Potato Leek Soup

Family is extremely important to me.  I've always had a no-obligation relationship with my mom and brother, his wife, and son. My Mother has always made it clear that we should never feel obligated to spend time with family - -that it should always be because we want to visit, not because we have to visit.  The fact is, I love seeing them and when i don't, I genuinely miss them. You can imagine being two hours from my Mother and an hour and a half away from my only sibling and his beautiful family can be difficult at times.  Yes, the traveling back and forth gets tiresome but what I long for the most is the opportunity to swing by for a quick coffee date on the fly or watch my nephew for an hour while my brother and his wife do errands. I understand that there are many people out there that live in different provinces or countries then their immediate family and I truly don't know how they do it.  Living that far away from family just isn't an option for me.

Unlike my petite family, my husbands side is enormous and he is lucky to have his entire immediate family and about 90% of his extended family close by. It's very comforting.  A week ago my husbands Grandmother had a hip replacement done (OUCH!!).  His extended family has been working together caring for her by providing meals, entertainment and comfort nearly every hour of the day.  Last night we were there for a visit and brought dinner. It was very nice to spend time with her.  Since the family is so large there isn't much time to spend one-on-one time with anyone during family get togethers (there are usually 45+ people in attendance).  It's more like a speed dating scenario - Hi, how are you? Good. Nice to see you. Good bye. On.to.the.next. This little visit felt so much more intimate then usual. It made me miss my Nana very much. Due to the medication she is taking her appetite is nil. I decided to make a smooth, warm potato leek soup. SUCCESS! She ate an entire bowl and requested I leave the leftovers for her. This soup doesn't have an enormous amount of flavour to it but you could add toppings like bacon crumbs, grated cheese or sour cream to it to make it more filling and flavourful. Can't go wrong with soup! Check out my other soups (here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here) Wowza - I like me some soup, eh? 11 soup recipes too many?...

Yield: About 10-12 servings

Ingredients
3 tablespoons olive oil
3-4 large leeks*, washed & sliced (don't use the dark green tops!)
2 carrots, sliced
2 celery stocks, sliced
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon pepper
4 large yellow potatoes, peeled and cubed
6 cups chicken stock

*Leeks are grown in very sandy soil.  Be sure to wash thoroughly.  I wash before I slice, then again in a strainer after I've sliced them.

Method
In a large pot over medium heat warm olive oil.  Add leeks, carrots, celery, thyme, salt and pepper.  Saute for 10 minutes, stirring frequently.  Add remaining ingredients, bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for 30 minutes.  Transfer in batches to the food processor and puree on high until smooth.  Serve and top with bacon crumbs, sour cream or grated cheddar cheese.

The Hummus Secret

I love hummus.  You know that, right? I've mentioned it a few times here, here and here.  I love how cheap, easy, tasty and healthy it is. This week I was going through an intense hummus withdrawal from Pita Pita since I'm now on summer break and no longer work around the corner from it. Today I was on a mission to make mine as close to their hummus flavour and texture as possible. With some experimenting I finally figured out the secret -- chick pea juice! Check it!

Ingredients
1 can chick peas, drain and reserve half the juice to add to mixture
1 tablespoon lemon juice concentrate
1/4 cup tahini
1/8 teaspoon (or a pinch) cumin
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
* don't forget to add the liquid!
Method
Toss everything in a food processor and mix on high for at 1-2 minutes. The longer you leave it in the smoother and creamier it will be. Drizzle olive oil on top and serve with warm whole wheat pitas. (Tonight I served with jerk chicken as well! YUM!)

Organization & Availability

I'm definitely not the most organized person on the planet that's for sheezie but I know how an organized pantry helps with motivation in the kitchen.  A few weeks ago my husband helped me make a double batch of my favourite cookies and said he'd be screwed if it weren't of the organization of my baking ingredients.  Yes, I own a label maker and yes, I am deeply in love with it. Best gift ever.

Availability also has a lot to do with people taking the time to make homemade meals.  I never understood people who don't keep staples stocked.  These items rarely spoil and isn't it way more effort to have to keep running out to the store?  I know some people don't like having multiples of items but when items are one sale I'll grab a few packages that way I'm saving some buckaroos and I will have it on hand when I need it. I love spontaneity in the kitchen and having a stocked pantry enables me to be spontaneous. Perhaps this new (much) larger organized pantry will encourage my husband to cook more often...hmm....

Rant done.

I'm off to Toronto for a few days to celebrate with some lovely brides-to-be. Sound the GONG.  I will write when I return.  Enjoy your weekend. It's going to be a beaut (I don't actually know if it will be but I'm going to assume it is...i.hate.rain.)

Natural Cleaners & My Inspiration

Wowza! This is a novel...

Last year I started to consider using all natural cleaning products in my home.  I knew for certain I wanted to get rid of the stash of chemical cleaners under my kitchen sink when we started a family but contemplated making the transition when we eventually moved off the farm.  In January of this year one of my closest friends was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma. Regardless of this diagnosis I've always viewed her as a motivated, positive and strong woman. I cannot even begin to explain to you (and her) just how inspiring she has and continues to be to me.  5 years ago I was lucky enough to have this strong woman stand next to me on my wedding day.  As a token of my appreciation I gave her a ring with the word 'inspiring' engraved on the inside.  Little did I know 5 years later she'd be even MORE of an inspiration to me then I ever thought possible.  She is that person who is always striving to do better and be better.  She is so far from stagnant. She'd blow your mind if you ever met her.

Thank you friend, for all that you do. I love you and appreciate you more then you'll ever know.

My friend and I don't spend a lot of time talking about the C-word. We do however spend a lot of time discussing the positive changes the C-word has brought about in her (and my!) daily life (lives). During our last visit she told me that strong smells, like house cleaners and hand soaps are overwhelming for her. There it was: my push to transition to natural hand soaps and cleaners a.s.a.p. That alone was reason enough for me to take the plunge, however there are a number of other reasons I decided to do it. Not only are there too many products under my sink (clutter! yuck!), they are expensive to purchase and disgusting for my family's health.  Sure, my husband and I don't have children but we do have friends and family with ankle-biters. The very thought of them crawling around on floors cleaned with glow-in-the-dark toxic cleaner makes my skin crawl.  Today I removed all of the my toxic cleaners from under my sink, except the toilet bowl cleaner. Toilets gross me out and seeing how we recently moved into this house I am still working on making the bowls feel like my own. Haha!  Give it a few more weeks and I'll be willing to give up the clorox cleaner. Today I found an awesome and cheap all natural toilet bowl cleaner at the Superstore that I will be grabbing when the time comes. For windows I use an all natural product that my lovely sister-in-law gave me from LL Bean. No more windex for this girl!

Before (10 products)

Yes, I realize this is a food blog so why the heck am I talking about cleaners, right?! Let me explain the correlation. There are many natural, indigestible cooking ingredients that can be used to make your own cleaners.  Orange peels, lemon, baking soda, and white vinegar just to name a few! After much research I have decided on this all purpose cleaner mixture. I figured it costs me about $0.75 - $1.00 for each bottle I make. The most expensive part is the optional essential oil!  If you omit that it will cost you about $0.25 a bottle. Seriously, this is a win-win situation! I'm so pumped.

Update: I just read a very interesting article about mixing vinegar/lemon juice with castile soap. Darn! Omit the vinegar next time you make a patch to avoid any problems. Check out the article here.

After (3 products)

Ingredients
2 teaspoon of Dr. Bronner's Pure-Castile Soap* (I bought lavender)
5 tablespoons of white vinegar
2 teaspoons of borax (in laundry section at the grocery store - also used in laundry for natural white booster and stain remover)
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 cups hot water
15-20 drops of essential oil of your choice (optional; I used lemon)
a spray bottle (I had one from years ago from the dollarstore)

Method
Mix all ingredients together in a spray bottle and use on basically anything except windows & mirrors.

* I finally found Dr. Bronner's in the natural section at the Superstore for $16.00. This product is an 18 in 1 mixture that can be used for anything from face wash to shower title cleaner. $16.00 sounds expensive however it recommends that if you are using it as hand soap that it be diluted with equal parts water.  This bottle will certainly go a long way.

Hello Summer & hydration!

Summer has officially arrived!  I have two blissful months away from school to visit with friends and family, work on the new pad, read, and relax.  I absolutely love my job, but I have to say that it is a million times more work then anyone could have prepared me for. If it weren't for the summer I don't know if I'd make it through. 3 years later and I am just now getting used to the fact that I have to time out my pee breaks, and therefore my coffee and water drinking schedule. Summer not only means freedom from the students but for me it also means freedom to drink numerous coffees in the morning and an enormous amount of water. My oh my, it's the small things in life!

Last summer I challenged myself to walk or jog 5km ever day Monday-Friday and I did it...kicking and screaming.  This summer I plan on getting on an indoor workout routine (I have A/C now afterall!) and drink 10 cups of water every single day.  I rarely take any type of medication, even if I have a headache and often find that drinking 2 huge glasses of water makes a world of difference if I'm not quite feeling like myself.  It is for that reason that I am challenging myself to a water drink-off.  How will I accomplish this?  Premeasure water every morning and make it look pretty! I own a glass jug that holds 10 cups perfectly.  Add a handfull of assorted frozen fruit. I use whatever I have on hand for my daily morning spinach smoothies found here and here. There you have it.  Easy, peasy.

Happy Hydrating!   

All Around the World

For me, one of the most exciting things about having a blog is seeing where all my readers are from. It blows my mind to think that someone in Mexico could be standing in their kitchen follow a recipe that I created.  The stats pages on my Blogger site gives a breakdown of what countries my readers are from and  how many people are reading my blog in a given day, week or month. June 2012 has been my highest month yet; over 1,100 views!  Thank you everyone for reading. And to all of my Canadian readers

HAPPY CANADA DAY!

 I thought you might be interested in seeing a breakdown of where my readers are from.  This list is in order from largest to smallest following. Pretty neat!

Canada

United States

United Kingdom

Austria

Russia

Germany

Philippines

Australia

Mexico

Brazil

Happy Birthday Canada!