Showing posts with label spicy. Show all posts

Catch Up

Posted on Saturday, April 28, 2012 by Katrina

So it's been a little while since I've updated a post on here. I would post more often but the only time I get on the computer is when Aria is asleep so I usually end up going online at night when she's down for the night. Unfortunately, I'm usually pretty tired at that point too so I've been going to bed early - or I had other stuff to do around the house. So this is me playing catch up.


Easter has come and gone, I didn't really do anything special for Easter. I went to my home church - which is on the other end of the city so I don't go that often - for their Easter Sunday service. Aria had fun playing with the other kids - and stealing their markers. After that I went to lunch with a family friend at her friends house. We ordered Middle Eastern food from The Pita Inn. It was great. I also made Berry-Coconut Macaroons - recipe below - because her friends were gluten-free.


I started this entry a couple weeks ago, and just never got around to posting it, so it is obviously way past Easter now. Things have happened since then. I got hooked on this show on the HGTV channel called "House Hunters" - which has inspired me to sketch quite a few of my own "dream house" floor plans. I made a new friend as well, I met her through my upstairs neighbor - and I was quite excited to learn that my new friend, Krista, has a son who is only a couple months older than Aria. Yay. AND she organizes a playgroup on thursday mornings - which is so great because I'd been looking for something like that for months and this one is a ten minute walk away.

I've also made lots of new foods in the time I've been away from the blog - so I shall proceed to bestow a food dump upon you.




Above: Bagel Pizzas - Below: Spicy Corn Chowder






Above: Pasta Salad - Below: Pumpkin-Ginger Muffins



Berry-Coconut Macaroons
adapted from here.
I used a blender because I don't have a food processor and so I had to do each of the steps in several batches to make sure it was evenly blended.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Ingredients
- 14oz. sweetened, flaked coconut
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 3 large egg whites
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. almond extract
- 1/2 pint, 6oz. or  1 1/4 cup of your choice of fresh berries, i.e. strawberries, blueberries, raspberries etc.

Instructions
- In a food processor or blender, blend the coconut for a minute.
- Add sugar and blend another minute. Add egg whites, salt and almond extract and blend another minute more.
- Add berries and pulse machine until mostly blended. Some parts should still be completely white, resist the urge to mix it all together. It makes for pretty marbled cookies this way.
- With a tablespoon measure, scoop batter into 1-inch mounds on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.
- Bake cookies for 25-30 minutes, until they look a little toasted on top. Let rest for 10 minutes on the tray, then transfer to a cooking rack. 

Enjoy.



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Excitement

Posted on Friday, March 30, 2012 by Katrina

I'm SO excited. I'm going to be shooting one engagement and two weddings this summer/fall! One is for sure and the other I'm still working out with the bride. They are both low-budget weddings so it won't bring in a lot for me money-wise but I am excited nonetheless. I have only shot one whole wedding and I was the THIRD photographer. Besides that I've done mostly portraits of family members, friends or couples. So very exciting for me. :D

Just to be clear, the photo below is my cousin and her boyfriend - who are not engaged, just dating, I don't have any photos yet of the previously mentioned couples.


So the weather now is more spring appropriate for Chicago. It was about fifty degrees today, a sad drop from the eighty degree week we were having. My plants are still growing though - I have tiny little sprouts in the ground outside from my flower seeds and inside I have sprouts growing in containers. Soon they will be ready to transplant. Since we live in a rented apartment I'm planning on buying containers/pots for planting my herbs and flowers in, that way whenever we move I can take them with me. Plus, then I don't have to figure out what to do with the grassy, weedy mess of a lawn we have.





That would be from L to R: thyme, mint, oregano, basil and arugula.

On a gross and nasty note, while out in the garden a couple days ago I discovered a dead mouse. Possibly killed by a roaming cat - not really sure. But random and not fun.


A few days ago I made Spicy African Chicken-Peanut Stew. It was delish. Especially with fresh picked cilantro on top. I've made it before, although this time I swapped out a couple ingredients and left out some - mostly because I wanted to use some stuff we already had and didn't want to go out into the cold to buy sweet potatoes. So in this recipe I used regular potatoes.


Recipe adapted from here.

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