Curried Sweet Potato Soup

This soup was inspired by a pretty basic Epicurious recipe. I've been making a lot of soup lately because it's easy to freeze and then thaw and re-heat at a later date. I love coming home after a long shift knowing that I can have a hot meal ready in 5 minutes. It keeps me from making poor decisions around granola temptations ;-)

Curried Sweet Potato Soup

3 1/2 cups organic vegetable broth
2 lbs sweet potatoes peeled and cut into cubes
1-2 cloves of garlic
1/2 small onion
2 tsp curry powder
1 cup SoDelicious coconut milk
1 Tbs. coconut oil
(optional: use 1 cup of canned coconut milk instead, and omit the oil)

Pour broth into a large saucepan and add sweet potatoes, garlic, onion, and curry powder. Bring to a boil and then cover and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the vegetables to a food processor (in batches, if necessary). Puree until smooth. Add 1 cup broth and process again until well blended. Return the mixture to the saucepan with remaining broth. Add milk and whisk until smooth.  Garnish with a drizzle of coconut milk or plan yogurt, and red pepper flakes.

Random Thoughts (Rants?)

It's been BUSY up in here! I've been itching to vent write but haven't been able to find the time.

1.) Last week my car got hit by a hit-and-run driver while I was in it. I was waiting to turn left and the truck behind me was stopped, but then he decided to try to pass between me and the parked cars on my right. Of course he didn't make it (of course he didn't-- there was no lane there to do so) so he smashed into my bumper instead. IDIOT. Thankfully, I'm okay. And thankfully we have insurance. But insted of writing my final paper for class, I had to spend my days off last week running around town and making police reports. I feel that if it had been a run-down car with a single mom and some crying kids, I would be able to let this slide. But it was a tall guy around 30 with a nice, shiny pickup truck. Trade your truck in for a fuel-efficient car and maybe you can afford insurance, @#$%*!

2.) Today we had our old dining room table in the back of Ross' truck to take to Omaha and hand-down to my brother, but someone stole it in broad daylight right out of the bed of his truck. IDIOT (trying not to use expletives here). Where are people's boundaries these days?!

3.) Now that those two things are off my chest, I have to say it's been a while since I had a teeny tiny baby at work and even though I work with babies all the time, sometimes I still forget how small they can be. I've been taking care of one the past few days and there's nothing more precious than those itsy bitsy fingers wrapped around yours when their palm is barely the size of your thumbnail.

4.) I'm SO excited for Thanksgiving food. Like, really excited. Twice-baked potatoes and sweet potato casserole, here I come! I'm doubly excited that since I have a cousin on each side of the family with a gluten intolerance, my extended family is very open to gluten-free options (although most of my favorites are naturally GF... the only thing I'll really miss is the stuffing).

5.) I miss running. A lot. It was such a time-efficient and convenient workout.

6.) I have had a relentless sinus headache for a month now. Did you know sinus headaches can also = throbbing pain? Neither did I. But it's woken me up several times this week and nothing makes it go away. When my car got hit last week, I was on my way to the allergy doctor seeking relief, but she put me on an antibiotic. I said, "are you sure it's a sinus infection? I only have clear drainage, no fever, no body aches. I feel like it's just really bad allergies with all the wind lately." She said, "nope it's a sinus infection. Take these twice a day for 2 weeks." A week later, my headache is worse than ever so I quit my antibiotics. They say to finish the whole bottle even if you start to feel better, but if I don't start to feel better 15 doses in, I really doubt it's bacterial in nature. I'm pretty much ecstatic for the accupuncture appointment I scheduled for tomorrow. I went a few times this summer and it really does make my headaches better!

7.) I signed my weekend premium position contract today. There are some huge pros and some huge cons to being tied down to every weekend between Dec. 11 and June 11. Fortunately, I don't go out much in the winter now that it gets dark before 5pm and it's going to start getting colder and colder. The nights I do want to go out, I will just have to pull up my big girl panties, enjoy the time I do spend with friends, and leave early enough to get coffee on the way to work the next morning. And I will be watching a broadcast of our church's Sunday sermons every Monday morning. Not the same, but I can do it for 6 months. Thank goodness for our small group on Thursdays. They will make me feel much more 'plugged in' to church while I'm missing it.

8.) Meal planning is awesome. The last few weeks, Ross and I have agreed upon 2 meals to make each week and we actually stick to a list when grocery shopping. It's so much easier to stay near-budget when sticking to the list!

9.) There has been an uprising at work regarding staffing and cancelations due to our low census. Apparently I'm compulsive about saving my PTO and I have a lot saved up, so I've been trying to let it ride when I get forced off a shift. However, other people are starting to get to the point where they are running low on PTO. What happens when you get canceled then? You don't get paid, that's what. Having 'job security' doesn't do much good when it doesn't come with a paycheck. I was at work during the off-campus staff meeting last week but everyone in the unit called in on speaker phone and we were huddled around the phone, listening to the manager talk with our end on Mute. I kept trying not to laugh when people let out exasperated moans and groans or said, "oh, who's that talking?" or "yeah, you tell then so-and-so!" The way we were gathered around the speaker, I felt like a family in wartime huddled around the radio to hear the latest news.

10.) I think that's all, but I'm sure it's not. I'm so forgetful :-)

Pumpkin Peanut Butter Granola Bars

I mentioned Averie's pumpkin bars a few weeks ago, but I found myself wanting a fresh batch today so I thought it was worth sharing the recipe. I obviously used Averie's original recipe, but I reduced the sugar and a few of the spices, added a pinch of salt, and replaced peanut butter chips with dark chocolate chunks.

Pumpkin Peanut Butter Granola Bars

1/2 cup peanut butter
1 cup pumpkin puree
2 cups old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup dark chocolate chunks

Preheat oven to 350. Combine all ingredients except the oats and chocolate in a bowl and blend well until smooth. Add oatmeal and chocolate chunks and mix until incorporated. Spread batter into a sprayed 8x8 or 9x9 pan and bake for 20-25 minutes. Makes 12 servings.

No Need to be Afraid of November

Every year, I dread September and October because they mean November is coming and November = winter. I don't know if it's global warming or some other weather trend, but the last few Novembers have been pleasantly surprising. Pleasingly fall-like. This one is no exception thus far! We've had a few below-30 days, but it always warms back up into the 50s or 60s. Lately we've had lots of wind, but also lots of sunshine so I can't complain.

These are some pictures from last Sunday when Ross and I took a walk before church. I found out this Wednesday that I got the weekend premium position that was being offered at work, so this will be the last Sunday like this for 6 months. Looking forward to their return already!

Fall Spice Granola

Here's a quick recipe to utilize those last few bits of pureed pumpkin left over after making your Thanksgiving baked goods. (Seriously, so many recipes call for 1 cup and not 1 can). This is such a low-maintenance recipe. It's easy to tweak: add some almonds, some extra cinnamon, some flax seeds, or whatever suits your fancy.

Fall Spice Granola

2 cups old fashioned oats
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
pinch of salt
3 Tbs. pumpkin puree
3 Tbs. pumpkin butter
3 Tbs. maple syrup
2 Tbs. canola or grapeseed oil

homemade granola + homemade yogurt = crunchy blogger

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Combine spice, salt, pumpkin puree, pumpkin butter, syrup, and oil and whisk until smooth. Add oats and stir until evenly coated. Spread granola out onto a large cookie pan lined with foil or a Silpat. Bake for 18-20 minutes, tossing the mixture halfway through baking. When granola is golden, remove from oven and allow to cool. It won't be cruncy right out of the oven, but it will harden as it cools.

This recipe makes eight 1/4 cup servings (or, let's be honest, four 1/2 cup servings). It would make a great hostess gift for Thanksgiving if you can hold onto it for that long!

#FirstWorldProblems

If you're not familiar with Twitter, it's a social media site on which people update their status, post opinions, and share news. If someone wants to discuss a trending or popular topic, they will use hashtags. If someone uses a #hashtag, it becomes a link and if you click on it, you can see what everyone on Twitter is saying about that subject. I am rarely on Twitter, mostly because it confuses me and it seems even more pointless than Facebook (which I'm obsessed with. Don't judge!)

Anyway, there's a hashtag going around in which people say things like:

I had to walk 15 minutes to get to my car today #firstworldproblems

This salad doesn't have nearly enough tomatoes in it #firstworldproblems

My stomach hurts from eating too much Halloween candy #firstworldproblems

I'm ashamed to say that I find a lot of these complaints coming out of my mouth these days. So lets play Cognitive Behavioral Therapy!

I was force canceled from work again because we have too many nurses and not enough sick babies.

Yes, it's stressful, but fewer sick babies is a good problem to have. And I'm blessed to have the PTO to pay for these unplanned days off. Sure, I'd rather use it on a long-overdue vacation, but all my co-workers who did go on nice vacations this summer and didn't hoard their PTO are having to go un-paid these days. Times like these do make me question a career choice where my livelihood depends on having sick babies in the world, though.

I can't get a good night's sleep these days even though I'm so tired.

But I have a nice bed and a warm apartment and a full stomach. Sometimes you can't win them all.

Running is such a convenient workout but now that I've been banned for the winter, getting a workout in is a huge, time-consuming ordeal.

Duh, at least I'm healthy enough to be able to work out and I have insurance that affords me a great physical therapist. And really, I'd be frustrated with running right now anyway thanks to fall asthma.

There's a weekend bonus position open at work. In exchange for working every Saturday and Sunday and forgoing a social life and Sunday church for the next 6 months, I'd be making a lot more money. Given the phone call we got Thursday night, more money sure would be nice. I. Just. Can't. Decide.

There's a point at which talking things over ad nauseam isn't going to change anything. I told my manager to put my name in. May she with the most seniority win. What happens, happens. In the meantime, I'm applying for lots of PRN nursing jobs. Job security feels a lot more fragile these days.

On the other hand, last week's sermon at church mentioned that people who wrote down what they were thankful for every night were significantly happier than those who wrote down what went wrong that day, or even just what happened that day. So you better believe that the Month of Thanksgiving has been extended.

One of Those Elusive Posts

11/11/11 hasn't necessarily been a lucky day for us.

Isn't that just like life? Our prayers the last few weeks have morphed from, "we're so happy, we don't deserve all these blessings" to me saying, "I'm a little nervous about being canceled from work so often and I'm not sure what God is trying to tell me between grad school, PRN job applications, and the weekend bonus option." But then we got a phone call on Thursday night that left us reeling (no, it's not a life or death matter, yes I'm sure I'll share eventually). And last nights prayers sounded a little something like this: "We're not sure why we're finding ourselves in the same place before the holidays this year as we did last year. What are you trying to tell us? What are we missing?" And we can only cling to the fact that God did some amazing things in the past year and we can only hope that closing some doors right now is just his way of preparing us to see another one that's open.