Monday, October 31, 2011


The soup was a success!!! Nice and hot and full of veggies. Even had leftovers for lunch today... I know that I've succeeded in my own book if I'm willing to eat leftovers!




We planted Snapdragons (a childhood favorite of mine), Asylum, these cute little button like daisies, Oregano and a Mum after cleaning out the planters. I intended to take pictures during the process but realized after the fact that I was apparently too busy to do so! So here are pictures of the finished product instead.





Also made some delicious chocolate chip cookies from scratch... Yum! I used Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate chips and the classic Nestle Toll House cookie recipe - it's simply the best one out there that I've seen. So now there is a piled hile plate on the kitchen counter - wonder how long those will last? Not long I'm sure.



 I've been enjoying playing Scrabble on Facebook - it's entertaining to see just how badly I can lose most of the time. Makes winning a game quite the accomplishment! Anyone up to a game?!


 Other than that I have a billion projects that I want to do but never seem to have to inspiration to do when I have the time to work on them. Why does it always seem to go that way? I have managed to complete one project recently though -- A modpodged tray... I really like it! I just used some of my piles and piles of scrapbooking paper that coordinated well with my dining room/kitchen colors. It turned out great!


I did learn that I have to make sure I completely glue the underside of the paper down before putting a layer on top... that is where bubbles come from - good to know. I'm currently using just the basic Modpodge brand - I did notice that there is one specifically for paper projects... but I wasn't positive what all I'd be using so I didn't get it. Anyone know if it makes that much of a difference? Or if another brand is better?

Talk to you guys soon - I'm off to play/workout on the Kinect!
Till then... Rest in Him.

Sunday, October 30, 2011

A long awaited post thanks to some cabbage soup and creole seasoning...

It's been ages... but I'm back! I'm currently cooking cabbage soup and it inspired me to get back on here and try this again. I got too caught up on trying to share everything that I was trying and once I got behind I felt it useless to try and catch up - so here I am, starting fresh. Though I may go back and share a few things that have happened over time, we'll see - if nothing else I will share photos!
While making my soup I was trying to figure out what I could add that would give it some heat -- during the process I realized I need to go buy cayenne pepper and red pepper flakes just to have handy for times like this even though they rarely occur. My roommate has a favorite seasoning in the cabinet and I wasn't sure if it was spicy and she couldn't recall either so I tested a bit on my tongue. Guess what - Creole Seasoning is hot. Especially by itself!
I'll go ahead and share the recipe with you now and let you know later on if it's worth trying!
I sauteed about 1/2 med. head of cabbage, 1/2 onion, 5 cloves of garlic, 2 big leaves of kale. I added a diced white potato, 1 sliced small yellow squash, 1 sliced small zucchini, and a can of tomatoes with juice. I added some seasoning... I didn't measure any of it - just did what seemed "right." There was Italian Seasoning, Thyme, Basil (less of this than the others), quite a bit of ground pepper (before I figured out I had a spicy seasoning I could add) and then the Creole Seasoning (as much as you like to reach the heat you want) and Salt.
I sauteed that all together for a good 15-20 minutes and then added 2 quarts of boxed low sodium chicken broth. It's still simmering now - just waiting for the flavors to combine and the potatoes to get done! It smells amazing! Can't wait to try it!

My plan is to redo my tiny garden tomorrow with the little guy I nanny since the season are changing and most of the plants are done now. Also hope to make chocolate chip cookies with him - should be a fun day for us. I'll let you know how it goes and show you my new garden! Talk to you all then!
Till then - Rest in Him.