Caveman Artisan Bread and the Best Healthy Soup Ever

Sometimes the best food is the simplest to make...

I'm a recent convert to Pinterest (you can follow me here).  I found this amazing and soooo easy peasy artisan bread recipe.  I like to call it Caveman Artisan Bread because it's so easy, even a caveman could do it!

Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012!

Feeling rather pregnant

Phew!  What a year 2011 has been...  My hubby and I were chatting one night at the end of December about how much has changed in the past year.  We had no idea as we began 2011 that we would:

• find out we were pregnant 
• both lose our jobs 
• lose the baby 
• both find new jobs 
• get pregnant again
• move to the coast  

And all of this happened within the first 4 months of 2011!!!  The past year really has tested us but provided us with so many wonderful things as well.  New friends, new career opportunities, wonderful weddings and special times with family and friends, plus a healthy pregnancy.  Yippee!

Holiday Wrap Up

We've just arrived back home after spending nearly a week at my husband's parents house in the North Okanagan.  We had a lovely Christmas, filled with FAR too much food and drink.  To help detox our bodies I made my favourite lentil soup and a big spinach salad for dinner.  I can't quite remember where the recipe came from, but I think it might've been a Moroccan-style cookbook I borrowed from the library a few years ago.  I will share it here anyways, but please let me know if you know where the recipe came from so I can give proper credit:

Lentil Soup with Lemon (serves 4)
3 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/8 tsp chili powder
1 32-ounce carton chicken broth
1 cup dried red lentils
1 large carrot, diced
2 tbsp lemon juice
3 tbsp fresh chopped cilantro (optional - I never add it b/c I'm not a big cilantro fan)
1 pinch chili powder

• Put first 8 ingredients in large pot over medium heat for 2 minutes
• Stir in next 3 ingredients, bring to boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer for 30 minutes
• Add the lemon juice, cilantro and chili powder.  Serve!  Yum yum!
• I usually add an extra tbsp of lemon juice at the end because I like it quite lemony, and I often throw in a bit more garlic.

I was very lucky this Christmas since my husband surprised me with a brand new sewing machine!!!  He did a whole bunch of research online and talked to several knowledgeable sources (i.e., his nana, aunt, mother, and my dad and step-mother) and they ALL recommended the Janome brand.  I am now the proud owner of the Janome 3160 QDC!!!!  I haven't had much of a chance to use it yet (since we just arrived home a few hours ago) but I did practice threading the machine and tried out a few of the embroidery stitches on some scrap fabric.  I am positively drooling thinking of all the fun embellishments I can add on projects now.

I accidentally forgot my camera in Vernon, but will post later about my Handmade Christmas since all my photos are on said camera :-(  I made the Colette Crepe dress for my mom, a modified On The Sidelines sweatshirt for my sister-in-law from the fabulous Twinkle Sews book, and a cozy fleece cloche hat for my other sister-in-law and my mother-in-law.  Everyone liked their gifts and I had lots of fun (and tears - on the sweatshirt) making them!