Friday, October 31, 2008
Lauren's Broccoli Cheese Soup
Man, guys. This is soup weather. I'm sitting here going through one of my cookbooks, looking at all the soups, and I'm starting to feel toastier and more nurtured already.
This morning I got up and checked the weather, and it was only 27 degrees outside! My gosh! Yesterday was so cold that I decided it was time to go get Noah a snowsuit (I'll post pics later). If it's time to wear a puffy jacket, it's definitely time to start making soup.
Now, I have always loved broccoli cheese soup, but it's always been a guilty pleasure, considering all the cheese and cream. But I have a recipe for you that I've adapted from Cooking Light, which means you don't have to ponder liposuction while you eat it.
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Broccoli Cheese Soup
1 c. chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
2-1/2 c. fat-free chicken broth
1 (16-oz.) package frozen broccoli florets
1/3 c. all-purpose flour
2 c. 2% milk (for a thicker soup, use whole milk)
1/4 tsp. pepper
8 oz. light processed cheese, cubed (such as Velveeta Light)
1/2 c. shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 tsp. nutmeg OR 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1. Heat a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion and garlic; saute 3 minutes or until tender. Meanwhile, coarsely chop the frozen broccoli (bite size or smaller). Add the broccoli and broth to the pan. Bring broccoli mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium; cook 10 minutes.
2. This is the step that replaces fatty cream and saves your waistline: Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour and milk, stirring with a whisk until well blended. Add milk mixture to broccoli mixture. Cook 5 minutes or until slightly thick, stirring constantly. Stir in pepper.
3. Turn heat to low. Add both cheeses, stirring until all the cheese melts. Then, add EITHER the nutmeg (for a more autumnal flavor) OR the Worcestershire sauce (if you prefer to lean more towards the savory than the sweet). Don't add both. That would be weird.
4. Place 1/3 of the soup into a blender or food processor, process until smooth, then return the soup to the pan. Or do what I do and let the hand blender have a go-round in the pot for a minute.
It's great served with some sourdough!
Enjoy!
This morning I got up and checked the weather, and it was only 27 degrees outside! My gosh! Yesterday was so cold that I decided it was time to go get Noah a snowsuit (I'll post pics later). If it's time to wear a puffy jacket, it's definitely time to start making soup.
Now, I have always loved broccoli cheese soup, but it's always been a guilty pleasure, considering all the cheese and cream. But I have a recipe for you that I've adapted from Cooking Light, which means you don't have to ponder liposuction while you eat it.
-----
Broccoli Cheese Soup
1 c. chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
2-1/2 c. fat-free chicken broth
1 (16-oz.) package frozen broccoli florets
1/3 c. all-purpose flour
2 c. 2% milk (for a thicker soup, use whole milk)
1/4 tsp. pepper
8 oz. light processed cheese, cubed (such as Velveeta Light)
1/2 c. shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 tsp. nutmeg OR 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1. Heat a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion and garlic; saute 3 minutes or until tender. Meanwhile, coarsely chop the frozen broccoli (bite size or smaller). Add the broccoli and broth to the pan. Bring broccoli mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium; cook 10 minutes.
2. This is the step that replaces fatty cream and saves your waistline: Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour and milk, stirring with a whisk until well blended. Add milk mixture to broccoli mixture. Cook 5 minutes or until slightly thick, stirring constantly. Stir in pepper.
3. Turn heat to low. Add both cheeses, stirring until all the cheese melts. Then, add EITHER the nutmeg (for a more autumnal flavor) OR the Worcestershire sauce (if you prefer to lean more towards the savory than the sweet). Don't add both. That would be weird.
4. Place 1/3 of the soup into a blender or food processor, process until smooth, then return the soup to the pan. Or do what I do and let the hand blender have a go-round in the pot for a minute.
It's great served with some sourdough!
Enjoy!
Thursday, October 30, 2008
About Noah
One of Noah's favorite things is to be surprised or scared. It's so funny to see his personality emerge, and this is definitely one of the more notable things. He loves it if we hide behind a wall and pop out with a yell. The other day, Nathan did just that, and I jumped from shock while Noah screamed with delight. He just loves it.
Here's a toned-down version of the same thing. He's such a fun kid. :)
Here's a toned-down version of the same thing. He's such a fun kid. :)
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Giveaways Galore
People, have you seen this?
I was randomly surfing blogs and found a bloggy giveaway. It's a Mr. Linky deal where, as of right now, 1000 different blog giveaways are linked in one spot. Here's where you want to go.
If you have, I don't know, like 27 hours, you can enter every giveaway. And if you don't, you can still pick and choose. Heck, you might just win something cool for yourself (or a Christmas present!).
I don't know about you, but I'm all about free stuff. Just sharin' the love.
A favorite new find:
See Kai Run, some amazingly cute little shoes for little ones.
See the giveaway here.
I was randomly surfing blogs and found a bloggy giveaway. It's a Mr. Linky deal where, as of right now, 1000 different blog giveaways are linked in one spot. Here's where you want to go.
If you have, I don't know, like 27 hours, you can enter every giveaway. And if you don't, you can still pick and choose. Heck, you might just win something cool for yourself (or a Christmas present!).
I don't know about you, but I'm all about free stuff. Just sharin' the love.
A favorite new find:
See Kai Run, some amazingly cute little shoes for little ones.
See the giveaway here.
Monday, October 27, 2008
New Gate
The Boy is so stinkin' mobile, folks. He is scooting around and exploring like nobody's business, and he is really fast. He gets into trouble, lickety split. I have no idea how many dust bunnies he's eaten, nor how many times he's punched all the buttons on the stereo. It has gotten to the point that I was starting to feel like I couldn't leave the room for fear that he would get into something that would hurt him, so we got a baby gate today. Thank goodness! Now I can relax a little bit.
So far, he doesn't mind the gate one bit. In fact, he thinks it's a big toy.
I love that he's such a happy boy:
So far, he doesn't mind the gate one bit. In fact, he thinks it's a big toy.
I love that he's such a happy boy:
Butternut Squash Pasta
The North End in Boston is the Italian end of town, known for all the fantastic family restaurants. I got an amazing dish at Giacomo's one time, a butternut squash ravioli. It. Was. So. Good.
So I went home and tried to recreate this dish, or at least a less sophisticated version of it. I haven't perfected a sauce on my own yet, so I just use some bottled alfredo sauce. I thought you might enjoy making something inspired by the fall, so here it is. (Although if you want the real thing, you'll just have to make a little trip to Boston):
Butternut Squash Pasta
8 oz. rotini, cooked
1 butternut squash
3/4 c. alfredo sauce
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 tsp. chopped fresh rosemary
3 dashes nutmeg
Cut butternut squash in half. Butter a cookie sheet (I pop mine in the oven for a minute first to make this step easier). Place the squash halves cut side down on the cookie sheet, and bake at 400 for approx. 40 minutes, or until soft when pierced with a fork. Let cool for at least 10 minutes, then gently pull the skin off of one half of the squash. Cut into bite-sized pieces. Reserve the other half of the squash for whatever you want (I made baby food).
Combine all ingredients. Enjoy!
So I went home and tried to recreate this dish, or at least a less sophisticated version of it. I haven't perfected a sauce on my own yet, so I just use some bottled alfredo sauce. I thought you might enjoy making something inspired by the fall, so here it is. (Although if you want the real thing, you'll just have to make a little trip to Boston):
Butternut Squash Pasta
8 oz. rotini, cooked
1 butternut squash
3/4 c. alfredo sauce
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 tsp. chopped fresh rosemary
3 dashes nutmeg
Cut butternut squash in half. Butter a cookie sheet (I pop mine in the oven for a minute first to make this step easier). Place the squash halves cut side down on the cookie sheet, and bake at 400 for approx. 40 minutes, or until soft when pierced with a fork. Let cool for at least 10 minutes, then gently pull the skin off of one half of the squash. Cut into bite-sized pieces. Reserve the other half of the squash for whatever you want (I made baby food).
Combine all ingredients. Enjoy!
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Busy October
Hey there, everyone. This has been a busy month! I mean, check it out--this is only my eighth post, and here it is the 25th of the month. I'd normally be at number 20 or something. ;)
Fall is in full bloom here. It is my favorite season, by far. I just love it. Check out one of the trees by my house.
As you know, we went to Houston for a conference of Nathan's and to see family. Two days after we got back, Sarah and Ryan arrived for a visit. Sarah is one of my best friends from Houston. I think we've known each other since like second grade. We became good friends in high school because we did all kinds of singing events together, and we lived together and became really close in college.
She and her husband, Ryan, are such neat people. They are so easy to be with because they're great conversationalists and know how to have fun. Let's see . . . what else can I tell you about them? Oh, here's a good one. Interesting fact about their love story: they got engaged at Thanksgiving and married on Christmas Eve. So Sarah planned a wedding in a month!
One of the things we did was to go apple picking. You can't be in New England in September/October and not go pick apples. Ryan was kind enough to wear Noah most of the time, since Nathan was in San Diego (more on that later).
We also went on a Duck Tour, where a crazy tour guide drives you around Boston and then onto the Charles River (the vehicles are WWII amphibian vehicles, so they're good on both land and water). The guide invited everyone up to the front to drive the boat and have their picture taken. When Sarah and Ryan got up there, the funniest thing happened. We headed straight into a group of about three little two-person sailboats. Neither Sarah nor Ryan nor the tour guide noticed this, so all the boaters were totally panicking, standing up in their boats, but not knowing what to do to avoid this much bigger vehicle coming straight at them. Thankfully, the tour guide noticed just in time and threw the Duck into reverse. So that's how Sarah and Ryan nearly killed six boaters. Here is the picture:
Nathan and I didn't go get our picture taken because Noah was asleep in my lap. Note how cold they look in the pic above. That's because it was cold. Sarah said she didn't remember having been that cold in a long time, and that by the end, her feet were numb. Well, I don't think any of the rest of us were that cold, but it definitely was the chilliest day so far this fall. It was pretty breezy, too.
For the first few days Sarah and Ryan were with us, Nathan was in San Diego on a field trip with an oil company. It was basically a recruiting trip where they invite a few people out to look at some outcroppings and learn a bit about what they'd be doing if hired for this company. At the end, they told everyone that they'd be in touch in a couple of weeks if they were interested in talking to them about a job. Well, no later than three business days later, Nathan got a call from a bunch of people on speaker phone who told him they were ready to make him an offer. There is still more talking and stuff to be done, but it was really cool!
Yesterday, Lori drove into town to have her smart little self interviewed by one of the local news channels about her Bargain Shopper Lady website. They needed a place to film the interview, so she asked if they could come to my house. I agreed, so the little film crew came out and did that yesterday. It was neat to see how all of that happens! And the people were really nice. They also thought Noah was the cutest thing ever, which may have a little bit to do with why I thought they were so nice. ;) Anyway, Lori did a great job, and they said they may show the interview sometime during Thanksgiving week, since they asked her some questions about saving money on Christmas shopping.
And this brings us just about to today. There's not much going on today. I was going to go shopping today while Nathan watched Noah, but I'm a little sick, so I think we may have to hold off on that.
That's the update!
Fall is in full bloom here. It is my favorite season, by far. I just love it. Check out one of the trees by my house.
I love how the beautiful colors end up everywhere. One of the things I like about the end of fall is when the leaves start falling and you walk on a golden or red carpet of leaves.
As you know, we went to Houston for a conference of Nathan's and to see family. Two days after we got back, Sarah and Ryan arrived for a visit. Sarah is one of my best friends from Houston. I think we've known each other since like second grade. We became good friends in high school because we did all kinds of singing events together, and we lived together and became really close in college.
She and her husband, Ryan, are such neat people. They are so easy to be with because they're great conversationalists and know how to have fun. Let's see . . . what else can I tell you about them? Oh, here's a good one. Interesting fact about their love story: they got engaged at Thanksgiving and married on Christmas Eve. So Sarah planned a wedding in a month!
One of the things we did was to go apple picking. You can't be in New England in September/October and not go pick apples. Ryan was kind enough to wear Noah most of the time, since Nathan was in San Diego (more on that later).
Here we are in the apple orchard:
Noah loved the pumpkins.
Ryan, being the goofy spaz he is.
Sarah, standing there watching as if this is the most normal thing.
Sarah, standing there watching as if this is the most normal thing.
He calmed down enough to take a really nice picture. ;)
We also went on a Duck Tour, where a crazy tour guide drives you around Boston and then onto the Charles River (the vehicles are WWII amphibian vehicles, so they're good on both land and water). The guide invited everyone up to the front to drive the boat and have their picture taken. When Sarah and Ryan got up there, the funniest thing happened. We headed straight into a group of about three little two-person sailboats. Neither Sarah nor Ryan nor the tour guide noticed this, so all the boaters were totally panicking, standing up in their boats, but not knowing what to do to avoid this much bigger vehicle coming straight at them. Thankfully, the tour guide noticed just in time and threw the Duck into reverse. So that's how Sarah and Ryan nearly killed six boaters. Here is the picture:
Nathan and I didn't go get our picture taken because Noah was asleep in my lap. Note how cold they look in the pic above. That's because it was cold. Sarah said she didn't remember having been that cold in a long time, and that by the end, her feet were numb. Well, I don't think any of the rest of us were that cold, but it definitely was the chilliest day so far this fall. It was pretty breezy, too.
For the first few days Sarah and Ryan were with us, Nathan was in San Diego on a field trip with an oil company. It was basically a recruiting trip where they invite a few people out to look at some outcroppings and learn a bit about what they'd be doing if hired for this company. At the end, they told everyone that they'd be in touch in a couple of weeks if they were interested in talking to them about a job. Well, no later than three business days later, Nathan got a call from a bunch of people on speaker phone who told him they were ready to make him an offer. There is still more talking and stuff to be done, but it was really cool!
Yesterday, Lori drove into town to have her smart little self interviewed by one of the local news channels about her Bargain Shopper Lady website. They needed a place to film the interview, so she asked if they could come to my house. I agreed, so the little film crew came out and did that yesterday. It was neat to see how all of that happens! And the people were really nice. They also thought Noah was the cutest thing ever, which may have a little bit to do with why I thought they were so nice. ;) Anyway, Lori did a great job, and they said they may show the interview sometime during Thanksgiving week, since they asked her some questions about saving money on Christmas shopping.
And this brings us just about to today. There's not much going on today. I was going to go shopping today while Nathan watched Noah, but I'm a little sick, so I think we may have to hold off on that.
That's the update!
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