Stuffed Cabbage Soup

Well life kind of got away from me yesterday, so this is a day late, but here it is!

Stuffed Cabbage Soup

1 medium Yellow Onion

1 tbl Olive Oil

1 tsp Salt

1 tbl Minced Garlic

1 small Butternut Squash (peeled and cubed)

1 lb Ground Beef

2 tbl Italian Seasoning

3 cups Cabbage/kale

1 can Tomato Sauce (28 oz)

2 cups Chicken Broth

1 cup Rice (Brown)

Heat the olive oil in the pot and add onion and salt. Allow to saute for a few minutes. Add the garlic and butternut squash, the squash is optional, but its a great way to get the kids to eat more veggies. It was Lulu’s favorite part of the soup, she thought they were potatoes. If you don’t have squash add some carrots instead.

Sqoosh all the veggies over and brown the meat on the other side of the pot.

You could also substitute the beef for turkey.

While the meat is browning add salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning. When the meat has cooked through add the cabbage, I used cabbage and kale.

Allow the cabbage to wilt only slightly before adding the tomato sauce and chicken broth.

This is our favorite kind of tomato sauce, if you are going to use canned. A lot of canned sauces taste overly sweet and you have cook them even longer to reduce that sweet flavor.

If you are using instant rice go ahead and let it cook in the sauce, if you aren’t I recommend cooking the rice according to the package before adding it to the soup. Hard rice is sad rice.

And there you have it, Stuffed Cabbage Soup. I like to add a bay leaf while it simmers.

Advertisement

Cream Cheese Pumpkin Muffins

I love all things pumpkin. Sunday after church we tried to go to Robinettes the local apple haus, our plan was to get apples for applesauce and a pumpkin pie for family dinner later that night. We got to Robinettes as they were opening and the line was already out through the parking lot…so we ate our picnic on one of their tables outside and went home to make our own pumpkin treat.

and so I introduce you to Cream Cheese Pumpkin Muffins

1/3 cup Butter

1 cup Sugar (I used Sugar in the Raw)

1 cup Pumpkin Puree

2 Eggs

2 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice

1/4 tsp Salt

1 tsp Baking Soda

2 cups Flour (I used whole wheat)

1/4 cup Milk

8 oz Cream Cheese

1/2 cup Sugar

1 tsp Vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. We used some muffin liners because we had some Halloween ones on hand.

I had some extra helpers in the kitchen…

Mix butter, 1 cup sugar, and pumpkin

Add in eggs, pumpkin pie spice, salt, and baking soda. Mix these items, then add half the flour, then the milk, then the remaining half of the flour. I use my 1/4 cup measuring cup with handle to scoop into the muffin trays, it keeps them consistently the same size and doesn’t over fill the tin.

Here are my new measuring cups from World Market, and Brandon measuring the sugar, only $12!

For the cream cheese fililng mix cream cheese, 1/2 cup sugar, and the vanilla. I put a tablespoon of the filling on each muffin and baked, but next time I am going to layer the filling. So a little batter, then a little filling, then a little more batter. Let me know which way you try.

Bake for 25 mins or until a tooth pick comes out clean.

Cuddle your babies while you wait for the muffins to bake.

Enjoy!

What’s New

It was a busy week last week, and this week was even crazier, so this is just a little recap on life.

Went with Lulu on a field trip to the Fredrick Meijer Gardens, one of our favorite places.

That’s my little cutie.

If you’ve never been to the gardens its worth a look. Their exhibits are always changing, the kids area outside is a wonderful place to burn some energy in the summer, and one of my favorite exhibits is their Christmas trees from around the world every winter.

Brandon was gone all last week so when he got home we ended the week with a date night.

My date night attire. Found the sweater at TJMaxx earlier that day. Jewelry is Stella & Dot.

Maru Sushi is Brandon and my favorite date night location. It was the first time we sat at the bar and I recommend it, they give you free appetizers 🙂

My favorite rolls:

Madagascar, Soy Joy, and Miss Saigon. At least once you have to order the Sexy Bacon.

As I previously mentioned, this week was crazy (I had three Stella & Dot Parties, holidays are crazy busy in such a good way), so the girls are I made cupcakes with my mom yesterday to unwind. It was from a box, with premade frosting, it was so easy and the girls could basically do it themselves. We passed most the cupcakes out to our neighbors to ensure we don’t go into a sugar coma.

Lulu licking the bowl clean

All frosted and decorated, Addy is turning into a pro.

As a side note, the Candy Corn flavored icing is one of the worst flavors I’ve ever tried. I wish I can eaten a cupcake before we frosted them, but the upside is that I no longer want a cupcake.

Until next time! xo, Kate

Kitchen Remodel Nightmare

My kitchen still isn’t done (we started in April) so I’m not ready to share a before and after, but I need some opinions.

Here are are the counter tops, backsplash and cabinets we chose. The counter tops are Formica brand solid surface and we’ve had nothing but issues. It has now cracked twice and so we are ripping it out and putting in granite.

I love the white with the maple, but I’m not sure what direction to go with the granite and now I’ve already got my new backsplash in! This isn’t our forever home so I’m not looking to spend a fortune on this remodel, but when I google for inspiration a lot of what comes up is black granite, and I feel that looks like the 90’s.

Anybody have any suggestions, or better yet a picture?!

Slow Cooker Indian Butter Chicken

There is butter in Butter Chicken, but not much so don’t be alarmed.

Slow Cooker Indian Butter Chicken

3 tbl Butter

1 Medium Yellow Onion

1 tbl Minced Garlic

1 1/2 tsp Minced Ginger (or ground)

1 tsp Garam Masala (which is a blend of spices I didn’t have so I blended 1/4 tsp of each: black pepper, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg. Go heavy on the pepper)

1/4 tsp Cayenne (I went light on spice for my kiddos, feel free to add more)

1 tsp Salt

1 lb Chicken (I used organic chicken tenderloins via http://www.doorganicsgr.com)

1 can (14.5 oz) Fire Roasted Tomatoes

1 can (15oz) Tomato Sauce

1/3 cup Whole Milk (you can use cream if you prefer)

1 cup Peas (frozen works great)

Place butter, chopped onion, garlic, ginger, ‘garam masala’, cayenne, salt and chicken in crockpot.

Go outside with a handsome little man and play.

(If you are leaving the house and won’t be back until its time to eat just add everything into the Crock Pot except the cream and peas, add those just before serving and should only need a few minutes to cook).

When you come back from you’re play date the slower cooker should look like this:

Add tomatoes and tomato sauce. When you are ready to serve add milk and peas, and allow to cook for a few minutes.

I cooked some rice while the peas and milk simmered and served with store bought Naan.

Family Reviews:

Brandon “We should eat this every night.”

Addy “It’s good, I like the bread.”

Lulu “I only like the bread.”

Wyatt (ate 2 bowls)

Happy Friday! Have an amazing weekend!

The Results are In!

Thanks to everyone who participated! Don’t worry there will be more giveaways in the future!

Misty check your inbox I’ll be emailing you for a shipping address!

Happy Friday All!

Last Day of the Giveaway!

Your neck is feeling chilly isn’t it?

Today is the last day to enter the Fall Scarf giveaway! You could be rocking this gorgeous Stella & Dot scarf just in time for fall. All you have to do is:

Comment Below

Follow Blog

Visit The Routinely Random Facebook page and give it a ‘Like’

You have until tonight at 11:59pm EST (US residents only).

Best of luck!!

We called it ‘Dirty Rice’…

Dirty Rice

(Rice Bowl, Kielbasa Risotto, Rice and Sausage….I don’t know what you want to call it, but it was good)

1 lb Kielbasa

2 tbl Olive Oil

1 Medium Yellow Onion

1/2 pint Grape Tomatoes

1 Handful chopped kale (or spinach/brussel sprouts)

1/4 cup White Wine

1 tbl minced Garlic

salt & pepper

1 cup Rice (I used brown)

1 cup Broth (I used veggie broth)

1 can Black Beans (drained and rinsed)

1 tsp Sirracha

1 jar Salsa (I used a homemade jar of my moms)

Toppings: Avocado, cilantro, sour cream, cheese, hot sauce, whatever tickles your fancy

Brown the Kielbasa in the olive oil

I chop the veggies(onion, kale, tomatoes) while it browns, then remove the kielbasa and allow to cool. Deglaze the pan with the white wine and allow the alcohol to cook off for about 1 minute.

Add the chopped veggies, garlic, salt & pepper.

Reduce heat and cover, stirring frequently.

Once the onions are translucent and the kale has wilted, ‘squoosh’ the veggies to one side and add rice.

Allow the rice to toast for a few minutes before adding broth. Check your rice instructions for cooking time(I used instant brown so this was a quick meal).

While the rice cooks, chop the kielbasa (on an angle if you’re feeling fancy) and add back to the pan when rice is finished ie all the liquid has absorbed.

Add beans, sirracha, salsa and stir together.

I topped mine with avocado, cilantro, and some Frank’s Hot Sauce (because I really do put that sh*t on everything).

Feel free to substitute the kielbasa for chorizo, chicken or steak. What would you put in your dirty rice?

My first GIVEAWAY!

Up for grabs is this Stella & Dot scarf. They are huge! and they come in a little bag so you can travel with them or I like to keep one in my purse this time of year. So cute, and so cozy. Retails for $59

I mean come on, how happy does she look about her scarf 🙂

Rules:

Follow my blog

Leave a comment

Visit and ‘Like’ the Routinely Random Facebook page.

Enter by Thursday October 16th 2014 11:59pm

Winner will be announced Friday October 17th 2014

Good Luck!

Artprize 2014

Artprize 2014

Our amazing little big city of Grand Rapids, Michigan plays host to Artprize every year for the last 5 years. It’s open for 19 days and covers the downtown area with art from around the world. If you’re interested in more facts than that check out http://www.artprize.org because that’s about all the facts you’ll be getting from me, all I know is that I love it. I’ve been down to check it out twice and I’m heading back tomorrow night as well.

To all my out of state friends living in fun, new and exciting cities feel free to live vicariously through me.

  

These are raindrops carved out of wood. You can see the wood drops ‘falling’ in the image on the right, and the left is a close up of the spash. This one is a serious contender as my favorite because of the amazing detail.

(Sorry for the glare) this drawing is done completely in pencil.

He was big and muscly and I’m sure he had something important he represented, but not my favorite.

How many garage sales must one shop to acquire this many clocks…?

(sidebar: I swear this guy was trying to block my shot, I moved like 8 times and he was the only person blocking me in every pic)

These fierce little knights are also in my top picks. (I named the dragon Trogdor, “burnanating all the people“)

This piece is by Carole Roeda, who makes the magnetic photo frames and has a studio in Breton Village. It was playing the most calming music.

WAR, Women At Risk International http://www.warinternational.org, aimed to raise attention and funds to combat human trafficking. Incredible stories thoughout the piece, this is just one small part of a trucking container you walked though filled with battered doors that told the stories of too many women and children sold into sex slavery.

This is a huge photograph from a man who traveled to Iraq and followed this group of soldiers through 3 months of their deployment. One of the most moving pictures was a soldier seeing his child born via skype. I cannot even imagine.

These bottom two pictures are from a series at the Grand Rapids Art Museum called Shattered. They are made with a hot glue gun. Talk about up-ing my Halloween decor this year.

Also felt like being in a Halloween fun house, a very pretty one.

I love everything about Artprize, mostly seeing people travel into Grand Rapids as a destination! Because I love this city and its good to see others fall in love with her too. If I were pressed to pick a favorite, and I am because you can only vote for one more day, I am torn between the silverware knights and wooden raindrops for no other reason than they make me happy.

Which is your favorite entry?