autumn, are you here?

I say "Autumn" because "Fall" looked weird with a comma after it. Not to sound like an expert writer, or a vocab snob. Even though my husband makes fun of some words I use (for example "creme rinse", "fish crackers", and "coming attractions"), Autumn is not one of those.

So yes, we are excited for Fall to get here! It has been raining non-stop for the past week so that has cooled the weather down quite a bit. Kids are back in school so things have slowed down at the campground as well. For some reason, (crazy, I know?) I have been in the mood to cook! I actually love to cook, I just never have the patience or the budget to follow a recipe. However, I found this awesome website called "CrockPot Girls" and I wanted to try out a few of their recipes. But what started it all was making my mom's chicken tortilla soup.This is one of Jin's favorite meals so I wanted to try it out. He had to work a few hours later than me so I had a lovely afternoon grocery shopping and cooking up this delicious fall meal. Here's the basic recipe.

1. 2-3 thawed chicken breasts
2. 1 onion
3. chili powder
4. 1 can of Rotel
5. mild salsa
6. 1 avocado
7. shredded cheese
8. tortilla chips

And, I think that's it. Mom, please correct me if I missed something. So here's what you do. Cook the chicken with the onions in the crock pot for about 4 hours. Then take the chicken and onions out (leaving the broth) to cut them into little pieces. Add Rotel, a couple shakes of chili powder, the salsa, (I also added some taco sauce because I wanted to get rid of it), and you can add a can of chicken broth if there isn't enough. I had to. Then let it simmer in the crock pot for another hour or so. Then you are ready to serve! Pour into bowls and add shredded cheese, cut up avocado, and tortilla chips. I also made some yummy cornbread to crumble into my soup but Jin thought that was weird. Its up to you! 

So that was Monday night. Tuesday night was a taco party at the camp ground. Wednesday and Thursdays are our days off so I decided to try out the crock pot girls' recipes. Wednesday was Beef Tips over Rice. It was delicious. SO easy and it was yummy!! Tasted like pot roast. Next time I want to add some vegetables. 

Thursday night I made Chicken Fettuccini. It was good too and very easy. I added some white wine and garlic to this recipe and then grilled portobello mushrooms on the side. It was delicious! So as you can see by these uber-simple recipes, I am an average cook at best. But I'm having fun! And, I got the October edition of Everyday with Rachel Ray. The cover had pumpkins on it and I couldn't resist. Here's what I'm thinking about trying next week: Turkey Chili, and "Gobble it up" Chicken and Corn soup. I'll let you know how it goes! 

On another note, it has been exactly 3 weeks since Jin had his accident. He's been walking with the boot every now and then and we head back to the orthopedic doctor on Wednesday for an update. Hopefully he will tell him he can start walking without the crutches! 

I leave you with this verse. Something I've been learning this week. 

1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.