Good Eats, Cute Cats

Lately I have been on a dedicated mission to reduce the volume of stuff in my freezer and in my pantry, and I've been making good progress. It feels so good! I had a big bag of frozen apricots from last summer - and decided that the middle of winter would be a good time to put them to use... just when you need a little seasonal pick-me-up.

I made the baked oatmeal recipe from Oh She Glows, and just used my frozen apricots instead of apples and pears. SO GOOD. I cut it into 6 servings and had fancy breakfast for a whole week!

You know how when you're reading magazines, you sometimes bookmark recipes that sound good, but you never actually go back and make them? Well, last month's Sunset magazine had this recipe for Creamy Spinach Chickpea Soup and I decided to make it! The soup itself was fairly simple, but the little garnishes of lime juice, curry powder warmed in oil, and fresh mint made it more special. I also used a really nice homemade broth, which always helps with simple soup recipes like this. 

Tortilla Soup from Real Food Daily

This was another freezer bonanza - I used cooked tomatoes, homemade tortillas, broth, and jalepenos all from the freezer to make this lovely soup. I really love this recipe. Usually I make the little crispy tortilla bits to sprinkle on top, but this time I ran out of tortillas (and refused to buy more!), so we had it as is. Such a great recipe and such a great winter time soup... it's just the right amount of light and hearty, and just the right amount of spicy to warm you up on the inside. 

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In unrelated news, I realized that it has been far too long since I featured any cute cat pictures on my blog. What the heck is wrong with me!?

Yummers Potatoes in his boudoir

Yummers is 15 now, and still has quite a bit of spunk. During the day, he has been saving energy by resting in the sunshine in our bedroom all afternoon. That's where I snapped this debonaire shot. Having conserved his energy all day, he has plenty of stamina left to antagonize Footie relentlessly, and attack everyone before dinner time. Ha ha. He is still very upset about the presence of Footie in our family, but we're trying to give him lots of attention so that he won't be so darned rude all the time. I love him so much. He was our very first pet together, and I'm so grateful that he hasn't run off after each subsequent intruder entered our family.

Footie in the kitty spa

Footie is definitely the low guy on the totem pole and even after 1 1/2 years, he is meek and sheepish around our other pets - except when he decides to counter-attack Yummers. But the strength of the love-connection between Footie and Mr. VE&T is so strong that this keeps him going. He loves to hang out by the heating vent in our kitchen, so when I ended up with this odd spinach box with big holes on both sides, we turned it into a special safety toasty zone for the little guy. We left it there for about a week before we got tired of having a big box on the kitchen floor. He's still gradually warming up to me, bit by bit, giving me more snuggles - and it is just awesome. He is truly a championship snuggler - super cozy, head smooshes, little kitty squeaks and murmurs, paw kneading - the whole nine yards. More please, Footiekins!

(in case you were wondering)