Soup Kick

All I have to share lately is recipes because my life has been consumed by the hell that is second semester. I find while I love to cook I tend to use it as a distraction from homework. I get home from classes after 6, by the time I'm done cooking and eating it's after 7 and then I just don't get as much accomplished as I should. 

I've been using our crockpot a lot lately and making soups so I don't get too off track. Soups are amazing you just cut things, throw them in a pot and if I get distracted trying to understand Adobe Illustrator and forget about dinner it just ends up simmering longer and tasting better. Not too shabby

Here's a Minestrone inspired Recipe I made last week. So easy and tasted amazing. 

Minestrone (ish) Soup

Fills one large pot, we got about 10 bowls I'd think from it. 

2 cans of whole tomatoes (diced would probably work too but keep the liquid)

1 box of chicken broth (32 ounce)

4 carrots

4 celery

1 large onion

1 diced white potato

1 teaspoon of garlic

1 cup of chopped spinach

1 can of rinsed white beans

1 cup of small shells

2 bay leaves

1 tsp basil

1 tsp oregano

salt and pepper

Olive oil

Parmesan cheese

Cut veggies, coat bottom of the pot with olive oil and heat on medium-high until veggies are starting to look clear and get a slight bit of colour.  Pour in the tomatoes and crush a bit with a wooden spoon to break them down a little more, add chicken broth. Give the big heavy pile of veggies a stir and add your seasonings. 

I added the beans after the soup had been boiling for about a half hour. Go about your business. When you test your veggies and they're softened add your spinach and shells. 

Once pasta is cooked scoop into bowls and top with parmesan. Crusty bread would have been great too. 

Tip: I would leave out the shells next time, the soup had enough to it without them and they absorbed a lot of the amazing broth. Or i'd boil them separately and then throw them in. 

Now back to the homework. Anyone else feeling swamped lately? 

Discovered Little Spots

We do our best to explore new places every weekend, that was part of why I quit my retail job so I'd have time to actually live in the city rather than just commute through it once and while. I thought it might be neat to share some of the interesting places we've stumbled across since we moved here.

Last night we tried The Clubhouse Sandwich Shop on Spadina. Recommended by a family member who goes to University of Toronto we thought it sounded worth a trip for dinner. It's a cute and bright spot with several different kinds of sandwiches. I tried the fish sandwich and Peter had the marinated grilled pork chop. Both were enormous on big fresh fluffy buns and were extremely delicious. We got the fries which were huge as well with great flavour and a nice balance of crunchy outsides and soft on the inside. 

We tried the fancy sodas they had in the cooler by Dry Soda Co. in Rhubarb and Vanilla Bean. Also awesome, definitely need some of this in my fridge I can see it making amazing cocktails. All across a great meal, definitely hoping we go back soon the turkey sandwich was my second choice and if it's anything like yesterday's meal my mouth is watering already. 

Also can I just note for a moment thanks for 4 packets of ketchup guys! Don't you hate it when people give you two for a massive amount of fries? The worst. 

Blurry but glowing. Love it when the CN tower has blue lights. I've never been up there but it's definitely on the list.  

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

This is one of those recipes no matter how hard you try, or much you tweak it to your own personal tastes, it always seems to turn-out amazing. Some of you have sent along some ingredient switches that have worked out wonderfully including whole-wheat flour, brown-rice flour walnuts, and maple syrup.

I'm always throwing over-ripe bananas into a freezer bag so I can make these quickly on a Sunday night.  Let me know if you invent any new combinations that turned out great!

 

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

4 Ripe Gross Mushy Bananas 

1/3 of a cup of melted butter

3/4 of a cup of sugar (sometimes I'll reduce this a bit if I have really ripe bananas)

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda

pinch of salt

1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour 

1 cup of semisweet chocolate chips.

Preheat oven to 350.

Grease your muffin tins (Tip: I've used liners with this recipe before but because the muffins are so moist they tend to just stick and make a mess).

Now the fun bit. Peel your bananas and throw them in a big bowl with the melted butter and smash it all together with a fork. Keep blending until there's no big chunks of banana left and the mixture is creamy and smooth.

Add the sugar, egg and vanilla and mix just until combined. Add salt and baking soda and stir. Pour in flour and mix. The mix doesn't have to be perfectly blended,  just try and get rid of all the flecks of flour. Dump in chocolate chips (I say one cup but I really just dump in half the bag) mix them around a bit so every bite has some chocolatey goodness.

Divide into muffin tins. Bake until cake tester or toothpick pulls out cleanly (For me usually 20 minutes for regular muffins, big tins or mini loaves about 30 mins)

Hurray it's Thursday

I know most people can't wait for Fridays but I really love Thursdays. Well Thursday morning's I have 8 AM class so not that part but the evening part is lovely. I find living in a cramped space with your significant other can be romantic, enlightening and entertaining but you can also feel like you lose your own space sometimes.
Thursday nights Peter has a game night with some old friends so Thursday nights provide a much needed homework break and my recipe for relaxation.
Thursday Night Me Time
1. Awesome book. Currently reading A Dance with Dragons the 5th of George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones series.
2. Bath and Body works candle. Currently burning Red Velvet.
3. Bubble Bath. Featuring The Body Shop's Raspberry Shower Gel as bubble bath and Bath and Body Works True Blue Refreshing Citrus Body Scrub.
4. Cocktail (optional)-Long Island Ice Tea has been my go-to lately. (Yep in a Game of Thrones glass because that's how I roll)

So here's to me time, and you time. Cheers!

Twinkle Lights Trauma

I love Pinterest but it tends to make some projects look a lot easier then they are. We've been working on small projects around our apartment to try and make the place look cozier since we won't be painting. We got this nice canopy at Bed Bath and Beyond for our room.

We wanted to make the room a bit more romantic and I found lots of Pinterest inspiration.

After taking advantage of the after Christmas light sales after Boxing Day we gathered supplies to try.

It turned out really cute, for a while.

 Then they looked like this.

Just a heads up for anyone wanting to try this, read the instructions on the hooks and don't put weight on them right away. I found no matter what I've tried the cord hooks aren't strong enough. We've had to use the medium weight 3M hooks. Also lights are picky and get tangled in the netting if they even touch a little, so be patient with snags. We've woken up two nights in a row from the sound of lights scratching down the wall around 4 AM. We'll see if I can figure this out. 

Winter Chill

I think I along with most of the population under this lovely storm am feeling literally under the weather. I've been fighting a cold since I started back at classes this week and nothing's worse than getting back to the grind with a stuffy nose and a fever.

My boyfriend's parents got us some nice pots for Christmas so I thought I'd try my hand at making some homemade chicken soup. It turned out so nicely I thought I'd share my experiment. I based it on this recipe but doubled up all the veggies and added about  a cup and a half of shell noodles at the end.

Because I let the soup simmer for so long after adding back in fresh veggies and the shredded chicken I found I didn't need the bouillon.

Chicken Noodle Soup

1 small chicken
4 carrots
4 onions
6 celery stalks
water
salt and pepper
1 tsp chili flakes
1 tsp basil

I really wanted my soup to have some sinus clearing punch, hence the chill flakes and extra onions.
I cut two carrots, two onions and two celery stalks in half and placed them in the bottom of my pot. Threw in the chicken then covered with water and added some salt and pepper. Then I simmered on medium-high heat until the meat was cooked and started to come apart (this took about 2 hours for me).

Then I strained the broth, threw it back into the pot and shredded the chicken with some forks. I added 2 chopped carrots, 4 celery stalks and 2 onions into the broth with the shredded chicken and went to class leaving the soup on the lowest heat possible. I came back added more salt and pepper, the chilli flakes and basil and brought back up the heat until veggies were soft. Near the very end I threw in the pasta which also helped thicken the broth.

I think the only thing I would do differently next time is maybe add some grated ginger. But otherwise it was the perfect thing for a cold winter night and the sniffles.