Big News......!!!

Wow, okay so I last did a post around Thanksgiving.......and it's now February! I guess you might have thought that I had stopped blogging and well, I did because certain things were happening in my life. My husband and I found out some big news right before Christmas. NO, it's not that we were pregnant however that would have been exciting too (especially now that I'm almost 30 and there are people I went to HS with that already have two children, it makes me feel really behind!). So the big new is:

  My husband got a great promotion (I'm so proud of him!) with his job and we packed up our house, put it up for sale, and drove with the cat and the dog a couple of weeks ago to CALIFORNIA! It was really crazy to leave Utah since it's the only place I've ever lived other then Alaska, which is where I grew up. I have so many fantastic memories of college at the University of Utah and then with my time performing with Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company, our wedding in downtown Salt Lake at Hotel Monaco, I could go on and on. Let's just say there were some tears shed as we left on our drive. They were happy tears, excited about the adventures that lie ahead for us. I really can't complain about where we got to move to. We are near the city of Sacramento but there seems to be so much to do and explore within this crazy state.

  We are just renting for now but we found a great house with a wonderful backyard for Bandit! Coming from a townhouse with no backyard it's really nice to have one and to also be in a neighborhood (it's much quieter!). I've already found some great grocery stores and Farmer's Markets. There is a year round farmer's market that I checked out last week and it was fantastic.

Bandit's new backyard! I'm in love with all of the Oak trees here!

My goodies from the Farmer's Market. Fresh roasted coffee, Jerusalem artichokes, Meyer lemons, pea shoots, and organic navel oranges. 

This area grows a ton of citrus and I've been buying a lot of it! One of the new to me grocery stores is a local chain called Raley's. When I signed up for there savings card they gave me a magazine that had some great recipes inside. I made this the first week in our new kitchen, which by the way has a gas stove! I've never used a gas stove for cooking before so that's been fun to get used to. I'll post some other citrus recipes I've made later for you all. I'm back and I'm so glad to be blogging again! The boxes are all unpacked but we have nothing on the walls yet.....that's a chore for this weekend. Change can definitely be stressful but it can also be exciting if you just look at it all as an adventure in this crazy life!

Citrus Tabbouleh

(*slightly adapted from Raley's Something Extra Magazine)

Ingredients

2½ cups vegetable or chicken broth
1 cups bulgur (about 1/2 pound)
1/2 cup minced red onion
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint leaves
2 medium orange, peeled and diced 

1 avocado, diced
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. Garam Masala
1/4 tsp. salt
Freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions

Prep: 15 minutes Cook/Stand: 30 minutes

Chill: 1 hour Serves: 6

1. Bring broth to a boil in a medium saucepan; stir in bulgur and turn off heat. Cover and set aside for 25 minutes or until all liquid has been absorbed. Fluff with a fork and let cool completely.
2. Stir in onion, mint, orange, and avocado. In a small bowl, whisk together remaining ingredients; pour over bulgur and toss well. Cover and chill for 1 hour or until ready to serve. 

Ciao,

Betsy