Minestrone Soup!

Over the past year, I have completely fallen in love with cooking and baking! So far, I have been more experimental with cooking than I have been with baking, mostly because I still need a few baking necessities...but I am working on that! Which reminds me...

Dear Martha Stewart Stand Mixer in buttercup yellow-you are a GORGEOUS piece ofmachinery and I would love to give you a home in my kitchen, if you weren't so darn expensive! Please go on sale...50% off would be nice! lol!

So when I started going through cooking blogs and family recipes, I decided that I needed something that would be able to explain all the cooking "lingo" to me, with pictures preferably, so I can get the most out of these recipes. Of course, loving everything vintage, the first thing that came to mind was the Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook...

This adorable book has tons of helpful tips, measuring equivalents, and the best part...vintage pictures just like the ones in the original 1950's edition! Too cute!

So, after almost picking this book up off the store shelf, I came across another book that I couldn't help but look at...

This has everything that is in the Betty Crocker book PLUS it gives you four different versions of the same recipe! There is the traditional version, a quick time saving version, a light version and a "cooking for two" version! It has pictures as well, however, they are not cute little 1950's pictures... :(

BUT...seeing as how I usually cook for just Matt and myself, I occasionally like healthy food ;), and the fact that sometimes I'm in a time crunch...this was the perfect book! So now in addition to a few small cookbooks and the endless cooking blogs that I read, I now feel like I can tackle any recipe no matter how complicated in may seem! lol.

So...on to one of our favorite recipes from this book! Everything (so far) has been super delicious!

Minestrone Soup! (I immediately thought of my sister Katie when I saw this recipe. The girl was OBSESSED with minestrone soup for the longest time!)

Here is the original recipe from the book, I added my changes in parentheses...

Minestrone Soup

Prep time: 20 min Cook time: 1.5 hours

Ingredients

2 cups coarsely chopped onions
1 cup sliced celery

1/4 cup minced fresh parsley (I used 2 tsp. dried parsley)

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup vegetable oil

5 cups beef broth

2 cups chopped tomatoes (I used 1 can diced tomatoes, drained)

1 can (15 ounces) tomato sauce

2 cups coarsely chopped cabbage

1 cup sliced fresh carrots

2 teaspoons dried basil or Italian Seasoning (I used the basil)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1.5 lb ground beef (I only used a pound)

1.5 cups sliced zucchini

1 cup cut up green beans (I omitted these, they are not Matt's favorite lol)

1 can (16 ounces) kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1 can (15 ounces) garbanzo beans or chickpeas, rinsed and drained

1 cup uncooked ditalini or 4 ounces spaghetti, broken into pieces (I used leftover bowtie pasta)

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. In 8 qt. soup kettle, saute onions, celery, parsley and garlic in oil until tender. Stir in the broth, tomatoes, tomato sauce, cabbage, carrots, basil, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 1 hour.

2. In large skillet, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain and set aside. Stir into soup along with the zucchini, beans and pasta. Cover and simmer 15-20 minutes or until the veggies and pasta are tender. Top each serving with Parmesan cheese (which I didn't get the chance to do because Matt got a hold of the soup before I could! lol)

YUM! Probably after the first 20 minutes of simmering all the ingredients from part 1, the WHOLE HOUSE smelled amazing! Also, Matt doesn't like zucchini, but he ended up eating it in the soup! Success! lol.

Result: Yummy, gorgeous soup that I will definitely make again!

Time Warp!

I said this to Matt the other day, but after watching the recent Oprah episode (they did a flashback to the 60's), I definitely need to say it again...hats need to come back in style!

I'm not talking baseball hats or cowboy hats...I'm talking the adorable fashion statements worn by some of my favorite ladies of all time!...Jackie O...Audrey Hepburn...Grace Kelly...etc.

Really, how adorable of an outfit is this??

Ok, this lady isn't actually from that time period...it's Nicole Kidman...but you get the idea! lol.

Here are some more...

Vintage Chanel...GORGEOUS!

What ever happened to people actually getting dressed up to go out? I have to say that I got very excited when I heard people comparing Michelle Obama to Jackie Kennedy. Jackie greatly influenced fashion while in the white house and maybe the new Mrs. O can do the same???

One can only hope that with fashion trends constantly being recycled... maybe one day I can have my 50's cocktail hat with french netting :) OOoooo! And a vintage Chanel suit to go with it :)

Until then, I will keep wearing my vintage inspired heels and pencil skirts ;)

"A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous."

-Gabrielle (CoCo) Chanel

First Comes Love...

September 6th, 2009-The first day of the rest of our lives! The day we became Mr. and Mrs!

Everything turned out beautifully, we were surrounded by family and friends, we couldn't have asked for more. Sure, there was rain in the morning and our cake barely survived the reception! (it sat under bright lights for a little too long!) But...with those being the only worries, I think we did pretty good! The rain stopped, the sun came out, and the weather ended up being perfect! Walking down the aisle and getting to say "I do" to the love of my life...nothing beats that feeling. I will remember it forever :)

Now, we are home from the honeymoon and the newlywed life begins!

So...what do we do now?????

Blog! ;)

It was so amazing having everyone together for the wedding, so I want this to serve as a way of updating all our family and friends who live so far away! With thank you cards, home improvements, raising our puppy, getting rid of leftover wedding stuff and everything else on our plate...I'm sure there will be plenty to read about!

-Mrs. McDaniel :) hehe!