national oatmeal day

one of my roommates eats at least 4 bowls of oatmeal each and every day.  it's crazy to me that someone would love something so plain so much but she does.  today is the perfect day to surprise her with a large tub of oatmeal and hopefully brighten her day with this news of a national day  celebrating one of her most favorite things... it will be wonderful.

7 fun oatmeal facts & recipes

 

tri tip tacos

i found out yesterday afternoon that i'd be hosting dinner at my house today for 4 guests.  i decided to make a 3lb tri tip since it'd been staring at me in the fridge for the past few days.  i wasn't going to have time to come home and grill it between work and the arrival of our guests so was stumped on what to make with it.  when one of my roommates had the idea of cooking it in the crock pot.  at first i thought no way i'm not going to waste this gorgeous cut of beef.. i mean who cooks tri tip in a crock pot?  i couldn't pulled out some frozen chicken and done a more hands on type of dinner but i didn't really have the extra time to dedicate.  so i sent up a prayer to cro-po heaven and went with the set it and forget it motto.  i thoroughly trimmed the beef and rubbed it with a mixture of paprika, chili powder and cumin.  then i added a bottle of this marinade i bough awhile ago and had been meaning to try called lawry's tequila lime marinade (also it'd been a while since i purchased this so when i looked it up it shows it's discontinued) and about 1 cup of water.  i cooked it on low for the first 3 hours and on high for the next 3 hours.  when i opened the cro-po the beef was so tender that i only needed 2 forks to shred.. and oh man was it was delicious!!!

thai butternut squash soup

i found my recipe for thai butternut squash soup off the whole foods website.  they give you the main recipe and then offer a few different variations and i thought why not spice things up a bit.  it was a smashing success and i'll be making this again!

since i was making this soup for church i made a double batch.  my church starts at 9am so i prepared this the evening before and stored it overnight in the fridge.  once i arrived at church i dumped it all into the crock pot and heated it back up.  also here are a few changes i made:

Basic Ingredients: 

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 carrot, diced (added 4 carrots in a double batch)    
• 1 celery stalk, diced (threw in the entire bunch of stalks for the double batch)    
• 1 onion, diced
• 4 cups cubed butternut squash, fresh or frozen (i used fresh butter nut squash and i used 10 cups total)    
• 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
• 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Method: 

Heat oil in a large soup pot. Add carrot, celery and onion. Cook until vegetables have begun to soften and onion turns translucent, 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in butternut squash, thyme, chicken broth, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until squash is fork-tender, about 30 minutes. Use an immersion blender to purée soup. Alternatively, let the soup cool slightly and carefully purée in batches in an upright blender. 
extra ingredients for the variation that i used:
Stir a tablespoon of red curry paste (i added an entire 4 oz jar) and 2 teaspoons chopped fresh ginger into carrot, celery and onion mixture. Add 1/2 cup coconut milk ( i used the entire 13.66 fl oz can) with broth. Purée soup and garnish each serving with toasted coconut flakes and chopped fresh cilantro.

sorry for the terrible picture of the final product, to be honest i forgot to take a picture when it was finished.  this is a picture of the last of the soup from a double batch that once filled that entire crock pot.  the only picture i missed was a bowl of soup topped off with cilantro and toasted coconut.

all night long

dreams do come true and no i'm not talking about disney

i'm talking about lionel richie

you may think i'm crazy but i have had a love for lionel since i was a too young to remember.  my mother was a huge lionel fan before she passed and some of the few memories i have left of her involve us dancing to his music.  tonight brought in a flood of emotions for me both happy and sad.  it was one of the best nights i've had in a long long time and i owe it all to you lionel so thank you!  and just like that another check on my bucket list.