The fabulous Crane Notecard Giveaway has come to a close and we have a winner....
No the title of this post does not refer to me after a few drinks!
I had been craving a nice hearty soup lately. Maybe it is the biting cold or the whipping winds. Maybe I have just missed using my pretty lime green dutch oven. Whatever the reason I finally made some last night and fell in love with it. SO GOOD. The addition of molasses really gives it this subtle sweet flavor that pairs beautifully with the smoky beans and cumin, not to mention the delicious turkey bacon. What's more, it's incredibly cheap to make. All of the ingredients come in at just about $10 and it will feed one person for a week, two people for a couple of days.
Even though it's an easy recipe, it is not a super quick recipe - you will need about 3 hours, not including at least 6 hours to soak the beans. But it's well worth the time! If you have been in a black bean state of mind lately, I encourage you to give this recipe a whirl.
Cheap and Easy , Sweet and Smoky Black Bean Soup
adapted from this recipe
Serves 6
1 lb dried black beans, rinsed and soaked for 6 hrs or overnight
5 cups water
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/3 tsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped finely
1 large sweet potato, chopped into ½ inch chunks
1 carrot, chopped finely
1 green pepper, chopped
1 tbsp cumin
1 tsp chili
1 tbsp molasses
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups chicken broth/stock
1 lime
8 slices of cooked turkey bacon, crisp and crumbled
Drain the soaked beans and put into a large pot with water and baking soda and salt. Bring to a boil and then simmer for about 90 minutes or until beans are tender.
In another large pot, cook onion and potato in olive oil over medium heat for about fifteen minutes/until lightly browned.
Then add garlic and cumin and chili and cook for 2-3 more minutes.
(Big ups to the international food aisle where I scored this large jar of minced garlic for $2!)
Add beans with liquid, broth, molasses, pepper and bacon to the large pot. Stir and bring to a boil.
Simmer for 20-30 minutes.
While this is happening, I cooked my turkey bacon:
8 minutes at 375 degrees in the oven makes them perfectly crisp and easy to crumble!
Mmmmm.
Anyway, once your soup has simmered, remove 4 cups of soup and place in a blender.
Puree and return carefully to the soup. Stir and add lime juice, salt and pepper to taste.
You can serve it as is. I prefer a thicker black bean soup so I simmered it for about 15 more minutes uncovered.
And then served with a dollop of fat free sour cream.
It’s such a delicious sweet but smoky soup. And so easy!
*You could easily make this vegetarian by using Veggie Broth and omitting the bacon. But why would you want NOT to use bacon (even if it IS turkey bacon).
Don't forget to enter the Crane Notecard giveway below! I'm drawing the winner TOMORROW, Friday January 30th!
Seriously. I love letters!
One of my personal ongoing "resolutions" is to engage in more written correspondence. I mean email is grand but what's better than a hand written note? Especially with all the fabulous note cards and stationary and letter-writing accouterments out there.
I'm glad I have a boyfriend.
So, I am a total hypo. A somewhat closted one, but a hypo nonetheless.
And watching several episodes of House over the past few weeks has not helped matters. A slight headache is a brain bleed. A twinge in my arm is sacroidosis (not even sure what that is but it's mentioned in every episode). And so on and so forth.
These aren't things I say out loud but little manias I keep to myself throughout the day .
In any case, yesterday I was sitting on the bed, about to paint my toenails when I noticed a LARGE bruise on my calf. Like about the size of a fist? And I have no idea how I got it. I don't bruise easily AT ALL (In fact when my car's trunk closed on my arm last month that was the first time I can remember having a bruise in a long time). I was always pissed that I didn't bruise easily because when my brother and I engaged i fistifuffs as kids I yearned for a HUGE bruise to really get him into trouble with. But it never happened. Damn.
So anyway, yeah. Monstrous, mysterious bruise. It was really freaking me out because hello "Bruises easily" is a sympton of a million things and if I have a huge bruise but no recollection of an injury that isn't that "bruising easily"? I needed a test to see if this was in fact what was going on. I needed some kind of mild trauma to see if a bruise would appear so I could then proceed to freak out.
"Punch me in the arm", I said to Adam.
"What?" he said
"Punch me hard in the arm, let's see if I bruise".
"No way", he replied.
WTF? What's the point of having a boyfriend if they won't wail on you when you ask?
SO I took matters into my own hands, literally and punched myself in my thigh as hard as I could (which, admittedly is not all that hard). That was last night and as of today? No bruise. Phew.
And I realized this morning that bruise is on my leg at the same area that our glass coffee table hits my leg and I have walked right into the sharp corners on that piece more time than I care to remember so I guess that explains that!
Last week I posted the Foodie's Guide to Frugality and it was fun compiling info about saving $ while still eating out and eating well, that I decided to do a Fashionista's Guide to Frugality for shopping mavens who have found the tight economy has also tightened their clothes/accessories/shoes budget.
As your resident shopaholic-on-a-budget I feel it's my duty to inform you of something.
Did you know today is Customer Appreciation Day at all TJX Stores including T.J. Maxx, Marshalls and Homegoods.
What does this mean for you?
It means 15% off your ENTIRE purchase. No holds barred! (except for gift cards and layaway of course)
You know I'll be getting my max for the minimum on my lunch break....and probably after work.
In celebration: let's tell best TJs/Marshalls deal ever stories. I'll go first. Last year I scored a Michael Kors Ranger Bag for $99 (normally $249 in department stores) AND the year before that I found Gucci sunglasses for $49. I also found fabulous Kate Spade wine glasses for $12 a pop and DIDN'T buy them and to this day am still bitter about it.
A scene at work:
Old Man: Woah how long did it take you to do your hair today?
Me: Bob, No you're not insulting my 'do!
Old Man: No, no I wasn't "insulting" just commenting.
Me: I will have you know a messy bun is "in".
Old Man: Don't worry, it doesn't bother me. I can tell from your hair that you're probably busy"
That is what America is all about. The freedom to express yourself.
Especially if your self-expression involves wearing a fabulous, divalicious hat.
Even though Monday is not an official holiday in my office (it's a floating holiday), I took it off because frankly I have not yet recovered from my week off a few weeks ago and I need to taste the sweet nectar of not working on a weekday yet again. I need my vacay fix!!
Yeah so if you took a gander at my flickr yesterday you may have seen the joyous news about my 401K account. My earnings for the year? -40%.
Aw yeah aw yeah.
Whatever it's not worth getting mad about since it is a long term investment and it IS an investment, not a savings account. And many of us are in the same boat I am sure. We've all made adjustments to deal with the bad economy -in some cases huge sacrifices, in other cases just little every day decisions that add up to being able to save a little money. That is my kind of thing. The more money I can throw into my savings, the better . So I thought I would throw down a few little things I have done that have been saving me cash. This time around it's the food edition.
In a fit of New Years purging, I attacked my closet over the weekend to weed out the undesirables and make sure for the first of a few shopping trips I'm making in the next few months. I, like Ina Garten, am getting back to basics. I have a lot of "fun" pieces in my wardrobe but no perfectly tailored white shirt. No super flattering high quality black pants. No sexy secretary pencil skirt (well, I DO have one but it is more appropriate for evening events since 1) it's satin and 2) when I sit down the slit on the thigh takes me from sexy secretary to raunchy receptionist). And closet space is as precious in our apartment as parking spaces downtown. So time to weed out what I don't need to make room for what I do.
I have been out of the house party scene for a while now. Or rather the house parties I attend involve wine and word games maybe the occasional Britney dance off. But this past Friday I attended my gorgeous cousin Melissa's going away party. Now that she is done with college she is leaving us and moving to Italy for the time being. Ciao Bella!! We are all extremely jealous.
I am nothing without a project.
Having some kind of ongoing project, however small, really makes me happy. It might be something like finding the perfect pair of COMFORTABLE but chic black non flats but non high heels (still working on that one) or relining the bathroom cabinet shelves. It's fun to have something to work on when you have a spare moment.
During my week off at the end of December, I resolved that one of my new projects would be to redecorate the living room. Now, we have a pretty neutral palette in there (on purpose). Cream colored wall to wall carpeting, beige furniture, glass coffee and end tables, dark wood accents. A few years ago, inspired by a set of gorgeous Moroccan candles Andy gave me for my birthday, I switched out the green curtains and green and gray colored throw pillows and other assorted green and gray accents and switched in red and orange and yellow accents. It really made a big difference.
They are crappy photos but you get the general idea. It's a nice cohesive theme but I am bored with it. And ready to get a little more bright and a little more (Jenny, brace yourself) modern. Or at least work some more bright and modern elements into the room. If you follow me on twitter you might have seen me raving about my love for mercury silver recently. I love how it looks vintage with a little modern kick to it. I purchased a few accent pieces from Pottery Barn and Crate and Barrel last week.
I also ordered mercury glass bird from Wisteria.com. I am on a bird kick lately, I can't lie. I want to see how it looks on the TV console and and depending on that maybe get a few more birds made in different materials (white porcelain, Herend (I WISH)).
I am also switching out the decorative wire plate we have hanging next to the TV now 
For this magnificence from West Elm.
And switching or Van Gogh's Sunflowers hanging above the arm chair for a gorgeous framed, antique finish mirror our neighbor gave to us before he moved out.
If I had my way we would also be swapping out one of the other pieces of artwork currently in the living room for this amazing Marimekko wall hanging from CB2 that I have been in love with since they came out with it AND it's now on sale for freaking $25. Adam, however, hates it. Though he said we could hang it if he could also hang his Fenway panorama above the TV. This I cannot allow. So, sorry beautiful Marimekko print. Maybe someone out there reading this will give you a good home.
Now what's left to do is new curtains, a few new throw pillows and new napkins for the end tables (I buy decorative cloth napkins from Crate and Barrel or Pier One and use them to cover the top of our glass end tables). I would also LOVE to find an affordable silver accent table to put near the front door along the lines of this but maybe a little more "cool".
So, what's one of YOUR projects ?
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