BC (Before Cedar) and AC (After Cedar)

It's cedar season.

For those of you not living in Central Texas, I will translate.

We are all dying.

Go on without us. Encase our state in cement so that these trees can't follow you out. Refer to time as BC (Before Cedar) and AC (After Cedar) in the history books.

Tell stories about us so people will know how we lived during the non cedar infested months.

Show them this video and let them know we did our best, but no one could defeat this monster.

We gave our all. Every last sneeze was sneezed bravely.

We all have little survival tricks to get us through February and this madness. I alternate between fizzy water, things with hot chiles in them and hot tea to try to keep my throat from closing completely.

Who doesn't love tea, even if they can't taste it?? This is my favorite tea.

And this is my favorite tea stamp!! This set is from the new Occasions Mini and it's gorgeous! Everything a sneezing tea lover could want in a stamp set! I paired it with some lace trim to give that doily feel and made a teabag tag with the tag punch - cute, eh?

 

Stamps: Tea Shoppe  

Ink: Whisper White, Island Indigo, Basic Black  

Paper: Everyday Enchantment DSP (Sale-a-Bration), Crumb Cake, Island Indigo  

Accessories: Victoria Lace, Tag Punch, Pool Party Twine, White Embossing Powder, Dimensionals

Now in the fizzy water part of my remedy, I prefer LaCroix - the grapefruit is my fave. I got hooked on this when I did the 3Day walk in Dallas and they were a sponsor. No calories, no sweetener, just fizz and a faint grapefruit flavor. It's my fave water.

For the hot chile part, I like soup the best. I made the most fantastic soup last night - and I know I say that every time I make soup, but seriously - this was Soup Nazi quality soup. I promised I would blog the recipe, so here it is:

Pumpkin Peanut Soup     

• 1 tablespoon corn oil
• 2 TBS butter
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 medium orange or yellow bell pepper, seeded and diced
• 1 poblano pepper, diced
• 1 jalapeno, diced
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tsp-ish salt - more to taste
• 1 clove garlic, minced (optional - I didn’t add any)
• 1 TBS peeled and grated fresh ginger (I like to grate mine after it’s frozen)
• 1 can Libby’s pumpkin - 15-ish oz can
• 6 cups chicken broth (I used CM Organics)
• 1 (14.5-ounce) can Hunts tomato puree
• 2/3 cup Peter Pan peanut butter

Heat the oil and butter in a large soup pot over a medium-high heat. Add the onions and peppers and and cook, stirring until the vegetables soften and the onions are translucent and squishy. Add the cayenne, black pepper, garlic and ginger and cook for 1 minute more. Stir in the pumpkin broth, and tomatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, about 20 minutes.
   
Blend the soup in the pot with a stick blender. Then add peanut butter, stirring until blended, and heat on low until the peanut butter is blended and melted. Garnish with crushed honey roasted peanuts or salted peanuts.
       
This was insanely delicious - and even better left over. If you don't like spicy food - leave out the jalapeno and the cayenne.


Completely amazing.


If you need me, just walk towards the sound of the sneezing.


Loveyameanitbye. Achoo. Bless me.