turkey pumpkin soup

Due to our multi-national household, we make thanksgiving dinner twice. Why? Because we strongly believe in celebrating both of our backgrounds... and we love turkey. Really, its the latter but I will take a turkey dinner anyday. This also means I am ahead of all of our American family and friends with planning turkey leftovers. This time: turkey wraps with my cranberry sauce, turkey enchiladas, and turkey pumpkin soup. This soup really reminds me of tortilla soup with a thanksgiving twist.

I have been wanting to share this recipe since we made it... but B made it so that means I had to find out what he put in it!

I took better photos of this soup but I really like how this one turned out. Soup, salad, scones, red wine... and 2 football games. You would not want us to have to make a choice between the CFL and NCAA football.

2T evoo

1 onion, diced

1 head garlic, minced

1T cumin

6c vegetable stock

1 beer

1 1/2lb leftover turkey, chopped

1 small can pumpkin puree

1/2c salsa verde

2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, minced

1c frozen corn

1 can black beans, rinced

2t cilantro

grated cheddar & chopped avocado for toppings

Heat evoo in large pot. Add onion, garlic, and cumin. Cook for 2 minutes. Add stock, beer, turkey, pumpkin, salsa verde, peppers, corn, and beans. Bring to a boil. Add cilantro and serve immediately topped with cheddar and avocado.

latte e miele

We went on a date for lunch on Saturday. We have been wanting to go to Latte e Miele since it opened and finally took some time out of our busy schedules on Saturday at lunch to do so.

We shared a tropical iced tea and read some magazines until our food arrived... Garden & Gun for me... Wine Spectator for B. For lunch we each had a cup of sweet potato pumpkin soup and shared the creole club (all-natural turkey, house-made tasso, swiss gruyere, aioli, cucumber, citronette greens, shaved red onion, on wheat berry bread). Both were amazing! I really loved the sandwich... and the coleslaw. We found the atmosphere to be very relaxing and it gave us time to hang out during a busy time of year. I imagine we will be back very soon!

healthy beef barley stew

We have been loving soup lately. Maybe its the "cold" weather. Who are we kidding, it does not get cold here! But we we do love soup in the fall.

1 1/2lb stew meat

salt & pepper

1T evoo

3T whole wheat flour

1 medium onion, chopped

1c carrots, sliced

3 garlic cloves, minced

1t dried parsley

1t dried thyme

3c chicken broth

2c veggie broth

1c dark beer

2c radishes, quartered

8oz mushrooms, slices

1c roma tomatoes, chopped

1c barley

1c frozen peas

In a large pot (we used our Staub), heat evoo. Season stew meat with salt & pepper then toss with flour to coat. Add meat to pot and cook until browned. Add onion, cook 2 mintues. Add carrots and garlic, cook 5 minutes. Add herbs and liquid, deglaze bottom of pot then bring to a boil. Let simmer while covered for 45 minutes. Turn back up to high. Add radishes, mushrooms, tomatoes, and barley and bring to a boil. Turn down to simmer for 30 minutes until barley is cooked. Add peas, stir, and let cook for 2 minutes.

Serve immediately with toast. We used from rustic bread from Whole Foods that needed to be used up.

InstaFriday

Happy Friday! I had a great week. We went to see Michael Buble, I got some get news and I have an entire afternoon to get some work done in my office today! Yes, having silence in the office makes me happy. Here are a few photos from the week.

1. Sometimes I am really good at taking photos quickly. I took this one on the way home from New Orleans last Saturday.

2. We have been eating turkey leftovers galore. The last stop on the turkey leftover menu was enchiladas with a bunch of leftover veggies from the fridge. It was amazing.

3. I hoard Starbucks rewards like they are going out of style. I promise I always use them before they expire but I like to always have atleast one available... 3 was a little excessive!

4. Another great road trip photo on our way back to New Orleans. It is harder to get good photos at dusk but I liked this one.

5. The opening act for MB was Naturally 7. They were amazing. You should check them out. Seriously.

6. We made poached eggs with spinach and ricotta on toast. I love when I have everything we need for a delicious meal in the fridge without even planning for it.

7. No peeking! Christmas at Starbucks is almost here! You know what that means... Joy tea!

8. I decided to go vegetarian on Thursday night. By vegetarian I mean that I ate chicken that only ate vegetables. The pluckers menu has so many great jokes in it!

Have a great weekend! We will be watching Cardinal baseball, I will hopefully finish my discussion section of my thesis, and I have some other homework to do. We are less than 2 weeks from fall break so that means there really is not much time left this semester!

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#MBWorldTour

This was an exciting week! After my class ended on Tuesday B and I headed back to New Orleans for the Michael Buble concert! I love him because he is an amazing performer... and he is Canadian.  The show was opened by Naturally 7. We really liked the group even though we had never heard of them prior to the concert... think beatboxing/ acapella. You really should go check them out on YouTube or iTunes. Michael Buble was on stage for about 2 hours. He sang some of my faves and some other songs I did not expect to hear from him. We really enjoyed the whole show.

We had greats seats in the 5th row of the second balcony. The stairs were in front of us so we did not need to worry about anyone being in our view! The newly renovated New Orleans Arena looked great. The only downfall of the whole evening was the food. The selection at the arena was good but most of what we ordered was cold. This is something the venue will need to work on for future events.

If Mr. Buble is ever in our area again we will definitely go see him perform!

martinique bistro

Remember back in May when we went to the Martinique Bistro to celebrate B's cousin's graduation from Tulane? Well I found out they offer brunch on the weekend so we decided it would be a great place to go as we left town on Saturday. It was surprisingly quiet on Saturday but it allowed for more conversation.

I had the broccoli, cheddar, gruyere, and bacon quiche with salad greens and duck fat roasted potatoes with a cafe au lait. It was delicious. Everyone loved their choices and the service was excellent, as we would expect for this restaurant.

We have so many places we want to try in New Orleans and we discover more every time we go back!

family NOLA trip

My parents spent some of their time in Louisiana in New Orleans. They loved the city so much we could not convince them to come back to BTR so we went to hang out with them in the french quarter for the weekend! My mom booked all of us in at a cute boutique hotel called Hotel Royal. The hotel has been updated without taking away from the history of the hotel. The inside has many hallways and stairwells to get to out room. Thank goodness we only had an overnight bag and our school bags! We had a great view from our adjoining balcony which was an added bonus. We have always wanted to stay in a small hotel with a balcony overlooking the french quarter!

We had happy hour at Dickie Brennan's.  It was exactly what we needed before our guided walking tour of the french quarter.

Our tour with with Randy. He taught us all about the scandals in the streets of New Orleans. Now I just need to figure out how much to believe of what he said. Didn't someone once say you should only believe 10% of what you hear? I think it may have been closer to 1% in this case but it was still fun.

We had to wait an hour to get a table for dinner so we stopped at a local bar for another happy hour and watched some Cardinal baseball (B got to see the first 4 runs scored during Saturday's game) then had dinner at Muriel's. I took some photos bun since we ate at 10pm it was really dark as the photos did not turn out. I will spare you the bad photos and let you know you should check this place out and try the duck brioche: duck ragout layered between brioche with foie gras aioli, served with baby arugula,  black currants and satsuma syrup! Yes, it was heaven.

Come back tomorrow for some photos from Saturday brunch!

pb2 smoothies

We have a new obsession. PB2! It's powdered peanut butter that is the perfect addition to our daily morning smoothies. You should try it!

1c frozen peaches, pineapple, mango & strawberry

1/2 scoop chocoate protein powder

1/2c spinach

1/2T PB2

I found PB2 for way cheaper on Amazon so I put in an order earlier today!

InstaFriday

Happy Friday!

It's been a great week around here. I got 97% on my advanced neuro exam, got to hang out with my parents, had a productive week, and am getting ready for a quick road trip this weekend. Here are a few photos from my week:

1. Of course I have to include a football game selfie with B. P.S. He still loved his "hipster" sunglasses!

2. It was a busy week of teaching for me... and midterms for my students. Sometimes it's nice to change it up and do a different workout to challenge us on a stressful week.

3. I love this window at my new workplace. The colors make my day.

4. We had an exciting Thursday afternoon at work/ school. There was a fire in one of the mechanical rooms that was blowing smoke throughout the building. We evacuated... 10 fire trucks arrived... and my midterm was cancelled. I would have preferred to write the exam and get that checked off my to-do list but I will use this extra weeks to study more!

Have a great weekend! We will be in New Orleans with my parents attending the BBQ & blues festival and spending some time relaxing. Back to the books on Sunday as I have my thesis, 2 papers, and a project to work on.

 

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fall fashion envy

I am having a bit of trouble here in Louisiana. These next few days my students are writing midterm exams so I do not need to wear workout clothes to school. I am also done with wearing purple scrubs this week. That means I get to wear real clothes! Right? Wrong. All I want to do is wear cute fall clothes... but 28C does not call for fall layers and sweater. Here are some of my fave looks I am envious of while I try to get dressed these next two days:

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6

Clearly I am loving denim, cognac, black & white this fall.

All of my fave fashion blogs provide amazing inspiration... now if only it was cool enough to wear these outfits. You don't need to feel too sorry for me. Soon enough the weather will be "cool" here and the rest of the continent will be covered in snow. Yes, I think fall fashions will have to be pushed back a couple months.

roasted broccoli & mashed cauliflower

More healthy thanksgiving recipes for you! These two recipes are our favorite ways to eat some healthy vegetable as our side dishes.

roasted broccoli:

3 heads broccoli, cut into florets

1/2t red pepper flakes

1/4c grated Parmesan

Steam broccoli for 5 minutes. Spray roasting dish with Pam. Add steamed broccoli to dish, top with red pepper flakes and cheese. Roast in 400 degree oven for 15 minutes... we do this while the turkey is resting!

mashed cauliflower:

1 head cauliflower, cut into florets

1t minced garlic

1/2c plain Greek yogurt

white pepper, to taste

Steam cauliflower for 20-30 minutes or until soft. Mash cauliflower, stir in garlic, yogurt, and pepper.

 

P.S. Did you see the quinoa dish on the corner of the broccoli photo? We had it as a substitute to stuffing! The recipe is mushroom fennel quinoa stuffing from Skinnytaste! It was delicious!

 

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cranberry sauce

I have a secret. We discovered this weeknd that I know how to make a killer cranberry sauce. You know I would never eat cranberry sauce from a can so homemade is the only option! I found this recipe recipe online and made some adjustments... less sugar!

2 bags fresh cranberries

1c brown sugar

1/2c orange juice

zest of 2 oranges

1/2t cinnamon

Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan. Cook on medium heat until cranberries burst and soften. Let cool and serve. You can make this days ahead or while your meal is cooking. You can also refrigerate the leftovers for use within a few months.

This was amazing on our thanksgiving turkey and in our turkey wraps for lunch! Yup... turkey all week!

 

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family football event

This weeknd we went to the LSU football game. It was the first college football game my parents have attended! Although it was hot for the first half of the game, the cloud cover in the second half and a win for the hometown team made it a great event.

Hopefully we will be able to have them back next year (and my brother too!) for another game!

Happy thanksgiving to my Canadian family and friends! I'll be back tomorrow with some recipes from our turkey dinner!

 

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InstaFriday

Happy Friday! It was a busy week but the weeknd is finally here! Let's get straight to my fave parts of the week:

1. Burn calories, not kilowatts. Yes, you should take the stairs. How can you tell my new place of work does healthy living research?

2. Studying for a 3pm neuro exam required a Starbucks to keep me focused all day. It was delish!

3. This week we have been cheering for the Cardinals... of course I had to wear my reds shoes to show my support.

4. Do you recognize this person?!? Yes, my parents made it to Louisiana! It was my mom's first trip to Whole Foods and now she knows why I love the store.

Since my parents are in town I will keep it short. We have lots of plans to eat seafood, go to the LSU football game, and see all the best parts of BTR! Have a great weeknd!

 

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watch me

At my new job, timeliness is important. Studies need to be conducted according to certain standards and interventions need to be administered according to certain time schedules. I need to be able to record those times... luckily for me, my watch died (yes, I will replace the battery when I am home at Christmas as I know exactly where to go) but my watch is 10 years old! I decided a new watch would be a great gift idea for me this year. I really like a neutral watch with a basic face and some bling. Here are some of my faves:

 rose gold Nixon kensington - mix and match Kate Spade metro grand - Kate Spade metro - gold Nixon the player

Anyone out there paying attention to this? Hint hint!

chicken stew with butternut squash and quinoa

Where was I yesterday? Writing a neuro exam... that's where! Sometimes school has to comes first. Hopefully having my priorities straight will pay off with an excellent grade on the exam. One more midterm next week too!

We made chicken stew on the weekend. It was amazing so I thought I would share the recipe! It was so simple and made tons of leftovers for lunches... exactly what I needed on a Sunday night.

2 small butternut squash, peeled, seeded, & cut into 1" peices

5 cups of low sodium chicken stock

3 large chicken breasts, trimmed of any fat

2T evoo

1 onion, diced

dash of salt

4 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2t pepper

1t oregano

2 cans fire roasted tomatoes

1c quinoa

3/4c black olives, pitted & quartered

1/4c flat leaf parsley, chopped

 

Steam butternut squash in a microwave safe bowl for 6 minutes on high. Remove half and steam for another 4 minutes. Mash pieces cooked for 10 minutes then mix with other half of butternut squash and set aside.

In a large pot, bring chicken stock to a boil. Turn down to a simmer, add chicken and poach until cooked through (about 15 minutes). Remove from broth, side aside on a plate to cool, and set aside stock in a bowl.

In the same pot (we use our Staub) sautée onion in evoo until brown. Add garlic, salt, and oregano. Sautée for 30 seconds. Add both cans of tomatoes and butternut squash. Stir to combine. Add chicken stock and quinoa. Bring to a simmer, cover, and let cook for 15 minutes.

Shred chicken with a fork.

Add chicken and olives to pot. Bring to a simmer for about 5 minutes to heated through.

Serve garnished with parsley.

 

 

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veggie nachos

We love nachos but we know the chips are not the best thing for our waistlines. Here's a great alternative to nachos for gameday... or any day! I promise, the only thing under all the cheese is veggies!

12-15 mini bell peppers, halved and seeded

1c succotash mixed vegetables

1c black beans, rinsed and drained

1 tomato, diced

1-2c grated cheese

Preheat oven to 400. Line oven safe dish with bell peppers. Mix together vegetables, beans, and tomato. Fill peppers with mixture. Top with cheese. Bake until golden brown. Enjoy (and feel less guilty) while watching some football!

InstaFriday

Happy Friday! It's been a busy week (like always) and hopefully it will end with a productive weekend. I have an exam to study for... and it appears as though my studying will be completed indoors as tropical storm Karen is headed our direction bringing an excess of rain all weekend. We will make the best of it and just find things to do inside.

Here's a few great parts of my week:

1. Check out this cute pie! We spent Saturday afternoon watching football with friends and their little one. I love her hair!

2. Programming + MatLAB is getting easier.... I think. I did make this happen then transposed a bunch of other graphics on to it using Inkscape. Small successes can be a big deal sometimes.

3. This week we made sautéed leeks and chorizo sausage then added eggs on top. It was delish! And so simple too!

4. The scrubs are officially purchased. Actually, I am wearing them right now as I am going to work later this morning. I do not know a ton about my job yet but I am excited to learn more what what my responsibilities will include.

Have a great weeknd! If you are near us, stay dry! If you are somewhere sunny, get outside and enjoy the sunshine!

 

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today

How is your week going? It's Thursday... only one day left till the weekend! I really like this quote today:

ebb to street

I am obsessed with these pants. I purchased them in coral in May but these new colors released this week are beautiful!

 ebb to street in plum - inkwell - charcoal

Can I please buy all three?!?

Bonlook

Did you notice something new on the right side of my blog this week? Go take a peek --->

I applied to be an ambassador for Bonlook (referral link) last week and was accepted! I have worn reading glasses for a long time and know its an easy way to change my look (especially if I have to wear purple scrubs everyday). Here are a few pairs I have been eyeing:

Dylan - Marlowe - Waverly - Dylan - Honeybadger

If you need new glasses, you should go check out Bonlook. They have great styles and a virtual stylist to help you pick the best shape for your face! I am thinking I like the pair in the top left best.