The weather is turning

As the weather turns cooler, my mind wanders to soup dinners. I have always loved soup, and making soup for family always feel like you are nourishing them. 

My husband took Russian in high school (Don't ask. I assume it was just to be contrarian) and one day his teacher made them borscht. In graduate school, I made it for him once, and he liked it. Last week I decided that it was such a simple recipe, I should do it again.

Here is all it takes:

In a crock pot combine:

2 10oz cans of beef consume or broth

2 14oz cans of diced red beets

2 cups shredded red cabbage

1 small red onion

1 T sugar

splash lemon juice

sour cream, if desired - added at the end before serving. (my husband dislikes sour cream, so we omit) 

Set pot on high for about 4 hours and enjoy

Salad Your Husband Will Like

In my unending quest to get my husband to eat more vegetables, I am always trying to make non-corn side dishes with dinner (hes from Iowa).

Here is a fairly successful attempt that I made a few weeks back. It was based on a recipe I found in Bon Appitite, but I recommend a few changes, here is what I came up with:

• 3 navel oranges
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons white-wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium jícama (about 3/4 pound)
• 2 firm-ripe California avocado
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• 
  Supreme an orange, and place the segments into a bowl. Keep the juice (up to 1/4 cup) from the orange remains. Add the salt, vinegar and whisk in the oil . Thinly slice or julienne the jicima and mix it with a sliced avocado. Mix the salad in a bowl, and add the dressing. Add the cilantro just before serving. 

If I were making it again, I might suggest coring and thinly slicing a green apple for it as well, I think it would add a nice tart bite to the dish. We thought the avocado was a little too rich, and overpowered the other flavors a bit. 

• 
  

The Return of Roast Chicken

Seeing as my husband & I can only eat so much roast chicken, it was time to figure out what to do with the remaining chicken from Friday. Let's face it, it's not getting any fresher. It's starting to get colder, so naturally, my thoughts turned to chicken soup.

I decided to make up a pot of chicken noodle soup. It was an informal soup making session. I just sliced some garlic, onion, celery and carrots with the mandolin. I sauteed the veggies for a few minutes, and then added some chicken broth and some of the left over chicken bones. The only seasonings were salt, pepper, and a dash of rosemary.  I let it simmer for about 2 hours. Then, I shredded up some left over chicken, and added it to the pot to warm. Then I boiled some noodles in a different pot. Just before serving I tossed in a handful of spinach and squeezed in some lemon juice. Finally, I added the noodles to each serving bowl, and poured the soup over top.

Here is what I came up with: 

Feeling Domestic

In my never-ending quest to be a good wife, this past week I have been a diligent student of the domestic arts. It makes me feel like a grown-up when I have one of these "wife fits." I also must preface this post by saying that cleaning will never be a housewifely duty I will enjoy. Usually, if I feel the urge to clean coming on, I try to sit down and wait for it to pass.

Tonight, I went full-force wife by roasting a whole chicken. Now, I am descent and pretty frequent cook, however, I do not eat that much meat, and as such, cooking large hunks of protein is still a little intimidating for me. I decided, however, that I just had to through myself into the project, and if I failed, be ready to order a pizza. It was not too difficult, but did involve a few attempts with the thermometer. Eventually, we got there. Here were the results:

 Here is the quick and dirty version of what I did. The key is to make sure the bird is DRY when you put it into the oven.  I preheated the oven to 450 F. Then gave my chicken a liberal shower with salt and pepper. Placed a half lemon in the cavity, trussed, and baked it for about an hour (internal temp at least 165).

Feeling Domestic

In my never-ending quest to be a good wife, this past week I have been a diligent student of the domestic arts. It makes me feel like a grown-up when I have one of these "wife fits." I also must preface this post by saying that cleaning will never be a housewifely duty I will enjoy. Usually, if I feel the urge to clean coming on, I try to sit down and wait for it to pass.

Tonight, I went full-force wife by roasting a whole chicken. Now, I am descent and pretty frequent cook, however, I do not eat that much meat, and as such, cooking large hunks of protein is still a little intimidating for me. I decided, however, that I just had to through myself into the project, and if I failed, be ready to order a pizza. It was not too difficult, but did involve a few attempts with the thermometer. Eventually, we got there. Here were the results:

Chicken getting a salt and pepper shower

Chicken all trussed and ready to get its potato and carrot friends

"After" fresh from the oven

The real "After" where the chicken is plated and ready for dinner

Those are the pictures, and I will tell you how we got there ( it was easy). All I did-really- was remove the innards of the chicken and dry it thoroughly with a paper towel. Pre-heat the oven to 450 F. Then, I cut a lemon in half, and stuffed it in the cavity and liberally salted and peppered the chicken. Finally, I poked a few slits into the chicken's fat deposits before trussing the legs and wings. I cut up a few small potatoes and a carrot and put the whole roasted into the oven for about an hour. 

Yesterday I spent the evening reworking a bridesmaid's dress I wore as part of a wedding a few weeks ago.   I took out the under slip, shortened the hem, adjusted some trim, and am planning on wearing it to a dinner cruise with my husband this weekend. So, stay tuned to see some before and after pictures of the dress tomorrow.

More Dinner Solutions

Some nights you have to have something easy ready for dinner. Earlier this week, I had this exchange:

Me:"What do you want for dinner?"

Husband: "I don't know. What do we have?"

Me: "Ummm, not too much. Pasta, eggs, bacon, some fruit"

Husband: "I don't want spaghetti again."

Me: "How about breakfast for dinner?"

Husband: "Oh, ok. Sounds good. Can I have french toast?"

Me:"Fine, but we have to have something healthy with that."

This is what I can up with-using bread, eggs, vanilla, apples, cinnamon, and bacon. lucky for me this dish takes only things we had on hand.


Dinner for breakfast is a long standing proud tradition when you need something easy and fast for dinner. The key for me here was to add sauteed apples as the topping to keep the french toast interesting, and you know, "healthy"

Weekend Adventures

Hello,
So, this weekend is the first the husband and I have had where we had NOTHING already on our schedule. We did, however, receive an invitation to a friend's son's birthday party eventually (which of course we will be attending) but that wasn't until about Monday evening. Plus, that isn't until Sunday at 2:00, so basically, we had a weekend totally free of all commitment.
In planning out what we would be (and would not be) doing in the course of our weekend,we had a lot of ideas. It has been unseasonably warm here for the past week, so we wanted to take advantage of that bu eating outside some, and we also decided to go to the Chicago Premium Outlet Mall.
It seems to be that since I have been married, more of my shopping decisions are a shared venture.  Not just because the shopping money comes out of our joint account, though that is part of it. Also, my husband has taken an interest in what I wear.

Winter Coat

This trip was to focus on my need for a new winter purse. In the end, I found a purse, however, Mark picked out a new winter coat for me. I probably wouldn't have bought one if he wasn't there, encouraging me. He really liked the color and the cut, and pushed for me to get it. I really like it, but without his reaction I probably would have passed it up. In the end, he basically picked the coat for me, as well as some earrings. I picked out my purse and wallet.
I am curious, do any of your boyfriends or husbands ever pick out things for you at the store? Do they help? Suggest? Try to stay away from you when you shop?

lavender studs

Wedded Trips

Hello all- or some

This weekend my lovely husband and I took a small weekend getaway.

As you can see from previous posts, we live in Chicago. So, if you want to get away, but only have a day to do it, a good bet is Indiana. We both actually attended undergraduate in Indiana, and I family roots there, so it was  good fit.

Each year, the town of Kendallville has its annual Apple Festival. It has been happening for 20+ years, and my family has been attending for more years than I can remember. The festival celebrates all things apple. There is lots of food, crafts, fall decorations and general small town cozyness.
Last year, this trip was the scene of my husband's marriage proposal to me. That, however, is another post. Today, I wanted to post a picture of our trip, and ask you all: What are some of your favorite vacation spots with someone you love? Are there places you avoid? Do you go for weekend getaways, or prefer to do longer trips?

Morning Routine

Greetings from Chicago

Each weekday morning is pretty similar around our place. Monday thou Friday my husband and I get up at ruffly the same time each day. I head to the bathroom to brush my teeth, while he gets dressed, then we switch, and head to the gym.
Once were home, my husband has a bowl if cereal-ususaly Cheerios (side note: is it weird that I feel good if starts the day with that, so that if he ends up eating fast food for lunch, its "offset" somehow)- and I sit next to him, steal a bite of cereal, and then we get ready for the day.
So, I am wondering if any of your families are like mine. Do you all have a morning process? Do you always brush your teeth first? Does your husband have a favorite mug?  Is your morning predictable, or ever changing? I assume if you have kids the procedure is quite a bit more complex, but is it still pretty much the same daily?

Orange, Jicama, and Avocado Salad

As I shared in the previous post, sometimes I feel a little daunted at dinnertime around the newlywed household. I also mentioned that, in the past, some of my dishes and recipes won me some pretty nifty prizes. Doing research for these recipes has me subscribed to various foodie magazines.
One of the things I like to do with my husband is, when a new month's edition arrives in the mail slot, I give it to him and he flips through and picks a recipe for me to try. A few weeks ago, my husband choose a salad with avocado jicama, and orange from Bon Appatite. Here is what I came up with:

It was yummy, quick, and pretty easy--the recipe they have online is different from the more recent version, but in the spirit of sharing, here is how I made it for him:

3 navel orange

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon sugar

2 tablespoons orange juice

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium jícama (about 3/4 pound)

2 firm-ripe California avocados

1/4 cup fresh chopped cilantro

Segment the orange, and save 2 tablespoons of the juice. Whisk in the salt, sugar and oil. Mix the orange jicima avocado. Top with the dressing, and allow to set in the fridge for about a half our before mixing in the cilantro and serving. 

Daily Bread

As a single girl, I usually enjoyed cooking. When I was in my second year of graduate school, I became ill, and as a result, had to spend a lot of time at home-alone. Looking for recipes online, searching cookbooks and reading Gourmet Magazine were constructive ways to pass time, and part of a creative outlet. Learning about exotic flavors and spices allowed me to travel, although I often couldn't leave the apartment.  Making dinner for my (then) roommate gave me a creative outlet and helped me feel like I was able to do something constructive with my day. During that time, I became a pretty decent cook. I had time to practice, cooked daily, and even won recipe contests. 
Now, I still do enjoy making food, however, somewhere along the way, I feel as thought I am not as passionate about cooking as I once was.  Is it because I am now working full time? Does cooking feel more like a chore than a pleasure now? Am I lazy now because I now have a husband, and feel less pressure to impress?
I think a lot of it has to do with how tired I feel after a long day at work. The work I do is (like many people) emotionally demanding, and the idea of starting an hours worth of work to get a meal on the table is daunting. I find myself relying on baking a pizza more than I would like to admit. 
So my question is, what do you ladies do to get in the "mood" to cook? Do you head right to the kitchen after work? Sit down and relax for a few minutes before diving in?  Have easy meals that you can get on the table in a flash? Cook ahead? Tips? Secrets? Delivery? 

Nothing Yet

As a newly married woman, the question I get the most (after, "How is married life?") has to be, "So, how long until you have a little one?" This may not be typical for all newlyweds, however, I work in a field that puts me around elderly people all day. Due to the generational differences between us, a question that seems a bit out of place to me, is perfectly acceptable for them.
It's not just one or two people, I get asked weekly about if there "Is anything there yet?" "Whats the good news?", my personal favorite, "When are you gonna get fat?" and various other euphemisms asking me when I will be getting around to my natural life-outcome, having a baby.
Most couples today wouldn't even be thinking about babies less than 5 months into a marriage, but for many older people it is only a matter of time before a wedding turns into a birth . Right now, I just smile, laugh, and demurely change the topic. However, it has made me think-for partners today, when is the right time to start expanding a family?
My husband and I both know we would like to have a baby at some point, (due to medical reasons-which I will have to save for a future post-I am not positive this is a possibility for me) but how do you know when you are ready?