Creamy Cauliflower Soup

Um, these pictures have been sitting on my camera almost a week....  It's been crazy around here.  For some people summer is the busy time.  For us, it's football season.  Saturday we had people over to watch the Mizzou game.  And Sunday we were at the Chiefs game.  And I speed cleaned my house between Friday night and Saturday morning since we were having people over for the game.  So the good news is my house (or at least the part people see) is clean.

But, down to business.  Soup.  It's been cool lately.  Saturday was downright cold when I got up.  So, colder weather means cozy foods.  Like soup.  Well, my husband isn't a big soup fan so I just make soup that I want to eat.  This one is a little time intensive, but definitely not hard.  And you could probably throw the start of it in the crockpot and finish it when you got home from work.

 

Chop a whole head of cauliflower.  Yes, the whole thing.  It doesn't have to be pretty.  Just smaller pieces so it doesn't take a thousand years to cook.  Dump it in a big pot.

 

 Add 2 32oz containers of broth.  I used veggie and chicken both.  If you're a vegetarian, obviously use all veggie.

 

Throw some garlic, um just however much you like.  I used two heaping forkfuls.

 

Chop half an onion and throw that in the skillet with a tablespoon of butter (real butter people, this is pretty much the only unhealthy thing you're going to do).  Saute that yumminess up.

 

Roast some broccoli and cauliflower.  I usually do this in the oven but ours is broken so the toaster had to do.  Drizzle some olive oil over it and add salt, pepper and garlic.

 

Once your cauliflower is cooked, you're going to blend it up with some broth mixed in.  If you have a real blender this should only take about two batches, a Magic Bullet it takes about 4.  You'll use about 4 cups of the broth total.  Also, throw your sauteed garlic and onion in with the cauliflower to puree.

 

Pour your pureed cauliflower back in the pot.

 

Add about two cups of skim milk.  Stir to combine.  Dump in your roasted veggies.  And throw in a handful (a cup or so) of shredded cheddar.

 

And enjoy this crazy healthy delicious soup.  *And wish you'd poured your soup in a colored bowl to take a picture, white-ish soup+white bowl=boring picture

Creamy Cauliflower Soup

1 head cauliflower

2 32oz containers of veggie/chicken broth

2 tablespoons minced garlic

1/2 chopped onion

1 tablespoon butter

chopped cauliflower and broccoli

salt

pepper

olive oil

2 cups skim milk

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Chop cauliflower and cook in broth until fork tender.  Saute chopped onion and garlic in butter.  Puree onion, garlic and cauliflower with 4 cups of broth*.  Roast chopped broccoli and cauliflower in a 425 degree oven for approx. 20 minutes.  Combine pureed cauliflower mixture with roasted veggies, skim milk, and cheese.   Stir until cheese is melted.

*More broth may be added to achieve desired soup consistency.

Guys, this is seriously so delicious!  It has kind of the feel of creamy baked potato soup.  You could probably even throw in a little bacon if you wanted to live dangerously (or deliciously...)  It's crazy easy.  And healthy.  Yum!

What's your go to cozy food?  Anybody else just wanting to climb into a giant vat of soup since it's gotten cold outside?  No?  Just me?  Okay.

 

Mug Muffins

Okay, I know, it's Friday evening.  If you're like me, all you can think about is getting home from work, sprawling across the couch and enjoying a cold beverage.  Maybe a margarita, or a beer, or maybe a lemonade.  But, come tomorrow morning you're going to need breakfast.  Or I will anyway, if I don't eat breakfast I am not a happy camper.  So, I'm here to share a healthy breakfast with you.

I know you're supposed to have protein for breakfast.  But if I just have protein and nothing else, guess what, still grumpy.  I need some carbs with my protein to be completely happy.  I pinned a recipe the other day that I've adapted a bit and I'm going to share it with you.

Mug Muffins
Ingredients
1/4 cup oats, I like steel cut
1 egg (or eggbeaters for a lighter option)
Handful of fruit, I like raspberries
A splash of Skim Milk
1 T brown sugar (you could use Splenda or some other artificial sweetener or even honey)
Directions
Grab a mug, dump all the ingredients in a mug.  Mix 'em up.  Throw the mug in the microwave for about a minute and a half (more or less depending on your microwave, that's just how long it takes in mine).  Let it cool a bit and enjoy.  It should slide out of the mug pretty nicely if you want to put it on a plate.  But why would you want to get something else dirty, you can totally just eat it out of the mug.
Nutrition Information (via MyFitnessPal)
Calories:  313
Carbs:  49
Fat:  8
Protein:  13
Sodium:  77
Sugar:  17

Yes, it does have quite a bit of sugar.  You could totally make that lower by subbing out an artificial sweetener.  I personally prefer to use the calories for real sugar than use artificial sweetener, just a personal preference.  You could also use eggbeaters for lower calories.  All in all, not terrible for you.  And look at all that protein!

What about you guys?  Are you a breakfast person?  I love breakfast!  I wish my husband was as much of a breakfast person as I am.  Any Go To delicious breakfasts at your house?  Will you make me pancakes sometime?  I refuse because I hate the lingering smell.

C is for Cookie

If you've been around for a while you know that I love cooking and baking.  It's one of my favorite things to do.  Especially when I get to cook for other people.  Well, I have a dirty little secret.  As much as I love baking, I hate making cookies.  It's just so blah.  I mean cookies are fine, but I have zero desire to make them.

Here's the thing though, cookies are always a great thing to take as a treat somewhere.  So I've had to get over my cookie hatred on occasion to make cookies to take somewhere.  Tomorrow is such an occasion.  I have teachers volunteering to come in and help me with enrollment.  Super sweet, especially since they're still on summer vacation.  So, cookies are the perfect treat to spoil my co-workers a little.

A while back I started making cake mix cookies.  Guys, it's so easy it's not even funny.  Now they're not some crazy healthy cookie.  Nor are they gourmet.  But, they always get rave reviews.  Around Valentines I always make pink cookies with a strawberry cake mix and white chips.  Adorable and a little different.  They're great because you can use any cake mix and whatever kind of chips (not potato, duh) you have laying around.

Cake Mix Cookies

1 cake mix

1/3 cup oil

2 large eggs

2 cups chips

Preheat oven to 350.  Mix all ingredients together.  Scoop cookie dough, roll into balls, place on greased cookie sheet.  Bake for 8-10 minutes.  Remove from oven while still soft.

Anybody else thinking making cookies is a giant pain too?  I can totally recommend these, super easy and delicious!  What have you guys been up to?  I've been working my tail off at my actual job so have had zero motivation for house projects.  It's been a lot of laying on the couch watching TV in our house.  Hopefully that will change soon.

Get with the Plan Man

I said it was coming....  I've been working on it....  It's here....  My whole meal plan and cleaning calendar plan.  These are all chilling on the side of my fridge in pretty white frames.  With a dry erase marker hanging out near by.  I'm so excited!  This is going to be great!  So, without further ado, here are my pretty pages close up.

As usual, I just uploaded them to Walgreens and printed them as pictures.  I picked up all three of them, thanks to a coupon code for 40% off for around $6.  Sure I could've printed them at home but I think they turn out a bit better printed as a photo.  And it means I don't have to buy ink for my printer.  It's a win-win.

I left the weekend days off my meal planning.  I knew we wouldn't successfully meal plan for the weekend.  In the summer we usually grill at least once.  And we usually go out to eat at some point.  So we're usually pretty casual on the meals for the weekend, especially for just the two of us.

I think I'm pretty happy with my color choices.  With the red and black kitchen, I needed something that would still match but wasn't necessarily the same color.  And I'm loving coral these days.  I'm still on a quest to make my office at work coral and turquoise.  I just need the right fabric to cover my bulletin boards with. 

So, here's my creation on my fridge.  My husband didn't really so much know I was doing these.  He came home last night and saw them on the fridge and was super impressed.  Yay!

 

It's really hard to take good pictures of the side of my fridge....  Also, really hard to take pictures of picture frames.  I'm in love though.  And our menu for the week is already written on the fridge.  Well, it wasn't when I took the picture because I forgot.  But it is now.

Project Clean in 2013 is well under way.  And feeling very successful.  So, what are you guys planning for dinner tonight?  Steak quesadillas are on the menu for us.  We grilled Sunday and have leftover steak.   Mmmm, it's going to be delicious.

Hey Good Lookin', What You Got Cookin'

My grandparents, well my sort-of grandparents, are moving out of state in the near future.  I am helping throw a going away party for them this weekend.  So I've been a baking fool.

Let's back up the bus for a second and explain the sort-of grandparents thing.  I don't have any living grandparents.  And haven't for quite some time.  My last grandparent passed away when I was in college.  So, along the way I've acquired grandparents that I claim.  Grandma and Grandpa H are a couple I've known my entire life.  My mom has known Grandpa H her entire life.  They are amazing people.  And even more amazingly, they claim me too.  We've always gone to church with them and they've always been around.  They are two of the most wonderful, caring people I know.

We really felt like we needed to send them off well.  They've had a huge impact on the small community I grew up in and they will be deeply missed.  Thus the going away party.  And baking six dozen cupcakes yesterday.  Man, that's a lot of cupcakes.  I of course decided I needed to document my shenanigans.  And in baking the six dozen cupcakes, I fell even more in love with my KitchenAid mixer.  When I'm making that many cupcakes, I use mixes because I'm a little lazy.  Well, with the KitchenAid, I could dump two mixes in at once and get everything into the oven in one giant batch.  Yes, that may mean I have too many cupcake pans.

Lots of cupcake supplies.  There's still a lot of icing to be made. 

Go KitchenAid, go 

 A dozen eggs down....

And that six dozen cupcakes.  I ran out of cooling rack space.  Now they're all in the freezer waiting to be thawed and iced for the par-tay.

What have you guys been up to?  Anybody else baking crazy amounts of cupcakes?  What's your favorite kind of cake?  I love anything with chocolate.  Especially black forest.  Yum.  Any exciting plans for the weekend?  I'm hoping the snow holds off so we can actually make it to the party.  Otherwise I'm stuck with a ton of cupcakes.  Cross your fingers!

On cooking and self-confidence

I love my husband. I love that he truly believes I can do anything. When he believes it, I believe it too. Sounds strange for someone so in love with DIY, cooking, and crafts - all activities that require believing in oneself.  I haven't always been so self-confident though.

If you knew me in high school or college, I was quite the opposite.  I am the youngest of four sisters, that meant I never had to cook anything.  If I had to contribute to a family meal, it was usually Jell-O.  Wow.  Even when I lived on my own I seldom cooked.  I survived on cereal, take out, and pasta.  Mmmm, healthy.  And the guy I dated in college did nothing to increase my confidence in my cooking skills.  He didn't even think I cooked pasta properly (c'mon, what kind of bonehead can't cook pasta.  And more importantly, what kind of ass criticizes how someone cooks pasta).  So my main cooking dishes were butterscotch brownies for my dad; grilled cheese; a pasta dish with angel hair pasta, jarred sauce, and pre-cooked chicken; or my boyfriend's mom's chicken recipe.  I refused to try cooking anything else because I was sure it would suck.

Fast-forward to 2012 and I am making homemade chocolate pie and lasagna from scratch.  My how times have changed.  My husband and I have cooked together pretty much since we started dating.  And I never wanted to admit I didn't know how to cook something, so I would just figure it out.  And it turned out, I'm a pretty good cook.  Not everything has been a success, but for the most part, things turn out pretty well.

The first big, monumental success was chocolate pie.  We had been dating about a year and my husband invited me to a family holiday.  I asked what I should make.  He asked if I could make a chocolate pie, his grandma used to make them when she was alive and it was his favorite.  I had never in my life made a chocolate pie, unless you count dumping chocolate pudding into a graham cracker crust and topping it with Cool Whip.  But I said sure I could make him a chocolate pie.  I then proceeded to panic.  I tried at least three different chocolate pie recipes that all sucked.  Then my ever intelligent dad told me to use my Betty Crocker cookbook.  What a smart man my father is.  My oldest sister made the pie crust (one thing I still haven't mastered) and I made the filling.  It was a hit.  It's still requested for family dinners.  For a long time I kept the pie crust "recipe" a secret from my husband.  Now that we don't live close to my sister, he knows my secret, and now I use a Pilsbury crust.  I'm going to learn though.

But he's always believed I can make anything for dinner.  And I always try.  If I don't know, I search for a recipe.  Or I read the directions on whatever he's brought home.  I had definitely never fried fish the first night I cooked that in his apartment at the lake.

He's always believed in me, period.  And I am a better person for it.