Cream Of Broccoli Soup

 I recently bought a new immersion blender so that I could make creamy soups/dips/smoothies. Now that I have this magically gadget I knew it was time to put it to the test and make some soup. I made this soup a couple weeks ago and on this cold week it is the perfect time to share this tasty recipe with you. This soup is actually really healthy as I substituted a lot of heavy items like cream for skim milk and such.

What you need~                                      

1 tablespoon butter or olive oil
1 onion (diced)
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
3 cups chicken broth
1 cup skim milk
3 cups fresh broccoli
1 cup kale (can just use another cup of broccoli if you wish)
1/3 cup crumbled goat cheese 
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
Salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter or add oil to a large saucepan/stock pot over medium heat. Add onion and cook for about 5 minutes until soft. Add flour and cook stirring constantly for 1 minute. Gradually add your broth stirring as you go. Stir in milk and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to a simmer stir until thickened for about 2 minutes. Add broccoli/kale and simmer until tender for about 10 minutes.

Remove pan from heat. Let cool for about 5 minutes. Stir in goat cheese. Use your immersion blender to blend the soup to a puree. Once completed (this took about 5 minutes) add the lemon zest, salt and pepper. Reheat but do not allow the soup to boil.

HINT: If you do not have a fancy hand immersion blender you can use a normal blender. Do it in small batches and return to pan slowly.

It is so creamy and this made enough for both Ryan and I to have a large bowl. I will be making this again for sure.

Until next time~
XoXo Emily

Taco French Bread Pizza

I made this on Sunday night and it was really good. Sometimes you want pizza but you also really want tacos. This is what I made to satisfy that craving.  It made enough for both Ryan and I to have leftovers Monday too which was really nice. This may have to go into my regular recipe rotation because it is so easy to make and it is tasty!

What you need~

1 pound of turkey or beef (ground)
2 small french loafs
1 handful of nacho jalapenos(chopped)
1 can of refried beans
1 cup of salsa (I used my moms corn relish)
Green onion (chopped)
1 avocado (chopped)
Mexican shredded cheese
Black olives (sliced)

Slice your loafs and place on a cookie sheet. Mine just barely fit. Preheat oven to 375 degrees fahrenheit.

Cook the ground turkey or beef in a skillet and season with taco type seasonings. I used cajun, cayenne, onion powder, garlic powder and cumin.







Warm up the re-fried beans and relish/salsa in a bowl till it is warm in the microwave.

Time to build those pizzas. Start by laying the re-fried beans/salsa mix, meat, cheese and then the toppings last.Place in the oven until melted to your liking.

You can really use whatever toppings you like or remove ones I used and add others. I love tomatoes but some people do not so you can always sub those in for example. After snow storm Bucky yesterday I need easy recipes like this in my life.

Until next time~
XOXO Emily

Breakfast Hash

You ever have a bunch of random stuff in your house and you are like what can I even make with this? The answer should always be hash. My husband loves breakfast and he really enjoyed this. It was relatively simple to throw together so I will be making it again. The key to really good hash is actually cooking all the components separately and then adding them all together in the end. This ensures everything is cooked properly and you do not have some things cooked perfectly and others under done.

What you need~
1 cup steak or meat of choice (I had leftover prime rib)
1 1/2 cups diced of yukon gold potatoes
1/4 cup of onion
1/4 cup sweet peppers
1/2 cup kale
2 garlic cloves
4 eggs
olive oil 
1 tablespoon of hot chili oil/sauce

 Start by browning your meat in a cast iron pan or a pan that is able to go in your oven. At this time also pre-heat your oven to about 350 degrees fahrenheit. Since I was reheating this prime rib it took like maybe 3 minutes to do this. Put the meat in a  bowl and cover the bowl to keep meat warm for later.

Dice your potatoes and microwave until they are slightly soft. Put in your already hot cast iron and reuse this bowl for the steak to chill in.

This step I found took the longest because I really wanted the potatoes to be really crispy. While cooking them I seasoned them with salt, pepper, cumin, paprika and a little cayenne. Make sure you add some olive oil to the pan so they do not stick or butter if you want. These cooked for about 15 minutes. Add to your bowl of meat to hang out. Make sure you cover that bowl.

Lovely blurry picture of the onions, peppers, garlic, kale all getting blended in the food processor. Add this to the cast iron and cook for about 3 minutes with some olive oil. Add your hot chili oil at this time if you want.

Time to build the hash. Add the meat and potatoes to the veggies and mix really well. Once this is done crack the four eggs into the hash mix. Make sure to sprinkle the eggs with a little olive oil so they do not get a tough gross skin. Season the eggs and put in the hot oven for 10-15 minutes. I mostly watched for the eggs to set up.

I added some avocado at the very end and let me tell you this was fantastic! It really is not hard to make and I will be doing this again real soon.

Until next time~
XoXo Emily

Buttery Chocolate Chip Cookies

When your husband is sick he wants comfort food. This is at least how Ryan works. He specifically asked for chocolate chip cookies. This is my Grandma Emerdine's recipe that I managed to get from my mom after my Grandma passed away. She had this old Betty Crocker book that was falling apart and she wrote modifications to the recipes in the margins of the book. This recipe makes about 5.5 dozen cookies and they are buttery and rich. You will love them trust me.

What you need~
1 1/3 cups butter, softened                                

1 cup granulated sugar                                     
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla; mix well. In separate bowl, combine flour salt and baking soda; add the butter mixture. Stir in chocolate chips.

 Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto parchment paper-lined cookie sheets.

              Bake at 350 degrees F for 12-15 minutes.

You want to remove from oven when they are lightly browned.

Stack of heaven.

I bet you cannot eat just one!

I honestly forgot how many cookies this makes. This is technically a double batch as my Grandmother states in the column of the recipe (double the batch). I love these cookies they remind me of her and when I was young.  We would have cookies and milk at her house. I may only drink almond milk and soy milk now but I still get that warm happy feeling when I bite into one of these soaked in milk. I hope you have some family recipes you get to share with others.

Until next time~
XoXo Emily

Roasted Chickpeas

I decided that I wanted to add some texture to my salads and I saw that people recommended roasted chickpeas for this purpose. I thought okay that seems easy enough and it totally was. I have made them two times and they turned out really good. Keep an eye on them though they can go from perfect to burnt really quick. Ryan liked them on his salads as well.

What you need-
1 can of chickpeas/garbanzo beans
Olive oil
Seasonings (this batch I used salt, cumin and cayenne)

Start by rinsing the chickpeas and then placing them on a paper towel to dry for at least 10 minutes to remove some moisture. During this time pre-heat oven to 425 degrees.  

Put them on a cookie sheet like pictured here after they have dried a bit.

Coat with your olive oil and seasonings. Place in the oven for 30-45 minutes. Mine took 30 minutes but I wanted them a little meaty and not as crunchy.

So crunchy!

Never enough cumin.

These should last at least a week if you do not eat them all up like we did right away. I had to make another batch for this weeks salads they were so good. It is a nice spicy crunchy element to my salads. I hope you have good luck making them.

Until next time~
XoXo Emily

Removing Shellac Nail Polish

I prefer to do my own nails but every once in a while I will treat myself to a shellac manicure. What is shellac/gel nail polish exactly? It is a super heavy duty polish that does not dry it needs to be cured under a light. Once cured it will last up to three weeks. Most people remove the polish incorrectly by peeling it off. DO NOT DO THIS! If you do this you will remove the top layer of your nail bed and down the road get an infection. I wanted to share my method for removal that I have taught myself over time by reading and watching about 100 videos/tutorials. It has been a lot of trail and error and I do not really have patience. It can take almost an hour to do this for both hands so I recommend doing it when you are watching TV or something. I watched some downtown abbey.

This is what my  nails looked like after almost 3.5 weeks of wear. That is a record for me the out growth usually drives me insane sooner. I had a light colored tan glitter called cappuccino applied for New Years. As you can see one of my nails had naturally peeled off half way and I knew it was time to remove the polish.

This is what you need~
A small scissors to trim the polish pieces that are hanging or loose enough to trim.
A bowl to dip your hands in with 100% pure acetone in it.
A buffer to buff off remaining polish.
(not pictured) A cuticle stick to scrap off the polish 










Step 1. Wash your hands and dry them off.
Step 2. Using your scissors remove any polish that is loose or is hanging that you can. Do NOT peel the polish off at this time. 
Step 3. Place your hand in the pure acetone finger side down. This is going to be the majority of what you do. Only do one hand at a time. I usually let them soak for at least 5 minutes before I attempt to use the cuticle stick to start scraping the polish off. If it feels hard to scrap stop and place your hand back in the acetone. I try to focus on one nail at a time. This step is going to take you the longest amount of time and try to be patient. 
Step 4. Buff, buff and buff those nails some more. Buffing will help you get any remaining polish off. Feel your nails with your fingers to see if they are smooth or if you have spots that need to be buffed more.
Step 5. Wash your hands and lotion them heavily. Acetone is a harsh chemical and it strips the oils off of your hands. Make sure you really wash your hands good and lotion them. 

Gross picture but I wanted to show you what the polish looks like after being scrapped off.

It took an hour but they look nice and clean in the end.

 Please remember this is time consuming and you can always go to the salon to get the polish removed. I prefer to do it myself since I only get shellac a couple times a year anyway. I hope this was helpful to some of you.

Until next time~
XoXo Emily

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

Did I mention lately I love having a food processor? Whelp, it is my favorite purchase from last year and it may take the #1 most loved place of my crockpot soon. I searched everywhere for a good hummus recipe and they were so complicated. This is a hybrid of like 5 recipes because I wanted to make this easy not overly hard to do. Also, do you know how hard it is to find tahini? It took me like forever and asking like 2 people for help. I need to learn to make it now that I know what is in it.
I made this hummus for game night on Sunday and it was a huge hit. I had zero leftover at the end if the night. This makes a huge batch too.

What you need- 
1 can of Garbanzo beans/Chickpeas
2 garlic cloves
1/2 a lemon (~3 tablespoons of lemon juice)
3 tablespoons of tahini
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 roasted red pepper 
Cumin, salt and paprika to taste

This is a crappy picture but I wanted to show you what the roasted red pepper jar looks like. Listen go ahead and buy a normal red pepper and roast it for this recipe if you want. I have zero time or patience to do that plus I had this pepper already in my fridge. The super plus is that you can use some of the olive oil marinate for your 2 tablespoons required for this recipe for extra flavor!

Start by cooking your beans in the microwave for about 2-3 minutes. Let them cool slightly before putting them in the food processor.

Blend up all the ingredients in the food processor.

After adding it to it's serving dish yum!

This recipe is so simple. Besides buying the ingredients, opening the cans and cooking the beans it is super easy. It really was a huge hit and I will have to make it for every get together from now on I am sure. It is so healthy and tasty though that I do not mind one bit.

Until next time~
XoXo Emily