Wednesday, March 28, 2012

cracking the code on eggs

Today I have the honor of being a guest blogger on my sister's blog. If you don't follow her already, you should- she's creative, smart, funny, beautiful- AND she posts regularly. Head on over to The Sprouted Root to check it out!!!

Monday, March 19, 2012

St. Paddy's Day Soup: Cheddar Celery

Green soup has the potential to be a little terrifying. So St. Paddy's day is a great excuse for trying out a new recipe. Enter Cheddar Celery Soup. Normally I would let you know it's delicious but Selah pronounces it "good-licious" so I'm going to stick with that. Actually if I'm being completely honest, she refused to eat this soup and when I swiped a little bit across her lips so she could actually taste it before hating it she turned to me, scowled with the nastiest possible look, tears in her eyes and yelled, "Nassy!! Goss!!" But she really does say good-licious. Just not for this soup.
So while Cheddar Celery Soup does not have a stamp of approval from the two year old, the rest of us in the house happily slurped up the whole pot. It also has the advantage of being a great way to get in a significant portion of your daily veggie allotment. We served it alongside a gorgonzola chicken marsala dish- altogether a highly flavorful meal.


Cheddar Celery Soup
  
1 head of celery
1 onion, chopped
2+ Tbsp. butter
1 quart chicken stock
1 c. grated cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Saute the onions in the butter for 5 minutes until soft but not brown. Clean and chop the celery, including the leaves. Save a few leaves for garnish. Add the celery to the onions and stir. Then cover and cook on low heat for 10 minutes.
Add the stock and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes or until the celery is very soft. Add the cheese and puree with a hand blender. (Regular blender of food processor will also work). Serve with a few celery leaves as a garnish.

Friday, March 16, 2012

Rapidly Deteriorating... Trailer Life

We've been living in a travel trailer... in the driveway... at my parents'... for a month now. So far things have been supernaturally going swimmingly. Truly. We give God the glory and praise for the peace and enjoyment we've had while living out this little adventure. We've taken opportunities to spend a day at the coast, a few miscellaneous date nights for Mike and I, rotated cooking dinners and trying new recipes (pan-fried oysters, marsala chicken with gorgonzola cheese, sausage with apples and sweet potatoes, etc.), lounged by the fireplace and indulged in near-nightly popcorn and numerous episodes of Cold Case (and been subjected to a few hunting videos- rather unwillingly for yours truly), polished off bags and loaves of gluten-free this and that and stayed up many a late night listening to the rain, wind and occasional snow/hail pelt the trailer.

Trailer life has been pretty eventful. It took us a little while to adjust to the occasional headlights shining through the windows and the late-night snow-tired-studded cruiser practically crawling down the street. It took us a little longer to ignore the near gale-like winds rocking the trailer from side to side. I didn't get used to the propane running out in the middle of the night and leaving us without heat; the snow outside on the ground made sure the propane tanks were refilled in time for the next sleep. The leak that sprang from the vent above our bed wasn't allowed to drip for too long before being addressed. The tarp that was placed over that vent to keep the weather and water out worked great, even though the rain came down in sheets that night. Another perk of that tarp: even though there were near-unmeasurable quantities of rain I could've sworn I could count every single drop as each drop hit that tarp. The mold that we found creeping up the walls is apparently of the non-toxic genre; I swear I had trouble breathing the night we discovered it but my sore throat was gone pretty quickly the next day. The mold actually cleans up quite nicely but for now we're going to be bunking with the girls in the back bedroom of the house. It gives us just a little more twist to this crazy adventure.