Soup Success!

It’s no secret that I love my crockpot and last night’s soup did nothing to change my mind. However, it is a little more prep than normal involved. I came up with this idea after a serious hankering for some root veggies roasted with a healthy dose of Smoked Spanish Paprika. Normally I’d be perfectly content to toss the veggies with some pasta and call it a day. The problem, was that last night my husband needed a fuss free dinner and a clean kitchen. So a crockpot meal was in order. Besides, roasted veggies is a weekend meal in my book, since otherwise it would mean eating dinner at 10. Not really, but it would still make for a late night meal.

Instead of giving up on the idea, I went ahead with roasting the veggies on Sunday night, including 2 sweet potatoes, 3 large carrots, 1/2 medium celery root (peeled), 3 cloves of garlic, 1 small/medium onion, tossed in olive oil and smoked paprika.  The next morning I threw them all into a crockpot with about 5 cups of water and half a veggie bouillon cube and let it cook away on low for the day.  You wouldn’t need the crockpot either, you could absolutely roast the veggies and simmer in some veggie broth directly afterwards.  For us, the crockpot was the way to go and when we got home, it smelled great as was, but didn’t look altogether appetizing and I already had my mind set on a bisque of sorts, so I used my immersion blender to whiz it up, adding in more water bits at a time (and a splash of almond milk, although I don’t think it needed it) until I got the right consistency.  Alternatively, you could’ve thrown it into a blender in smaller batches and pureed it that way.   The immersion blender is fast and easy and requires less transporting of the soup, which in my book = less mess and a happy husband.

To top of the soup I added in some more paprika (plus a garnish for my soup, I can’t help it, the stuff is addicting!), a touch of cinnamon and a splash of Rye (Bourbon would do the same thing).   We served it with a side of homemade molasses cornbread, where I replaced the sugar (we have none in the house right now) with molasses.  It had the perfect amount of sweet, without being overly so.  Slathered with some earthbalance, it was a proud moment for me when I got the “this is pretty good” nod from B.   Baking without sugar in the house has been an adventure to say the least, but its just not something we’re looking to add to the grocery list right now unless we have a reason to.  Saving money can be so fun :-p  Actually, this non-sugar thing has been a fun experiment, to see what it is we really need in order to satisfy our “sweet cravings”, which happen few and far between to begin with.  I have to say that the molasses served its purpose well and may be a future replacement for most cornbread options from hereon out in our house!

Life can be stressful sometimes, especially on a Monday after a sleepless weekend, but bowls of soup like this are a nice way escape it for a while.  🙂

If you try it let me know and enjoy!

xo

DIY #1: Saddle Shoe Makeover

I should’ve made my number 1 new years resolution to be “GET BACK TO WORK”.  Good grief, it has been a chore trying to motivate myself to do anything but window browse online at shoes I cannot afford.  Slowly but surely I’m making my way out of the shopping induced hazes of winter break and back to the land of productivity. 

While that particular resolution may be stalling, I made good on another resolution this past weekend, to work on and complete more DIY projects. Other success stories of the week include making a stuffed pepper that my husband (who claims to hate all stuffed peppers that have ever and will ever be sat before him), DEVOURED.  No joke guys, it was gone before pictures could be had.  I’m a teensy bit proud and a LOT grateful for the recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance (see the cookbook here: http://www.theppk.com/books/vegan-with-a-vengeance/.) 

 But, I do have pictures of one my completed DIY projects.  Note to self:  Get away from the cell phone photos.  So a little back story, I’ve had a pair of (cheapy) saddle shoes for what feels like forever now.  Their retro quality was always fun, but for some reason I had the worst time trying to pair them and style them into any of my outfits.   I held onto them, convinced one day I’d be cool enough to wear them.  A little bit ago, I thought that maybe i’d wear them more if I changed them up a bit, something fun.   So that’s what I did.  Something fun…

 

Mid-podge

I started with a little bit of painters tape, modge podge and glitter.  My first thought was to just use a black glitter over the black sections of the shoe, but I think my glitter was a little too fine to make any sort of visual impact.  So after a few coats of the black, I added on a layer of goldish glitter to create a bit more sparkle.

    This is what I ended up with.  Saddle shoes with a little bit of som’n som’n to catch the eye.  I wasn’t sure if I would think the glitter would be too overpowering, but it turns out the effect is just enough. And fun!  To take them out for a spin today, I opted to keep things neutral and loose, but with bit of shimmer up top and a messy closet in the back.  Oh well. 🙂 

Whattya think?  I have a few more projects lined up for this week/weekend – one that even breaks out that sewing machine! These projects are quick and easy and perfect for breaking out while sitting in front of the TV after work and catching up on all episodes of the Big Bang Theory – bazinga!

Hope your week has started off well and maybe even a little more productive than mine!

xo

A weekend in cellphone pictures

We had a lovely, productive, relaxing and Christmasy (at times), filled weekend. 

  I got my girly on with a holiday inspired DIY manicure at home.  Its been awhile since my nails have been painted, so I splurged and picked up one or two new colors to add to my collection and had some fun.

We also picked out and decorated our Christmas gree for the year.  We’ve made it a goal to get a special ornament from the important places we visit.  My mom can tell me stories about almost all of the ornmanents on our tree at home and its a tradition I’m hoping to carry on. 

This is my cat.  She’s a lady. Can’t you tell?

Two of my favorite tree ornaments.  Brandon and I were pretty adamant about not having things in our wedding that were just going to get boxed up and stored away never to be seen again.  So when it came to picking out a cake topper, we chose to indulge in our slightly geeky side and used these two hallmark ornaments instead of the traditional flowers or Lenox topper.  I kinda love them.  How’s THAT for a story to tell your kids? 

Cat #2, joining in on the holiday cheer!

On top of all that, we made it out to the movies for what would be my first time in over 3 years.  We went to see Skyfall, my first time, Brandon’s second.  We’re big fans of the James Bond franchise and even though I haven’t seen either of the other two Daniel Craig Bond’s (ahem. ladies – helllooo eye candy), I did enjoy this movie – even if it did leave my head a little confused when it got to trying to sort out where this movie fell in the “Bond continuem” .  I think in the end we settled on series reboot, rather than prequels.   Its the only way it makes sense, even if they muddied the waters a bit using Dame Judi Dench as M (that woman owns my soul).

And now its Monday and I am unavoidably snarky.  I have a sneaky suspicion this has to do with my inexplicably puffy face, my inability to sleep past 5:15 this morning and general female discontent with my hair today.  That, and my fabulous weekend.  le sigh.

How’z about you?

xo

Sort’ve Mom’s Chili

Yesterday I had plans to make a warming and comforting veggie soup.   And, as plans so often do, by the time I got home I was in the mood for chili. 

Now, I’ve made more than my fair share of chili these past few years and I’ve certainly never shy’d away from variation.  Sweet potato chili, pumpkin chili, chipotle chili (one of Brandon’s favorites), chili with beer, chili with lime juice, gajillion bean chili, chili with hominy, chili with coffee and chili with chocolate.   But none of these are the chili that I grew up on.  Granted, most of them are vegan and my mom’s chili was decidedly not vegan.  Ground beef, beans, green peppers and tomatoes.  And last night – that is the ONLY thing I wanted.  Was mom’s chili, vegan style.

Even though I have a soft spot in my heart for variations and constantly playing around with recipes, the one flavor that was always present was a certain sweetness that comes with using sweet potatoes, pumpkin, etc as a base.  My mom’s never had that.  So for last night’s dinner, my goal was to recreate her chili, with things I had in the kitchen.

To get around the big hearty pieces of beef she’d put in hers, I used up the last of my two (massive!) portobella caps.  Bellas are a great way to replace that “meatiness” of a dish and I’m actually surprised I never thought to do this before.  They held their consistency and weren’t ever too mushy – delish!

The other thing I remember most about my mom’s chili is how simple it was, in both ingredients and flavor.  It wasn’t ever too spicy and had this perfect tomatoey base.  So next went in a can of regular diced tomatoes, juice and all and a can of water (and ok, a splash of leftover stoudt from the fridge).  I added a touch of liquid smoke and I’m not sure I would do it again. While it tasted fantastic the next day, the hickory flavor was a little more pronounced than I wanted it to be last night.  To counteract, I added a small can of tomato paste and a squirt of ketchup – which surprisingly worked out perfect!  A can of red kidney beans and some leftover white beans, a palmful of spices like Cumin ( a MUST), some ground corriander, cayenne pepper, paprika and a touch of oregano.  I finished off the pot with a healthy splash of hot sauce and some chili paste for a kick. 

 

My mom always served hers with a good dose of parm cheese on top (later we upgraded to cheddar if we wanted, but parm cheese seemed to be what everyone reached for), so as one last nod to her, I sprinkled my with some Nutritional Yeast.

Quick. Cozy.  Simple. Perfecct.  Just like mom’s, sort’ve. 😉

And before I forget:

Today, I am thankful for this little monster:

Begging for playtime (she chases mice and strings), tummy rubs, head scratches (yeah…I know, weird cat), using my legs for pillows and begging for fishy flakes since 2007.  

xo

You make a mean Lo Mein

Around our house, comments about dinner are generally hard to come by – unless you count the obligatory “what is this” nose wrinkle when we sit down to eat.  Its not that Brandon doesn’t like the food I cook, its that he doesn’t comment about it. 

So when “man, you make a mean lo mein” came out of his mouth before he even sat down to eat, I was pretty darn satisfied.

Nothing fancy, just some Soba buckwheat noodles and FRESH veggies – which I think made a ton of difference.  I added yellow squash and some zucchini, asparagus, cremini mushrooms, baby bok choy, the last of our swiss chard and some broccoli and pineapple just at the very end to prevent overcooking – I can’t stand grey mushy brocoli.

For the sauce I mixed some olive oil, sesami oil, tamari, black bean garlic, some ginger and a few healthy  dollops of a chile paste/sauce for a kick.  No measurements, just tossed it into the pan as I went.   The noodles went in last and just long enough to develop the flavors.   After a quick search of “what is lo mein”, I was a little pleased that lo mein is actually referring to how the noodles are prepped in the dish (boiled first, then tossed into the sauce mein = noodles, lo mein = tossed noodles).  I like the idea of creating meals as close to their traditional  preparation as possible, so reading that my “lo mein” wasn’t too far off from a true lo mein was kind of nice. 

I think for me, using the fresh veggies here was key.  Although the sauce was delish (and I would TOTALLY recommend the pineapple), having the fresh veggies made the dish something a little more satisfying than using the frozen stirfry veggies that we normally use.  In the constant battle to get my husband to try new things, I buy a lot of veggies and at the end of the week, that can sometimes leave us with, well, a lot of veggies to use up 🙂 Stirfry and lo meins are a pretty awesome way to accomplish that task.  Not to mention the words “well, I guess I”ll eat that swiss chard stuff if its in here then” were like music to my ears 🙂

Plus, you know, leftovers make a great lunch 😉

YAY FRIDAY!

xo

ps:

Your daily dose of cute 🙂 He’s a lover in the morning, so I take full advantage.