Spring Creamy Dill Asparagus Soup

Aside from grilling it, this is by far, my favorite way to eat Asparagus. Not that I'd ever complain about eating Asparagus at all-it's one of my favorite vegetables. But in a creamy soup, paired with some tangy dill and black pepper,  you just can't go wrong.

This Recipe serves 8 pretty generously, but between Zeke and I,  it's gone in no time. We'll eat it over the course of a couple of days until it's gone...and then we'll make more.

Spring Creamy Dill Asparagus Soup

2 slivered shallots

5 cloves of garlic, minced

1/4 cup butter

4 whole sage leaves

8 tbsp of flour

1 tbsp ground black pepper

4 cups chicken (or vegetable) stock

6 cups whole milk (Keep 1/2 cup aside)

4 cups chopped asparagus

4 tbsp dill, plus extra for garnish

Sea salt, to taste.

Melt butter over medium heat, and add shallots, garlic and sage,  and increase the heat. Let the shallots and garlic fry, while stirring continuously. Allow them to brown until they're almost crispy. Add in black pepper.
Reduce the heat, and slowly stir in 4 of the tbsp of butter, until  you have a creamy paste.

Once you have a flour paste with an even consistency, slowly stir in 5.5 cups of milk.

 I like to use a whisk at this point to avoid lumps. Once your milk is mixed thoroughly with the butter paste, add the stock and bring to a low boil. Add the asparagus and the dill and let cook approximately 5 minutes (or to whatever point YOU want the asparagus at. I like to leave mine a touch crunchy.) 

Whisk together the remaining half cup of milk with the remaining 4 tbsp of flour in a separate bowl until smooth. Then slowly add to the rest of the soup while stirring.
Keep it over a medium heat for another couple of minutes while it thickens.
Season with salt to taste and you're all set.

Garnish with dill, (and sour cream too, if you're feeling extra fancy) and serve it with some good,  crusty bread.

Enjoy!

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Wires Wires, Go away {a little DIY love}

Sometimes, when I just can't get my brain to shut down, I lay awake at night thinking of things that I need to do around the house. Sometimes it's just ordinary housework, but sometimes it's random things that are bothering me that I can't seem to find the time to fix, or don't know exactly how to fix.

One of the things that had been stewing on my mind and driving me to decorator's insanity was our breakfast nook. Not the nook itself, but the massive, undeniable eyesore that hung before me, laughing at me daily. 

WIRES.

I can't stand having wires hanging down the walls of my kitchen-or anywhere for that matter. They're ugly, they're tangly (I now declare that to be a word) and they stand out like a sore thumb.

And not only were these wires hanging down the wall, but they were hanging all the way down to the floor. Something just had to be done. (Aside from moving the T.V.-I love not having a television in our living room.)

I've seen wire covers made exactly for this type of thing, but everything I've seen have been almost as ugly as the wires themselves.
I wanted something that looked intentional, decorative even. Something that didn't make me shudder a bit every time I walked into my kitchen.
So late one night I went to bed thinking about what I could possibly use to cover up that horrible, horrible mess.
I finally came to the conclusion that it must be pvc piping, and it must be painted very shiny red. Satisfied with my plans, I was able to fall asleep. (Does anyone else dream up home decorating/renovation plans while laying awake in bed??)

In the morning I told Mark of my desperate desire to do this. To my surprise, he liked the idea and set the plan into motion. He even thought of a way to hang it without any ugly and bulky brackets, and used a dremel tool to cut tabs at the ends of the pipes to screw into the wall. (see below.)

I may take it one step further and cover up the outlet as well. Just give me a few nights to think about it!

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DIY Royal Sprouter Tutorial

We've hit that dull point in the year where winter isn't quite over, and spring has yet to show any real promise that it's here to stay.
I start getting anxious about now for my garden. wishing that I could just go drop a few seeds in the earth, but I know much better than that.

One of the things that keeps me preoccupied during the winter months is sprouting seeds in my kitchen.
At first I was buying my sprouts at a local health food market because they're delicious...but then I realized how simple they must be to grow.

There are many methods for spouting, from canning jars to expensive sprouting systems, but I wanted something that looked pretty on the counter top in the kitchen, and I thought "what better than a fancy cake plate?"
Of course, you could keep them in any room in your house, but my kitchen happens to be where the most sunlight is.

To make a sprouter of your own, you only need a few simple things.

• A domed cake plate (and this won't damage it for other uses later.)
• Some stainless steel screening

(If you're planning on sprouting smaller seeds, a skillet splatter screen works wonderfully, as the mesh is finer. Just make sure to get stainless steel, otherwise it will rust. I wouldn't suggest getting the plastic/ synthetic screen as they're chemical coated. You probably won't want to be eating off of that!)

• Rubber/silicone chair leg pads
• heavy duty scissors
• ribbon (very optional. This just depends on how fancy you want to get!)

First take the chair pads, and stick them to the plate as far out as they'll go, or where ever the dome rests. The purpose of these is so that the dome doesn't close all the way down-the seeds need a bit of air circulation, otherwise they can mold.

Next, trace your dome onto your screening.

Now, with a strong pair or scissors, cut inside your trace mark by at a least a centimeter. You need it to be slightly smaller than your dome, so that it fits inside.

Once it's cut out, carefully bend the your screen edges up. This will provide a bit of an edge for your seeds, so they don't escape when you rinse them. Place the screening in your cake plate and close the dome, and you're set. 

You can trim the edge with ribbon if you don't want the screen to show. Once those sprouts start growing though, you'll hardly notice the screen. 

All there is left to do now is decide which seeds you'd like to sprout!

Depending on what you choose, you'll need to either soak your seeds before sprouting, or just give them a first rinse.

For sunflower seeds, I soak them for two hours, and then place them on the screen, trying to get them evenly separated. You don't want your screen packed with seeds, but you can get quite a few on.

Once they're on the screen and wet, you can put it back under the dome and leave them. 

Each day, they'll need rinsed twice. I rinse them around noon and again at night before I go to bed.

To rinse them, simply remove the screen,  hold it with both hands and run it under cool water, making sure that all the seeds get a good rinse. It doesn't matter if they shift around much, once they establish some roots they won't budge. Be careful though that your water pressure isn't so high that you blast them out of the screen. ( as I did once...)

Over the next few days you'll go from this...

to this!

We start snacking on ours once they're about 2 inches long (about 5 days sprouted.) You can let them get much longer though if you like. And remember, the entire sprout is edible, both the root and the shoot.

Ways to eat your sprouts (other than straight out of the sprouter)

salads, 

on top of soup

on pizza (really, this is delicious. Just don't bake it on the pizza, put them on after the pizza is baked,)

in wraps 

on sandwiches

Somewhat oddly, I like them as they are, along with a pear with some black pepper& balsamic vinegar.

I'd love to hear how your sprouter turns out!

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