I'm a wife to an amazing man, mom to a tuxedo cat and I'm rapidly approaching 30. Now afternoon naps are replacing late nights out, brunches are replacing early morning breakfasts, and yoga pants are replacing tight jeans. This is my niche, a place to document our memories.
I've been in a grumpy mood lately, and when I get down and start complaining, Justin automatically has me look back and see how much progress I've made, how far we've come, and how much more comfortable our life is now. So, I thought I'd do a little of the same thing here, reminding myself that March was a great month!
we decided to take our Acadia on our summer vacation, instead of flying and renting a car. We also decided to stay out of the cities, and just enjoy the smaller towns - making memories along the way.
April holds lost of amazing things in store for us, including: dying Easter eggs, creating inside jokes with my family, hot tubing, my birthday and a trip down to the States. I'm ready for you!
my beautiful niece being born at about 1:30 today. I'm in love with Mackenzie, and I haven't even seen her yet! She has no idea how spoiled she's going to be.
two long weekends in a row. This weekend is Easter and the following Sunday is my birthday, so Justin and I have Monday booked off to celebrate. I can't wait to have some rest and relaxation.
Mio. Sometimes it's difficult to drink eight glasses of water each day, this "little or a lot" water enhancer makes it easier; it's a wonderful thing.
my parents being back home (here) in May. I literally can not wait!
the nice weather. Although the grass isn't green, and the trees aren't budding, it's still nice. It also makes me want to go on a road trip, so I'm excited we're heading down to Kalispell, Montana for my birthday. I hope this nice weather stays now.
1 - Friday night, I wanted to watch a movie with a healthy snack and instantly thought about those tasty Spiced Cauliflower Poppers. I had to make a run to the grocery store for ingredients, where I bought three heads of cauliflower, two red peppers, bananas, and grapes. It made me laugh that I used to buy a bunch of junk food on Friday nights, and now I buy a bunch of fruits and veggies! Oh, and I fabulously left my wallet at home, which I realized while at the checkout. The guys there were so kind, and put my order aside until I came back to pay - now that's customer service!
2 - I went shopping with my mother in law Saturday afternoon. We always have great conversations and I made a good haul: two tops, a cardigan, a pair of shorts, a lipstick, a blush/bronzer and a to-go mug.
3 - Spontaneously I came up with a yummy pasta sauce. So healthy, so good, and so easy! I'll share the recipe in a post soon.
4 - I woke up Sunday with a bit of a rats nest for hair!
5 - Justin had gone camping with his hunting buddies for the weekend, but when he got home we decided to head to Shelby, Montana for a beer run. It's always great when the border guard asks, "oh, you don't have beer up there in Canada?" Yea, we do - but not Coors Banquet.
6 - A quick trip down and back, but it was so refreshing. Justin and I decided we need to do that more often.
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When I decided to create a new blog, I wanted to come up with a name that had multiple meanings and that stood out. To me "soup" is the comfort part of life, and "laundry" is the every day stuff. But when I ran Soup and Laundry past my parents, my dad immediately said that if there's soup in the title, he'd expect to see recipes featured on my blog. Well, this one's for you dad!
I'm pretty much addicted to Pinterest; there are SO many amazing recipes, it's almost overwhelming. I found a great recipe for Baked Cauliflower Poppers, and then saw a recipe for Spiced Sweet Potato Chips that looked good, so naturally I got to thinking. I thought: self, what if I combined these two recipes and used the seasoning from the sweet potatoes chips to season the cauliflower poppers. And so we have, Spiced Cauliflower Poppers.
Ingredients:
1 head of cauliflower
cooking spray
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon sweetener
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Steps:
1 - Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
2 - Chop up the head of cauliflower into bit sized bits.
3 - Put the poppers into a bowl, and spray lightly with cooking spray. Toss, then spray again, toss and spray one last time.
4 - Mix the spices together in a separate bowl, and sprinkle half onto the poppers. Toss the cauliflower, then sprinkle with the other half of the spice mixture.
5 - Put the poppers on a parchment paper lined baking sheet, and pop in the oven.
6 - Bake for a total of one hour. Take the poppers out of the oven every fifteen minutes to rotate them, so each side gets crispy and yummy. They don't get burnt, they just get tastier!
7 - Serve with a side of ketchup to dunk the poppers in, and enjoy.
Note - If you prefer crispier fries, like Justin does, I'd recommend chopping the cauliflower into smaller bits, and maybe cooking them for an additional 15 minutes. And although these have flavour, they are not spicy, just really tasty, and very addictive!
I made these last night while Justin was home, but he went over to a friend's before they were finishing baking. When they were done I sat down and had a couple, then a couple more, then soon enough the whole batch was in my belly. I did feel bad that I didn't leave Justin any, but then didn't because they are just that good! If you snooze you lose, right?
Let me know what you think of them, and expect to see more recipes popping up on this 'ol blog!
I'll be honest, I again thought I had another day to sneak in a photo - but it was already Wednesday at bedtime when I thought that! I need to get better at this, it's time to crack down! This weeks Click Chick Photo Challenge, sunset, left me in a bind; it seems sunsets just aren't something I capture often with my camera. I had to go back to a memory card from 2011 to find one, and at that it's not the best. As today comes to a close, I look back and wonder what happened to my day!?
It's the first day of spring, so that means it's time for the flowers to be blooming, the trees to start budding and the sun to be shining! And it is... someplace else. Sadly, we're still waiting for the spring weather to match the date on the calendar in Southern Alberta. Snow is actually in the forcast again for Thursday - yuck! Come on weather, please warm up and match the spring fever that I have in my soul!
Last night, I was running a bit late to aquafit, but I managed to get changed and was sitting on the edge of the pool five minutes before class started. I was sitting there, reluctant to get into the water, but I mustered the courage and lowered myself in. Less than a minute later a whistle was blown, and the lifeguard was telling everyone to get out of the pool. Everyone was in a state of confusion, but slowly made their way to the side of the pool. The lifeguard became even more urgent this time, yelling loudly that everyone needed to hurry and grab their stuff because there was a fire. Well, that put people in motion! I hustled, changed out of my bathing suit bottoms, put on my yoga pants and threw my two sweaters and coat over my wet swim suit top. Another lifeguard was now in the change room expressing her concern that we needed to hurry, and could change in the lobby if needed. I left the change room, and waited anxiously in the lobby with a swarm of other aquafitters. We were then told that there was a fire by the family change room, the fire department was coming to take care of the situation, and that we needed to leave the building, and get out to our vehicles. Out I went to the snowy night, thankful that I had worn boots and a winter coat, and not my normal light jacket and flip-flops. I waited until I saw the flashing lights in my rear view mirror, and then headed home.
The whole incident really got me thinking, no matter how we can plan our lives out, some emergency, or fire, can come and change the path we're heading in. Specifically I was thinking in terms of exercise, eating healthy and meal planning, but this really applies to life in general. Sometimes there is an event that comes up that is simply unavoidable, and we just need to come up with another plan, a Plan B. Last night, I needed to be the firefighter and find a solution to my unexpected exercise dilemma. Other times it could be needing a different meal option, because something unplanned took up too much time, or left you away from home. As long as we make another healthy choice, or the best choice that is now available to us, this new plan will work.
In life, it's far better, and a lot less stressful, to realize that an alternative is available, rather than just going up in smoke.
This is the one and only photo I took this past weekend! This was my supper before the portobello mushrooms decided to turn my pasta sauce into grey grossness. Oh, and as an added bonus, it also tasted like dirt. This was a major supper fail! (At least there's the green spatula and asparagus representing St. Patty's day!)
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Dear husband, let's have some fun tonight! We should start planning our little Washington, Oregon, California trip, and let's talk about throwing Vancouver into the mix, shall we!? Dear Lowie, please be extra cuddly to me this weekend, I could use some cuddle time with you. Dear my cousin Brittany, I can't wait for Easter weekend, and you coming down! Dear parents, I miss you more than you'll ever know, and I hate you living so far away. Finally, dear me, get some rest this weekend, and take a moment for yourself to relax.
Last night Justin and I went out for supper, and during the course of our conversation he said, "I can't believe it's Thursday again already tomorrow." Apparently I wasn't really paying attention, because as we were driving back home I suddenly realized that it was already Wednesday, and that I hadn't yet taken my green photo for the Click Chicks Photo Challenge. Oh poop! So, here's another photo from our honeymoon. For whatever reason, this trip is sticking out in my head lately. I'm actually wanting to re-do it, spend a little more time at the places we loved, and have a more relaxed trip. Maybe this August, to celebrate our third anniversary? I guess I'll leave it up to Justin, I hope he'll say yes!
