We got a Ferrari!

ok. I lied. we got a blender.

but it's a Vitamix, which Nathan says is the Ferrari of blenders. :) Costco carries them in the warehouses every so often and today they were there!!! I am so super duper excited!

I would like to note that I am not alone in my love for blenders. The lady who checked our receipt at the door was also super excited for us when she saw we had one in our cart. I danced all the way to the car in a blender induced daze of pure happiness and joy. When we got home I asked Nathan to take pictures of me with it in the parking lot, because... it turns out I'm a blender dork.

I love you Vitamix,

we are going to blend great things together.

Opening the box

Taaa Daaa!!! Blender Parts!!! :D:D:D

Oh! and a cookbook full of blender recipes, I think we can put this to good use :)

Everything together.

Blending a batch of Fresh Asparagus Soup. 

So far it's been awesome. I think the biggest difference is that the resulting mixture is much easier for me to strain because the the Vitamix is capable of blending to such a fine consistency. For example, when we make strawberry smoothies I have to put the whole thing through the strainer to remove all the seeds (since Nathan still has to drink through his teeth, if we don't get the seeds out then they all get stuck everywhere in his mouth, not good considering brushing is not trivial). Last night when I made a strawberry smoothie I went to strain it and there were NO SEEDS! MAGIC! I think this blender was invented by unicorns and rainbows and happiness and sunshine and I love it SOOOOO much!

Get well soon!

Elizabeth and Nathan

Fresh Asparagus Soup

You may have noticed that nearly all the food I've posted about is orange or red. We noticed that too and figured it was probably time for a green soup. This one is super good and fresh tasting. I think we'll be making it again really soon.

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It's asparagus season here in San Diego and when I saw these bunches in our supermarket I couldn't pass them up (especially since they were just $0.99 a pound!) A friend sent me this recipe and the following is my variation on it. We made it both the way in the original recipe and the way documented below. We found that the soup with just asparagus (no peas) tasted fresher and brighter so that's the variation I included here. Let's get started. :)

Ingredients:

1 bunch - asparagus

1 - onion

2 Tbsp - olive oil

32 oz. - chicken stock

1/2 cup - cream

salt and pepper to taste 

1/2 cup - parmesan (optional) more for garnish

The last time Nathan and I cooked asparagus (back in the chewing days) we ran into trouble because we forgot to cut the tough woody part off at the bottom. This led to some difficult chewing situations, and I'm pretty sure it would also be a problem in the blender. We mentioned this to our friend who shared this wonderful asparagus tip with us. Basically to find out how much of the asparagus stalk is woody you hold it between your hands and let it break wherever is natural natural. Because the tender part is springy it will always break at the boundary between the tough and tender part. Genius! We made a video that explains how to do it, check it out below.

Ok, now that you've removed the tough parts, chop up your asparagus into 1 inch lengths.

 Chop and saute the onion in the soup pot. Once the onions soften up add in the chopped asparagus.

Add the seasoning and the stock and let simmer until the asparagus is tender.

Unfortunately it looses some of it's pretty green color, but we really need to cook it long enough so that it will blend and go through sieve nicely. And don't worry, it still tastes fresh and springy even though it's not bright green.

ok, looking pretty tender now.

Blend in batches in the blender, add the cream while you blend. If you are using the parmesan you can add it durring this step as well.

Blended!

soup pictured with the bike that started it all... hmph... grumbles...

When serving the soup, garnish with parmesan cheese and enjoy!

Get well soon!

Elizabeth and Nathan

Bubble Tea Date :D

Most date places are out for the moment, but one place that remains on the list is Tapioca Express, the bubble tea shop around the corner from our apartment. When we were dating in college we used to go to a bubble tea place near campus all the time, but when we moved to San Diego we stopped going as often. Now we have a great excuse to renew the tradition. Yay!

Here Nathan shows off his new advanced single eyebrow raising skill. Bruising a nerve can embue you with all kinds of temporary skills like this.

For now Nathan has to avoid ordering drinks with the tapioca at the bottom, since swallowing them whole is not advised. Good thing these drinks are still taste pretty tasty without them. Well, that's actually a stretch, most of them taste good. Nathan for example got a Thai Tea flavored drink which was pretty good. I got a tea called "yogurt green" which tasted odd, the flavor overall was good, but they made the drink super SUPER super sweet. Next time I might skip the adventure and just get the safe black tea flavor. It makes me feel like a boring person every time I order it, but then, it always tastes good, so maybe it's good to be boring sometimes? :)

"yogurt green" flavor tea, not actually recommended...

We are super looking forward to when Nathan is allowed to chew again (he already has a list of places he wants to go when he's better). Until then it looks like fancy drinks will be our stand in for fun dinner dates.

Get well soon!

Elizabeth and Nathan

Spicy Pumpkin Curry Soup

I figured it was just about time for a cheery picture so I thought I'd share this one from our 2nd anniversary. You can tell that Nathan loves me a lot because he wearing a silly hat for me, and he is still smiling.

You can be really happy too, because originally instead of a cheery picture, I was thinking of posting a picture of Nathan's stitches. Then I realized that might put you off from making soup so I went with this instead. Yay!

Ingredients:
7 oz. -  pumpkin puree
1 - onion diced
1 tsp - nutmeg
1/2 tsp - cayenne pepper
1/2 Tbsp - curry powder
1 Tbsp - peanut butter (or substitute, we used sunflower butter cause I'm allergic to the real stuff)
2 Tbsp - butter or oil
32 oz. - chicken stock
Sriracha to taste

Start by sauteing the onions in the butter. Once they are soft, add the spices and stir around for about a minute. Then add the pureed pumpkin and mush it all together.

mush mush mush.

Chicken broth is next, just dump it all in and bring it to a simmer. Now add your scoop of real or fake peanut butter. If you can eat the real kind I am SOOOOOO jealous! It should just melt into the soup and disappear. 

Run everything through the blender and garnish with a little (or a LOT) or Sriracha. :)

More Sriracha is ALWAYS better. :D

Enjoy!

Get well soon!

Elizabeth and Nathan

Creamy Butternut Squash Soup

Well we are in week 3 now. Nathan's starting to feel a bit more peppy, but it's still a slow recovery. When they did the surgery they had to move one of his main facial nerves which resulted in his face being mostly numb on his left side. Recently his nerve has begun to recover (yay!) but that also means that he's getting random bursts of pain now that he can feel that part of his face again (boo!).

Today Nathan rode his bike again for the first time since the accident. I think we need to take it into the shop to get it aligned, but it worked ok for the short distance we went today. It's important to show the bike who's boss, wouldn't want it to get any crazy ideas. 

While Nathan did get some of his rubber bands taken off last week he still has enough on that he can't open his mouth to get a straw or a spoon in so we're still doing the super pureed soups so that he can drink it through his teeth. Here's the recipe for a butternut squash soup we just made. :)

Ingredients:

1 - largish butternut squash

1 - onion

32 oz. - chicken stock

1/2 cup - cream

1 tsp - marjoram

dash - cayenne pepper

salt to taste

Start by chopping the onion and softening it in a soup pot with the butter.

Next start peeling and dicing the butternut squash. This is kind of a pain, and actually I read later online that instead of doing this you can just cut the squash in half and roast it in the oven for a while (here's a link to some instructions I found). Then when you take it out you can just scoop the soft insides out. I think I'll do it that way next time.

But, since I did do it the hard way, I though I'd show off this nice bowl of butternut squash cubes. The squash I picked filled two bowls of this size.

Ok, and also a close up, cause that was hard and I'm not doing it again. :)

Once the onions are soft toss in your cubes (or your mushy roasted squash if you used the roasted method)

Next add you spices, mush everything around for a minute, and then add your stock.

simmer until everything is tender

and SURPRISE! next put it in the blender!

Will it Blend?

Yes!

Take a picture of it on your balcony but zoom in really far so that people can't tell that the view from your balcony is really a parking lot. Enjoy!

Get well soon!

Elizabeth and Nathan

Cheating with Slimfast

We've been cooking a lot of soups around here recently, but sometimes there just isn't enough time to make something from scratch. One of the things we're using to supplement durring this "no-chew" period is Slim-Fast shake powder mix.

This powder is designed to make meal replacement shakes for people who are dieting so they are packed with a pretty good array of vitamins and minerals. Since Nathan's not actually dieting we can be a bit more creative with what we mix it with. 

Current favorites include:

Whole Milk

Vanilla Yogurt

Vanilla Ice Cream and Milk (to make a REAL shake)

Chocolate Fudge Swirl Ice Cream

Chocolate sauce and Milk

We don't use these all the time since eating only Slim-Fast powder for 8 weeks would probably be a little bleak. But having the powder on hand has been super helpful and has been great for when we're a little to tired to make anything fancy.

Get well soon!

Elizabeth and Nathan

Waterpik

Oral care has been a tough thing since the accident since it turns out regular brushing is pretty much imposible when your jaw is rubber banded shut. In this regard we are actually really lucky because my parents gave us this nifty tool for Christmas. Yes, if you ever wondered what dentists get their children for Christmas/Birthdays, it's usually tools for better oral hygien care.  This little guy basically blasts targeted streams of water in your mouth to keep the spaces between your teeth clean and clear. Really it's similar to flossing, but since it turns out flossing is also impossible when you can't open your mouth this thing has been a life saver.

Now it's not all fun and games. Unlike regular flossing you really have to be paying attention when you use it. For example, last night I sprayed my face, my shirt, and most of the bathroom mirror in my attempt to practice good oral hygien. However, it is totally worth getting yourself in the eye once in a while for how much nicer it feels to have at least some way to clean durring these first few weeks.


Get well soon,
Elizabeth and Nathan