Gingerbread House Recipe

I hope the Thanksgiving Turkey doesn't get mad at me! 

But my Zumba instructor pointed out that this year the Christmas season  is going to be shorter 

than the previous years. Thanksgiving is at the very end of November. 

She even made us do Zumba with a Christmas song!

At first I was resisting it, because I didn't want to lose the Thanksgiving spirit. 

But now that I think about it, Christmas always sneaks in and out of me pretty much every year 

and the next time I take another glance at the calender  it's already Valentines Day! 

I'll just go with what the  Zumba lady said and I will start thinking Christmas thoughts now.

Some years ago the kids and I made a Gingerbread House. But by the time we got all the ingredients
and got going with the process, it was already December 25th!
Then the painstaking Gingerbread house was pushed somewhere in the back 

because it was time to celebrate New Years and Valentines!

I want to make a Gingerbread House again this year.
 And I will not wait the the last minute this time, I will start getting ready now.

I will be using this recipe here. It also comes in  PDF version. 

This is the same recipe we used last time, I hope we get to enjoy the making of it this time.  

Last time was a little challenging, since it was our first time constructing a Gingerbread House and had no idea if all the hard work was going to end up well.

Broccoli Soup

With all this snow, the only thing that sounds good to eat is warm food. I don't mind, like I said before, I just throw ingredients in a pot and let it boil. 

But there are days when I want to show off my cooking skills. Then I get into following recipes.  It happened some days ago, besides, I've always been wanting to make broccoli soup, but for some reason never did. And since it was full speed snowing and no where to go, I thought it was the perfect day to take my time and follow this recipe.

The flavor of this soup was really good, but it got a little thick, especially after it cooled off. Because, since I left my measuring spoons at Virginia, I got some from a friend of mine, but I'm not used to them. 

So what I thought was a 1Tbsp, actually was a 4Tbsp!  

Fortunately kids were hungry and ate most of it.

Here is the recipe. I can't wait to cook it again, then I will make sure I use my 1Tbsp measure.

Broccoli Soup

2 tablespoons butter
1 onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
3 cups chicken broth
8 cups broccoli florets
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups milk

1. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in medium sized stock pot, and saute onion and celery until tender. Add broccoli and broth, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
2. Pour the soup into a blender, puree in batches until smooth and pour into a clean pot. You can also use a stick blender and puree the soup right in the cooking pot.
3. In small saucepan, over medium-heat melt 3 tablespoons butter, stir in flour and add milk. Stir until thick and bubbly, and add to soup. Season with pepper and serve.

Popcorn

Trying to not eat margarine and processed popcorn savors. I will try this recipe.  Sounds spicy and tasty!

Making bread

Currently looking for recipes to make bread. I don't have a bread machine, so I think this tutorial will be enough.