Mexican Pantry Soup

(notice the paper bowl? Brian's installing our countertops, so I am sinkless, for a while. He's doing such a great job! :o)

It may be Spring, but it's still Soup Season in my book, with this snow, hail, and frigidness! I call this recipe "Pantry Soup" because it was my attempt to make dinner with only a moment's notice, using what we had in the pantry, and the fridge. It is actually my first attempt at making soup without a recipe, and I am so happy with how it turned out. It was healthy, tasty, and purposeful. I despise wasted leftovers! Feel free to omit or add certain ingredients....using your own leftovers. Some other ingredients I thought would be tasty: corn, garbanzo beans, beef. OR, to make a tasty seafood stew: clam juice/clams to replace the chicken and broth; white wine to replace the beer; old bay seasoning instead of cumin).

Ingredients:
1 can 99% fat free chicken broth (or home-made stock with chicken pieces)
1 beer
1 C. water (optional...depends on how thick you like it)
1 7 oz. can of diced chiles
A can or less of diced tomatoes (I used part of the can the day before on our pizza)
1/2 can or so of black beans
1 C. cooked rice
1 can of shredded chicken (or 1 chicken breast cooked and diced)
1 tsp cumin
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Place all ingredients into a pot and bring to boil. Simmer for 20 minutes or so. Garnish with any combination of the following: cilantro, tabasco, crackers/tortillas, sour cream.

Green Garden Thumbs

Since I am due with our little gal in August, I pretty much counted on no garden this year. I had visions of me planting and gardening while balancing on my belly, and then harvesting veggies in between feedings and life adjustment and decided to throw in the towel. That is, before the towel was before me. :o)

My wonderful mom-in-law, Jan, has come to live with us and I am ecstatic! Not only because of the more frequent runs I get to take along the greenbelt, the vacuuming I no longer have to do, the regular Friday date nights with Bri, or the help I get with household chores and the girls when Brian is under the weather. I am also ecstatic because the garden is tilled, fertilized, mapped out, and after yesterday, early veggies have been planted!

We took a trip to our favorite greenhouse last weekend and picked up spinach, radicchio, romaine, butterleaf, Sweet spanish onions, red onions, garlic, angelica, mint, asparagus, fingerling potatoes, red potatoes, and bakers. We planted them all yesterday and it feels so good to have the color green again in our garden. We also planted our blueberry bushes (inside still) and our indoor (for now) herb garden of angelica, morrocan mint, and Roman chamomile. Brian gets migraines at times, and Chamomile is known for their prevention.

Here is a pic of Liv and Jan posing with their green thumbs in front of our progress.



Here is a picture of Liv's garden. She loves to plant and dig. She also stuck in some pussy willows from our tree by the side. Did you know that pussy willows are the earliest signs of Spring? Hear that cold weather? I said, Spring!

Cute Little Guy

There were a few requests to see Brian's kid pictures. I do have to say that he was an adorable boy (oh, okay...he STILL is). While I do think that Liv looks a lot like he did as a youngster, I was pretty blown away a couple months ago when I saw pictures of Brian's little sister Amy when she was a toddler. I'll have to steal some of those to post, because they look so much like Liv!

Here's Brian in elementary school. His mom always made sure he was fashionably dressed (just check out those suspenders!) and even pressed his jeans to create a nice little crease in the front. Thank goodness I don't have to live up to that! :o)




And this picture was taken by Brian's late Gramma Phyllis. She was such a sweet Grandma.

Coconut-Lime Chicken Soup

Ever since Brian and I tried the Chef-Special at Happy Fish (the chef creates whatever is his fancy) where the sushi was topped with slivered lime wedge paired with jalapeno, I've had lime on the brain. So when I found this soup recipe in The Better Homes and Gardens magazine while visiting the dentist, I just had to have it. So I began to tear out the page. Have you ever noticed how loud magazine pages actually are? I didn't. Not until I was alone in an empty waiting room, sitting 5 feet away from the receptionist, who glanced my way with every little agonizing tear. I did complete the task, even filled with a guilty conscience....I was, in fact, robbing every other person who came waltzing into the dentist after me, of a very delicious opportunity.

I'm happy to say that my white thievery did pay out in the end, as this soup is FABULOUS!

I had a very happy husband who immediately asked me to make it again. What made me even happier, is that it's extremely easy and fast to make.

***************************

Coconut-Lime Chicken Soup

Ingredients:
1- 2.5 lb. deli-roasted chicken (I chose the lemon herb variety)
1-15 oz. can of unsweetened coconut milk
2 C. water
1/4 C lime juice (2 medium limes)
3 medium carrots, thin-sliced diagonally (about 1-1/2 C.)
1 T. soy sauce
2 tsp. Thai Seasoning blend (I didn't have this; see note below)
1/4 tsp. salt

Garnish ingredients:
Thai seasoning blend (optional)
Fresh cilantro
Lime wedges

1. Remove and discard skin and bones from chicken. Shred chicken. In a large saucepan combine shredded chicken with coconut milk, water, lime juice, sliced carrots, soy sauce, the 2 tsp. Thai seasoning, and salt. Bring to boiling; reduce heat and simmer, covered, 8 minutes or until carrots are crisp-tender. To serve, sprinkle bowls of soup with additional Thai seasoning and cilantro. Pass the lime wedges.

Note: I did not have Thai Seasoning, but I do have a cupboard full of seasonings, so I decided to make do. Armed with google pages that outlined the ingredients for Thai spices, and the help of my Thai-food connoisseur friend, Steph, I managed to throw in some things that tasted great!

Here is my very unspecific ingredient list to use in place of the Thai Seasoning:
2 dashes coriander
2 dashes cardamom
3 dashes cumin
4 dashes red pepper
3 dashes cinnamon
2 dashes dill

Being a rule follower, I was very happy with myself for improvising the ingredient list. It makes me feel a little more fearless in the kitchen. :o)

Happy Birthday, Aunt Amy!

It doesn't matter that Amy's birthday was all the way back in January. Life has been busy for both our families, so we finally got around to celebrating it two weeks ago. I loved these pictures of Amy with her nieces.

Baby Name Adventure

So we are on the hunt (again) for the perfect girl name. We haven't been struck with one we love yet.

Liv and I were having a conversation the other day about names. I teased her by saying, "I know! We can name our new baby, Liv!" I thought she would pick up on the jest, but alas, she took the idea to heart and LOVED the idea.

Yes! That's a great idea, she exclaimed with a squeal.

OOPS.

Oh, honey....we CAN'T name her Liv! There is only one Liv in this family and your name is very special--just for you. Anyhow, how would I call you girls when I needed to speak with you?

Easy, mom! Just say this: "Liv! Liv! Holland!" and we will all come.

(Simple, right?)

Sweetie, that just wouldn't work.

(Apparently, Liv liked this idea better than I thought she would.)

Arms folded, Liv told me: I don't care what you and daddy name her, I'm still calling her Liv.

(sigh)

Only Liv.

******************************

Picking up Holland from Awana's a couple weeks ago was an enlightening experience. (remember, we did not know we were having a girl at this point in the game).

At the door, her teacher was so excited because Holland had told her that her baby was a girl. Laughing, Brian and I explained that we still hadn't found out if that were true or not and that we wouldn't know till later in the week.

The teacher said, "Well, Holland said you had already named her. She said her name was...."

"Cup Water?" We both said in unison, as the teacher looked in amazement.

"Yes!"

She was a little more than disturbed when we told her that it was the name of the baby in Holland's tummy.

********************************

The ultrasound was such a fun experience. I didn't realize till later that the girls all thought that we were going to get to take the baby home that day. So...the ultrasound wasn't as exciting for them as we had anticipated. However, Liv did comment on how she could already see baby girl's ponytail in the ultrasound. She also told the ultrasound tech that daddy needed to shave the fur off his legs.

Christmas 1978

My friend Shannon was over a month or so ago and asked me if the girls looked like my baby pictures. I hadn't even looked at them in over a year, and so we took a peak. Check out this picture of myself in 1978. It looks just like Holland! Here I am pictured with my older brother, John and my younger sister Becky. Tim hadn't yet been born.