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Sweet Creamy Carrot Soup

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 15 November, 2013 No comment

Sweet Creamy Carrot Soup

I took a friend out to lunch the other day for her birthday. We went to Bridgeport; it is a large outside shopping center that has a lot of yummy restaurants. We were going to go to Pastini’s which I love, but as we were driving through the parking lot we saw a new restaurant Called Twig. From the outside it looked very intriguing that we decided to test it out. They had only been open for four days.

Their burgers looked delicious so I decided to get one; I am easily pleased with a big burger. This gorgonzola garlic burger came with a side of sweet carrot soup. My girlfriend got a fajita salad that actually was very tasty and had good size chunks of steak on it.

My soup came out first and was honestly the best thing I have had in a long time. This carrot soup was so sweet and had caramel drizzle on top. I gave some to Cooper and he absolutely loved it. I was raving about this soup, it was amazing, honestly amazing. Every Thursday they make this soup so I made a large mental note of that. My burger was absolutely amazing as well. It had full chunks of grilled garlic, a bbq spicy aioli and big chunks of gorgonzola. I was thoroughly impressed by this new restaurant and their prices were incredible for their taste. It was soooooo good. I will be taking my husband there and making sure it happens on a Thursday to make sure I get their carrot soup again. :)

After eating I still couldn’t forget about the soup. I decided to embark on this task since both Cooper and I loved it. I ran to Trader Joes on my way home and got some fresh carrots. I have never made carrot soup before but thought it couldn’t be that hard. Tonight was the night.

My husband got home and said it smelt so good in the house and asked what it was. I simply said “dinner” without emphasizing what kind of soup I had made. I dished him up a bowl and made him some toast to dip it in. He took one bite and was raving about it, literally! He asked what it was and finally I told him it was creamy carrot soup. He was utterly surprised but loved it and asked where I got the recipe. I explained my lunch date and how I was attempting to make it myself. He was very complimentary about my cooking (sweet man) and told me he doesn’t know how I do it; creating a recipe from scratch but loved it.

This recipe is super easy and quick. The only time restriction is chopping the carrots, celery and potatoes. You can chop them large because they will cook down. This is a great meal when you are busy and don’t have a lot of time.

Ingredients:

1lb peeled carrots, chopped
2 cups chopped celery
6 large red potatoes, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tbsp Avocado Oil (EVOO works great too)
2-3 Garlic cloves, minced
2-3 cup water
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprkia
1 tbsp Oregano
2 Sprigs fresh Rosemary
1-2 tsp Salt
Dash of black pepper
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1 can evaporated milk
½ cup half and half
Chicken Bouillon, scoop 2 tbsp or 3-4 cubes (I use Costco Better than Bouillon so it’s more of a paste)
1 tbsp Honey

In a large pot drizzle a little Oil and add carrots, celery, potatoes, onion, garlic and 2 cups water. Add in cumin, paprika and oregano stir well and top with Rosemary. Cook covered on low heat for 1-2 hours

Once vegetables are softened and cooked, transfer to a food processor.

Puree until fully smooth and transfer back to your large pot. Add in salt, pepper and garlic salt.

Add evaporated milk, ½ & ½, Chicken bouillon, and honey. Heat through and taste test to see if you have reached the desired sweetness you are looking for. :)

Serve with warm bread and enjoy.

Afternoon Stroll

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 14 November, 2013 No comment

Today was Cooper and I all day long. Husband was going to be home late as he is attending a Men’s Bible Study at our church. 4:30 rolls around and Cooper is starting to get a little stir crazy as well as bored of all his toys (he is in need of some new gadgets). I bundled us up, got the stroller out and off we go….well for a little bit… we got a quarter of a mile in or so and it started to sprinkle some rain drops. I made sure Coopers blanket was wrapped tight around him, pulled my hood up and started walking a bit faster. At this point the drops were very large and the rain was really come down at this point, so much so, I began to run, we were getting soaked and there was no “quick” way back. Our afternoon stroll turned into a quick run for me and a quick stroller jaunt for Cooper. As we returned home we had to quickly get his jammies on and change my clothes as it was pretty cold and his little fingers were quite “fridged,” so to speak. My hair was soaked, as well as the entire stroller, I think the sun visor helped prevent his head from getting wet while the remainder of his body was left out in the rain to get drenched. Poor boy. We definitely were not prepared for a downpour but such is life.

Before this catastrophe hit, the first part of the stroll was nice and leisurely, though it didn’t last long. As it begins to get dark early these Fall days, I noticed all the homes with their porch lights on, sounds of music playing in the background, families sitting around the dinner table all cozied in their homes. Okay the music wasn’t playing but it was in my head as each house I passed had the same scene playing: Lights on, dinner table set and kids running around as they await their dinner to be served.

As each home I passed had the same scene, I was very happy to see this, as most homes don’t partake in family dinners these days. (Our family was actually one of those families tonight) Most are running to and from sporting events, picking kids up from school, ballet, piano lessons and so forth. The after school “activities” are endless these days. I have a girlfriend who was telling me recently about her sons Hockey practices and they run til 10pm on a school night. I was shocked, utterly shocked! When is homework getting done, where is the family time, kids being kids and playing rather than be coached in the high pressure sports?

All of this to say, I was really taken aback when I saw the glorious family scene as I walked passed each home this evening. They may still have the sporting events, homework and so forth, but they took the time to sit down as a family which in turn made my heart happy. Even though we had dinner without the hubby, Cooper and I sat down together and enjoyed our carrot-soup, pasta and bread. :)

Forgotten Jambalaya

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 12 November, 2013 No comment

I must be enjoying the fall season to it’s fullest as I’ve really been using my crockpot almost everyday. Isn’t the crockpot the best invention though, I mean honestly, you can have a delicious yummy meal without a ton of work, but portrays a “slaving” meal. It’s great!

I have decided I would try a couple new things this week and actually write out my meal plans for two weeks. Yes TWO weeks. I am not sure how this will pan out but today is Wednesday and I have been on this since Sunday. I figured I would see if it helps me from impulse buys at the store and would also keep me from returning to the store multiple times throughout the week as I decide what to make and need the last minute run. This plan, I am hoping, will help save a few bucks and keep me to the task of making meals I talk about but resort to something else.

Tonight I made jambalaya as I love my mom’s Jambalaya and some of the recipes I’ve seen before require you to add rice to the pot. I do not prefer this as it can make for terrible leftovers and soggy rice. Yuck!

Ingredients:

2 cans diced tomatoe, undrained
2 cans chicken broth (I use Better than Bouillon)
2 cans tomato paste (6oz each)
1-2 medium diced green pepper
1 medium diced onion
3 celery ribs, chopped
Minced garlic
Splash of Parsley
Splash of Basil
Splash of Oregano
Dash of salt
½ tsp cayenne pepper (optional, I enjoy a little spice)
½ tsp chili powder (optional, I enjoy a little spice)

1lb boneless chicken breast cut into chunks
1lb smoked sausage cut into chunks (I used Costco Hot sausage)
½ lb uncooked medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
Hot cooked rice

In the crockpot, combine te tomatoes, broth and tomato paste. Stir in green peppers, onion, celery, garlic, and seasonings. Add chicken and sausage. (Leave shrimp out as it only takes 20-30 minutes to cook through)

Cover and cook on low for 6 hours or until chicken is tender. 30 minutes before serving add shrimp, stir well and cover crockpot for remainder of cooking.

In a rice cooker while shrimp is cooking, add rice as they will be done roughly the same time.

In a large soup bowl add rice and top with Jambalaya. Serve with artisan bread and/or salad.

This is probably the best recipe I’ve had for Jambalaya. My mom has made this for years.

Is There An After Life?

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 7 November, 2013 No comment

Last night I went to Redbox to rent a movie for my husband and I and as normal I always pick the worst movies ever. Literally, I could probably count on one hand the amount of times I have choose a good movie worth watching. Normally they are so bad we shut the movie off before the first 15 minutes hit. Tonight, was a very interesting night. We had a long day painting Coopers room as it was the last room in the house to get finished; “save the best for last.” Anyway, my husband and I got a deck of cards tonight at the store in hopes to play some fun games this evening. We started off the movie with tea and Poker; I don’t do well playing games and watching movies at the same time. In between hands, I would watch for a couple minutes and realized the movie I had picked was terrible.We played for quite awhile and it was a fun thing to do together while watching a movie. We enjoy games but don’t play them very often.

I am pretty embarrassed to list the name of the movie that I rented as I was completely oblivious to what I had done. For the sake of the story, I will refrain from mentioning the name as well as for the sake of my integrity. :) Anyway, the premise of the movie was a catastrophic event in the world that takes surviving friends into a house to fend for themselves. They develop extreme cabin fever and do drugs to survive the day. They end up encountering a “creature” in the middle of the night that attacks one of the guys. Long story short they find that he is demon possessed and tries to kill off the remaining friends. (I’m sure you are asking yourself at this point why I never turned the movie off…) The movie basically ended with them reading the book of Revelations and realizing that they were in the tribulation and this “creature” was a demon trying to kill off any survivors. As each friend “sacrificed” their life for the other friends, they actually were labeled “good” people and went to heaven. (Again, you may be asking why we kept watching…I’ll get there in a second) The last two friends remaining ended up having to choose “good” works in order to make it to heaven before the “creature” killed them off. I’m sure you can guess that in the sheer panic of this “creature” they choose good over evil. They all met again in Heaven and received anything they wanted; cigarettes, women, profanities, and much more, life was the same as on earth they just received more “things.” “The End”

Yes that is how the movie ended, they all did good works and were good people and anything they asked for in heaven they would receive. Their perspective remained very worldly in the place called “heaven.” I found this to be a completely fascinating movie in the sense that this is what the world makes of Christ and the end times. Fascinating that as much as people fight to remove God from the pledge of allegiance and praying in public before a meal, they still have enough conviction to make a movie about the possible tribulation. The fear that plagues Hollywood, develops movies to make sense of their lack of commitment to Christ, but clear indication that they hope to end up in heaven if there is a heaven. People get to the end of their life and ask themselves what’s to come after they die. Will there be an after life? They ask enough questions to make sense of their actions and lack of commitment to anything other than themselves, but believing if something happens, they were “good” enough to proceed into heaven without having to believe in God.

It makes me really sad and really angry all at the same time. People are choosing to remain blind and continue in their worldly patterns of drugs, sex, and debauchery because it benefits them and makes them feel good for the time being, but if there happened to be an after life than their hopes of having a second chance is what they cling to. This movie depicted a great perspective of how the world will blatantly choose themselves and deny God, unless they are faced with turmoil when an “evil” presence tries to kill the world off. On a daily basis people will surrender their lives to prove their isn’t a God, but they don’t realize they are trying so hard to pursue against the obvious. If it wasn’t obvious, “God” wouldn’t be such a taboo word, and a priority to conquer against the actual truth. People wouldn’t feel the need to disprove God.

God is everywhere and that is so evident with our society. We have many religions, people proclaiming the truth about Christ or trying to disprove Christ, different seminars for every faith/religion or atheist, Holidays that become about presents and money rather than the truth, and so on and so on. We also have so much evil: shootings, suicide, wealth and materialism just to name a few, and all of these things are simple distractions that end up consuming lives that end in death and unhappiness. They fight against the obvious. God has made it clear that he is Lord of all the earth and made every single one of us, yet we can’t show an ounce of gratification.

What have you conquered in your life? If you died today would you feel as though you lived your life to the fullest knowing your material possessions will not travel with you to the after life? What are you clinging to? Wealth, possessions, job, family, friends, clothing, and food. Or are you clinging to the truth of who God created you to be and using your talents to grow your relationship with God, yourself, family, friends, acquaintances, coworkers, and society. When you lay your head down at night, do you feel satisfied if you died in your sleep that you would know where you were going and that what you accomplished was worth something? Ultimately this is all the matters, simple and true. Nothing else matters. We think we have our whole lives to live, yet in a blink of an eye it’s gone. Take responsibility for this one life we have, and live it to the fullest.

Moment of truth: The world sees heaven as a happy place for anyone whose “good.” Go and share with these people what Christ did for their “good” works and how Judas and Peter both denied Christ, but Peters repentant heart is what got him to heaven. Judas’ prideful heart lead him to death and hell. Think about it….

Nail Wraps or Are They??

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 6 November, 2013 No comment

Not everything is a good DIY experiment. I decided I would test department store nail wraps with the brand ‘Kiss’ to see if they work as well as Jamberry. By doing this experiment I painted a couple nails as well because the pattern was too strong for me to have on all 10 nails. Here is what I found:

Last night at 4:30pm

Just finished painting and stickin’ Looking good….

5:15pm

Nail polish smeared

Just got done making dinner and they are already annoying me…Everything I touch, they stick to.
6:30pm

Completely off the nail, all I did was make dinner and give my son a bath. Clearly they aren’t meant to get wet… yikes!
Following day at 3pm

Already the nail polish is worn off and I’m missing thumb and pointer finger. They were $5.99 but I received nothing from them but complete frustration.

36 hours later, they are all off… :(

Twice Baked Tacos

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 5 November, 2013 No comment

Tacos, tacos and more tacos. These are absolutely my favorite dish in all my life. I am a complete foodie but absolutely love tacos above any other meal, there are a lot of close seconds, but this tops them all. All growing up my mom would ask what dinner we wanted for our birthday meal. I always picked Tacos, I don’t know if I ever chose anything but tacos. My moms homemade taco meat plus all the toppings and ranch was my dream come true. I remember when I was 8 years old and I was so excited for my birthday dinner I ate 8 soft tacos and/or double deckers. These 8 tacos were anything but small, I would add sour cream, ranch, meat, tomatoes, Spanish rice, lettuce, olives, cheese, and onions. Now that is what I am talking about, that’s a true taco. Although, if I remember correctly, I was sick as a dog afterwards. :)

I have been making this recipe for quite some time and my husband and I go nuts over it. We aren’t big crunchy taco fans, but this recipe is all crunchy and all delicious. The flavors blend perfectly that we don’t even get to add toppings as one bite leads to the next and the next that by the time we get to add toppings we have already ate the taco. Toppings would be good, but we don’t use them with this recipe. This is a one-pot-dish and that’s what is for dinner tonight.

Ingredients:

1lb ground beef or turkey
15 hard shell tacos
Minced onion
1 can Pinto Beans pureed
1 cup salsa
Garlic
2 tsp cumin
1/2-1 tsp cayenne pepper (depending how spicy you like it)
1/2-1 tsp paprika
2-3 tsp chili powder
1 tsp oregano
2 cups shredded cheese (Use whatever you have on hand. I’ve used Cojita, Mozzerlla, Cheddar or 4 cheese blend)

In a skillet cook meat thoroughly and add onion. While cooking, puree pinto beans in a food processor with juice. Do not add water. Add to meat and combine all remaining ingredients except cheese and mix well. Once seasoning is thoroughly mixed add 1 1/2 cup cheese to the skillet and let melt.

In a 9×13 pan, line with standing tortillas and spoon mixture into shells. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and bake at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

Optional Toppings:

Lettuce
Tomatoes
Onions
Olives
Ranch/blue cheese

Serve with brown rice and chips and salsa

Trick-or-Treat

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 4 November, 2013 No comment

Halloween is such a weird holiday, why is it socially acceptable to go to strangers house and ask for CANDY?! When you really think of the concept of trick-or-treating, its odd. Anyway, of all days in the year this is actually the day I gave my life to Christ and decided I needed God in my life. When you think about what Halloween actually is, basically I did the exact opposite of what the “world” expects.

Anyway, I became a “believer, Christian, follower of Christ” depending on the terminology that suites you, I decided two years ago on Halloween that I couldn’t make it through this life on my own, I needed the strength of God. It’s been two years since I truly made the commitment even though I had grown up in a Christian home, I never made the step for myself until recently. I have been beyond thankful for the life I have been given and the life I have choose to live through Christ my savior.

Today I took little Cooper man to see daddy at work while dressed up in his little Monkey costume. He gets shown off to everyone as they all get so excited to see him when we visit. We also went to our old neighbors house that evening and stopped by so the kids could play together. It was fun! Our new house gets ALOT of trick-or-treaters which was a huge surprise. It was crazy how many people came by, we actually ran out of candy by 7:30.

Needless to say, Halloween has a whole new meaning to me and I enjoy celebrating for a different reason. :)

Pumpkin Patchin’

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 2 November, 2013 No comment

We went to our first pumpkin patch this past weekend with our son. It was so exciting to watch his big blue eyes light up. His eyes were so big as we pulled him closer in the wagon and he could see yellow, white, orange, and Cinderella pumpkins. All different shapes, sizes and colors. This was his dreamland. If you’ve heard me share previously about his deep obsession with balls, you would know he relates pumpkins to this obsession; they are round and that’s all that matters in his little mind. If they are round than they must be thrown.

His first awakening to pumpkins was at the store one afternoon and as we were walking in, they have the big tubs full of pumpkins. He pointed to it and I realized he’s never known what a pumpkin is. I handed him a small one and to my dismay the pumpkin went rolling through the entrance of the store. I quickly chase after it thankful it was still in one piece. Ever since that moment he has been longing to hold a pumpkin in his tiny little hands, arch way over his head and toss it with all his might. Well his dream came true when we went to visit my parents a couple weeks ago. My dad has his own, unintentional pumpkin patch. For some reason it grows like wildfire for him and all the grandkids love to go pick their pumpkins. He would find all the little ones around the house that my mom had for decorations and he would play with them forever simply rolling them around and tossing them. When I realized he was cracking them in half, I put an immediate end to this playful event. We took a couple small ones home with us and this boy can’t help but throw them. They did not make it more than a day. He didn’t understand once it cracked and there were seeds and goop all over that he ruined it. This little man is too cute, he blows my mind everyday with his cuteness.

Due to his cuteness, both my husband and I knew he would love going to the pumpkin patch and being able to see and touch as many pumpkins til his hearts content. We went and had an awesome time. He loved it! They had a haystack for kids to climb on, mazes and cute little photo-ops all catered to kids. It was fun and we let him get as dirty as he wanted. He even “picked” his own little pumpkin that we carved last night. :)

Here’s a few fun photos…

It was a great day for pumpkin patchin’

EVOO is a No No

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 1 November, 2013 No comment

My mom was in town for a week to watch my niece while her dad was out of town and mommy had to work. I got to see her a couple times and enjoyed our time together since I don’t see her very often. I have a great relationship with my mom, but this has truly only begun a couple years ago. I’m actually very similar to my mom, so much so I used to push her away; now we are great friends and I am thankful for that.

Anyway, she came over the other night for dinner and tea. While she was hanging out with Cooper, I was sharing my excitement for Sephora since we had embarked on their territory earlier that day. I absolutely love that place and can get lost in there for hours. It’s always a good thing Cooper is with me because he keeps me limited to only pursue what I am in “need” of. Anyway, it is my birthday month so I received a birthday gift from Sephora as well as many samples of perfume and cologne due to our upcoming trip. They were very generous and stocked us up. If you know much about Sephora, you know that you earn points, which get you gifts; I received one of these gifts while we were there this time. I have wanted to purchase this item for awhile but can’t justify it because it is roughly $50 for 1.7 ounces. So when I received this gift I was ecstatic.

A little history here: I started washing my face with olive oil as I have heard the fad that this is a miracle cleaner and makes the face look younger. Well, I might say I immediately started breaking out and figured it was “junk” in my skin that simply needed to come out, so I continued my regimen of washing my face with EVOO. I shared this with my mom and she said to stop immediately as she had previously done the same thing. She never breaks out, but after one month of clear perfect skin while washing with EVOO she began breaking out very badly and still is trying to recover three weeks later.

We have been having long conversations as we both had been researching what Olive Oil does for your skin; the benefits and complications that have occurred while using this as a cleanser and moisturizer. She brought up the research she had done for this product, Maracuja Oil and how it is straight from the Amazon. It is so good for your skin and you really do notice a difference immediately. (I also use their Maracuja C-brightener eye cream) She was explaining that using EVOO is a fad that she tried and literally ruined her skin. It is the wrong type of oil to use on your face but neither of us had known as everything we had read was positive things. I started breaking out immediately and I must say I have never broke out like that before. I actually had really good skin until I got pregnant and now 16 months later my skin is just starting to go back to it’s “normal” state. Needless to say, EVOO only made my situation worse but does work great for hands and elbows. :)

So here we are today and she was sharing with me that maracuja oil is a gentle miracle worker. She started using this and is overjoyed with the results. She shared with me that you can purchase a 4 ounce bottle from gardenofwisdom.com and it is the same oil with no fancy bottle that Sephora has but cheaper. It is straight from the Amazon as is the bottle from Sephora, nothing is different about these two other than the bottles being entirely fancy or plain and the name being fancy or not. The fancy name is Maracuja (Passion Fruit Seed) Oil but on gardenofwisdom it’s called Passion Fruit Seed Oil as that is where the oil comes from. :)

Sephora Bottle

So please, all of you, don’t fall into the 4 week fad of washing your face with Olive Oil as at one point you may start breaking out very badly. It may work okay for some people but NOT me; my sister uses it as lotion for her face and she handles it fine, the other three of us girls; my mom, middle sister and I, all have had bad experiences with it. If I were you I wouldn’t take the chance. It was that bad for all three of us.

To save the money, you can purchase this from gardenofwisdom.com; 4 ounces for $17 rather than Sephora. (Normally I would refer anyone and everyone to Sephora, but this is an extreme case) Now that I received the cute little bottle from my Perk Points at Sephora, I can refill it and travel with it as well. It is the same exact product. YAY!

***Update: Oct 30, 2013 The information above was a couple months old but as I was researching a little bit more today I found out that GardenOfWisdom.com is not the cheapest place to get Marajuca Oil (aka Passion Fruit Seed Oil). Tonight while looking further into it I actually ran across the site: FromNatureWithLove.com and realized this site has Maracuja Oil (passion fruit seed oil) for 4 oz at $10.48. This site seems to run out of stock quickly, but you can be notified through email when they get it back in stock. They have multiple size options. GardenOfWisdom.com is the original site I had been told about from my mom which is $17.30 for 4oz. This is still a great deal and seems to keep up on their stock.

I felt compelled to share this with you as I was so excited I found another site with another great deal. :)

Sunless Tanner

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 31 October, 2013 No comment

I am pretty fair skinned, although I have been burned pretty decently a couple times in my life which has maybe caused cancer cells as well as allowing me to show signs of coloring now and again when I am in the sun. (Not sure that it’s a good thing I can get somewhat tan because I have been burned, but it’s true.) When we were in the Bahamas and Florida this past month I definitely was able to get some good coloring as it would be challenging not to.

Before we left, I had seen something on sunless tanners and celebrities. It was pretty incredible how most celebrities use sunless tanners. Now I am not positive on the brands they use but I know having gone to tanning salons previously for tanning beds and sunless tanners, that they leave streaks and you look orange. I had tried many techniques to avoid streaks and it didn’t matter how the “bed” sprayed the tanner on me, I always streaked and looked orange.

I have tried almost every brand at the department store; creams, spays, oils, you name it, I’ve tried it. Some of them work decently but I give up using them as I lose interest quickly as it takes a lot of time to avoid streaks. I was at TJ Maxx on an outing one day and ran across a cloth sunless tanner. It intrigued me and I figured for $3.99 it was worth a shot. Before we left for our trip I started applying it to see how it worked and hope for a little color before baring my fair-skinned-body in a swimsuit. I was impressed beyond belief that for $3.99 I found a cloth that did not leave my body smelling that funky smell, no streaks found, and a decent light brown color that didn’t turn my skin orange. Literally I was beyond impressed and of course went back to TJ Maxx a couple months later to find this product and had no success. I went onto Amazon and found them, but the cheapest I found was $7.41 + $1.19 for shipping. This is still cheaper than department stores, but also to my opinion, better quality and results.

If you want to try them out I highly recommend this product: Glow Head to Toe