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.

Oh, the place you'll go

This project was done with a old window screen, canvas, and cork board. It took a lot of patience to complete the canvas, but all areas were quick and sweet!

Here's the step by step: 

 -Frame-

 After ripping the screen out of the old window, 

sand the frame as smooth as possible.

Paint as many layers as you need to complete the color/style of your liking.

Let dry and your window piece is complete.

-Canvas-

Once painted to your liking, complete the following!

I did not free hand the words - I found a font I liked, picked a size that would fit within my canvas and printed out a printed out a template. 

Over the template, lay a piece of wax paper and tape the two together so your template doesn't move on you.

With puffy paint and tracing your template, let the letter creating begin!

Once your letters are complete, they should peel off the wax paper nicely. 

For pieces that are stubborn and stick, use a tweezers to pull them off.

Position your words on the canvas so they fit how you like them...

Once in position, use a large paintbrush to seal the letters down with modge podge. 

*Note: modge podge is simply equal amounts water and Elmer's glue

Use a few layers of the modge podge to prevent your letter for peeling off.

Let your canvas dry, and it is complete.

-Cork-

The cork came on a long roll... It just needed to be cut to size.

Behind the cork board, is a piece of cardboard cut to size as well.

Once layered and flat, the cardboard and cork is stapled to the back of the window frame.

Your cork board is complete.

To finish the project, simply fasten hooks to the upper corners of your frame to hang it.

This project isn't complete for me yet, I am looking for a nice map of the US to document all of the places Allan and I have traveled together - on the mirroring wall, is one photo from each place we've been together. While it's still a work in progress, that's fine with me! We're still on the search for our own home so it can wait till then :)

Enjoy!

e.l.l.

Butternut squash soup

Allan got me a butternut squash when we were doing our Halloween pumpkins and I left it pretty neglected on our counter... Since we're trying to use up most fresh items in the house now before the holiday's this weekend - it was time for it to be used. I've made an acorn squash soup before and wanted to try and curry/ginger butternut one without a recipe and throwing what I wanted into it.

Not in the picture that was used: Paprika, broth, and the squash :)

I started by roasting the squash - cut it in half, brushed with olive oil, and added salt and pepper. Roasted the squash in a 400* oven for about 40 minutes or until tender.

While the squash is cooling,

cut up your onion, celery, and carrots.

 I have about

 1 1/2 cups of celery and

 carrots and used 1 medium 

onion.

Warm up a large pot with approx 2 Tbls coconut oil, 

adding in your desired amount of

 ground ginger and minced garlic. 

Once warm, saute the vegetables until soft.

I like to add my seasoning when sauteing - 

I added salt, pepper, ginger, curry powder, and paprika.

When the squash is cool to the touch

 you scoop out the center,

 leaving the skins,

 into the pot.

 Let the squash saute

 with the vegetables.

Once mixed well, add 1 cup broth (your flavor of choice - I used beef broth as it's all we had but would've preferred chicken broth) and 2 cups milk. Adding more of either to get your desired amount of thickness.

In the process of blending - doesn't look the MOST appetizing, but I assure you it's good :)

After bringing the pot to a boil, turn down and use an immersion blender till smooth.

It ended up being a fairly "sweet" soup - Next time I would add a little more spice to kick it up a notch, possibly Sirracha or red pepper flakes :)

Enjoy!

e.l.l.

Peanut Butter Banana Bread

Since I've been slacking, I'm coming at ya with two posts tonight!

Since the husband is away for his field placement for a few hours... it gives me the perfect amount of time to unwind and do something with the banana's that have turned a deep brown on the counter! I'd love to be enjoying a glass of wine while doing so... but since I will be hitting the gym before picking my hubby up, I'll hold off till getting home :)



I am using my KitchenAid Stand Mixer for the first time since getting it in June (thanks mom!!!) and am in LOVE! It could not make baking and clean up any easier... Before starting, preheat your oven to 350*

Here's the recipe:

3 ripe bananas, mashed

2 eggs

1/3 cups plain or vanilla yogurt

1/2 cup of creamy peanut butter

3 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 1/2 cup flour 

Start with the wet ingredients----> Add dry ingredients---> mix all of your ingredients together

Pour the mixture into a greased 9x5 cooking pan  - bake in the oven at 350* for a hour or till a fork/toothpick can be inserted into the center of the loaf and comes out clean

Cannot wait to get home from the gym tonight to enjoy this!

And how EASY is this clean up?! Can't wait for my husband to finish washing these dishes ;)

enjoy, e.l.l.