Tey Garcia

I love to cook for fun, but lately I haven’t had a chance to try out a new recipe. Jan’s been doing most of the cooking since his schedule is a little more flexible than mine. I’m always running around and taking care of the kiddos when i’m not working. Plus, Jan likes to cook so he doesn’t have to watch the kids..hahahah! Just kidding

I really wanted to share this soup recipe that is sooooooooo good!! I use to watch a lot of cooking shows and Rachael Ray’s 30 Minute Meals were one of them. Jan can’t stand the way she talks, but I don’t mind it at all. I think it’s kinda fun and that’s why people like her…she’s got a perky and happy attitude. I got this recipe from her and it’s amazingly good. I’ve tried a few of her recipes and didn’t care for it much, but this is a keeper!! Click the title below for the real printable recipe:

Sausage, Beans and Broccoli Rabe Soup
4 Servings

1 Tbsp Extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/4 lb. Italian bulk sweet sausage (I use spicy sausage..Yummo!!)
1 Medium chopped onion
1 Chopped carrot
1 Large peeled and chopped potato
2 Cloves of garlic
1 Bay leaf
2 Cans white beans (Drained)
4 c. chopped Broccoli rabe (regular broccoli is good too)
2 qt. chicken stock
Salt and Pepper
Grated parmigiano-reggiano or romano

This is how I cook it. It’s almost the same, but I do things a bit differently. Heat the pot over medium-high. Add the olive oil and sausage. Brown the sausage all the way through. I like my veggies really soft so I add veggies first and let it cook for 5 minutes. Then I add the bay leaf and beans. Season with salt and pepper. Add stock and cover the pot. Raise heat and bring soup to a boil. Then I add the broccoli rabe and let it wilt. Reduce heat to a simmer and let it cook 15 minutes more. Adjust seasoning to your liking. Grate the cheese and put to the side so that you can put in as much as you like later. I think the soup taste great without it though

I make this soup a lot and it’s a crowd pleaser!! It’s super easy and very affordable. It’s a hearty soup and you’ll be pretty stuffed, but if you need something else to go with your meal ….a cheese and tomatoe panini is great! Oh, and the soup gets better the next day!

So go try it and let me know if you like it!! I love collecting recipes so if you have any good ones..send it my way teygarcia@gmail.com.

Today is the start of the first weekend update.

On Friday, Jan and I worked all day. Jan had an engagement shoot in San Diego so I stayed home with the kiddos. We hung out at Jan’s mom’s house aka “Mum” all night until Jan got back. Poor Jan was stuck in traffic going there. I would have totally gone with him, but didn’t want to leave the kiddos with Mum and Normi because they were watching them on Saturday for us. It’s really hard to find someone to watch both kiddos now. One was easy, but two kids….nobody wants to watch them both :(. Especially Lucas, he’s so wild and hard to control sometimes!

Saturday was a beautiful day. We shot Marisela and Jorge’s wedding in Lynwood. Can’t wait to show you some pics from their awesome wedding. They looked great and let us have control of everything. We love clients who trust us! We got to see our good friends Tim, Juna and their cute daughter Milo. Juna works with Jorge at UCI and was referred to us by Juna. Milo is so big now…she’s a walking machine. Milo and Nathan are 3 months apart. Now that they both are mobile…it’ll be so cute when we get together. Too bad we don’t get together that often. With everyone’s crazy schedule, we have a hard time planning a get together.

This Sunday was a busy one for us. We went to visit my grandma at Long Beach Memorial Hospital. Her potassium level was high and caused her to swell up. They started to give her these pills that reduced the swelling and she’s okay now. She has to stay a few more days there and will be fine… Thank goodness she’s okay. After the hospital, we went to brunch with my mom and everyone. I love eating at this place called La Lune in Long Beach. Since I don’t live at home anymore I don’t get the good home cooked meals like I use to so this restaurant has the same foods I grew up on….love it!!

Right after lunch we had a party to go to at Cameo (we call Jan’s mom/Tita Veekee’s house “Cameo”). Tita Veekee was throwing our cousin Lille a birthday party. We were already running late as usual and we were in charge of the cake. So we ran home, picked up Koda, picked up ice cream cake at Cold Stone’s and finally made it to Cameo by 2pm. It’s always great to see everyone. Lola Pat, Tita Vicken, Sara, Eddie, Ethan, Mutya, JB, Tere and Lille were all there and grubbing on some yummy food. JB and Tere are visiting from the Philippines for the next 2 weeks. Tristan is such a sweet heart!! I can’t believe how big he is now. Lucas and Tristan are getting along better now. They have their arguments, but nothing like last year. It’s mostly Lucas though; he’s such a punk and wants to be the center of attention all the time. We had a nice time hanging out with the family! We ate a lot, played outside with the kiddos, hung out with the cousins and watched a movie. We all sat around and watched, “Wanted“. I rarely get to watch movies and Jan let me watch it while he watched the kiddos, since he already saw it. Jan watches lots of movies without me. He’s tired of waiting for me and if we do sit down to watch, I always end up falling asleep. I really enjoyed the movie and thought it was pretty entertaining. After the movie, it was getting pretty late so we left and got the kiddos home by 10pm. After we put the kids to bed Jan and I had time to relax a bit. I tried to catch up on Desperate Housewives, but feel asleep. I was pooped from the whole weekend.

That’s it for me.. Hope you guys had a nice weekend!!!

PS. I took these pics from Tita Vicken’s Facebook photos. My point and shoot camera is out of commission. Can’t wait to get a new one..hehehe!

They are friends as long as they have the same toy.

Of course my kids have to get in on the action :)

The family!

Today is a special day because it’s our cousin Lille’s birthday and we’re all going to Disneyland!!! This year is awesome for Disneyland lovers because on your birthday you can get in for FREE. I also just found out that if you have a season pass and it falls on your birthday you get $70 credit to shop at Disneyland if it’s not a blackout date. That is so cool, but not for Lucas and I since our birthday falls on a blackout date :(. Jan’s the only lucky one…so I guess we’re going to Disneyland on his birthday to get credit to shop for the kiddos…hahaah!

I took Lucas to Disneyland for the first time with my friend Traci and her daughter Savannah when he was 18 months old. He couldn’t talk yet so I’m not sure if he enjoyed himself, but now that he is almost 4 years old he loves it. He knows all the characters and can ride most of the kid rides now. One bored Sunday, Jan and I decided to take the kiddos out so that they don’t go crazy in the house. We ended up checking out the new shopping area called, “Anaheim Garden Walk” and there was nothing to see so we ended up at Downtown Disney after… just to walk around and have fun. We walked around and decided to go check out the prices of Disneyland these days. It’s still pretty expensive, but for Southern California residents they were offering a pretty good deal in my opinion for season passes. They have payment plans with no interest. You really don’t notice it being deducted from your credit card. Of course we are crazy and still couldn’t decide so we ended up buying a 2fer ticket that day. Lucas and Nathan had a great time. Here are some pics:

We already spent so much for the intial tickets to Disneyland that day and thought why waste that money. So, we ended up getting credit and changing them to season passes for all of us two weeks later. It’s a big plus for us since we only live 15 mins away from the park. Also, I love the fact that we can just go anytime and hang out for a few hours. You don’t feel like you have to go all day long and stand in the long lines. We’ve been back a number of times and I think it already paid off. I really like California Adventure for a quick hang out with Lucas. It’s small, but they have cool shows like Alladin and the rides are fun like a carnival, plus you can drink alcohol! Here are some pics of Lucas at California Adventure:

All of these photos are from my iphone.. Not bad..huh?? Happy Birthday Lille!!! See you at Disneyland later

Yes, this is my very FIRST post ever on my own blog site. I’m so excited to be starting this up…Yay!! I heard it’s hard to blog about personal stuff, so I hope I can keep this up. Nobody knows i’m blogging now so I probably won’t have many readers so I hope you can help me spread the word You will soon find out that i’m not such a great writer and tend to just say what’s on my mind..hahahah! I guess that’s what this is all about anyway.

I’ve been going through some changes in my life lately. I’ve always been a hard worker and always thinking about others before myself. So in the past few months, I’ve been trying to take better care of myself and enjoy what I like to do. I got back into sewing…took out my old machine and started to sew again. I truely enjoy making things on my own. I’m really into making quilts these days! You’ll see! Also, Jan and I have been trying to eat healthier and exercise..he lost 17 lbs and i’ve lost only 8, but feel much better. I think it’s easier for guys to lose the weight

The kiddos are great!! Nathan adores his big brother and so does Lucas except when it comes to sharing his toys. Lucas will be 4 years old in July and Nathan is 16 months now. I’ll leave you with a picture of me and the family. They sure grow up fast!!! Aren’t the kiddos just so cute??? Just keeding..you know what they say, “every parent thinks their kids are the cutest” …well it’s true I love this photo because we are all actually looking at the camera. You know it’s hard to get both kids to look at the camera at the same time. Enjoy!

Our trip to San Francisco