Wisconsin Cauliflower Soup

I am a huge fan of Zupas. They have great soups, salads, and sandwiches. These are my favorite foods. So when I found this recipe for a copy cat Wisconsin Cauliflower soup I had to share. We made this last night with some friends over watching some football. It was perfect for the snowy day we had.

photo courtesy of Zupas

Wisconsin Cauliflower Soup

2 tablespoons margarine or butter (1/4 stick)
1 medium onion, chopped
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
1 can (13 3/4 to 14 1/2 ounces) chicken broth
1 head (2 1/2 pounds) cauliflower, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 cup Sharp Cheddar cheese
1 cup Pepper Jack cheese

In 4-quart saucepan, melt margarine or butter over medium heat. Add onion and cook until golden, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in flour and salt; cook 2minutes, stirring frequently. Gradually stir in milk, chicken broth, and 1 1/2 cups water; add cauliflower and heat to boiling over high heat. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer until cauliflower is tender, about 10 minutes. In blender (with center part of blender cover removed to allow steam to escape), blend cauliflower mixture at low speed in small batches until very smooth. Return cauliflower mixture to saucepan; heat over medium heat until hot, stirring occasionally. Remove saucepan from heat; stir in mustard and 1 1/2 cups cheese until melted and smooth. Garnish soup with remaining cheese to serve.

found this on ohmyrestless-soul blog

A couple things that I did differently I cut the cheese into cubes and let that ooey goodness just melt in. Also, when you mix in the blender blend REALLY well. Our first blender attempt we didn't blend as well and it didn't have the great flavor. So Ryan blended one more time. PEREFECTION!! Another thing I did differently is I put whipping cream instead of milk. I had some extra after all Christmas candy I made.Please give this a try and let me know what you think. Another time I will have to post the Creamy Tomato Basil soup we made also. We did a little mix in with the two. FANTASTIC. Even my kids ate it.

Merry Christmas

This month has been so crazy, I can't believe it is already Christmas. I just wanted to share some of our holiday traditions with you. I am such a sentimentalist. I love traditions, when Ryan and I got married I was all about setting up traditions. So here are a few.

Since I was little we watch the movie White Christmas, Christmas Eve night. Apparently my mom and dad did this so that we would fall asleep. However we just love it and watched the whole thing. That Bing Crosby gets me every time!! Honestly if you have seen the movie get it. (I highly doubt Redbox carries this)

Another tradition that I had growing up, which I have carried with my family is candy making. I have great memories stirring a hot pot on the stove of whatever sugar concoction my mom had made. Then asking her "How much longer?" (while my hand was burning off). We made caramels, chocolate dipped pretzels, peanut brittle, fudge, and many more. Obviously this is a great tradition that I Ryan sure does love.

Another tradition we have just started is to serve German pancakes on the first day of Ryan's break. Luckily Ryan is a school teacher and gets a nice long break. So on the first day of that break we have a nice big breakfast of German pancake breakfast.

Something we have done the last couple of years which has been so much fun for Ryan and I is to go to the Mormon Tabernacle Christmas Concert. This year we went with my sister and mom and saw Natalie Cole perform with the choir and David McCullough shared some Christmas stories, The last couple of years this has been such a treat.

(This was us ((most of us)) back in the day.)

Another tradition that we started when we were first married is we have a "friend" Christmas party. These friends are our closest friends from high school. We have remained close with them. Now that everyone has moved away for school and jobs when they come home to Utah to visit family we get together and i put on a small feast ( I am so crazy, but I love doing it), We just talk and talk and laugh. Of course the same old stories come up. It is such a great time.

There are so many other great traditions that we do. So much fun!! My mom and dad always make Christmas a magical time. Now, Ryan and I are trying to establish the same feeling with our kids.

Merry Christmas to all our loved ones!! We hope you have a wonderful holiday. We are grateful to have such wonderful and amazing friends and family to share the holiday with.

Jackson's 5!

BEFORE


December is a crazy month for us at the McCarty's. This year especially crazy. I have three birthdays within 3 weeks of each other. Christmas. Then this year we went to California for a wedding. Today is Jackson's birthday. I can't even believe it. He is 5! He is such a cute guy. He loves anything active. Sports, jumping on furniture, wrestling with his sister (Miley can totally take him). I love this little guy. Happy Birthday Jackson. I am glad you chose to come to our family.
AFTER

Birthday. . Disneyland. . Wedding. . Blessing. . Oh My

Last weekend we had the chance to go to one of our favorite vacation spots that is Huntington Beach. We went down for our cousins wedding. We drove down (longest drive of my life). Miley's birthday was on Thursday and we thought it would be fun to take her to Disneyland. We had the greatest time. Miley loved meeting princesses, Mickey Mouse, Goofy. We all LOVED the Christmas It's a Small World. It was such a great time. The next day we were able to go to the beach and enjoy the 75 degree weather, build a sand castle, and watch the crazy surfers. That evening we were able to go to the Newport Beach temple for the first time with Amanda. It was an amazing night. So great to be there with family. Saturday was the wedding, and it was beautiful. BJ and Amanda are the most beautiful couple. Both of them are so beautiful and the sweetest people. We love them. Their photographer blogged the wedding check it out. www.kameejune.com/theblog The next day we were able to be there for our cousin Stephanie's baby blessing. It was incredible. They are the cutest little family. Good times. Thanks Dara and Steve for an incredible time.

How Cute Is This Girl?!?!?!

 

My New Obsession

Thanks to the best brother in law ever (Theron that is you) He hooked me up with the newest a greatest at Quikutz. The Letterpress. It embosses and makes beautiful cards. Look for a card from me in your mailbox. I am having so much fun with it. Thanks Theron.

Well It's About Time . . .

I watch you every Saturday morning.

Who are you going to pick? Maybe my guys.

What snazzy suit are you going to wear?

What inspirational story will you do to make me cry?

What celebrity will you bring with you?

Not so fast Lee . . .

Kirk will your loyalty stay with my guys?

What stupid poster will catch my fancy?

I hope to see you wearing Cosmo's head.

Desmond could you get any cuter?

See you this Saturday!!!!!


BRING ON THOSE HORN FROGS!!!!

Where Have I Been . . .

Well, I have been right here. I have been such a slacker with the blogging. I have had plenty of "blog worthy" moments, I have just been slacking. Thanks to my friend Keiauni who lovingly told me to step up my blogging game here I am.



We started off the summer (yes, it has been that long since I have blogged) going down to St. George with Ryan's family. We had a great time swimming eating and playing with cousins. Ryan and I decided to take advantage of the free weekends at the National Parks and went to Zion's National Park. It was so much fun. We backpacked Miley around which she loved. Even though you can't really tell by this picture. It was a great little break.



Something that we did almost every day was go to the local water park. We got season passes which was so much fun.The kids loved it, and by the end of the summer we got Jackson down some slides. M is always up for everything, but J is usually a little apprehensive.







The fourth of July is always a favorite of ours. This year Ryan and I decided to run the city 5K race. Which was so much fun, Ryan decided to hydrate before the race so he drank, and drank and drank. At about 1.5 miles Ryan had to go to the bathroom so bad. So he stopped into Eintstein Bagels and went to the bathroom. Even with that he beat his training time. I was so proud of him (BTW I did beat him, but my sister KT beat me). We went to the street fair, and had a great time looking at the old cars, and Miley enjoyed a snow cone. We had a great time.













One of the highlights of the summer was our 1st Annual Boyce Ator Triathlon. My brother came up from Las Vegas with his kids. We started the weekend playing at the local water park. So fun. Then that evening we went to a park and played water baseball and at good food. The cousins had fun playing with the water balloons. My dad was a big triathlete, and we thought it would be a good way to honor his memory by having a triathlon. So the next morning we woke up early and did the triathlon. We biked 3.5 miles to a friend of our's pool we did 20 laps in the pool (this one kicked my butt), and then we finished running a little over 2 miles to my mom's house. This was obviously a mini-triathlon (to say the least). It kicked all of our butts we thought that it my dad was this awesome guy that he would do these, and now we know he was NUTS!!! I came in last, I was proud of myself. That swim was so hard, the humbling thing was my pregnant sister (KT) beat me. Alan came in first, with a footnote that Mike really beat him he just got lost. The rest of the day we just chilled went and saw the new Harry Potter movie and just hung around. On Sunday we went and all visited our Grandma. It was fun for all the great-grandkids (minus two) to see Grandma. It was such a great weekend, and we can't wait until next year.

I am tired for now, I will post more of our summer adventures later.