Julie Surprise: Golden Pumpkin Soup

Here is a recipe I invented tonight.  It's similar to one I invented a couple of years ago but since I couldn't find that recipe I had to come up with a new one.

Golden Pumpkin Soup

Main Ingredients
3 small yellow squash, chopped
1 half green bell pepper, chopped
1 half onion, chopped
1 15 ounce can of pumpkin puree
1/4 cup Real Parmesan Cheese, shredded
Approximately 4 ounces of Medium Cheddar Cheese, shredded
About a tablespoon of Honey

Seasoning Ideas 
Sea Salt
Black Pepper

(season to taste, sorry, I didn't measure, I like to just add dashes of things but I tried to put them in order of what I used more of first)

Curry Powder and/or
Cumin
Cinnamon
Turmeric
Garam Masala
Powdered Mustard
Dried celery leaves, crushed
Cayenne pepper

Optional Garnishes
Sour Cream
Sliced Apples

Directions

1.  Put the chopped squash, onions and green pepper into a pot of water enough to cover them well and set it
      to boil.
2.  Once it's boiling lower the heat and let simmer for about 15 minutes.
3.  Once soft mostly drain veggies and run through a food processor or blender until smooth, return to pot.
4.  Add pumpkin puree to veggie puree and stir over medium to low heat until smooth-ish.
5. Season according to preference then add cheeses one at a time stirring in between to help melt the cheese.
6.  Add the honey last, stir and then serve in bowls with a generous dollop of sour cream and use fresh apple slices for dipping if you wish.

Note:  I have to give my Lily the credit for the apple idea.  She was the one who asked if we could slice up apples to dip in her soup.  It was pure inspiration!
                                                                                                 

Hope for that Box O' Socks!

One of the recently featured Daily Grommets was a company called Zkano that creates organic socks.  You can watch the feature video by clicking on the Daily Grommet link.  Anyway, I went to their website after watching the video and had me a look around.  I totally think it's awesome that they are trying to make a better product that will last longer and have less negative impact on the environment.  I also don't really think the prices are as out there as they could be.  So really cool right?  If any of you go out and get these I would be happy to hear of it!

Thing is, while I probably do need to buy some new socks here in the near future myself; these socks are kind of boring to me.  I know it sounds dumb and shallow but even their more 'exciting' options still include a lot of grey and that just isn't my thing.  I really like fun socks with animated designs.  (You know, stars, hearts, strawberries, frogs?)  Anyway, enough with my silliness.  


Before I left the site I noticed a little link at the top menu that said Zkano Recycles.  I clicked it and began to read the same thing about recycling that all of us have heard before.  Ways to reduce and reuse etc . . . Then at the bottom I was surprised and delighted to read this little tidbit of information:  You can send your old socks to Zkano and they will recycle them for you!  
Here is what the site actually says:


Recycle. Old fibers can be reworked and reused. The most warn out cotton fibers can be composted. Here’s where we come in.

We have the resources to take past-their-prime socks off your hands and have them recycled. Send your old socks* to us at this address: 

Emi-G KnittingAttention: Zkano Recycles Program
1715 Airport Road
Ft Payne, AL 35968

That’s it! We’ll handle recycling from there. 

It’s little steps that make a big difference as we move towards a sustainable lifestyle. Our family is proud that you’re taking a few of those steps in Zkano Socks. 

*Please send six or more pairs in a package. We need to outweigh the carbon footprint from shipping! 

I don't know about the rest of you out there, but I have a growing box of worn through and single un-matching socks which I have been feeling loath to tossing because it seems like such a waste!  

I had heard recently that animal shelters will accept donations of old blankets rags and towels and such, which is great, but I wasn't sure old socks would be as acceptable.  I am so happy to think that I can now send my old socks to someone who will actually be happy to see them!  How cool is that?

Easy Under Cabinet & Hanging Kitchen Storage! (No Drilling Required!)

In the past year or so I've been on a quest to improve and simplify life.
One of the steps I took was to eliminate duplicate items from my kitchen. Things like multiples of the same sized pots and pans, dishes I never used, extra ladles, etc . . . One thing I got rid of was two extra sets of measuring cups. When I got married I received four sets. One basic white set, one rubber handled black set, one nice stainless steel set. (Which I actually re-gifted. Before using them of course.)  and a lovely red set.  When paring down I decided to keep the red ones because my kitchen theme is red and citrus fruits.

When I moved here for years ago I was pleased to find the kitchen was all white with some black trim. Which works well with my brightly colored fruit themed dishes and towels, but since I haven't had a chance to paint in there, it really does seem a bit starved for color.

Of course, there really isn't a lot of wall in my kitchen to paint. One whole wall (and some of each adjoining wall) is covered in a back splash of white tiles.

For years I've searched to try and find cute fruit themed wall stickers to dress the tiles up a bit and add some more color, but to no avail. The only ones I can find are not to my taste, being either too detailed, too dumbed down, and/or too dully colored.  I'm kind of going for modern-Asian-graphic or something.
(Hee hee, I just did a search and found these. They are almost what I want. Maybe I'll get them. I actually haven't looked for a while until now. :}  )

Ooo, just a random tangent! I just recently (after getting paid to do a Coat of Arms for someone,) found and bought these sweet things with my 'pin' money!

Aren't they adorable?

Anyway, enough blah-blah . . .

My point is, I had been wishing there was a way to hang pots, utensils, or really anything under my cupboards in order to better utilize the space.  I had been looking at under-cupboard racks but I was feeling a bit leery of drilling holes into my cupboards.

While looking I did find these two cute items at Smiths Marketplace.

I think this suction-cup basket was $5 and the over drawer towel rack was $7 or something.

I like being able to clear a bit of space near my sink by putting the hand soap and dish sponge up on the wall. I'll also position my soap dish underneath the basket to catch any drips from the sponge.  It works great, even with the dish soap perched in it.

Still, I hadn't found a way to really utilize any of the space under my cabinets.   Finally it came to me!
I realized, while it wouldn't be enough for pans, I could hang my red measuring cups under my cupboards using a small tension rod. No drilling required!  This not only frees up a bit more room in my kitchen drawers, and makes the cups very easy to use and put away, but also adds a nice splash of color. Yay!

All we had to do was measure the area where the rod would go, buy a thin tension rod to fit and some S hooks. My hubby was a darling and pinched one side of each hook together so that once on the rod they wouldn't easily fall off.

Granted, the hooks would be much prettier if they were the fancy black hooks of a prefabricated kitchen rack, but considering the ease and function of this solution I'm not about to complain!

Hopefully this will inspire you to think outside the box for your own storage/decor solutions!