Watercress Soup

Yes, it's been far too long since I posted. I've had some projects I'm working on that are taking me longer than anticipated... (even without all the interruptions)

But don't you love spring? I LOVE spring.

Spring has brought beautiful green bunches of WATERCRESS back to my local farmer's market.




I did some research of some health benefits to watercress (found at THIS website):

"Watercress is rich in fiber, anti-oxidants, vitamin C, beta-carotene, folic acid, potassium, calcium, phosphorous and iron, and is a good source of iodine as well. In fact, it has more calcium than milk and more iron than spinach."



When I first discovered watercress last year, I tried a few soup recipes, found one I liked and then tweaked it a bit - now I just love this recipe.

It takes about 30 minutes to make and it's delicious - especially with fresh and toasted honey whole wheat bread to dip.

As in the majority of my meals, my cuisinart minifood prep is essential for making this fast and easy. You don't have to use one, but it sure makes things go faster. (and it's very reasonable at costco)





It probably is even better if you have a large food processor as it is 4 times the size (but since it's also 4 times the price, I stick with my mini one)



Recipe: Watercress Soup

3 Tablespoons butter

3-4 potatoes (or a bag of fingerling potatoes- no chopping needed)

1-2 yellow sweet onions

4-5 stalks of celery

Sea salt to taste

2 1/2 cups chicken stock (my favorite being Trader Joe's organic low sodium or homemade)

2 1/2 cups creamy milk

2 bunches of chopped watercress (remove the course stems)

(just so you know - I don't add pepper to anything, but I'm sure it would be good to add for people who like pepper)

1) Melt the butter. Chop/puree the onions, celery, and potatoes into very small pieces in the mini-food prep (you don't even have to peel the potatoes - just toss em in the chopper).

2) Add the onions, celery and potatoes to the butter and toss with the butter. Sprinkle with salt. Cover and cook over low heat for 10 minutes.

3) Add the stock and milk, bring to a boil and cook until the onions and potatoes are soft.

4) Chop the watercress in the mini-food prep and add to the soup - boil with the lid off for about 4-5 minutes until cooked. Do not overcook the watercress.

5) Puree the soup in a blender. Add more salt if necessary.


Even if green soup doesn't look so yummy, I can attest that it's OH so yummy. It tastes better every time I make it. We may have it once a week until watercress is out of season....

Art with preschoolers

Our preschool meets in large chunks - a month at a time. There are many pros and cons, but one of the pros is that you can do a full unit without interruption.

One of the units I did was on famous artists. This one I was really excited about - we learned about Degas, Monet, and Van Gough.

We didn't attempt to paint a Degas painting (a little beyond 4 year olds capability), but we DID attempt to learn the techniques of Monet and Van Gough.

I decided to use washable paint (for practicality reasons) but I wished I wouldn't have since the colors would have been better.

But the kids did an AWESOME job.

This is what it was based on:

 

(when I made the collages picasa moved the names to the middle. very annoying. oh well)

 

 

And then Monet's Water Lilies. Definitely a challenge.

 

 

They all did such a great job!


Now, when my kindergartner found out I had done this, she was so sad to miss out on the fun. So I had her and her friend (another sister of a boy in my group) do a little class with me too. And we pulled out the real paint this time and I loved what they came up with!!

 

 

My new toy

So it's been a while since I posted. After the debacle of having my painting rejected at the art exhibition, I took a little break from creative endeavors. Not for long though - since I got a new SILHOUETTE machine for Christmas. It is the ultimate craft toy that does everything from cut paper, vinyl, (and just recently) fabric, heat transfer, glass etching. Yes, it was a big surprise from my frugal and practical husband who generally only buys me things I need (instead of want). This machine has been so much fun. There are SO MANY things you can do with it. I've barely tapped into what it can do. But needless to say, I whipped up these cards fairly fast (now if I can only get out those thank yous in a timely manner, that would be good!)

Look how intricate the snowflake is!

 

 

 

 

This was for my son's birthday party:

 

Finally finished

 

Knowledge

"...then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3:5)

Winter Wonderland

I'm still wondering where December went. It seems like a blur. But January here we come. (I hate January).

While I was in Utah, (did I mention the snow storms created some great snow on the ski slopes? it did) I couldn't help get out my camera.

I was in the car working on these babies:

 

yes 125 Christmas cards. signed, sealed, and delivered by yours truly... (ALL but a few got into the mail BEFORE Christmas I might add), but I kept getting distracted and i couldn't stop looking out the window. It was so beautiful and serene.

the fog and mists were incredible

 

This is one of my favorites:
It almost looks like the horse is fake.

 

 

 

 

 

Isn't it just gorgeous!? I thought so. I marvel at the mountains often. They are so majestic.

Anyway - before Christmas I've been working on my largest painting on canvas to date (it's still not huge, but large for me). My first real go at oil paints. It's been a big adventure for me. Pretty bad timing (as I'm staying up between 2 and 4am pretty much the whole week before we left for Christmas vacation). I'm really excited to turn it in later this week to be judged by a panel of judges.

It's not quite done yet (still making last minute adjustments). Here is a sneak peak of a part of it:

 

Twas the season

to make KRING-LAH (Kringle)

Christmas is just not Christmas until I make Kringle. A Norwegian dessert that has been modified by my Norwegian grandmother (replacing raisins for chocolate chips, etc), this has become one of my holiday staples. It looks so beautiful and festive - shaped like a Christmas wreath with red-hots as holly berries. In reality it's like a thick chocolate chip cookie with frosting and red-hots.

This year I made about 50 (yes five zero) for the choir in my church congregation. I am the choir director and was in charge of the Christmas program this year and I made this treat for all the participants. The Christmas program had almost entirely music and turned out spectacular (a tad bit longer than anticipated, but really awesome.) I don't like to do things half way. And Yes it was crazy. Especially since we were flying out of town the day of the Christmas program. But I enjoyed doing it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

YUM

Ballet portraits

So my daughter attends a ballet studio which is fabulous, and yet also pricey. And every year they do a fundraiser because apparently they are a non-profit organization (which I still do not understand completely) and do not make enough to meet their costs.

I could not even consider giving more money to a studio after already paying its tuition, so I decided I would donate a painting for the silent auction instead.

I browsed the web looking for some inspiration and came across a photo:

 

I totally fell in love with it. The ballet studio she attends is very diverse, with many ethnic backgrounds and I love it doesn't matter what her skin color was, she is just dancing beautifully.

So I took that as an inspiration, and with a different color and a different medium (acrylics), came up with this:

 

I really like how it turned out, but I have to say I felt a LITTLE uncomfortable giving away a painting that looked so similar to the original artist's work with my name on it....


So I ended up painting a whole new painting. I changed the dancer - and with a similar idea came up with this:

 

I felt better about giving this one away, and I was happy that I got to keep the first one to put in my daughter's room!

I was, however, tempted to keep both of them! They worked so well together (I would not hang them like this, but you get an idea):

 

But alas, I did end up parting with it. I'm STILL waiting to hear how much it ended up selling for!
(I did not attend the actual silent auction as tickets to attend would have been $200 which is WAY above our date budget)

Before I gave it up, I tried this on a red wall in my house. It is interesting how it changes....