Pasta, Pasta
So when I’m in a time crunch, I’ll resort to making pasta. It’s fast to make and everyone is always happy with the finished result.
My new love is slices of fresh Parmesan cheese that I now use instead of the grated container variety. My kids even prefer it as well. At first they made faces and didn’t want to try it but they soon caught on and this is the first thing they grab out of the fridge when I yell, “Pasta’s Done!”
Hydrangeas
So I have a large collection of gorgeous Hydrangeas that I planted in my garden last year. Some are growing wildly while some are taking their sweet time. Before the season ends I like to go into my garden and get the prettiest pom poms that I can find to bring them in the house to dry. This way I can enjoy them during the winter months when my garden goes bare.
I was taking product photos today and decided to see how one of my dried multi colored Hydrangeas would look in my light studio. After playing around, I like the final results.
This is the normal shade of this particular Hydrangea that I dried.
This is with a color wash..
A black and white vintage version..
See what procrastination can do to a person? Ok, I need to get back to work. :P
hugs,
Andrea
My Morning Cup O’ Joe
So I must have coffee every morning. Well, not just “any” coffee, it has to be Nespresso espresso. I’ve become a coffee snob, yes folks a coffee snob. Peet’s and Starbucks just doesn’t cut it anymore. Starbucks cappuccino’s are watered down and Peet’s Coffee is just rocket fuel in a cup, rather unpleasant if you like a nice rich flavored Cappuccino. All of this is my friend Delia’s fault. I blame her for my coffee snobbery. She introduced me to my first heavenly espresso about 3 years ago and ever since then I can’t turn back.
Their espresso’s are rich and have several notes in them depending on the variety that you choose. I always opt for Cappucinno’s or Latte’s because I love my frothy soy goodness mixed with different flavor Torani syrups. Some of my favorite combinations have been peanut butter and blackberry (PBJ), chocolate and coconut (yum) or banana cupcake (double yum). I have about 15 different syrups that I experiment with so every morning I have something different.
Right now I just enjoyed a peanut butter and vanilla cappuccino with a dusting of chocolate powder (image above) and now I’m ready to start my day.
♥ Yogurt
I had a wonderful healthy breakfast this morning using Organic Soy yogurt and Blackberries. I’ve never tried Soy yogurt before so when I found Wholesoy on one of my trips to Whole Foods I decided to give it a try. I bought the plain variety and added my blackberries and sprinkled them with Organic Raw Sugar as well as a little bit of Honey. Very fabulous way to start the day.
Pork Chops. Mmmm
I made Pork Chops last night and they were yummy. I sauteed in a pan with olive oil, my peppers , garlic, onions and shallots, added a bit of chicken broth after they browned a bit and threw in my seasoned pork chops and let the whole thing simmer on a low heat. I topped each with a little bit of lime juice to give it a nice kick. It’s like the ONLY lime that my little Lime Tree grows once a year so I put it to good use.
I’m now getting into the habit of taking pictures of my food which is a good thing since I sometimes surprise myself at how pretty some of my dishes look. I had this dish with a Lamb’s Lettuce Salad topped with Mango Salsa Vinaigrette and I was in heaven. 4 glasses of wine later I was toasted, happy and full.
I poached eggs today!
I love poached eggs and my son loves poached eggs but until now I could not correctly poach an egg. Either the egg white was too runny or the yolk cooked too much. What I love about poached eggs is the yummy golden creamy center..it tastes like a delicate cream sauce and I love it. After many failed attempts and my 12 year old son stating that “you’re almost there Mom!” I decided to break down and get a special pan that makes poaching eggs a snap even for the poaching challenged.
I was skeptical but I was craving poached eggs this morning with my breakfast tea and I knew the eggs weren’t going to poach themselves. Although..that would be a really great trick.
My eggs came out perfect and I was in complete heaven. I could have swore I heard violins and harps in the background as I munched on my wonderful breakfast. Yay for shortcuts!
Nom Nom
Kimchi!
So I know how to make Kimchi with my favorite being Cucumber Kimchi. My ex mother in law was Korean so I learned a lot about the food and my love and appreciation for Kimchi grew.What I like about this Kimchi is it’s nice and light. You get that crisp clean taste from the Cucumbers that blend well with the heat of the pepper.
When I make this dish I kind of throw it together from memory. I don’t really measure, I just do. I vary the cuts of my cucumbers sometimes making them thinly paper thin sliced or nice thick cuts to really enjoy. This time I chose my thick cuts so I’ll try to give some direction on how to make this. If you love Kimchi, you’ll love this..
You should start out with a good amount of Cucumbers, say 5 or 6. I like to make a bulk amount to last me since I don’t make this quite often. Cut them however you like, it’s really up to you then put them in a large bowl and salt them with a nice sea salt. Toss the cucumbers with the salt and let sit for a couple hours or overnight if you have the time. Don’t add too much salt but kind of eye it. The salt makes the cucumbers leech out their liquid goodness which will be the base for your brine. You’ll see a lot of liquid in the bottom of your bowl so don’t drain that off, you want that.
Slice up maybe 4 or 5 green onions in any fashion. I usually slice them down the center so that the inside of the green onion can marry with the cucumbers better. I use about 1 TBS of fresh or minced Garlic and 1/2 tsp of sugar. I only use organic raw sugar since refined white sugar is not so good for you but that’s up to you. I add a heaping helping of about 3 to 4 large TBS of Kimchi Crushed Red Pepper Powder. I buy this from my local Ranch 99 and they’re usually found in large bags for use to make Kimchi. I go heavy handed with this but you can add as little or as much depending on how much heat you can take. I sometimes add more later because the more the kimchi sits, them more marinated and yummy it will be so sometimes I’ll put a tiny bit more sugar and red pepper to balance the saltiness.
This is after you mix the ingredients together. I usually let this sit for another hour before eating since the longer you wait the better it gets because the flavors have time to intermingle and get friendly with one another.
I eat this with a steaming bowl of white rice drizzled with a bit of sesame seed oil and soy sauce. I like the nutty flavor of the oil with my Kimchi’s. I then put a heaping spoonful of my Kimchi with the brine (yum) and I go to town.
Life’s good.
{Broccoli Soup}
{Yummy, Yummy}
This is the second time that I’ve made this soup and it’s absolutely delicious. My kids (who hate veggies by the way) get very excited when I tell them that I’m making Broccoli Soup.
Here’s the recipe and as you can see it’s super easy to make and it’s so delish you’ll get hooked like we are.
Recipe:
1 large head of broccoli
1/4 cup of heavy whipping cream
3 cups of chicken broth
1 tsp sea salt
dash of ground pepper
Directions:
1. Boil your broccoli until they start to soften but is still a deep green. Test it by sticking it periodically with a knife and if the knife goes in, it’s done. Transfer to cold water to stop the cooking process.
2. Heat your cream, broth, salt and pepper and add to a strong blender along with your now cooled broccoli florets.
3. Start your blender at a low speed and gradually take it to the highest setting that it has and blend for about 15 to 20 seconds.
4. Pour it into a saucepan to keep your soup nice and warm until you’re ready to eat.
Makes 6 cups
1 cup = 112 calories, 5 g fat, 6 g protein, 11 carb, 3 g dietary fiber, 592 mg sodium
The blender that I use is a Vita-Mix 1363 CIA Professional Blender with 2+ HP Motor
❈ The dash of orange red that you see on top of the soup is a lovely nutty and hot chili oil.
