VanzBlogz: Foodie Friday : The Ultimate Broccoli Soup

VanzBlogz: Foodie Friday : The Ultimate Broccoli Soup: Im sorry we missed last weeks foodie friday but I promise we will make it up to you! This week Chef Simeon Hall is back and is graciously s...

Foodie Friday : The Ultimate Broccoli Soup

Im sorry we missed last weeks foodie friday but I promise we will make it up to you! This week Chef Simeon Hall is back and is graciously sharing one of his awesome recipes! Share your photos and comments with us if you give it a try! 

A broccoli soup you may say well this soup took me seven months to perfect. Sometimes for a chef 

being simple can be the toughest part of the equation. Here four ingredients make a simple yet 

complex flavoured soup that eats like you’ve slaved over a pot for hours. (Geared towards Kelly’s or 

the home cook)

Broccoli soup serves 4

Two bunches of fresh broccoli, sectioned into florets 

3 cups of distilled water 

Kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper 

2 dashes of Tabasco sauce 

Method

Bring the water to a rolling boil. Add the sectioned broccoli and tightly cover for exactly four minutes*. 

While hot** use a blender and puree the broccoli with the water while hot .This creates the velvet 

smooth texture of the soup. Season to taste with salt and pepper and add Tabasco to brighten the 

flavours of the soup.

For a richer soup- add 2 oz unsalted butter and 2 oz of double heavy cream

*This process produces a broccoli stock that returns the flavor and nutrients to the soup

**Be careful when blending hot liquids. The steam created can explode. Replace the blender feeding cap with a dry cloth to allow steam to exit.

*All images and recipes are the sole ownership of Simeon Hall Restaurant Management Group Ltd and are used with the written consent from the above mentioned. Reproduction and unauthorized use are prohibited by the Laws of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. 

My NOT a Bucket List

So being my usual self ... my mind was going 1,000 miles a minute and I thought hmmm I never really ever wrote a bucket list. Then that brought me to wonder why. 

Here's what I came up with. I don't really do the bucket list thing because lets face it having a list of things you want to do before you die gives you time to procrastinate and sometimes is associated with being impossible or really hard to achieve.

Between not thinking we're going to die anytime soon and truly not knowing when we are going to "kick the bucket" ... bucket lists tend to be forgotten.

My feeling is why does it have to be something you want to do before you die? Why not give yourself 5 even 10 years. Hey give yourself 3! Whatever tickles your fancy. But lets stop making list that people seem to never get through. 

So here is my NOT a bucket list ....
1. Own a successful business
2. Shop a completely new wardrobe
3. Renovate my house
4. Buy a Range Rover
5. Use only organic and pure beauty and skin products
6. Start my own fruit and vegetable garden
7. Visit Europe
8. Lose 50lbs
9. Move to another country (preferably USA or Canada)

Im giving myself 3 years to accomplish most if not all of these things ... sounds ambitious right? Well hey I rather have a closer deadline, that way I get to cross off all of these fabulous things on my list sooner. 

Whats on your NOT a bucket list?

Back to work after Baby

So its the end of my second week back to work and I have to say I'd rather stay home with my precious baby.

I always feel guilty when I'm dropping him off. I feel like I'm abandoning him and he thinks I'm just dumping him off to go and party. 

I am still trying to get into the routine of functioning on even less sleep than I was getting before and trying to focus on my work and not wondering what my baby is doing every hour on the hour and if he's ok.

Now that im back to work I very rarely have time to pump and I was forced to start giving Kaiden formula YUCK.  I hate it! and he will be back on only breast milk the minute I have enough stored. 

It is killing me to give him formula because I wanted my baby exclusively on breast milk for at least 6 months but I guess that was wishful thinking. 

Now that I have a whole human to take care of I feel that much more obligated to do well and excel at my job. (Not that I wasn't trying to excel before) I just am that much more determined. 

Anyway I guess this just another stage in my new life as a mom and all I can do is take it one day at a time.

Spring Cleaning 101

So its that time again. Spring is here and everyone is scrambling around doing their "spring cleaning". For the most part people just clean they way they usually clean just with a little more elbow grease. Two weeks later and we are right back to our pre spring cleaning ways. 

I do spring clean but, I "spring clean" about four times a year. I think I may have OCD but I love to change furniture around, buy organizing products, change the contents of my kitchen cupboards. Trust me it's weird, but I always feel like I get more done and function better when my home is freshly deep cleaned and functional. 

I will be sharing my Spring Cleaning adventure with you but here are a few things  to consider in getting started. 

Where to Start 

We all stand in our homes, look around and think to ourselves ... "oookkaayy so where do I begin?" ... I always start in my Kitchen. This is where I start because the Kitchen is the hub of every home. It's the most frequented area by everyone in the house and those kitchen drawers tend to be the most "junky". After I get done with the kitchen I move clockwise to each space. 

What to Do 

So what is "Spring Cleaning" ? I think everyone's definition of Spring cleaning is different, there is no right or wrong. My Spring Cleaning is a complete overhaul even a few cosmetic touch ups sometimes. Normally I pull out everything, sort through them, throw away what I don't need clean off what I do and find a place for everything. When everything in your home has its place your home tends to stay cleaner. 

What You Need 

For me a good fleet of all purpose cleaners, rags, garbage bags, and boxes do the trick. If I need anything additional I cross that bridge when I get to it. 

......

So lets do it ladies! Spring Cleaning Time!! I promise at the end we will all feel refreshed and ready to take on the world! 

Foodie Friday! - Guilt Free Pasta Recipe

Its Foodie Friday!!! Today we have a recipe from Nykki Sawyer. Almost everyday her facebook posts of her vegan dishes makes my mouth water! She sent us this delicious recipe to share with you all today. Comment and let us know how it came out if you try it. 

Zucchini Pasta with Mango Salsa and Sun dried Tomato Vinaigrette

This is a Guilt Free Pasta dish (gluten free, low calorie, no carbohydrates and full of fiber) 

Ingredients:

Zucchini 

Grape Tomatoes

For the Mango Salsa:

Mango

Tomato

Onion

Green Bell Pepper

Lime

For the Sun Dried Tomato Vinaigrette:

4-5 Sun dried tomatoes

2 tbsp fresh basil

2 cloves garlic

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2/3 cup olive oil 

Salt n pepper to taste

Peel zucchini and slice into long thin strips to make the zucchini pasta (or use a spiralizer).

For the Mango Salsa, dice all the ingredients together, then lime and season with salt. 

For the sun dried tomato vinaigrette, place sun dried tomatoes, basil, garlic in a food processor and pulse for a very seconds until ingredients are roughly chopped, then add balsamic vinegar, turn food processor on and drizzle in olive oil until it is well incorporated, that's it add salt to taste and pour over the raw zucchini pasta! Bon appetite!

Has the Integrity of Women gone away?!

    Apart of the reason I started this blog was to write my thoughts out that were too long to be a facebook status. Something popped up on my time line this morning that got me thinking and wanting to vent. 

    Has this generation of women completely lost their integrity? Have we no morals anymore? Do we not think we deserve more? 

    As I sit and think about what I was taught about what it meant being a decent young lady, I look around and wonder hmmm did no one else get that memo? 

With the new craze of realty television we see women fighting, screaming, cursing, I mean whatever happened to women should be seen not heard. In Love & Hip Hop we see beautiful women fighting over one man who clearly doesn't care enough about either of them because if he did they wouldn't be in the triangle they are in. In Housewives series and Basketball wives we see Married women fighting each other, I mean these are women with kids!! How do you behave this way then not expect your kids to do the same?!?!? Why do these women continuously let men and trivial things get them to the point of throwing fists (and other objects) at one another?

    In entertainment women are more and more naked for performances and videos. Is talent not enough? Do we have to take our cloths off to top the charts and get the media talking about us? Do we not think we are talented enough that we don't have to take our cloths off and sexualize everything we do? For example Miley Cyrus recking ball video. I mean really why was she naked? It was not even a sexual song!!! Since when is it necessary to be naked and licking a hammer in a break up song?

    Now this gets me thinking, are we just buckling under pressure? Do we have self esteem issues? Or are we just not being taught the morals and standards we used to? 

     SO what do we do about it? Or does nothing need to be done? Maybe this is just where the world is going. I personally cant stand it ... while the reality shows are a guilty pleasure of mine the way these grown women act is still annoying to me. How do we fix it ... well I will start buying saying the following: 

LADIES!!! 

It is not cute to walk around with hardly any cloths on .. please leave something to the imagination. YUCK

It is not cute to fight with "your mans" sweetheart .... girl if he was worth fighting for you wouldn't be fighting the women he cheated on you with! 

It is not cute to make a spectacle of yourself in public... you look SILLY 

You shouldn't be proud to post about how you beat someone in the club last night 

Stop giving yourself up to every man you meet... No man who is looking for wife wants a women who all of his friends has slept with. 

This is all I can think of for now ... hopefully one young lady out their reads this and changes her ways. 

One can always hope.