Blizzard Nemo

I know many of you are in the same position we're in over here, shoveling ourselves out from this snow storm. Um, where the heck do we put all this snow?!

First things first, who chose the name Nemo? I don't know when they decided to start naming blizzards but using sweet Disney characters just seems to strange!

We got about 2 feet here in Boston and spent a few hours Saturday clearing the sidewalk off, as well as J's car. My car was another story...and we had no energy left Saturday for it. Sunday we headed out at noon to clear my car and didn't get back inside until 2. I was exhausted.

Here's a recap of Nemo through pictures:

Friday night the emergency light outside our place was aglow. We kind of forget about this light since it's rarely on.

By Saturday morning, the snow on our deck was up to my waist. Tuck wouldn't go near it.

Opened the front door and holy smokes there is a lot of snow! That would be my car buried under that snow mound...

 Tucker was pretty hesitant to go out there. 

 A view down our street. The left side of the street (our side) seemed to get hit by all of the snow drifts.

 The plows decided to use our corner to push snow/store snow. Gee thanks, now we have 6 feet of snow to move. The sidewalk in front of our place is our responsibility and we take it seriously. We don't want anyone slipping and sliding on our property. That would not be good!

 Love living in a corner unit for all of the extra windows....downside? A lot more sidewalk to shovel! Good thing J is a machine when it comes to shoveling.

 Ugh, snow hanging over our roof. This makes me really nervous!

 During snow emergencies, you cannot park on the main street. And from Friday at 4pm to Saturday at 4pm, the state had mandated a travel ban. So strange to see the streets empty!

 Even stranger than seeing no cars, seeing everyone walking in the road to get around!

Tucker supervised from here...

Finally digging my car out. 2 feet of snow piled up. Somebody get me a garage stat.

The weather Sunday was gorgeous. Blue skies and fairly warm. Hopefully the weather stays warm this week to help get rid of this snow! For those of you still without power I really hope it comes back soon. Positive thinking.

Winter Beef Stew

First off - a very happy birthday to my second mama! The best mother-in-law in all the land! Muah!!

It's about time I gave you another recipe! And what better winter meal than beef stew? Seriously, unless you're a vegetarian, this stew is amazing! There are so many layers of flavor.

This recipe comes from mi madre. I don't know where she got it, but it's the best. I've made my husband a happy man with this recipe!

What you need: 

• 3 lbs stew meat
• 2 onions, sliced
• 1 envelope Lipton Onion Soup mix
• 1 can cream of celery soup
• 1 can of cream of mushroom soup
• 2 cans of beef broth
• 1 can of red wine
• 1 can of water
• 5 or 6 potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 5 or 6 carrots, peeled and sliced
• black pepper to taste

All you need to do is combine these ingredients in a 5 quart Dutch oven, cover, and bake at 325 for at least 2 hours.

Ok - so one little side step I take (and mom does too), is to brown the meat. Dust with flour, heat oil in a saute pan, brown the edges of the stew meat. Don't cook it all the way through! Just give it some warmth on the edges.

Mix the ingredients as directed above, cover and bake. 

Lastly, enjoy with a glass of the red wine you already opened, a slice of crusty bread & great company.

Tell me that doesn't look hearty & delicious?!

Enjoy!