3 Ingredient Hearty Potato Soup

Upon trying to make a low-cal or low-salt version of my fabulous Potato Soup, there's one thing I have found... that it is pretty much impossible. Potato soup is just one of those [meals] that was just meant to be hearty. It was meant to carry my Irish (and Scottish) ancestors through war and famine.

Friends, my soup is no different. Especially if you use canned anything. Of course, you can always boil your own chicken bones and make your own broth, that way you control the salt. (I have been known to do this, but currently am out of chicken bones! I mean, I checked my freezer for bagged chicken skeletons, and alas! there were none...)

Sweet Pepper Salsa

I usually like my salsa a tad on the sweet side. This turned out beautifully, but I do think a tad too sweet. Oh, not sugary-sweet. No, in this instance it came out pepper-sweet. Which is great- but I was in the mood for something a bit more tangy than sweet. Of course, you can always reduce the sweet red pepper to half and add in green chilies. That would be awesome! For now- here is an awesome Sweet Red Pepper Salsa-

Blue Cheese Skinny Chicken Salad

Grau and I have been on a health kick lately. Watching what we eat and trying to exercise more. It is working, believe it or not! Who knew?  I mean, really, eating less calories combined with exercise helps you lose weight? Wow!

Creamy Yummy Goodness!

Okay- so yeah, I'm joking. But, for me, watching what I eat means actually EATING. When at home, I tend to not eat much. I can go the whole day on a few strawberries and a couple cups of coffee. And no, I don't have low energy. I am naturally a high energy person. I always have been. I tend to eat very little when at home, and eat to excess when out at a restaurant. I *love* bad, bad, tasty food!

CRACKers

Oh- so I told you about making a spicy cracker recipe yesterday? Well, here's the pics:

CRACKers

Equivalency Exam

I love to cook. And bake. And mess around in the kitchen. Sometimes with food.
Today Grau and I went to the store and I grabbed a box of saltines because, well, they were on sale. But more importantly, I 'pinned' a recipe for spicy crackers and desperately wanted to give it a try.

Well, the recipe calls for a packet of powdered ranch dressing mix. Which I have, but I don't have. You see, I purchase ranch powder by the BIG shaker container, not the little bitty packets.

Since this recipe calls for one packet, and I had to look up exactly how much  mix was in a packet. Apparently it's .4 ozs. or 11.3 grams
My next problem came when I had to convert .4 ozs into a measurement I could actually measure.

Color My Fire

A few years ago, I found a story about salt-saturated pine cones that give off different colored flames when burned. I was so fascinated with them, I decided to make a few. Of course, I didn't have a fireplace, but my parents did and that was good enough for me!

So I set out gathering and making a couple dozen 'firedancers' as they were called. A few different types of salt alters the color rendered with each pine cone.

Equinox and Leap Year

Grau and I have had discussions in the past about the first day of Spring. He said it always falls on his father's birthday and I said that can't be because sometimes it falls on my father's birthday (both gentlemen were born in March two years apart).

Fast forward a few weeks and suddenly it's March...wow how time flies.
And I wondered yet again, how it is that I remember the first day of Spring being on my father's birthday, but it hasn't been for a few years.
So I looked up Vernal Equinox.

And a friend posted about the equinox (which, for those of you wanting to know, actually means "equal night") and how it snuck up on her this year. And I posed the question to her- how could the equinox be on the 21st every four years but not have been on the 21st for the past five?

Little Tubs of Joy

I have found the promised land! Ok, maybe not land, but at least butter. Two things I love, garlic and bread, need butter. And when you are tired of slathering butter and garlic powder onto bread, come back to this post. Seriously. You'll be amazed at what I am about to tell you.

But, it's a secret....shush!

You see, a while back I realized there was literally a gold mine of garlic butter just begging to be eaten. 
Once a month, Grau's work provides a minuscule pizza dinner for employees (two pieces, no more!) as a 'thanks for not maiming yourselves' gesture. (I don't know about you, but I would prefer better working conditions, better pay or better hours. Just sayin')

Anyway- they always use Papa John's Pizza. And you know PJ's  *always* serves garlic butter with their pizza. And when you order 20 pizza's at a time, you get a boatload of little garlic butter cups.

Tubs of pure golden , garlic-y joy!

A Little Quiche in the Morning

A few months ago, a friend of mine wanted to know about quiche. She didn't know what it was, what could be put in it, how it was done, etc. So I helped her out because, well, I used to make quiche all the time. After all, quiche is a good, economical way to stretch the last of your ingredients. A few of eggs, a dash of milk and whatever else is lying around in the fridge.

So, my friend has been on a quiche kick lately. And posting pics of them.

And now I want quiche. Again.

Except, I couldn't figure out what kind I wanted to make, let alone eat.

I had a couple ideas in my head, and thought, why not? I'll make them both. So I did.

I give you:
Turkey Broccoli Blue Cheese and
Chicken Bacon Broccoli Cheddar

Wonderous Wands

This is a first try- so now I know what to do differently, and better.

I really really want to make one that looks really cool. So I figured I would have to make around five or so before I get all the kinks out of the design process. In the meantime, here's the players:

Wooden Dowels
Sand paper
Sander (I used orbital, but if you own a belt sander, use that!)
Paint
String
Paint brushes
Glue
Scrap fabric
Hot glue
Glue gun

The process is pretty simple. Take your dowel:

Fabric Softener

I am not the kind of person to sit around, drinking a soda/pop/cola/coke and watch tv, sleep or play on the computer for hours on end. I have NEVER been that person.
No, I must be doing something. Anything. Read, watch *a* movie, laundry, dust, vacuum, dishes, craft, ANYTHING. I hate to be idle for too long.

Most often, I am researching something I want to know about, looking up more craft items to do or actually doing homework. So while it appears I may live my life in front of a computer (and trust me, there are days it feels like it, too!), I simply do not.

Anywho- where was this post going- Oh yeah (ohh, look! A shiny object!)-
I don't like to sit around and do nothing. Today is no exception. And my morning class was canceled an hour before it started, so I found myself with all this morning energy and no where to go.

So I started searching the interwebs. Looking for something homemade, I didn't care what, that I could do.
And I found homemade fabric softener.