Books I'm Reading

Last month I watched "The Hunger Games" on Netflix for the first time ever. It was a really good movie and knowing that it was based on a book written by Suzanne Collins, made me want to read the books (it is a trilogy). As all of you book readers may know, the books are usually better than the movies based on them, due to the fact that there is usually much more detail in a book, that cannot all be fit into a feature length film. Anyway, I read "The Hunger Games" and it was fantastic, as I thought it might be. I am now reading the second book in the trilogy, called "Catching Fire" and I must say that I am looking forward to watching the movie to this one. :) It is such a good book so far..once you start reading it, you don't really want to stop..it is that good. I cannot wait to see what happens next and I am excited about finding the last book in the trilogy and reading that after I finish the second book.
If you would like to watch a trailer of the movie "Catching Fire," you can find it here: Catching Fire Official Trailer.

The Boston Marathon News

Have you heard about it? I'm sure most people have, by now. I have, pretty much, just been in a sort of numbed shock, since I heard about it. Three innocent people died including an 8 year old little boy, a 29 year old woman and a 23 year old college student from China; not to mention all of the people who were severely injured when these two bombs went off. My prayers go out to all of the victims' families, all of the injured people and anyone who was present at the Boston Marathon when this terrible thing occurred, as well as the family of the suspects. It is just very sad to me, that things like this take place in our country. :( It is sad when things like this happen in other places also, I guess that the ones that happen here just affect me more, because it is the country that I was born in and have lived in, all of my life. There were two suspects caught on security video at the Boston Marathon. Today one of those suspects died from gunshot wounds from a shootout with the police and they are still looking for the other suspect. I hope that they will find this other suspect alive and are able to get some questions answered about why him and his brother did this and what led them up to this terrible tragedy.

Anyway, I just thought that I would share what has happened with anyone who had not heard about it yet. I'm sorry that I haven't been posting daily, but I usually do not post unless I have something to say, or a recipe or project to share.

Healthy Smoothie

I just found a recipe for a healthy breakfast type smoothie in a Dr. Oz article in the April issue of Good Housekeeping and wanted to share it, because it is really good and so full of vitamins. It is sure to start your day off right. :)

Powered Up Purple Smoothie

• 4 oz. fat free milk
• 4 oz. nonfat plain Greek yogurt
• 2/3 cup kale
• 1 cup blueberries
• 1/2 of a banana
• 1 tsp. ground flax
• 1 tsp. honey

I just threw all of this stuff in my food processor, because I don't have a blender anymore and pulsed it until it was of smoothie consistency. It tastes great and is so full of vitamins. It is part of a 5 day high energy meal plan that Dr. Oz recommends. It is so easy to throw together. I don't have any photos of the creating process and I am almost done with my smoothie, but here is a photo of what it looks like.

My Thoughts

I know that it is quite late to be writing a new post, but, it has been awhile since I last posted. I have been searching online for some new recipes to make for the week. I have also been learning about sustainable living, eating healthier and growing vegetables in various size pots, when you just don't have the yard for it otherwise.

I have also been doing some thinking, when I am not enjoying some episodes of "Raising Hope" on Netflix. You know, laughter really is good medicine? Yes, it really is. :) It can do as much good for your body as a couple hours of sleep can, it can help relax you if your day has been stressful and it definitely helps lighten your mood. Laughing is fun. :)

Anyway, a lot of different things are going through my mind lately, such as projects I would like to work on, recipes I would like to try (some healthy, some not so healthy), the azalea bushes that we want to get and plant in our front yard, ideas that we have for our home, and just a bunch of different things.

Spring is finally here now with nice weather and sunshine. It has been a wonderful change from all the rain and cooler weather that we were getting. It was 75 F degrees here today, it was wonderful. Makes me want to start cooking things out on the grill, take a walk or some other outdoors type of exercise. I have also wanted to start reading more. I really want to get to our local library and get some books; maybe some cookbooks, craft type books, and some good reads. I just recently saw the movie "The Hunger Games" for the first time ever and what a good movie it was. I have never read the book, but figure it has to be excellent and I now want to read it.

Well, it is late, so I will close for now. I just wanted to update a bit, to let you all know that although I may not post everyday, I am still around and still writing in this new blog of mine. Well, you all have a good night. :)

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

Today, I decided that since we have plenty of leftover ham from Easter, that I would try my hand at making this soup. Although, I am sure that it is not low in calories because of the ingredients that go into it, it still sounds delicious and will make for a nice hot lunch. :)

I first needed to bake 5 large, Russet potatoes. After cleaning the potatoes up a bit, I used a fork to poke a few holes in each side of the potato. I then placed them on a foil lined baking sheet, brushed them with some extra virgin olive oil and sprinkled a little salt on them. I then put them in a preheated 400 degrees F oven and baked them for about 45 minutes, flipping them as needed.

The recipe is going to be as follows:

12 T butter (I used margarine)
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
5 cups milk
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup buttermilk (we had none on hand so I made a buttermilk substitute, see bottom of post)
5 large Russet potatoes baked, peeled and cubed
1/2 cup scallions (we have none, so replaced with finely diced onion)
2 cups leftover ham, diced
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp. ground black pepper
1 tsp. salt

In a large pan (I used the largest one I had and it still could have been bigger), melt the butter or margarine over medium heat. Whisk in flour until it is smooth. Then gradually whisk in the milk, buttermilk and heavy cream, whisking it constantly until it is fully incorporated and slightly thickened.

 Add the potatoes and the scallions, or in my case Vidalia onions, because I had no scallions on hand.

  Bring to a boil, stirring often. To help this boil a bit quicker, I turned the heat up to about medium high. Turn the heat down to low and simmer covered for 10 minutes. I stirred this once in awhile, because it starts getting much thicker. Remove lid and add the ham, sour cream, salt and pepper and shredded cheese. Stir as you add each item and once you add the cheese, stir until it is melted. Then remove from heat and serve.

This soup was real tasty. It is thick, creamy, full of flavor and perfect for a cold day. It is also very filling, meaning there will be leftovers. :) I found this recipe online, I forget where; tweaked it a bit and made it my own. Enjoy.

Buttermilk Substitute

Place 1 T of either white vinegar or lemon juice in a liquid measuring cup. I used lemon juice. Then add enough milk to bring the liquid up to the 1 cup line. Let stand for about 5 or 10 minutes. It should start to look like it's curdling. Stir and use what the measurement calls for, in place of buttermilk. In this case, it called for 1 cup of buttermilk, so I used all of it.

A Few Goals...

I hope that you all had a very Happy Easter, spent with family and good friends. :) Ours was good. It was a nice relaxing day, after having quite a busy day, Saturday.

Anyway, I wanted to share a few goals that I have and hope to share along the way in this new blog.

• I want to start making more homemade foods, rather than the processed foods that we buy from the grocery store. In this way, I will know what types of ingredients are going into our foods and in many ways, this will be healthier for all of us. Plus, homemade dinners usually taste much better than processed, boxed or frozen types of dinners. Don't you agree?
• I want to get a little more creative through different types of projects. These projects may be sewing projects, projects to decorate our home and maybe even some projects that we could use as gift ideas. I have many ideas floating around in my brain right now, that I would love to attempt. At the moment, I have been sewing a jean purse, with lining. It is coming along, but it is not finished yet. I am sewing it by hand, since I do not own a sewing machine at the moment. This makes it a little trickier, because I want it to look nice, of course. But it feels good to be using some of my creativity. :)
• At some point, I hope to live in a place where we can start our own vegetable garden. It would be great to grow some of our own veggies and fresh herbs. It requires a bit of hard work, but the benefits of fresh veggies and herbs would make it well worth the effort put forth. :)

These are a few of the goals that I have and want to share in this blog, through my words and through photographs. So please, stay tuned. :) 

My Life

                                                           
Last Sunday, our youngest son, who lives at home with us, spent the weekend at a friend's house, so my husband and I decided to go out to eat and have a few drinks. We don't get to do this too often, so it was really great. This is a photo from that night. It makes me smile everytime I look at it. :)

My husband, Tony is my whole life..well him and our 4 sons. When he is not here with me, I feel like only half of a person. Together, we are whole. He never fails to make me smile and I can talk to him about anything. We are best friends, as well as husband and wife.

I feel truly blessed to have such a wonderful husband. He is always there for me, making me smile, giving me a shoulder to cry on, listening to me when I really need to talk and giving me helpful advice. He is everything to me. I could not imagine my life without him, nor would I want to.