Snow Day and Cupcakes and...Christmas Lights?

Yippee Yea! We FINALLY had a snow day on Wednesday, I say "we" because a day off from school for the kiddos also means a day off from getting them ready for school and helping with homework for Mom! It was a nice, middle-of-the-week break. Thanks snow and freezing rain!

We stayed in our jammies and watched a Disney channel movie...okay, we actually watched three in a row but don't tell! We ate warm soup for lunch in front of the TV. Lulu took a nap, she had a little cold and was feeling kinda under the weather. CJ wanted to play outside but alas, his snow pants and boots were at school! How ironic! The Fourth grade is in the middle of their skiing unit in gym class and all the students must bring winter wear for cross country skiing and snow shoeing. So, being the middle of the week, all his stuff was still at school! Poor boy, he found some video games to play instead.

In the afternoon, Lulu decided she wanted to make something. We thought cupcakes would be a yummy treat. Being the prepared mom (hoarder) that I am we went shopping in the unruly pantry. I am going to clean that space out SOON, I seriously am. Anyway, cake mix? Check. Frosting? Check. Cute Valentine's Day cupcake papers? Oh yea! Check, I am good. Valentine's Day sprinkles and sugar for decorating? Check. So off she went, and made some very pretty, very "Lulu pink" cupcakes! And since the last thing I need in my house are 24 cupcakes calling to me all day long, I  drove them to school on Thursday so Lulu could share them with her friends at lunch! She shared them with her teachers too. Lulu got a kick out of that, she said in elementary school when the kids would pass out birthday treats, some of the teachers would politely say "no thank you". The Middle School teachers were like "OH MY GOSH, A CUPCAKE!!!!! OF COURSE I WILL HAVE ONE!!!" Apparently when you have to deal with 12-14 year old students all day your concern with sugar and calories goes right out the window! Too funny! ☺

So, the Wednesday snow day is definitely our smile for the week!! My frown for the week is actually making me laugh. I strung Christmas lights on a row of five shrubs in the back yard. They are plugged in on the back deck and we just left them plugged in and on 24/7 all through December...and January...and I said (sadly) that I PROMISED I would unplug them on February 1st. I am not holding on to Christmas, I just think they look really pretty and they make me happy when I look out my kitchen window at night. They are festive people, festive. They help me deal with all this COLD and SNOW! But, we have now received a few comments (in fun) from people in the neighborhood and now I feel like they just make us look lazy. So, I tried to turn them off, but guess what? I can't get into the back yard!! Ha ha, I am serious, the sliding door to the deck opens but the screen door will not slide because there is too much snow and I certainly don't want to force it and risk breaking it. So, then I tried getting in the backyard from outside but the gates to the pool yard swing in and there is so much snow they won't budge! Hee hee I do think this is kinda funny. I could probably dig the gate free but I prefer to stay inside and look at my lights!

 

My Favorite Tomato Soup

(source)

I have always had a special place in my heart (or I suppose in my stomach!) for tomato soup. My mom would cut up little chunks of cheese and put those in our bowls and then ladle the hot tomato soup over the cheese...it would get all melty and delicious...yum. Nothing better than grilled cheese and tomato soup. So, with all this lovely SNOW and freezing cold weather this week I have been craving soup. Have I mentioned even once or twice how much I dislike winter?? Seriously, the amount of snow at the end of our driveway from the town plow is ridiculous! We live on a corner so Mr. Plow Dude gathers up all this snow coming around the bend and deposits it in the first driveway, which is, of course, OURS! These are the things no one tells you when you are buying your house! And the problem here is that I get up at 5:30 am to get Lulu on the bus but the Mayor doesn't have to get up until 8-ish for work. I feel bad waking him up so early to snow blow the driveway so Lulu and I just shovel a path. Well, then the crazy, perfectionist part of me can't leave the driveway with just one path, so I end up shoveling the whole thing! It's not too bad until you get to the icy, chunky part left at the end by Mr. Plow Dude. And all while I shovel I think about all the people who are at Disney wearing their flip-flops and capri pants. JEALOUS!

Anywhoo, back to the soup. This is my favorite, favorite soup in the whole entire universe. It is a Wegmans recipe and they sell it already made...sometimes...not much anymore because it is an older recipe and has been replaced by newer (and less delicious) soups! When this was on the soup bar, I would get it for lunch and it may have been the only time I was excited to go to work! They printed the recipe in the Wegmans Menu magazine and it is definitely worth trying. It is a textured tomato soup because of the veggies and pasta and it does have a little cream in it. I will "un-Wegman-ize" the recipe in case you don't shop there...wait, do people actually shop other places? Inconceivable.

Tomato Basil with Orzo Soup

1 pkg (8 oz) cleaned and cut Mirepoix which is a fancy French word for onions, carrots and celery so, if you want to do this yourself use 1 cup onion, 1/2 c celery and 1/2 c carrot all finely diced

2 Tbsp oil

1 Tbsp chopped garlic
1 can (28 oz) Kitchen Cut Roma Tomatoes with Basil

1 can (28 oz) Crushed Tomatoes with Italian Herbs (use 2 of these if you can't find Roma Tomatoes with Basil)

1 carton (32 oz) vegetable stock

salt and pepper
2 roasted red peppers, diced (available in a jar or from the olive/Mediterranean bar)
1 cup orzo soup pasta
1 cup light cream
2 Tbsp chopped fresh basil

Add mirepoix and oil to large pot on med-high. Cook, stirring, 6-7 minutes. Add garlic. Cook 2 minutes, until vegetables are tender.

Add tomatoes, simmer 10 minutes. Add stock, return to simmer. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Add red pepper and pasta. Simmer 8-10 minutes, stirring often, until pasta is firm but tender. Remove from heat.

Temper cream...pour cream into a medium bowl, add a few ladles of hot soup to slowly raise temperature of cream. Add cream mixture to soup, fold in basil. Serve.
Makes 13 cups. About 170 calories per cup.

If you decide to make some, just let me know what time to come over! The recipe also says it freezes very well if 13 cups of soup seems daunting.

Nel's smile for the week: We made Mar's knee-high baby Jesus in 4 year old Cubbies this week! Some of the faces on baby Jesus were very original!!
Nel's frown for the week: How many weeks until Spring??

Lulu's smile for the week: No school on Monday! Honors to you MLK!
Lulu's frown for the week: The Christmas tree must finally come down this weekend...yes we are the weirdos who still have our tree up, we're busy, okay? Back off people!

Fa la la la la...

Part 1: The Abominable Marshmallow

I hope those who follow the Marshmallow (he's blushing) haven't been missing him too much around here! To make up for it, I can't help but share these adorable photos of my doggy love.


You're probably wondering what kind of shenanigans would bring about this sleepy face, snuggled in a warm blanket;
(aka the cutest face ever)

Well, it involved a whole lotta this;


Which causes this:

also known as the Abominable Marshmallow Dog

And my favorite, the icicle stache:

Is it sad that he has a designated "melting spot?" We put a towel down in front of the heater in the bathroom and tell him it's "melting time" hehehe.

How can I not love him?

Just had to give a big shout out to the Marshmallow this week. He's been extra snugly lately during cold winter nights!


And on to... Part 2: Cookie exchange cookie making!!

I made hazelnut crisps and peppermint wafers. (To make regular cookie recipes gluten free, I substitute the flour 1 for 1 with Bob's Red Mill gluten free flour plus a tea of xanthan gum).

Okay, funny story time. Picture this: I pulled out all my ingredients for the hazelnut cookies and got started mixing my ingredients. I had my two eggs on the counter, and had just put the first two ingredients in my mixing bowl (butter + brown sugar) to begin. In my right hand, I have my trusty hand-held Kitchen Aid mixer and in my left hand, my beautiful OXO mixing bowl. As I began mixing, I saw out of the corner of my eye one of the eggs about to roll off the counter! In an almost cartoon-esque scene, I went to stop the rolling egg with the elbow of the arm holding my hand mixer. This meant the hand-mixer came out of the bowl (while still on) and was splattering brown sugar and butter mixture all over my kitchen! As I realized this was happening, I put the mixer back in the bowl and tried to grab the still-rolling egg with my left hand that had been holding the mixing bowl steady. However, with no hand holding the bowl, the bowl started twirling across the counter as the mixer (talk about an itchy trigger finger) was still going, dragging my right arm along with it! So you can imagine me... the mixer going in my right hand with the bowl twirling across the counter ready to drag the rest of my body with it, brown sugar and butter mixture flying everywhere, and my left hand trying to reach across my right hand for the getaway egg in one big frantic scramble while I screamed "No! Help! HELPPPP!!!"

Needless to say, my husband ran onto the scene to find an egg splattered on the floor, butter + brown sugar everywhere, and me, waist down collapsed onto the counter. Why didn't I just turn off the mixer??? We may never know. It sort of reminds me of Nel's laundry detergent story, only much more pathetic.
♥J, you are not allowed to launch into a speech about how I should have a Kitchen Aid stand mixer.

After all was said and done, the cookies still turned out pretty awesome. This will be the first year my cookies will look good, taste good, AND have amazing packaging. I like to call it a triple threat ya'll.

I also like to call the cookie on the left Mr Peppermint Pants.

This post makes me want to sing "Joyyyyy to the world!!"