76. Try a totally new recipe once a month for 6 months (2/6)

I'm not much of a cook, but I'm great at following directions. You give me a recipe and I'll make it to a "T!" So in an effort to cook more, I'm trying new recipes.

For New Year's, I made a (semi) home-made cherry pie for my family. Taylor's co-worker, Gail, gave me the recipe.

Ingredients

4 cups cherries (I used 2 cans of red cherries in water and drained them)

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 tsp almond extract

4 tbsp flour

1 package pre-made Pilsbury pie crust

Directions

Stir together the cherries, sugar, almond extract & flour in a microwaveable bowl.

Microwave the mixture on high for 5 minutes.

Place one of the two pie crusts in a glass pie dish.

Stir & pour the microwaved mixture into the pie crust and seal with the second pie crust.

Microwave for another 8 minutes on high and then place in a 400-degree oven for 20 minutes.

Here's the final product!

And it was a hit - the family LOVED it and it was finished the next day! :p

For February, I tried a Zuppa Toscana recipe given to me by my BFF JLB. It was the 2nd snow weekend, so a nice, hot soup was definitely perfect.

Ingredients

1 lb ground Italian sausage
1 1/2 tsp crushed red peppers
1 large diced white onion
4 tbsp bacon pieces
2 tsp garlic puree
10 cups water
5 cubes of chicken bouillon
1 cup heavy cream
1 lb sliced Russet potatoes (or about 3 large potatoes)
1/4 bunch of Kale

Directions
Saute Italian sausage and crushed red pepper in a large pot. Drain excess fat, refrigerate while you prepare other ingredients.

In the same pan, saute bacon, onions and garlic for approximately 15 minutes (or until the onions are soft).

Mix together the chicken bouillon and water, then add it to the onions, bacon & garlic. Cook until boiling.

Add potatoes and cook until soft, about half an hour.

Add heavy cream and cook until thoroughly heated.

Stir in the sausage. Add kale just before serving.

Here's the final product!

Taylor and I definitely enjoyed it and we have a lot to enjoy this cold weekend!

93. Complete all 365 Origami creations in my Origami-a-day calendar

Thanks to some "slow" time at work, I was able to complete this one...

Here are a few of my faves

And I even made a panda :)

78. Get new glasses

So I've had every intention to purchase new glasses for YEARS now because I haven't changed the lenses out since I got them 2-3 years ago. My sight has definitely worsened, but I only wore my glasses at home, so it didn't really matter to me...

Then my glasses broke while I was wrestling with Taylor (nothing frisky, don't worry - it was honest-to-goodness wrestling! lol)... Taylor kneed me in the face (I was ok), and one of the arms broke off. Thanks to some trusty Gorilla glue, I was able to put them back together and wear them normally!

Lastly, as some of you know, we were robbed in Rome, Italy - glasses included, so I figured "Ok, I can take a hint - I'll buy new glasses!"

Luckily, I found these:

Thank goodness for insurance! Hopefully these will last me a while. Oddly enough, without having glasses while I was at home, my left eye got better in eyesight! Weird, huh?

Here's a pic of me with the glasses on - excuse the lack of make-up & pure ugliness... lol