Chunky Vegetable Soup

I find that soups and stews are simple, yet effective ways to clean out my fridge. And leftovers make perfect freezer meals. Yum!

Green Juice

Lots of it. 

Kale, cucumber, celery, ginger, pineapple, honeydew, lemon juice

French Onion Soup

I watched a couple of episodes of Jacques and Julia yesterday, featuring Jacques Pepin and Julia Child (of course). One dish they made was French Onion Soup; knowing that I already had all the ingredients on hand, it became tonight's dinner.

Tonight's version is as follows:

1 white onion, sliced thin and sautéed with olive oil, butter, thyme, and salt until caramelized, which I added to 2 cups chicken stock, 2 cups water, 2oz concentrated veal stock (homemade). I deglazed the pan with a splash of rum (didn't have red wine on hand) and added that to the pot, too. I let that simmer as the oven was warming to 350. Dried out bread is really the best for this, and I topped the whole thing with a mix of parmesan and gruyere. 15 minutes in the oven and done! Yum!

Herb Vinagrette

For tonight's dinner with the fam, we decided on steamed clams with spring herbs. I made a complimentary herb vinagrette for the salad. Ingredients include: olive oil, lemon juice, parsley, fennel, thyme, garlic, and salt. Delicious all around :)

Make the boom shine

Amongst a number of other boat work tasks. 2 weeks til launch!!

Made it to IPRO Day!

We made it to IPRO Day!! My students rigged a generator to a stationary bike in order to demonstrate how much energy is required to power a 100 watt lightbulb. So proud of them!

IA Reunion

A number of former and current coworkers and friends got together for drinks tonight. We made it to the reunion! Good times had by all! :)

Mango + Kale Salsa

I ate through the salsa I made the other day so fast that I decided to make another batch. The recipe is as follows:

2 medium yellow steak tomatoes

1 mango

3-4 kale leaves

1 shallot

2 cloves of garlic

2 jalepeños 

Salt

Chop the tomatoes and mango, mince the remaining ingredients, season, mix well.

My mango wasn't quite ripe enough and the jalepeños weren't quite spicy enough (I intended to use habenero, but the store was out) but it still came out pretty well.

Juice

I've been on an "eat fresh, raw, spring food" kick lately. Juicing has seemed to replace baking for the season, and I'm not mad about it.

Tonight's juice had: the rest of the celery, 3 small carrots, 1/3 large seedless cucumber, a thumb's worth of ginger, 1 mango, 1 apple, and 1 slice of pineapple, 1 1/2 inch thick.

I don't think I'll juice mango again; I think I'll try it in a blender and see if that works better.

Salsa

I was inspired to make salsa yesterday at Mom and Dad's and again today when I had tacos for lunch. Super simple, super fresh, super delicious :)

Ingredients not pictured: cilantro, salt

Katie is finished!!

Katie is all done, just in time for Easter :)

This photo was taken pre-blocking.

Katie is off the needles!

All that she needs now is for the rest of the ends woven in and a blocking bath :)

WIP: Katie

I treated myself to a mani/pedi this afternoon - and I brought Katie with me :)

WIP: Katie

The remaining yarn for Katie finally came in! I'm so glad this project is nearly finished!!

PB+J

Classic PB+J..and I completely forgot to take a picture. I did however, finish off both the peanut butter AND the jelly..which means it's desperately time to go grocery shopping :)

Made No Progress

I remembered to take Rusted Root with me to Wisconsin this week (which is a win over last week). But despite my best intentions, exhaustion took over and I didn't make anything today. :(

WIP: Rusted Root

Rusted Root is coming along slowly, but coming along nonetheless.

Banana Bread

Yesterday, it was 76 and beautiful and sunny. Today, it is 48 and cold and rainy. WTF, Chicago?

Since I throw overripe bananas in the freezer anyways, I pulled a couple out for banana bread. A perfect cold day treat!

Veg Juice

Detoxing and relaxing after a busy couple of weeks. Juicing also gives me reason to believe that summer is right around the corner :)

WIP: Rusted Root

Rusted Root has been in my queue since 2007. I finally cast her on. So far, so good.. :)

Made it to the show!

And with Suj and Kat and especially Natalie, in tow, who lost her ticket and we searched for it in 4 different places. Success! Phantogram is putting on a great set :)

Also, today marks 100 days of making one thing daily, and blogging about it! Woot! :)

Owl Magnets

I'm staying the night in Racine, and in my rush to pack this morning, I forgot to throw some knitting into my suitcase. In the middle of the day, I realized I had nothing to make. After work, I went and wandered around Hobby Lobby for about an hour, trying to find some inspiration for today's post. I finally settled on making refrigerator magnets with canvas and stamps. 

Overall, I'm happy with the technique, I'll definitely do it again, but with different execution. This particular canvas was set on a wooden frame, leaving a "hole" in the middle across the stretched canvas. The implication was that the stamp did not apply evenly across this "hole". Therefore, I think I generally pressed the stamp in too hard, overcompensating for this issue, thereby loosing the nuances within the stamp itself. Next time, I will try a flat canvas (the kind with turned edges) and I think I'll get better results. Still, this was a fun, impromptu project! :)

Kale + Bean Soup

I was inspired by another Nourished Kitchen recipe, plus I had half a bunch of kale leftover from dinner last week. 

I wanted a heartier soup today and this one turned out to be a bit too sweet for my taste. I had to adjust seasoning with some lemon juice and vinegar, and sriracha. I think next time I may try to add either sausage or tomatoes to help give it a little more body. 

Sleepy Time Tea

This weekend's Georgia sailing had been the most intense of the three; it was the last weekend prior to the boat returning north, so there was more work involved than usual. After weather-delayed flights today, I finally made it home myself, exhausted. Sleepy time tea, based on this recipe, helped me unwind, relax, and heal the boat bruises.

I made the tea as follows, based on what I had in my pantry:
juice from 1/2 lemon
1/4 tsp licorice root extract
1/4 tsp peppermint extract
1/2 tsp rose water
1/2 tsp lavender flowers, crushed
1/2 tsp fennel seeds, crushed
1 tbsp honey

Whole Wheat Pancakes

A home cooked breakfast is always great, especially right before sailing. The harbor master and his wife were such wonderful hosts, so I offered to help out. :)

Made it to the slumber party

I went sailing again in Georgia this weekend. Paul, Suzanne and I were put up by the harbor master (lovely people) and after they went to bed, we continued on with a slumber party!

Seared Indian Chicken over Coconut Rice

I can't honestly remember how I came across this recipe, but it was pretty simple and pretty good!

Also, the addition of kale really brought this dish together for me. I don't usually buy kale, but I'm thinking that I should try to incorporate it into more of my cooking.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Oh, yummmmm... :)

Gauge Swatch

Getting the gauge right for a new sweater I'll be starting this weekend. :)

Chicken and Cous Cous

Today was a bit crazy busy and little all over the place. With a rush-rush-rush energy all day, dinner was no different. Beer chicken and cous cous with green onion and tomato. I'd meant to add cucumber and feta originally, but didn't have time to go to the store.

And yes, I am eating dinner with two forks. It was THAT kind of day.