roasted mushroom and garlic soup

I've been making soup every Friday night now. Each week I make a different flavour depending on what I've got leftover or an abundance of in the fridge.

We've had:

A sort of gazepacho-type soup (think chunky tomato, cucumber, baby potatoes with a spicy kick -- I had too many cucumbers and a handful of baby potatoes that weren't enough for a main side dish)

Plain ol' chicken noodle (that's the one I make the day I make stock to use up whatever pieces of cooked chicken come off the bones)

Onion soup with melted cheese (I bought another bag of onions thinking I needed them, but I didn't. Oh well! Caramelized onions for the win! -- with the older onions, natch)

Leftover stir-fry soup (This one was nerve wracking, but it turned out really delicious! I put everything we had left into it: baby corn, water chestnuts, beef slices, broccoli, cabbage, sauce)

Cream of tomato soup (I opened a can of tomatoes to add to ground beef and still had a lot leftover. I also cracked open a can of evaporated milk and had half left. Puree the tomatoes, add some tomato paste, garlic, evap. milk easy!)

And now roasted mushroom and garlic soup which was decided on because I just happened to be at Superstore on their "clean out the mushroom bin" day and got a large bag on clearance (but it definitely wasn't the largest bag there!). I love roasted mushrooms, so half of that bag went on top of some steaks on Monday and the other half, into this delicious soup. It's really astonishing how four cups of chicken stock can magically be transformed into different and unique soups every week, isn't it? I don't seem so crazy for making so much chicken stock now, do I?!

{roasted mushroom and garlic soup}

2-3 handfuls of whole mushrooms, washed and cut in half

1 whole garlic bulb with top sliced off to reveal the cloves

olive oil/salt/pepper/herbs

4 cups chicken stock

1/2 cup milk or cream, optional

In a roasting pan, add mushrooms and drizzle with olive oil, add salt and pepper and any other seasonings you'd like. (I believe I added some oregano as well.) Toss well to coat the mushrooms in oil. Add the garlic bulb, drizzle a little oil on that, and roast the whole lot at 350 degrees for about 20-30 minutes. Keep an eye on it to achieve your desired doneness.

Heat up your chicken stock, add the roasted mushrooms, carefully peel the garlic cloves (they're still hot!) and add as many or as little as you want (roasting garlic gives it a nuttier flavour and it's not as strong as raw garlic would be). Using an immersion blender or a conventional blender, carefully puree the mushrooms and garlic together with the stock. I don't need my soups to be completely smooth, chunks are usually okay, but I try to get as many as I can when it comes to mushrooms as it doesn't taste like proper mushroom soup if the mushrooms are left whole (trust me, I've tried). Simmer, taste, and add more seasonings if needed. Add a splash of milk or cream, if desired, and serve.

{note} I'm sorry for the lack of "recipes" around here. I've been more interested in winging it lately than following specific measurements. I'm basically giving you a rough idea of what I used in this soup. Measurements (aside from the stock) and time are approximations.

don't like it, paint it

I have been doing a lot of painting lately, so I thought I'd update you on the pieces.

Remember this thrift store find?

Well, here it is now! Sleek and black.

Aside from painting the bedroom and putting most things back, I haven't exactly decorated or done anything much in there so please excuse the boringness of this picture.

Having this type of headboard has been really nice. It did come with a footboard, but I opted not to use it. We're still using our regular metal bed frame and I've just pushed the whole bed up against the headboard. It doesn't jiggle or bump so I think that's good enough for me. I would suggest that queen beds were slightly smaller width-wise back when this headboard was made because our frame is about 3-4 inches wider than the legs on the headboard. Therefore, my idea of just screwing the headboard to the new metal frame didn't work.

I really love the storage and the ample top space for glasses and remotes and what not. Do you think it's too much to have bedside tables? I put our old ones back, but they're too short for my liking. I've got designs on buying IKEA's RAST drawers and painting them. Having them would mean more storage (we need so much storage!) and a taller surface. I'm not really keen on buying more IKEA furniture, but I've seen what lovely things other people have done with them plus they're real wood (and cheap too).

You probably don't remember this dresser. I bought it for $5 and repainted it to highlight the plaid-like wood detail. It really fit into our old house and the scheme over there, but once we moved, I almost immediately grew to hate how it looked. Plus those knobs. Oh man, what was I thinking with those stupid knobs?

Here it is now! We couldn't decide if the body should be black, so I thought I'd start with the drawers and decide after. I think that the white body gives it a more refreshing look since all of the furniture in the bedroom is black. This makes it look different but cohesive. 

I replaced the knobs with sleek silver handles that I picked up at a restoration store in Red Deer. They were a dollar each! I was also very nervous about them because I've never had to measure and drill new holes for handles before and I wanted to make sure they were all level and matching. 

Here's the trick to doing it: Make a template! I had the good fortune of having the pattern right on the drawers which meant I only had to make a template the size of the middle rectangle. I just measured a piece of paper to fit in that rectangle, figured out where the handle should go (a combo of eyeballing it and measuring), used some chalk to mark where the screws should hit, and poked holes in the paper to line up with the screw holes. Then I did a trial run where I lined my pattern up in the middle rectangle, marked the holes with chalk, set the handles on and stood back to double check that everything was even and lined up. Finally, I drilled the holes and screwed in the handles (that makes it sound super easy. Not quite. I kept buying the wrong size of screw for the handles. That part was a headache). I think it was well worth it. Not only do these handles look better, but they function better, too.

I got this dresser at IKEA a few years ago. I don't remember the name and I can't find it on their website. I guess I should have taken a before picture, but this used to be their standard dark brown colour. Painting it black helped to cover a really noticeable dent in the top drawer (I dropped a belt buckle on it and apparently that spells disaster for this type of furniture). 

You'll notice that I painted that little thrifted storage drawer yellow. I'm not 100% liking how it looks over there, and I don't like that other jewelry box (which I've always had but never used), either. I feel like I need something taller to sit on the top. I have a lot of stuff, but I don't seem to have enough decorative stuff!

The driftwood is something Idle Husband and I found on our trip to Abraham Lake. I kinda thought I might hang some of my most used necklaces off of it, but that's still in trial. I also wrapped that small portion (which was damaged a little) with yellow string, but I'm not sure I really like it (though I like that it matches the yellow ceramic drawers). What I am really loving is hanging driftwood up on walls. There's another one in the bathroom and I've stuck big branches and little twigs all over the place, in every corner. That's too much, right? That's borderline crazy.

Oh wait. You haven't seen crazy yet!

Mom gave me this corner shelving unit. It's been in her garage for almost 10 years (and this is after I cleaned it up. You should have seen the filth!).

So I painted it black (ignore the artwork in such a dumb arrangement. I used to have bookcases there so they made sense then. I'm contemplating paint colours now, so I haven't done anything else in this room as I'll be painting it soon anyway).

And then I filled it with birds. They were displaced when we moved the bookcases upstairs. That's a crazy amount of birds.

Finally, I painted this guy. My childhood horse. I've been wanting to do this for a while now because, uh... he was covered in toothpaste. I remember doing it, but I don't remember why. Maybe I wanted to clean him? Or Maybe I wanted to fill in the parts that used to be white? I don't know, but he's been like this for over 20 years. I've kept him this long because he's not just a horse, he's a horse bank! I probably shouldn't even be telling you, but he's filled with special coins. He's also very heavy.

It's surprising how easily 20 years of toothpaste comes off!

I spray painted him gold. That seemed like the right colour choice to me.

That's it for now. I'm all painted out for this week! But it's really amazing how a little bit of paint can spruce things up. It feels so fresh in here!

friday fixations

{new fall shows} I'm really enjoying some of the new shows this season, so I thought I'd share my current favourites:

{new girl} I'm extra loving this adorable comedy starring Zooey Deschanel (who doesn't love her, right?). And the best part? Idle Husband likes it, too! It's funny, quirky, and cutesy smart and I absolutely adore how nerdy Jess is. I feel like a lot of the things she says and does are what most girls' inner dialogues are really like (but most girls are usually too afraid or embarrassed to act or speak that way).

{pan am} This show is great if you love ogling amazing vintage looks and decor (and brushing up on history -- hello, past social studies teachers! I know nothing about anything that happened in the '60s and they were super interesting!). I also love Colette's french accent, the CIA intrigue, and Maggie's independent and crazy personality. I think things will be picking up pretty soon, but I don't think it's too late to start watching.

{happy endings} This isn't a new series, but I don't feel like as many people watched it as they should have during its first season. In fact, I was kind of surprised to see it back this year. It reminds me of Friends, but in the later years when things were quirkier, funnier, and weirder -- in a good way. None of that heavy drama junk weighing down fun scenarios.

{up all night} I HAD to watch this for Will Arnett (we love Arrested Development) and Christina Applegate (she's always been a favourite). I was so happy (and relieved) that it turned out to be a smart and witty comedy that also just happens to have a baby (baby-centric shows always make me nervous because they can so easily veer into being too baby-ish, i.e. all story lines revolve around baby). Oh and Maya Rudolph as a mock Oprah character is fantastic! She's just the right kind of crazy needed to add interest.

{wrigley's apple pie gum} I'm not a huge gum fan but man, is this delicious. It tastes exactly like an apple pie! It's definitely not a gum in my sense of the word, but when you're staying away from sugar and unhealthy treats, this is the perfect thing for when you feel like you're losing your will power. We also tried the strawberry shortcake and I'd say skip that one. It's good, but it tastes like artificial strawberry and nothing like cake. It definitely doesn't live up to the apple pie. They've also got it in mint chocolate chip, orange creme pop, and key lime pie. I'd love to try them, too.

{icy geometric shapes} I love how this geometric garland looks. Wouldn't they be great as individual tree ornaments, too?

{long johns} When did -5 start feeling like the ice age? I didn't think that was too bad when I ventured out today, but it didn't take long before I wished I had more on my legs than a thin covering of jean. Last year, I found some amazing microfibre long johns tucked in amongst Superstore's microfibre shirts for men, women, and children. I was only able to find 2 pairs of them in cream, but despite the poor colour choice, I wore them almost every day. (I would practically sob at the thought of taking them off.) Have a look in those cardboard displays the next time you're there. The long johns sell out really quickly for a reason.

{peeled grapefruit} I used to eat grapefruit the typical way, sliced in half with a grapefruit spoon, but then, unexplainably, I decided to peel one like an orange. I don't even like peeling oranges, but I quickly realized that peeling a grapefruit has such a big payoff. A large amount of the bitterness comes from the inner membrane and even getting a little taste of it can put you right off the whole fruit. Now I have a little grapefruit ritual. I peel the outer skin, pull the two halves apart, then peel the membrane off of each segment (it's not as time consuming as you'd think. The membrane separates from the fruit quite easily). I then put the peeled fruit into a bowl with cinnamon, vanilla, and a bit of sugar and eat it with a spoon. I don't think I'll ever eat a grapefruit by cutting it in half again.

{advent calendars} I'm thinking about creating one of these this year (something like this but maybe with old socks?). I've always had an odd fondness of them even though I grew up never "doing" the whole advent thing. I'm just debating whether I want to do the full month or focus only on the last 12 days before Christmas. I wonder if a full month would get exasperating after a while of coming up with fun treats and things to do. Twelve days of Christmas would highlight the season enough and would give me a direction for each day based on the song (for this year at least). Are you going to have a homemade one, buy a chocolate calendar, or not going to bother at all?

leftover halloween candy cookies

This is not a new concept. I am not the first one to ever put Halloween candy into a cookie. But it's a good concept. It's fun. And it's a great way to get rid of any lingering candy from the big night. The best part is that you can use your own favourite cookie recipe. So you'll know how the recipe works (you're not going to be walking into unknown territories here) and you'll (of course) love the added ingredients (you picked them, right?).

I'll be completely honest, though. I made these purposely for Idle Husband's office as a pre-Halloween treat, so I bought (just enough) Halloween themed candies to go into them. I wanted to make something Halloween-y for his office, and when I really thought about it, I realized that making these would be a lot easier and faster than, say, making an equal number of sugar cookies that then have to be carefully decorated with iced Halloween images and putting Halloween candy into a standard cookie recipe is just as festive when you think about it. So while I do like the little decorated, fancy pants cookies and cakes and what not, what I like even more is quick and easy. (It's good when you finally realize how you roll in the kitchen, isn't it?)

Oh!

I learned one important point through all of this. You must put candy corn into a cookie at least once in your lifetime.

I'm a huge candy corn fan, but I've never had them baked into something. What a mistake. Something wonderful happens. They're chewier? Tastier? I don't know what it is but it's delicious.

And did you know you can get them in blueberry booberry, too? NO?! Me neither! But there they are and they're really good. My only wish is that I could go back in time to chop up the candy corns and mix them into the cookies. I was a little nervous about how that would work out (plus not everyone likes candy corn), so I just pushed one on top of each cookie. Regrets...

I also included orange and black Smarties and Krackels (a crispy rice chocolate). I was going to add Oh Henry!s until I realized they have peanuts in them. If you're cool with peanuts (and the people you feed them to are cool with them), I bet big chunks of Oh Henry!s would have been really delicious. Ah dreams...and while I'm dreaming, can I be able to eat an infinite amount of cookies without any consequences? Thanks.

I used my usual whole wheat chocolate chip cookie recipe (minus the bacon! or plus it...I won't stop you) and chopped up the Krackels as if they were plain chocolate and mixed in the Smarties as normal. These are regular sized cookies so cooking them is a bit shorter. Around 6-8 minutes as opposed to the monster cookies. I prefer this recipe in monster size, but monster sized cookies aren't the best option for a crowd.

{handy tip} If you're using a cookie scooper and your dough keeps sticking, just dip the scoop into a bowl of water, shake the excess off, and continue scooping. You'll have to do this about every third scoop or so, but it's totally worth it. I love using a cookie scoop for the uniformity, but the dough always sticks and that's really irritating (plus it makes a handy device that should be making quick work of the job completely useless). I finally thought that since wetting my hands while shaping other sticky treats worked so well that maybe it would work with the scoop and it did!

october recap

It was really hard scraping together a recap this month. I guess I'm not taking as many photos "just for fun" as I used to. I have to fix that.

Here are some instagram photos from October that you may not have seen:

tar bunny!

the white fox was part of a thrift store collection that was not for sale :(

once you paint one room, it makes you want to paint every room (aka be gone, beige!)

there was a huge fire on my street. I wish we had heard what caused it.

Finally, a little desktop calendar for you:

1920/1080

1920/1200 & 1680/1050

iPad

iPod/iPhone