Why?

This has been a day that I cannot stop asking why. It started out with a wonderful high (buying a really cool newer truck) and ended on a giant low (getting into a massive crash-no one was hurt). I'll try to update you more, but in the meantime, if you are the praying kind, pray for us and send some good thoughts our way. It's a rough night. I figured, if I can't be honest on the blog, where can I be honest? Thanks, all.

Recipe Review-Soup Edition

Beer Cheese Soup

6 thumbs ups! My great friend Liz was over the night we had this yummy meal. All three of us liked it. And she provided asiago cheese bread which was heavenly dipped in the soup.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped onion (except, yeah right. I don't do onions. sick. death. sick.)

3 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth (except this girl is a vegetarian, so I always replace chicken broth with this awesome stock called NO Chicken broth. You can't even tell a difference!)

8 ounces shredded Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon prepared Dijon-style mustard

1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle beer (I totally bought a giant 24 oz can of Coors

Directions

1. In a medium pot over medium heat, melt butter. Cook celery, carrots (and onion) in butter 5 minutes. Pour in no chicken broth and bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes.

2. Puree mixture in a blender or food processor or using an immersion blender. Return to pot over medium heat.
3. Toss Cheddar with flour and stir, a little at a time, into the pot, until fully incorporated and melted. Season with mustard. Stir in beer to achieve desired thickness just before serving.

SO GOOD!


Spicy Red Lentil Soup



Ingredients

1 cup red lentils (I bought just one cup in bulk at Whole Foods. Whole Foods is, unlike what you might believe, pretty affordable if you do it right.)

1 tsp. salt
1 15-oz. can diced tomatoes
2 Tbs. minced fresh ginger (I don't know if this is different than ginger root or not, but I used ginger root and it was tasty)

1 Tbs. vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, minced (2 tsp.)
1 15-oz. can light, unsweetened coconut milk
1 Tbs. tamarind concentrate or paste, optional (I couldn't find this so I opted out. I guess you can get it in Indian grocery's and high end grocery's, whatever those are.)

1 Tbs. ground coriander
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. turmeric powder
1 small jalapeño, stemmed, seeded and minced
1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Directions

Combine lentils, salt and 5 cups water in large saucepan.

Cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer, partially covered, 20 to 25 minutes, or until lentils are tender. Blend lentils with whisk for rustic texture, or purée in food processor for creamier feel. (I pureed. I think I'm glad I did because the texture was very nice and the lentils looked a little strange before they were pureed.)

Purée tomatoes and ginger in blender or food processor until smooth. Set aside. Heat oil in large pot over medium heat. Add garlic, and cook 30 seconds, or until just golden, stirring often. Add tomato mixture, coconut milk, tamarind if desired, coriander, cumin, turmeric and jalapeño.

(PS the soup wasn't spicy at all, so I think I will leave some of the jalapeno seeds next time.) Simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in lentils, and simmer, partially covered, 20 minutes.

(haha! I wanted to capture myself cooking. :)

Season with salt and pepper. (seasoned with TONS of salt. I thought the soup was a little bland without it.) Sprinkle with cilantro, and serve. Cilantro? It's like the chocolate of herbs. Delish.

Two thumbs up again! YES!

Recipe Review - Goat Cheese Balls

I'm not going to keep track of what number I'm on anymore. I'll just have to use the list on the side of my blog to do that for me. This week I made goat cheese balls for our salads. They were DELISH! Two thumbs up!!!


Directions:
Take 110z tube of goat cheese (or however much you want to use) and stir in 2 Tbs of finely chopped fresh rosemary and 1 tsp coriander.

Roast 1 cup pecans (I used walnuts because that's what we had) by coating with melted butter and baking at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely, then finely chop. When I was chopping I also mixed them with a bit of garlic salt and sea salt.

Roll cheese into marble sized circles, then coat with nuts. Serve with salad and enjoy. I had extra nuts so sprinkled them on the salad to enjoy.

For a delicious salad use mixed greens, add nuts, dried cranberries, raspberry vinagrette and cheese balls. YES! Healthy and delicious :)

Valentines Day

We had a great Valentines Day. I decided to plan it this year because I wanted it to be special for Jeff. Of course that wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. I wanted to get him some water stones for sharpening his tools. So I went to one of the only woodworking stores in town during a lunch hour with my friend Staci. I probably stood in front of the stones for 39 minutes trying to decide how much to spend, what grit he needed, what brand was good. Finally, with the help of a store worker I made my purchase. Only to turn right back around after I got in the parking lot to return them in exchange for a gift card. I was just worried that Jeff, in his sweetness, wouldn't tell me if they weren't right and he'd have to suffer with the wrong stones! This way I knew he could get just what he had in mind. Then came the dinner plans. I wanted to go somewhere that had king or snow crab legs because Jeff loves them. Of course none of the fancy places I found had them except one and it was already booked for vday! :( Hmmm, now what? BBQ? Fondue? Nope, I decided to treat myself with the dinner choice instead and we ended up going to Nosh. We went there last year and I do love traditions. It's not that Jeff didn't like it last year, it's just that the portions are super small. They are delicious, very very delicious, but you either have to eat first to fill up a little or order a LOT. So we did both :) Jeff got me a gorgeous plant that he remembered I love and a chocolate raspberry bar that I can't wait to eat! It was a great day!

This is just an example of the delicious food at Nosh. Scallops in some sort of beat sauce with garlic sugar on top!


I love this picture of Jeff! I can't believe I caught him smiling. Now THAT is a good ending to Valentines day :)

Tini Tapa party!

Grace hosted an awesome tapas and martinis party last week. Hanging out with some great girls was such a blast and everyone made DELISH drinks and appetizers!

Renee, Stace and Kelly


Aren't these girls gorgeous? Megs, Stace, Liz, Renee and Grace


This was taken in between some CRAZY photos! We had so much fun :) Kel, Grace, Liz, Stace and Renee.


Me and Kel


Megs and Kel


Megs and Stace

I can't wait for our next get together!

Recipe Review - Poached Eggs on Toast

(I wish I could have taken a better picture, but this will have to do.)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup yogurt
1 small clove garlic, crushed
10.5 oz baby spinach
1 oz butter
herbed salt (not sure what this is, but I used Season All and it was delish)
4 tomatoes halved
1 tablespoon white vinegar
8 eggs
loaf of your fave bread (recipe calls for rye, we used french)

Directions:

Mix yogurt and garlic for the dressing (PS, I hate garlic and thought the yogurt would have been awesome just plain. PPS Jeff didn't like the yogurt at all)
Wash spinach and place in large saucepan wiht water clinging ot leaves. Cook, covered over low heat for 3-4 minutes or until wilted. Add the butter and aslt, set aside to keep warm.
Cook the tomatoes under a hot grill for 3-5 minutes. (a hot grill? under? I have no idea. I just broiled them for a few.)
Fill trying pan 3/4 full with cold water and add the vinegar and salt to stop egg whites from spreading. (this didn't really work for me) Bring to a gentle simmer. Gently break the eggs one by one into a small bowl and slide into the water. Reduce heat so water barely moves (whatever that means). Cook 1-2 minutes. (Um, yeah right. I cooked for at least 6 minutes and don't you worry your little head, those eggs weren't too done. Which to me, is sort of an oxy moron.) Remove eggs.
Toast bread and top with spinach, and egg and some dressing. Serve with halved tomatoes.
1 thumb up (mine, without the garlic I thought this was really tasty. I would actually remove the spinach, too, but hey, let's stay healthy together shall we.) and 1 thumb sideways. Sweet Jeff never says something is yucky, but he did say it was weird and that he didn't like the yogurt. He ate it all, but I probably won't make it again. So there you have it.

Recipe Review - Asparagus Pistachio Rissoto

4 c. vegetable stock
1 cup white wine
1/3 c extra virgin olive oil
2 cups arborio rice (I used Orzo)
10 3/4 oz asparagus spears cut into small pieces
1/2 cup cream
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup shelled pistachios-chopped

1. Heat stock and wine in a large saucepan, bring to boil, then reduce, cover and simmer.
2. Heat oil in another large saucepan. Add rice and stir for 1 minute or until rice is translucent.
3. Add 1/2 c. hot stock stirring constantly over medium heat until the liquid is absorbed. Continue adding 1/2 c. at a time until all stock is absorbed and the rice is tender and creamy in texture. Add the asparagus during the last 5 minutes of cooking. Remove from heat.
4. Let stand for 2 minutes, stir in cream and Parm and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve sprinkled with pistachios.

Yummy! I would actually probably have left the asparagus out and just had it as a side. The pistachios were absolutely delicious.

4 thumbs up!

Getting down to business

Dear Mr. Hubby,

I have diligently and faithfully done some research regarding the broken garage door. Upon calling 7 garage door repairmen, I have discovered that the best price we can expect is $175. This includes labor, parts (two springs) and servicing the whole door and a 5 year warranty in most cases. Shall I go forward with an appointment? If you’d like I’d be happy to schedule one for Friday as I will be home that day. Please let me know how you’d like me to proceed.

Your loving manager,

Mrs. Wifey

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Loving Manager,

It appears you have done your due diligence and I respectfully acquiesce to your better judgement. I enjoy doing business with you and hope to continue in what has been a (hopefully) mutually beneficial relationship.

Very Sincerely,
Hubby

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hello, we are so funny.

I think I'm Greek

Mmmm, I just had a pita with falafel and tomato cucumber salsa for lunch. I could eat those every day of my life. Jeff made the pitas again. So. Good. Duh.

Just so you know ;p