Welcome 2011

I must admit, I am sad to say goodbye to 2010. With a wedding, honeymoon, new job, lots of new friendships forged and the acquisition of a soda stream, it will be hard to top. I am moving forward into 2011 with the sole resolution to get more organized...luckily for me, an unfortunate NYE accident has rendered me house-bound, so I'll have a lot of time this weekend to put my plans into action. Lots of closets to clean out, and unused items to give away.

As you may know I love to meal plan, I am currently using this lovely scribble menu planner from the lovely, artistic folks over at Ollibird.



I am planning to make it more permanent by printing it onto magnet paper and laminating it, so it can hang out on my fridge.

This lovely alternative option offers a bit more space and more organizational possibilities.



Click here for the link to download these yourself and laminate them or throw them into picture frames to track your own meals. Also, visit Ollibird for more cool downloads (free!) and tutorials. Their Etsy shop Loveland Miscellany by Ollibird is also worth a visit...it has some super-cute, unique and affordable art prints for sale.

A Back to School Recipe

This week marks my return to the world of the working. I'll be teaching French to students in grades 5-8. All. Day. Long...although honestly, I couldn't be more thrilled about it! I'm also putting together two choirs; one at each of my schools. To say that this new schedule will take some "getting used to" is an understatement...At any rate, I don't anticipate being altogether too thrilled to cook up a meal every evening. Enter: my slow cooker. The following is a recipe that I have returned to time and time again, because it's so darn good...It's also a lovely fall transition recipe, and you'll have tons left over for lunches!



Chicken Orzo Soup

You will need:
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion, sliced into thin half-moons
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 stalks of celery, chopped
2 carrots, sliced
6 chicken thighs cut into bite sized pieces
2 chicken bouillon cubes
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 bay leaves
1/2 cup dried orzo
pepper to taste

1. In a large skillet, heat the oil and saute the onions, garlic, celery and carrots together in the pan until the onions are translucent, about 5-8 mins. Add them to your slow cooker.

2. In the same skillet, add the chopped chicken thighs and brown completely (they don't need to be cooked through). Put the browned chicken pieces into the slow cooker.

3. (Optional) If you have the time, and you're inclined, "deglaze" the skillet, by adding about 1/2 cup of water and bringing it to a boil while scraping up the brown bits at the bottom of the pan. Add this liquid to your soup for another "flavour dimension." You can completely skip this step if you're pressed for time.

4. Add six cups of water to the slow cooker, the balsamic vinegar, bouillon cubes, bay leaves and pepper. Cook on low for 7-8 hours.

5. 15 minutes before serving, add the raw orzo to the soup. Cover and flip your slow cooker to "high."

Enjoy! Happy back to school!

Note: You can also use any leftover cooked chicken you have on hand to make this soup even easier. Just shred up about 1-2 cups of precooked chicken and skip steps two and three.

Wedding Wednesday

I have decided that I will keep up with Wedding Wednesday in spite of the fact that my wedding is over. I still find myself researching colour palettes, and "shopping" on Etsy for one-of-a-kind wedding details and I think that if wedding planning is still one of my interests, my blog should reflect that.

This week's palette is a peacock theme. I think that if I hadn't done my "Pink, Cream and Gold/Marie Antoinette-inspired" theme, I would have almost certainly done a peacock theme.

Without further ado:

Peacock Theme by alanna_redman

If any of you have any requests for themes, I'd be happy to see what I can come up with...Just drop me a line :)