The Summoning

The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


With such high ratings, I was expecting more. I want to know what happens next, but I'm not sure I'll take the time to read the rest of the series.
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Coconut Curry Butternut Squash Soup

I know butternut squash isn't really in season anymore, and I apologize for being so late posting fall's recipes, but damn, life got busy! If you like curry, even just a little bit, definitely give this soup a try--it was delicious! I loved eating it with some naan. In an effort to save time, I bought pre-cut squash, which made this pretty darn easy to make.

Recipe copied from Skinny Taste

Coconut Curry Butternut Squash Soup
Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes
Servings: 4 • Serving Size: 9 fl oz (a little more than 1 cup) • Points: 2 pts
Calories: 108 • Fat: 4.9 g • Protein: 2.1 g • Carb: 14.6 g • Fiber: 3.6 g

* 1 tsp olive oil
* 1/2 tsp roasted cumin
* 1 1/2 tsp garam masala
* 3/4tsp - 2 tsp madras curry powder (depending on palate)
* 1/2 medium onion, minced
* 2 cloves garlic, minced
* 16 oz (about 2 cups) chopped peeled butternut squash
* 1 cup light coconut milk
* 3 cups fat free vegetable or chicken broth
* salt and fresh pepper to taste
* chopped fresh cilantro (optional)

Add oil to a medium soup pot, on medium heat. When oil is hot add onion, garlic and sauté. Add roasted cumin, masala and curry powder and mix well cooking another minute. Add broth, light coconut milk, butternut squash and cook covered until squash is soft, 12-15 minutes. Remove cover and using an immersion blender, puree soup until smooth. Season with salt and fresh pepper and serve with fresh cilantro.

The Historian

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I have mixed opinions on this book. I loved the first 3/4 of it, but quickly became disappointed. The ending didn't bother me, it was getting there. I felt Kostova kept the mystery alive greatly for the majority of the book, and then handed us too much plot resolution at once.

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Baking Withdrawal

I'm wrapping up a week of vacation and I didn't try a single new recipe, I'm going through withdrawal a little! You might remember we recently bought a house. Well, being an intern and setting up home is not the easiest thing to do. I spent most of my vacation working around the house and unpacking some boxes. There are still tons of boxes to unpack, but we need our master bedroom furniture to come in so we can get things a little more organized first. And we're still waiting on our living room furniture =( Thank goodness we using our old bedroom set for our spare room, or we'd be sleeping on the floor.

Before I can dive back into tackling more recipes, we need our kitchen! After living here for almost a month, I was happy to find my spices this week. I've been contemplating on baking tonight, but I just don't have any counter space to do prep work yet. The kitchen has definitely become the dumping ground for the tools and boxes. On a better note, I've solved my "kitchen dilemna." Since we didn't win the recent Mega Millions, a new kitchen just isn't in the budget for us right now. So, we've decided to go with an island.

It has a leaf we can use as a breakfast bar too. I'll be so excited when I get my kitchen floor back and we can set this up. However, I'm definitely not looking forward to the time and frustration it's going to take to assemble it.

I'm so happy with our other house projects. We've finished our basement and Dad added an office for me down there. I've bought 3 bookcases to fill and a winged back chair to make it have a semi-library feel too. Oh, and if you're thinking about crown molding, do it! Dad added it to our living and dining rooms, what a special touch! I'd love to show more pictures, but hubby requests I don't share everything with the virtual world. I can respect that. Oh, and can I just say how blessed we are that my Dad's a contractor?

Stitch Pink Update

You might remember that I cross-stitched some patterns for a quilt DMC was putting together. If not, here's the link to remind ya :p

DMC announced that the quilt is finished =) If you'd like to bid on it, please check out eBay after Jan 8, 2011. “Crafts –> Handcrafted Finished Pieces –> Quilt” All proceeds go towards the Susan G. Komen Fund.

Star Wars Sugar Cookies - Well Just Sugar Cookies

One of these days I'm going to get the knack of making cut out sugar cookies. I attempted to use our Star Wars cookie cutters, yeah I just stink and making cut outs. Regardless, this recipe was amazing!

Recipe from Pioneer Woman

INGREDIENTS

* 2 whole Large Eggs
* 1 cup Canola Oil
* 2 sticks Butter, Softened
* 1 cup Sugar, Plus Extra For Sprinkling 7 oz
* 1 cup Powdered Sugar 4 oz
* 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
* 4 cups Plus 2 Tablespoons, All-purpose Flour 17.7 ounces
* 1 teaspoon Salt
* 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
* 1 teaspoon Cream Of Tartar

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together eggs, oil, butter, sugars, and vanilla.

Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Cover and refrigerate dough one hour.

Using a cookie scoop, drop balls of dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet.

Smear a dab of butter all over the bottom of a glass, then dip the glass in granulated sugar. Use the glass to flatten each ball of dough, dipping again into the sugar each time. Repeat until all are flattened.

Bake for 9 to 11 minutes, until cookies are just barely turning brown. Don’t overbrown!

Allow to cool before eating. Cookies are ultra crumbly!

New Year, New Resolutions

Happy New Year Everyone! 2010 has been very busy for us, but we're managing.

A lot of my resolutions this year, will probably be just modifications from last year. Let's look back first....

2010 Resolutions

1. Become a doctor and start a pediatric residency.
- Check

2. Finish our wedding scrapbook by our two year anniversary.
- Hides my head in shame... Maybe by our three year anniversary?

3. Spend less money on non-essentials and finally be able to start saving.
- So so. This is definitely something I still need work on.

4. Work on spending less at the grocery store.
- Again, so so. It's definitely better when I meal plan.

5. Return to my natural hair color.
- Check! Now I have to keep fighting the urge to highlight it.

6. Focus on learning more about photography. I've taken a lot of food photos this year, but I'd like some better people ones.
- So so....I'm still only taking pictures of food.

7. Continue working on my faith.
- Fail. I'll carry this on into 2011

8. Cross stitch more. I read A LOT this past year and my other hobbies really fell to the wayside.
- Yup =)

9. Run 30 minutes. I'd love to be able to get back to running, we'll see how my knee feels about this.
- I was up to about 15 minutes before residency started getting super crazy and working out took a major back seat.

This year I'm going to take on fewer resolutions.

1. Work on my faith some more.

2. Continue to grow in our marriage.

3. Cherish our new home and life together.