by kathilipp | Nov 17, 2011 | Christmas, Home, Uncategorized |
Yes- it’s that time of year and Christmas will be here before we want it to be.
But there is no reason to fear! With a little planning and a few steps along the way (OK, 21. But I promise they will be easy…) you will have a saner and more sacred celebration this year.
All you have to do is sign up for the blog here: http://feeds.feedburner.com/kathilipp/KUHK and you will join all of us to get your Christmas under control, and be able to focus on Christ this season!
Wait for that first email to show up in your inbox on Monday to get started!
by kathilipp | Nov 15, 2011 | Uncategorized |
Happy Tuesday! Well as promised here is the amazing soup recipe.
Serves 4 to 6. Cooking time – 45 minutes.
Mirepoix
- 1 c. chopped onion
- 1/2 c. chopped celery
- 1/2 c. chopped carrot
2 T. olive oil
1 t. chopped garlic
1 bay leaf
1 t. cumin
1 t. dried thyme
1/2 t. smoked paprika
1/4 to 1/2 t. chipotle pepper*
1 small to medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into chunks
1 pint of chicken stock
Black pepper to taste
1 can of white beans (I use Trader Joe’s Cannellini beans)
Sauté Mirepoix and garlic in olive oil until veggies are translucent. Add remaining spices, stir for about 2 minutes. Add stock and squash, cook till tender (approximately 30-45 minutes). Break up squash into bite-sized pieces, add white beans, serve when fully heated through.
We like our soup with a hearty whole-wheat bread on the side. We buy ours from the Costco bakery – it’s a wonderful, chunky bread, high
in fiber and flavor. We buy about 8 loaves at a time and freeze them.
*Yeah, this soup has a tiny kick to it – a tiny one. But my husband and I love spicy food and we’re raising our kids to like a little heat, too. Whole milk is great for cooling the tongue, and they’ve learned to take a slug of milk, or a bite of bread, if the heat becomes too much for them. We keep things on the mild side, but I like that my kids, at 8 and 4, are learning to eat from a variety of ethnicities, flavors, and textures. And if they don’t finish it – no big deal. It’s about exposing them to new things, not about them loving it every single time.
My guess is
by kathilipp | Nov 14, 2011 | Uncategorized |
I am so happy to have Adelle Gabrielson as my guest blogger this week! She is sharing with us how “The What’s for Dinner?” Solution has changed her family’s life.
It’s 5:30pm on a Wednesday, and I’m lighting the candles in the dining room. The place-mats are out, dinner is on, and I’m adding a little ambiance before I call the boys to the table.
Sounds like I’ve been working in the kitchen all afternoon, right?
Nope. I got off work exactly one hour ago. Despite that, my family is about to sit down to a home-cooked meal that is made with fresh, healthy ingredients. Spicy Butternut Squash and White Bean soup with a hearty whole wheat bread. Lots of veggies, super healthy, and homemade.
A few weeks ago, we would have been eating frozen chicken nuggets in front of the TV – again. Trader Joe’s freezer section was my main-stay. Every day at 3 o’clock my husband would call me and ask “What’s for dinner?”
I hated that phone call. I hated that question. I don’t know! I’m too busy to worry about dinner -I work full-time, I volunteer in about three-too-many areas, and I am also trying to write a book. How can I possibly know what’s for dinner until about 15 minutes after I get home?
We were eating processed, frozen foods and take-out — and spending a lot of money doing it.
That is, until I read The “What’s for Dinner?” Solution by Kathi Lipp. I’ve always loved Kathi Lipp. Now my husband is pretty well head-over-heels for her, too.
As of today, just about two weeks since I read the book, we have three family-sized portions of frozen chicken breasts, trimmed and marinated, waiting in the freezer. $1.77/pound. (Yes, you read that right!) We also have three packages of cooked chicken, ready for salad or soup. Two meatloaves, pre-cooked, ready to re-heat. (I know it ain’t very posh and Martha Stewart, but I LOVE meatloaf.) Three dozen Italian-style meatballs, scratch made, two spinach quiches, three Shepherd’s pies, and four packages of pre-chopped and measured Mirepoix (a mixture of celery, onion and carrot that is the base for most soups). And a partridge in a pear tree. (Just kidding.)
“That seems like a ton of work!” you might ask -but it really wasn’t. Following Kathi’s advice, instead of preparing one meal, we prepared four. We ate one, and froze three. Instead of tossing the produce into the crisper, where it would turn brilliant colors and be thrown out two weeks later, we washed and chopped it on the spot.
With Kathi’s help, we are ending our old, wasteful, unhealthy ways. We are planning ahead. We are LOOPing (Left Overs On Purpose)
and we are eating better, day by day, bit by bit.
Last night, I set out my Dutch oven (because enamel is a snap to clean after soup), a can of white beans, and my squash. I also pulled a
can of chicken stock and all my spices out of the cupboard. The longest part of tonight’s dinner preparation was peeling and cutting the squash, and my husband was happy to do that bit. (Guys love to play with knives – it’s the whole cooking with danger thing. Barbecuing and knives…they love it.) If there’s no danger-loving guy around, you can buy pre-cut squash in the refrigerated section of Trader Joe’s, or simply do it up the night before.
A little forethought, and my family was able to sit down at the dining room table together on a weeknight and enjoy a great meal.
Tomorrow, when my husband calls me and asks “What’s for dinner?” I’ll have an answer. “Marinated flank steak and with an orange and feta arugula salad!”
Sounds a lot better than chicken nuggets, or frozen pizza, don’t it? Like I told you. He’s head over heels.
Oh I almost forgot, I want to share with you the recipe for the Butternut and White Bean Soup I made…
Tomorrow! Stay Tuned.
by kathilipp | Nov 9, 2011 | Uncategorized |
I am currently working on my next book- 21 Ways to Connect with your Kids- and I need you!
If you are willing to provide comments, stories, ideas, fun things, serious things, things that you plan to do, things your parents did with you, that strengthen the parent child relationship I want to hear them!
Please contact Sunnie- sunnie@kathilipp.com with your name and contact info.
by kathilipp | Nov 8, 2011 | Uncategorized |
It is time for another prize!!!
Roger and I went to Disneyland last week and I finally got to go on Areiel’s Undersea Adventure. Loved it! And now, I still have Dory on the brain –Remember the motto, “Just keep swimming,” that had been a theme for many of you earlier this year?
Well, I want to know what things you have had to keep swimming for, those things that you kept pushing towards and why? We all need inspiration from time to time and while you inspire me as I read your “I kept swimming” story I am sure you will inspire other readers and may even inspire yourself to tackle the next hurdle, the next chore or that thing you have been putting off because you are unsure of yourself, fearful of conquering or just lacking the gusto to get up and starting moving towards the finish line!
I want you to tell me, in the comments, a time when you just kept swimming. A time when you were working towards something, a goal you have, a dream you want, and when something came up, you just kept swimming.
I will put all your names in a hat, pick one, and will send you one of my adorable, motivating, stuffed Dorys.
by kathilipp | Nov 6, 2011 | Home, Uncategorized |
Everyone who knows me knows of my unabiding and deep love of all things Starbucks. I just can’t make my misto at home the way they do. The only thing I’m not in love with is their food.
I know they have some lower calorie options, but those are not the things I want to eat. (Plus, it doubles the cost of the trip.)
Here is my favorite fall snack, which is low on calories, super easy to make, oh and delicious.
Easy Pumpkin Muffins
Ingredients:
Serves: 24
Yield:
24 muffins
1 (18 ounce) box spice cake mix
15 ounces pumpkin
3/4 cup water
Directions
1.Mix all ingredients in mixer.
2.Makes 24 muffins.
3. Bake for 20-25 minutes at 350°F.
Continuing the pumpkin theme, here is the table decor we are going to be sporting this fall.
Pumpkin Votive Holders
Directions:
Use a mini-drill the grind out the centers of the pumpins to the side of the votive.
Use unsented votives in the pumpkins if you will be placing them on a dinner table.
You can also float several pumpkins in a shallow bowl for a great cluster effect.
(This also works with apples, and you won’t need a drill, just a paring knife and a spoon.)
How are you going to decorate this fall? Anything special this season?
by kathilipp | Oct 23, 2011 | Relationships, Uncategorized |
Loving Men through Spaghetti
(The following is an excerpt from Kathi’s book,THE “WHAT’S FOR DINNER?” SOLUTION)
When I was working on my first
book, The Husband Project, I set about doing a very unscientific research project – to find out what men like.
I know, I know. If you have beenconscious for any amount of time in the 21st century, the answer is
obvious. If you are married, and your marriage was a house, the world tells you that the place your husband wants to spend his time is in the bedroom.
And that’s true. To a point.
But guess what? There’s more to that answer. The guys I interviewed? The answer was twofold – the bedroom and the kitchen.
When it came to discovering ways to make men feel loved and cared for, food was way at the top of the list.
- They loved when their wives made their favorite chocolate cake for no reason
- They loved when there was dinner in the oven after a long day of work
- They loved it when their wives would stop by the bakery to pick up their favorite
éclair
- They loved when their wives would leave little treats around the house of the candy
persuasion
I knew that food was important to my husband (he takes his steaks and his salsa very seriously,) but what was amazing to see was how as my boys grew up, how food became more important to
them as well.
While my daughter Kimber will ask “When is dinner?”–so that she can plan the rest of her very busy social life—My boys want to know “What’s for dinner?”
We regularly have EMFH (Every Man For Himself) nights when I am working out of town. (Trust me, there are always enough fixin’s in the fridge to put together something yummy,) and each of the kids can cook for themselves. But, when I’m around, all three of the men who live in this house love it when I cook.
I have come to find out that there is a special security for men when they are being fed. I love how one of my friends, Mark, put it, “My wife gets a sense of security from me bringing home a paycheck every other week. It is the same for me and dinner. When I come home and there is something cooking, somehow, it just gives me a sense of security –like everything is right in the world.”
To win Kathi’s Books THE HUSBAND PROJECT and THE WHAT’S FOR DINNER? SOLUTION: Just tell us what special treat you’re going to surprise your husband with by Monday, October 31, 2011. We will announce the winners on Wednesday, November 2, 2011.
by kathilipp | Oct 18, 2011 | Home, The "What's for dinner?" Project, Uncategorized |
OK First – what is a LOOP Meal? Here is a description taken from my latest book, THE WHAT’S FOR DINNER? SOLUTION:
LOOP Meals
LOOP (Left Over On Purpose) is a great way to cook one and eat twice. We generally eat our biggest meal on Sundays when the whole family is over. For example, this weekend Roger barbequed steaks . I asked him to throw a couple more on the grill for us to slice up and put on into the chili reciepe below. Cook once, eats twice, Beautiful.
Keep this recipe on hand – it is the perfect meal to throw any left over meat into. Steak chili, turkey chili, chicken chili – anything. Yum.
2 cups Leftover Steak, chopped
1 cup Chopped onions
1 clove Garlic, minced
1-16 oz can Stewed tomatoes
1-16 oz can Kidney beans, drained
1-16 oz can Tomato sauce
3 tsp Chili powder
1/2 tsp Basil
1-6 oz can Tomato paste
1. Prepare: In a large saucepan, saute onions, and garlic until the onions are translucent. Put all the ingredients into a slow cooker and cook on low for six – eight hours.
What is your favorite way to use up leftovers?
by kathilipp | Oct 16, 2011 | Uncategorized |
OK – my whole objective of my book THE WHAT’S FOR DINNER? PROJECT is to get dinner on the table and out of the fast food lane. But there are a couple of fast foods that are worth the price. Here are a few of my favorites:
Mirepoix:
Mirepoix is a combination of chopped carrots, celery and onions used to add flavor and aroma to stocks, sauces, soups and other foods.
The proportions (by weight) for making mirepoix are 50% onions, 25% carrots and 25% celery.
When you are trying to cook from scratch, sometimes it’s worth it to “cheat” with healthy, fast foods. If it helps you get the stew on the table, then buying some pre cut Mirepoix is worth the money.
Rotisserie Chicken:
Buying a rotisserie chicken for dinner has to be the easiest way to feed your family. There are so many options…
Need something quick? Just slice and add with veggies and fruit for a colorful, healthy meal.
Eating on the go? Stuff chicken in a wrap, pita pocket or taco and top with your favorite veggies and dressing.
Feeling Italian-ish? Cook some pasta and toss with olive oil and parmesan cheese.Need a lite meal? Add the chicken over your favorite salad.
Now, if your having the chicken every night, you may want to rethink your meal planning, but a good rotisserie chicken is a great plan for one night a week.
Egg White Eggbeaters:
Roger and I are trying to eat healthfully, and these Eggbeaters are a quick, easy way to have a healthy breakfast (just add chopped veggies and some turkey sausage,) or great for an omelet at night.
Sliced Mango:
My favorite fruit to eat.
It makes a great snack or side dish to any meal. Add it to your yougurt, smoothie, make a salsa with it. Add other fruits for a filling and fresh fruit salad, the possibilities are endless.
I hate chopping up mango, and I’m trying to eat more fruit, so this is a great healthy cheat.
Shredded Low-Fat Cheese:
Cheese is the easiest way to add a little extra flavor and protein to any dish. it is great on pasta, salads, sandwiches, wraps and any version of a taco. For cold weather months top on your favorite soups and chili.
I usually shred my own cheese to save money, but when I’m in a pinch, pre-shredded cheese is worth the price. (Plus, there is always a coupon in the paper to get a bit of a discount.)
For a chance to win THE WHAT’S FOR DINNER? SOLUTION tell me your favorite food prep cheap (a “faster” food that’s worth the price for the convenience,) in the comments below and we will pick a winner this Thursday!
by kathilipp | Oct 7, 2011 | Uncategorized |
I know that every other blog has a list of summer beach reads, but I have to tell you I am much more of a bundle-up-with-my-dog-and-a-good-book kinda girl than grab-a-beach towel-and-sunscreen kinda girl when it comes to reading.
So I’m much more excited about my fall reading list. Here are the books that I love or can’t wait to read for this fall.
The Paris Wife
Hadley Richardson, Earnest Hemingway’s first wife, is the subject of this fictionalized account of their years as a young married couple. At then end of Hemingway’s life he said of Hadley, “I wished I had died before I ever loved anyone but her.”
You will love the look at Paris in the 20’s and the behind the pages insight of an author’s inner life.
The Devil in the Junior League
This is a fun dishy read that will make you laugh out loud in places and cheer for the underdog. I loved the only-in-Texas culture that is so foreign from the laid back life here in the Silicon Valley.
Here are the books I’ve bought/downloaded and am ready to read:
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
From Amazon Reviews:
Henrietta Lacks was a mother of five in Baltimore, a poor African American migrant from the tobacco farms of Virginia, who died from a cruelly aggressive cancer at the age of 30 in 1951. A sample of her cancerous tissue, taken without her knowledge or consent, as was the custom then, turned out to provide one of the holy grails of mid-century biology: human cells that could survive–even thrive–in the lab. Known as HeLa cells, their stunning potency gave scientists a building block for countless breakthroughs, beginning with the cure for polio.
Meanwhile, Henrietta’s family continued to live in poverty and frequently poor health, and their discovery decades later of her unknowing contribution–and her cells’ strange survival–left them full of pride, anger, and suspicion. For a decade, Skloot doggedly but compassionately gathered the threads of these stories, slowly gaining the trust of the family while helping them learn the truth about Henrietta, and with their aid she tells a rich and haunting story that asks the questions, Who owns our bodies? And who carries our memories? —Tom Nissley
Produced by Faith: Enjoy Real Success without Losing Your True Self
DeVon Franklin, vice president of production for Columbia Pictures, shares how being bold about his Christian faith while being driven and ambitious has actually helped him to excel in a high-profile, fast-paced, competitive industry.
You are the movie. Produced by Faith parallels each step of the Hollywood filmmaking process with the faith-making process God uses to turn your career into a success. You will discover that it is possible to be both wildly successful and completely committed to God—and that you will be even more successful when you place your faith at the center of your career. You can unleash the power of your faith as your greatest professional advantage and use the compass of God’s Word to guide you to your true passion and purpose in life.
Click on the title of each book to purchase form Amazon!
Happy Reading!!
Yes- it’s that time of year and Christmas will be here before we want it to be.
