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Hearty Vegetable Soup – like Grandma made

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Today I’m sharing one of my favourite soup recipes. Not only is it super yummy, filling and packed with nutrition it’s also super nostalgic. My Grandma used to make this delicious vegetable soup. It was based off an old weight watchers recipe and was full of veggies from her massive garden. I loved eating that soup. My mom has tried to recreate it before and has gotten close but it just never tastes quite the same.

Hearty vegetable Soup

Now funny story, I wasn’t trying to copy her soup. It wasn’t until I was on my second bowl that I realized something about it was so familiar. I guess when I think vegetable soup I think of the flavours in my Grandma’s. I like to think she’d like this unintended version. Although I don’t know how she would feel about all the extra herbs I added, she was a simple salt and pepper gal.

For this soup I used vegetable broth (duh!) and fire roasted tomatoes as the base. Now of course you can use regular tomatoes but the extra flavour fire roasted adds lots of extra flavour.

Hearty Vegetable Soup

As for the veggies here’s what I like, onion, carrots, zucchini and green beans and cherry tomatoes. Of course you can add whatever vegetables you love you’ll just have to adjust the cook time.

Now unlike Grandma I have a cupboard full herbs, spices and vinegars. I really went to town on the Italian seasoning in this recipe and finish it off with a nice splash of rice vinegar.

This soup is flavourful, filling and so good for you. Now to just make my self half a ham sandwich on white bread to eat with it, like Grandma would!

Danielle xo

Hearty Vegetable Soup

An accidental reincarnation of my Grandma's famous vegetable soup recipe. Packed with hearty vegetables this is the perfect lunch or side dish.
Print Recipe
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
Servings: 10 servings
Course: Lunch, Side Dish, Soup
Cuisine: American
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 2 tbsp Olive Oil
  • 1 Onion, finely diced
  • 3 Carrots, sliced
  • 1 Zucchini, sliced
  • 1 1/2 cups Green Beans, chopped
  • 1 cup Cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 1 15 oz can Fire Roasted Tomatoes
  • 8 cups Vegetable Broth
  • 2 tsp Italian Seasoning
  • 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
  • 1 tbsp Rice Vinegar
  • Salt & Pepper to taste

Method
 

  1. Add olive oil to a large pot or dutch oven over medium low heat. Add diced onions, cook for 5-7 minutes or until soft and translucent. Add carrots, italian seasoning, garlic, salt and pepper. Cook for 2 minutes.
  2. Turn up the meat to medium. Add canned tomatoes and vegetable broth. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add the remaining vegetables to the soup, cook over medium low for 15-20 minutes or until the green beans and carrots are tender.
  3. Stir in rice vinegar. Taste the soup and adjust salt and pepper to your desired taste.
  4. Enjoy soup on it's own or with a piece of crusty bread.

Notes

Adapted from Love and Lemons.

2020 Goals: The start of a new decade

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Hey friends! Today I’m sharing something close to my heart, my 2020 goals! Yep, we’re talking annual goals. Why am I sharing this? Because I’ve never set concrete goals in my life. Of course like everyone else I’ve created goals in my brain. I held those close to the vest, kept them to myself, and shockingly didn’t achieve them. So this year I used PowerSheets, I did the prep work, I figured out my why and I wrote down my goals. Now I’m sharing them with you because accountability is key!

I got the idea to share my goals and update all of you on my progress from the lovely Emily from Em for Marvelous! I love her goal updates and am excited to share the same with all of you.

2020 Goal Setting Tools

This year I’m setting 7 goals and I’m very excited to see how much progress I can make this year. I think these goals really speak to the beginning of this new decade.

2020 Goals:

  • Improve my physical and emotional health. For me this means create and stick to a workout routine that works in this season of life, meal prep every Sunday. Limit treats/junk food and watch portion sizes. Drink half my weight in ounces of water. Get outside for walks and hikes. Learn to meditate, read more and practice 1 hour of self care per week.
  • Cultivate new and old friendships. Reach out to friends once per week. Host couples and girls nights regularly. Be open to developing friendships with the new people that come into my life.
  • Create a sustainable blog schedule that excites me! Now I can’t share too much about this because I want to keep some of my ideas a surprise. But I will share that I am committing to 1 blog post per week and becoming more engaged with all of you on social media.
  • Spend money intentionally. My husband and I are good with money. Money can be such a hard thing for couples, so it was really important to us to create a financial foundation early in our relationship. Why this is still a goal is because we have a few big financial outlays planned for 2020. I’m so excited for these things, but it’s going to take discipline.
2020 Vision Board
2020 Vision Board
All images via Pinterest
  • Create a tidy and welcoming home. I love our new home and now that we’re settled in I want to make it true to us. I plan to finish decorating two rooms in our house. And create some cleaning routines. Keeping a tidy organized home does not come naturally to me. So creating nightly cleaning routine and a weekly laundry routine that I can stick to is so important.
  • Document life. To me this has to do with creating a legacy for us and our future kids to look back on. I have many photos of my husband and sunsets on my phone, yet very few of the two of us and even less of me. I’m making a goal to get in front of the camera more this year. Additionally I want to organize our digital collection of photos and create some albums. Im also going to journal this year, to start this creating this habit I’m using The Five Minute Journal.
  • Simplify the work week. Life is stressful and I am not an organized person, so I’m always running late for work and feel there aren’t enough hours in the day. Well guess what, there’s always only going to be 24 hours, so what can I do to make the most of it? Plan my workday outfits on Sunday, pack my lunch in the evenings, get an old fashioned alarm clock, wake up earlier and do something that makes me happy before I got to work.

Now that I’ve shared my goals with you I’ll be checking in once a month to share my progress with all of you! Cheers to a fantastic new year!

Danielle xo

Goodbye 2019 – Looking at the year ahead

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Goodbye 2019

Hey guys! It’s been a while hasn’t it. Today I’m sharing where I’ve been and what’s happening to the blog in the new year.

So let’s start from the beginning, in May 2018 I bought the domain name for danielleathome.com, and in July I launched. I was loving every second of this creative outlet. But soon the pressure of the instagram followers, like count and Pinterest pins got to me. See I’d never intended to grow to a certain amount or make this a business. My little corner of the internet that was meant as a fun hobby to fill my time while the hubby was working crazy hours turned into something I felt I had to do. This might sound crazy since my social following is so tiny, but it is true. It wasn’t that fun anymore.

I continued to truck along through the beginning of 2019. When we bought our house my focus switched to my “real life” instead of my online one. I couldn’t keep up with the demand of our move and the self inflicted blogging pressure. So I took my first break. The months of August and September I went radio silent and I soaked in the Summer heat. But then I missed it. Sharing recipes or my thoughts and life happenings with my internet friends, so I came back. I spent the fall sharing my favourite flavours of the season, the fire was re ignited.

But once again my plans to keep sharing were derailed. This fall was hard on my family, my mom lost both her parents very close together. Combine that with my work demands and I was on track to burn out. I wanted to focus on what was making me the most happy. That was taking things slow and spending time with my loved ones. Although I had fun plans for yummy holiday content and at times I wanted to share I knew being present at home was the best thing for me. Because of these choices I had a fantastic and calming Christmas season. It was so good for the soul.

Of course I didn’t forget about my blog! The wheels in my head were turning thing about what I want this space to be, what I can give to this space and my why for having this blog.

So what does this mean for the blog going forward? It means you can expect 1 post per week to hit the blog, maybe more but never less. Here’s the catch, it won’t all be recipes. Yes, I’m branching out more since I have a desire to share so much more then just food with you all. I’m hopeful that this change will bring me back to the reasons this blog exists, to bring joy to all of us!

Cheers to the end of 2019 and best wishes for a happy and healthy new year! I’ll be seeing you again soon.

Danielle xo

Healthy Breakfast Cookies

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Today we’re talking breakfast! I love breakfast, but during the week I need to keep things fast and simple. I’m sure you can all relate, leaving early to commute to the office doesn’t leave much time for breakfast. And that brings us to todays recipe, breakfast cookies. Sounds good right?

Healthy Breakfast Cookies
Healthy Breakfast Cookies

So these cookies are super tasty, but I refuse to eat un healthy food for breakfast, so I knew I had to make these taste good while still being full of nutrients. These cookies have oats, whole wheat flour, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, cranberries and raisins. All of those tasty ingredients get mixed with mashed banana, almond butter, maple syrup and almond milk to create a delicious dough. Oh and theres a few chocolate chips thrown in there for good measure! Mix all of the ingredients together to create a dough and bake for 12-14 minutes!

These turned out so much better then I ever expected! Believe me I was skeptical, but they were so yummy! They’re filling, nutrient dense, full of fibre and protein. Grab one or two on your way out the door for a great on the go breakfast!

Healthy Breakfast Cookies

Healthy Breakfast Cookies

Delicious and nutritious cookies packed with oats, chia, nut butters and dried fruit.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 14 minutes
Total Time 24 minutes
Servings: 12 cookies
Course: Breakfast
Cuisine: American
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • 1 1/2 cup rolled oats
  • 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1/3 cup pumpkin seeds
  • 1/3 cup sunflower seeds
  • 2 tbsp chia seeds
  • 1/3 cup dried cranberries
  • 1/3 cup rasins
  • 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips
  • 1 banana, mashed
  • 1/4 cup almond butter
  • 1/3 cup maple syrup
  • 1/4 cup almond milk
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon
  • pinch salt

Method
 

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 °F. Line a baking sheet with parchment and set aside.
  2. In a medium sized bowl mix together oats, flour, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, chia seeds, cranberries, raisins, chocolate chips, cinnamon and salt.
  3. In a small bowl whisk banana, almond butter, maple syrup and almond milk together.
  4. Pour wet ingredients into the dry, stir to combine.
  5. Form into 12 cookies and bake for 12-14 minutes. Cool and enjoy!

Healthy Fall Sheet Pan Supper

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Fall Sheet Pan Supper

I love a simple one (or two!) pan meal! Sheet pan dinners are part of my weekly rotation. I make a variation of this meal every season! I’m sure you’ve made a sheet pan supper before, they are so simple. Choose a variety of seasonal vegetables we approximately the same cook time. Add them to a pan with your favourite protein, easy and delicious!

Fall Sheet Pan Supper
Fall Sheet Pan Supper

For this meal I chose butternut squash, potatoes and brussels sprouts. For the protein I chose chicken breasts, because I wanted this meal to be fast! I made a quick marinade for the chicken to give it lots of flavour. The marinade had soy sauce, garlic, maple syrup, dijon mustard and thyme. It was super yummy and differentiated the flavours of the chicken from the vegetables. For the vegetables, I kept it simple. I love the flavour of vegetables and didn’t want to over power them.

I made this recipe with 4 chicken breast, so to fit all of the vegetables you may need to use two sheet pans. You need the vegetables to be spread out in a single layer to get crispy bits, so make sure not to over crowd the pan! Believe me, you want crispy bits!! So yummy!

Once all of your vegetables and chicken are on the sheet pans, bake for 30 minutes, yep thats it! Easy, healthy, seasonal, delicious and fast! Give this recipe a try! I hope you really enjoy it.

Healthy Fall Sheet Pan Supper

Fall vegetables, chicken breasts all baked on a sheet pan!
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Marinating Time 12 hours
Total Time 12 hours 45 minutes
Servings: 4
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

Chicken
  • 4 chicken breasts
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
  • 2 tsp dijon mustard
  • 2 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 1 tsp dried thyme
  • salt & pepper, to taste
Vegetables
  • 1/2 butternut squash, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
  • 3 white or yukon gold potatoes, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
  • 1/2 pound brussels sprouts, trimmed and cleaned
  • olive oil
  • 2 tsp dried thyme
  • salt and pepper to taste

Method
 

Marinade
  1. Whisk together olive oil, soy sauce, mustard, garlic, thyme, salt and pepper. Place chicken in a resealable bag or air tight container, pour marinade over chicken. Place in the fridge for a minimum of one hour, or overnight.
Sheet Pan Supper
  1. Preheat oven to 400 °F.
  2. Place vegetables in a large bowl, toss with olive oil (about 2-3 tbsp), thyme, salt and pepper.
  3. Drizzle 1-2 sheet pans with a small amount of olive oil. Arange marinated chicken breast on the pan. Arrange vegetables around chicken breast in a single layer. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until chicken is cooked though and vegetables are tender. Serve and enjoy!

Black Widow Cocktail with Spun Sugar Webs

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With just a little over a week until Halloween it’s time to share a spooky cocktail! This one is inspired by spiders! It may look spooky but it tastes delicious and is perfect for any Halloween party your having this weekend!

Black Widow Cocktail - Halloween
Black Widow Cocktail - Halloween
Black Widow Cocktail - Halloween

This cocktail is super simple, it’s just blackberry pomegranate juice muddled with blackberries, a squeeze of lime and some tequila. Super delicious, sweet and refreshing. The natural deep purple colour is great but if you want to make it extra dark and spooky add a drop or two of black food colouring!

The impressive part of this cocktail is the spun sugar spider webs. Now of course this is totally optional but its fun and no where near as hard as it seems. Basically you melt the sugar in water until just slightly golden. Allow the sugar to cool for a few seconds. Grease a small bowl or cup and flick strands of sugar over the bowl using a fork. Let cool for 5 seconds before removing from the bowl. Then you’ll have a spun sugar spider web! These can be made a few days in advance and stored in an air tight container.

Black Widow Cocktail - Halloween

I hope you’re intrigued to give this cocktail a try for Halloween! It’s delicious and impressive!

Black Widow Cocktail with Spun Sugar Webs

Berry and tequila based cocktail garnished with spun sugar spider webs.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes
Servings: 4 cocktails
Course: Drinks
Cuisine: American
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

Cocktail
  • 4 cups pomegranate juice blend
  • 1/2 cup blackberries
  • 2 limes, juiced
  • 6 ounces tequila
Spun Sugar Spider Webs
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1 cup white sugar

Method
 

Spun Sugar Spider Webs
  1. Add water and sugar to a pot. Heat over medium heat until sugar dissolves and turns slightly amber, about 15 minutes. Set aside for 5 seconds to cool slightly. Using a fork, flick the sugar in different directions over your greased mold (I used a small jam jar, but a bowl or cup would work). Allow to cool for 5-10 seconds to avoid burning your hands. Gently lift sugar from the mold and set aside. Repeat.
Drink
  1. In a pitcher add berries, lime juice and tequila. Using a muddling tool or the back of a wooden spoon muddle the berries. Add juice and stir. Pour drinks over a glass filled with ice, garnish with spun sugar webs and serve.

Notes

Spun sugar recipe adapted from Sunset.