Merry Christmas!

Slow Cooker White Bean and Ham Soup and a Massive Update!

Wow! I can't believe how fast October flew by! We spent two weekends in Minnesota, one for the marathon weekend and the other at great friends' wedding. We also went to Kansas City for another wedding of one of my college friends! Let's see if I can give a more detailed recap of our lives!

Where has the time gone?

During the weeks, our time seemed just as busy! I've been putting a great deal of time into the nutrition class that I'm taking in addition to working full time. Another thing that has been taking up my time is physical therapy for my injured foot! I've been going to PT sessions twice a week for the past 3 weeks and I can really tell that there has been major improvement! When I took the boot off, I felt pretty uneasy with little balance. Since then I have made major strides in balance, strength and function! Today I got to hop on the elliptical for my warm up and I was pleasantly surprised that I had no pain! It's so crazy that when you are doing physical therapy, the most elementary activities/actions turn into enormous hurdles and can be very painful. It's nice when I can see actual improvement with my ability to do the excercises and a decrease in pain after the sessions!

Slow Cooker White Bean and Ham Soup
Find recipe here.

With all that is going on, there has been little time for anything else during the week! I honestly can't remember the last time I went to the grocery store or made anything from a new recipe. I guess that means we've been eating our favorite go-to recipes that we just know! Luckily, Bryan had a little bit of down time a couple of weeks ago, before his life got crazier than mine, and was able to really help out! I had a huge craving for ham and bean soup one day a couple of weeks ago, so I found this recipe online and he got it going in the crock pot just hours later! It totally hit the spot and we had awesome left overs for days!! We have extra ham in the freezer and I think I'm going to have to whip this up again this weekend!

Big Things are Happenin'!

There is so much going on this fall, it's hard to put it into few words. Bryan is traveling all around the country full time going on residency interviews for urology, and I am trying to join him on as many that I can! With my job and class, my time is more limited, but I am able to make it on the important ones. I thought my life was busy already but add on traveling a couple times a week and it's hard to keep everything straight! This hectic time will continue to consume our lives up until Christmas, when we will submit his residency rank list! In January, we will know where he is placed! It's very exciting, and I will try to update on this topic when I can!

One Last Note

Oh, one last thing. This little guy keeps me company when Bryan is gone, and we miss him like crazy when we are away! He's such a funny little kitty! He's my study buddy, cuddle bear, comic relief and provides love and entertainment like no other!

Injury Update

Since I've been injured the past couple of weeks, I've really been taking it easy in all aspects of life. No working out, very little cooking since I'm not supposed to be on my feet (Bryan has been helping so much!), and consequently, no blogging about workouts or food!

We had a fabulous weekend in Minnesota a couple of weekends ago! We got to hang out with friends most of the weekend and watched the marathon that I was supposed to run. It was really sad and I teared up a couple of times, but I knew that had I run, I would have permanently injured myself. I knew that I was making the smart decision to not run, but it was hard to watch. Now I'm trying to figure out if I'll ever have time to train for another marathon! At least I know that there will many more half marathons in my future :)

My days consist of going to work every day, and then coming home and putting my feet up! My foot is still quite sore. I had to get an MRI today because the doctor said that since I still have a significant amount of pain, he needs to know where it is coming from so that he can figure out a proper treatment plan. He'll be able to tell how bad the stress fracture is and if there is any tendon involvement.

I've been using my time to study a lot for the nutrition class that I'm currently taking. So, I guess it's not all bad that I am not able to do much right now!

And luckily, Dimitri makes great blog material. He's so freaking cute! He's been my consistent study buddy, or lack there of... Let's just say he keeps life interesting in the Hinck Household :)

Single Wife

Yes, that's single wife. Still married, but single for the next 2 months. Bryan is in Minneapolis doing a rotation and in August he'll be in Cleveland for another. We were in Minneapolis for the 4th of July weekend and it was very weird driving back to Chicago by myself. I had a very hard time sleeping all week, but luckily our cuddly Dimitri kept me company :) I'm very excited for this week - I'm going to visit Bryan (and friends and family of course) in Minneapolis for a VERY long weekend. It's much needed. I can't imagine how I'm going to hold out for another 6 weeks after next week!

We've only been apart for a week at this point, but Bryan and I have noticed that we function together very well. Neither of us really needs alone time apart from the other. I'm pretty introverted, and I thought I would eventually want some time to myself, but I've found that I literally crave spending time with him, and don't need much time to myself that is apart from him. We definitely have times where we both have a lot to do and need to be productive, but we do it well together at the same time. We are very schedule oriented, so we can plan a whole day and be very productive and lazy at the same time if we set times aside to do both! It just works well for us.

I've been keeping busy while I'm here in Chicago. Working as usual, training for the half and full marathon, and hanging out with friends. I sort of feel like my life has been more busy than usual, so I'm excited for some low-key time in Minnesota.

Oh yeah, and what else did I do while my husband was away? I cut my hair. Like chopped it off! If you know me, you know that I've had long hair (roughly to my elbows) for most of my life. There have been a few shorter do's, but I've primarily had long hair. I really do love it long, and it's so easy to maintain, it just works well for me. But with all the running I've been doing, I've gotten a little sick of my long, wet, heavy, floppy pony tail that sticks to my shoulder blades. So, I thought about it for a long time - probably a couple of months - and on Saturday I did it! And I do not regret it! It didn't even take me long to get used to. I love it!

This is a crappy shot, but at least it gives you an idea. What do you think? It's cuter in person, I think :)

Mini Pies!

For my birthday, I got a mini pie maker from Bryan's parents! Yes, my birthday was in January, but this little contraption has been on back order since then and I just got it a couple weeks ago!! I wasn't able to use it right away, because our schedules got a bit crazy, but we finally put it to use this weekend! It was definitely worth the wait! I'll show you the step by step way we made our little pies! This is the coolest thing ever!

(Source of both photos)

We decided that for it's first use, we wanted to make some savory egg pies. As with most recipes, I took a look at it, and decided to put my own twist on it. It's a simple egg bake type of recipe, but I added more vegetables to the mix.

The first step is to preheat the mini pie maker.

Lay out your pie dough so that it gets to room temperature.

Then, saute the vegetables (add diced ham, sausage or bacon if you like). We chopped up and sauteed green onions, baby bellas, red onion, garlic and spinach. Try not to use too many vegetables. Only 1/3 cup gets placed into each mini pie.

While they are heating up, in a medium sized bowl mix 2 eggs with 1/3 cup whole milk (we used half and half because we had some around), 2 tsp dijon mustard and sprinkle on some salt and pepper.

When the vegetables are done, add them to the egg mixture. I also added some crumbled feta cheese to the mixture.

Cut the pie dough into rounds for the mini pie maker (the device comes with a cutter). Place the rounds into the mini pie maker and press into each depression.

Fill each pie with the egg and vegetable mixture. Top with shredded cheese (we used mozzarella).

Cook in the mini pie maker for 8-10 minutes, checking periodically, and voila, you have mini pies to enjoy!!!

It's such a beautiful day in Chicago that we were able to eat ours on our balcony!

Dimitri wanted a bite too. This pie is from the first batch that got a little too done due to our lack of checking on them.

These mini pies were SO DELICIOUS!! We typically have egg dishes with various vegetables sauteed in the mix, but the addition of the mustard and the crust gives this dish a completely new spin! I can't wait to try out the many recipes that are in the mini pie recipe book that came with the pie maker! THANK YOU to my awesome in-laws for this wonderful gift!

Dimitri Stories

For those of you who don’t know about how cool our cat Dimitri is…. I will inform you! We got him because I desperately wanted a cat, but Bryan is allergic to cats. I did some research and discovered that Siberians are a hypoallergenic breed. Bryan has had no reaction to him! We seriously love this little guy like crazy and he is the best cat ever! Siberians are known to be very energetic and athletic cats (as well as very social and lovable, but I’ll save that for later) and this past week, he discovered that he can reach new heights in our condo. The walls that divide the living room from our bedroom and the kitchen from the spare room/study do not go all the way to the ceiling. They’re about 2/3 the height and have a nice ledge on top for Dimitri to scamper along. We knew eventually that he’d probably get up there, but we had no idea when he’d actually try. We bought him a play tower that has a pedestal on top that is 6 feet tall, so I thought he would easily jump from there. He got on his hind feet and looked a few times, but never made the leap (I think because he didn’t know how safe it was or how much room he’d have to balance). 

Then, this week, he found his way up there through a shelving system in our closet and from there could wander all around at new heights. He even makes a leap from one wall to the top of our closets! What an acrobat! 

He’s enjoyed trying to jump down onto different surfaces, including our bed while we’re in it, as well as stretching all out watching TV from his stadium seat perch. 

Cats just love being up high and he’s certainly been excited to discover a new pastime that is probably more interesting than stairs at my in-law's house. He is definitely the king of the household now!

Gnocchi Parisienne

Bryan is on his surgery rotation now, which means he has a crazy schedule. He started working at 5:30am this morning and will get home sometime around mid-morning tomorrow. So what does that mean for me? I wanted some "me" time and originally, I was hoping to get in a nice long workout followed by a movie and a light dinner accompanied with a glass of wine. But, since I haven't been feeling that great this week, my night has turned into a more lazy version of that. When I came home late from work tonight, I was excited to put my pj's on and play with Dimitri. He was a cuddle machine! Who couldn't get enough of this cute little guy?!

This photo was actually taken last summer, but he's still just as cute - and a LOT fluffier!!

HE'S SO FLUFFY!!!

Does anyone remember that scene from Despicable Me?

Anyway now, it's time to lay down and relax and work on my blog reflecting on a wonderful night last night with the Food Network on in the background. That sounds about as good as I could imagine :)

With the combination of being really busy this week, not feeling that great most of the days, and my Girl Scout Cookies arriving, I've been pretty lazy and unhealthy the past 5 days. Yep, that means zero work outs (ugh!) and eating probably too many cookies. Oh well. Sometimes, you just have to indulge, right?!

All week, I was looking forward to Thursday night's dinner. Why, you ask? My best friend LUCY was coming over for dinner (and to get her belated birthday presents)! Lucy and I grew up together in Rapid City, SD. We were involved in the same extra curricular activities like music, soccer, and track. After being away from each other for 4 years during college, we wound up living together in Chicago for a year! Lucy is currently getting her Master's in Violin Performance at Northwestern University. I'm incredibly lucky to have such a great friend nearby. She's super busy, so when Lucy comes over for dinner, I try to make the best food I can think of!

And that's when these gnocchi's came into my life - and they will never leave.

This dish was absolutely incredible! I have to admit, either the photo on the site was misleading, or I screwed up majorly because my gnocchi's did not appear large and puffy but appeared more like mini bread sticks. However, they did not taste like bread sticks. They were little pillows of cheesy, gooey goodness!

Let's get a close up on that!

MMM!!!! Can you see the ground nutmeg?? I was surprised to see that ingredient in the list, but it worked perfectly! These little babies are going to be appearing at our table again soon!

I served the gnocchi as a dish on its own, next to another dish of spicy Italian sausage sauteed with red and green bell peppers, onion and garlic in a arrabbiata red sauce. It was the perfect match for the thick and creamy gnocchi. We also enjoyed the dishes with some delicious red wine!

Gnocchi Parisienne
From Food and Wine

Ingredients:

1 cup water
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 large eggs
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, Gruyère or Asiago cheese (I used Gruyere)


Directions:

1. In a small saucepan, combine the water, salt and nutmeg with 2 tablespoons of the butter and bring to a boil over high heat. As soon as the water boils, add the flour all at once and beat the dough with a wooden spoon until it is thick and comes away from the side of the pan. Cook, stirring to dry out the dough, about 30 seconds. Transfer the dough to a medium bowl and let cool slightly, about 5 minutes.
2. Beat 1 egg into the dough until incorporated. Beat in 1/4 cup of the cheese and another egg until blended, then beat in the last egg until the dough is very smooth.
3. Preheat the oven to 350°. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Set a bowl of ice water near the stove. With a large spatula, transfer the dough to a resealable plastic bag, pressing it into one corner. Cut off the tip of the bag; the opening should be about 1/2 inch long.
4. Reduce the heat to maintain a gentle simmer. Carefully hold the bag over the water and press out the dough, using a small sharp knife to cut it into 1 1/2-inch lengths before it drops into the pot (see Note). Simmer the gnocchi for 3 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer the gnocchi to the ice water bath to stop the cooking. Transfer the gnocchi to paper towels and pat dry.
5. Grease a 9-by-12-inch baking dish with the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter. Arrange the gnocchi in the dish and sprinkle with the remaining 2 tablespoons of cheese. Bake until puffed, about 25 minutes. Preheat the broiler. Broil the gnocchi 6 inches from the heat for 1 to 2 minutes, or until browned. Serve right away. 

Note: The gnocchi can be prepared through Step 4 and refrigerated for a few hours or even overnight before baking and broiling.

Merry Christmas from Snowy Minnesota!

We're spending Christmas and New Year's in Minneapolis with Bryan's family and a great amount of friends that we know from St. Olaf College.  So far, it's been great and it's only going to get better!

Minnesota has great winters! There have already been large snowstorms this winter, and last night another 4 inches came down! It's so beautiful!

We even got to bring Dimitri along! He is such a great traveler too! At Bryan's parents' house, he gets to experience new and exciting things like running up and down stairs and watching squirrels outside the window. In addition, he got to go play in the snow this morning (every cat needs to experience snow at least once)! He has set foot in snow only once before on our 10th floor balcony when Chicago had it's first substantial snowfall, but this time we were able to give him a little bit more freedom.

Merry Christmas!

Dimitri Stories

Story number one: This first story takes me back to falafel night. As I was getting all the food prepared in the kitchen, I had lit a couple candles in the bathrooms, ya know, to make sure the place smells good for guests. Candles are nothing new to Dimitri. We have them around and light them often. He already should know to keep his distance from them since he singed the tips of his long eyebrow hairs a few weeks ago because he was curious and got too close to one. He usually likes to “help out” in the kitchen when I’m there, so at one point I picked him up for a cuddle and maybe a treat when I noticed his fur along one side felt oddly textured. I looked and there was nothing there. It was then that I noticed his front left paw was covered in *already dried* red candle wax. Immediately, I searched his body searching for burns or signs of trauma. His side fur felt slightly singed, but nothing was visible. He seemed fine, but he kept trying to shake off the wax from his paw. It was dried into his fur down to his skin! And he has long fur, as you know. Since the kitty was fine, I decided to check out the damage in the bathroom. Sure enough, the flame was out and there was dried red wax everywhere. He had obviously put his paw into the candle, and when it was too hot, he had tried to shake it off as he initiated an explosion of candle wax all over the mirror, counter, toilet and floor – which was now dried, and might I add, NOT coming off. At this point, I realize that I have about two hours until our guests arrive and a lot more to do than time to do it. I text Bryan and tell him that we have to do some damage control when he gets home in an hour. I slowly and meticulously cleaned the bathroom thinking it will be easier to deal with Dimitri with two people. That candle wax was tricky to get off the mirror, but little by little it came off. Dimitri was up next. I started to Google different ways to get candle wax off of pet hair. It turns out, this is a common issue with pet owners. I should have known! First suggestion: peanut butter. I think, “That’s great! I remember needing to use that when I was little to get gum out of my hair! It is surely to work.” Sure, it works. If you have peanut butter in your cupboard. Who doesn’t have peanut butter? What was I thinking – I had just gone to the store that day! Okay, what’s next. Second suggestion: baby oil. Hmm. Sure, that would work great on skin where it can be easily wiped off, but it’s probably not best for an animal who is likely to clean itself with its tongue later. Third suggestion: Vegetable oil or olive oil. DONE. Got plenty of that! Dimitri was chilling out in the second bathroom sink. Perfect, I think, so he can’t get away while I’m trying to peel off wax from his paw hair. He didn’t mind too much after all. I guess he wanted the wax off too! After about 45 minutes of rubbing the oil in and picking it out bit by bit, I had gotten most of it out. Now his paw was an oily mess! When I lifted him out of the sink, I realized that his hair whole underside was pretty much an oily mess from catching the oil that didn’t make it to his paw as he was laying in the sink – not good for traipsing around the house and jumping/lying on our bed and furniture. Bryan came home at this point, and laughed of course. I needed to get back in the kitchen, but it was clear that Dimitri needed a bath. Bryan was on it. Dimitri had one bath prior to this. He didn’t mind it too much, until he was cold and wet after the bath. He was a little more apprehensive this time. Bryan was quick and pretty soon, we had a clean wet kitty running around again. No more wax on him! He gets pretty exhausted after cleaning/drying himself, so he was a sleepy kitty in just a couple of hours. If you ever need to get candle wax off of a pet, and you DON’T have peanut butter, the oil works. Then give a bath. A tip on giving the bath – put the towel you’re going to use on your pet in the dryer while you’re giving the bath. Dimitri loved sitting all bundled up in the warm towel after being taken out of the tub!

Story number two: I remember being appalled the day when little tiny Dimitri, for the first time, jumped up onto the counter top. I knew he’d eventually be able to do this, and we were going to try to preemptively train him not to do this, but I so caught off guard when his little six inch tall body gained the UPS to jump that high! He had just gained the muscle strength to jump onto our bed not long before! I guess Siberians really are an athletic breed! Well, the other day, I was astonished again. Let me start this story by saying that Dimitri really likes to play with ice cubes. Whenever we are getting ice for a glass of water or even opening the freezer, he thinks we are getting him an ice cube to play with. And we generally give him one. It’s so cute. I digress. I went to the freezer to get an ice cube a couple of days ago, and there he was, right at my feet hoping I’d toss him an ice cube. Or so I thought. I looked down at him, and he leapt up ALL the way into the freezer. Mind you, it’s as tall as my chest on top of our refrigerator! I was astonished, and had him do it again so that Bryan could see that it was not a fluke! Wow buddy, you’ve got some UPS! At least we know that he can’t do that while we are gone.

Story number three: I remember researching the Siberian cat breed before we bought one and a lot of websites boasted that Siberians are the cats that are most like dogs for all sorts of reasons like being social, loyal, playful, cuddly, great with kids and other pets, and you can teach them things like games and fetch. I thought all these things were great, but was really thinking, okay, it’ll just be a pretty well rounded cat who is fun and cuddly. I have to admit, Dimitri is the most social, loving, playful, cuddly and fun cat that I’ve ever had and he certainly lives up to, and maybe even surpasses, all of the boasting I read on multiple websites. Yes, I said ALL of the characteristics. I realized yesterday morning, at about 6am, that Dimitri can play fetch. We didn’t even intentionally teach him! Bryan left early to vote at 6am before catching the 6:30am train, and I was going to get up around 6:30am. Usually when one of us gets up, Dimitri is up for good, so I am used to him jumping up and wanting to play or cuddle, but I’m usually able to fall back asleep. Not this time. He was playing with his little mousey toy on our bed, right by my face. Groggily, I threw it off the bed into the hallway so that he’d go play out there. It usually works. But, before I could even roll over, he was up at my head again, with his little mousey in his mouth and he dropped it on the bed and looked at me. I threw it into the hallway again. He brought it right up to my face again. This time, I got out of bed, walked into the hallway, and threw it down the hallway all the way under the kitchen table. There, that’ll keep him occupied, I thought. Before I could climb back into bed and lay down, guess who was right there, with his little mousey. That’s right, my fetch playing little Dimitri. What a funny little stinker! He sure does keep the surprises coming!

African Chicken Peanut Soup

I love fall and today was a great fall day. The air was crisp and chilly, but not too cold. With the exception of a short torrential downpour, the weather was great. And, since it was my day off, it turned out to be a perfect day for me to spend the afternoon making soup. It's been a while since I cooked! (But really, let's be honest, I needed to occupy myself by being a busy-body so as not to worry about our little Dimitri who was at the vet getting neutered today). So, last night, my husband requested I make one of his favorite soups: African Chicken Peanut Soup.

This soup is a great dish for the fall. It has all the essentials of comforting soup like chicken, rice, and vegetables like celery and carrots. But, it also has some oomph to it as well. Salsa, black beans, red pepper and cumin make it interesting. It also has sweet potatoes and, of course, peanut butter. All of these ingredients combine to make a wonderfully interesting bowl of goodness after stewing in the crock-pot for hours.

The recipe says to prepare some ingredients in a dutch oven. I really just chop everything up and toss it all into the crock-pot for a few hours. I usually add some other spices (garlic and red chili flakes) if I want to kick it up a notch. Today, I used hot salsa, so no other spices were needed. It was perfect on it's own. And it was so good! Sometimes, I switch the type of salsa I use which keeps the recipe always evolving! I also served it with some wheat pita bread for dipping.





Oh, and Dimitri is home safe and recovering very well :)

Dimitri

Approximately four weeks ago, we got a new kitten!!! He is a Siberian and is hypoallergenic because my husband is allergic to cats. Good news: he hasn't had the slightest reaction to the new kitten, so I guess it's true that he really is hypoallergenic.



We decided, after a long debate, to give him a Russian name (since he's Siberian) and settled on Dimitri. We think it suits him well :) The breeder did a really good job raising him for 10 weeks. She started calling him Dimitri so he already knew his name by the time we got him. She did a great job of socializing him as well. He is so curious and playful!





He is also very cute and cuddly!





He also sleeps a lot. As a new kitten, he is expected to sleep around 16 hours a day. He's also quite cute when he's sleeping.





My husband claimed to hate cats prior to getting Dimitri. I think that is mostly because he was allergic to all other cats. So, the best part is that my husband absolutely LOVES Dimitri. He continues to make us laugh with his playfulness and love him more every day with his cuddles.