A little Friday afternoon redecorating

Well, thanks to my new found obsession with Pintrest, I came across a pin yesterday that I looooved and had pretty much all the pieces for!  This morning i just went out and got a floating shelf (why are those things always so hard to install?!) and some spray paint.

Before of the wall:

Voila!  It's hanging over the chest with my TV on it...

The colors are a little off in the pictures, thanks to my crappy camera, but what do you think?  Success or unnecessary holes in the wall?

Soup, Stew, oh I love you!

It’s a rainy day in the neighborhood…  so that means I’m spending the day in my sweatpants inside!  I got tired of sitting in front of the TV, so I decided to get up and do a little cooking.  I’ve officially depleted my homemade frozen soups, so I needed to make more.  I made the squash soup I wrote about back in November, but this time I subbed plain Greek yogurt for the cream to make it a little healthier.  This is probably the best soup I’ve ever made!

To keep the cooking trend going, I decided to tackle a beef soup recipe I’ve had my eye on for a while now.  This recipe is from William Sonoma, The Weeknight Cook cookbook (slightly modified).  If anyone is looking for a cookbook with easy to make and very delishious meals, I highly recommend this!  There is a hardback version with main and side dishes and a binder version with starter recipes (sauces, doughs, etc), mains, sides, and desserts.  You will have people thinking you’re a gourmet chef after making something from here!

Hungarian Beef Stew (4-6 servings)

2 Tbs Olive Oil

2 lb Boneless beef chuck, fat trimmed, and cut into 1 ½ inch pieces

2 large yellow onions, chopped

salt and pepper to taste

3 cloves garlic

1 ½ Tbs paprika

2 Tbs tomato paste

4 cups chicken broth

1 lb new potatoes

1 cup baby carrots, cut in half

Ingredients!

1. In Dutch oven or large pot over high heat, warm olive oil.  Add beef and onions, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring frequently, until the beef is browned and onions begin to caramelize, about 10 minutes.

The beef & onions braising!

2. Stir in garlic, paprika, and tomato paste.  Add the broth, bring to a boil, reduce heath to low, cover and braise about 1 hour.

Baby new potatoes & baby carrots!

3. Add the potatoes and carrots, and continue to braise covered until the vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes.  Serve or cool completely and freeze.

Cooling down!  This isn't the best picture, but it's the best my cell phone camera could do!

Now, for the beef I used the already cut up “for stews” beef chunks, rather than a whole slab of beef, just seemed a lot easier.  As for the tomato paste, seems like all you ever need is 1-2 tablespoons, but you have to buy a big can or tube.  I don’t use it enough, but I hate to throw away good food!  So, I store the leftovers in 2-3 tablespoon portions, I put portions in separate corners of a baggie, then freeze.  Then when I need some again, I just pull out the one chunk and thaw.

Tomato paste ready to be frozen!

The mailman just dropped by a gluten free cookbook I ordered ($2, heck yeah Amazon!), the new Better Homes & Gardens magazine, and a Burpee catalogue… I think I’ll spend the rest of my afternoon deciding what new recipes to make next and creating hypothetical dream gardens!

T minus 2.5 hours until trivia, Goooo Clark W Griswold, Jr. you can do it!!

Internet heaven

Hello, my name is Anne and I am a pintrest addict!

Seriously, whoever invented Pintrest is AMAZING! I get lost on that site for hours on end and have to force myself to put the computer down.  I won't let myself start a board, because I know I'll just spend more time than I already do on there, but I love browsing others!

If you haven't tried Pintrest, check it out!

Buddy the Elf, what's your favorite color?

Is your house on fire Clark?  No, Aunt Bethany, those are the Christmas lights!

I just love Christmas movies... Christmas Vacation, Elf, Love Actually (ok, not completely a Christmas movie), and the original Grinch Who Stole Christmas are my favorites.  I love putting on a holiday movie or music and decorating!

The one thing I really miss in a house is a fireplace.  Not only for the warm and cozy glow, but mostly because I have no mantle to decorate! So I gotta figure out something else instead.

Now, I don't go all out like my man Clark W. Griswold, Jr., but I like to have a touch of something in every room.  Behold

My (fake) tree!

My Hokie Tree!

Arraignment on my coffee table

My dining table (I need a table cloth or something)

A little snowman and jar of ornaments for the guest room

A Santa hanging on the mirror in my room

Those turkeys were wobblin down the field!

Well, my Hokies tried.... sort of.  I guess I can't whine about it too much, we did lose to Clemson once already this year, I was just hoping for some redemption.  Instead, we got a slaughter!

Until next year (or the bowl game in a few weeks!) Gobble Gobble bitches :o)

Gobble, Gobble, Pepper Spray!

I was so full from yummy Thanksgiving food, I couldn’t even make it to the computer to blog about it!!  For the past couple of years we have had a pretty small Thanksgiving family (small because there are only like 15 out of 1039230943409582304 family members present).  Well, this year we had a bit of change… up to Greene County (looks sophisticated, pronounced like gray-na kay-nee as the locals do it).  Got to start off the day by listening to the “shoot-em up house” (as my mom calls it) hunt for their turkey (or squirrel or sister/wife or whatever they were after).  Nothin’ like some shot gun blasts to start off the day!  Long story short, had a great feast with some great Marshalls and Thompsons! 

Best part?

TOY STORY! Yahzee with Bailey.

Fully tummy, lots of sleep, final hour of Gone with the Wind, day is done!  Then Black Friday happens… Black Friday is what I think hell is like.  A bunch of people fighting each other over crap that doesn’t matter and totally forgetting any sense of decorum and humanity.  I don’t care if the 300” Plasma is free, you will never find me in line at Walmart at midnight (or ever anyways…).  No siree!

 

About mid-day I had a massive need to decorate for Christmas, an activity I refuse to do before December 1^st.  I decided it would be morally appropriate to put up some lights outside (after all, they just say “shiny and pretty” not “Jesus season”) and make some kind of winter festive center piece.  Being that I had neither, I thought I’d venture out to find some lights.  I figured I’d drive by Target and if they were crazy I’d just go to Ben Franklin or somewhere less “black Friday mania”.  Well, Libbie Target at noon looked like Libby Target any old day, so I ventured in!  Not only were there plenty of their big ticket sale items left, but the store was so nice and calm!  I skipped over the electronics and just went for the Holiday Décor section (with a short detour through kitchen goods).  I made it out with being beat-up or pepper sprayed... I guess the Commonwealth really does have more class than those crazy Californians (they are lovin some pepper spray in LA this week!)  I got some outdoor lights, a sparkly table runner, some random festive décor, and candles to make a holiday centerpiece.  Lights are up, center piece is made, now I just need to get y’all some dang pictures!

(Come back later peeps for some pictures, dang!)

I’m now officially excited for Thursday night when I can watch my main man Dwight Shrute while I decorate the house!

For now, I think I’ll get back to work before I get caught blogging on the job J

It's a BEAUTIFUL day in the Commonwealth!

If you don’t live in Virginia… you have no idea what you’re missing this time of the year!  Sure, the weather can have Bipolar features at times (80 one day, snowing the next)… but it’s days like today that remind you why Virginia is the best state around!  I think those Jamestown folks settled here because of the weather (or maybe the friendly natives, fertile soil, and flowing rivers could have had something to do with it too).  It’s 70 degrees outside, a subtle breeze, and sunny skies!  The trees that still have leaves are on fire with color and look amazing.  Then there are the leaves on the ground, not so amazing :o(

So, I figured I’d capitalize on this nice day and rake and bag those unsightly dead lives on the ground.  Nice way to spend the day outside, but boy am I tired now!!  I only did the backyard- 7 bags worth… the front yard is an entirely different story… I’ll save that for another day.

After a hard day’s work, I needed to refuel in preparation for my difficult afternoon nap (haha!).  Yesterday I slaved away in the kitchen for a few hours and made Gluten Free Banana Nut Bread (yum yum yummy!) and a HUGE pot of squash soup.  IT IS AMAZING… between the soup and this weather, I’m in fall heaven today!  Here’s the recipe, I highly suggest giving it a whirl, it’s more than worth it!

Creamy Squash Soup, serves 8

1 butternut squash, cut lengthwise

1 acorn squash, cut lengthwise

4 tsp olive oil

2 carrots, coarsely chopped

2 celery stalks, coarsely chopped

1 medium onion, coarsely chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

   salt & pepper to taste

¾ tsp cayenne pepper

6 cups vegetable broth

8oz whipping cream

3 tsp fresh cilantro, lightly chopped

1.   Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Drizzle insides of squash halves with about 2 tbs olive oil, place face down on baking sheet, and bake for about 35 minutes or until tender.  Remove from oven to cool.  Scoop meat from squash when cooled (this part can be done well in advance, just refrigerate until ready to make the soup).

2.   Sauté carrots, celery, and onion in remaining olive oil in large stock pot until tender.  Add garlic and season with salt and pepper.  Add cayenne pepper.  Sauté 2-3 minutes.

3.   Add squash and vegetable broth to stock pot, stir.  Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

4.   Use an immersion blender, food processor, or regular blender to puree entire pot.  Return to pot and stir in whipping cream (or leave this out for a lower calorie/fat version).  Keep on low heat until ready to serve.  Top with cilantro.

5.  Package and freeze the remainder for yummy goodness 

Behold: