Best Soup EVER

Here is something you need to know about me right now, right up front. 

I'm a soup-a-holic.  A true soup fan.  I love just about all kinds of soup, except cold soups.  Those are weird.  Stop it.  But, a warm hearty soup, or a thin light soup, I love them all.  I also eat soup year round.  It doesn't have to be cold for me to have and enjoy soup.  Mostly because where I live, we never really get "cold".  But, also because hey, I just really like soup.

My very favorite soup of all time?  Tomato Florentine from Zio's Italian restaurant.  Ahhhh, it is so good.  It is creamy and full of rich tomato flavor and has DILL in it.  That makes this a really unique soup.  It's not overwhelming, but its there in the background, just hanging out, mixing with everything else.  It's so incredibly good.  I've been eating this soup in the restaurant for at least 10 or 12 years now, and I've also been searching for a copy cat for this recipe for just as long.  I had given up ever finding one.

And then, I did.   

I stumbled across this recipe at Food.com and went ahead and printed it.  I've been so disappointed over the years, I didn't want to get my hopes up.  I finally grabbed what I needed to make the soup  (which is surprisingly few things that I didn't already have on hand) and set out to make it, assuming it would be just for me.  Scott hates dill.  HATES dill.  Well, I think what we discovered is that Scott hates dill pickles, but dill itself is okay (I've always wondered, because he can drink Ranch dressing by the bucket....which is full of dill). 

It's a process, that's for sure.  It's not hard, just a lot of steps.  I also HIGHLY recommend you mise-en-place before you begin.  It is always a good idea, but for this, it is really helpful.  I got through the first half, was letting it simmer and I kept smelling it.  It certainly smelled correct.  I kept on with the steps and finally scooped a bowl full of the soup, topped with some fresh grated Parmesan and nervously took my first bite. 

It is EXACTLY like the soup they serve at Zio's.  I have found it.  My decade long search is over.  This recipe is an exact copy cat of theirs.  Ooooh, happy day!  And, because it smelled good and curiosity finally got the better of him, Scott had a bowl.  And damn near picked it up to lick it clean.  He really enjoyed it!   (I'm pretty sure he hates the VINEGAR in the dill pickles, not the dill now that I've seen him scarf down a bowl of soup with lots of dill in it)

If you are interested, here is the recipe I used (linked above too).  Enjoy!!!!!!

FYI - this is the recipe word for word from Food.com - and I followed it exactly this time to see if it is an exact copy (it is) - but next time I'd likely use real chicken stock instead of bouillon but the rest is spot on. 

Oh, one quick tip - if you aren't used to making a roux....when the recipe says to let it get to a certain color, please do.  Common mistake is to not cook it long enough, then your roux will taste like raw flour (which is disgusting) and it will make your whole pot of soup taste like raw flour (yuck).

Tomato Florentine Soup (like Zio's)

• 3 tbsp flour
• 3 tbsp butter
• 3/4 Cup diced onion
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp fresh garlic (I used the jarred, already minced kind)
• 3 chicken boullion cubes
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes (you could use diced, but then you'll have to blend it)
• 1 tbsp ketchup
• 3/4 cup vegetable juice
• 1/2 tbsp dried basil
• 2 tbsp dried dill
• 1/4 tsp hot pepper sauce (I used Frank's - I put that shit on everything! LOL)
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 2 tbsp dry white wine
• 2 cups heavy cream (oooh yeeeeaaah baby!)
• 1/2 cup fresh spinach, julianned

Process:

Make the roux and set aside to cool.  Heat 3 tbsp butter in a heavy sauce pan over medium heat until bubbling.  Whisk in flour and cook until the color of straw.  DO NOT WALK AWAY and DO NOT STOP WHISKING.  This is the biggest mistakes people make when trying to make a roux.  It can burn in the blink of an eye.  Once you have the desired color, remove from heat and set aside to cool. 

Saute the onions in 2 tbsp butter until softened and translucent (do NOT hurry this step or you'll get burnt onions instead of caramelized - be patient).  Add the garlic and saute for 1 to 2 minutes.  Don't go too long once you add the garlic.  Garlic burns very easily.  Pour this onion/garlic mixture into a food processor and blend until fully pureed. 

Dissolve 3 chicken bouillon cubes in 1 cup boiling water. 

In a dutch oven or soup pot, heat tomatoes, ketchup, vegetable juice and chicken stock over low heat.  Once heated, add purred onion mixture, basil, dill, hot pepper sauce, sugar, black pepper and wine.  Stir to fully combine and simmer for 15 minutes. 

Whisk in your cooked roux and simmer an additional 30 minutes. 

Whisk in your heavy cream, stir in your spinach and serve! 

Serve with Parmesan, extra bits of spinach, Zio's adds croutons to theirs (I never eat them).  I simply added Parm to the top of ours and made Scott a grilled cheese sandwich to go with it.  Yummmo!

Zero!

Haven't blogged in a while.  Just haven't felt the mojo to do it.  Nothing's been wrong at all, just not into blogging for a few weeks.  I've been busy crocheting, testing out new recipes (my poor guinea pig at home - oh wait - he's not suffering!!!) and playing on my computer.  That's about it.  That and work.  Too much work.

Scott is now firmly working in his new position as the lead person in his department.  I'm so incredibly proud of him for all the work he's put into getting this position.  Plus, the extra money isn't shabby.  Unfortunately, because this new position is in a brand new store (it just opened Wednesday of this week), he's working crazy hours.  I mean, lots of money, but little time to visit with him.  Boo.  Not a fan of that part.

To pass the time while home alone, I've been crocheting a lot.  Working up Christmas gifts and trying to finish some baby blankets I'm working on.  My silly self posted a picture of a little lovey (that is a small crochet blanket with a stuffed animal attached to it) patterned after Zero the dog from Nightmare Before Christmas.  See him?  He actually LOOKS like a little blanket lovey, so he's kind of perfect for this kind of project.  I tagged my daughter because she is obsessed with the movie (has been her whole life) and asked, kind of cheekily, if she wanted one (she immediately said yes.  duh.) and I was not prepared for the messages from several friends asking for one themselves!  I love it!!!!  I made the first one, and it is bound for my dear friend Cher in Florida, intended to be a birthday gift for her granddaughter.  I'm so pleased to be able to do it for her!  Here is my final product: 

He took two days, but only because I didn't have any poly-fil to stuff his little nose and head.  So quick and easy to do.  I really enjoyed making him.  I have to make 2 more of them, right away.  I love to crochet and I love to do it for people.  Like any other craft, I do it because A) I enjoy it and B) I enjoy seeing the joy and happy it brings to other people.  Plus, it keeps my hands busy.  I've seen the movie Idle Hands (if you haven't, please stop what you are doing and go watch it immediately.  it's brilliant comedy/horror with a great young cast) and I know what happens when you don't keep your hands busy.  Ha! 

My next project is a bit daunting but I'm ready to try harder things in crochet.  I only began doing this 4 years ago after boredom, a yarn ball, a hook and Youtube all collided one evening.  I've taught myself everything, including how to read patterns and charts (which was NOT easy, let me tell you...it's like learning another language).  So, this will challenge me, which I love.  But seriously, how unbelievably gorgeous is this blanket??? 

This is a test pattern that will shortly become a pay for pattern (not downloadable for free) but this designers patterns are usually not more than $7 or $8 each, so they are really a bargain and they are just visually stunning.  If you want to see more of his work, including some free patterns as well as others in a similar vein to this one, visit his Ravelry page Made of Change.  His patterns are all very unique in that there is not a single row that is the same as another one.  They are all different, with different stitch techniques.  These are good to try new stitches out, plus, just look at it.  Gorgeous.  My furniture in the living room is blue, so I think I shall do this one blue like in the photo. 

On that note, I'm so glad it's Friday.  So, so glad.  LOL  Ready for the weekend, which with any luck will involve a whole lot of me not doing anything. 

My Weekend Fizzled!

My weekend got all shot to hell, before it even began this week! 

I woke up Thursday morning and had a glass of tea.  Now, hot black tea on an empty stomach makes me hurl (biiiig time), which I discovered is pretty common.  Normally, if I have hot tea in the morning, I have a piece of toast or something small with it because of that.  However, iced tea usually dosen’t do the same thing to my belly.  So, Thursday, I woke up and poured a giant glass of ice tea. 

I got about ½ of it down when I started to feel kind of icky, so I thought maybe it was too much, so I made a piece of toast.  Literally one bite of food makes the sick stop when the tea causes it.  I had one bite of the toast, put it down on my vanity and RAN for my bathroom.  It came back out faster than it went in for pity’s sake. 

Still believing that it was the tea making me sick, after I threw up, I brushed my teeth, finished getting dressed for work and then……..BLAM.  Back in the bathroom.  Hmmm.  Odd.  Don’t normally get sick twice if it’s just the tea. 

STILL believing that it was just the tea, I got in my car and headed to work.  I **smartly** brought a container along with me for just in case.  Thank God I did.  My 10 minute commute to work included 2 more instances of me getting sick.  (that container was immediately THROWN AWAY)

I managed to get into work.  Pale.  Sweaty.  Shaking.  Stomach doing Blue Angels worthy barrel rolls.  Got to my desk, sat down and literally put my head on my desk and just laid it there.  Like I’m 5 and it’s naptime at kindergarten. 

After making a quick trip to the office bathroom TWICE at work (which, for the record, is NOT near my actual desk, which is so unfortunate) by 8:30, I gave up.  I couldn’t find my boss so I left a post it note (sorry, super sick, gotta go), told my coworker I was pukey sick and headed home, then made my way.  It was a rough ride.  But I made it. 

I crawled into bed, unable to put so much as even a sip of water in my body for about 6 hours.  Miserable.  Finally, around 1pm, I noticed that it had backed off for a while, and that water was staying down, so I threw all caution to the wind and had a can of chicken noodle soup.  It all stayed down.  I was, thankfully, done throwing up every 15 minutes.  I was exhausted, my muscles hurt, I was miserable.  So I snuggled into bed with my dogs and slept. 

This all happened Thursday, which meant I was definitely not feeling well enough to go see Kevin Smith’s Q&A at 10pm.  And that makes me super sad.  L 

Saturday we ran some errands, which included going to WalMart.  On a damn Saturday.  Because I will never learn.  Oy.  But, $220 later, we made it out with our lives and some stuff we needed.  Hahahahahaha.  We went home, unpacked groceries and worked on our little redneck pool.  It needed cleaned, vacuumed, chemicaled, etc.  Lots of work on that pool.  We were going to float and play in the pool on Sunday. 

Sunday morning, the (damn) dogs got me up at about 3:30 (ass hats) to go outside.  Well, one of the dogs.  My beagle, who is creeping on 9 years old just can’t hold her bladder all night any more.  Dang it.  I stepped out with the dogs, just to make sure that they didn’t bark like jackasses at 3:30am and stopped cold. 

My pool had lost ½ its water.  HALF the water came out of the pool between 11pm and 3:30am, but we can’t find the source of the leak!  I don’t see any obvious holes, tears or rips.  Unless some relatively large critter got into the pool and sat on the edge, allowing the water to flow out, I can’t figure out what caused us to lose water like that.  We are both so upset!  We’ve worked so hard on the pool, all summer, and now, all of a sudden, the water is just gone.  Boo.  Maybe it drown the fire ants though….that would be a good thing.  LOL 

this is tooooo far away

One good thing?  WE BOOKED A NEW CRUISE!!!!   A few weeks ago, I put the deposit down for Scott and I to take an 8 day cruise right here out of home.  It will leave from Galveston and head to Roatan, Honduras, Belize City, Belize and Cozumel, Mexico.  I could care less about Cozumel (I will likely get off the ship ONLY to go buy good Mexican vanilla), but I’ve never been to either Roatan or Belize, so we are looking forward to that!  This one leaves on the same day as our cruise last year, which was a total coincidence!  I’m ready to leave right now!!!!  

I think maybe because I’m excited about this cruise, and because I was feeling so sorry for myself last weekend, Catherine has been on my mind constantly today.  I swear, today feels like she just died yesterday, instead of 3 months ago.  Been a raw day for me. But, it's the first one I've had like that in quite some time, so I'll take it. 

The Cutest Christmas Blanket

I am a HUGE fan of the crafting website RepeatCrafterMe.  HUGE.  She writes the cutest crochet patterns, does other crafty things and crock pots.  I basically love every post, but especially her crochet posts. 

She is doing the neatest little Christmas blanket crochet a long, and if you are interested, it's not too late to join in!  She's only released 4 of the 9 patterns so far.  This is the square she released today.  Click on the picture to go to the post about this project. 

Seriously, how CUTE is that???

This is done in Corner to Corner stitch (C2C), which is super easy to do.  However, as the artist points out at her site, you could use this with a single or half double crochet stitch, your squares will just be much smaller.  This is called "graphganning".  Making an afghan with a picture graph.  In this case, she has designed 9 of these blocks, each with a different picture on it.  Each block is 25 blocks square.  Once all 9 blocks are done, you sew them together and have a unique, fun Christmas blanket.  Plus, added bonus, these C2C blankets are super warm.  :) 

I'm excited to get caught up on the blocks!   

Click that link and you will go to the most recent post, but it will have links to all the previous graphs she's released so far.  

She has released a Christmas tree, a Santa and a snowman.  Now, the sleigh.  These are seriously so cute.  If you are into crochet, this is a fun project. 

Review: Coca-Cola Life

As a member of BzzAgent, I am periodically elected to 'campaigns' to test new products.  It's really awesome!  You can sign up using the link over there on your right, then answer a few surveys so the folks at BzzAgent know what you like and what you don't, then they match you with campaigns that align with your likes.  When you are elected to play along, you receive a package with either a sample of the product you are trying out and some coupons to buy additional or share with friends, or, in the case of perishable items, it's usually coupons to go get the product to test (for free) as well as additional money off coupons for more and to share with friends.  All you do is try the product out and review it.  That's it.  No strings.  No catches.  They send you free stuff to try out and all you have to do it tell whether you liked it or not. 

This month, I was chosen for the Coca-Cola Life campaign.  This is a new product put out by Coca-Cola.  It is sweeted with pure cane sugar and Stevia rather than processed sugar.

Many of you know I have recently stopped drinking Diet Coke entirely.  From a 12 pack every 2 days habit to zero.  It was rough (and yes, I cheated just once) but I'm now off the stuff entirely.  Scott?  Not so much.  He's a soda fiend!  We both had a few sips of this product to test it out.  Here's our pros and cons:

PROS
It's not as cloyingly sweet as regular Coca-Cola.  People often wondered why I drank Diet Coke rather than regular.  It's the overly disgusting sweet flavor of a regular Coke.  One can literally makes my teeth feel like they are covered in fuzz.  *squick*  This new Coke product is considerably less sweet tasting, without tasting like a diet soda at all.  It also has a really good flavor, at first....here comes the cons....

CONS
The soda has a really strange aftertaste.  I believe it is probably the Stevia that is causing this weirdness.  And it could be entirely my tastes, as I am not a fan of Stevia as a sweetner in most things.  However, Scott thought the same thing.  Strange aftertaste.  I never noticed the aftertaste most people complain about with diet sodas, but with this one, I sure did.  It's strange enough that I will not buy this product.  However, I know plenty of friends of mine that may like it very much. 

At first I thought that issue was that I drink unsweetened ice tea all the time now, so ANYTHING sweet seems to be a bit too much to me and since I don't sweeten my tea with artifical sweetner I've lost the tolerance to that strange aftertaste, but then Scott, who takes in all the sugar, had the same issues with after taste.

Disclaimer:  I received a sample of this product for free from BzzAgent.com, in return for my honest review.  You can too!  Click the link in the side bar and sign up today!

Recipe: Creamy Roasted Corn Chowder

I found a recipe a while back for roasted corn chowder that I tweaked and modified a bit to make my own.  I posted about it on Facebook last night and received requests for the recipe.  I figured I'd post it here for all because this stuff is SERIOUSLY amazing.  :)

Ingredients
4 Tbsp Butter
1 onion, diced
3 stalks of celery, diced
3 slices of bacon, sliced into bite size pieces, raw
2 tbsp minced garlic
5 ears of corn, roasted, and cut off the cob**
1/4 cup flour
3 cups chicken stock
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup shredded Monterrey Jack cheese
1 cup shredded Sharp Cheddar cheese
1/3 cup green onions, sliced

Suggested garnish:  crumbled bacon, extra sliced green onions, extra shredded cheese, sour cream

Melt butter in your soup pot and sweat the onions and celery for about 5 minutes.  Add the bacon pieces and cook an additional 5 to 10 minutes on a medium high heat to render the fat and cook the bacon (it will remain soft, not crunchy).  Add garlic and corn, mix well and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes.  Add the flour and stir to fully combine and coat the veggies in the pan and cook for an additional 1 to 2 minutes to cook the raw flour flavor out.

Add the chicken stock all at once and scrape the bottom of the pan to deglaze any tasty bits.  Turn the heat up and bring to a low boil, which will thicken the sauce slightly.  Add the heavy cream, stir to fully combine, turn the heat down to a low simmer, cover and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Once fully thickened, add all the cheeses and the green onion, stir to combine and melt the cheeses.  Serve piping hot, with any of the suggested garnishes above (or none at all) or something else of your choice,

This soup is EXCELLENT the next day as all the flavors combine.

**I have used unroasted canned or frozen corn to make this in the past and it is just as yummy!  Using fresh corn and roasting it does have a bunch more flavor, but this soup is very good using regular corn if that is what you have on hand.  

I CHEATED!!!!!

This post is going to be a huge mish-mash of things that don't belong together.  Sorry/not sorry.  

1.  Things have been kind of quiet lately.  I've noticed that I've kind of pulled into myself, probably a little too much.  I've been consciously trying to get out there and be social again.  First up?  Bowling last Saturday.  Holy hell.  I'm sore from head to toe, still today, almost a week later.  But it was so fun!!!  My friend Bonnie called me Friday night, kind of in a panic.  

                B:  "What are you doing tomorrow?  Are you busy?"  

(Checks calendar......hmmmmm....waking up, playing World of Warcraft, maybe some homework for school and then, quite possibly, work on that baby blanket I'm doomed to never finish.)  

                D:  "Not a damn thing.  What's up?"  

                B:  "Do you want to go bowling with me for charity tomorrow at 1pm?"  

                D:  "Shit yeah I do!!!"  

Her boss is a member of the local Lions Club and they were doing a bowling charity event for some local eye care charity.  Her son (who also works at that company) was set to bowl with her, but then had a conflict, so she called me to fill in.  I'm SO glad that I went.  I'm sore as hell (still, seriously.  I'm old) but it was great to get out of my house for a while.  

2.  I'm going to see Kevin Smith next Thursday night for a Q&A.  KEVIN.  SMITH.  I was cruising around the interwebs a few months ago and this FB sponsored post showed up telling me that Kevin was going to do a Q&A here where I live.  I went, on a whim, to see just how outrageously over priced the tickets were.  You know how much they were?  Any guesses?  $30 each.  THIRTY DOLLHAIRS EACH.  I couldn't run to my wallet fast enough to get my card out to order a ticket for Scott and I.  SO EXCITED!!!!  

3.  I cheated.  I'm a cheating, cheater-cheater, cheaty-mccheaty pants.  Two days I ago I ruined a whole 2 months of not having a Diet Coke.  I cheated.  :(  I was in the store, after work picking up a few things for dinner.  I was dying of thirst and needed something to drink and those little 8.5 oz aluminum bottles were right there.  Cold.  And right there.  It was glorious, tasted like what I imagine  unicorns smell like, and I felt 1000% guilty with every delicious swig of the carmel colored mana from heaven.  Guil-TY.  My problem is that my preferred drink other than Diet Coke is unsweetened ice tea.  Do you know how hard it is to find that when you are out running about?  Ugh.  Everything in the bottle is sweetened to death, with a few exceptions. There is a Pure Leaf unsweet and there actually IS a Snapple unsweet, however, I guess because people prefer that overly sweet crap, I can rarely find it on the shelf.  Boo.   

4.   I have a redneck pool in my backyard and I love it SO MUCH.  Given that I rent a home, rather than own, and even if I did own, I don't happen to have $30,000 laying about to pay for a new pool, my little redneck pool will do.  It's 3 feet deep and 15 feet wide.  It's just wide enough and deep enough that I can drop a floaty mat in it and float.  And really, that's all I really want in a pool anyway.  We've had 2 solid days of rain here though, so it's now cloudy, overfull and needs to be shocked.  I think it's going to stop raining over the weekend so we can get it cleaned up.  

5.  My nearly two year odyssey of wondering "is today they day I am going to get my lay off notice" is officially over, and not because I got my notice!  I scored a different job that is not in danger of being outsourced to another physical location like my current job is.  It's in the same field that I work in now (supplier management) but I will no longer be a buyer.  Praise Jesus, HALLELUJAH.  I have done this job, in support of multiple US government contracts, for over 18 years.  I.  AM.  TIRED.  So burnt out, so over it.  This new position will use my skills obtained throughout my 18 years, but means I no longer have to buy anything.  YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!   

6.  I am halfway through my first MBA class.  I hate the crap out of it, but I'm doing okay grade wise.  Do you know how hard it is to get a degree in a subject you just could care less about?  Ugh.  However, since what I want to do isn't possible and this degree will help me in the future, I'm suffering through it.  And doing so with at least a decent grade, so far.  :) 

I think that is it.  My brain dump since I haven't posted here in a few weeks.  Things have been happening, life is moving along as it does. I still miss the ever loving crap out of Catherine and still want to talk to her every single day, but I am also able to make jokes, remember fun and funny things about her and not bawl like a baby.  Progress.  It's the little things.  :)