Carrot Dill Soup

There's something about the fall and the cold weather that makes me CRAVE soup! I could eat it every day! I made two this weekend: Tomato soup Florentine and Carrot Dill. This carrot soup is truly a winning recipe. It's both my husband's and my favorite of all the soups I make. 3 hours later and our house still smells amazing from it. Super light and flavorful!

Ingredients:

4 Tbsp butter (I've also used margarine, or less than 4T and both are still great!)

1 large onion diced

2 1/2 pounds of carrots, peeled and diced

2 ribs of celery diced

8 cups of chicken or vegetable broth

1/4 cup fresh dill chopped

pinch of cayenne pepper

1 t salt

1/4 t pepper

Melt butter in pot. Add onions and cook on low heat for 10 minutes until onions become wilted. Add the carrots, spices, dill and broth. Bring to boil then lower heat, cover and simmer for 40 minutes. Puree the soup with either a hand blender or in batches with a stand-up blender. Serve warm. Option to garnish with sprigs of dill, red bell pepper and a dollop of creme fraiche.

(Recipe from The New Basics Cookbook by Rosso & Lukins)

Plates galore!

Why hello there blog world, long time no see!

Just thought I'd share some pictures of one of my recent craft projects. I jumped into the world of plate decorating, and I don't think it will end anytime soon! So many fun options to explore!

These are hand-painted silhouettes.:

The background pattern on these is done with lace and spray paint:

The entire floral collection, and the paired up plates.:

Some of my friend's plates - beautiful for the fall!

Love the colors in our work space:

It was such a fun mental break from the endless hours of studying. The best part about them is that the designs are all done on the backside so they can be eaten on! Hand wash only of course. You bet I'll be using them all the time for dinner parties. Let me know what you think!

I need a favor

Hello friends, I know it's been a while but I need to ask a favor of you...

I had to make a video as a school project and the group that gets the most views in 2 weeks gets extra credit!!! Please help!! Help us get the extra credit and all you have to do is watch us make fools of ourselves on YouTube... yay! ... you may learn something too!... double yay!

Our topic is Iron Deficiency Anemia and I promise you, its not too boring. You must watch it till the end in order for the view to count. Watch as many times as you can and spread it around. Mute it and keep it running while you read blogs if you must! =P Here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cLR9YocqKU

Thanks you!!!

Picture This!

It's been a really long time since I posted the teaser picture from one of my latest projects. Those of you who guessed it was a quilt... you were right! The pattern is called "Picture This" and it's supposed to look like a movie strip. I'm thrilled with how it turned out, and my husband loved it. He had no idea what I was making him for Christmas, I was actually able to keep it a surprise (for once), and get it done in time!

(the back side is a brown minky fabric - so soft!)

The picture fabric was really neat! I literally put it through my home printer to create the pictures, I didn't even know that was possible. Now, my first real quilt is officially done. I did have some amazing help though, and to her I'm very thankful. We got it done in 3 days!

I miss you blog world!