Cats

Some years I do a separate post for each fur kid during the A to Z Blogging Challenge, but now we have two cats whose names begin with C, and there are different posts I want to do for some of the other letters their names begin with.  It doesn’t seem very fair to give some of the cats their own posts, but not the others.   I know they don’t care, but I do.  So, all six of the cats will be sharing one post. 

We love cats.  That’s probably fairly obvious since we have six of them.  I had two cats when Nick and I met and Nick had one.  I think not liking cats would have been a deal-breaker for either one of us.  During the fourteen years that we’ve been together, we’ve always had at least one cat, and we currently have six.

Howard is our oldest cat and is one of the cats I had when we met.  He’ll be turning sixteen this summer.  Howard has slowed down quite a bit over the last few years, though he was quite the wild man in his younger years.  Some of Howard’s past adventures include eating an earring that had to be surgically removed and running outside and getting stuck between our fence and our neighbors’ fence.  It’s something of a relief that Howard doesn’t get into quite so much anymore!

Howard

One thing that hasn’t ever changed about Howard is how sweet he is.  We’ve still never heard him hiss or growl.  He loves everyone and is always happy.  Howard has always been the first one to welcome new siblings and foster siblings.  He’s always the one to cuddle up with someone when they’re not feeling well.  And he loves having company over, which works out well, since everyone loves Howard.  Howard’s favorite things are being brushed and cuddling up with any of his fur siblings, especially our dog, Duke.

Howard

Frankie is our third oldest cat, at eleven years old.  He’s still very active, even more so than one of our younger cats.  Frankie was found by a friend of a friend as a teeny, tiny abandoned little kitten.  They rescued him, bottle-fed him, nursed him back to health, and then put him up for adoption.  Frankie was the tiniest kitten we’ve ever brought home.  He got into everything for the first several years! 

Frankie

Frankie has slowed down some, though he’s still very active and I don’t think anyone would guess that he’s eleven years old.  Frankie isn’t a very cuddly cat, but he does cuddle up with Howard sometimes.  He absolutely loves playing with his catnip bananas and mermouse toy.  He’s also a tuna addict and insists on having some whenever we open a can of tuna. 

Frankie

Tara is the second oldest of our cats and will be turning thirteen soon.  She was about two years old when we got her.  Tara was our very first foster failure.  She started off as a short-term foster while the cat room at the shelter was being remodeled.  It took days for Tara to even begin to warm up to us and she was so timid and scared.  We couldn’t imagine sending her back to the hustle and bustle of the shelter, so decided to adopt her.  We’ve had her for over ten years now and she’s still very shy and timid. 

Tara

Toward the end of 2020, we moved Tara exclusively into our bedroom due to some health issues she was having.  She’s now doing much better and seems so much happier having her very own little space.  She’s less timid with us and plays with her toys a lot more.  She loves her catnip bananas and chasing the laser light.  She’s a great little hunter and is, by far, the best at catching the laser light.

Tara

Caroline is the fourth oldest of the cats.  She was about four months old when we got her and is now five years old.  She was dropped off on my sister’s porch as a stray.  At the time, my sister already had six cats and we only had three, so it made sense for us to be the ones to take Caroline. 

Caroline

Caroline is, by far, the sassiest of the cats.  We’d always heard people talk about “tortitude” before, but had certainly never seen it in Tara.  Caroline has more than enough for both of them!  She can be quite the little hellion.  She believes she needs to be involved in everything and wants to inspect everyone and everything that comes into the house.  She loves people food and tends to demand a sample of whatever I’m eating.  Yes, she’s very spoiled.  Everything Caroline does is on her terms, but when she’s in the mood to cuddle, she’s very sweet and snuggly with us.

Caroline

Mortimer and Charlie are the youngest of the cats.  They’ll be turning five later this year.  They’re littermates and our most recent foster failures.  They were around a year old when they came to us as short-term fosters ahead of a hurricane.  One of our local shelters was expecting flooding during a hurricane, so made arrangements to get all of the animals into temporary foster homes ahead of time.  We signed up for two cats and ended up with Mortimer and Charlie.  They were named Malmo and Copenhagen, but we didn’t like those names, so started calling them Mortimer and Charlie right away.

Charlie & Mortimer

It took them a day or two to warm up to us, but once they did, they were the sweetest little cuddle buddies.  I’ve also never seen two cats so bonded to one another.  They always slept curled up together, played together, and never seemed to be apart.  We couldn’t stand the idea of them being separated, so we adopted both of them.

Mortimer

Mortimer and Charlie have very different personalities from each other but are still very bonded.  Mortimer is the explorer.  He loves checking out new toys and new people.  He’s always playing, running around, and looking for an adventure.  To Mortimer, the world is meant to be explored.  Charlie is much lazier and very timid.  He loves to sleep and cuddle.  He has some catnip teabag toys that he plays with occasionally, but Charlie is much more of a Netflix and chill kind of guy.  He’s a great nap buddy.

Charlie

Despite their very different personalities, Mortimer and Charlie are still very bonded.  They still cuddle up and sleep together a lot.  And even when they’re off doing different things, they seem to always be aware of where the other one is.

Charlie & Mortimer

A cat post doesn’t feel complete without the three who are no longer with us in body but are always in our hearts.  Cookie, Milo, and Joey were with us all too briefly, but will always be loved. 

Cookie

Milo

Joey

Chicken & Black Bean Tacos

Tacos are one of the go to foods in our house.  We both love them, they’re relatively inexpensive, we can each customize them to our liking (I’m all about the toppings, while Nick is more of a purist), and they’re kind of a no-brainer to make most of the time.

Don’t get me wrong, I like trying new recipes, and I definitely enjoy challenging myself in the kitchen.  Sometimes, though, between work schedules that are sometimes opposite, pets who seem to go to the vet a lot, and all of the random things that come up in life, I just want something easy.  Or better yet, something that’s easy, and pretty much ready to eat when we get home.  These chicken and black bean tacos fit the bill.

You’ll need two separate slow cookers for this recipe.  It may seem a bit odd to own two, but I promise it’s worth it.  You just can’t beat the convenience of having dinner cooked when you come home.  If you’re busy, or deal with conflicting schedules, it can make the difference between a home cooked meal and fast food.  We bought our second small Crock Pot about seven years ago, and it has been well worth the cabinet space.

Any color bell pepper is great in this.  I like to use one color in the beans, and a different color in the chicken.

The chicken and black beans freeze and re-heat well, so depending on how many people you’re cooking for, you can easily freeze part of this and have a night of not having to cook later on. They’re also great as nachos.  


Chicken & Black Bean Tacos:

Black Beans:
1 bag (16 oz.) black beans, rinsed
1 onion, very finely diced
1 bell pepper, very finely diced
1 ½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
1/3 to ½ cup fresh cilantro leaves (optional)
1 garlic clove, minced or pressed
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
4 ½ cups water

Combine all ingredients in slow cooker; stir; cover, and cook on Low for 6 – 7 hours.


Chicken:
2 - 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 package taco seasoning
1/4 to 1/3 cup fresh cilantro leaves (optional)
½ tsp chili powder
½ tsp cumin
¼ tsp pepper
1 bell pepper, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 ½ cups water

Place chicken breasts in slow cooker; place onion and pepper over chicken. Add taco seasoning and spices; add water, and stir together. Cover and cook on Low for 5 – 6 hours. Shred with fork and stir together in sauce.

Spoon chicken and beans into taco shells; top as desired with lettuce, cheese, onion, avocado, etc.

Enjoy!

Cooking

That’s a pretty broad title for one word isn’t it? But, it’s one of my favorite things. I absolutely love to cook. I have enjoyed cooking for as long as I can remember, and based on the pictures on Facebook and stored on the laptop, it’s still something I do quite a lot of. If you’ve visited much before you’ve probably noticed that pictures of food feature pretty heavily here in the land of sweet tea.

Cooking for me is necessary (you’ve got to eat, right?), fun (I love trying new recipes and ideas in the kitchen), a way to say I care (my Love Language is Acts of Service, so I cook for people I care about when they’re having trouble), and stress relief (a bad day probably means I’m going to come home and do a lot of chopping and dicing!). So between all of those things I do A LOT of cooking.

Last summer a local Mediterranean/Middle Eastern restaurant started offering some cooking classes, and I’ve really enjoyed those. I’ve learned a lot about spices and techniques that I wasn’t at all familiar with before, and the food is absolutely delicious. It’s also really fun to invite friends and family over to try something new.

I really enjoy exploring other culture’s style of cooking and use of spices. I think I learned this from my paternal grandmother. My grandfather was in the Air Force, so they lived all over the place, and she always embraced local cooking techniques and flavors. I learned a lot about cooking from her, so it’s very natural for me to experiment with different things. 

Being a good southerner, southern comfort food features heavily into my cooking repertoire as well. There’s nothing quite like fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, and collard greens. And of course sweet tea. Lots of sweet tea.

I also love creating my own recipes; sometimes with major southern flavor, sometimes with other influences, and sometimes an unusual combination. I’ve been working, off and on, on writing a cookbook for a few years now, and I’d really like to finish it. I’m always trying new things, scribbling notes on various papers in the kitchen, and recruiting people to taste things. (My husband Nick and my best friend are Crystal are very tolerant when it comes to letting me try out new recipes on them.) I love the feeling that comes with getting a new recipe just right and watching people enjoy it.

So what about you? Do you enjoy cooking? What are your favorite cooking styles?

CSA

We joined a CSA program for the first time last year, and liked it so much we’ve joined again this year.  If you’re not familiar (I wasn’t until a few years ago), it stands for Community Supported Agriculture and is designed to help farmers and local consumers.

Basically, you (the consumer) pay for a share of produce in advance and then receive your share on a weekly basis once the growing season begins.  The benefit for you is that it’s usually far less expensive than what you would pay at the grocery store or farmer’s market, and you know where your food is coming from.  The benefits to the farmer are being guaranteed their money, having funds available at the beginning of the growing season, and sharing some of the risk.  There are no guarantees as to what or ho w much you will receive.  In a bad year everyone gets a little less.

Despite the fact that last year was considered a bad year (it rained incessantly, so some crops were ruined), having a CSA share was a really good experience for us.  We were able to sign up for a half-share, which is more than enough for two people, the pickup location was very convenient, and we both tried a few vegetables we had never had before.  We also ate a lot more vegetables than we ever had before.  The boxes varied some from week to week, depending what was in season, so there was plenty of variety.  The 

produce was organic, and was all very good quality. 

The first box was a little overwhelming, just having a lot of vegetables at once and not having a clear plan as to how to use them, but we learned to plan meals around vegetables and found some great recipes online.  We also had some great vegetable soup.  And we just ate a lot more vegetables, which was a very positive change for us.

It’s exciting to see what the box has every week, and try to guess what will be in the next box.  I also really liked that we were more conscious of eating vegetables while we were getting our box.  I’m really looking forward to this year’s share.  We should be getting our first box sometime in the next four to six weeks, and I can’t wait to see what it has.