Really this is just a continuation from my last post in order to avoid having 10 recipes and funny blimps on one post. "Nobody's got time for that" (I got bronchitis!) If you don't get the joke I highly encourage you to check out YouTube and simply search for "Nobody got time for that", you will be rewarded with some real comedic enjoyment.

One of the healthy soups I made during my massive meal prep was inspired by a Paleo recipe. No, I'm not eating like a cave man nor do I follow this diet (even though it would be fun to drag Nate around by his hair and give up on all forms of human hygiene) That's why I like to use the work INSPIRED because they do have some good recipes that are very veggie based but I still use butter and other forbidden ingredients in my prep.

This is suppose to be a cream of broccoli soup but it's closer to a pureed green soup and can be adapted with any veggies you like if you stick with a basic structure. I'm going to pull a "Carol" (my Mom) and say that I didn't really measure anything in this recipe but mostly eyeballed it.

Green Machine.

Lots of green veggies
Onion
Broth
Dairy such as milk, cream, coconut milk, whatever you like or leave it out
Lemon
EVOO
Other optional additions if you have them: wine, garlic, tater, pesto, WHATEVER YOU LIKE!

I chopped up a whole head of broccoli (stem included), an onion and stuck it in a pan with a swirl of EVOO and s&p. Put that over medium heat for about 5 mins until things start to soften. I then added a random 1/2 bag of frozen peas and about 3 cups broth and cranked the temp up to get my soup simmering until things become soft-ish. At this point I decided to throw in some handfuls of spinach, squished a lemon and added coconut beverage (it's like watered down coconut milk) Take a stick blender and pulverize the heck out of it. If you don't have a stick blender, go get one because you will LOVE IT. Or you could use a blender or food processor or go cave man and smush it with a tater masher (but that would take FOREVER)

Sometimes I forget that I will write a blog post and not publish it because I haven't attached any pics to it. My intention is to spread out the love but I guess I completely forgot about 4 random posts. I have added them to my colorful collection of adventures but since I wrote them almost 4 years ago they are filed when I originally drafted them. Here's what you are missing out on.

-11/21/13 Slather it on
-6/23/14 The Continuous Adventures of Ashley
-7/31/14 Tomato Jam and Pickle Renegade

It was a lot of fun traveling down memory lane. Back when I was a fresh transplant in North Carolina and Nate was still living up in Philly while we did long distance. Thank goodness that' s over! 

Here are some long lost pics to go with the post

While on vacay about a month ago I encountered an awkward situation/breach of my google account by an old co-worker. Based on the millions of episodes of Law and Order SVU I have enjoyed and my healthy sense of paranoia (Thanks Dad) and anxiety I went on a little bit of a tailspin for a few days. I realized that maybe I was a bit too loosey goosey with my life on the internet. I assume people who are reading my blog/following me on instagram/facbook friends are people that I truly know and talk to on a frequent basis. What I forgot was my Philadelphia street smart kick ass skills. Luckily Katrina talked me off the ledge, since we were on vacay together and pointing out that she herself limits all personal data on social media (Girllll, just listen, don't give me advice!) I realize that maybe I need to be a bit more discerning of my information (yet I am still writing this blog post...) So I decided to make my social media accounts extra private and have temporarily stepped away from Facebook. Don't worry I think all has been righted and I am not being stalked but if I go missing Katrina and Nate know all the details of who might have kidnapped me, hahahah. 

At first I was really bummed to leave Facebook but now I realize it is literally crack for the mind. I checked it constantly and was up to date on people's daily drama, people I hadn't even seen or talked to since high school. I was reminiscing when Facebook first came out, let me paint you a story. 

It was 2002 and I was a freshman at UVM. Having left the comfort of home for the first time in my life, living a whopping 30 minutes away from home base, feeling like a real adult (I now realize I was still a baby) and my roommate was one of my besties from high school. I know, surprising that this adventure junkie lived such a bland and safe life but that changes in the future (we'll delve into that story at a latter date). I had my very first computer that my boyfriend had built me and I was downloading music like crazy from Napster for free. Facebook was so new and exciting. You literally only used it to post drunken pics from the weekend, post funny/deep/confusing one liners or invite people to parties and events that you hosted. Your grandparents weren't on there, kids in Junior High weren't on there, it was mostly college kids. I think in the beginning you had to have a college email account to even sign up! There weren't any advertisement, fake news, Hell, hashtags didn't even exist! It was so simple and pure just like my college days until booze started to play a regular role in my weekend adventures :)

Back to Facebook being brain cocaine. Once I deactivated my account I felt like I was missing an arm. How would I keep up with other people's drama? How would I know what Trump was saying? As you can tell by this post I am still alive. I got clean and kicked the habit. A whole new world has opened up it's called books, podcasts, NPR and newspapers. I actually started reading books again. My brain is going to get so big I might not fit in my future wedding dress! I guess I never realized how much time I wasted on Facebook. You think it's only 10 minutes but when you do that like 20 times a day it adds up. So my newest enjoyment is podcasts. They have them on like a million different subjects. I generally listen to them while cooking, driving to work at 4:45 in the morning or while cleaning. My favorites are the following:

-Local Mouthful
An Philadelphia food inspired show with one of my favorite pickling/jam cookbook author Marisa McLellan

-Presidential
Washington Post's podcast that focuses on one president each episode all the way up to Trump. I am currently on Thomas Jefferson, I've got a long way to go.

-The History Chicks
2 rad ladies who focus on famous ladies in history. So far my fav episode was on Marie Antoinette or should I say Maria Antonia...(listen to the show and you'll get it)

-The Kitchen Sisters Presents
Stories from the b-side of history. Most of the themes are based around stories involving incredible women and food.

-You Must Remember This
A storytelling podcast exploring the secret and often forgotten about history of Hollywood's first century. I am currently finishing up a 6 part series on Joan Crawford. What a badass chick.

-Women of the Hour with Lena Dunham
Random lady centric topics about friendships and such.

-NPR's Wait Wait Don't Tell Me
It's kinda like a trivia show, very entertaining. Nate and I usually listen to this together on the weekends.

Here are some photos of my new life goals based on pics before Facebook existed and more current examples.