Roasted Root Vegetable Soup

My first attempt to use squash to make soup!

This year of Spring is not quite yet warm enough to say Spring is here. Roasting vegetables really makes warm and cozy soup that's perfect for cold weather.

Roasted Root Vegetable Soup
- 1/4 cup Olive Oil.
- 1 small butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cubed.
- 2 carrots, cut into thick rounds.
- 1 large parsnip, cubed
- 2 leeks, thickly sliced
- 1 onion, quartered
- 3 bay leaves
- 4 thyme sprigs
- 3 rosemary sprigs
- 5 cups veg stock
- salt and freshly ground black pepper, soured cream to serve

1. Preheat oven 200C/400F. Pour olive oil into bowl and toss all veggies until evenly coated.
2. Spread out veggies on baking pan. Tuck the bay leaves and thyme and rosemary sprigs amongst veggies.
3. Roast veggies for 50min until tender, tuning them occasionally to make sure they brown evenly.
4. Discard herbs and transfer veggies into large pot.
5. Pour the stock into the pot and bring to boil and simmer for 10min.
6. Blend the soup with food processor/blender until thick and smooth.
7. Season the soup with salt, pepper, sour cream(optional) and serve.

Cauliflower Steak

Got recipe from Fresh Juice Magazine, Cauliflower Steak!
Easy to make when you need sidedish. I had Katsu as main dish to combine this meal.

Cauliflower Steak:
2 large heads cauliflower
1/3 cup - Classico Basil Pesto

1. Trim root end so cauliflower lays flat. Starting at one end, cut into 3/4 inch slices. Only 2 or 3 slices in the middle will remain intact; reserve remaining floret for another recipe.

2. Spread pesto over steaks. Place steaks gently into resealable plastic bag, pouring any remaining marinade into bag; let marinate for up to 48hrs.

3.Wrap steaks in heavy-duty aluminum foil; place in coals on outer edge of campfire until tender-up about 15min.

* I roasted mine in the oven at 375F at 20-30min

prototype mini minion

My next project is TRY to use up yarns I used from last minion project. My idea is make many mini minions as possible until my yarn collection runs out.

So this is the prototype!

crochet minion

I love minion from Despicable me.
Not a huge fan of the actual movie but the minions are so adorable!

This was my recent project I worked on. I get carried away most of the time where I forget to take work in progress shots most of the time. But Tim took one photo of cutest part of making minion, his little feet.

Let's see what else I can make! 

children book

Finally I get to show this! Making children book was one my goal. I got an opportunity to do cute and fun illustration for my friend. I like how the cover turned out!

It's a story about 2 pandas how they met, how they spent their times together and then lead to where the boy panda propose to girl panda. 

roasted brussels sprouts with cranberries and bacon

Another recipe I want to share that I found from Walmart Live Better(Fall2013) magazine. The combination of brussels sprouts and bacon goes so well! Serve it with your favorite steak!!

Roasted brussels sprouts with cranberries and bacon
- 6 cups Brussels sprouts
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 3 strips applewood smoked thick sliced bacon
- 1/3 cup finely chopped onion
- 1/2 cider vinegar
- 1/3 cup dried cranberries
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar(I used brown sugar)

1. Trim and slice Brussels sprouts in half, leaving the core intact. Toss with olive oil, cinnamon, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Transfer to baking sheet and roast for 25-35min at 400F, turning every 10min until golden and tender

2. Slice bacon thin strip and cook  at medium heat, stirring often until bacon is brown and crisp. Lay bacon on to paper towel. Remove bacon oil but leave 1tbsp in the pan.

3. Add onion until tender. Add cider vinegar, cranberries, and sugar. Bring to boil and continue cooking  until small amount of liquid.

4.  Transfer Brussels sprouts into a large bowl. Pour cranberry-onion mixture and sprinkle with crisp bacon. Toss to coat.

hot dog party

Random idea came across what food to serve for small gathering. We're not fancy people but always try to come up with something simple and fun.

An idea we had was guest can make their own gourmet hot dogs. We served hot dogs cut into half so people can try out more variety of combinations they can come up with. Many ideas were inspired from Japadog, Food Network Magazine and Burkies Dog House from ACC.

In case people can't tell, a ball of smile in white bowl is mash potatoes. Combine it with ground beef with bacon bits and make yourself  a gourmet Shepperd's pie hot dog!