Soup Week Begins!

So when the weather is frightful for days on end, sometimes you begin to get a little stir crazy.  When you start dressing up your huge dog in your own clothing. . .well, it's time to take preventative measures.

Like gumbo!  Stirring a roux to a perfect chocolate brown conclusion is a time consuming but productive way to spend a half hour.  And the result (preferably enjoyed snuggled up in front of the fire after a day of sledding) is soo worth it!  This recipe makes a ton, so there is plenty of gumbo yumminess for your freezer.

Snowy Day Seafood Gumbo (adapted from here)

Ingredients:


2 onions, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 bunch celery, diced
½ head garlic, minced
2 bay leafs
1 Tbsp salt
1 tsp pepper, thyme, and oregano
½ tsp cayenne and white pepper
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup flour
4-5 cups okra
2 packages andouille sausage (I used chicken and turkey andouille- don't tell Hubs)
1 pound crab meat
1 pound shrimp (about 34 to 40)
16 ounces crawfish
1 cup diced can tomatoes (14.5 oz can, drained)
6 cups chicken stock

Directions

• Cut vegetables and set aside.
• Mix seasonings and set aside.
• Heat oil in a heavy bottom pan (a large dutch oven is perfect) until it begins to smoke. Slowly add flour, whisking constantly on medium heat. Continue to stir until the roux becomes dark, almost chocolate brown (this takes about thirty minutes of constant whisking. Be patient.  If you burn it you have to start all over!  So put on some tunes, and stir.  Patiently.
• Stir in half of the vegetables, switch to a wooden spoon if necessary, cook for 1 minute then add the rest of the vegetables.
• Cook 2-3 minutes and add seasonings and garlic.
• Cook 2-3 minutes more then add stock in batches.
• Meanwhile, slice your sausage and sauté it in a splash of olive oil until it is slightly browned.
• Bring to a boil and add okra, tomatoes, and browned sausage.
• Bring back to a boil then turn heat down and simmer for 20 minutes, skimming off any fat that comes to the top.
• Add all the seafood, bring back to a simmer and serve over rice with crusty French bread. Serve with Tabasco to taste.

Oh my word, y'all this is tasty.  If you don't like seafood, well. . .you are just missing out, because the shellfish is pretty much integral to this gumbo.  However, there are plenty of non-seafood gumbos out there, so check them out.  If you are half-vegetarian however, you could leave out the sausage- just be sure to add extra spice while cooking with the addition of hot sauce or more pepper.

I doubled the okra and left out the file powder for this recipe.  Both act as thickening agents for the gumbo, so you do not need both.  And after all, we're trying to get those veggies in, right?  I'm dying for another bowl right now.  There is a possibility that I might turn into a crawfish with the amount that I have consumed lately.

So have y'all gone stir crazy in the snow?

Resolutions and Losing Weight

I didn't make any resolutions this year. Sure, I want to be conscientious about being more organized and be better about watching my moolah and saving, but those have been constant personality change projects I have been working on since becoming an adult.

Tron's resolutions were "to accessorize more, and to buy clothes of higher quality fabrics."  These are the kind of resolutions I can get behind!

The dawning of January brings then end of the holidays, the promise of spring, and resolutions to lose the weight.  Emily and I were talking the other day about her white dress-wedding diet.  What I did before my wedding (and still do today) is a really simple way to lose weight without dieting.  Em said I should put it on the blog, and Shelley concurred.  I'm sure I will regret telling y'all my secret instead of making moolah with a best selling diet book, but here it is . . .

Eat 7-9 servings of fruit and veggies a day.

Easy peasy right?  Do it (and a little walking or my personal favorite- JAZZERCISE), and you will lose weight.  Only 14% of Americans eat five servings of fruit and vegetable a day.  That's kind of gross really.

You have to consciously pack all those vegetables in, so you don't have stomach room to eat a large amount of crap.  I eat whatever I want, exercise 4-5 times a week, and stay about the size I want to be.  Don't get me wrong, I'd love to lose five pounds, but then I would have to diet.  Blergh.

Example- pizza, and a ton of sauteed spinach and roasted broccolli.


Y'all know I love to eat and cook (and eat some more), so this really helps me keep everything in check.  For example- yesterday I had

3 eggs and 2 clementines for breakfast (2)
Big bowl of homemade gumbo for lunch and a couple cookies (2)
Wasa crackers with marinara and cheese for snack (1)
Smoked salmon pizzetta with arugula and tomato soup (3)
hmm, another cookie and a couple of Hubs' fries.

Every meal or snack, I have to get in some vegetable or fruit. And apparently some cookies (I'm nipping the cookie thing in the bud, as I do have all these weddings coming up).  If my pants are getting snug, or I want to slim a little, I just tighten up on my junk- like ht cookies and the fries.

Another positive aspect is that making sure I get seven to nine servings of vegetables and fruit means that I am eating more "whole".  There aren't a lot of processed vegetables.  You can't get asparagus in a cardboard box on the cookie/cracker aisle. 

I always fought against my enormous appetite and tried to starve it into submission, leading to late night cookie and brownie raids.  I started getting my act together in law school when I started lifting weights- more muscle- I could eat more!  With the 7-9 "lifestyle" (hee), I eat tons, yet have gone down a few sizes!  My skin has cleared up a lot too. 

I'm not counting calories, points, carbs, or anything that makes me nuts and obsessive.  I just keep a little tally in my head- "Okay, had chick-fil-a for lunch, so I need a veggie plate for dinner to get up to my 7-9".

Also, I snack on veggie soups a lot.  Next week is soup week on the blog, so get ready!

Anyway, that's my effortless weight loss tip.  If you are wanting to drop a few or "get healthier", give it a shot!  Let me know how it goes- I love vegetables, but I'm sure it's harder if you don't.

What's your way of fitting in your clothes?  I do have a number of bridesmaid dresses in my future, so I am all yours!



New Project- (dreams of grandeur and laundry)

So Hubs and I have decided to really redo our laundry-mudroom area.  Earlier we had discussed knocking out the laundry closet, adding some built-ins and leaving the basic room intact.  Well, in what seems to be the normal route of thing, we are now planning on knocking out walls, reorienting the powder room, adding a utility sink, and new floors.

So I present my pictures to Hubs and our contractor. (most are from Southern Living or  My Home Ideas).  They spluttered and laughed- apparently my mudroom ideas will result in the laundry room being the nicest area in the house. 

Well, why not?  Men!

These are what I'm really aiming for- I love the green, and think it could really make stock cabinets look interesting.  The piece on the right is where I would build in my desk organization area (a place to put my mail- what more could a girl ask for??)

Well, maybe a laundry organization island.

I think I would actually like to do laundry if I had this thing. I could iron on top!

Oh, who I am I kidding?  With my propensity for clutter, especially clutter of a clothes related nature, I wouldn't see the top of this thing much.

I still want one though.

And a utility sink.  So I can cut flowers from my (currently dead) garden.

The biggest proponent of this new mudroom?  Buddy Bear, of course!  He thinks that his room should most definitely be the nicest in our house!  After all, he is the dictator in training (I joke with Hubs that when we procreate and have a bunch of blonde kiddos running around, we will stage a blonde coup d'etat, overthrow Hubs as our leader, and Buddy will become our benevolent blonde dictator.  Obviously, Hubs thinks I am insane).

So we are waiting on the estimates, which I am sure will likely nip this in the bud.  Until then I will consult with Buddy and add more things to our mudroom wish list- Viva la Revolution!