Cheddar Potato Soup

Cheddar Potato Soup

What you'll need:
1/3 cup chopped onion
2 tablespoons butter
4 cups diced peeled potatoes
3 cups vegetable broth
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese (add more to taste I sometimes add up to 3 cups also thickens the soup)
2 cups milk
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Dash paprika

What to do:
1. In a large saucepan, saute onion in butter until tender.
2. Add potatoes and broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until potatoes are tender.
3. Puree in small batches in a blender until smooth; return to the pan.
4. Stir in the cheese, milk, pepper and paprika. Cook and stir over low heat until the cheese is melted. 

Makes about 8 servings.

Notes:
Be very careful when blending the hot soup. Make sure to secure your lid before you go and keep a hand on it. I divide the soup into two batches to blend.

My newest cooking "project"

I watched the movie Julie and Julia recently and inspiration struck me! I wanted to do something similar because:
*I love to cook and try new things
*I want to expand my cooking skills
*I want to try new things I may have never thought of before
So I decided to start by working my way through the cookbook Joy of Cooking by Irma S. Rombauer, Ethan Becker, Marion Rombauer Becker
As I've been working I've decided to not conform to a weekly recipe count but to keep making my way through this book when I want to try new things. I've been doing pretty well and discovered some new amazing food. But as with many projects I'm not going to force myself to eat and make food I'm not interested in. So it is a very flexable project. Look for lots of recipes from the Joy of Cooking book.
Thanks to my brother and sister-in-law for giving it to me as my first vegetarian cookbook :)

Language of my native land

English some days how I miss speaking you, always knowing every word that is spoken to me.

I realized something today as a struggle with having professors from all over the word. All forms of the same language are not equal. For example English in the Midwest is not the same as "Bronx" English. Can I understand that person, yes its mostly just an accent thing.

Midwest English vs Austrian English or British English I may not understand. This is not something you think about when you learn another language. I need to remember when I struggle to understand one person but can clearly understand anther not all language is created equal.

Ciabatta overflow

I love to bake, especially during the cold long winter month.
Since last Christmas I have been experimenting with ciabatta bread. I love the texture and taste especially for sandwiches. In my last trial I had a bit of a over rising/ not enough space in the bowl problem...

Never fear even messes like this can turn out some great bread. (and some good stories too!)

Still tasting great one headache of a mess in my oven later :)

garden 2010

Its that time of year, time to Garden! I have started many plants and thought I'd give you all a run down of what I have going on:
January 18th I started my first set of plants all herbs
February 26th I transplant the first set of herbs into bigger pots
John and I also built a light shelf green house type thing for the basement
February 28th I plant all my tomato, pepper, and flower (snapdragons, marigolds, zinnas, and petunia)
March 1st all the marigolds are up from my second planting, along with some zinnas and snap dragons. I saw my first tomato plants start to "pop" no peppers yet

I'm looking forward to all the fresh veggies!

above: getting the seedling trays ready is a very important first step!

No bake rockie road

I have a friend at my office who can't have gluten. I like to create and/or adapt things that taste just as good with out gluten so all my co-works can enjoy the same thing. Here is my latest adaption. Gluten free or not these bars rock and are super simple. I'd recommend them for your next quick treat!


No bake rockie road bars


What you'll need:
1/2  cup Butter
2  Cups milk chocolate chips
1 1/2  cup peanut butter
4  Cups Post coco pebbles
3  cups miniature marshmallows


What to do:

 1.Combine butter, chocolate chips  4-quart saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until melted (4 to 6 minutes). Stir in peanut butter until well mixed.

2.Remove from heat. Add cereal and marshmallows; toss until well coated.

3.Press mixture onto bottom of buttered 13x9-inch baking pan. Refrigerate until firm (about 30 minutes). 

4.Cut into bars. Store refrigerated. Makes about 48 bars

Notes: 

This recipe has been adapted by me :)

Original recipe from http://www.landolakes.com/mealideas/ViewRecipe.cfm?RecipeID=5506 

"berry" sick of snow; silent day

Funny note: I took all the berry pictures at Hy-vee in Iowa City. When you seem something so pretty you just can't pass it up! After I finished a lady saw me and said you go girl! :)

slacker or am i?

First off I'm sorry that I'm not updating. Maybe I'm a slacker, I think not.
I spend hours each day writing for my Spanish classes and don't have much left to give to my blog. I am trying to do better. This is my first foot forward.
John and I are going to a lecture tonight entitled:
Treasure and Power: The New-Found Staffordshire Hoard and an Expanding Sense of Anglo-Saxon England.


 More to come later on what we'll learn :)




PS is anyone that reads interested in reading my writing/stories I've done for Spanish?

tribute to Montgomery

As you may or may not know this last weekend our turtle, Montgomery SC Saxton passed away. I wanted to do a photo tribute to him today.

school vs work

Isn't it always true that you want the things that you can't have or you think something is better then it really is? I'm in a very new stage of life this month and its causing lots of questions of which is "better" both school and work have pros and cons of which I'd like to examin.
School-Pros
Get to spend all day learning things
Everyday is challenging (sometimes to challenging)
Really if you just didn't want to go who is going to stop you?
You get to run around doing different things and decide when you want to get your stuff done

Work-Pros
Once you leave for the day that is it- it doesn't really "follow" you home
You make money and can use that money for lots of things
Your days are fairly regular and standard- not to many suprises
You know what to expect when you head into the office  (most days)
You know when you have work and when you don't- planning your life around its pretty easy

Work Cons
You always have to show up- no skipping
the work can be dry and tedious (depending on the job)
some offices are like a little "high school"--gosssip, rumors, etc

School Cons
Homework and tests (they follow you 24/7)
Its expensive and you aren't making  money while you do it
Its stressful

Just somethings I need to remember to keep prospective as I'm in my transition year (sort of).
Anyone have anything to add to the list?