Creamy Asparagus Soup

Its not all cupcakes and carrot cake pancakes and sweet treats around here. Yes, we also eat lots of greens and other nutritious delights. I mentioned a creamy asparagus soup last week...that soup is definitely worth sharing. I know, I know, its not quite asparagus season yet, but Justin found some at Sunny Farms and we couldn't pass it up.

Creamy Asparagus Soup

adapted from Feeding the Whole Family by Cynthia Lair

2 TBS. olive oil or coconut oil

2 leeks, chopped

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 tsp dried dill (or 1 TBS fresh)

1 bunch of asparagus, washed, trimmed, and cut to 2-in. pieces

2 c. veggie stock

3 c. water

1 bay leaf

1/2 c. rolled oats

1 tsp. sea salt

lemon juice

ground pepper to taste

1. Heat oil in a pot and add leeks, cumin and dill. Saute until leeks are soft.

2. Add asparagus and saute a few more minutes. Then, add stock, water, bay leaf, oats, salt and pepper. Bring to boil and simmer for 15 minutes.

3. Let cool and puree in small batches.

4. Reheat if necessary, add some fresh lemon juice and more salt and pepper to taste.

Enjoy with crusty bread!

Life changing!

On the first day of spring last year I began a 14-day spring cleanse with a group of other folks that wanted to start the season by cleaning out after a winter of rich, warm foods and lots of caffeine to combat the dark days. It wasn't anything drastic--just a few weeks without animal products, sugar (of any kind), caffeine, or alcohol and a few days of just juice and raw fruits and veggies in the middle of it.

It was a fun challenge and a way to reset my "cravings" for what my body needed instead of what I really just wanted. I got really into all of the fun foods that I could whip up during that time--like a cold quinoa salad, green soups, and more. The removal of coffee, tea, and honey from my diet for two weeks were the most difficult. I was pretty grumpy. I never realized how much I "reward"myself on a daily basis with hot drinks and snacks. By the end, I felt great and was happy to return to a life of bedtime chai with milk and honey, morning lattes, tasty beers while making dinner, and sour cream.

Anyway, as the start of spring approached this year, I figured I'd spring clean once again. I began with a really tasty Cream of Asparagus Soup (with oats instead of cream) and a raw kale salad that I could eat everyday for the next 20 years. But, you know what, I was soooo tired....sooo out of it. Quitting caffeine cold turkey hurt. More than that, I just wasn't into it. So, I quit and resolved to just continue to put more good stuff into my body. Here comes the "life changing" part....

Soon after I quite my cleanse, I discovered something new and delicious:

CARROT CAKE PANCAKES! If you don't already know it, carrot cake is my most favorite dessert and pancakes are among my top five favorite foods. In fact, one of my closest friendships was built on a mutual love of carrot cake, pancakes, and the understanding that we could never split an order of either on the same plate.
Anyway, when I came across a carrot cake pancake recipe on smitten kitchen, I thought the mystery of the universe what about to unfold in front of me. I was not disappointed and you won't be either. These cakes are life changing! Do it now. For dinner. For breakfast. For dessert. Forever.

St. Patty's Tasties

In celebration of St. Patrick's Day and due to the half bottle of flat chocolate stout in our fridge, I decided to make some festive tasties. The first, which is still fermenting, will be a loaf of oatmeal stout bread. The second, CHOCOLATE STOUT CUPCAKES! I made these cupcakes for our wedding because Justin loves chocolate cake, stout, and dislikes frosting. While I still can't believe anyone would dislike frosting, the chocolate crumble on top more than makes up for the frosting. I think this is first time I've made these since our wedding...

The recipe is from Vegan Cupcakes Take over the World -- I've never made a cupcake out of this book that I didn't like. Oh, and most of them include frosting.

Last night, we whipped up some arugula pesto and tossed it with sauteed black trumpet mushrooms, onion, cayenne, and pasta...just to get into the spirit and to get some healthy spring greens. I used sunflower seeds instead of cheese and pine nuts and it turned out creamy and delicious.

Arugula Pesto

4 c. fresh arugula

4 cloves garlic

juice of 1 lemon

1/2 c. sunflower seeds

1/2 c. olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Those are rough proportions...throw all of the ingredients into a food processor--adding the oil as it blends. Stop, taste, season, and enjoy. Toss it over pasta, have it on toast, or use it as pizza sauce.

The details...

Now that we've accomplished the major painting and flooring projects that we wanted to finish right away, we've got time to work on some of the fun details. Last weekend, those included :

-Ripping out 5 invasive butterfly bushes in the backyard to make room for our garden and (eventually) chickens! As Justin, easily and impressively, yanked a few of the bushes from the ground with his bare hands, we discovered that we have really nice soil! Woot!

- Putting a little mosaic between our spare room and the entryway to our rooptop porch. We hit up all of the local second hand shops to find spare tile pieces. I think it came together pretty nicely.

Where the dream of the 90's is alive...

At the end of February, Justin and I took a little trip down to Portland to enjoy some urban festivities including:


- A trip to Burgerville: an Oregon and Washington fast food chain that sources local ingredients including Oregon Country Beef, Tilamook cheese and more. What I love most about this place is that it feels like an everyday fast food chain, so it may draw in a broader audience (eaters) than would a earthy, hippie joint that attracts people like me. We enjoyed burgers, rosemary-garlic fries, and a milkshake.

- Stumptown Coffee at the Ace Hotel: it was fun to soak up some extreme hipster vibes and buy coffee from one of the tastiest roasters I've tried. I skipped the $60/lb beans...maybe someday.

- Dancing our pants off at the Crystal Ballroom for the Poor Man's Whiskey/Railroad Earth Show: This old concert venue is on the third floor and the hardwood floor was built to be bouncy...when everyone is dancing, you feel like you're on a mini trampoline. The music was fantastic!

- Resting our tired feet at the Crystal Hotel: We got a european-style room (re: no bathroom in the room) at this recently renovated hotel a block from the venue. Each room is named after and decorated in the theme of a song; we were in the Silversun Pickups' lazy-eyed..something room. It was a cool place with soaking tubs and jazz den in the basement.

It was a great little mid-winter escape.

Home/Heart Tour

family tree.

Well, after a weekend where Justin and I got out of the house to play in the snow TWO days in row, we were talking about how good it is starting to feel to come home. In just a few weeks, we feel like we're make a lot of steps towards making this house a home. This weekend, we also hung artwork and set up our family photos on the shelf that Justin built us for valentines day. So, here's a little tour of the place thus far:

layin' floor.

chill room.

craft room/scott's tower.


living room.

dining.

dining.

making it happen.

room with a view.

So, we've been in our new home for a little over a week, but last night was our first night of sleep in our actual bedroom. Until then, we' d been camped out in our living room in order to finish painting and flooring our sleeping quarters. So, our schedule, as of late, has been go to work, come home, paint, get really hungry and grumpy, scramble together a "meal" around 9:30 or 10:00pm, watch an episode of Cheers, fall into a hard sleep on our bed in the living room.

Aside from the tired and hungry, its been pretty fun...especially last night when we got to move our bed and furniture into the finished room and fall asleep to a brilliant full moon. One of our late night dinners, while not a complete meal, is something that we'll definitely recreate again soon--at a more reasonable hour.

Almond Butter Parsnip Fries

3-4 parsnips, cut into fries
3 TBS. almond butter
1 TBS. tamari or soy sauce
1 TBS. olive oil
dash of cayenne

1. mix together butter, soy sauce, oil, and cayenne.
2. Toss parsnips in sauce.
3. Spread on a cookie sheet at bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes or until soft and a little crispy. Yum!

Can I also mention how impressive Justin has been throughout all of this? Well, he has been. When I get to near zombie mode, he's still trucking along and reminding me (us) to slow down and relax. He's also the one that's done most of the heavy lifting and the more frustrating tasks like trimming the flooring to fit oddly shaped nooks and crannies. Love. I try to show him how appreciative I am with things like this:


And some photos of our home, thus far:

An organized kitchen cabinet, sigh...

Our tea kettle in its new home.

Bedroom before: heritage linoleum and brilliant blue!


AFTER:

Walk-in closet!

Check out those floors!

The throne!