Sunday, April 10, 2011

Closing Up Shop For Awhile

I'll be taking some family time over the next few months and will be closing my etsy shop until at least June. Until I close (sometime in the next week) EVERYTHING IN MY SHOP has been discounted by 50%.

Stop by to find some incredible deals.

Cheers,
Penny

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Soup Club - On The Mend


Leek and Legume Chicken Soup

Today I have my youngest boy and my husband home with the stomach flu. I'm going to go out on a limb and state that I'm not going to get any work done today.

Instead of trying to fight it, I'm going with the flow and making my boys a little soup to make them feel better. This recipe is one I created for my Soup Club friends and it is simple, but oh so tasty.

First, I sweated three leeks (white and lightest green parts only) in some butter in a large soup pot. I then added a cup of white wine - I used an unoaked chardonay from Wayne Gretzkey which I LOVE at the moment - to deglaze the lovely brown bits on the bottom of the pan.

After the deglazing, I added 6 cups of organic chicken stock (you can use veggie to keep it vegetarian if you like) and 2 cups of dried legumes. I use my own mix of dried legumes because I find the mixes that are prepackaged to have added salt and this soup has enough flavour, just be sure to rinse and drain them thoroughly.

If you want to keep this soup vegetarian, just stop here and simmer for 2 hours, or if you want, add some precooked chicken (I added 1.5 cups of left over roasted chicken today) for the last few minutes to heat it through.

To serve, I added a tbsp of shredded arugula for a peppery-fresh finnish.

This recipe makes a full large pot of soup (enough to share with my soup club), but if you like, you can cut the recipe down by one thrid for 2-4 servings.


A perfect Feel Better Soup

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Finally Spring



I came across this pilliow from syko which makes me REALLY happy because it reminds me that spring will indeed appear and this very long winter will be over soon. The whole shop is full of lovely spring themed items to get my spirits up.

It is finally good weather here (as a Canadian I am hesitant to say that spring has actually arrived lest we get one more dumping of snow - eek!).

For now, I will luxuriate in this great day and enjoy the coming of spring.

Happy Weekend