Gypsy!

it's been such a while since i've posted - if i were on top of life, i'd post all the things we've done with our new home.  however, we got a puppy (!!!!!!) in december, and life has been fuller than ever!  so, i'll post about her.

please meet gypsy raine decarlo.  she's a purebred akita, and we received her 12/20/13.  she's now 4 1/2 months old, and has completely captured our hearts.

below is a picture of gypsy while still with her breeder.  knowing her as we do now, mike and i are sure she was grumbling when this shot was taking - our gypsy always has an opinion!

gypsy and mike, the first afternoon we had her - she was so scared, poor little love!!  that night, she cried almost the full 8 hours....i was texting my mom almost in tears, because her cries were so very sad.  it took over a week to get her accustomed to the crate, and almost a month to get her to sleep through the night.  two months later, we are SO glad for all that training - we say, "place" to gypsy, and she trots right over to her crate (place) and sits down to wait for her treat.  now, if only i could train her to help scrub potatoes for dinner....

mike thought of the shot below - very artistic!  we were preparing for an informal house-warming party, and i'd asked mike to fill our bucket with ice for the white wine and beer.  a few moments later, i popped my head out to see mike alternatively coaxing and forcing gypsy to stay in the bucket - and she looked so darn cute, i had to take a picture myself!

here we are holding our sweetie in our very own backyard - a year ago, i never thought by january we'd have already bought a house and own a dog!!!  

gypsy actually looks way bigger in the picture below than she actually was at the time (3 1/2 months) - but what a big puppy to be as long as my torso!!  now (at 47 lbs), she no longer likes for me to pick her up - she senses that i'm not quite strong enough to hold her well, and wraps her paws around my arm to hold on for dear life.  it's ok, gypsy - i gotcha!

 and lastly, a picture from earlier this week - 4 1/2 months, 47 lbs.  we are happy every day to have our powder-puff, and excited in this stage to see the pay-off of months of training.  we are currently taking her out to a new place each weekend (downtown alexandria, national harbor, etc.), to work on her responding to us even through distraction....and i am always so proud to be the girl walking with my hottie husband, next to the most gorgeous dog i've ever seen.  once gypsy's trained, maybe we'll work on cutting through my thick biases?  ;-)

that's our puppy!  we just love her to pieces.  you are such fun to have, gypsy raine!

Laundry Room Remodel

In the continuing saga of bettering our little cottage, we have begun work on our laundry room.  Our whole house is small (welcome to NOVA!), but the laundry room takes "small" to a whole new level - if one of us is standing in the room, then the other cannot walk through to get outside.  Yikes!  However, when you haven't had a waster/dryer in your home for a few years, even a squishy space seems like a dream come true.

We're in the process of replacing our water heater, going from a 30 gallon to a tankless (reclaiming that room, one square inch at a time!).  The first step was to remove the sink in the corner....follow along as Mike demolishes this relic (originally installed 1949):


After the first (very loud) hit.

He's so happy to be using his 10-lb sledgehammer on something.  :-)

Making some damage.

First of four sides gone.

 Annnd, second of four...

Third!

Flat bottom.

Suddenly we can see the skeleton!

 ....see it clearly!

It's gone!

 The remnants, piled up outside.

The most amazing thing about this demolition was that Mike did it all in the time it took me to clean up from dinner and prep tomorrow's smoothies and coffees - VERY impressive, babe!

Stay tuned for the next pieces of this mini remodel - removing the old water heater and converting / installing the new tankless one.  Get excited!  ;-)

Renovations

We bought a house! The past several months have been crazy for us - but the long and short is, we are now officially home owners! And we are incredibly happy to day that.....we love our little cottage. :-)

We got possession this past Friday night, and have been cranking out projects ever since. Refinishing the floors; digging up and re-mulching the front and side gardens; constructing a compost pile; touch up painting.....on and on.

Mike applying a coat of polyurethane to the floors.

Perhaps most exciting of all, though, was building railings for our back deck. Mike was the genius behind this, planning out ahead all the state requirements, geometry for the angles, cuts for the wood, on and on. Even I learned a bunch in how to construct a wood structure! It was a crazy ride, and we were so when it was done.

"Before" face

Before, facing deck

Before, from the side

Getting the posts up

The posts took a while....

And them I started helping, and we skipped ahead without pics - missing some of the slats and the railing here

It's done!!!

And by "done", I obviously mean except for the paint job. ;-) I'll post a pic of the true "after" once that's done.

We're tired, and very grateful!

CSA Recipes!

hello summer!  for a while, i've been wooed by the idea of CSA's (community supported agriculture, for the interested).  however, it wasn't until i found out that earth spring was going to have a drop point at my friend laura's house that mike and i started discussing the idea seriously.  it's intimidating to not know ahead of time what veggies you will receive - and what if you get super weird veggies that you've never heard of before, let alone seen in a recipe???

obviously, since i'm writing this blog post, we decided to go for it!  i wanted the extra push to keep trying new things (one of mike's biggest requests when it comes to meals - second to meat and ahead of pasta - is variety!), and when spread over 20 weeks of deliveries, the cost is reasonable.  we also got the fruit share - go big or go home, kids!

we got our first box yesterday, and i was ecstatically excited.  so.much.green.  radishes, collard greens, lettuce, spinach, spring onions, and KALE.  and a quart of strawberries, which i shamelessly snacked on while cooking up the other stuff!

so, over the course of the summer, i'm going to post here the recipes that i've tried and would recommend for these veggies.  enjoy!!

radishes
i used this recipe for whole foods on a budget for our radishes.  even though i greatly respect christy as a blog writer and cook, my hopes were not high - these are RADISHES.  my experience with radishes was low, but my judgment was high.....they always seemed like such odd vegetables.  however, i loved the idea of using the whole radish, and decided to give the recipe a shot!

we didn't have sunflower seeds, so i added a little bit of extra parmesan to the pesto.  also, i used a little extra butter (~1/2 T) while sauteing the diced radishes, and allowed them to brown.

IT WAS SO YUMMY.  the butter really did neutralize the radishes, giving them such a wonderful flavor and texture - we didn't have any meat, but you didn't need any!  i was so nervous about whether mike would go for this.....again, no meat......but he ate his in record speed, and started in on mine!  he reiterated his love for this recipe so much that i'm really hoping we get more radishes next week!!!  i plan to use the rest of the pesto on second batch of pasta with sliced steak over it.  i think that the pesto does need something "fatty" to offset it.

kale
i'm so behind the curve on this, but we made our first batch of kale chips!  i was torn between that and a kale salad recipe that my sister-in-law rocks at the family gatherings....but no regrets in trying this first.  annnnnd, mike loved this recipe, too!  we were like a couple of delinquent kids, standing at the stove, munching them straight off of the cookie sheet.

one tip: if they don't all crisp up (for us, the ones in the middle were piled too much on top of each other), pull out the crispy ones and spread the others back out - stick back in the over for ~3-5 minutes longer.

hurray for summery and healthy eating!

spring 2013

view of the monuments from gravelly point

spring!  we are so glad you are here.  i officially have my first sunburn of the season, so i think it's safe to say that winter is over.

what's new with us?  mike's applying to grad school, for a masters in applied economics!  he's been an absolute champ about studying for the GRE, which he'll take tomorrow afternoon.  while he would clearly be an asset to any masters program, the programs he is applying to are very competitive.  if he doesn't make it in, we'll be savoring our free time together even more, for having almost given it up.  and if he does.....hold on to your hats, because it will be a crazy ride!

my love, studying diligently.

we moved again, to a larger apartment within the same building (the new space is luxurious).  we've taken fewer trips in the past few months, but have had more home projects.  annnnd, we've become poser health-nuts!  ;-)  i'm doing the insanity work-out, and mike has started doing P90X again.  plus, we're into the world of smoothies.......and what a world it is, kids.

overall, we continue to be so blessed.  i'm not saying that there aren't disappointments and pain in between the highlights here....because, there have been.  the smiles don't capture it all.  but i can truly say that God was there in each of those low points....He keeps His promises.  it is an incredible honor to be one of His children.

lastly, a few pics from the last few weeks:

us in front of devils' den at gettysburg - my big smile is entirely due to mike holding me rather than the tragic story of that battle.

st. patty's day - green beer!!

cuddles during car ride home from king's dominion trip with andrew and suzanna.

new england clam chowder

this is it!  the last thursday soup post!  i'll continue to post recipes as i try new things, but this is my last recipe in queue.  thank you for reading, and for your comments as you tried them!

mike and i have had a bumpy road of communication within the cooking realm.  when we were first married, he never wanted to give me any negative feedback on my cooking.  later, we had to work on our communication - i always asked him to rate the dishes we ate on a scale of 1-10, but that wasn't the easiest way for him to tell me his thoughts on them.  we're continuing to learn how to talk to each other about cooking........i've learned better questions to ask, and mike is proactive now in giving feedback that i can assimilate.

which leads me to this chowder!  during one of my "i'm tired of cooking the same-old, same-old!" bursts, i asked mike to flip through my cookbook with me, and give me unfiltered thoughts on the soup recipes.  it helped me to learn my husband better!  i would not have guessed the recipes that he would be most excited about.  the leader of these is this recipe.  i made it first, because he was so anxious to try it.  it's lovely cooking for a man who is excited to eat what you're making!!  :-)

overall, we really enjoy this soup.  mike really likes it!!  i enjoy that it is not very fatty, and thick enough to be a filling lunch.  i would be more enthusiastic in my praise, but i want to be real!  i think that the zuppa toscana and chili are still our faves, and the chicken noodle is so healthy that i can hardly beat it.  but this is a fun one to toss into the mix, and is very tasty.  and what an easy way to do seafood!  ;-)

note 1: i use russet potatoes for this chowder; because i blend the majority of it, it has some similarity to mashed potatoes.  don't take that analogy too far, but russet potatoes lend themselves better to the texture i want.

note 2: i received an immersion blender for christmas, and it works like a DREAM with this chowder.  i made a fresh batch monday night, and with mike's help chopping the potatoes, it took less than 30 minutes, start to finish.  however!  if you don't have an immersion blender, you can easily get by without - just use a fork to mash the potatoes against the side of the pot.

note 3: i added 50% more clams than the original recipe called for.  also, my recipe below is double the original - feel free to halve!!

new england clam chowder

6 russet potatoes, cut into 1/2" - 1" cubes (if you have an immersion blender, you do not need to peel)
6 cans oysters (6.25 oz each)
1 large onion, diced, or 2 T onion powder
2 cups half-and-half
4 cups milk
1 T worcestershire sauce
2 t black pepper
1 T crushed thyme
2 T flour

1.  drain oysters, preserving the claim juice.  in total, you should have more than 3 cups liquid.  set clams aside.
2.  add potatoes, onion (or onion powder), claim juice, worcestershire sauce, pepper, and thyme to a large pot.  bring to a boil.  decrease heat to medium-low, and cook, covered, ~15 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.
3.  while the potatoes are cooking, combine milk, half-and-half, and flour in a large, microwave-safe bowl.  heat on low power (i used defrost) until the milk mixture is warm.  this step is not necessary, but will speed up step #5.
4.  once the potatoes are soft, blend the mixture in the pot with an immersion blender to desired consistency (if you would like no lumps in your chowder, blend entirely.  if you would like potato chunks, then blend 1/2 or 2/3 of total mixture).
5.  add milk mixture to the pot; bring to a low boil.
6.  add clams, and decrease heat to medium-low.  continue stirring for 1-2 minutes, until clams are heated through.

enjoy!  this recipe allows for half to be frozen; it freezes very well.

mom's chili

when mike and i were dating and engaged, i spent a lot of time at his parents' house - mom and pop were always welcoming.  so this story won't make sense unless you view it through the lens of a girl newly dating this great guy, with all the silly insecurities that can come with a new relationship.

i remember one evening i was hanging out in the basement with mike while he finished his stat homework.  when we came upstairs for dinner, the entire floor smelled fabulous!!!  mom had made chili.  not just any chili - HER chili.  and the reason i remember all of this so particularly was because it was the first time that i was "brave" enough to go for seconds......for some reason, i felt comfortable to bring my slippers over and wear sweats - but somewhere in my brain, going for seconds at dinner was intimate enough to be taboo.

not that night.  the chili was tooooo good.  i think my only concern was that andrew would finish off the pot before i could finish my first bowl and dash across the kitchen for more!

naturally, i begged mom decarlo for the recipe, and it has been my "safe" meal ever since.  you know, when you need to make something for company that you don't want to take any risk on??  that's this for me....especially since it lends itself easily to making large batches.  i now make this annually for dinner the night before thanksgiving for the black family, because they're as in love with it as i am.

note 1: the first time i made this recipe myself, i made a weeeeeee little mistake.  i swapped cayenne pepper in for chili powder.  fortunately, i halved the amount i added because it was becoming so much spicier than i'd remembered.  i've experimented a little bit since then, and the recipe below is as i make it now.  however, because mom's original version is golden, i wanted you to have the opportunity to make it purely based on that - to do so, swap out the cayenne pepper below for 6 t chili powder.

note 2: this chili is sweet and tangy; if you prefer your chili to just be beefy, this probably won't work for you!  it has a slightly sweet taste on the front end, with the spice heating you about a second after.  depending on how much cayenne pepper you use, it can be a powerful blaze!  ;-)  when serving to my family, i have my brother bring some of his favorite hot sauces so that everyone can "heat" it to their preference.

mom's chili

1 medium onion, minced
2 lbs ground beef
2/3 c ketchup
1/2 c water
2 T lemon juice
1 T sugar
1 1/2 t worchestershire
1 1/2 t salt
1 t apple cider vinegar
1/4 t dry mustard
45 oz. kidney beans (drained)
3 c tomato juice
2 t cayenne pepper

1.  in large pot, saute onion until it is clear.

2.  add the ground beef to the pot, and cook fully.

3.  add all other ingredients.  adjust heat to medium-high, and bring to a simmer.

this soup freezes well - i can't remember the last time that i didn't double or triple this recipe.  enjoy!!

winter life

i realized yesterday afternoon, mike and i haven't had a "just us" evening since january 1st.  glorious, friends/family filled month that it's been!!  but there is something about having time with just my mike; no rush, no schedule, no to-do......the most restful time i spend.  he's my best friend, you see.

consider this post an overarching update on our winter.  the big items are our travels - we've been to williamsburg multiple times, did a speed trip to boston, had our annual beach trip with the blacks over thanksgiving, and went to colorado with andrew and suzanna.  we are capitalizing on our "pre kids" stage of life!

our home nights are comprised of reading, drinking tea (after judging tea-drinkers for most of my life, i've joined their ranks - please post all jokes re: eating-your-words in the comments section below), playing games (we have quite the collection now!), and experimenting with stove-top and air-popped popcorn.  mmmm....i want to head home, just thinking about it!

battleship - do you remember playing this as a kid???

lessons learned this winter....
- we both CAN change, even when it seems to the other spouse that we never will.
- praying during a disagreement "magically" brings a solution closer - no, really!!  try it.  God is amazing, and so very kind.
- contrary to what we expect again and again, the recycling bin does not empty itself daily.
- mike loves me, and has my back.  i love mike, and have his back.  so simple, but difficult to believe sometimes.

happy winter from the decarlos!  thanks for stopping by!

zuppa toscana

at my last job, we had a group that regularly went to lunch together.  through this group, i tried my first sushi, tested new burger places, and took advantage of lunch specials near and far.  during this enjoyable feasting season, we would often go to olive garden and devour their soup, salad, and bread-sticks deal.  i discovered zuppa toscana for the first time, and fell in love!

when i pinned this recipe, i did so because it reminded me of that soup.  i pinned several others, but this one is the base of my own soup.  i didn't make this soup for our soup tasting night, but it was so yummy, i thought you'd forgive me doing it out of order.  ;-)

note 1: the original recipe calls for this to be made in the crockpot - how lovely!!!  as you'll see, i didn't take advantage of this option.....my own crockpot was busy all weekend with other tasks!  i have added a crockpot adaption of my recipe below; please note, i have not tried this specifically.

note 2: this soup is rich.  the cream shines through in its luxurious glory!  at some point, i may play with using some half-and-half or milk in place of the cream - this soup seems as though it could safely lose a little bit of that milk fat without suffering.

note 3: we LOVE this soup.  i went back for seconds even though i was full.  (shame on me!)  when asked, mike gave it a 9 or 10 out of 10.  his previous favorite, chili, came in second to this one!!!  i'll chalk some of that up to novelty, but still claim this one as a winner for us.

note 4: we used yukon gold potatoes, and i highly recommend using these for soups.  they are a very creamy potato, and do better in a broth than baked.  i also noticed that they cooked faster than the baking potatoes i've used.

zuppa toscana

1 1/4 lb spicy italian sausage

4 large or 6 medium yukon gold potatoes (so creamy!)

1 large or 2 medium onions, minced

1 1/2 T minced garlic

2 c frozen kale, chopped

4 c chicken stock

2 c water

1 c heavy whipping cream
1 T salt (optional)

1.  slice potatoes in half, then in 1/4 inch slices.  the potatoes are so soft, it won't matter that the pieces are a little bit large.
2.  brown sausage in large pot.  our sausage was in links; i sliced these open, and crumbled the meat before beginning to brown it.  cook fully.
3.  add onions to sausage; saute until clear or mostly clear.
4.  pour chicken stock and water into pot.  add garlic and potatoes.  bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer.  continue to simmer until the potatoes are fully cooked, ~10 minutes.  my potatoes did not take long to cook!
5.  use immersion blender to blend soup to desired creaminess - be careful not to lose all of your potato chunks.  alternatively, blend ~1/4 soup in blender, then stir back into the pot.
6.  add heavy whipping cream and kale.  turn up heat to medium high, stirring almost constantly.
7.  taste, and salt if necessary.  my stock has very little salt, so i almost always need to add a little bit.

crockpot aternative

1.  slice potatoes in half, then in 1/4 inch slices.
2.  brown sausage in large pot.  our sausage was in links; i sliced these open, and crumbled the meat before beginning to brown it.  cook fully.
3.  put sausage, chicken stock, water, garlic, potatoes, and onion into your crockpot.  cook on low for 6 hours.
4.  use immersion blender (or traditional blender) to blend a portion of the soup into desired creaminess.
5.  add kale and recover crockpot for 5 minutes.
6.  stir in whipping cream; taste; salt; serve!

let me know how you like this recipe!  also, if you have any tips for where to buy italian sausage that isn't already in link form, please leave me a comment!  i would love to skip the step of cutting open the sausage skins.  :-)

"Soup" post - from Vail!

We are in CO this week, so I don't have a recipe for you today. But, I will share a pic from earlier this week - I cannot get over the beauty of this state!!

I'll bring another recipe next week!

curried sweet potato chowder

remember when i said that not all of the recipes i made were home runs?  time to present you with the big flop - sweet potato chowder!  i so wanted this recipe to work, because mike really likes sweet potatoes, but......no cigar, kids.  it's another one from better homes and gardens cookbook, that unfortunately i played with.  but enough of the chagrin - let's get to the notes!

note 1: the recipe reminded me so much of a potato chowder i made last winter, that i added a step that the recipe did not detail.  i scooped out about 1/4 of the soup into my blender, in hopes of having something like a sweet potato chowder.  the result was something akin to baby food.  oh, how far from my intentions!  should you try this recipe, skip step 5 below.  this recipe should have stayed a soup rather than becoming a chowder.

note 2: i am posting the recipe i made, in part because none of the "fixes" i've since tried worked out perfectly.  i made a large batch, so each time i take some out of the freezer, i try different things to improve it.  adding more milk has been the biggest improvement (which has solidified my thought that i shouldn't have blended to begin with); i've also added more curry and cayenne pepper to help with the bland flavor.  mike often thinks that i overdo the cayenne pepper, but in the case of this soup, he said that the spicy was a good contrast to the sweet potato flavor.

(this soup made me so sad that i wasn't even motivated to take a flattering picture of it! *sad*)

curried sweet potato chowder

6 medium sweet potatoes, cubed
1 large onion, diced
4 c milk
3 t curry powder
1 t cayenne pepper

1.  boil sweet potatoes in a large pot until mostly tender - be careful not to over cook.  drain the water, and set aside.
2.  saute onion in a large pot until clear; drop heat to low.
3.  gently fold sweet potatoes into sauteed onions, then add the milk.
4.  turn heat up to medium, and stir vigilantly.  i found that this mixture was prone to burning, so be careful to scrape your spoon against the entire bottom of the pot.  bring to a boil, then drop heat to medium-low.
5.  scoop 1/4 of soup into a blend; blend until smooth and add back to pot.
6.  add curry and cayenne pepper.

this soup freezes very well, and smells good.  ;-)  i'm sorry to give it such a rough rating here - if you have tried something similar and it worked for you, please leave a comment with your tips!!

sausage lentil soup

i hope that everyone had a great Christmas!  we had a full and wonderful holiday - and have already taken down our decorations!  when you live in an efficiency, the pull of having a few square feet of floor space back can outweigh nostalgia.  ;-)

and now for a soup!  this was my "first" soup to make as an adult.  a friend of mine gave me a copy of the better homes and gardens cookbook for Christmas one year, and it has since become my favorite cookbook.  the recipe below, primarily based off of one from that cookbook, is especially beloved by me because it nursed me through mono - it did!  i swapped in spinach and turkey sausage, and it was the only thing i ate for two and a half weeks.  love it!!

note 1: the picture below shows carrots and celery as the veggies includes; however, i also LOVE this soup with spinach.  frozen works just fine!  also, like a lot of soups, it's very forgiving - i often add 50%-100% more vegetables than the recipe calls for, simply because i have them on hand and want to use them up.  go crazy!!  ;-)

note 2: mike always wants beef sausage, so i usually use that - however, i found that turkey sausage works extremely well with this soup.  sometimes i use half beef, half turkey, and when i want to go healthy (like when i had mono!), i use turkey.  it feels so gentle to digest.

note 3: cayenne pepper - what a wonderful spice!  add a wee bit, and suddenly you have an interesting soup no matter what else you add!  ;-)  i often add more than the 1/2 teaspoon listed below; if you choose to add more, go slow!  i've learned that it is easy to go too spicy by adding one 1/4 teaspoon too many.  

 

sausage lentil soup

6 cups chicken stock
1 1/2 cups brown lentils, rinsed
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped onion
2 T minced garlic
1 pound of sausage
1/2 t cayenne pepper
2 t salt

1.  saute garlic and onion in large pot, until the onions are clear.
2.  add chicken stock and vegetables to the pot; bring to a simmer.  cook 10-15 minutes, until vegetables are tender.
3.  add sausage, lentils, cayenne pepper, and salt; heat through.

this recipe freezes and microwaves very well.  as a tip re: freezing, if you wait more than 2 days to freeze after making, i found that the taste isn't quite as good.

typing this out makes me want to make a batch tonight - enjoy!!

chicken noodle soup "from scratch"

welcome to thursday!  our first soup up is chicken noodle.  after reading lots of reviews, i settled on using this recipe as my base.  the picture above is also from that recipe - my soup ended up looking very similar to it.

i'll start with my notes before jumping into the recipe itself, as it has been updated per these notes.  always incorporate the things you've learned, right??

overall review: mike and i love this soup.  our "raters" at our soup night gave it very good reviews.  it's so simple that i would be hesitant to serve it to company, but it will be forever on my recipe rotation from now on!  mike is always excited when i pull it out for dinner, or for his lunch.  yay!  :-)

note 1: i love, love, love making stock.  a friend encouraged me to try it, and see for myself how easy it is - and after the first time, i'm a believer!  it's free (you use things you would have otherwise thrown away), and better for you than canned broth.  that being said, if stock isn't on your radar right now, just swap it out for broth!

note 2: i didn't add any oil or salt to soup, and didn't miss them.  however, many of the recipes i perused would have recommended adding 1 teaspoon oil and 1 1/2 teaspoon salt to a recipe like this.

note 3: i didn't cook my noodles before adding them to the soup, and i so wish i had.  they sopped up so much of the broth as they cooked, that the consistency was more like a casserole than a soup.  mike and i have still gobbled it down like crazy, but that is the last time i will put uncooked noodles into a soup!

note 4: i used a whole rotisserie chicken.  i KNOW.  i read in a review that you do this instead of chicken breast, for extra flavor, and diversity of meat.  the reviewer recommended dropping the whole thing in for a bit, so that the skin could give the soup its flavor, before chopping it up.  it was a hassle, but i do think that it added a lovely bit of depth to the soup's flavor.  if this sounds like a pain to you, swap the rotisserie chicken with 3 cups of diced, cooked chicken breast.

without further ado, here's the recipe!

chicken noodle soup "from scratch"

2 1/2 cups of wide egg noodles
12 cups of chicken stock/broth
1 teaspoon basil
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 1/2 cup chopped celery
1 1/2 cup chopped carrots
1 1/2 cup chopped onions
1/3 cup corn starch
14 cup water
1 rotisserie chicken

1.  cook egg noodles per bag's instructions; set aside.
2.  saute onions and garlic in large pot.  once the onion is clear, add the stock, basil, bay leaves, and pepper; bring to a boil.
3.  add the celery, carrots, and rotisserie chicken to the stock, and reduce heat.  cook ~15 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender.
4.  remove the rotisserie chicken from the stock and dice; i threw away the skin.  save your bones for future stock!!  ;-)  toss the meat back into the soup.
5.  mix the corn starch and water together, and gradually add to the soup.
6.  stir in the noodles.

this recipe microwaves well.  pull it out for lunch during a grouchy workweek, or when the weather is just too darn cold outside.  i do not, however, recommend freezing it - the noodles get a little soggy.  enjoy!!

thursday is soup day!

i love making soups.  they are comforting and cheap, easy to freeze, perfect for recipe doubling.  which means my sunday nights consist of me pulling a bag out of the freezer, rather than panicking over what i'll feed mike for lunch that week.  valuable stuff!

so i found a bunch of soup recipes to test, and we invited several of our friends over to test them out - how else do you try new recipes??  naturally, our friends were asked to rate the recipes:

it was so much fun!!

so over the next several thursdays, i'll post a soup recipes here on my blog, complete with any applicable notes/critique/praise.  be forewarned, at least one of the recipes was a non-repeat!  keeping it real.  ;-)

for today, i'll give you a very valuable link.  i made 4 batches of this pho recipe this past weekend.  it's fabulous!!  not so fabulous that we won't go out for pho on occasion, but it's certainly our current favorite soup.  notes on this recipe:

- best part: you can do it in your crockpot.  

- second best part: you can buy a spice pack for pho at an asian market.  so for those of us out there who don't have star anise + other obscure spices lying around, this is a sweet cheat!  one spice pack costs about $1, and an asian market is one of the best places to pick up beef bones anyway.  now that i know we love this recipe, i plan to stock up on all those obscure spices - but this is a great option for a first try.

- tip #1: be careful not to add too much water to your crockpot - i had  too much water in my water-bones ratio, and my broth wasn't strong enough.  if this happens to you, pick up some pho bullion at an asian market - just add a little bit at a time til it's perfect!

- tip #2: buy steak sub beef instead of trying to do the super-thin slices yourself.

- other thoughts: since we now know we love this recipe, we also bought some sriracha (hot sauce), hoisin sauce (sweet), as well as pho bowls at our asian market.  the bowls were less than $7 each, and now we can have proper servings of this yummy broth without using my serving bowls.  ;-)  also, having the sriracha and hoisin sauce on hand really made it feel closer to restaurant-quality pho.

if you have any questions, or need some encouragement to give this recipe a try, leave me a comment!  youuuuu can dooooo it!!!  ;-)

Messina, Sicily

in a flurry of craziness, half of the group boarded a bus to head to the ship.  our eyes drank in the italian scenery, and several of us tested our cameras' capabilities of capturing shots while inside a car going 60+ mph.  below is our best one:

with mike on the other side of the camera, how could i not smile besottedly??  ;-)

 we came into a small town, and dropped our speed significantly.  at first, we couldn't quite see the ships, but could enjoy the many different national flags:

THE WATER!!!!  it's amazing our bus didn't tip, with all of us wanting a sight of the mediterranean 

we managed to board the ship safely - everyone ended up scattered about because of the queuing system.  muv and dad got into a priority line, which the rest of us were excluded from.  eli travels a lot from work, and thus usually benefits from first-class treatment; he was adorably rattled and confused to be lumped with the rest of us in regular lines.

there are still moments when i'm happily surprised to remember that mike and i are married......when we were dating and engaged, we would sign in for any registration separately.  now, when he signs in, i stand next to him as his wife - i am mrs. michael decarlo.  this was one of those moments when i remembered afresh, that for the rest of our days, i get to stand next to him.  i don't have any pictures, but there was a very happy girl holding tightly to her husband's hand in that port that afternoon.

monday morning, we docked in messina, sicily.  dad had arranged for an excellent tour guide to meet us at the port, with a driver. he was fascinating!  i believe he used to be a professor; his manner of explaining things to a group certainly was polished and easy to follow.

below are pictures from our drive up to mt. etna:

beautiful buildings in messina as we drove through:

 

 i love taking pictures of people taking pictures - a quirk of mine!!  i think anita's eyes were focused inside the bus for less than 5 minutes of the trip. ;-)

 

 

 

we stopped about halfway up the mountain to stretch our legs, and view the memorial below to mary, which was built to thank her for stopping the lava.  while i do not credit mary for this, it was a beautiful statue, especially surrounded by so much lush green.

 

 nearby the statue was a stand selling honey - wonderful honey!!  there were several different flavors - you cannot understand how much flavor can add to honey til you've had it.  initially, i think our group wanted to buy the entire stand....it was so, so very good!  warmed from the sun, refreshing, deep, wonderful flavors.  however, future interviews with customs floated through our minds, and limited our purchases.

with our spirits lifted by the honey, our group set out to explore!

 here dad is trying to pretend that he doesn't just adore his son-in-law! mike, muv and i weren't thrown off at all.  ;-)

 

in the time it took me to focus the camera on mike and dad, a third of our group was a quarter mile away, perched on rocks.  here are eli and jessi - close to each other, but independent.  i think standing on your own rock lends to independence.

remember this picture, as it is one of the few i have of anita sans camera:

peter:

muv, resting and enjoying everyone's laughter:

cuddles with my favorite guy? yes, please!!

 i love this picture. the stone is so part of the countryside.

 if i recall correctly, mike and liz and tony were slightly reluctant to come back to the bus.  can you blame them?  look at that view!!

peter is not a fan of having his picture taken.  jackie and i had to coax him for this shot - though, as usual, jackie's sass steals the show!

just peter - love, love him!

muv and mike:

 

none of us wanted to re-board the bus.  isn't it funny - we were all so excited to see mt. etna, but it's hard to stop savoring any single part of the experience.

however, re-board we did!  and we made it to the top.  below are views from the little town at the top of mt. etna:

 

  

 sometimes, i think muv must be part mary poppins - i swear her purse has magic qualities!  i'm not sure exactly where her umbrella came from, but given the bright sun, it was a "brilliant" idea.  isn't she dear, chilling there?

walking towards the crater, showing a little leg.....there are so few non-awkward poses when you're posing alone!

now, i know you'll be skeptical of this - but i was clinging to mike here because of necessity rather than purely preference!  it was so windy up there!!

this was hilarious.  eli and tony sprinted down into the bottom of the crater - one minute, we were all up around the edge, and the next minute, there was a cloud of dust as they raced each other to the bottom.  if you know tony, this doesn't surprise you at all.  but eli is a little more likely to watch other peoples' craziness than to dive right in - seeing him so enthralled made me laugh from happiness!!

here they are, the conquerors of.....the crater.

the king(s)!!!

as the rest of the group followed eli and tony, dad asked our tour guide if most of his groups did this.  staring at the dust we were all kicking up, he replied, no - this is the first time a group has done this.

i couldn't stop taking pictures of eli - he was so full of spunk!

while the rest of us were inside the crater, peter chilled at the furthest edge, looking down at us in a rather gargoyle manner:

look at that view!!  we were so blessed with our weather that day!  what a sky!

 me at the edge of the crater, looking down into the valley, feeling the wind:

 and now, clinging again to my mike - just for safety, you understand.

i believe this was that age-old game of "let's see how close we can get to the edge before we fall":

the sensation of power from that crater was exhilarating.  to think of lava coming from that place was humbling; now, we could stand there.  the wind and view made me feel as though every sense was experiencing it - the feel of the fine lava dust, the sight of the valley before us, the sound of the wind as it tried to push us over, the fresh smell of mountain air, the taste of excitement.  and if you would like to tell me that you can't taste excitement, then my only response can be that if you were up there, you would have been able to, too.

now, i have to apologize for the next picture.  there was a little cafe next to the crater - we just needed a light lunch because we would be having dinner on the ship in a few hours.  i ordered the pistachio ravioli, and had no idea what i was about to experience.  it was so gorgeously amazing, i devoured it before our camera could snap a picture.  what you see below is just the part that i was too self-conscious to lick from the plate.....believe me when i say that you are looking at sauce that used to cover the.best.ravioli.in.the.world.

i love him.  i wish we could go back to mt. etna every year, just to see eli having such fun!!

good bye, messina.  we so, so enjoyed you!!