I love soup. And for some reason this winter, I have been on a soup hunting kick. So far I have found some pretty good recipes. I just think it's so nice to sit down with the wonderful fam on a cold cold night and enjoy a warm bowl of soup. Ya can't beat it. Tonight I tried a new and super easy recipe for Broccoli and Cheese soup. Jubal isn't a huge fan of broccoli for some reason so I was wondering if he would like it. He did..... He pretty much gobbled it up. What a nice feeling.

Here's the recipe from Cooking Light:

1 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 cups chicken/vegetable broth
1 (16-ounce) package broccoli florets or 2 cups fresh broccoli
2 1/2 cups 2% reduced-fat milk
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
8 ounces grated sharp cheddar cheese

Heat a large nonstick saucepan coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic; saute 3 minutes or until tender. Add broth and broccoli. Bring broccoli mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium; cook 10 minutes.
Combine milk and flour, stirring with a whisk until well blended. Add milk mixture to broccoli mixture. Cook 5 minutes or until slightly thick, stirring constantly. Stir in pepper. Remove from heat; add cheese, stirring until cheese melts.
Place one-third of the soup in a blender or food processor, and process until smooth. Return pureed soup mixture to pan.

I will continue to post recipes that I find very yummy. Let me know what you think if you try them. I would love to hear how they turned out!

Attention Garbanzo Bean lovers!!

This recipe is sooooo good. A friend of mine made it and I had to have the recipe. So, I will post it for you to enjoy. It's called Vegetable and Chickpea Curry. Another plus: it's a crockpot recipe. It is a little spicy so you can tone it down with couscous on the side or top with some yogurt and chopped cucumber. Or you can eliminate the serrano chile all together.

1 Tbsp Olive oil

1 1/2 C chopped onion

1 C carrot, sliced

1 Tbsp curry powder

1 tsp brown sugar

1 tsp peeled and grated ginger

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 serrano chile, seeded and chopped

3 C cooked chickpeas

1 1/2 C cubed and peeled baking potato

1 C coarsely chopped green pepper

1 C green beans (1 inch cut)

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/8 tsp ground red pepper

1 can diced tomatoes, undrained

1 can vegetable broth

3 C fresh baby spinach

1 C light coconut milk

Heat oil in skillet. Add onion and carrot. Cover and cook 5 minutes or until tender. Add curry powder and next 4 ingredients. Cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Place onion in 5 qt. crockpot. Stir in chickpeas and next 8 ingredients. Cover and cook on high for 6 hours. Add spinach and coconut milk. Stir until spinach wilts. Serve.

*Cooking Light Cookbook

Tractor Fun

Jubal likes tractors a lot. Sometimes when we see one, he says he would like to ride one someday. Well that day came yesterday. After the workers dug up the stump from our tree (it was huge!!) Jubal got to ride on the tractor and level out the driveway. Way to go baby!

Pulling a lever

Starting with a bang

The first stage of our big adventure started.

Unfortunately, we had to get one of our beautiful and big Maple trees cut down in order to add out to the front of our house. It was sad for me but it's for a good cause. We will also be able to use it for firewood.

It was quite a site to watch as the guys cut it down. They started with the limbs and then down came the big trunk of ol bessie! It was a loud thud and shook the ground. Quite a rush for sure!

Here are some pics of the process. In the background you can see the front of our house.

For those of you interested, I will definitely be posting pictures as I can. It is going to be pretty cool to see the changes. I am so thankful.

We still have to settle the plans for the addition so it may be a few weeks before any building occurs. But I will keep you, my darling blog fans posted.

Limbs being cut off

Hauling away limbs to get ready for the big daddy cut

Here it goes.....

Timber!!!!

Whew!

Home Sweet Home

About 5 years ago, Stephen and I bought our first house. To be honest, it was not at all what I had "expected" we would buy. It was small (624 sq feet), had a lot of cleaning up to do, and many fixes had to be made. It would definitely be a sacrifice to live in a little house, but that's what we could afford so we would do the best we could. When Stephen and I talked about buying it, he envisioned all the things we could do and how it would look after it was done. It convinced me that we could make our little house so cute and cozy and we did...well Stephen did. Now, about 5 years later, all of the major work is done; new roof, new hardwood floors, new bathroom, new windows, a new deck, landscaping, and many new cosmetic projects. I am so proud of all the hard work that Stephen has done to make it very attractive and livable for our family. He has made this little dwelling our special little home. I have learned a lot about simplicity and being thankful for what God gives.
God has opened a big door for us to walk through and we are really excited about this new adventure. We are going to add on to our house. We are going to have wonderful contractors that will be doing the work as well. I will keep you updated on our addition so you can see what God is doing in our family.

Give yourself

From my husband's blog:

"We were eating some delicious Picante Chicken that Rhonda whipped up and baked in our iron skillet. It was full of juicy onions and green peppers. Jubal was complaining about them, he is a 4 yr old. So, being the well rounded dad that I am I explained to him that some kids in the world don't have anything to eat. We moved on to dessert: a chocolate pudding brownie cake with whipped cream on top. As we were eating that, I mentioned to Jubal that some kids don't ever get dessert. After thinking for a few minutes, 4yr olds like to process deep thoughts, Jubal said
"Well, when I get big I'm going to help them". When I asked him to be more specific, he told us that he was going to go live with the kids that didn't have much and help them."

What are you doing in your life to help those around you?

This is a good one!

I love Indian food. I love it especially when I can make it ;). I have had quite a few disasters attempting to make it. Despite my intimidation with it now, I tried making this super easy recipe. It's not the real thing but it's really good. If you like Indian food, you will really like this dish. It's called Chicken Curry in a hurry and I got it out of a Real Simple magazine. If you make it, let me know what you think!

1 1/2 tbsp. olive oil
1 small yellow onion, thinly sliced
2 tsp curry powder
1/2 C plain yogurt
3/4 C heavy cream
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes, drained (optional)
1 rotisserie chicken (I used just regular chicken that I had cooked, seasoned with salt and pepper)
2 C cooked white rice (optional)
1/4 C fresh cilantro leaves, roughly chopped

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add onion and cook for about 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle in curry powder and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add yogurt and cream. Simmer gently for 3 minutes. Stir in salt, pepper, and tomatoes (if using). Remove from heat. Slice or shred chicken, discarding skin and bones. Divide the rice (if using) and chicken among individual bowls and spoon sauce on top. Sprinkle with cilantro.

*Because we love garlic, I added about 3 cloves to the sauce. Tasty!

**You can also have pita bread as a substitute for rice.