Hello. I’m alive. This is either a relief or a huge disappointment to some of you. As most of you pointed out to me through e-mail, twitter, and facebook I have been AWOL form the blog since December and for that I apologize.

“What happened?”

“Where are you?”

“Are you ok?”

“Damn it lady I need more food.”

“Have you been abducted by Aliens?”

“No seriously, where are you?”

“It was aliens, wasn’t it?”

“I’m a dude I can’t follow recipes, I need more step by step photos. Where did you go.” <- one of my favorites

All words from you that touched me, made me laugh in a dark time, and changed my mind to quit blogging. Yes, I was on the bloggers ledge about to hit the cancel my host button. You see, I didn’t realize how much ISMS gave me a purpose. A drive to find out who I am, where I fit and most importantly the outlet to learn more about my passions (other than the sidekick and her father), cooking and photography. Sounds ridiculous doesn’t it. My old pre-kid career minded self is laughing at that those last two sentences right now as I eat yogurt from the jar with a baby spoon, in pajamas and slippers, while asking myself when the last time I washed my hair was.

No, Charlie from Wisconsin, I was not abducted by aliens but I fell into a little bit of a hole, depression if you want to call it, and with it came immense writers block, fatigue, lack of enthusiasm for it all, and an addiction to the TV show “Weeds” that I recently found on Netflix. Just to get out of bed and go on with the day to day had become a struggle. Before I knew it my camera had gathered and inch of dust, and the creativity I once lived of off escaped the kitchen. Not even my friends or relatives knew as they probably never read this blog anyway so they never knew I had stopped and something was slipping with me.

Now two months later I seem to be climbing out of it all. And although I do have to give some credit to The Husband and to one of my best friends who is currently traveling the world but allways stops for a phone call, a lot of it is because of comments and concerns from complete strangers. Eddie – for giving me one of the best compliments ever, Judith – for your concern, Charlie – seriously I don’t know what to say to that, and Mary F., Mark, Veronica S., Brooke, Shari from Tickled Red, Michelle from Confesions of A Recipe Junkie, and all of you on facebook or twitter who here and there sent messages asking about me, the blog, or life. I’ve never met you but would like to say thanks for the encouragement and concern even when you had no idea if anything was wrong or not. To those who have e-mailed, I promise I will return them in time, as I have a a lot to catch up on.

I’m not one to usually talk about the seriousness of life, too much of a downer sometimes. So letting you in on a weakness of mine is a hard hill to tackle. Just going to have to take this day by day and remember that depression has a tendency to be like an ex-boyfriend who ran off to Cabo with your paycheck and friend but tells you he’s at his sick mother’s for the weekend…it’s pretty much a bold face lier. Time to kick it to the curb. Hopefully, with time I will be back to posting recipes and such in my sock monkey slippers.

So, what have you missed in the last two months? A little bit of this and a little bit of that:

First of all, a few weeks before Christmas I lost my beloved and beautiful Grandmother. She was an amazing woman who taught us all the importance of family, unconditional love, fun, and to always dance. This is one of my favorite pictures of her. I miss her dearly.

With Christmas came Christmas cards and needless to say it was a tragically painful shoot.

Christmas was a hard one this year with my Grandmother’s passing and my brother deployed in Afghanistan but her smile kept me going.

I’ve cooked a little and have a wonderful review of Texmati Rice, a long grain American Basmati rice, and a lemon chicken, artichoke, and rice casserole recipe coming very soon.

Great news came at the beginning of January, and my brother, Michael, is back in the states stationed at Fort Knox.

We recently spent time at my family’s ranch where I picked up the camera again for the first time in a month.

I took so many shots in fact that Mia gave me this lovely look while saying, “Lady Mommy put the camera down!”

and I did but not before I took this shot of my favorite people and our furry kid, Jack.

While we were at the ranch, we went hunting and were blessed with a massive deer that will feed us all year. Thankfully, my husband is a better shot than I am. At some point I’ll post this recipe for Venison Wellington with a venison mushroom gravy.

Speaking of The Husband, the other weekend he completed his 10,000th marathon and not to mention a 50 mile trail ultra marathon a couple of days ago. Ok maybe not 10,000th but it was up there. I again broke out the camera which made me realize how much I missed it.

Because with a camera you have an excuse to take shots of anyone.;)

Which brings us to yesterday, and we are all still disillusioned that the Giants won the Super Bowl.

Cheers to you all and thanks for the encouragement. Here’s to a fantastic 2012.

Ever wanted to know a little bit more about me?

What?

I’ll pretend you didn’t just say that and instead said, “Why of course Meredith. I woke up this morning with that exact same question in my head.”

Good, because PBS.org just published a little interview of this lady in her sock monkey slippers. You can find it as apart of their Kitchen Careers feature. To tell you the truth I can’t stop smiling thinking of that little girl who always had her head in the clouds and who’s favorite TV shows were The French Gormet, Yan Can Cook, The Frugal Gourmet, and Louisiana Cookin was actually featured by the station she loved so much as a child.

Thank you PBS Food for giving me something I’ll never forget.

Kitchen Careers: In Sock Monkey Slippers, Food Blogger

I don’t know about you, but fall is absolutely my favorite time of year. It finally starts cooling down here in Texas (except for this year), Hatch Chiles are in season, football is everywhere and hunting season begins. Now, I haven’t been a big hunter in the past. I grew up fishing and love to bass fish at our family ranch but with water scarce and my love of cooking and eating wild game (view most favored wild game recipe on ISMS) I figured it was time for me to join the boys and start hunting.

With hunting license in hand I was off to help Texas control the white wing dove population or blow my head off. No, I really didn’t believe that I would shoot myself. That would be silly . What I really was worried about was shooting the husband… or a cow. My father-in-law would have been very mad if I shot one of his cows.

Although he didn’t say it, I knew that the husband was a little worried about getting shot as well when he dropped me off by a brush pile with gun and ammo and high tailed it out of there to the other side of the tank.

So, there I sat having shot many guns before just not at a moving target thinking this is either going to be epic or it’s going to be an epic fail.

I waited and waited and…waited. I waited amongst the humming of the bees hoping they wouldn’t sting me like the demented wasp my sister-in-law and I went to war with and lost to earlier in the day.

With my ADD getting the best of me, I put down the gorgeous old shotgun and picked up my camera. It was quiet. A little too quiet. I took a picture of this thistle that kept scratching me. *whistle whistle whistle* Still quiet, not a single dove. Then a rustling in the brush pile next to me made me throw down my camera, grab the gun to shoot the obvious 10 foot rattle snack that must have been hunting me this whole time. I waited for it to show it’s face, thinking, “great! I’m 40 miles away from the nearest hospital.” Now I’m shaking a little, my mind overtaking all sensible thinking. I’m trying to remember what the heck did Bear Gylls say you’re supposed to do with a snake bite! Holy crap. Why didn’t I listen? Am I supposed to suck the venom out? Run, scream, and jump in the water? Act bigger than it is? No that’s not it. Knowing that crazy fool I’m probably supposed to catch it and eat it’s beating heart or something like that. Yeah, that must be it. I can feel my heart pounding through my chest while Bear Grylls voice is ringing in my ears when suddenly I hear the husband scream, “SHOOT SHOOT!” I then hear the flapping of wings as a dove flies right over my head and I immediately focus all attention on the dove. Because who cares if I get bit there’s antivenom, right? I shoot twice, miss by a foot, blow a limb off a tree and sigh. It’s then I remember I was in battle with a 20 foot man eating rattlesnake and turn to the brush pile to see the verocious animal that was making all of the terrifying noises rumbling around in the sticks JUMP OUT right in front of me. AHH! With it’s terrifying little beak and wingspan as big as my hand, the man eating “snake” (also know to normal people as a Finch) flew away.

Hmmm… so maybe my imagination got the best of me. I laughed, thankful no one was there to witness that but realizing I would most likely tell you and you would confirm all suspicions you have about me that I was certifiably crazy.

I reload and wait…and wait again.

Time to take pictures again. That’s me wondering where the flip are the doves?

I wait and reflect on how much I love this place. How many great memories I have here and how nervous the husband was when he proposed on the highest hill and I said yes. I also stop and gasp when I realize how this land has taken a beating this summer and how everyone in Texas and surrounding areas has been affected by one of the worse droughts in years. Here’s a comparison:

This is the largest creek and spring fed tank on the ranch. Here: September 10, 2011.

Same spot on September 23, 2010.

It was then in the quiet that I heard noises behind me…right behind me. I turned to see…

this amazing sight. I see deer all the time on the ranch but to see them so close without any fear (as I’m holding a gun… no one said they were Mensa members) was breathtaking. What you can’t see is the 6 doe that are right in front of me drinking from the lower water level. Why did I not bring the 250mm lens? Why!

As the sun set and no birds were in sight, I heard The Husband grumble something about whisky in the distance and I knew it was time to pack up. A pleasant beautiful night brought a harvest moon and I knew at that moment I was hooked. Once that cold front comes through and brings the doves I will be back and every year after that.

There’s my dove hunting story but I’m not done yet. I’m going to leave you with two of my favorite shots from this weekend (not birds obviously).

Here’s Mrs. Gumpus. Usually the first when there’s food and always the first to get right in my face when I’m trying to get anywhere. She does not like me. Just look at the snarl she greets me with every time. If anything should happen to me and you don’t hear from me for awhile, she did it.

And here’s my two loves. Tim after his run with Jack that caused a stampede and Mia screaming, “faster faster!”

While Mia and Jack are napping, the groceries are in bags on the floor, it’s 110°F outside (no, that’s not an exaggeration), and the article who’s deadline is 8pm tonight is still in my head, I am procrastinating by bringing you this little photo montage. Enjoy.

favorite photo from the party by Providence Photography

If you follow ISMS religiously like I know all of you do {wink wink} then you noticed that I haven’t been around much lately. For that I apologize because I know going a day without a new ISMS post can just ruin your week. The reason I have been AWOL  lately is that I was secretly planning a surprise party for my husband’s 40th birthday. After 6 months of planing, lying, and pulling my hair out, the party was a complete success and one of the best parties I’ve planned in a while. Here are a few things I did for the party and the companies that had to deal with my “it better get her quick” last minute ideas.

Loved these coasters from ForYourParty.com. They were affordable, easily created on-line, and got here super fast without any additional charges.

These photo booth props by Party Goodies made the night hilarious not to mention some great blackmail shots.

I created cardstock tents with quotes about turning 40 and getting older and placed them on the tables along with black and white candy from CandyWarehouse.com.

And of course, I can’t leave out some amazing photography by Providence Photography located in Austin, Texas.

All in all a good night in the Texas Hill Country and I’m sure The Husband didn’t mind getting on stage for a bit at his own party. We’ll now resume normal foodie and shenanigan postings.

Today is the launch of a revolutionary food website called Gojee and I’m am very honored to be apart of it as one of their writers! This isn’t you’re run of the mill recipe website. Gojee is a personalized recipe index curated just around what you have in your kitchen. In their words, their putting “the cat’s bananas back in cooking.” Here you will find unique, fresh and tempting recipes not just from anyone but from Gojee’s hand picked food writers like Ashley Rodriguez (notwithoutsalt.com), Jaden Hair (steamykitchen.com), Bobbi Bowers (freshandfoodie.com), Rachel Hutchings (lafujimama.com), Helene Dujardin (tarteletteblog.com), Chrystal and Amir (duodishes.com), Josh Stokes (grillachef.com), Food52.com and yours truley to just name a few.

Go check it out, personalize it to your cravings or what you have on hand and give it a whirl. Trust me, you will want to jump into it right away.

{UPDATE · April 13, 2011}

GIVEAWAY

GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED · The winner is Kim with the comment, “Too funny! This is totally my life.”

Thanks to the amazing folks at The Pampered Chef, not only do you have a chance to help me win a $3500 Pampered Chef Shopping spree and a $125 SpaFinder certificate and a chance for you to win the same through The Pampered Chef Facebook page but NOW I have been given an Easy Brie-zy Pizza Set (valued at $115) to giveaway to one of you during this contest! You know how I love pizza and this Pizza set that includes a pizza stone, garlic press, pizza wheel, sauces, spices, recipes and more is going to be a great addition to any kitchen!

Well Make this quick and simple,
TO ENTER TO WIN THE PAMPERED CHEF PIZZA SET FROM IN SOCK MONKEY SLIPPERS:

1. Leave a comment at the end of this post telling me your funniest or not so funny kitchen disaster story and If you don’t have one just say hi! All previous comments will be honored and included in this giveaway.
2. “LIKE” In Sock Monkey Slippers on Facebook and leave a seperate comment telling me you did so.

The winner of the Easy Brie-zy Pizza Set will be chosen randomly, on Friday, April 15 at noon and will be notified by e-mail.

GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED

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in sock monkey slippers and the pampered chef {april 11,2011}

A few days ago, The Pampered Chef, contacted me to share my funniest kitchen disaster story and to be a part of their Spill It! Contest celebrating Mother’s Day. The Spill It! contest will feature stories by six food bloggers, and you will decide the winner by who has the most comments posted to their story. I had to stop and laugh because every day is a disaster in the kitchen with a 22 pound, 2-year-old girl and a 70 pound, 2-year-old lab running under your feet. Of course, I had the perfect story that happened not too long ago–as In Sock Monkey Slippers fans on Twitter and Facebook can attest to when I shouted out for help with a “burning” question. If you enjoy, or can relate in any way–which I’m sure you can–to this story, please comment at the end of this post and help me when the Spill It! contest and the $3,500 Pampered Chef prize! Don’t you just love The Pampered Chef?! What’s your funniest kitchen disaster?

Follow along with this contest and keep up with all of us on The Pampered Chef’s Facebook page. “LIKE” The Pampered Chef’s Facebook page to stay on top of upcoming info and tips and share your funniest kitchen story too!

a flaming food processor and a larabar disaster

For a while now I have had a “drop everything” craving for Larabars. Their chewy naturally sweet goodness has attracted me like a moth to a flame, so much so you would think I was pregnant. My favorite Larabar is the cherry pie one. For those of you who have no clue what I’m talking about, a Larabar is a snack bar with just a few ingredients and no added sugar or preservatives. Oh, how I loooove them, and decided with how this family goes through snack bars I needed to make my own.

With dried cherries, dates and almonds in hand and the little girl asleep and Jack the lab outside playing I set out to make my Larabar masterpiece. I laid out all of my ingredients and pulled out my trusty little, little, little 3 cup food processor.

It was a beautiful day. Adam Carroll was on the iPod, the birds were singing and I’m sure if I were Snow White dwarfs would be whistling somewhere. It wasn’t until…chunk, clunk, verrrrrommmm, chunk, chunk, chunk. My trusty little food processor filled with dates and cherries and almondy goodness started jumping off the counter. And then my worst fears happened. My little kitchen appliance went up in flames.

“What the?!!!!” was all that was going through my mind as I batted the flames out with a towel; not the brightest idea, mind you, because now I have a burnt towel. With disaster averted, I took a moment to regroup. Then the silence was shattered when our fire alarm finally went off. This set off the domino effect. I’m cursing to high heaven worried that the BEEP BEEP BEEP screaming through our house is going to wake up Mia when I’m startled by Jack jumping on our kitchen window tearing the screen to bits, then knocking over the water fountain by the window in the herb garden. I then hear “hack, hack, hack” as our ever so nervous cat, Athens, vomits in the bedroom. Ahh! Are you kidding me?

As I run outside to calm our dog down I slip and fall on something slippery and wet in the bedroom. “No, No, No, It can’t be.” Oh yes, Meredith, it is. You have just fell and busted your behind in cat vomit. Right then the situation gets worse as I smell smoke coming from the kitchen. The food processor is smoking. Huge puffs of smoke billowing from my kitchen.

I grab it off the counter by the cord and toss it out to the front patio. From the window I watch with phone in hand to call 911. And of course, instead of doing the smart thing and calling 911 I get on Facebook and twitter calling out for help.

Instead of embarrassing myself to a group of hunky firemen, crisis was averted once again as my awesome friends on Facebook and Twitter told me to pour baking soda on it or just run.

Quite once resumed as I stood by the door to make sure the fire was truly out. I then realize that by a miracle Mia is still asleep and I could actually go sit on the couch and recover from this fiasco. But life is never that simple, is it? The moment my tush hits the cushion and my tension starts to melt….”MOMMY!!!”

Oh well, back to motherhood I go with my bruised hiney and a house that smells like burnt plastic.

Spill it with me! For your chance to win the prize, please share your own disaster story on www.facebook.com/ThePamperedChef (under the “contests” tab) before Friday at noon! And If you can relate to my story or you just want to say “thanks for the laugh” let me know by leaving me a comment and passing this along! One of the 6 bloggers will win and one of you will win! Here’s to all of the moms out there who are just trying to make it through the day! Have a good one!

Homemade Cherry Larabars….sort of

• 2  cups pitted dates
• 1 cup dried cherries
• 1/2 cup almonds
• 1/2 cup walnuts
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

1. In a large, high powered food processor, combine dates, cherries, almonds, walnuts, vanilla, and salt. Process in pulses until thoroughly chopped. Or, you can simply spend 30 minutes or so chopping all ingredients by hand, as I have done.
2. With your hands, form the mixture into a 1 inch thick rectangle.
3. Next, cut to desired shape with a knife. I choose to do small bite size squares but this recipe will make 10 4 inch long bars.
4. Place the chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 3o seconds. Stir and repeat for another 30 seconds or until the chocolate is melted.
5. Dip each bar halfway into the chocolate mixture and place on parchment or wax paper.
6. Allow the chocolate to cool and harden.
7. EAT!

I have been waiting impatiently for my daughter to start holding conversations. I envisioned long serious conversations like what hairstyle should she give the cat, or what goes better in pancakes, chocolate or blueberries. The days are finally getting here but still coming very slowly. So when little Miss Mia was battling a nasty virus/ear infection this past week and had not said a single word to me in days, it didn’t phase me. What did cause me to take a long bath with a martini was what happened when The Husband walked in the door from work.

words of mia… the first conversation

Mia’s on the couch covered in blankets with a dismal look on her face like someone just told her that Elmo is not a red furry monster after all but a piece of fabric with a stick up it’s rear.

Tim walks in the door from work.

Mia: Daddy! Daddy! Daddy! Hi Daddy! How are you doing Daddy? Oh Daddy!

Tim: I’m fine Mia. How are you?

Mia: I’m good too Daddy! Hi Daddy! Oh Daddy! I love you Daddy!

Tim: I love you too Mia.

Mia: Oh Daddy (gives him a hug) I’m happy to see you Daddy!

Tim: Well, thanks Mia. I love you too! (as his hart melts on the floor and mine tightens as I think about all of the diapers I’ve changed today and the numerous t-shirt changes I’ve had over the past 12 hours from children’s Tylenol spilling down my shirt…and still not one word from the gorgeous child)

Mia: Here’s Elmo. He’s red. la la la la. Ha Ha, Mia’s funny. I love you Daddy.

Seriously, this goes on for 15 min.

Tim: I’m going to make a quick run to the store to pick up some wine for dinner. Do you need anything?

Me: No…No  thank you. (grrrrrr)

Tim: Do you want to go Mia?

Mia: Yea Yea Yea Yea! Oh daddy! I love you. I go bye bye in Daddy’s truck! …… See you later, Mommy.

end.

Uh hu…. You would think I had been torturing her for days! It’s not like I gave you the ear infection! For the love of everything, child… Deep breaths. Now a couple of Days later after seven days of 104 fevers she is bright eyed and healthy again. As for me, I am telling you this as I pop a couple of Ibuprofen, sip some chicken soup and try to find the keyboard through the mountain of Kleenex.

For months now y’all have been trying to get me on Instagram and I have stubbornly refused to join another social networking site! I mean really, do I need another app for the blog to obsess about daily? Why, YES I DO! I caved in a couple of days ago, downloaded the free app for my iPhone, and was instantly addicted.

Instagram is like Twitter, Facebook and Hipstamatic had a wild night in Shanghai with a few too many drinks resulting in this twisted love child. For those of you who are not aware of how it works here’s the scoop: Snap a photo with your iPhone, choose a filter to transform the look and feel, send to Facebook, Twitter or Flickr – it’s all as easy as pie. It’s photo sharing, reinvented. Plus your photos will automatically be posted on your Instagram account for all of your Instagram followers to see. I love it because it reminds me of my critique days back in photo classes in college but mostly because I get to view the world through another person’s eyes. It also keeps me from thinking about the dirty diapers I have to take out to the trash too. I am the queen of procrastination.

So here’s what I would like all of you with iPhones to do:

1. If you aren’t using Instagram yet, check it out and if it ruffles your pants download it.
2. Find me, smonkeyslippers, and follow if you choose.
3. I will follow you right back because I want to see what you find photoworthy. No seriously, I really do. Anything to keep me from watching reality TV at night is a blessing!

By the way if you think I am getting paid to say this, I wish, but no. It’s just a way to influence you to get you to join so I get to see what you, who willingly read In Sock Monkey Slippers, is all about! My childhood friends’ mothers always said I was never a good influence. *wink wink* See you on the phone!

…and if you don’t have a smart phone, no worries. In Sock Monkey Slippers’ Instagram account will be uploading to twitter. That is for those of you who really care and I know you do…well at least my mother does…but she’s not on twitter…crap.

A little while ago Babble.com released their picks for the Top Food Mom Blogs of 2011 and to our delight In Sock Monkey Slippers made the list! I just wanted to take a second to thank the editors of Babble.com for including us in this list. It’s an honor to be included with such great company, many of which are on my own personal blogroll!

ISMS was ranked #27 overall and #4 Most Fun To Read! Pretty cool for this little blog that’s only a year old. Sharing stories and food has been great and has saved my sanity when I’m knee deep in dirty diapers, covered with purees and wiping crayon off every surface in the house. Thanks to Babble for the recognition and to all of you who, for some reason, keep coming back. wink wink. It’s been fun and I’m looking forward to a great year with all of you!

If you have a second today, stop by and check out this very talented list of bloggers. Here are some of my favorites:

• Smitten Kitchen
• The Naptime Chef
• Not Without Salt
• Annie’s Eats
• Evil Chef Mom
• La Fuji Mama
• Bell’alimento
• Wicked Good Dinner
• The Pioneer Woman