I've declared a New Year's do-over at my house.  My youngest got sick on the 1st, followed by my oldest, followed by my usually sexy man turned whiny-pam-can-you-call-my-mom-dude.  SO, on Monday, January 14th I'm re-starting 2013.  Odd I know, but psychologically I need to start this year off on a better note and I choose to make my own rules.

So, if your toilet backed up, your mother-in-law showed up, your computer crashed or any other ~ "crap that's not how I wanted to start a new year" has occurred... join my in saying, "oh, well.  Let's try that again!"

I love this soup.  It's one of my favorites.  I went into a bit of trauma tonight trying to find the recipe and it took about an hour but I finally put my hands on it!  Yeah for me!  So, I'm posting the recipe for your benefit, because it's awesome, and for my benefit because I don't want to spend another hour looking for it!  So... here we go....

Sweet Potato Maple Soup

1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 cup diced onion
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 cup rinsed sliced leeks with tops
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cinnamon stick
pinch ground cloves
1 tbsp minced fresh ginger OR 1 tsp. ground ginger
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
3 cups peeled sweet potato chunks
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
plain yogurt OR sour cream for garnish

In a large pot melt butter and heat oil over med.-high heat.  Add onion, celery, leeks, garlic, cinnamon, cloves and ginger and saute for 5 min. until veggies are tender.

Add stock, sweet potatos and salt and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 20 min or until potatoes are soft.

Remove cinnamon stick.  Blend soup with a stick blender OR in batches in blender or food processor, until smooth.  Return to pot and add maple syrup and nutmeg. heat until warmed through.

Ladle into bowls and garnish each with yogurt. I usually drizzle a bit more syrup over each bowl! Makes 6 servings.

My husband found me a new compost bucket!  I'm pretty excited about not having to use the bucket with a pie plate stuck on the top.  Don't get me wrong, it worked, just not well.  So after a month of looking....

my circa 1960's ice bucket/ compost bucket...

Yes, I am a vegetarian.  That doesn't mean I don't live with a bunch of carnivores.  I thought I would share my popular pulled BBQ beef recipe.  My family loves this and I like how versatile it is.  The first night I serve it on homemade buns, later I can make a shepherds pie with it, add it to pasta sauce, serve it over rice... etc. etc. You see what I mean.

Steph's Pulled BBQ Beef

1 cup sliced onions
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup tomato paste
2 tbsp. soy sauce
2 tbsp. prepared mustard
4 cloves of garlic, minced (or 1 tsp. powdered)
1/2 tsp salt
3 lb roast

Whisk together the first 9 ingredients.  Place the roast in your slow cooker (I trim off excess fat first).  Pour the sauce over the roast, roll to coat all sides.
Cook on Low for 8-10 hours or on High for 4-5 hours.
Transfer roast to a large plate/platter.  Cover to keep warm.  Skim any fat off the top of the sauce.  Place sauce in large frying pan. Bring liquid to a boil on med-high heat. Boil gently for 15 min. 
Shred the beef with two forks, add to the sauce.  Stir and serve.

I usually dump the whole thing back in the slow cooker to stay warm until I'm ready to serve.
This recipe is pretty forgiving, I have substituted ketchup for the tomato paste, apple juice for the broth, maple syrup for the brown sugar,

From Organizing Junkie's Pinterest Page!

I just recently discovered "I'm an Organizing Junkie!"  I love stalking this site!  I have a bit of a clutter problem at the moment and I'm trying to tackle it one room at a time.  I just recently repainted and reorganized my room, I will post some pics.  If you read the post from yesterday about my apple crates, stay tuned, I will post pictures when I figure out how I'm going to incorporate them into my organizational plan!

Here is the organizing junkie's Pinterest page!  I love pictures and I love being organized... this site is  Nirvana!

I’m super excited about the apples, but I’m even more excited about the 6 wood crates I picked up at the same time!  Only $2 each and they are in great shape!

Half the apples are going to apple butter, the other half to apple sauce.  And I have a lot of work to do.

Are you doing any canning?  I found some cute free labels online...
http://freebies.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=freebies&cdn=hobbies&tm=111&gps=225_3_1280_620&f=00&su=p284.13.342.ip_&tt=3&bt=0&bts=0&zu=http%3A//www.domestifluff.com/2009/08/free-printable-jam-tags-labels/

OR HERE

http://iloveswmag.com/newblog/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Yours-is-the-Earth-Canning-Label-Printable.pdf

Fresh leaves in oil.

I had a nice crop of lavender this year but I got very few flowers.  I didn't want it to go to waste so I'm trying to make my own lavender oil.  It's brewing for the next week... I will let you know how it turns out.

Here is where I got my instructions:
http://everything-lavender.com/how-to-make-lavender-oil.html

After 2 days out in the sun.

No Frills had their onions on sale recently.  The 10 lb bags were $1.49.  I bought 2 bags.  What can I say, I'm a sucker for a good sale and I like to buy things while they are in season.

The problem then presented itself... what I'm I going to do with all these blessed things!

I chopped them.  All of them.  Then I backed them in bags and froze them all.  This was not my first choice but I don't have a pressure cooker so I couldn't can them.

In case you are the proud owner of a pressure cooker, and you have onions abounding in your garden/market here is the recipe I really WANTED to do...

http://canninggranny.blogspot.ca/2011/05/canning-caramelized-onions.html

Caramelized onions are my favorite!!  Maybe I will ask for a pressure cooker for Christmas.

I think my husband is happy that's all over.... I guess the fumes were getting to everybody!

I have been meaning to make ketchup for quite some time.  I ran out the other day and since necessity is the mother of invention, I was gave it a shot.

I got my recipe here: http://www.instructables.com/id/Ketchup-Catsup-Recipe/

I didn't have any allspice but other than that I followed the recipe (my agave nectar wasn't blue, it was Light Madhava).  I really liked it and more importantly I put it in an old ketchup bottle, threw it in the fridge, and the kids didn't notice a difference.  Bonus.

I like the fact there is no corn syrup in it, I can pronounce all the ingredients, and I can control how much sugar/salt it contains!

 

We just got home from our annual week of camping with a huge group of GREAT friends.  I just wanted to share this years “HIT” snack with the 11 kids present!  So simple and easy but so yummy.

You will need one flour tortilla per person, chocolate chips, marshmallows, and peanut butter.  Spread peanut butter over the whole tortilla, on half sprinkle chocolate chips and marshmallows (if you have large marshmallows cut them in half).  Fold the top side over and place in a hot frying pan.  I used a cast iron skillet so I didn’t need to grease the pan at all, I just heated them to golden brown on each side.  They don’t take long to do and if your pan is large enough you can do two at a time no problem!

I found this version that includes bananas with also look good…. the problem with bananas while camping is that they make you very attractive to mosquitos.

http://www.hersheys.com/recipes/recipe-details.aspx?id=6572&name=Chocolate-Quesadillas#

Easy Black Bean Burgers
15 oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained
2 tbsp. ketchup
1 tbsp. yellow mustard
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/3 cup instant oats

Mash the beans up to a paste, add ketchup, mustard and spices.  Stir in oats.
Make 4 patties.

Option 1:
Bake in a 400 degree oven on parchment paper.  7 min. per side.

Option 2:
Fry in a non-stick pan on both sides until browned.