Measure up

I've been admiring these growth charts that look like giant rulers, for my boys room.

  I came across this one from Just Something I Made.  It's a free printable!  I just printed it off, taped it together and then took it to my local copier to have it laminated.

 So easy and super cute!  I've marked all my kids current heights and am happy to have a way to record their growth.

Chipotle Pumpkin Soup

Picture via Elise at Simply Recipes

Oh my this soup was so yummy! I found it here via Pinterest I love soups in the fall and I love spicy food so I got two of my favorite things in one! I used the canned pumpkin and did 6 cups of chicken broth. It was the perfect consistency once I ran my immersion blender through it. I used 2 adobe peppers so it was a little to spicy to feed to the kids so next time I will add the peppers or chipotle powder slowly and taste it as I go. It was so good topped with cilantro!

Chipotle Pumpkin Soup Recipe


If canned chipotle in adobo is not available, you can use chipotle powder, start with one teaspoon and increase to taste. If chipotle powder is not available, use 1/2 teaspoon of regular chili powder, increasing to taste, and a dash of liquid smoke. Note that fresh pumpkins vary in their moisture content, so you may need to add more liquid, either water or stock, to get to the consistency you want, depending on how thick or thin you would like your soup to be.

Ingredients

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, chopped

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1-2 chipotle peppers (canned in adobo, 1 for mild, 2 for spicy), chopped

8 cups chopped, cooked pumpkin* (1 7-8 pound cooking pumpkin to yield 8 cups cooked pumpkin, or 3 15-ounce cans of canned pumpkin)

4 to 6 cups chicken stock, depending on desired thickness and how thick your pumpkin purée is (use vegetable stock for vegetarian option, can sub water for some of the stock)

1 teaspoon dried oregano or 1/2 teaspoon ground oregano

2 teaspoons salt, more to taste

2 Tbsp lime juice

Garnishes:
Toasted, shelled pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
Cilantro
Creme fresca, creme fraiche or sour cream thinned with a little water so that it's runny

*To cook fresh pumpkin, use a good cooking pumpkin (i.e. sugar pumpkin, fairytale pumpkin, hubbard, or kabocha pumpkin), cut in half, scoop out the seeds, place the pumpkin cut side down on a foil-lined, rimmed baking sheet. Bake at 350°F for about an hour, or until soft. Scoop out the pumpkin flesh or cut away the skin. Let cool. Freeze for long term storage.

Method

1 Heat oil in a large pot (8-quart) on medium high heat. Add the onions and cook for 3-4 minutes, until softened. Add the garlic, cumin, and chipotle, cook for 1 minute more.

2 Add the pumpkin, chicken stock, oregano, and salt. Bring to a simmer, reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes, partially covered.

3 If you are working with raw pumpkin seeds, now would be a good time to toast them. (If your pumpkin seeds are already toasted, skip this step.) Just spread them out in an even layer in a frying pan on medium high heat. Stir with a wooden spoon while toasting, until the pumpkin seeds are fragrant and are lightly browned. Remove to a bowl.

4 Remove the soup from heat. Working in batches of 2 cups each, purée the soup in batches, holding down the lid the your blender tightly while puréeing, and starting on a slow speed. Return the puréed soup to the pot.

5 Add lime juice. Adjust seasonings to taste, adding more salt, cumin, oregano, or chipotle to taste. If the soup is too thick, add more stock or water to desired consistency.

Serve with toasted pumpkin seeds (pepitas), crema fresca drizzled over the top, and chopped cilantro.
Yield: Makes 2 to 2 1/2 quarts.

Taco Soup

here is another yummy and easy soup recipe.  it took 15 min to make. i served

it with corn bread....yum!

 

 

Turkey Taco Soup

 

1 lb ground turkey

1 medium onion, chopped

cook together until turkey is cooked.

Add:

1-8oz can tomato sauce

1-10oz can rotel tomatoes with green chillies

1-15oz can corn, drained

1-15 oz can kidney beans, drained

1-16oz can refried beans

1 pkg taco seasoning

2 1/2 c chicken broth

 

Simmer on med-low for 15 min or until your corn bread is done!

Top the bowls of soup with chips, green onion, sour cream, grated cheese, avacados, or whatever you like....

 

this recipe is from a blog called skinnytaste.  you can make it healthier by using low sodium, low fat versions.

Scripture Paper dolls

To go along with Anna's quiet pouches I found these scripture paper dolls on The Redheaded Hostess' site.  She is a seminary teacher for our church and has great references for scripture study etc - that could be used for anyone.  I thought these dolls would be great in one of the pouches - maybe minus the background?

Hair pretties

 These top ones are flowers and butterflies that Gram crochet, a long time ago.

These were cute scrapbooking embelishments that were gifted by my girlfriend for my b-day. I finally got to the beauty supply to get aligator clips to make the pretties. My 4 yr old and I had a crafting party, we jammed out to disney music on Pandora, snacked on raw almonds and she helped me hot glue the ribbon and embelishments to the clips. It was a wild, wild party.

pumpkin from a book

i saw these on pintrest and decided they would be fun to make with my program. they loved\

how they turned out. so fun and easy...

Earings

 I had some buttons, I thought they were cute enough to wear on my ears so I made Earings. I am so creative!

Quiet Pouches

I'd like to take a moment to introduce myself. I'm Anna, I'm the one in Minnesota. A little history about me. I used to craft and create A LOT and then I had a baby, I lost all desire and time to do any creating well I just got that itch back! Oh did I mention my baby is 16 months old. Wow! Kinda like loosing the baby weight right? Oh wait am I the only one that works their toosh off and the weight just starts to come off 14 months post pardom? Sorry I just got side tracked, back to the creating. I'm doing it again but starting slow.

Since said 16 month old is now a toddler and a bit of a handful at times, especially in situations like church I decided I needed to do something new for our church bag. The cars I had in the bag for him were not cutting it and so NOT quiet. I found this via Pinterest, and knew that would be the perfect idea.


So I gathered things we already had at home and bought 6 pouches for 97 cents a piece at walmart.

                          Lacing dress up Dolls (did I mention I have 4 yr old Daughter too?)

                              Dry erase board and Crayons. I stuck in a microfiber wipe to wipe off the crayon.

                                More gender nuetral lacing cards

                            Lottle notebooks, fun pens, rubber stamps, and stickers

                                                                       Finger puppets

Velcro fabric dress up dolls.

I also have little puzzles, lacing beads, little plastic animals, matching games, tiny books that I switch out week to week. There are endless ideas of things to fill these bags with. So far it has worked great and my kids are occupied and quiet ;)

Soup's On!

I've been anxious to make soup. I found this recipe online. It is Yummy!

 

Vegetable, White Bean, and Orzo Soup

 

1-2 t evoo

1/2 sweet onion, diced

3 carrots, diced

3 stalks celery, diced

1/2 t basil

1/4 t oregano

heat oil on medium heat and add the above ingredients and cook 5-6 min then add:

2 cloves minced garlic

cook for a minute and add:

6 c chicken broth

1 15 oz can diced tomatoes, drained

1 15 oz can cannellini beans, drained

salt and pepper to taste

cover and cook for 30 min til veggies are tender and add:

1/2 c orzo

cook 8 min and add:

1 c zuchinni, diced

1 c yellow squash, diced

2 c fresh spinach

cook for 2 more min or so

ladle it into bowls and put feta cheese on top

 

I used only 4 c broth, tomatoes from the garden, and two cans of beans

It has 19g protein in each serving.  Better than meat, if you ask me!

Back to Creating - and recipe

Ok so it's been far too longs since I've actually made something to share!  I have a long list of projects to finish this fall/winter and hopefully will be posting many soon.  I've added a list of my projects to be done on the side bar - to hold me accountable to finish them. Also new to the sidebar are our Pinterest boards for you to look at.  For now here is a yummy recipe for Olive Garden's Zupa Tuscana soup, a family favorite around here:

*Update: you can cook this in the slow cooker! pre-cook the sausage then place everything but cream and kale in the cooker on high for 3-4 hours. Turn it off add cream and kale, replace lid until warmed through.

i've been sewing....

i got the quilt for my guest bed done so i decided to embroider and sew up

a pitllow for the bed and i even made a little baby ensamble for one of the babies

coming up... one better be a girl!