Use Up Your Extra Turkey and Make Turkey Soup!

I love soups unreasonably, as my comment on Stephanie's soup post the other day reminded me (I linked to no fewer than FOUR soups!).

One of my very favorites to make--and something my sister Ashley begs me to make when she comes--is Turkey and Tortellini Soup. The original recipe is from Epicurious and I've deviated only slightly from it. It really is a wonderful way to make your leftover turkey fresh, and the flavors in the soup are so wonderfully developed in a short amount of time.

If you have the time, simmering your turkey bones to make homemade stock as a base is not only frugal but also incredibly delicious and healthful!

Throw this together for a day-after-Thanksgiving feast (perhaps after a day of Black Friday shopping?) and your family will thank you for not just pulling out leftover stuffing and potatoes.

Turkey and Tortellini Soup
Adapted from Epicurious.com

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 small onion, chopped
3 large garlic cloves, chopped
1 tablespoon dried basil
2 teaspoons fennel seeds, chopped or crushed slightly
1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
6 cups chicken or turkey stock or broth
2 medium zucchini, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 package of tortellini (refrigerated or dried)
1 1/2 cups diced cooked turkey
Grated Parmesan cheese

Heat oil in a heavy stockpot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add green pepper, onion, garlic, basil, fennel, and red pepper, and saute for 10 minutes or until soft.

Add stock; cover and simmer for 10 minutes more.

Add in zucchini and carrot; cover and simmer about 5 minutes or until veggies are almost tender.

Uncover and bring to a boil. Add tortellini and boil until done (check package directions). Reduce heat to low and stir in turkey; let cook about 1-2 minutes, just to warm turkey. Taste and season with salt and pepper if needed.

Serve with crackers and Parmesan cheese.

___
This Monday recipe is linked up to Mouthwatering Mondays, Tasty Tuesdays, Crafty Mamas Monday, and Thanksgiving Leftover Recipes at Real Life Blog.

The Singer and the Writer

When we were growing up, my sister and I were both singers and writers. We have many home videos of us warbling together (and me, shoving her aside and insisting, "THEY WERE TAKING A PICTURE OF ME!!!" True story). We have that blend that only related people have--why do you think there are so many family singing groups? The Jackson 5, the Osmonds, the Carpenters, Hanson, the Dixie Chicks, the Jonas Brothers...

We also got great entertainment from writing stories together. We would pass a notebook back and forth in the car on long trips; we wrote an at least ten-part saga featuring Hanson and us; we wrote letters to one another pretending to be pen pals from far away countries. From the time I was very young, I would tell Ashley stories that I made up. My favorites featured little girls named after flowers. I wish I could remember what they did, because I am sure it would make an interesting children's book series.



Ashley is 2 1/2 years younger than I am, which inevitably made her the perfect person to boss around ... and eventually the perfect person to be insanely jealous of. As a typical older sister, I couldn't stand for her to be better than me at something. And at singing, she is. While I was rejected from every solo opportunity and musical part, people sought her out to sing. She was in a Madrigals group in high school, an a capella group in college, and is apparently THE singer to secure for functions at her church now.

After several years of never being "picked" for anything in church choir and a good year and a half of being out of practice, I've pretty much accepted that I am mediocre as good singers go. Sure, I'm not bad. But no one's going to hire me to sing even at The Climbers' Wienie Roast and Monthly Talk. And, you know, that's OK.

Out of the two of us, I've become the writer, which is something I have always, always wanted to be. Through this site, my work, and various other opportunities, I am published and read. I hope my influence, my witness for Christ, is through these mediums. Just as Ashley's is through her gorgeous, insanely large-ranged voice.

If I were talented, I'd insert a video here of her and one of our college friends singing "The Prayer" at our wedding. Then you would know I am not just bragging on my little sis. She is amazing. Leave it to say, I absolutely bawled when she sang at the rehearsal.

So now I'm the writer, and she's the singer. As usual, I've found the happier I am just being me, the easier it is not to be jealous of what I'm not.

Dreaming

My husband swears that he has never remembered a dream. Are any of you like that? I can't imagine that being the case. I tend to go through periods where I dream insanely, and then periods where I can't remember anything at all. Last night's dream I don't remember specifically, but it was strange. I've never really had recurrent dreams like some people. But man, I have had some bizarre things running through my head. I've always thought my imagination was way too vivid for my own good.

I was very pleased to find out from the link above that many other people have had this dream: I was back in college and apparently forgot to go to class all semester, but then I had to take the final exam. That really freaked me out. I feel like this is kind of recurrent for me, mostly that I can't figure out why I haven't gone to class, since I was always a pretty good and responsible student. It's never the same class or the same images, but the feeling is one I think keeps returning in a dream.

Back in the Hanson days I had a few dreams involving them, and that was always a treat. Around the same time, I was totally stuck on this guy in my youth group. He was totally the "it" guy. (I was watching our youth choir this Sunday and trying to figure out who the "it" guy is in our church youth group. Isn't there always one?) I remember having a very vivid dream where we went out for coffee and he was all romantic and sweet and when I woke up I had that moment where I thought it was real. When I remembered it was a dream, I think I may have cried.

My sister would never let me forget it if I didn't share my most insane dream story, however. She won't let me forget it anyway, because she thinks it's the funniest story in the world. Except for the time I told her to lock the doors to the car because there were signs up that said "Surveying." And I thought someone was going to stop us and give us a survey. Stop laughing!

The summer after my freshman year in college I was a summer missionary. I worked at a youth mission camp as a counselor/worship leader/slave with three other girls. It was the best summer ever, but we slept at most from midnight to five during camp weeks. It was grueling! So at some point in this summer, I was at home and took a nap on the couch. And I had this dream.

I dreamt I was in a very old house and I was babysitting. For a whole slue of children. And all of the children looked like little round heads with triangle bodies, like bad drawings of a swaddled baby. (Recalling this dream, I always called them the "pea-sized children.") While I was trying to baby-sit, I kept getting e-mails from the mother of these children, who was upstairs and was a known crazy lady. I think she was a painter and was supposed to be working. Well, I got to the point where she started to worry me, but I didn't know what to do with the masses of children. So I lined them all up on the street, laying down. Then I ran upstairs, worried about the mother. And there she had killed herself, next to a painting of the Virgin Mary.

That's when I woke up. And I was really, really scared. According to my sister, Ashley, I rushed into the room where she was and started asking, "Where's Mom? Where's Mom?" She said my eyes were as big as saucers. And I started going on about the pea-sized children.

Mom was at work, she told me. So I went and laid back down. And have never lived it down.

So what's your wackiest dream?

I guess this post is recurrent. Originally published December 19, 2007.

She Likes Them, I Promise.

Peas.

It's a good thing this is Wordless Wednesday, because there are no words for how delighted this picture makes me. The bow. The auntie. The face. Heh.

Look-a-Likes

Auntie Roo--about 3 months (?)

Libbie--3 months

Picture © Portrait Innovations

Except for the dark eyes, we think Libbie looks a lot like her "Auntie Roo" (my sister, Ashley). That's definitely not a bad thing. My sister is beautiful! I do love Libbie's blue eyes, but who knows if they'll stay that way. My eyes are green and Mr. V's are brown.

Auntie Roo is paying us a visit this weekend--she gets here on Thursday and leaves Sunday morning. We're so excited! I know she is so anxious to see how Libbie has grown since Christmas, and I am excited to maybe be able to take a nap! :) And to hang out with my little sis. We've almost always gotten along (there were those middle school years, of course...) and have a lot of fun together. It's neat to have reached this new point where she's such a sweet aunt to my baby and such a good friend to me. Hopefully one day we'll live closer and be able to see each other more!!

Gratituesday

I'm not quite sure what's going on with me lately, but I've been down in the dumps. Perhaps for all those reasons I listed in my Valentine's Rant. Maybe more. Maybe because last week it felt like spring and this week it's winter again. (Have I mentioned that I HATE cold?) Maybe because Libbie has taken to screaming bloody murder for hours on end.

Anyway, I thought it was about time I joined Laura, one of my favorite bloggers, in being thankful for what is good right now.

--We found a wonderful new home for Chester. While this has certainly added to my ability to cry at the drop of a hat, I am glad he is with people who will be able to pay him a ton of attention, let him sleep in their bed, and have a huge backyard for him to run in.

--I have been busy at work, which keeps me from dwelling too very much on the difficult things.

--Libbie is becoming very fun. She rolls over, giggles, and can pretty much hold her head up. Yay!

--My sister is coming in about two weeks to spend time with me and Libbie. I can't wait to visit, hear about her new job, and see her with her niece. She loves Libbie sooooo incredibly much. I hope they will always have a very special relationship.

--My parents are leaving on a cruise this Thursday. While I am jealous, I am so happy that they still love each other immensely after nearly 31 years. They truly enjoy each other's company. I hope Mr. V and I will still be so happy after many years together.

If maybe you're going through a hard time like I am, I will leave you with this quote I read yesterday in My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers:

We all have any number of visions and ideals when we are young, but sooner or later we find that we have no power to make them real. We cannot do the things we long to do, and we are apt to settle down to the visions and ideals as dead, and God has to come and say—"Arise from the dead." When the inspiration of God does come, it comes with such miraculous power that we are able to arise from the dead and do the impossible thing. … God does not give us overcoming life; he gives us life as we overcome.

Libbie's Aunt

Her whole life we have called my little sister Roonie or Roo. I have absolutely no idea why. It is no derivative of her name whatsoever. (By the way, I've always felt kind of left out in life because no one has ever given me a nickname, except Jessie or Jess.) So, of course, as soon as I found out I was pregnant Mr. V and I decided we must continue the torture by insisting she should be Aunt Roo. I mean really, Aunt Ashley is just very difficult to say.

Of course, Ashley has just recoiled every time I've mentioned this. She hates the nickname. The time I made her dress up and called her Roonie the Clown and we had a carnival in the backyard probably didn't help.

Well today, she started a new blog. Check out the title of this one, baby. I love it. She's going to be a wonderful aunt (as will Mr. V's sister...we will have to come up with some creative nickname for her, too!).

Snapshot, 2001

Honestly, I am not sure what year it was. Ashley looks old enough she is probably in high school, and she is wearing a New York t-shirt, where we had been in May 2000 for my 18th birthday--that's a whole other story!

I guess I was home from college on a break or for the summer. This picture hangs in my office, and it makes me giggle almost every time. My mom, dad, and sister are standing behind the dining room table; each place is set with two plates and several glasses; and a small handmade "Kitchen Stadium" sign hangs on the window.

Whatever day this was, I guess Ashley and I were really bored.

My family loves food, and we love the Food Network. Sometime the summer before I got married, I taught myself to cook "by ear" mostly from "30 Minute Meals" (before Rachael was so popular and so obnoxious). We loved the old Iron Chef--none of this pansy stuff where they have American chefs and stuff. In the good old days, there was only Iron Chef Japan, Iron Chef France, and Iron Chef...Chinese? Anyway, there were just three. And they were all Japanese. And we loved the bad subtitling, the squid ice cream, and the revealing of the putrid secret ingredient. Quality entertainment.

So sometime during this pictured day, Ashley and I decided it was about time we had our own Iron Chef competition at the house. We went to the grocery store and debated forever over what the secret ingredient should be. It seemed like hours. We finally decided on water. Yes, water. We bought different kinds of water and took them home. Then we took everything out of the refrigerator and the cupboards and piled it on the counters!

I am sure Mom and Dad were both exhausted after days at work, but they played right along when they got home. They were the head chefs, we daughters the sous-chefs. It was awesome. And then food was great.

And the memory is terribly sweet. :)

Snow, part two

My favorite snow memory: Other than the Christmas ice storm, my favorite snow memory was in college, and it must have been my junior year because I remember being in my North Court room. My now-husband, my best friend Michelle, and I were in my dorm room doing something college-studentesque, like playing Super Mario 3 on my original Nintendo, or watching The Princess Bride, or studying (no, that's probably what my roomie was doing....I loved that girl!).

We decided that it was much too cold and snowy to trudge all the way to the dining hall, so we commenced calling take-out places until we found a Chinese restaurant that was willing to deliver. Unfortunately, the delivery guy claimed he knew where my dorm was and then called us 42 times to try to figure out where we were. Michelle and I finally sent Adam outside into the wild to find the delivery man and fetch us our dinner. He eventually did discover the wondering delivery man, and we spread a blanket on the floor in the dorm room and had a Chinese-food picnic. It was awesome.

A close second: One year we were lucky enough to have our cousins Matthew, Andrew, and Brianne visiting when we were struck with snowfall. (Snow doesn't happen often in Richmond, VA...it was always exciting.) Our house was in a cul-de-sac at the bottom of a giant hill. You could take a sled to the top of the street and sled all the way down almost to our house (probably 1/4 a mile). We have this lucky moment on video: my cousin Matthew, probably 6 or 7, sledding right into the ditch in front of the neighbor's house. It seems he confused himself and said something like, "Where am I?" For some reason we thought this was hysterical. And so we kept asking him to do it again. Our neighborhood had the best sledding hills. I guess that's why we didn't get bored when we were off school for 3 weeks at a time because there was still a tiny little patch of snow somewhere in Chesterfield County.

My least favorite snow memory: One of those times we were out of school for 3 weeks, I was getting bored. I was home with my sister; I was in 8th grade, which would have made her in 5th grade. She called Mom at work to see if she could go outside without me, and got permission. So I was lazing around inside--still my favorite activity--when she came rushing in with our next-door neighbor, and was pouring blood from her arm. She and the neighbor had tried to pet the neighbor's dog, Waldo, who was a giant black lab. Waldo attacked Ashley, somehow managing to rip her arm open but not her coat?? [Strangely, I experienced this phenomenon when I had my car accident. In almost the same spot as Ashley's scar, I now have a scar where glass dug a hole in my arm but did not rip my sweater at all.]

All I remember was panicking. According to my mom, I was a beacon of calm. I elevated her arm, wrapped it and put pressure on it, called Mom at work and got her out of a meeting, and called 911. I vividly remember that instead of waiting for the ambulance, though, we rode to the hospital in the back of our neighbor's painting van. I always wondered if we would get in trouble for leaving without the ambulance, or maybe someone called and canceled it.

Anyway, Ashley was fine, but she does have a big old scar from the attack and had to go through the "does it have rabies" scare and everything. And I have a very severe fear of big, black dogs.

PINK

You know how some people are impossible to buy for (MEN) and some people are just so easy you have to make yourself stop buying? My sister is one of those just-too-easy people. I guess we know each other very well--like, our whole lives--and the fact that I adore her to pieces just makes it hard to stop buying!! My best friend has an older sister who is a lawyer in Boston and her sister spoils her insanely. They frequently take vacations to the Bahamas that her sister pays for entirely. I wish I had the kind of job where I could do that for my baby sis! (Who is almost 23...not such a baby!)

Ohamanda posted this challenge to create the ultimate gift basket, real or imaginary. So Ashley, if I could buy you a wonderful, themed gift this Christmas, this would be it. I call it "Girl Power."

Have I mentioned the child loves pink? She is the girliest girl in the world. So first it would have to go under a pink Christmas tree just like mine:

I got mine at Big Lots for $18.

In good girly-girl fashion, she loves to drink tea. These blooming teas from Teaposy are so, so cool. Bed Bath and Beyond sells these for $18 :

And I love this velvet manicure lapdesk...in pink, of course, and monogrammed with "A." It's from Pottery Barn Teen...and sadly it seems to be discontinued!! Oh no! Well, since this is a fantasy we'll just ignore that problem:

How funny is this chair shaped like a high heel? It's $149 at highheelshoestore.



This adorable vintage bathing suit:


Would be perfect for a trip to here. I think we could have a pretty rocking time here for about $5000:



And she might need this dress to go out dancing in:



And you know, to top it all off, I'd put the keys to this inside a small box wrapped in 5 other bigger boxes.



Unfortunately, I found this bit of info:

An interesting thing about the Mary Kay pink: Regular customers cannot buy a pink Cadillac from GM, nor have one painted by a GM dealer. It is an exclusive shade owned by the cosmetics company.

Hmmm...guess I will have to check out eBay!

And I think if I could figure out a way to get her a date with:


I would be her hero. (Our Dad would love the tattoos...LOL. I don't think Johnny here is a "college boy," which is Daddy's requirement for a man to be marriage material.)

This package valued at 1.5 bazillion dollars due to the kidnapping fee for Johnny Depp.
Why aren't I a millionaire? :(

Oh well, it was fun to think about!! Go visit ohamanda's blog and enter this contest to win a great gift basket!!

A Minute Without You

This post is definitely going to scream "I was a major dork." Was? Hmm, debatable. I no longer care about being a dork, so that makes it a little better.


Mr. V and I were in the car on the way to St. Louis this weekend. I had just been talking to my sister, Ashley, on the phone. I've been having major homesickness lately. Not for any particular place, really, because going "home" to Richmond isn't exactly an option now that Mom and Dad aren't there. But for my family. I told Ashley I was thinking about our Hanson days. Yes, the band Hanson, the ones who sang Mmmbop (and yes, that is one of the worst songs ever--however, they DID have other songs! Which were good!).

Some of my best memories are of being in the car with Cynthia, going to pick up Ashley and her best friend Deborah, and them sitting in the backseat of my 86 Plymouth Reliant singing and doing hand motions to "Sure About It."



In the years before Hanson, Ashley and I were not friends. She was in middle school, depressed and angry, and I was in high school and therefore infinitely cooler than she was. When we both got into Hanson, however, we had something to share. We spent tons of time with my best friend Cynthia being ridiculously silly, watching MTV and taping every single time the "Where's the Love?" video was on MTV or VH1. Why? Beats me!!! But it was fun.

After I had talked to Ashley on the phone, Adam and I were talking about radio singles and how the best singles are usually around #3 or 4 on the CD. I told him that Hanson's best single on the CD that I remembered all the tracks was #5 ("Where's the Love"). I was positive I could remember all of the tracks on Middle of Nowhere in order.

You would not believe how much I listened to that CD. I think for about 2 1/2 years it was the only Hanson CD out and I wore that sucker out. For a long time I listened to it every night as I went to sleep. I remember at one point Ashley and I were in the back of our parents' van coming back from King's Dominion and we tried to sing the entire album in order. Needless to say, at the time, it would have taken me ten seconds to list of the 13 tracks. I came up with 11 of them pretty easily. The twelfth came much slower but did come later that night ("Look at You"). But I could not for the life of me come up with the last track. I could not believe it! It wasn't until tonight when we got home that I discovered it was "Yearbook." Who would have thought?

I have to say I miss the Hanson years. It was fun and it kept me out of trouble. Yes, I am probably storing an unusually large amount of lyrics in my head where I could be putting useful things, like the style manual for work and any bit of American history. You probably are too--just a different band.

Love to my Hanson girls--Cynthia, Elise, Ashley, Alena, and Deborah.

Getting Older

It's thundering outside and that's a good cue not to work, right? I mean, my computer could go down and I could lose everything! OK, I worked late yesterday so I don't feel too bad about taking a few minutes to write here.

We were in Ohio this weekend. Mr. V went to a conference at Wright State (where my dad graduated from!) and I hung out with various family members! Saw all four of my grandparents as well as several aunts and uncles. It was very fun, maybe one of the best trips I've had!

It's so wonderful to finally be adult enough to sit around and talk with my aunts and uncles. We had such a nice time with Steve and Debby and then on Sunday I had a great chat with Aunt Barb. :) And I managed to come home with a baby bassinet in the back of the car--but no worries about that (yet)!! Grandma Schumann made sure to say "no pressure," they just assume I'll be the first grandchild on that side to produce a great-grandchild. Which is probably a pretty good assumption, unless Tim decides to get married and have a kid REAL fast! Or unless we can't have kids, in which case I will pass it down to one of the other darling girls.

I can't believe Ashley graduated from COLLEGE. I must be getting incredibly old. I'll be 25 next Saturday and I think I am going to have a mini crisis! Mr. V says the worst thing is that you aren't in the 18-24 age bracket anymore. You move up to the old people. On the way to 30. Yikes. Sometimes I think it's just another sign that we were meant for forever, not for earthly death. We are so uncomfortable aging--and saying goodbye. God, all I can hope to do is age in grace and then be taken with grace right into the Kingdom!

Guess it's time to get back to work. If I don't make this project on my desk go away soon I am going to start pulling my hair out. But it's getting done and it actually looks very, very good despite all the crazyness surrounding it the past few weeks.

J

Frightened and Grieving

This whole VA tech shooting is just baffling and awful. First of all, how could someone manage to shoot 42 people before being caught? Or stopped by someone, anyone?? My little sister came very close to going to Tech and that frightens the beejeebies out of me. Other peoples' little sisters are seniors there, like Ashley could be, scared out of their minds and maybe having lost a sibling. Ashley is my only sibling and I can't stand the thought of losing her. My heart hurts so bad for these families and for the school. How do you continue running a school after something like this?

Sometimes I wish I weren't so sensitive to things...but I think that when we stop being horrified by bad things we become immune to sin. And that, I definitely don't want to be. Please pray for the families of these victims. VA Tech is very close to my hometown and I know tons of people who went there, I know my sisters knows plenty of people who still go there. It is so heartbreaking. I am going to try to get some work done today, but I am so torn up about why someone would do something like this.

J