We’ve never eaten at Tommy Bahama’s Restaurant before, so the original recipe title of Chicken Tortilla Soup (inspired by Tommy Bahama’s) really meant nothing to me. What did scream at me was a soup with one tablespoon of cumin in it. Any recipe with a tablespoon of cumin deserves a chance on our dinner table! I whipped this up tonight and really is pretty much the easiest soup recipe of all time and the end result was a soup with multiple layers of flavour and the silkiest texture. I just had to share it!

The other highlight of this recipe? Everything is roughly chopped, as it is blended at the end. I love forgiving soups that are hand blended so there is no need for uniform diced vegetables!

Ingredients –

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 medium yellow onions, roughly chopped (about 2-1/2 cups)
4 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced into quarters
1 green bell pepper, seeded and roughly chopped
6 small (6-inch) corn tortillas, cut into small pieces
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
2 quarts (8 cups) low sodium chicken broth
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Prep all of the ingredients and then follow the instructions over at Once Upon A Chef

We had baked some bone-in chicken breasts the other day, so I used their leftovers as a garnish and Bill also added a dollop of sour cream to his. Saying that, garnish is really just that – this soup would be fine just on its own.

Here is the final product –

I know it doesn’t look like much, but it is so silky and smooth and a great addition to any weeknight menu. It was so simple to put together and we also have plenty of leftovers for lunch tomorrow. The next batch I make, I might try it with a vegetable stock to see if we could use it for a Friday meal as this would be a great soup during Lent as well.

Earlier this year, I set about to try and add some new meals to our meal planner. We do a lot of cooking, but during the week we tend to just rely on the same rotation of regular meals and I felt I was stuck in a bit of a rut.

Of course, the first place I went to was Pinterest and I quickly found some recipes that I wanted to try. With getting used to life with Francis, I needed something quick that would be ready for when Bill walked in the door as eat supper every evening by 6pm without fail. One of the first new dishes that I tried was Ranch Chicken. It is so easy, I almost feel guilty making it. The kitchen always smells fabulous and there is always leftovers. We have made this many times since, so I just had to share it.

I found the recipe on the blog, An Everyday Blessing and I didn’t change a thing!

Ingredients –

2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts
3 tablespoons homemade Ranch Seasoning mix (recipe below)
1/2 cup (1 stick) of unsalted butter, melted
6-8 red potatoes
12 oz frozen green beans (you can also use fresh)

I prepare enough potatoes, chicken and beans to fill my 9×13 Pyrex dish like this –

I had earlier prepared a batch of Ranch Seasoning Mix that I keep in a jar for this dish. This recipe was prepared by the Heavenly Homemakers blog.

5 tablespoons dried minced onions
7 teaspoons parsley flakes
4 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder

It looks like this –

Then, just sprinkle the 3 tablespoons of Ranch Seasoning over the entire dish –

Pour the melted butter over the meal –

Then cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

Then just like magic…

I know it doesn’t look amazing but everything is perfectly seasoned and tastes fantastic. It is so simple and is one of those dishes that tastes like you have spent a lot longer preparing it. The leftovers reheat perfectly the next day. An absolute winner!

For the past year or so, I have wanted a sewing machine so badly but it was overwhelming to think about. Cost, space, learning the basics… ugh. Then I did a whole lot of research and just wanted to pounce. Over Thanksgiving I started looking at prices and on Cyber Monday I saw a blog about a Brother machine that was on sale (it ends up it is always that price) but I put my Amazon Prime to work and ordered this Brother one.

Bill was just as excited – he is super patient and got perfect grades in sewing at school. I on the other hand, lack the patience, so we’d be a good team and he can keep me on track when I lose it.

Then, around the time that we bought the machine, there was a LivingSocial deal for a sewing class in Brooklyn. I bought the class straight away because I thought it would be the perfect way to learn the basic skills and get used to a machine. We booked for a January class so in the meantime, I ordered a set of Moda Squares and real deal French Lavender. We were then able to get started on our first project – lavender pillows as family gifts for Christmas. This was a great starter project and we got our routine pretty much set with it. Here is one of them –

I will be making stacks more of these – I LOVE them!

Then, it was time for our sewing class. We went to Esaie Couture down near Prospect Park. Our project would be a tote bag.

Earlier in the week I picked up fabric for us at the City Quilter on 25th Street – if you are ever need good quality fabric, I wholeheartedly recommend them!

The first part of our 4 hour class was spent on sewing basics and methods for steering clear of mishaps on the machine. We did practice drills and learnt how to work through the machine. What was great is that I found that the way I was pushing the fabric through was why I was having so much trouble staying straight when we were doing the lavender bags.

Our machines –

Not quite ready to make clothes for these yet –

Then, it was time to get busy with our totes. What made this hard was I was already so tired when we got there – the usual Monday night feeling of needing to be in bed at 7.30!

But we soldiered through and this was the end result –

My bag was made for random sewing supplies, Bill is giving his to our crossword loving sister.

After a big haul at Jo-ann’s Fabrics and Crafts, Bill’s next project is a shirt and I am going to try a VERY basic quilt. We have also got a multitude of PBS sewing shows recording on our TiVo.. we can do this!

By the way a word on our machine… after using the very old ones at the sewing school, ours is awesome. We fully recommend it and the price on Amazon cannot be beat. It wasn’t a Cyber Monday deal after all!

I know you are probably very much over Christmas but I have to do a wrap up! Advent and Christmas for 2012 was a mix of super busy and then in the end, very relaxing! Here is our Christmas photo –

Bill was so busy at work for the end of year rush. He was working long hours and normally that would be stressful enough. Throw in Christmas and all the usual ‘busy stuff’ that goes along with that and December really did fly by.

During December for different nights during each week, I was with others at Queen of All Saints packing my friend Michele’s amazing gingerbread and other delicious cookies. Then Bill and I were selling these after each Mass on Saturday and Sunday. This meant our spare time was drastically cut to fit in everything else that you need to do in December. BUT somehow, this almost made things easier to deal with. We had to be organized from get go and it worked out well. Here we are selling the cookies –

My to-do list was ongoing and constantly growing but we got everything done and more. The only problem is, it felt like Advent didn’t even exist it went by so quickly and that is something I really have to work on for 2013.

We did our usual decorations… no changes there!

Our tree –

Mistletoe –

Advent Wreath –

Nativity –

We had our Stir-up Sunday the week before Thanksgiving. This was the first time I had ever attempted to make a Christmas Pudding and I worked off Delia Smith’s recipe with tips and hints from this page. A note about this page – I have to admit that the first time I landed on the page I thought it was some kind of joke that there was a site made by Paul Denyer from Melbourne (people from Australia would know who I am talking about) or I was thinking that there was a website made by him that was produced in prison, but it is the real deal and it is just a mere coincidence by name.

In the end our recipe was this –

4 oz (110 g) shredded suet
2 oz (50 g) self-raising flour, sifted
8 oz (225 g) soft dark brown sugar
1¼ teaspoons freshly grated nutmeg
1¼ teaspoons of freshly ground cinnamon
1/3 of a teaspoon ground ginger
¼ of a teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon salt
4 oz (110 g) white breadcrumbs
4 oz (110 g) sultanas
4 oz (110 g) raisins
10 oz (275 g) currants
4 oz (110 g) dried dates – cut into pieces, stones removed
2 large eggs
1 large lemon, zested
1 small apple, cored, peeled and grated
1 oz (25 g) almonds, skinned and chopped
1 oz (25 g) mixed candied peel, finely chopped
5 fl oz (150 ml) stout
2 tablespoons rum

If you compare the two you will see there were only small differences.

We used our own home baked bread for the breadcrumbs and making our own ground cinnamon really made a HUGE difference. The fragrance was amazing.

I did a big stock up from Nuts.com so we had all fresh ingredients –

The mix –

We made it on a Saturday, then steamed it for 8 hours on Sunday.

This was Bill’s coathanger invention to lift it in and out of the steamer –

Steaming away –

We let it cool overnight on our bench (with the kitchen window open) and then re-did the covering and string and let it sit in the fridge for six weeks. It then took a journey to Albany where he kept it in the mini-bar fridge of our hotel room until it was ready for the 2.5 hours of steaming before our Christmas Eve dinner.

I made a batch of custard in the afternoon and reheated that when the pudding was ready. Here it is –

Of course, I had to get some holly to go on the top and we picked up some from Jo-ann’s arts and crafts. When it came time to present it to the table, we warmed some brandy and had to ladle it over the pudding and light it. Um… I somehow thought the PLASTIC holly would be fine… I blame a total Christmas brain. There we were getting “Ohhhhs” and “Ahhhhs” throughout the room and then… bang… the holly caught on fire (Der Jenelle.. I was pouring flames right over it… and yet I was still surprised) and the holly startsed melting over the pudding. ARGH! The ohhhhs and ahhhhs turned into screams and yelling. I was holding a ladle with a flame burning, Bill was trying to get the holly and we were all in a panic. It was a scene from a movie.. seriously!

Thankfully, we managed to throw the melted mess off the pudding and into a glass without anything else catching on fire (or burning down Emily and Brian’s newlywed nest!) and there was also no residue on the pudding. WIN!

You can see the flaming holly in the glass in this photo –

So, regardless of the flammable incident the result was… PERFECT. I was SO happy with it!

Note – I also purchased some genuine 1911 silver threepence from England on eBay and unfortunately they didn’t arrive in time. They’ll be going into the mix next year!

What made this all even more special was when I told mum that we planned to make a pudding she told me how it was something her mum would do every year and send them to people as gifts. So because of that, I am going to keep this tradition going!

The rest of Christmas was beautiful. Our time Upstate was so relaxing. Went got up to Albany on Saturday morning, had lots of R & R and did lots of cooking. I took Bill on a surprise date – ten pin bowling!

Christmas Eve was lovely (even with flaming holly) and newlyweds Emily and Brian hosted it. Here we are –

Here is everyone else –

The desserts oh my gosh –

We also went to Mass at Holy Spirit –

Then on Christmas Day, we woke up to a white Christmas! Here is the view from our room at the Fairfield Inn –

We all got together for brunch. This is seriously SO MUCH fun. French toast, bagels, eggs, quiches… all sitting around and chatting and it was so easy!

Unfortunately, with no Boxing Day on the calendar we had to get back in the car and head back home as we had work the next day! If Bill ever becomes President, it will be the one thing he has to introduce to the USA! I need Boxing Day for my own sanity!

Also, for a look at some other trees.

Here is mum and dad’s –

The Johnson Family tree –

Emily and Brian’s –

(Can you see the little bit of Australia they put on their tree?)

I love Christmas… now to countdown until 2013! 🙂