Showing posts with label gift. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gift. Show all posts

Thursday, March 23, 2017

A gift of a soup Pumpkin and Black Bean Soup

A gift of a soup Pumpkin and Black Bean Soup


Recently a good friend of mine (Hey, Melissa!) made a big pot of this soup and handed me a lovely container of it for me to enjoy with my family.  What a gift of a soup!  Not only did we enjoy a delicious lunch of hot soup on a damp cold day but I then acquired recipe that I have been able to use over and over again since then to make as gifts for other friends of mine. One of my friends even said that it was the BEST soup she had ever tasted.  Goodness did that make me happy! 

The flavors of pumpkin, curry and cumin all come together to form a delicious party in your mouth.  The texture of the soup is fun too as it has the smoothness of the pumpkin puree but also the perfection of the small black beans along with soft diced tomatoes.  All of the textures and tastes come together to make one delicious soup. 

And the soup is very easy to make!  It would make a lovely week-night dish as it can be made and on the table within 30 minutes.

 
Pumpkin and Black Bean Soup
(recipe from Rachel Ray)

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cups vegetable or chicken stock
1 (14 oz) can diced tomatoes in juice, undrained
1 (15 oz) can black beans, rinsed
2 cans (15 oz) pumpkin puree
1 cup heavy cream (I used 1/2 and 1/2)
1 heaping Tbsp curry powder
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
salt to taste
chives, chopped for garnish
Directions:

1.  Heat a large soup pan over medium high heat with 2 Tbsp of olive oil.  Add in chopped onion and cook until translucent and soft.

2. Add in broth, diced tomatoes, black beans and pumpkin puree.  Stir all together and bring soup to a gentle boil.

3. Reduce heat to medium low and stir in cream (or 1/2 and 1/2), curry powder, ground cumin and salt.  Simmer soup for at least 5 minutes.  Taste soup and adjust seasonings if need be.

Sprinkle soup with chopped chives and serve with a lovely hearty bread.  Dlish!


Happy Pumpkin and Black Bean Soup Making!



Available link for download

Read more »

Thursday, February 16, 2017

9 Pajama Sets Thatll Make The Perfect Gift

9 Pajama Sets Thatll Make The Perfect Gift


Le Fashion Blog 9 Pajama Sets To Buy Now Via The Fashion Tag
Photo via: The Fashion Tag

When it comes to sleepwear as a gift, its hard to go wrong. There are a variety of options to choose from for all the different people in your life. And, you cant go wrong! Everyone can always use another good set of jams. Shop these 9 sets to make the perfect gift.

Get the look:


Available link for download

Read more »

Friday, January 27, 2017

A Gift To You From The Highboy CdT In the News!

A Gift To You From The Highboy CdT In the News!


 

I want to introduce a new sponsor to Cote de Texas readers – The Highboy Antiques Simplified

 

image

The Highboy is an online antique and fine art shop – an internet marketplace where curated antique and art dealers sell their wares.   The Highboy is the brainchild of Douglas and Olga Granda-Scott who comes from a family of well known and highly respected antique dealers.  Having been brought up in the business, Olga now lends her young and fresh eye when choosing dealers for The Highboy.

The – “Antiques Simplified” says it all.  It’s highly user-friendly – you can search for what you are looking for, using tight specifics or more general terms.  In addition – The Highboy gathers items in design groups - such as mirrors or lighting – for quick searches. 

Their weekly emails are also helpful – arrays of items are shown – put together in such a way to create an entire room’s décor like this mid century dining room:

 

 

 

They group newly arrived items together – for easy perusal:

 

 

And I love this the best – they have designers choose their favorite items on The Highboy – such as Kerry Howard here:

 

.

 

This was particularly fun – shopping The Highboy to recreate Brooke Shields fabulous NYC apartment decorated by India Hick’s partner:

 

 

And, there is their blog – The Weekly – with fabulous stories about antiques and décor.

 

image

If you are a designer – be sure to join The Highboy’s Designers Club for trade prices and early access to sales HERE.  In addition – there is the Concierge Service that will help you find specific items for specific jobs – before they are even offered on web site. 

 

COTE DE TEXAS SPONSOR: THE HIGH BOY

Now, in conjunction with The Highboy’s sponsorship – they are offering a wonderful discount for each Cote de Texas reader!

First – please register on The Highboy at

www.thehighboy.com

Next – ALL READERS will receive $100 off your first purchase that totals $200 and more!!!!!!

Wow!!!

Did you read that correctly?

$100 off your first purchase of $200 or more!!!!

Yes, you did!

To receive your discount – use this promotional code when checking out:

CDT2015

 

*NOTE:  Promotional Code is valid on total purchases of $200.00 or more.  Promotional code may not be combined with other offers.

 

I hope you are as excited about this discount as I am!!   OK – I’m off to go shopping at The Highboy right now. 

A huge thank you to all the folks at The Highboy!!!

To shop The Highboy, go HERE.

To read their blog “The Weekly” – go HERE.

COTE DE TEXAS SPONSOR: THE HIGH BOY

 

 

 

And in other news, “Houston House and Home” magazine, February, was gracious enough to feature an article that I wrote about 2015 Trends!  Much thanks to Editor Susan Fox!

 

image

To read the article online go HERE

And to see the entire magazine go – HERE.  Page 40 for my article.  And go to page 70 to read the Olivine shop dog Izzie’s page with his recipes and other doggie tidbits!  Olivine is, of course, the cute décor shop in Rice Village HERE and HERE.

 

image

image

 

image


Available link for download

Read more »