Thai Coconut Curry Chicken Soup

The cafeteria at my work made this recently and I could not get enough of it! My friends and I kept going back for more as if it was one more scoop of ice cream! Yeah, that good. So, I started looking at different recipes out there and came up with a hodge podge that suited my tastes.

It's hitting the spot on these drizzly Fall days and my whole family loved it. Oh, did I mention that it's super easy? Just get ready to get your chop on. There is a lot of chopping involved. Put on some tunes and get in the zone. You'll be rewarded with this soup for sure. The best thing about this soup is that you don't have to make a roux to get that cheesy flavor. This soup is not too "curry-y" either. Haha. Side note: this soup is Whole 30 approved and Gluten Free as well! Eat up, guilt free!

Here is the recipe:

1 T fat of your choosing (ghee, vegetable oil, olive oil, coconut oil)
1 -  chopped yellow onion
2 - minced garlic cloves
1 tsp fresh minced ginger
1 - sliced red or orange bell pepper 
3 - cubed potatoes (leave skins on)
1/2 butternut squash cubed
5 ot 6 baby bok choy
2 handfuls baby spinach
1 rotisserie chicken -or- 4 cooked chicken breasts
1 - 32 oz. Chicken broth
2 cups water
2 - 14 oz. cans coconut milk (lite or full fat, it's up to you!)
1 packet -or- 1 T yellow curry paste (mild - You can find these for sure at an Asian market or in the ethnic cooking aisle at the grocery store)
1 tsp salt (Add more or less to your liking)

(optional: Add fish sauce if desired and garnish with cilantro and lime, I did not and it was yummy anyway)

*** This soup is NOT spicy. I recommend using the red curry paste if you want to spice it up.

Instructions:

• Melt fat of your choice in large pot
• Saute onions, ginger, garlic, and peppers until tender.
• Add cubed potatoes, butternut squash, and the chopped thick ends of the bok choy.
• Add water as needed to keep from burning.
• When veggies are all tender, add chicken stock, coconut milk and curry paste. 
• Add the chicken, bok choy leaves and spinach leaves last and turn the burner to low.  (You don't want to overcook the delicate leaves or chicken)
• Add salt as needed.
• Ladle into bowls and garnish as you please!

Hope you enjoy this as much as we did! It is a very beautiful dish as well! 

Autumn Art Lesson - Pointillism

5th Grade Art Docent Lesson - Pointillism

In an effort to get back to engaging my artistic side and give back to the community at the same time, I have volunteered to be an art docent for my son's class this year. Check out our first lesson of the year on Pointillism. The kids enjoyed it and so did I!

Materials Needed:

• Qtips
• Small Paper Plates
• Tempera Paints (At the minimum, Primary Colors)
• Card Stock Sheets (Standard Letter Size)
• Baby Wipes or Disinfectant Wipes for Clean up

Time Needed for Activity:

• Minimum of 1 hour 

Examples:

 Lesson on Pointillism:

I tried to keep the lesson very short so we would have plenty of time to complete the activity.

Bring in leaves that you have collected as inspiration or print a few pictures of fall leaves.

Encourage the kids to take their time and remember to make dots rather than brushstrokes with their Q-tip.

Before setting the kids off on their own, perform a quick demonstration for the class on a leaf of your own on the board or on a projector camera. Refresh the kids' memory on primary color mixing. Have the kids start by using all yellow or all red and introduce blue or red on the edges to make green or orange. Remind them to not be modest with the paint or mixing colors will be difficult.

I had other tempera paints for the kids to choose a background color for their art to make their leaves stand out more on the page. When doing this, show them the color wheel and teach them that the colors opposite each other on the color wheel will have the most contrast and will make their art really pop.

Leaf Outlines to create stencils on Cardstock:

Make plenty of stencils for the class to make that step in the process go quicker. I also encouraged freehand drawing their leaves for those who wanted to.

I hope your class enjoys this project! 

Gift Wrap with Elements from Nature

Sycamore Gift Wrapping Accent

Ever wonder what to do with these cool spikey balls from your sycamore tree? Besides having all the kids in the neighborhood collect them and have a war, or having them all "shoot hoops" into the yard waste bin to clean them up.... use them for decorating! 

Orange wrapping paper from Home Goods with scrapbooking paper accents and raffia.

 Don't think too much. Just start layering paper and add interesting sticks, leaves, pinecones or sycamore spikey balls as the finishing touch!