Crab & Corn Chowder

While I love Summer and the warm weather and vacations that it brings, I'm ready for my favorite season, Fall! One type of food that I have loved while pregnant this summer has been soups! (Weird I know! I'm well aware that it's been 95 degrees outside; however - I'm not fighting it! I love my soups!) I love the crab and corn chowder from Bonefish, and have been looking for a homemade recipe to try. I came across this recipe a few weeks ago and planned to save it for when it gets a little cooler outside, but I thought to myself, why not try it now? Of the soups I've made in the past, this one was my first chowder and I was extremely impressed!

Ingredients:

• 4-6 potatoes, chopped (2 cups)
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1/3 cup flour
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 2 cups half and half
• 2 tsp Old Bay
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 16 oz frozen sweet corn
• 16 oz lump crab meat

Note: One great thing about making this recipe during summer/early fall is that you can substitute fresh corn on the cob for the bag of frozen corn! :)

Directions:

• Parboil the potatoes - Bring a pot of water to a boil and add the diced potatoes, letting boil for about 5 minutes. Immediately rinse in cold water to cool and set aside until ready to use. 
• Melt butter on the stove top and add chopped onion to saute for approximately 5 minutes.
• Stir in flour and slowly add the chicken broth, whisking.
• Stir in the half and half (tip: to keep the half and half from curdling, let it set on the counter to warm to room temperature, or at least slightly so that it isn't refrigerator cold when added to the chowder).
• Season with salt, pepper, Old Bay, cayenne and thyme.
• Add parboiled potatoes, frozen corn and crab meat. Simmer on low heat, stirring occasionally for 30-45 minutes.
• Serve and add scallions and shredded cheddar cheese if desired for additional garnish! This would also be delicious served with warm bread.

Hope that you enjoy! :)

Purging & De-Cluttering - Saving Only What You Need, Use and Love!

I feel like this topic should become part of a series! This has been something that's been keeping me busy over the past few months when I've had some free time! Especially now, prepping for Bennett's arrival - I've been more motivated than ever to get rid of things that we no longer use, need or love - clothes, shoes, dishes, decor, furniture, etc. It's crazy to think about how much we've accumulated (and held on to) since moving into our house just three short years ago.

The easiest things to purge have been clothes and shoes! I came up with a rule for myself that anything that hasn't been worn in the past year would no longer need to stay! Additionally, clothing that fits but maybe isn't the most comfortable - I did away with as well! No need to keep clothing or shoes that I'm not comfortable wearing. Additionally, after going through all of my clothes and shoes, and getting rid of the more worn pieces, I made a list of items that I plan to keep my eyes open for when upcoming sales take place, so that I'm not purchasing these items at full price (yuck!). Also, it serves as a reminder of all of the things that I don't need to purchase while seeing something that I like in stores or online while shopping.

I always make two piles while sorting through items - a donation pile and a yard sale pile. Usually those items that make it to the yard sale pile are the more expensive items or furniture pieces; however to be honest, lately I've been more in the mood to donate so that I can just get rid of the piles and items that need to go.

Note: Local online yard-saling has been my go-to for the past couple of years when selling larger items. I've been able to sell so much stuff using the online yard sale groups through Facebook, however; lately, I just don't have the free time during the week after work, or on weekends to post items on yard sale sites or to arrange for times to meet with buyers. Time is precious! For the more expensive items that I'd rather not donate, I usually take to my parent's house to store in their huge attic for our family's annual yard sale that's hosted each summer at my grandmother's house in Ocean Pines (and yes, crazy enough - there's a section of the attic dedicated to the annual yard sale that the whole family will fill throughout the year). We recently just had the big yard sale a few weekends ago, and everyone was able to get rid of so much stuff, while making a little bit of money in the process! :) I was definitely happy to see it all go! Usually, at the end of these yard sales, if there are items left - they are donated!

In addition to purging items like clothing and shoes, holiday decor was huge for me to purge this round. I'm all about simplicity and in order to de-clutter, I wanted to get rid of all of the small (and larger) decor items and knick-knacks for each of the holidays that honestly, just take up space and make my furniture and tabletops look more cluttered. (Plus - with a baby arriving soon that will too quickly be into touching and grabbing everything - this is one less thing I'll have to worry about removing and getting rid of when he's mobile and interested in these things). Don't get me wrong - I still kept a few items for each of the holidays that I love and aren't holiday decor overkills (because who doesn't love extra holiday decor to get you in the holiday spirit?) - but I was happy to part with probably 75% of my holiday decor.

Organizing and sorting through my craft supplies was also a huge task that I took on. I love crafting! You can imagine the different items that you can quickly accumulate after tons of different projects over the years (in addition to an already pretty great stockpile of items). Once I sorted through my craft tubs and separated all of the items that I know I'll be able to use in the future, and ones that I no longer felt the need to hang on to, I was able to consolidate all of my craft supplies to one organized bin, while making a pile of all of the items I no longer wanted to keep.

Other items that made their way to my purge list - extra tupperware (really, how many containers are needed?), older picture frames, knick-knacks, dog items that we just don't need or won't use, throw pillows (these I've found that I love to hoard over the years), garage items... the list keeps going and going! While I always say that I'll never be done purging (I honestly feel like I'm doing it constantly... especially lately while wanting make space in our home for all the new additions coming to it) - it feels so good to get rid of so much stuff that we simply just no longer need or find use for.

Time for someone else to enjoy those items! Lets hope that this motivation and energy stays! :)