Here a Little, and There a Little

Butternut Squash and Carrot Soup--Warming and Yummy

2010-02-25T11:01:00.000-08:00

I love to cook. I wish I had more time to experiment with new dishes and tastes and techniques, but working full-time limits my culinary adventures somewhat. Our family rarely eats out, so that means I do cook almost all of our meals. There are a few dishes that we eat relatively often--oven chicken, tacos, pot roast--and then there are the creative additions. The girls also like to cook, so we'll occasionally have a dish with a Ukrainian flair (usually including beets, potatoes, sour cream, onions, and lots of garlic).

In my quest to eat healthful, tasty food, I find that I'm moving more and more away from the mainstream Standard American Diet (SAD) and what "they" say we should eat. There's a fabulous cookbook-plus-education-in-one that I have been learning so much from: Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon. I don't always use recipes from the cookbook verbatim; because I am learning the principles of traditional diets, I can tweak the recipes or use elements of a few of them as I am cooking. I've recently cooked lamb shanks a couple of times now and created my own sauce that is reminiscent of the 10th-anniversary lamb shank dinner Garth and I enjoyed at Il Fornaio in downtown Seattle.

Another great resource is the Weston A. Price Foundation for Wise Traditions in Food, Farming and the Healing Arts. To start learning about traditional foods and how to eat healthfully and enjoy it, click on the Health Topics tab and then on the ABCs of Nutrition link.

And now, back to the topic this post: Butternut Squash and Carrot Soup--Warming and Yummy!

I made up this soup the last two days, and Garth and I have really enjoyed it for lunch and breakfast. So it's not traditional breakfast fare...it's yummy and nourishing, anyway. Because I came up with this concoction, I don't have anything measured, and the portions below are approximate. You'll just have to tweak it to be the way you want it to be, depending on what you like. I'm sure it's very forgiving; you might like to add a small potato or some cabbage or spinach or cayenne pepper or curry powder...

This "recipe" made about two large bowls of soup.

2 tsp. extra-virgin coconut oil
1 Tsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
1 small stalk of celery or 1/2 large stalk of celery, chopped
1-1/2 cups homemade chicken broth
1-3/4 cups filtered water
1 medium or large carrot, chopped
5 or 6 1/2-inch-thick slices of peeled butternut squash, chopped
1 small or 1/2 medium or large zucchini squash, chopped
1 medium-to-large clove of garlic, chopped
a little fresh parsley, chopped, or some dried parsley
ground ginger
sea salt (We love Celtic sea salt, which we get at Whole Foods.)
fresh ground pepper

Melt the coconut oil with the olive oil in a large saucepan or small soup pot. Saute the onion and celery in the oil for several minutes until just soft. Add the chicken broth and filtered water and bring to a boil.

Lower the temperature, add the carrots and butternut squash, place the lid on the pot tilted a bit to vent, and simmer for about 10 minutes. Then add the zucchini and seasonings and simmer another 10 minutes or so. Check to see if all the vegetables are soft. When they are soft, add the garlic, turn off the burner, and put the lid on the pot. Let it sit a minute or two before moving to the next step (or, if you don't like your garlic very strong, let the pot simmer a while longer).

Using a stick blender (for ease of use and cleanup), puree the soup. If you like some chunky vegetables, don't puree all of the soup. When it is pureed to your liking, taste and adjust seasonings. At this point, you could add some sour cream, cream, milk, chopped green onions, cayenne pepper--whatever you like.

I hope you enjoy this as much as we have!

Note: The beautiful photo of the soup shown above is a stock photo, not my own picture. The soup didn't stay around long enough to take a shot!

Just Wanna Hear English

2009-11-23T12:37:00.000-08:00

I know that in the previous post I talked about my love for learning languages. While languages other than my own native language of English do fascinate me, I have grown weary of hearing Russian in my home! Yes, my daughters speak Russian, and unfortunately, one daughter is not learning as much English as she could were she to think in English, speak in English, and so on. I know it will come, but I am still longing to hear more English, especially from her. I can't be an effective parent when I don't know if my children are treating each other unkindly, complaining about us, or getting into mischief. The girls will likely keep their Russian because they have each other to speak with and they are 14 years old; had they been younger when we adopted them or had we adopted only one, they may have lost a lot of their mother tongue.

That said, I also know that a well-spoken, well-timed "Я люблю тебя!" (I love you!) does a world of good for all of us.

My Love of Language Learning

2009-04-25T11:27:00.001-07:00

I have always loved words; reading was my favorite pastime as I was growing up. Mom and Dad said there were always stacks of books for me to read and reread and memorize. I suppose it's no wonder I became a proofreader. It's the perfect profession for me: it's challenging and interesting at the same time.

My love of words also has a lot to do with languages other than English. The first "foreign" language I learned was Spanish. In fact, Sesame Street, which began airing when I was 1 year old, taught me a lot of Spanish. I took four years of Spanish in high school and a semester in college. Because I have German ancestry, I had wanted to take German in high school, but it wasn't offered. So I also took a semester of German in college and two semesters at a junior college after I graduated. And then I met and married Garth, who is actually a first generation American on his dad's side; his dad's family is German. Looking back, I should have had language or linguistics as my major instead of art / graphic design!

In 1995, my mom and I took a tour to Italy, where I learned Italian from our tour's bus driver, who didn't speak English. When we returned home, I took a semester of Italian at UCLA. I didn't have anyone to speak to in Italian after that, so I forgot most of it, but it is a beautiful, expressive language.

French never really held an interest for me, but I did listen to some French language tapes for a couple of weeks and can say a few things. I guess I don't like that the French swallow the last parts of their words. But it is a pretty language, too.

When Garth and I began thinking of adopting children, Russia came to mind. Our pastor and one of the elders took a trip to Russia to train pastors, and the pastor they worked with there volunteered at a local orphanage. It struck me that our children could be there--or somewhere in the world; they didn't have to be in the United States.

I think that was when I had a resurgence of my interest in learning Russian. I had heard that it is one of the hardest languages to learn. And where would I learn it? I started out by checking books and CDs out of the library and soon expanded my collection when we started praying for a sweet girl in Ukraine. We subsequently

decided to adopt her and also hosted her in our home last summer. And now we'll be adopting her best friend with her.

I am still learning Russian and

have much more to learn, but I love it! The picture at right says, "Do you love me? (A tee myenya lyoobeesh?)" It is also a popular pop song in Ukraine. I hope you have an interest in languages, too, beyond English.

Follow Our Journey to Adopt Our Girls from Ukraine!

2009-04-15T14:56:00.000-07:00

Our main blog tells of how God is giving two orphan girls a family--ours! The girls are 14 and 13 and are best friends. If you would like to follow along (the blog will be private by April 16 for a time to ensure confidentiality), e-mail me at hoffhouse@hotmail.com.

We can't wait to go get the girls!

Sharing about Milk

2009-04-15T10:27:00.001-07:00

(This is part of a post called Summertime from my main blog, http://hoffmannclan.blogspot.com/, dated June 27, 2007.)

From Summertime:
So what's the big news around our household? We're the proud owners of a cow!

Photo from FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Well, let me explain. We now own two shares in a dairy cow herd, so we're entitled to two gallons of fresh, raw (unprocessed, straight-from-the-cow) milk each week. Participating in a "cow share" is the only way we can get raw milk in Colorado. Many states have this sort of arrangement because they have laws against selling it. California is one exception; you can find high-quality Organic Pastures milk and dairy products in stores like Whole Foods.

See the Real Milk Web site for lots of information on raw milk, its health benefits, and how to find it. Be sure to read the entire What Is Real Milk? page (scroll down). I was rasied on raw milk in Southern California, so I know the whey it should be. (Sorry for the pun--I couldn't resist!)

This past Sunday we drove down to Boone, Colorado, to meet the cows and see the milking process. We also got to see the pastures where they are free to roam and eat grass--they're pasture fed and not finished off with grain like commercial dairy cows. Pasture fed is much healthier for the cows and for those who consume their healthier milk. On our tour we met a calf and a bull born in April (so cute and friendly!). The ranchers also raise pasture-fed, free-range pork, so we trekked through some fields and were able to find the pigs in their nice, muddy wallow. Them's some lucky pigs to be raised in the pastures!

We are enjoying our milk and have also made kefir from it, which I made into smoothies last night with bananas and peaches--yum! I remember when I was little that my mom would have raw milk and kefir delivered to our house by Alta Dena dairy. The kefir was mixed with berries, I believe, like raspberry or strawberry. So good! (Sadly, Alta Dena no longer sells raw milk products.)

That's the latest from our house. Until later...moo!

Scrap Blogging, Part 2

2009-04-10T19:28:00.000-07:00

As you can see by my new header, I've been having fun with Scrapblog.

Today, I made this creation to share the news that we received a dossier submission date:

I am using only the free Scrapblog backgrounds and elements, but thus far, I have found lots of things I like. I even used one of the backgrounds for the background of this blog and my main adoption blog. I have a header for that blog in the works...hope I can make a good one before we leave for Ukraine!

Scrap Blogging

2009-03-15T12:13:00.000-07:00

I am not a scrapbooking kind of person. I admire the lovely scrapbooks people make, though; some are true works of art! But there is a site online called Scrapblog where you can do digital scrapbooking. I have played around with it a few times, and it's fun. It's not completely intuitive, but it works well (just remember that it's free, and you get what you pay for). You can also buy some scrapbooking elements.

Though not my first foray into scrapblogging, I finished this photo collage today and thought I would share.

First, I grabbed these two photos of our sweet soon-to-be (Lord willing) daughters:

Then, I placed them side by side and saved them as one JPEG.

Then I opened a new scrapblog page with a background and elements (called a theme). There are many to choose from on Scrapblog! I wanted some sort of frame around the two photos, and this is what I chose:

I maneuvered and manipulated the dark blue patterned box behind the photos to make it the right size, and then I played with the ribbon elements. You can bring an element forward or send it back to get the effect you want.

Then after I saved and published the piece, I exported it as a JPEG.

What do you think of the finished product? I think it's beautiful, but I think it's only because our girlies are the ones who are beautiful (красивые)!

A Blog about Learning, Little by Little

2009-02-13T08:30:00.000-08:00

There are so many things to know in life, and I find myself wanting to learn so many different things, like wellness, uses of herbs, cooking, healthy food, adoption, other languages, and how to be a help meet, to name a few. I set up this blog to be a place where I can share what I learn. You may be interested in some of the things I post, and you may be completely disinterested. But come learn with me, here a little, and there a little.