Sunday, February 27, 2011

Split Pea Soup and Dough Boys...

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Get ready for a tasty soup...


Ingredients:

1/2 pound bacon (or salt beef)
2 carrots chopped
1 onion chopped
2 pieces of celery chopped
1 1/2 cups of split peas
6 cups of chicken broth
rosemary
salt and pepper

Directions:

I use bacon because I find it much easier to keep on hand than a bucket of salt beef... chop up the bacon and cook it in a large pot... cook it on very low to render down the fat... 


after the fat is cooked out of the bacon drain any excess fat but leave enough to cook the carrot, onion and celery and bacon... I add a little bit of olive oil at this point as well as the salt, pepper and rosemary...


once the vegetable soften up put in the 6 cups of stock and the cup and a half of split peas...


bring the soup to a boil and then turn it down on a simmer... let the soup simmer for about an hour... then comes the fun part... put your immersion blender in the pot and puree the soup... or if you don't have a immersion blender pour the soup into a blender or food processor and puree the soup...


If you don't have an immersion blender run out and pick one up... we got ours a Costco a few years back... its great for smoothies!..


Once the soup is pureed put the lid back on and keep it on the stove on low...  you want the soup to get good and hot before you drop the dough balls in... but if you turn it up any higher than the lowest setting it'll burn onto the bottom... 

Now for the dough balls:


Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups of flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup of butter
1/2-3/4 cup of water

Directions:

Whisk the dry ingredients together... drop in the butter and make a crumbly mixture with a pastry blender... once you have a crumbly mix pour in half a cup of water and stir the mixture until you get a doughy mix... if it is a little dry add the rest of the water... I find here in Calgary, because it is so dry, that I need the whole 3/4 cup of water...


Mix the water into the dry mix with a spoon until you get to the stage in the photo above... pull small balls from the dough blob and drop them into the soup... toss the lid back on... leave the stove on low and put the timer on for 15 minutes...


...when the timer beeps take the pot off of the hot burner and take a look at your handywork!.. the dough boys are all puffed up and cooked...


My fave way to eat the dough boys is to have them right in with my soup... Furs on the other hand likes them separate from his soup and with molasses on them...

Let me know how your soup turns out!..

This batch turned out great... I'm chowing down on it as I finish writing this blog post!.. 


Om nom nom nom!..

Hot Yoga... Chill Weekend...

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I wish I had some pictures to share... feels lame blogging about things when I don't have pictures to go along with what I'm talking about... This morning my neib Amy and I headed over to Breath Hot Yoga in Avinida, South East Calgary, for some early Sunday morning hot yoga... It was my first real yoga experience... it went well I think... I've become quite inactive in the depths of this cold ass winter so I'm expecting to be sore tomorrow...  the facilities were beautiful and clean... the staff were fit and friendly...  A and I were decked out head to toe in lulu... though next time shorts are in order... no full legnth pants for hot yoga... holy eff did I sweat!.. I got light headed a few times early on but remebering to breath took care of that!..  The class we took this morning was the Baptiste 90min with Shaima...  I can't imagine the class being any shorter... it was a perfect amount of time... Ooo and Breath Hot Yoga has an introductory offer on right now - your first week of unlimited yoga for $25!..  We plan to go back at least once more some evening this week... maybe twice.. Tuesday and Thursday?.. how often should one go to yoga?..

Right now split pea soup is on the stove top simmering away... glazed ham is in the oven... Furs and I did a quick frenzy clean on the house and the washer just started singing its song... time to switch the laundry over and flake out on the couch... there must be some pre oscar shows on by now!...

What have you been up to this weekend?.. stay tuned for my split pea soup recipe... I was going to post it now but I've decided not to until I get my dough boys made and have some pictures of those to share!..  gotta love Newfoundland Split Pea Soup!.. I would never eat it growing up back home but now that we're so far away I can't get enough of it!.. go figure...

Monday, February 21, 2011

WHOOPIE!.. pies!

Feathering My Nest has moved!... come check all of this out over at www.featheringmynest.ca/blog

Om nom nom nom... 

Its bright and sunny out today... and not nearly as cold as it has been the past week... 0 degrees Celsius right now... but I've been inside all day... I spent the better part of the day straighening out the sewing room... once I got that room back in working order I decided it was time to make a mess in the kitchen... and I made Chocolate Chip Whoopie Pies... Mmm... they're so tasty... a little time consuming as you bake them one batch at a time... but while each batch is baking you got a bit of time in between to get the buttercream icing made and a little bit of the mess cleaned up...

I'll let the pictures do the talking... I have to clean up the rest of the kitchen mess... then perhaps a nap on the couch...






Totally not ready to go back to work... this long weekend should be longer!.. haha never satisified with the lenght of a weekend...

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Fuzzy Plants... And Some Baking...

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We took it easy today... only venturing out to the nearest shopping area to pick up another storage tub so I can store things under the spare bed and free up some space in the sewing room...  while we were out we found these fuzzy little tropical plants... I though that four would fit into the lion head planter that I picked up from Pam's yard sale this summer... but I always over estimate the size of that planter... it fits two nicely... so I had to find homes for two others... the first time I saw these little fuzzies was at this blog...


I love her giant soup tureen... perhaps that's why I always think my pot is larger... because hers can hold so much more!.. 


So what to do with the other two little fuzzy tropicals?..  If I had some dainty teacups I would have planted one in and put that under a bell jar... but I have no dainty tea cups... though I love them... I'll have to start picking some up here and there...  I do have a few glass jars... see above!?.  It is its own little green house is there...  



And then the fourth I stuffed into this large Jewel Jar... it was a little tedious... but totally worth it...  It sort of reminds me of old crafty books from the 70's... I remember old books from the library about terrariums... I always wanted to have plants inside large glass containers... 


We also found this tiny palm... it's perfect under the large bell jar out in the front room... the white planter isn't quite the right shape but it was the best I could find today...  Perhaps some sort of milk glass sugar bowl...

After I cleaned up the mess I created when planting all these little lovelies I made another mess baking... with good results... I started with an Pineapple Upsidedown Cake... and then moved onto Buttermilk Cinnamon Rolls... they're both rather tasty... only the cinnamon rolls aren't the prettiest... so I have a couple snaps of the Pineapple cake...


I've made this cake twice now... it turned out great both times...  very light...


Ooo... Looks like tomorrow I'll be able to finish the carnation wreath I started months ago... red carnations are back in stock!.. and I want to do a little more baking... whoopie pies!..

yay for chill long weekends...

linking this up to some parties:

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Oh Hai!..

Feathering My Nest has moved!... come check all of this out over at www.featheringmynest.ca/blog

Lamest blogger ever?.. all I've been doing lately is working and sleeping... I didn't even post pictures of the blue velvet cake I baked last weekend!.. BUT its finally a long weekend!..  Chris and I were up fairly early this morning... and then on the road by 10:30ish... we picked up some road snacks and headed out for a little road trip!.. It was bitterly cold again today but it was bright and sunny...  we headed down south to Longview to visit Pam at Wow and Then and to see what treasures she had in store...

There were a few pieces that I had my eye on... but these are what I picked up today... there are a couple things that I'll be heading back for... 






Two beauty milk crates!.. Love them!..

Oooo... and I drove part of the way to Longview.. AND then part of the way from Longview to Nanton...

This evening after a trip to the grocery store with neib Amy I'm heading back up to the sewing room to continue straightening it out so I can get in there and get creating... There are a few things I want to make... stay tuned!..

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Where Have You been!?.

Feathering My Nest has moved!... come check all of this out over at www.featheringmynest.ca/blog

...sleeping mostly!.. I just realized that I haven't blogged since the end of January... and now all of a sudden February is just about half over!..  We've not been up to much... we've both been incredibly busy with work, and have done nothing with the basement... I do plan to do some baking tomorrow to bring to work for Valentines Day... I'll keep you posted!..