Crockpot Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup (& Enchiladas!)

Only five weeks since my last blog post, instead of five months! It feels like a great accomplishment! Really, I'm just procrastinating on finishing my taxes and various other adult-like things that I find myself having to do. 

We have gotten into a rhythm here in Seattle with work and exploring- typically we work one week on and then have one week off. A whole week on is draining, but there is plenty of time to recover on our week off! 

Seattle is beautiful on the days that it is not raining, though we quickly learned that rain doesn't stop people from being outside here! So we put on our raincoats and our boots (umbrellas are not a thing here) and hit the streets! 

We've enjoyed many trips to Pike Place Market, checked off many restaurants off our Seattle food bucket list, been hiking, and, this past weekend, took a skiing lesson!

I've never been skiing before, and the good news is that I didn't take anyone else out when I fell. I'm still not convinced this is my sport, considering I felt out of control the majority of the time, but I only spent $10 on snow pants from Goodwill so I'm going to count this as a win. Try a new sport, don't get hurt- check, check.  

We also got a chance to head out of town and explore some of Washington's small islands to the north of Seattle. We took the ferry to Whidbey Island, probably standing close to where Meredith and Derrick stood on the ferry. There are many small lighthouses on the Washington coast and this little road trip took us by a couple! 

We stayed at a cute little inn with a view of the Olympic Mountains and spent a couple days exploring small antique shops and glass blowing studios. These are from the Chihuly Garden and Glass museum we visited this week!

            






While we do a lot of eating out on our weeks off, during our work week we do a fair amount of cooking. Cold, rainy days here in Seattle always make me crave soup. Panera's chicken and wild rice soup in a bread bowl has always been one of my favorites. However, I do not like to get wet. So a trip to Panera in the cold and the rain was a no go. This recipe, however is a Panera copy cat recipe winner. (My photo taking of recipes has been slacking.)

A second recipe winner I tried recently is these beef enchiladas. The ingredients were easy to prep in stages- brown the beef and make the sauce one day, assemble and refrigerate the next morning after work, then heat for dinner before work! 

The sauce recipe I used was adapted from the link above. 

Red Enchilada Sauce

- 2 Tbs vegetable oil
- 2 Tbs flour
- 4 Tbs chili powder
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp cumin
- 1/4 tsp oregano
- 2 C chicken or vegetable broth
- 1-2 adobe peppers

1. Heat oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add flour and stir together, about 1 minute. 

2. Add chili powder, garlic powder, salt, cumin, and oregano. Slowly whisk in the stock, stirring continuously. 

3. Lower heat, add adobe peppers, and simmer 10-15 minutes until smooth and thick.

Sauce can also be refrigerated in an air-tight container for up to two weeks. 

 

I forgot to take a photo of the enchiladas as soon as they came out of the oven, but they were melty, bubbly, and delicious!

Temporary Homes

Five months since my last blog means that Karyn and I have found yet another temporary home. This time: Seattle. I've wanted to work here since I started travel nursing, but available assignments here are few and far between. A posting came up towards the end of our time in Hawaii, and after a quick round of telephone interviews (complicated by the time difference and the fact that we were visiting a neighbor island whose cell phone service was realllly spotty....) we were on our way!

Backing up a little bit first. We ended up extending our time in Hawaii (because "Do you want to stay longer?" yes please!!) until mid-November, right before Thanksgiving. It was incredible, and if you ever get the chance to go- do it! I'll tell you anything you want to know! (Go to Kauai or Maui. Don't take small children. Try the local food. Take lots of sunscreen.) Staying an extra two months allowed for lots of extra adventuring and guests! We got to visit all six of the Hawaiian islands, including day trips to the the smallest islands- Lanai and Molokai! 

On our "way home" from Hawaii, we did a 5 day road trip up the California coast. To help ease us back into fall weather and not having an ocean view everyday ;) 

However, we were both more than glad to to be home for the holidays! I got to spend quality time with the family, take a short trip to Charlottesville, and an quick overnight to Nashville to see the college roommates!

Right after Christmas, Karyn came down to Knoxville to pick me up and we set out to Seattle. An epic snowstorm was hitting the midwest, New Mexico, and North Texas, so we took the most southern route. We spent New Year's Eve in Vegas- they have a pretty great fireworks show at midnight!-, saw the occupiers in Burns, OR when we stopped for a bathroom break, and got stuck in the snow during our last two hours of the drive. 

The first two weeks of Seattle have been...rainy. Not as much as I would have thought, actually. We have had a few good days, seen the sun a couple times too! We live close to Pike Place Market and downtown so we take advantage of dry days and explore the market and several of the great restaurants close to us. We've also ventured a little outside of Seattle to do some hiking! The Pacific Northwest is definitely beautiful.

Of course, with the new year comes new goals and new resolutions- to cook more, to exercise more, to read more. To enjoy each day more, even the ones where I am acutely aware that this is temporary- these cities, these homes, these work places. To remind myself that this temporary life I've chosen is full of adventure and beautiful stops on the way to where I'm going.