Um, can I just note for the record that I would like to have every Friday afternoon off?  I got so much done yesterday!   First and foremost though was to help Hannah with her hair.  Truth be told, I hardly did anything – but I am responsible for curling four sections of hair she couldn’t reach – oh, and I zipped up her dress!  I am not much help when it comes to hair and make-up – my twin sister and I were polar opposites growing up.

While she curled her hair, woke up 2 hours before school to change outfits six times, I would wake up when her boyfriend honked his horn to pick us up.  More likely than not, I would wear the same sweats I slept in, would wash my face and brush my teeth and hair and I was ready to go!

I found this picture recently – my sister Jennifer fixing my hair for prom – circa 1985!  I have to question why we still had Holly Hobby curtains in high school??!!

Now on to Hannah!

ignore our fire pit in the background!

the back of her hair
fancy flip flops! 😀

Here is her dress full length – in my messy kitchen!

She’s sleeping right now, so I’ll get more pics off of her camera and post them tomorrow.  Her plan was to go to iHop after the bus brought them back to school . . . at 4:30 a.m.!  I have a wedding shower to go to so I probably won’t see her until dinner! 😀  I hope she had a great time!

Aubree of Living Free chose cashews for this weeks BSI.  For some reason, I immediately thought of soup!  I found a recipe on tastespotting for a potato and cauliflower soup and used that as a base for my soup.  If you haven’t gone to The Daily Spud blog – you must – gorgeous photography and great recipes!

Curried Potato and Cauliflower Soup Recipe (printer friendly version here)

Makes 7 one cup servings (283 calories, 19.6 fat, 24.1 carbs, 5.7 fiber and 7.6 protein)

 

Ingredients

1 pound red potatoes
1 pound cauliflower
3 cloves garlic
1/2 jalapeno pepper
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1 tablespoon peanut butter
2 cups chicken broth
2 cups tomato sauce
2 cups light coconut milk
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons lime juice
7 teaspoons cashews
7 teaspoons cilantro

Directions

  1. Heat a large dutch oven. Spray Pam and saute garlic for a few minutes with the sliced jalapeno.
  2. Add the ginger, cumin, coriander and curry powder and stir for an additional minute.
  3. Then add potatoes, tomato sauce, coconut milk, salt, pepper, lime juice and chicken broth. Simmer for 10 minutes.
  4. Add chopped cauliflower and simmer for an additional 20-25 minutes, or until cauliflower is tender.
  5. Using a stick blender, puree mixture. For each one cup serving, chop 1 teaspoon of cashews with 1 teaspoon of cilantro for garnish.
I am still loving my spicy peanut butter! 😀

Coriander is a relatively new spice to me – love it!

cumin, coriander, hot curry powder and ground ginger

Love the slight sweetness the coconut milk gives to the broth!

I chopped up one head of cauliflower:

I added three thai chiles to the pot – but after five minutes took them out -the jalapeno and spicy peanut butter had the perfect amount of heat.

At this point, I am sure you are saying “what does that soup have to do with cashews??!!”  It’s the garnish!!  For each one cup serving chop up 1 teaspoon cashews with one teaspoon fresh cilantro:

The gremalata makes this soup!  The saltiness of the cashews combined with the bright cilantro balances the heat of this soup amazingly well.  When I described this soup to my Mom yesterday and told her the ingredients, I think she kind of threw up in her mouth a bit – but I absolutely loved it!

it's 10:30 in the morning, but I almost want to heat this up for breakfast!

And no Friday would be complete without . . .Pizza Party Friday! 😀  Marisa swears by my no-rise pizza dough.  Have you tried it yet?

No Rise Pizza Dough

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 cup warm water
  • 1 package yeast
  • 1 teaspoon salt

Mix well and roll it out – add up to 1/2 cup additional flour to get the right texture.

ingredients
I loved the pickled jalapenos and carrots on my side! 😀

I decided to go with Green Tabasco!

From making the dough until out of the oven - 30 minutes! Way faster than delivery! 😀

I loved the crust – since I bake the dough for five minutes before adding the ingredients, it gets nice and crispy!

I did not enter any of my food into caloriecount, and I only walked the dog for 15 minutes – which means I have to fit in an exercise DVD sometime today!

Now I am off to figure out what to wear to this wedding shower!  Enjoy your Saturday! 😀