Melt in Your Mouth Asparagus Soup with Herbed Goat Cheese

After spending another Saturday morning watching the Foodnetwork, I was inspired to try this soup that Giada made for her "elegant dinner." She paired the soup with an awesome looking filet that I want to try out another time. I really enjoy soups and this one was super easy to make, delicious, and healthy. I kind of feel like my pal (well imaginary pal) Gwyneth Paltrow would definitely approve as it would be on her greens diet. My hubby, the omnivore, even approved saying, "it was really good for a healthy soup." The flavor of the goat cheese pairs perfect with the soup as it melts. I will warn you, your pee is going to stink really bad after this soup, but if you love asparagus you probably already knew that!

The soup is basically just these three ingredients, asparagus, leeks and basil plus chicken stock!



ASPARAGUS SOUP WITH HERBED GOAT CHEESE

Ingredients
Goat cheese:
1/2 cup (4 ounces) goat cheese, at room temperature
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Vegetable oil cooking spray
Soup:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 large leek (white and light green part only), thinly sliced
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2 pounds medium asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Special equipment: a 1/2-ounce cookie or ice cream scoop

Directions
Goat cheese: Line a small baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
Using a fork, in a small bowl, combine the goat cheese and basil until smooth. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Using a 1/2-ounce cookie scoop or a round tablespoon measure sprayed with vegetable oil cooking spray, scoop the goat cheese into balls and arrange on the prepared baking sheet. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Soup: In a Dutch oven or large saucepan, heat the butter over medium heat. Add the leeks and cook, stirring constantly until softened, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add the broth, asparagus and basil. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Increase the heat to high and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook until the asparagus is tender, about 15 minutes. Using an immersion blender, blend the soup until smooth. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Keep the soup warm over low heat.

To serve: Ladle the soup into shallow bowls and garnish with the herbed goat cheese.

Cook's Note: The soup can also be pureed by ladling, in batches, into a food processor or blender and blended until smooth

Print this recipe HERE

Milestones

We are pretty happy here at the Mason household. Our little man has finally mastered the art of sitting up by himself! I am not gonna lie, I was starting to get worried! This little dude loves to just chill and lay on his back and have you entertain him! It took him awhile to come around to tummy time too, he hated it and never wanted to roll over. Now he rolls over all the time and even sleeps on his tummy. I am starting to think maybe boys are just a little slower at these things:) After watching some other babies his age and younger sit by themselves, I decided we needed to practice more. Mission accomplished, we have a sitter! This makes my life so much easier as I can now just sit him on a blanket with toys and get stuff done around the house. Although why are all the toys he wants to play with 'non-toys'? His toys of choice are pens, car keys, remote controls, wallets (can't blame him for that one) and sunglasses.





On another note, Sterling and I have both been sick. Oh and he's teething on top of that. Nobody told me how hard it would be to be sick and still have to care for a baby. Today was the longest day EVER. I looked at the clock at 10:30am and felt like it should have been 5. All I wanted to do was take a hot bath and crawl in bed. I may have put my little man down at 6:30 just so I could get some rest! ugh, hopefully we will both feel better tomorrow.

Addicted to the Idiot Box

I have a slight addiction to TV. This summer my DVR has been mainly filled with my Bravo reality TV shows; Rachel Zoe, Bethenny and the Housewives. Now the time has come and the new fall shows are starting back up this week! Gossip Girl and 90210 actually started last week and I was not disappointed. They both were a little lack-luster last year but started back up with a bang. I often wonder when I will tire of watching TV shows about high schoolers, hasn't happened yet but maybe one day? As if I didn't already have too many TV shows on my DVR, I have gone and added two more to my line-up; The Nate Berkus Show and LoneStar.

I love Nate Berkus and have for a long time. His design book proudly sits on my coffee table. He is such a doll and his boyfriend is Brian Atwood, can you say gorgeous? They are quite the power couple, and can you imagine their home and closets, I'm already jealous! Nate's new show provides great design ideas with his heart-warming personality, I love it.


The second new show I added is LoneStar, its premiere was last night on Fox and I was pleasantly surprised. The main character is too cute for words and I like the con-man, double life premise. We will see how it progresses over the next few weeks.


Also on my DVR list starting back up this week Desperate Housewives, Glee, Brothers and Sisters, One Tree Hill (yes I know I am probably one of the 10 people that still watch this show), Modern Family, and Greys Anatomy. Tonight is the season finale of Rachel Zoe, I am sad to see my girl go but maybe her and Rodger can start working on that baby now. Any other shows I should add to my long DVR list??

Easy Like Sunday Afternoon

One of my favorite things about where we live is we are just a short walk to the water. On Sunday afternoon we decided to pack up a cooler and walk to this hidden dock near our neighborhood and have a family picnic. It was fabulous, we brought along our new favorite wine (LaCrema of course) and some snacks and just enjoyed our surroundings. Two bottles of wine and one pizza later we decided we had done enough damage for a Sunday afternoon!

Our sweet set-up on the dock

our tasty treat, LaCrema

me and sweet Miss Nelson


the obligatory mother and father with son pics

our inebriated self-portrait, time to go home....

Best Meat Loaf Ever

My man loves red meat. Problem is I don't love red meat as much as he does, therefore I don't cook with it often. Enter this recipe for meatloaf. Matt kept requesting a hearty meat meal for dinner, I had seen Ina make this one Saturday on the foodnetwork and thought it looked delicious. I was not disappointed and you won't be either. This meat loaf is easy to make and melt in your mouth good. We ate it two nights in a row. I love Ina, she knows her way around the kitchen and I am super excited because she has a new cookbook coming out October 26. I can't wait! Try this recipe it is a real man pleaser.

Barefoot Contessa's Meatloaf
Ingredients
1 tablespoon good olive oil
3 cups chopped yellow onions (3 onions)
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup canned chicken stock or broth
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 1/2 pounds ground chuck (81 percent lean)
1/2 cup plain dry bread crumbs (recommended: Progresso)
2 extra-large eggs, beaten
1/2 cup ketchup (recommended: Heinz)

Directions
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Heat the olive oil in a medium saute pan. Add the onions, thyme, salt, and pepper and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, for 8 to 10 minutes, until the onions are translucent but not brown. Off the heat, add the Worcestershire sauce, chicken stock, and tomato paste. Allow to cool slightly.

In a large bowl, combine the ground chuck, onion mixture, bread crumbs, and eggs, and mix lightly with a fork. Don't mash or the meat loaf will be dense. Shape the mixture into a rectangular loaf on a sheet pan covered with parchment paper. Spread the ketchup evenly on top. Bake for 1 to 1 1/4 hours, until the internal temperature is 160 degrees F and the meat loaf is cooked through. (A pan of hot water in the oven, under the meat loaf, will keep the top from cracking.) Serve hot.

You can print this recipe HERE

7 Month Itch

I know its Tasty Thursday and I should do a recipe post today. However, since today is Sterling's 7 month birthday, I had to do a shout out to my baby boy. Don't worry the recipe will be featured tomorrow instead!

Today my baby boy is 7 months old, I can't believe how fast this first year is flying by! People were indeed serious when they said the first year goes by in the blink of an eye! Funny because pregnancy seems to linger on forever and then this time period flies by! This is such a good age that I am starting to get the itch to want another baby. I am starting to forget how hard the beginning was with no sleep and a crying baby all the time. This is the perfect age because he now recognizes us and interacts with us, yet he can't walk and get into everything. He still loves to be held and cuddled. I want to freeze this time period because it is the best. His smiles and laughs melt my heart like nothing else!

Now don't go freaking out we are not ready to have another baby quite yet. I want to continue to give Sterling my undivided attention for a little bit longer. Not to mention I am enjoying the fact that I can finally fit back in all my old jeans and drink all the wine I want. Also my younger brother just got engaged and I really don't want to be a pregnant bridesmaid, so we are gonna hold off for awhile. But I do think about baby number 2 often! Its hard not to when you have such a precious baby! I will say I am scared of how hard it will be with two kids. One is manageable to run errands and do things. I am not quite sure how I will stay as active as I am with two little ones, but people manage this feat all the time:)

Happy 7 month Birthday to the sweetest baby ever! Sterling, I love you more than you will ever know and you make my life so much better. I can't even imagine my life before you were born! You are the greatest gift I could ever ask for! I thank God everyday for blessing Matt and I with such a wonderful baby boy!

I Do

3 years ago today I said these exact words. I can't believe how fast these 3 years have flown by! So much has happened in these last 3 years; we had a beautiful wedding, even better honeymoon, moved to Charleston, bought a house, had our sweet baby boy and the list continues! I feel so lucky to have so many blessings in my life, especially my husband! Since Matt just started his new job we can't celebrate our anniversary tonight, but we plan to this Saturday. My sister in law has graciously offered to babysit Sterling so we can have a night out on the town! I am so excited to have a date night, because frankly I can't remember the last time just the two of us went out (sad I know)! I feel like our weekends are are always full of birthday parties, baby showers, dinners with friends or family in town that the two of us never seen to have time alone. I can't want to get dressed up, have a dirty martini and a fabulous meal with my hubby! Happy Anniversary Matt, I love you more than you will ever know and feel so grateful to have you in my life!

**excuse the quality of the pictures, I couldn't find the disc of the ones our photographer took, so all I have are these that our friends snapped!**




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