Family Affair, Part 2

Chez Owens' cozy kitchen table

We have two meals to cover in this one, so get comfy!

To start...we slept in.  Yay!  It was almost 10am when I rolled out of bed and joined Elana in the kitchen, greeted by a cheery "Good Morning!!!"

Good indeed!

After chatting and lounging around with big cups of tea, breakfast quickly turned into brunch.  Which was fine by me.  The company was well worth the delay. (I love sharing breakfast with loved ones...something I miss living by myself. As I've gotten older I've become more of a morning person.  I actually can form entire sentences now instead of the odd incoherent grunt :).

Now back to the meal.

I started by turning our leftover pizza sauce into an omelette topping, using the extra mushrooms and some tasty spinach:

Elana manned the omelette pan (there's feta in there!!!)

The results!

And what can I say...bacon...oh bacon how I love you...

Freshly made orange, carrot, ginger juice...to die for!

The morning message with my tea:

 ***

Then were were off to run a few errands...including a trip to the package store and Dear God...the beer aisle...

Me, discovering the Scottish beer section...bliss!

"Some of the best moments of my life have involved a good bottle of beer in front of me..."

And this was no exception!

We chose this delicious coffee stout to make ice cream with. I've done this recipe with various kinds of alcohol, but stout works the best, in my opinion.

Elana's mixer put my wooden spoon to shame!

We likened these to the little ice cream cups we'd get as kids...you know, with the little wooden paddle spoon?  Although, these treats aren't for kids!

My throat medicine (I had to man-up and drink the rest of the stout!) I'm not sure any doctors would recommend alternating beer and tea...but it seemed to work out A. OK.

As the ice cream was freezing, and I was drinking, I started the spicy chorizo soup!  This is a soup I've made before (but hadn't blogged).  I started by browning the sausage with a medium size yellow onion and then added 1 can of black beans 1 can of red...then some sea salt, chili powder, cumin and cayenne to taste...followed by one carton of chicken stock and one tomato soup (this particular one had cream and roasted red peppers). Then I let it simmer away while we attended to other things.

Towards the end of the simmer, I added in some kale and then the juice from half a lime right before serving.  YUM!!!

To quote my cousin, "YAY PORK!!!"  

While I was doing all that, Elana prepared the pumpkin mac and cheese!  I use a Martha Stewart recipe for "Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese" and opt for canned pumpkin instead of the laborious steaming and mashing of fresh butternut squash.  I also love the sweetness the pumpkin brings to the table.

Delish! I really don't understand people who don't like mac and cheese...  :)

Store-bought garlic bread...mmmm...

Our Dinner companion...

And as if that wasn't enough, we made a ton of spicy kale chips (and I found out that my blog comes up first when googling "Spicy Kale Chips..." Go figure :)

Going, Going...Gone!!!  Nom Nom Nom....

And later, I ended the day with a nice dram of "The Balvenie" (neat) ...and rested the glass on one of my hand-made photo coasters! I forgot Elana and Frederick had a set...awwww....

I could not have asked for a better day...I even got a few snazzy pieces of clothing (on crazy sale) at Kohl's!!!

XO