A Valentine's Day Fireplace Mantel

After Christmas comes down, sometimes things can feel a little…. empty. And even a touch sad. But the beautiful thing about decorating for V-Day… is that you can use quite a bit of your Christmas decor that is already handy! We just need to repurpose all that red and add a few ‘spring’ touches :)

Here are as many of the links as I could find to help you have a fun and festive space through February ;)

The ‘Constance’ artwork: Paper and Canvas (above my fireplace is the canvas)

The greenery Garland

The puffy heart Garland

The multi color wood heart Garland

The pink Tulips

The pink bushy flowers

The candle Holders

The velvet ribbon Bows

Multi color twinkle Lights

The LOVE pillow

The HEART pillow

My RUG

There is some ‘stick/pinecone’ glitter garland mixed in that was from my Christmas mantle. I don’t have a link for it, because it is oldish ;)

Let me know if there is something I forgot to add!!

I hope this inspired you to stave off the post Christmas blues ;).

Happy Valentine’s Day!!

xoxo❤️ M-C

Shakshuka - Cook Like You've Traveled The World.

This is one of my family’s favorite recipes. It works for breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner. It is quick, easy, cheap and incredibly flavorful! This recipe will feed 5+ people. Make sure you are using a big pan.

Ingredients:

• Coconut oil for sautéing. *use any oil you regularly cook with.

• 1 large onions -peeled and diced

• 3 cloves garlic -peeled and chopped

• 1 bell pepper (red, orange or yellow) -diced *if you do not have any on hand, no big deal. Skip it.

• 2 teaspoon smoked paprika

• 2 teaspoon ground cumin

• 2 teaspoon ground coriander

• 2 teaspoon sugar

• salt, to taste

• 2 14-oz can diced tomatoes, with juices

• 2 chopped fresh tomatoes

• ½ cup heavy cream *you can substitute with cottage cheese, sour cream, yogurt, cream cheese

• feta cheese, crumbled

• 6-8 eggs

• Handful chopped cilantro

1- In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onions, garlic and bell pepper and cook, uncovered, for about 5-8 minutes, until softened. Do not brown; reduce the heat if necessary.

2- Add the smoked paprika, cumin, coriander, generous amount of salt, sugar, and all tomatoes. Cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes, or until the sauce is slightly thickened. Cover and continue cooking for another 5 minutes.

3- Add the heavy cream to the sauce, and mix.

4- Using a spoon, make 6-8 wells/indentations in the sauce. Carefully crack an egg into each well, being careful not to disturb the yolks. Sprinkle the eggs with salt, then cover with a lid until eggs are cooked to your liking. Once done, remove from heat and sprinkle with feta and cilantro. Serve hot and add bread or pita chips for dipping.

ENJOY!!!!!

xo

❤️M-C

The Soup Nazi Soup From Seinfeld

We all remember the soup nazi.

I was scrolling and came across an interview of one of the writers who inspired that episode. There was a real life soup nazi in NYC driving people mad. I started reading all of the comments and stories of customers who had dealt with him. One guy said the soup nazi threw an orange at him! WOW. That is rough.

Anyways… someone, perhaps an angry previous employee, posted what he said is the soup nazi’s full recipe for his famous soup named Mulligatawny. I quickly did a fridge check and saw that I had every single ingredient needed. So I started cooking.

THE SOUP WAS A HIT. You can watch the full video HERE. Even my children said they would take an orange for this soup!!

You know how so many recipe people will make you scroll about 300 times to get to the bottom of the page so you can read the recipe. I won’t do that. Here you go!!

SOUP NAZI SOUP
• 4 teaspoons vegetable oil (I use coconut oil)
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 celery stalks, chopped
• 2 carrots, chopped 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 teaspoon curry powder (curry powders can vary, I recommend a really authentic one).
• 6 cups chicken stock
• 1/2 cup white rice
• 1 apple, peeled and diced
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
1. Heat the oil in a large pot
2. Add the onion, celery, and carrots, and sauté until softened, about 5 minutes.
3. Stir in the flour and curry powder, cooking for 1-2 minutes.
4. Gradually add the chicken stock, stirring to combine.
5. Add the rice and apple. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until the rice is tender (about 20 minutes).
6. Stir in the heavy cream and season with salt and pepper.
7. Serve hot.

ENJOY!!