Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Tasty Tuesdays

In the spirit of "write about it all", I thought I would share some of my favorite recipes with you on Tuesdays.  Some are my own concoctions, some are from cookbooks and sometimes they will be links back to other blog's tasty treats. 

It's cold here.  Really cold.  And blustery.  The "curl-up in front of the fireplace with a cup of coffee and a good book" kind of cold and blustery.  (Or at least it would be if I owned a fireplace or drank coffee).

One of my favorite foods is home-made soup.  It is such a comfort food for me.  When the wind is howling outside and the snow is swirling, there is nothing better for lunch than a bowl of steaming hot homemade soup.  When I cook soup, I make a huge batch and freeze it in meal-sized portions.  This works great because it gives me something quick and easy to pull out of the freezer on days I don't get anything made in time.  I am a HUGE fan of having meals in the freezer to grab at the last minutes. 

One of my favorite soups is Tomato Orzo, mainly because I love this recipe.  I got the recipe from our family cookbook and then adapted it to my liking.  The end result.....delicious!  Along with this soup, I like to serve Cheese Biscuits.  They are tasty and just as good as the ones served at Red Lobster.  I got this recipe from the "For the Breast of Friends and the Rest of Friends" cookbook.  (A cookbook written by women from a small-town in Saskatchewan to raise funds for Breast Cancer research).

TOMATO ORZO SOUP

1/4 cup butter                                           2 1/4 cups tomato juice
1 onion, chopped                                      1 tsp salt
1 cup celery, chopped                               1 tsp basil (do NOT use Sweet Basil...trust me, I have)
2 carrots, finely chopped                           1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 clove garlic, minced                                1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 green pepper, chopped                       1 quart canned tomatoes (796ml can)
7 1/2 cups Chicken broth                          1/2 teaspoon parsley
1 cup orzo noodles

Saute butter, onion, celery, carrots, garlic and green pepper in soup until just wilted with the lid on, do not brown.  Add the rest of the ingredients (except the noodles) and simmer until vegetables are cooked. 

Add noodles.  Simmer on very low heat for a few minutes until noodles are tender.  

BEST CHEESE BISCUITS

2 cups flour                                              1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt                                         1/4 cup butter or shortening
1 cup milk                                                1 cup old cheddar cheese, grated (I use medium or mild)
1 tablespoon parsley flakes                       1/2 cup butter (I just wing this and don't actually use this much)
1 teaspoon garlic powder (or to taste...I just add to the butter until it's to my liking)

In large bowl mix flour, baking powder, salt and parsley flakes.  Blend in butter or shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Add milk and cheese until just blended.  Drop by heaping spoonfuls on greased cookie sheet.  Bake in 450 *F oven for 12 - 15 minutes or until golden.  Remove from oven and brush with the 1/2 cup melted butter and 1 teaspoon garlic powder mixture. 

Yum, now you've got a new recipe to try tomorrow.  What's your favorite cold weather lunch/supper? 

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Holstee Manifesto - Words to Live By

Wow.  Back story = BORING.  I feel like I need to apologize for that last post.  It was my story and even I got bored reading it! 

I saw the following paragraph on a Facebook profile page.  I loved the message and decided to find out where it came from.  The "Holstee Manifesto" can be found on the About page for a company called Holstee which produces "kick-ass products, sustainably made, with a social impact." 


Wow, again.  I love, love, love this.  It's such a great message, and something that so many of us often forget.  My favorite lines are:

   This is your life.  Life is simple.  Life is short.  Live your dream.

I don't know about anyone else but I find in my life I sometimes get bogged down by the little things, the inconsequential stuff, the things that don't really matter at all.  I lose sight of what's important and spend way too much time and energy stressing about things that are so minor in the scheme of things, things that aren't worth my time or energy. 

I loved this message so much because it's a concept that I am really coming to grasp and trying hard to work on. Be happy.  Make yourself happy.  Be true to yourself.  You are the only person responsible for your own happiness.  If you're not happy with the way things are, change them.  So simple, so why do we have so many troubles following this.  How many times do we stay in a job for all the wrong reasons?  Marry the wrong persons because it's easier than taking a risk and finding true love.  The easiest road isn't always the best.  We have one life, so why not live it to it's fullest. 

The Holstee Manifesto can be found here:  http://shop.holstee.com/pages/about

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

A Little Bit about Me

So, here we go.  Now, that I have officially started this journey, I feel like I should give you a little bit of my back story.  I am an "almost 30" year old girl living in a small-town (and when I say small, I mean small, approximately 500 people).  I grew up on a grain farm in rural Canada.  I have two younger brothers, who I can truthfully say I think may be two of the greatest people I know.  I matriculated high school and went on to university.  After two years, I realized that I still didn't know what I wanted to be when I grew up and felt that attending university just for the sake of going wasn't the best idea for me.  Truthfully, looking back, I think a lot of the reason why I dropped out was also because I was trying to escape a bad relationship and had just lost two friends in two difference car accidents.  I took a job at a local financial institution and moved home.  I would love to finish my university degree now.  It's a huge regret of mine that I didn't finish it at the time, but I figure everything happens for a reason.  After moving home, I met my future-husband, a local man who was older than me and although we knew who each other were, had never gotten to know each other. 

I have been married for almost five years to my best friend, G.  He is the first person I want to talk to when I have a story to tell and I feel fortunate to have such an awesome partner (but that's not to say that he doesn't drive me crazy some days).  I have a three year old daughter, M.  She keeps me on my toes and makes me laugh everyday, and cry out of frustration at least once a week.  I also have 10 month old identical twin boys, D and R.  Twins has been a lot of work, but they are an absolute joy as well.  Watching them interactive and the special bond that they so obviously share is a marvel of nature.  The rest of my twin experience, well, let's just say that's a whole other post.  Short story: I found out we were expecting twins half-way through my pregnancy and we had serious complications.  I am so fortunate to have two healthy, happy boys and I am thankful everyday for the blessings I have been given. 

I am raising my family is the same town that both myself and my husband grew up in.  We live close to both sets of parents, as well as two of our siblings.  Sometimes I wonder, is this is a little too close, but for the most part, we are happy here.  I love that our children will be raised in a small town and that they will have the same sense of community growing up that I did. 

Some days I miss the city.  I miss the hustle and bustle and the easy access to everything: fast food, clothes, diapers.  I miss the way you can fade into the crowd in a city.  You can go somewhere and never have to stop to have a five minute conversation with everyone you see because no one knows who you are.  But at the same time, it's nice living where "everyone knows your name" and wants to hear how your kids are doing.  And I love the prairies, the never ending horizon and the wheat fields blowing in the wind.  It sounds so cliched, but it's true.  I think it's a beautiful sight. 




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Monday, January 10, 2011

Welcome

Welcome.   Welcome to me, to the world of blogging.  And welcome to you, everyone who's found my humble little "diary".  I have been contemplating joining the blogging world for a long time now....who am I kidding...dreaming about it actually, but I couldn't quite find my niche.  What would I title it?  3 under 3, in reference to my kids?  I couldn't think of something original that I loved.  Would I write about my family, the books I am reading, the movies I have watched, or the recipes I like.  What about my hopes and fears, my struggles, the ups and downs and everything in between.  Or would I use it to share my opinions and advice, things I have learned as a mother, as a wife, as a daughter, granddaughter, sister and friend.  And today it hit me. 

Write about it all.  Everything.  I don't quite know what my niche is yet.  I haven't found it.  But maybe that's the point.  Maybe most of us are working on "finding ourselves" everyday.  Maybe it truly is about the journey not the destination.  I love reading a good book or escaping myself in a movie.  I love being a wife.  I love cooking, chatting on the phone, Facebook, emails and getting parcels in the mail.  I love learning new things and going for a drive on the back roads with my husband.  And especially, I love being a Mom.  I love the first time I held my babies.  I love their giggles and when my daughter tells me she loves me "infinity and beyond".  Most of all, I love that moment when they hug me and their little faces snuggle into my neck.  I gives me tears just writing about it. 

So this blog will be about me.  It'll be about the good days and the bad.  The things I'm proud of, and the things that embarrass me.  The ups and downs of this world, and the times that it has spun me right around.  I'll talk about the past, the present, and the future....or at least what I see as the future.  It will be my diary.  I realized I might wait forever to find that one specialized slot that I will fit into.  So this is me today.  I'm just an everyday girl.





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