Tids & Bits

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Veggie Soup For Your Soul

It's that time of year in South Texas. Mountain cedar hit us full force last week, and that means every member of my little family has been suffering. Just when it seems like everyone is getting better, I've woken up the past two mornings with absolutely no voice. None. *Sigh*

When I'm feeling a bit under the weather, the only thing to soothe my spirits is soup. Alright, alright, soup and chocolate. But for today we'll just focus on soup. I absolutely adore homemade chicken noodle soup. But with all of us feeling not so hot and no chicken or egg noodles in the house, my favorite chicken soup recipe became veggie soup with rice.

Ingredients:

1 yellow onion, diced

1 large parsnip, diced

3-4 medium carrots, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil + extra for vinaigrette

kosher salt

fresh ground pepper

1 quart vegetable stock

1 cup of rice (I used basmati) + 2 cups water

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar (or vinegar whatever you like)

1 heaping tablespoon dijon mustard

I start just about every soup I make by sauteing veggies. In this case I used what I had on hand...onion, carrots, parsnips, celery, and garlic. Dice all your veggies roughly the same size and cook over medium-high heat in about 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Season with a generous pinch of kosher salt.

For whatever reason, I cannot under any circumstance cook rice on the stove. This frustrates me to no end...so I cheat. I use a rice cooker. To each his own. While the veggies are sauteing away, start your rice in another pot. Or, you know, in a rice cooker.

When you're veggies are lightly browned and nice and soft add 1 quart of vegetable stock and cover your pot with the lid.

When your rice is done add it to the stock pot. Recover with lid and bring to a boil. Once you've reached a boil, reduce heat to simmer. Check seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste.

Now we get a little fancy. There's nothing like feeling under the weather to kill your appetite. Food just doesn't taste as good...flavors aren't as strong. To remedy this, I followed Shauna Niequist's example from her latest book Break and Wine (LOVE!) and made a quick Dijon and Balsamic Vinaigrette to drizzle on top of our bowls of soup.

Oh. My. Word. Y'all. It didn't disappoint.

I eyeballed 1 part vinegar to 2 parts oil (about 1/4 cup vinegar and 1/2 cup oil I'd say), added a generous spoonful of dijon mustard, and a pinch of salt and pepper to an old jelly jar and shook until it was well blended.

Here is the soup all steamy and hot with a drizzle of vinaigrette on top. The soup is fabulous on its own and is what I fed our sweet baby girl for dinner. Everyone else got the gussied up vinaigrette version. It's a great meal on its own, but it's especially fabulous served with this bread. Enjoy!

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

{UN}hurried. My {UN} Word for 2014.

It's become popular over the past few years to choose a "word" for the year, either in place of or in addition to new year's resolutions. I've enjoyed reading about other people's words, but I've never focused on a particular word for the year.

When Edie and The Nester announced they had picked {UN} words for the year and invited everyone else to join in, I had no idea what in the world my word would be. Words like "untired" and "undistracted" popped into my head over and over. But I knew they weren't quite right. Yes, it would be lovely to not be tired all the time, but with a 9 month old and a 3 year old that's not really feasible. And to not be distracted would be fabulous, but with two tiny ones my attention is always divided, at the very least between the two of them. Distracted is sort of my natural state during this season of life.

But {UN}distracted came close. It hit a nerve with me because I feel like so much of the last year and a half I have been here physically, but when I try to think back I feel like I've missed it somehow. Almost as if I have some sort of amnesia for the last year of my life.

I went to the library this morning and the Kiddo asked to come with. I was about to say no, and my husband was backing me up, offering other fun things to do while I got out of the house. But I said yes.

I had a huge stack of books to return and he enjoyed dropping them in the return drop. Then I let him help me find my book on the hold shelf, and help me check it out using self-checkout. When I said it was time to go he asked if he could get books for himself.

Again, I almost said no. But I thought, eh...why not? So we wandered over to the kids' section and he picked out 4 books to go with his stack of books we already have checked out at home. I told him it was time to go checkout and he spotted the table with crayons and pictures to color.

You get where this is going, right?

I almost said no...then I said yes. I realized there really was no hurry and we had an opportunity to spend time together doing something he wanted to do. We colored for a bit. He talked to two little girls that were also coloring, asking them their names. Then he decided he was ready to go. We walked to the front and he checked out his books. He held my hand and walked to the car like a big boy. He was well-behaved overall. It was relatively painless. I have a sneaking suspicion it's because I gave him the time and space to explore his surroundings. I didn't rush him, even when I was tempted to get in and get out. We added an extra 10 or 15 minutes to my errand, but in that time we created a memory together which we wouldn't have otherwise.

{UN}hurried. A life {UN}hurried. That is what I want.

I can already tell it's going to take a huge shift in the way I think and act. I've always valued efficiency...doing a job as quickly and perfectly as possible. I walk fast (and I drive fast). I type fast. I race myself to clean my house as quickly as possible. But in life, maybe faster isn't always better? Maybe the good comes in the journey between the bullet points of our days?

A life {UN}hurried. Can you imagine the possibilities?

Do you have a word you want to ditch in 2014? Please share in the comments. :)

I'm linking up today over at Life In Grace...be sure to visit and read what {UN}word others have chosen for this year!

Monday, January 13, 2014

Dream a Little Dream {or a big one}

I'm an ideas girl. My brain is always swirling and spinning with thoughts of how I could make little tweaks to things around the house...or maybe brace the ceiling and knock down a wall. I'm always dreaming and scheming about how to reconcile my loves for collecting vintage and designing spaces (homes, gardens, Airstream travel trailers...you name it). Most of the time my dreams and idea just swirl around in my mind. My home, my garden, my Airstream travel trailer...they are my creative playground. They are the place where I get to test my ideas and see if they sink or swim.

And then sometimes I have ideas that just can't really be tested here at home.

You know I love design and my heart sings for vintage. You know I'm always reading 5 books and only finishing 3. You know that I occasionally tackle sewing, knitting, and crocheting projects for my family.

Did you know that I have always been a stationery hoarder? Always as in since age 5 at least. Back then it was the excitement of a new box of crayons and a spiral notebook just for me. Remember those toy catalogs that would come in the mail every Fall? The ones with every toy possible? There were play kitchens (which I adored) and blocks and baby dolls and remote control toys and cars you could actually drive. There were unending possibilities in those catalogs...and I would sit and stare over and over at the pencils you could have your name on, and the little pink diary with colorful hearts and a lock and key on which your name could be engraved, and the little pads of paper....which, you guess it, could have your name.

I'm not sure if my love of stationery came because of the love of the thing itself, or because of the ability to have my name put on it. You see, every gift shop on the planet stocks those pencils and mugs and play license plates that come pre-printed with names on them. But you'll never see a Judith among them. When I was little, the closest I could come would be Judy...but this option has always bothered me because there is no "Y" in Judith. Even in high school when my name was shorted for awhile, I insisted it be spelled Judi.

So why did I love the stationery from the catalog so much? Because my mom and dad could order it for me with my name printed on it, and because to me, that was rare and special.

I still love stationery. My heart still takes a little leap of joy when I come across the perfect set of notecards. And I have special pens that I bring out just for writing notes to friends. But over the last few years I've moved away from using bought stationery and have started designing my own.

It started with a Valentine's Day card when the Kiddo was 2 months old, and since then, with only one notable exception (when I was massively pregnant and my husband was recovering from a major illness) I have created our own cards and invitations for every family event and had them sent out to print.

And so I'm dreaming again. I love collecting vintage goods, but if I'm completely honest, I'm not in love with selling them. I have such respect for all those who are able to collect, refresh, and resell vintage items. There is so much work behind the scenes that I just don't have time for as a mom of two tiny ones. Every item has to be cleaned, staged, photographed (lighting has to be right!), a description has to be written, it has to be priced, and then you have to figure out shipping to Timbucktoo. If you do guess right on shipping and there is any small profit, it doesn't come close to paying you for your time. In my case, my time is extra precious because it is my time away from my children. So, my goal for this year is to slowly but sure get the rest of my inventory listed in my Etsy shop and sell out.

But there is another dream which has creeped into my mind these last few months. And that is the dream of designing my own line of stationery. How can I do this in a way that is sustainable for me as a full time mama of two? I'm not entirely sure, but my early thoughts are it would be in the form of purchasable digital files which people would then be free to have printed as many times as they wish.

Is it crazy? I don't think so. Not as crazy as my dream of selling vintage. :) Will I fail? Well if I do, it won't be the first time. :)

What about you? Any crazy dreams for 2014? Knocking down any walls? Starting new exciting projects?