This is a great soup for when you have a cold and need something hot and spicy. That is currently my whole family right now. Love this soup!  Honestly, I am a dump and pour cook, so the seasoning ratios may be a little different each time, but this is the general recipe.  Also, you will notice I use several frozen veggies. Since having kids, I realized this was a great way to cut down on prep-work/ chopping time.  Also, sometimes it's less expensive than using fresh.  Recent studies are showing that frozen veggies are just as nutritious (if not more) than fresh produce in the grocery store, because it is frozen at the peak of freshness. 


Spicy Thai Coconut Curry Soup

Ingredients:

1 lb of chicken, cooked and shredded
6 cups chicken broth
20oz bag of frozen peppers and onions (or you could use fresh)
2 bags frozen broccoli florets (fresh is also fine)
2 cartons of mushrooms sliced
4 cups snap peas de-veined
1 bag shredded carrots
1/2  head of garlic, minced
2 inches of ginger minced/shredded
1.5 tablespoons lemongrass minced
2 cans unsweetened coconut milk
2-3 tablespoons Mae Ploy Thai Red Curry Paste, more or less, if you want more or less spicy
1 tablespoon lime juice
Soy sauce to taste
2 tablespoons sesame oil (unnecessary, but I like it)
Salt to taste
2-3 tablespoons sugar

Garnish with chopped cilantro, thai basil (or regular will work), and diced green onions.

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a large pot and simmer. Add seasonings to taste.  Makes about 8-10 servings.

I'm now a mom of two and the days can start to melt together in monotony.  Decided to try to give us a little more consistency and tap into my need for creativity. Behold our refrigerator magnet schedule! This  project took me longer than I anticipated thanks to constant kid interruptions 😂. Thought it would be a day project and it took me almost a month instead! But it was fun, nonetheless! Thought it would be a fun way to plan our days and allow Romo (my almost 2 year old) to feel like he has some choices and control as well. 

Create and color!  Older kids could probably do this too!




Cut out:


Laminate:


Glue magnets to the backs and use!




Example day:




So now at the beginning of each day, my son and I have a planning session.  I put up the non-negotiable things ahead of time (napping for sure!), but then I let him choose the rest of the day.


It's been a fun activity in itself.  It's teaching him about waiting and how time works, as well.


If you'd like to use my images for personal use instead of making your own, you are welcome to:
(please don't post anywhere without linking to my blog)

Just click each image, follow link, and then right click next to the image and select print.

Black and White (for coloring! Colored pencils or markers are best for laminating after!):



Color:

Nov. 18, 2018.  This colored pencil drawing was born out of a summer of seeing snakes - literal and figurative.  This year I've seen snakes everywhere. I'm terrified of snakes, so this has been a dreadful experience. I have run into five in my yard, and six in my everyday life on walks and in nature.  Three of those snakes were copperheads, the rest were harmless, but still scared me silly.  I seriously have not seen so many snakes, ever like I have this year.  This all came to a head when, while one evening making my son dinner I turned around in my kitchen and found a snake on my kitchen counter. To this day, i still have NO idea how it got on my counter, but it shook me up to the core.  

Well, the next day was Sunday and the preacher gave a sermon and used this verse:  Matt. 7:9-11 "You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not!"  I remember thinking,  I'm not asking for snakes and yet you are giving them to me, God. These couldn't all be coincidences.  I decided, maybe God was trying to tell me something or get my attention. It was at this point I found myself praying, "God, teach me the lesson of the snake. What are you trying to tell me here?"   I found myself meditating on the passage from the sermon and a week later the answer dawned on me. That passage continued Matt 7:11, "So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him."

What was the lesson of the snake you ask?  I realized I've recently been looking at some of God's gifts in my life and calling them snakes, because I don't understand how they could be good.

Sometimes when God doesn't give me what I want and answers another way that doesn't fit my plan, I get upset and jump to label it a snake. But, as God tells us, HE also doesn't give us snakes when we ask for fish. So maybe I can't see how the gift is good right now, but I must trust that it is, because I have a Father who loves me more than I love my own son.  

Update: It's been a year since I finished this artwork to remind me of the lesson of the snake, and I have only seen two snakes while gardening this year (both little harmless brown snakes).  Every time I see or think of snakes now, I ask myself, "Is there something that God has given me in my life that I'm labeling a bad gift? God says he doesn't give bad gifts, so I must choose to trust it is good."

Thanks, Father, for the lesson of the snake.  I needed it!