last chance for soup!

the weather is getting warmer and sunnier, which is awesome. but i loooove me some hearty, home-made soup, and it's definitely a winter thing, so i am making the most of these last few, chilly days.
this is a red-based soup, which i usually am not a huge fan of, but i created this amazing, deliciously filling soup, and i know you will love it. plus, it's vegan (minus the parmesan for topping). bonus!
here's what you need:
1 lb pasta (ravioli, tortellini, penne, spaghetti)
1 can tomato soup
3 carrots, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 yellow onion, chopped
5 cups vegetable broth
1 1/2 tbsp italian seasoning
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 tsp garlic salt
10 oz fresh collard greens (or spinach)
parmesan cheese for topping

saute onions in large pot on medium heat, for about 6 minutes, then add carrot, collards, and garlic, and saute until onion is clear. add tomato soup and veggie broth and all spices. bring to a boil, and simmer for 15 minutes. add pasta and cook according to directions on package. top with parmesan.
HOW GOOD IS IT!??

fresh weather calls for fresh foooods.

hello, all!

this weather has been so gorgeous here in the berg, and it really makes me crave my favorite kind of food - italian! but with a twist...and kind of also greek/mediterranean-ish. one of my favorite breakfast anytime meals is fresh mozzarella, (you know, the kind in water) vine-ripened tomatoes, and fresh bread. i pour olive oil and salt+pepper on the cheese and tomatoes, and that just makes everything better.
one of my for real favorite breakfast foods is straight up scrambled eggs. as my friend and i were out shopping at trader joe's a few weeks ago, she told me about this ridiculous infusion of the two aforementioned food items, and so, duh, i had to make it.

what you'll need (for one serving):        
1 tomato, sliced
3 eggs, whisked
 3 tbsp milk
dollop of olive oil for sauteing
1/4 cup fresh mozzarella
1/4 tsp pesto (or more, to your liking)                            
---  use what ever veggies you like ----       
3 mushrooms, sliced
1/8 cup sweet onion, sliced
1 cup fresh spinach
salt and pepper to taste

cook onion in olive oil for 2 minutes, then add mushrooms, spinach, and salt+pepper. once the spinach has wilted, add eggs, milk, mozzarella, and pesto.
scramble everything together but the tomato; that goes on top when your eggs are done cooking.


how good is that? i'm obsessed.
ok, on to some amazing honey oat bread. i really think everyone should make bread how i do. it is fool proof, and always delicious. here's what i always start off with:

2 cups of warm water in a huge bowl
1 1/2 tbsp yeast
1 tbsp sugar

whisk all these ingredients together until dissolved, and let sit for fifteen minutes. there should be a big, shallow bubble from the yeast rising on top of the water. add whatever kind of flour you desire, (i even rotate scoops of organic, unbleached white and wheat sometimes, to make a more nutritious but still delectable and fluffy hybrid bread) until you have a good dough going, and knead for five minutes (the more you knead, the airier your bread will be).
then cover with saran wrap and leave it in the fridge overnight, then bake at 350 anytime during the day for about 30 minutes, and bam! awesome, homemade bread that will have your friends making fun of you and calling you suzie homemaker.
here are some variations i do with my bread : (though the first part - water, yeast, sugar, ALWAYS stays the same, it's the foundation of bread!)
*half wheat/sprouted grain flour, half white flour
*extra sugar
*honey in place of sugar
*molasses in place of sugar
*sea salt on top of the dough before you bake it
* add thyme, oregano, cinnamon, any spice you want in the dough and on top
* brush a whisked egg+water mixture over the top of the unbaked loaf
*put oats, quinoa, barley, any kind of raw grain in the dough


for this particular loaf i put a little bit extra sugar, and then squeezed some honey and sprinkled some oats into the dough. after forming it into a loaf shape, i placed the dough on a greased cookie sheet, and added more oats on top and made slits with a butcher knife.


i've been making a loaf of bread a day, and we always eat it by nighttime, if it's just plain old french bread with olive oil and sea salt, or honey oat/sprouted barley wheat. enjoy!!

lovely grey day.

oh, hi!

today i got to use my new heart shaped pancake griddle to make our favorite pancakes: cottage cheese! everyone in my house loves these, and they are high in protein and most importantly - delicious!

here's what you need:

3 eggs

1 cup cottage cheese

1 tsp vanilla

1 tbsp honey

combine these wet ingredients in a bowl/your electric mixer and then add these dry ones:

1/2 cup flour

1 tsp. baking powder

dash salt

combine and griddle 'em up!

for lunch, i had some leeks i needed to use up, so i decided to saute them with some sweet onion and mushrooms and bake them over chicken. we had rice mixed with quinoa, and sweet corn for the side dishes.

leeks are one of my favorite vegetables, because they have a mild but distinct taste, and are so versatile.

for dinner i have curry simmering in the crock pot. the crock pot is the best thing ever, and it uses significantly less energy and electricity than an oven (even a gas one).

1 cup garbanzo beans (or one can)
2 small yams, washed and cubed
1 onion, sliced up lengthwise
1 can coconut milk (or 1/2 cup coconut oil)
1/4 cup butter (i use smart balance)





2 cups milk
2 cups water
3 russet potatoes, washed and cubed
2 carrots, chopped
lots of seasonings...i just season it to taste, but at least        
2 tbsp of curry powder
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt


directions: dump everything in the slow cooker either on low for 4 hours or high for six.

i use dr. bronner's coconut oil for my curry. dr. bronner's is a company best known for it's natural soaps and cleaning products, but they do make food items and are really involved in social activism and the fair trade movement.
i love all of dr. bronner's products. this is a good quote that sums up their mission statement:  

"Renowned for their quality, versatility and eco-friendliness, Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps enjoyed a small but loyal following in the early years. In the late 1960s, however, soap sales started to explode, due to the unsurpassed ecological quality combined with Dr. Bronner’s urgent message to realize our transcendent unity across religious and ethnic divides. Word-of-mouth soon made Dr. Bronner’s the iconic soap of that era, and in the decades that followed the soaps spread into every health food store in the U.S. and then into the mainstream as well -- winning over fans from all walks of life on the way to becoming the number-one-selling natural brand of soap in North America. 

Major causes and focuses right now include fighting for organic integrity in personal care, recommercialization of industrial hemp in the US, and promotion of “Fair Trade” certification of product supply chains to ensure fair wages and prices are paid."

it's great to support a company so focused on doing good and creating good.


so, here are all the spices i use to make my curry. the garam masala is beyond amazing. enjoy!

hello dears.

so i am going to share some of what we ate at our house today. my camera is not going to be alive again until i am able to buy more special batteries on amazon, so phone pictures will have to do!

also, i am super distracted because i am watching grey's anatomy for like, the third time, and i am having a lot of stupid spinal pain and really need more coffee.

today we had a pot of (don't mind if i do) incredibly delicious potato soup. i started out wanting to make panera's cheddar broccoli soup, but then something magical happened, and my hands just started chopping and throwing stuff together, and this is what i made:

here's what you need:

5 russet potatoes, cleaned, cut however you'd like

2 carrots, chopped

1 yellow onion, chopped (i used a vidalia)

2 cups water

1 1/2 cup half and half

1 cup milk

1 tbsp pepper

1 tsp garlic salt

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp nutmeg

2 leaves of collard greens, chopped

1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup melted butter (or, i used smart balance, which is the greatest thing man has ever invented)

firstly, fry the onion for a few minutes in whatever pot you're making the soup in, with a little olive oil. then add the flour and melted butter, and whisk together until a paste forms. add the cream and milk first and heat it up and whisk it around. then add the water, carrots, potatoes, collards, and spices. simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to keep the soup from sticking to the bottom of the pot.

it's seriously amazing. the nutmeg makes is super fantastic.

for dinner, i made a weird little shrimp dish that is my own variation on something my mother in law made once.

here's what you need:

1/2 lb salad shrimp (or whatever form of shrimp)

1/2 cup coconut oil

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp lime juice

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp garlic salt

4 cloves garlic, chopped

3 tbsp butter

1/2 cup water

put the butter, water, coconut oil, and shrimp in a saucepan, and simmer for about 15 minutes. add seasonings and garlic, cover, and simmer another 15 minutes. it will turn out amazing, and much like the above picture.

i made a wild rice mix and steamed broccoli to accompany it. cody thinks i should call it "shrimp dundee." he's cute.

then, we were still kind of hungry, so i experimented with my new bob's red mill 100% whole wheat flour to make some yummy bread.

1 warm cup water

3/4 tbsp tbsp yeast

1 tbsp sugar

1/4 cup melted butter

1 tsp salt

1 cup 100% whole wheat flour + extra

1 cup unbleached white flour + extra

put warm water in a giant bowl, and sprinkle yeast and sugar on top and whisk until combined. let mixture sit 10 minutes. slowly add the 1 cup wheat flour (i say + extra because i didn't measure, i just added wheat flour until it was a wet dough) after the dough is wet, add white flour until it's easy to knead. then add butter knead for 5-7 minutes. cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour. then slowly deflate the dough, it should have risen to double its original size. form into the shape you want (i like to make slits in the top of the dough to be all fancy) and let sit for 15 minutes on a baking tray that is sprayed with olive oil, and if you want, top with a spice - i like thyme. after that time is up, spray the whole loaf with olive oil again, and bake at 350 for around 20-30 minutes.

so, there you have it! now i am going to wait patiently for craigslist to become active again so i can see if we are ever going to have a roommate, and also fold laundry.

my life is so not meredith and christina, but myyyyy goodness, i am a happy girl.

brand new...

...is a band that reminds me of my younger days, and also a sparkling description of our innocent, wide-eyed darling: 2012.

i'm not usually one for resolutions, but something about the novelty and magnificence (slash possible impending doom) that 2012 seems to have, i am totally into them for right now. my main resolution is kind of all-inclusive: i want to start baking all of our bread/bagels and have every meal at home (dinner at the dining room table!!) and buy locally as much as possible. so far, we have only had local coffee, and i have baked like a hundred slight variations of french bread and cupcakes. i also found a few new breakfast and dinner staples that i am really happy about, and are super cheap and easy to prepare.

also, because of the extremely desperate cry from the masses for "MORE MOM FOOD BLOGS, PULEAAAAASEEE!!" i have decided to comply, and hope that someone, somewhere, can get something out of my words and words on foods and motherhood.

i am happy. screw the mayans.

lovely mornings.

waking up at the wilson household occurs anytime between 7:30 am and 2:00pm. xander always, always gets up first. then it's me. he fusses, bangs on the wall, strums the heater vent like a guitar, and waits. as i drag myself out of bed, there's that smelly question of...poop or no poop? right as i near the door, i can always tell, though. after the poop-changing commences, we are on to bigger and better things. like bananas, milk, granola bars, coffee, and eggs. mind you, he gets everything first. he is RAVENOUS in the am. whimpering in his high chair and reaching towards the fruit basket, i am always rushing around like mad to get him satisfied. only after about 20 minutes of getting his sustenance, making coffee and breakfast for myself, and cleaning up, can i sit down to some music and facebook. music is an essential part of my morning.
after chow time, i usually sit around on the internet for an hour or so, and xander has playtime with stuff (not his toys...ever).
then i may try and wake the mr. wilson....successfully or not. then shower, more playtime, and a possible long walk or if we are lucky, a hang out with katy, nicole and ben, or even cody.
this summer has not been epic in any sense. we have not, and most likely will not go to the beach. we haven't gone to any parades, fairs, and only the farmer's market once. we've been to a bunch of parks, had picnics with my family, and plan on hittin' up the newberg old fashioned festival with my brother this weekend.
and i'm okay with this summer. it's been relaxing, kind of. as relaxing as a summer where your father in law is murdered, you're pregnant, have a 1 1/2 year old and no car, or money, or babysitter, and feel giant and fat, can be.
all's i can say is, bring on the damn autumn.