White Bean Dip

I made this recipe this morning for a work pot luck - I adapted it from Giada De Laurentiis's recipe from the Food Network website. Super quick, easy, and healthy.

One can of cannellini beans, rinsed

1/4 cup olive oil, adding more to get wanted consistency

1/2 Lemon (juiced and the zest)
2 Garlic cloves

Salt

Pepper

Dill

Mrs. Dash Lemon Pepper Seasoning

*The last four ingredients, add your desired amount

All of these ingredients get blended - continue to add olive oil or a few tablespoon's of water to mixture to get desired thickness

Once in a bowl, add a swirl of olive oil, a few squeezes of lemon juice, and dill. 

You're done! Serve with pita's, chips, or veggies 

enjoy!

e.l.l.

Holiday vases

Last Christmas, I spent a lot of time doing holiday decorations for our house... Now that we're planning on buying and kind of growing out of our rental house, I'm taking the time to enjoy the decor we already have vs. making more and not knowing where it'll all go next holiday season!


Here's a late post from last seasons craft:

All you need is - 
-glue gun
-vases
-ribbon
-rocks
-I used fake flowers

All you need to do is wrap your ribbon around the vases in a way that it'll lay flat,

Glue the ribbon in a few places - making sure you glue on the SIDE and NOT on the bottom of the vase - gluing on the bottom will make it tipsy and not sit flat,

With hot glue, glue a few of the flower heads to your vase in a pattern that makes sense with the shape and size of the vase,

Add the rocks to the bottom, place your flowers (I kept mine together with twist ties), and you're done!

enjoy,

e.l.l.

Apple Cinnamon Pancakes

Weekend breakfasts are my favorite - it's the one time a week my husband and I can work together in the kitchen, talk about the week, and make plans for our weekend. This is the first weekend of his semester break and I cannot wait to enjoy more time together and less time working on homework or rushing around to get things done... This morning we made apple cinnamon pancakes that are quick and easy - made without the box powder :)


Ingredients:

1 cup oatmeal
1/4 cup yogurt
1 medium egg
Cinnamon
1 peeled and diced apple
Milk - any amount you want for the thickness of your cakes

In a blender, mix all ingredients. I add milk as a blend to get the consistency of cakes I want :) Batter is complete!

On a griddle, pour out your mix into the size of pancakes you want - the ones we made this morning were fairly thick, so they didn't bubble like a pancake normally would to let you know it's ready to be flipped - if this happens, just keep an eye on the edges of the pancake, once they're cooked it's ready to be flipped.

Flip them once more to make sure they're golden on each side and you're done!

In this recipe, the apple can easily be replaced with any other fruit, banana's are great as well as strawberries or blueberries! If using a banana, add more milk as the banana keeps the batter fairly thick!

Enjoyed with turkey breakfast sausage :)

Enjoy!

e.l.l.

Spicy Bell Pepper Soup

Each week, I make it a goal to make at least one soup... they're easy enough to heat up for when only one of us is home or when wanting something small for lunch. I'm on a huge soup and sandwich kick!

This bell pepper soup is one of my husbands favorite... here's the recipe :)
- 3 bell peppers
- garlic
- large onion
- olive oil
- serrano or chili pepper
- horseradish
- chicken stock
- milk
- paprika
- basil
- thyme
- Mrs. Dash table blend
- tomato paste - optional
- salt
- pepper 

1. Start by slicing three bell peppers in half,  removing the seeds. Drizzle with olive oil on a baking pan, broil until blacked. Once blackened, throw in a paper or Ziploc bag for 10 minutes 

or so to let the peppers sweat. 

2. While peppers are sweating - dice one large onion, a serrano or chili pepper, and dice your garlic if using fresh cloves.

3. Preheat olive oil in large pot - once hot, add your onion, serrano pepper, and garlic. Saute till onions becomes translucent.

4. While onions are sweating, peel your

 bell peppers. Using a spoon, the skins

 should easily  peel  off. Once peeled, 

dice into small pieces. 

5. Next, add your spices - I used horseradish, paprika,

 basil, thyme, salt, pepper, and Mrs. Dash's table blend. Use your desired amounts of whichever spices you life the most!

6. After letting the spices sweat with the onion mixture, add approx. 4 cups of chicken stock, 1 cup of milk, and your bell peppers. 

7. Let simmer and blend with an immersion blender. If it's not your desired consistency, add either more stock or milk. If it's too thin - add a table spoon or two of tomato paste!


Just this recipe alone wasn't spicy enough for me - I added a shake or two of red pepper flakes to kick it up a notch! If you have a hot sauce you'd like, that would work as well!

enjoy!

e.l.l.