My Parents Visit Oregon

We got to spend this past weekend with my parents while they were on vacation in Oregon/Washington for 10 days. It was, of course, wonderful to hang out with them and have them in our home.

They arrived at lunch time Thursday so we met them at our favorite BBQ joint here in Roseburg. Check out the side of fries I got with my sandwich! It is insane how many fries they give you...but I am not complaining!

They completely hid my entire sandwich from that top view! Mmm...I want some fries right now after looking at that picture.

We spent Thursday showing them our house, helping them settle in, grocery shopping and waiting in line at AT&T because my dad's phone wasn't working. After dinner, we had to watch the Oregon Ducks football game and catch up on Duck Dynasty that we had all missed the night before.

Friday, we slept in and enjoyed not having to be anywhere early that morning. We all went for a drive to show my dad around Roseburg and see some pretty scenery. I had heard great things about Lighthouse Bakery so I wanted to go have lunch out there and get some of their delicious cheese bread I had tasted a while back. We somehow missed a very important piece of information about this place: it is entirely vegetarian! Haha My meat-loving family was certainly out of our comfort zone, but everything we had was really yummy! Here is my open-faced sprouts sandwich and farmer's salad that I ordered--so good!

Kory and my dad even tried a veggie burger and veggie turkey sandwich and they were pleasantly surprised with how much they liked them. We did have to make a meat-lovers pizza for dinner to make up for lunch, so I don't really think anyone was converted to the vegetarian way.

Friday night we played cards after dinner and then stayed up way too late watching a dumb show about a marijuana smuggler from the 1970's. I don't know how we get sucked into these terrible tv shows, but it happens every time.

Saturday morning, we took it easy again and my mom taught me how to fry eggs. My parents and I took a trip to Kruse Farms, a local farm that has made (and grown) in Oregon products in addition to their u-pick fields and fresh produce. I love going to Kruse in the summer time to pick strawberries, raspberries, and cherries straight from the fields. They have a large pumpkin patch this time of year, but the rain was really pouring while we were out there so we stayed in the covered market area.

After lunch, we headed out to Wildlife Safari to spend our afternoon with wild animals. This is only about 15 minutes from our house, but we have never been there before. It's a drive-through animal park where most of the animal roam freely. We had our doubts that it might be cheesy, but it was really fun! Here are a few of the animals we got to see up close:

The hippos were eating and that was really cool to watch. Their mouths are SO big!

The location was beautiful! It didn't really feel like we were still in Oregon at times because a lot of the terrain was much different than what I'm used to here. 

This guy was staring me down--a little scary!

I know some of these aren't great quality pictures...the animals are so used to people driving by that they don't really pay a lot of attention to you. The giraffe kept walking right by our car and that was probably my favorite part because I've never been so close to such a gigantic animal!

We came home from the Safari and played doubles ping pong for a while, which was hilariously awful. We took this picture of Kory and I in front of our house and I had every intention of getting a picture with my parents afterwards, but I got distracted by something and forgot. Sorry Mom & Dad! :( After ping pong, we went to dinner at a steakhouse here in town and then finished by watching Sherlock Holmes, one of the few movies we have on Blu-ray.

Sunday morning we went to church and then hit up Red Robin for lunch since my parents had never eaten there. I learned they have petite burgers for $1 less, which thrilled me because their burgers are always way too big for me. We had to come home and nap after that...Sunday naps are pretty much law in the Prude (and now Mereness) family. My parents had to head back to Portland after our nap so they could see my older brother, Ty, and spend the night with him before flying back to NM on Monday. 

We had SUCH a great time with my parents and are so thankful they got to come visit us! It makes not going home for the holidays much more bearable. Love you, Mom! (& Dad too, of course, but I don't know if he reads this blog. Don't you love having a Mom so you can always count on at least one faithful blog reader?!)

Southwest White Chicken Chili

This is the first recipe where I can say that I substituted and added enough ingredients to claim a bit of ownership and not have to credit someone else. I certainly didn't invent this dish, but I took several recipes I found and combined them into what I thought would taste even better. This has become a Mereness favorite and people have even requested that I bring it to potlucks and gatherings! That's exciting for a girl who could barely make Macaroni and Cheese at age 22.

Southwest White Chicken Chili

Prep Time: 10 minutes    Cook Time: 20 minutes   Ready in: 30 minutes

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

1 Tablespoon olive oil

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into chunks

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 packet McCormick white chicken chili seasoning

1 medium onion, chopped

1 (4 oz.) can chopped green chile

1 (10 oz.) can Rotel diced tomatoes with green chile

1 (10.75 oz.) can Campbell's condensed cream of chicken soup

3/4 cup chicken broth

1 1/2 cups frozen whole kernel corn

2 (15 oz.) can white kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

1. Heat the oil in a 4-quart saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the chicken, chili powder, cumin, chili seasoning, onion, green chile, and Rotel and cook until the chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are tender, stirring often.

2. Stir the soup, chicken broth, corn and beans in the saucepan and heat to a boil. Reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle with cheese and serve. Top with sour cream, if desired.

Menu Ideas

I've been feeling really domestic lately...I think Fall has been good for my motivation! There has been quite a bit of cooking and cleaning and crafting around here. Since I know we all seem to get stuck in a rut with the same recipes, I thought I'd share some of what we've been eating around here to give you some ideas. 

Southwest White Chicken Chili

Beef Stew

Apple Cheddar Squash Soup

Stuffed Pasta Shells

Green Chile Cheeseburgers

Chicken Enchilada Soup

Turkey Chili

Fettuccine Alfredo

Chicken & Beef Fajitas

I plan to share some of these recipes with you soon. As you can tell, I've been putting my Crock Pot to good use and have made lots of yummy chili/soups/stew. Oh, and because I like to keep it real on this blog, when I'm not having leftovers, I've been eating a LOT of peanut butter and honey sandwiches for lunch :) It is definitely my favorite go-to quick meal when I don't want to cook.

October Update

My blogging lately seems to be mostly random numbered updates, but it works for me so I won't even apologize for it. Here's what's going on in our world lately:

1. We started our High School Bible Studies last week; Kory leads the guys and I lead the girls with my friend, Florence. We're going through Crazy Love by Francis Chan. I've read this book at least 3 times and worked through the book with another small group and I still love it! It's THAT good. We'll do this every Wednesday night through the Fall semester.





2. We went to see Dispatch live in concert in Portland a couple weekends ago as an early birthday present for Kory. It was really fun and they are great to see live! The best part is that I got to be in the front row, which has never happened before.
3. I have been trying to think of a good Halloween costume for about 2 months now and I've still got NOTHING. Any of you have a great idea for me? In the mean time, I've done a few Fall crafts, like this paper pumpkin. I think the stem is a little long, so I might cut that down a bit but it was really easy and turned out pretty cute, in my opinion. I'm going to make a few more to decorate my cubicle at work.



4. In about 6 weeks, I'm going to do what most of you did in Jr. High or High School, and I'll be getting braces. My main concern is that people at work already think I'm a teenager, so this won't really help that image. However, my co-worker and friend, Annie, just got braces on today so we can at least be twins and endure the ridicule together :)
5. In addition to braces, I will be getting 6 fillings, 4 teeth pulled (3 are wisdom), and eventually two implants. Basically, I will be working for the next year so my entire paycheck can pay for my dental care. Fun...
   
   
   Blogger refuses to let me do a #6, so I'm taking that as a hint that this post should just end. Tootles!