Winter White Bean Soup

I am boarderline about telling you this story because it’s gross, but I really can’t help myself.

Last month, I had a craving for black bean pumpkin soup. Sounds delicious, right? Nutty black beans, creamy pumpkin, topped off with some cubes of pan fried ham. I had some extra black beans, so I increased the bean to pumpkin ratio, then cooked it all up and pureed part of it to make it have a more interesting consistency.

It tasted great. But it looked exactly like a giant bowl of steaming shit.

Will and I put up a large textbook as a divider so we couldn’t see each other eat. Watching your significant other eat it is even worse that watching yourself eat it. We called it “Two Stantons and One Cup (of Soup).”

Ever since then I’ve been paranoid that I will make another soup that will look horrific. For 20 minutes, I debated whether to use my immersion blender on my Winter White Bean Soup. I worry the texture won’t be interesting enough without blending, but we all know what happens when we mix ROY G BIV together, I thought. Fortunately the soup looks appetizing, pretty even, and tastes even better.

I made this soup for my friend Amy’s birthday this weekend. Amy and her husband Matt, our friends Tyson and Kristina, and Will and me rented a condo in the mountains and holed up for the weekend with some games, birthday cake, and beer. Here’s the birthday girl, enjoying her serenade.

Our condo came with a jacuzzi, which I don’t think any of us realized was just a glorified bathtub that would not fit 6 of us. Despite the lack of room, none of us could shake the necessity of giving Amy a champagne toast in a jacuzzi. So we all put on our swimsuits and stood in the hot tub, crammed like sardines while toasting our friend. Sadly, I lack any pictures of this. But believe me when I say that a good night was had by all.

WINTER WHITE BEAN SOUP (made by me, inspired by my fridge and pantry)

Ingredients

3 tbsp olive oil

1 large onion, coarsely chopped

4 celery stalks, coarsely chopped

3 large carrots, coarsely chopped

6 large garlic cloves, minced

8 cups chicken broth (separated into 4 cups and 4 cups)

2 cups uncooked barley

3 cans (15 oz) white beans, drained and rinsed

1 can (28 oz) whole peeled tomatoes, chopped, 1/2 cup juice reserved

1 cup Italian parsley, chopped

1 tablespoon ground sage

1 tablespoon freshly ground pepper

1 large turkey kielbasa, chopped coarsley

Parmesan rind (if you’ve got it optional)

12 oz baby spinach

RECIPE

Put heavy bottomed pot (like a Dutch oven) over medium high heat. Once it’s hot, add olive oil. Get the olive oil hot, then add onion, celery, carrots, and garlic. Saute until onion becomes soft and translucent (about 5 minutes), stirring occasionally.

While vegetables saute, place 2 cups barley in a medium saucepan. Cover with 4 cups chicken broth. Simmer for 30-40 mins until barley is tender.

Add remaining 4 cups chicken broth, beans, tomatoes, tomato juice, and parsley to pot. Remove from heat. Blend about 3/4 the soup with an immersion blender, then stir and return to heat. Add sage, pepper, kielbasa, and parmesan rind. Simmer until barley is done.

When barley is finished, add to soup. Place a handful of raw spinach in each serving bowl. Pour soup over spinach and stir as it wilts. Enjoy.

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T-Shirt Necklace

I am trying to do craft projects that are on the easier side since I am still relatively new to crafting. This necklace is a piece of cake! All you need is an old t-shirt, a safety pin, and some scissors. I followed this video to learn the basic design, and then I followed these instructions to add in the braid.

Step 1: Cut the bottom hem off your tshirt and discard it. Cut the torso of the tshirt into 10 strips about 1/2 inch in width. (Its okay if your strips are uneven. They’re going to roll up on themselves anyway).

Step 2: Place the fabric loops around your hands and stretch them out.

Step 3: Next, you’ll make a fabric braid to go in your necklace. Make a cut across 3 of your fabric loops to turn them into fabric strips. Lay them on top of each other, then put a safety pin through one of their ends. Then pin the safety pin to the bottom of your pant leg. This will help anchor the fabric so you can pull it taut as you braid. Remember, you want to stretch out that fabric now so it doesn’t stretch out later! Braid your fabric.

Knot off or sew the ends of your fabric braid together. Cut a fabric strip from your leftover tshirt a few inches long. Line up your loops and braid, and tie your fabric strip perpendicularly around them a few times to hold the necklace together.  And now, you’re done! Enjoy your brand new funky fabric necklace.

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Easy, Funky Wall Art

Will and I live in a super cheap apartment so we can spend all our money on dining out and traveling. We spend most of the time thinking we’re pretty smart for saving so much money on rent, but occasionally we wish we could make our place feel a bit nicer. I decided to start our apartment-improvement project by making something that would add a little color to our walls.

I went to the used bookstore and found a $1 book with some pictures in it which I cut out of the pages. Then I…

1. Bought a few 4 x 6 canvases from Joann’s.

2. Painted them with a solid color or two of acrylic paint that I thought would complement the colors in the pictures.

3. Let them dry.

4. Painted over the colorful canvas with a thin layer of Mod Podge.

5. Painted the back of the picture with a thin layer of Mod Podge.

6. Applied the picture to the canvas and smoothed over the surface for several minutes to prevent the formation of air bubbles until it began to dry.

7. Painted over the whole canvas and picture with one more thin layer of Mod Podge.

8. Let the whole thing dry.

This project was cheap and easy. I’m not totally in love with the sunset or sunflower pictures, but I think they’ll do a decent job adding a little color. I do really like the old couple butt-squeeze (which is a from a card I gave Will a few years ago). I’m looking forward to trying this technique with some more interesting pictures I come across.

Starting a new project is always so hard for me, because I want to make sure I pick the perfect color, or cut everything at perfect right angles. Repeating the quote, “Perfect is the enemy of good” always helps me get started. Do you all have any sayings that help you get started on new projects?

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Mom’s Baked Meatballs

My name is Elizabeth. I had a cooking blog. I enjoyed it quite a bit, but then I got a bit tired (and full) constantly thinking about food. And then, Pinterest took over my life.

I noticed that I was spending lots of time bookmarking and sharing interesting Do-It-Yourself projects, without actually doing them. So I made a resolution that I could only bookmark 3 DIY projects for each one that I actually did. I decided to make a new blog to document some of the things I’ve been doing.

As you’ve probably deduced from my opening meatball glamour shot, there will still be a lot of cooking here. But there will be some other interesting projects here too. I’d like to kick things off with an original recipe from my mom.

Did you know you can bake meatballs? It’s a simple and easy way to make a big batch of them. These also freeze quite well when they’re raw. Spaghetti and meatballs is one of my favorite winter meals. Thanks, Mom!

MOM’S BAKED MEATBALLS

Ingredients

1/2 lb beef

1/4 of a medium red onion, finely chopped or grated

3/4 cup plain breadcrumbs

2 eggs

1/2 c whole milk

1 cup grated Pecorino Romano, or other grated Italian cheese of your liking

2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped

1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon lemon zest, finely chopped

Salt & Pepper

Recipe

Preheat oven to 350. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or spray with cooking spray.

Mix all ingredients together in a big bowl. If mixture is too loose, add more breadcrumbs.

Roll meatballs into golfball-sized balls. Place on baking sheet. Bake 35-40 minutes. Enjoy!

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