recipe share: asparagus soup

I mentioned last week that I picked up Cooking from the Garden from the library and that I wanted to work a couple of the recipes into our menu this week.

Last night, we had the asparagus soup and it was so good I had to share the recipe. After a quick google, I found the recipe reproduced in a variety of places and also discovered you can read a large chunk of the book, including this particular recipe, here on google books . (I had no idea google had this feature...I know what I'll be wasting much of my day doing now.)

Here is the {very slightly} modified version that we ate.  I know it doesn't particularly scream out "I'm delicious" but I promise. It is. Also? Your kids will at least give it a shot if you promise them that foul smelling pee is imminent.

Hungry yet?

1 bunch asparagus, cut into 1" pieces
1 medium onion diced
3 cups vegetable broth
2 T butter
2 T flour
1 C milk
1/2 C sour cream

Bring asparagus and onion to a boil in 2 C of broth. Boil until tender, about 12 minutes. Blend mixture until smooth and set aside. Melt butter and stir in flour, salt and pepper. Stir constantly for 2 minutes to prevent mixture from browning. Add remaining broth and stir until boiling. Add sour cream to the asparagus puree until incorporated and then add milk and puree mix to your pan. Stir and bring to temp. Add a squeeze of lemon juice to each bowl.

feel like I owe you an update

You seriously have no idea how many warm fuzzies you guys shared with me in the comments on this post. I needed that validation.

I started this update post a couple of weeks ago so I'm going to update as if it were still mid-March ;) 

When I made that post, I was really at the end of my rope. I was ready to give in. Call it quits. Throw my hands in the air and let him do whatever the hell he wanted. Crawl in bed, pull the covers over my head and never get out. Visit a carnival and accidentally forget him somewhere in the vicinity of the gypsies.

Done I tell you.

And then, listen up, something MIRACULOUS happened.

It was over. Just like that with a snap of the fingers. Almost four years of fighting and bargaining and crying and torment over like it never happened. No morning grumpiness or after school complaining. No whining. No yelling. No name calling. No antagonizing or manipulating or blaming.

For like 6 or 7 weeks he was *the* most perfect child in the history of the world. No joke.

I went to teacher conferences and his teacher was bouncing in her seat she was so excited to tell me how amazing he's been doing (not with behavior, because other than a couple of instances with one particular kid, that's never been an issue at school) but with the three R's...man, he's a whiz at reading (in a special reading group comprised of just five 1st graders) and writing (his teacher is using his writing as a sample for other kid's on how to develop a story) and arithmetic (he's one of those lucky kids that just "gets" math.)

I have to go on a quick tangent here as I'm not planning a post about teacher conferences...hello, boring! I have to note something about Jake's teacher. I adore her and she loves Jake but she told me when I walked in that I "really didn't need to be there" because Jake is excelling. And that made me kind of sad to hear that coming from a teacher.

Don't you think that one of the reasons kids excel is because they have parents that stress the importance of education and care enough about it to check homework at night and ask about what they learned and would never miss a conference, even if they have a reasonable expectation that everything is fine?

But then she redeemed herself when she told me what a great kid Jake was in class and that she would miss him when the school year was over and that she could tell that we "must have a lot of fun at home."  Obviously completely unrelated to his actual education but that comment made my day. It was unexpected and I've never made a conscientious decision to have that as a goal but damn, it filled my heart up. But good.

/tangent

I'll tell you what: our kids are approaching 4, 8 and 10 and in my experience, even years ALWAYS beat odd years. Terrible twos? Pshaw. Twos were NOTHING compared the threes. For any of my kids (can I get a witness?)

So even though,

sigh,

Zack has demonstrated a touch of backsliding the past two weeks or so, I'm ok. Now, he's acting like a happy, well-adjusted, sometimes mildly problematic 7.5 year old. Right where he should be. And I'm no longer holding my breath waiting for that HUGE inevitable meltdown that would end all of our happy progress like I was the entire time he was acting so angelic.

I'm loving our progress and looking forward to a year of happy evens. Yes, Carlos and I are both still looking for a job. Still living as frugally as we can. But we're OK. When we start feeling down about our job/financial situation, we remember how fortunate we are to be good with each other and good with our kids. Because so many people don't have that. And if faced with the decision to choose one over the other, I choose family 8 days of the week.

new today

I have three small kits today:

bannerific brushes - $2

lace doily single - 99¢

letter template 34 - 99¢

And here is a bigger version of the layout I did with the new template:

I intended to contribute to the April Pea Soup collaborative but didn't get a chance to finish the things I started...such is life, right? It's a great ensemble though so you may want to check it out!

Pea Soup

Here's a quick layout (literally 15 minutes) I did with some of the Pea Soup kits as well as a template from Jen Martakis.

a quick Easter-ish project life share

The other day, Lisa posted an instagram photo of an egg shaped treat from Trader Joes with some fabulous packaging. It immediately made me think of a project life card with an egg shaped spot for journaling. I finally got a chance today to play around a bit and threw together a couple of different egg inspired designs. The same basic principal, each with a little different feel. Feel free to grab them (just click for the full size png) if you'd like to use them!

The brighter version (with ledger paper background from The Vintage Moth - perfect!)

And the soft version:

Enjoy!

eating this week

monday: tabbouleh with garbanzos (from the cookbook I mentioned last week)
tuesday: quorn veggie chicken breasts, mustard roasted new potatoes, salad
wednesday: asparagus soup (also from the cookbook) 
thursday: spaghetti (because I have to work in a kid-favorite no-brainer)
friday: succotash (long time favorite)

monday, tuesday and wednesday all feature a new dish. also new this week: salt and vinegar potato bites, roasted edamame and peanut butter and jelly bars (because it is spring break after all!)

Lots of good stuff last week. Loved the pasta - I did the opposite of Jen and cooked the mushrooms longer (I can't handle the texture of raw/undercooked) and just tossed the tomatoes in at the end to warm them a bit. I didn't use as much feta either - I love it but the kids can only handle it in small amounts.

The nachos were my favorite for the week - delicious! I spread nacho chips on a baking pan, spread the filling mix on top (I had some left over) and used a bit of queso fresco and sharp cheddar rather than the cotija. Baked for around 5 minutes at 350. I think this would be fabulous with lentils as well - I may try that next time (though the quinoa was great.)

And the chili lime rice - though I'm not 100% convinced on the chili-lime (sounds great but didn't come through quite how I expected) the cooking-in-the-oven bit has me sold! The texture of the rice was perfect - so much better than anything I've managed in a pot.

photo a day

I didn't officially set a goal for myself to do a photo-a-day project (last year I did and only made it about half way...with a little cheating :p) but I did download a 365 app and so far, I've made it every day this year. SO much easier to accomplish with my phone than my "real" camera.

The best part of using the app though, is that it helps me fill in the gaps on my project life spreads. I don't intentionally use every photo I take but it is nice to have the reminder photos and notes to combine with my twitter updates and scribbled notes to jog my memory (especially since I've been tending to do my PL spreads a month or more after the fact.)

January - March. Check.

in case you ever wondered...

what the way-too-early-waiting-in-the-car-for-the-brothers dance looked like:

now you know.

and in case you need the track for reference:

new today

Just one small 99¢ kit today.

subtly journaling cards - 99¢

I did want to share a super fast tip as well. I know there are a lot of tutorials out there for recoloring but I have a little different way of doing it (because I feel like I have more control over the finished product this way.) This would work for the grey toned freebie I shared last week as well.

image cropped from original png file

create a brush from the card by clicking edit>define brush

name your brush (or don't...I usually don't bother as it's not an image I plan to save indefinitely. the default brush name is whatever the file is called)

open a new card canvas by clicking file>new>blank file (ctrl + n)

set your width to 3, your height to 4 and your resolution to 300 and click ok

create a new layer by clicking the new layer icon at the bottom of the layers palette

activate your brush tool (B) and select the image you just created. for brush images that aren't very dark, you won't be able to see a ghosted outline of the design so to ensure you get the whole image when you stamp, first turn on the grid by clicking view>grid or ctrl + '

when you "stamp" your image (in any color you choose!) just align the visible + that shows up instead of a cursor with the center of the canvas - use the grid to locate the center

since these cards are very subtle, you may want to simply duplicate the brush layer (ctrl + J) to darken the image (you can also duplicate the original file and change the mode to "multiply" or some other darkening mode to achieve this)

to make the card multi-color, add a new layer, clip it to the image layer (ctrl + G) select a regular round brush and color over the areas of the image that you want each specified color. the beauty of recoloring using this faux PSE clipping mask technique is that if you make a mistake, it's easy enough to simple erase or cover the area with a new color

Clear as mud?

eating this week

monday: veggie gratin + bread (carryover from last week)
tuesday: spinach and feta pasta, (from Jen's blog)
wednesday: zucchini and corn nachos (and another from Jen's blog...what can I say? she has great taste!)
thursday: chili lime rice + tofu + sweet potatoes
friday: leftovers


I just realized these are ALL new dishes so fingers crossed for some winners!

Some verdicts from previous weeks? (my friend Jen does this and I love reading the updates on new dishes) 

The taco rolls from last week? They were OK. Probably not something I'll work in regularly as I didn't think the effort was worth the reward - not enough of an improvement from a regular taco/burrito but I suppose a great appetizer type of food. I will say I liked them MUCH better cold from the fridge the next day ;)

Also, the quinoa with corn and scallions from the week before...also just an "eh." There's potential but I have a couple of similar recipes in the queue so I probably won't mess around with trying to improve on this one.

I did pick up Cooking from the Garden from the library a couple of days ago. It's not strictly vegetarian fare but most recipes are and those that aren't could be adapted. Looks to have a ton of promising recipes so I'll more than likely be incorporating a couple into next week's menu.

these will be the death of me

Uh, yeah. "energy bites" is a total misnomer. These, possibly, give me the energy to make the long trek to the refrigerator for a second, third and possibly fourth bite. If I'm going to get fat though, it might as well be off nutrient rich calories including the exceedingly good for you flax seed (such a great way to hide it in something you KNOW your kids will eat) rather than empty ones. Thinking I could add in some chia seeds as well...next time!

The added bonus? It's a great way to use up the buttload of coconut flakes I have thanks to my failed vegan bacon experiment.

So go, make some. Make a double batch. And throw in a handful of dried cranberries as well - delicious!

using multi image png files in Word

There was a question on the general scrapping board about using a png file in a program other than photo editing software so I put together this step-by-step about how to use these types of files in a word processing program like Word. These tips will work for the freebie I shared the other day but in the sample, I'm using the Action 2012 freebie.

1. Open a new document and click insert and then click picture.

2. Locate your image file on your computer.

3. When yo insert the image, it will automatically resize to fit within the default margins. That's fine for now! Just select the format option in the top toolbar and then click crop.

4. For this example, let's assume we want to print the "favorites" card. Locate the left center "handle," click on it and drag it to the left edge of the "favorites" card as shown by the box (you will see this box as well as you execute this step.)

5. Repeat the previous step using the right center handle this time.

6. And again, this time with the bottom center.

7. Now you have your chosen card isolated.

8. To get the image back to it's original size, right click on the image and select size.

9. Under the "scale" section, change your height and width to 100%

10. Now your card is back to 4x6" To insert another image and print two cards to a page, you'll need to rotate this image to leave room at the bottom for your second card. To do this, you'll click on the green handle shown and drag to the left or right to turn it horizontal. If you hold the shift key as you turn the image, it will "click" in pre-determined angles and make it easier to get the image perfectly horizontal.

11. Done! Now repeat these steps for a second card and print as usual!

If you have any questions, just leave them in the comments and I'll do my best to answer.

new today + stash builder three + a freebie

Sorry folks, I got nothin' I had good intentions and had a kit started but I kind of fizzled out before I finished. I could have kept going and released it next week but I felt like I was done with it and wanted to just start printing a few to add to my stash.

Everyone can use days of the week cards, right? Add some easy journaling or plop a picture or two down. Mine, of course, on white and kraft so I can keep it neutral or add some color with embellishments. I'm sharing what I did get done. A word of warning, these come in a single png for the 3x4cards and a single png for the 4x6 cards + separate pngs for the "let's do this" and "one of those days" overlays so, you'll need to know how to manipulate those types of files in order to use these.

ETA: Lisa did a great tutorial at Peas showing how to move pngs to a 8.5x11 for printing...find it HERE.

Download the images HERE.

Another option? Layer them over a photo (I just changed the mode to "overlay" but you could create a brush or re-color for a totally different look!)

Hope you aren't getting sick of grids yet.

eating this week

monday: taco spring rolls
tuesday: broccoli + cheese baked potatoes, salad
wednesday: veggie gratin + bread
thursday: black beans, corn bread, veg
friday: eggplant parmesan

And the tuscan pasta from last week? Eh, not so much. I do love the idea of it but next time, I'll make the sauce from scratch. The jarred alfredo? No bueno.

trend mash up: chevron + ombre

I don't very often make the time to scrap for myself any more - my own issue that I need to work to overcome more frequently. I took this picture of Izzy the other day though and figured it was time for an update layout (yes, the boys are overdue as well but she's just so darn handy!)

I know chevron is all over the place (it's everywhere in my own kits as well) and I'm so good with that. For this layout, I wanted a subtle color shift though so I combined chevron with another popular trend: ombre. It's a simple enough process in PSE.

Open your patterned paper and duplicate (ctrl + j)

Create a new layer, select the Gradient Tool (keyboard shortcut "G") and choose the "foreground to transparent" option.

With white as your foreground color, click and drag your mouse from top to bottom on your paper canvas.

Move the top paper layer above the gradient and merge down (ctrl + g)

Merge permanently with ctrl + e

Create another gradient layer, this time dragging bottom to top.

Adjust the opacity of the white gradient (I used 85% to *just* allow the top chevron to show through) and duplicate the gradient chevron layer. Make both gradient chevron layers "multiply" mode. Flatten the image to use in your layout!

Layout completely and totally inspired by an ad project I found in the Make & Matter portfolio (remember rounding the corners of everything - layout background included? I loved that. Need to do it more.) And I used an old school font for the journaling - my all time favorite Autumn Leaves font: Uncle Charles.