Sweet Potato Soup

I found this on a Weight Watcher's website somewhere and thought it looked interesting.  I'd definitely make it again, but as a lunch as opposed to a dinner.  Or if serving as a dinner, make it with something else too, though the soup was filling.  I didn't even attempt to serve to the little ones.  We needed to get out of the house quickly for soccer and cleaning them both of orange soup just wasn't on my agenda.

Sweet Potato Soup
Serves- 3-4, 1 cup servingsIngredients:
2 large sweet potatoes
2 cups chicken broth, divided
1 Tbsp reduced calorie margarine
1 Tbsp all purpose flour
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 cup fat free evaporated milk
1 tbsp chopped pecans
*Optional- add a bit of curry powder or marsala for more flavor.


Directions:
Bake the sweet potatoes in an oven at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes.  Be sure to pierce potatoes with a fork before baking.  Remove them from the oven and allow to cool.  Remove and discard the skin (peel) and chop or mash them up.
Combine potatoes and 3/4 cup of chicken broth in a food processor.  Blend until smooth.  Set aside.


Melt margarine in a medium size pan; stir in flour, ginger and then add evaporated milk.  Cook, stirring until slightly thickened and bubbly.  Cook for 1 minutes and then stir in sweet potato mixture and remaining 1/4 cup of chicken broth.  Cook, stirring, until heated through 5 minutes or more.  Serving size is 1 cup- top with 3/4 tsp of chopped pecans (toast them for more flavor).

A fun New Layout with Great News!

I'm joining the CT for Simply Kelly Designs :)  Check her out on Facebook, follow her blog, Twitter  & her etsy store.

This is using her kit- Whale of a Day which is on sale now. 

 While I had a bit of a creative stumbling block, I think it came together pretty nicely.

Day 3- At Sea!

Anchors Away!  We're off on an adventure, the likes of which we truthfully had never seen before!

We awoke with our kids... at 10AM!  On what planet do my kids sleep till 10?  Apparently one called the Disney Magic!  We found our way lazily to Lumiere's for a nice breakfast of Mickey Mouse waffles for the kids and I had an egg omlete and a brie & bacon sandwich from the brunch menu.  Yum!  We drank our coffee and just enjoying being for a bit.  DS of course wanted to head off to the Oceaneer's Club, so off he went.  On the way to check him in, one of my best stories from the whole cruise happened!  We were staring off the 4th floor balcony as they were getting ready for the meet & greet with the Princesses around lunch time. 

I was pointing out each of the princesses to DD when we heard "Why, are they all going to come out at once, then?"  We turned to find Alice, saddled up beside us.  We were talking and she insisted that she was NOT a princess, just a little girl.  Just like DD.  She was so sweet and we chatted for a bit, then she was off. Blue ribbon and all.  So, we continued down the hall to drop DD off at the club.  I checked him in, turned and stepped on a white glove that had fallen to the floor.  I darn near picked it up and yelled "Excuse me! Someone lost a white glove!"  Oh, that Alice!  She is a precoucious one!

Then, off I went to the Champange ladies brunch.  What fun!  Truly a neat group of ladies & so generous for our host to offer us the opportunity to get together.  I really enjoyed this & definitely think this should become the next big FE trend from the disboards onboard.  We grabbed some random guy from the hallway to take these shots of us and he was so kind to do it.  When I got back to our room, I let DD play with the fun goodies I brought home. :)

We then found some friends- Pluto, Mickey, Chip & Dale up on Deck 9 along with a friend who was onboard, her husband and son.  We've been "friends" for almost 5 years now but had never met in person.  Dale loved DD- said her hair was the same color as Ariel's.  (See how he's making the mermaid tail?) 

DD was exhausted and it was showing, so we returned to the cabin for a little rest time before picking DS up from the club and changing for formal night & the Captain's reception.  Going back to the room, we found GIFTS!

And a porthole picture :)

DD insisted on wearing her Cinderella dress (hey, that's formal, right?) and of course, the lines were long for formal Minnie & Mickey, though they didn't appear together like last year on the Wonder.

And the first real Show!  It was Twice Charmed, the second telling of Cinderella.  I got some great shots with my telephoto lens and new photography classes.  The kids loved munching on the popcorn during the show and actually did way better than I'd even hoped for.  The any annoying thing was after it was done, we still had an hour before dinner. 
Here are some of the shots I got:)

If you're wondering what you eat onboard the Disney Magic... here's a sample of what was served at formal night at Animator's Palate:

Me:
Roasted Parmesan Souffle
Potato & Sausage Hungarian Soup
New Zealand rack of lamb with Augratin Potatoes
Triple Sample of desserts: Tiramisu, Chocolate souffle and lemon cheesecake

DH (only variations from mine are noted):
Sashimi salmon
Beef Wellington with roasted veggies

 Wow...  I think I a) gained another pound writing that and b) really need to book another cruise.

And that's not even a night I ordered 2 desserts.  Yes, there were those nights.

At the late seating, they'll come and gather the children starting at 9:15 to go to the kids clubs.  We did this, but sufferred.  DD was a bit too young (despite being potty trained) to go with DS and she was heart broken.  And told us so.  She was so exhausted, she finally passed out.

So, of course, we ran in to Tiana, her favorite priness running.

And DD got so ramped up by the time we picked him up that between the energy and exhaustion, he was a BEAR to go to sleep.  But they finally did...  We peeked outside and saw a beautiful lightening storm at sea...  and we anxiously awaited our first port stop- Malta!

Peanut Butter Banana Bread

I saw this and HAD to try it from Cooking Light, October 2010
I also think this would be great to freeze just after step 4.  Then thaw and add the glaze fresh right before serving to company :)

Peanut Butter Banana Bread
Servings: 16

Bread:
1 1/2 cups mashed banana
1/3 cup fat free plain yogurt
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
3 Tbsp butter, melted
2 large eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup flaxseed meal (find in the organics or bulk section at your grocery store)
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground all spice
2 Tbsp chopped dry roasted peanuts (omit if necessary)

Glaze:
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 Tbsp 1% low fat milk
1 Tbsp creamy peanut butter

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Combine first 5 ingredients in a large mixing bowl with a mixer until smooth.  Add sugars and blend again.
3. In another bowl, carefully measure (DO NOT PACK) and level with a knife the dry ingredients, keeping the peanuts out until the end.  Mix with whisk.  Add to banana mixture, stirring until just mixed.  Fold in nuts.
4. Pour batter in to a greased 5x9 baking pan.  Bake at 350 for 1 hour or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Remove from oven; cool 10 minutes on wire rack.  Remove from pan & cool.
5. To prepare glaze, combine the ingredients in a small bowl and mix with whisk.  Drizzle over bread.  Cut in to 16 slices to serve.
NI: 198 cals, 7.4 g fat, 5 g protein, 29.7 g carbs, 19 g fiber, 28 mg chol, 11 mg iron, 200 mg sodium, 27 mg calcium

New Release Tuesday from Kerry!

Hello all!  I was so excited to find several new designs from Kerry Stewart in my InBox when we got back from vacation.  I love working with her products and this template was no exception.  It's not your ordinary template which made it lots of fun to play with.  Here's what I made:
Practice First

Kits Used: Stories from the Journey: Template 1 Track Team

I also created a few other layouts this week...  One from 'Sup by Girl Boy Girl Designs at Owl Tree Studios all about my son for his preschool class.  It's a two pager- template for the first page is available as a freebie by ChrissyW at Elemental Scraps.  The photo masks from Carina Gardner (365 Masks V2) are available at Design House Digital.

All About You

I also participated in a weekly challenge hosted by a new member to the 2Peas CT- Mindy Hansen!  She rocks.  But her challenge was hard- scrap something difficult.  So I scrapped an old relationship.  Click on the title for credits at TwoPeas.

LoveD

And finally, a layout to get through finishing my son's 4th year book.  From a kit called "Play All Day" by Stolen Moments

Go Fly a Kite

I've got some more scrappy news coming, but wanted to get this posted first :)

DAY 2 Going On... On The Boat!

My title comes courtesy of my husband's favorite book as a child "Inside, Outside, Upside Down" by Jan Berenstein.


We got our Key to the World cards in hand and headed off...  to the first of many Disney photographers waiting to capture our jet lagged, hungry smiles before being announced on the boat.

The first few hours on the boat are a bit of a blur.  We were tired... but managed to get to Parrot Cay for brunch.  We checked out our room & headed to the pool with the munchkins (somehow having neglected to get our swimsuits in to our carry on bags) before heading to the mandatory (for anyone on the boat) drill. 

This was done immediately before setting sail when we were on the Wonder last year, but since we didn't end up leaving Barcelona until about 9pm, it was done midday, when you may or may not be on the boat.  High commendations for the staff who dismissed families with young kids about 5 minutes in to the drill.  We got the same infant jacket for our daughter this year that we did last year...  this year, she put it on willingly.  Last year, not so much.  Again, kudos to the staff who saw us last year and said "Take her out!  It's okay..."


Disney Wonder- 2009                                                         Disney Magic- 2010

And Mommy & Daddy got our drinks to start the vacation off right :)

Then, there's the Anchors Away Show.  I cry.  Not ugly cry, but those happy, I'm about 4 years old and Oh My Gosh, there is MICKEY MOUSE, RIGHT THERE!!!!  (This is when the characters debut folks.  Amazing.)  The kids...  just wow.  DS was dancing and so happy when the paper streamer erupted, running around collecting what he could.  DD... as soon as she started seeing them- Goofy, Daisy, Donald, Minnie... and MICKEY.  Her face just did me in!

We checked out the Oceaneer's Club to give the kids a chance to play. 

This was the first year we had participated in the Fish Extender gift exchange.  My gift was a folded journal for each day we were on the cruise, so I wanted to get them passed out quickly.  We wandered about the ship a bit to find ones that were already hung out after we'd gotten our luggage.  I loved looking at all the different FE's and through the cruise, finding goodies stuck in ours, too!  Here are some that I got pictures of the first day:

We got some photos- DS was adorable with Daisy Duck (who completely ROCKED it the whole cruise!).  DD actually crashed pretty fast after the drill. 

So, we changed her..

And pushed her around the boat in her stroller... 

Pictures with Daisy:

We occupied ourselves until our seating for dinner was getting close. I only chose the late seating because the agent I spoke with on the phone pointed out that the boat left late on our port days in Italy so we'd miss the dinner shows if we ate early.  In hindsight, we should've just dealt.  We were standing outside Lumiere's at 8:15 waiting for the late seating to open and the kids were both passed out.  We looked at each other, said "Not worth it" and went back to the room.  We put the kids to bed, got pizza from the Pinocchio's then called it a night.  We didn't even bother with a wake-up call, knowing the kids would get us up bright since they both crashed, DD way before 6 local time.