Italia at Home [Inspired by Gordon Ramsey]

 So lately I've been on a cooking kick. And because of this I have successfully devoured the 10 seasons of Hell's Kitchen I previous had not seen ( I watched 11 as it aired this year), and I also watched all of MasterChef this year. The one thing that Gordon seems to spend more time yelling about than anything else is Risotto.

Seriously, the man screams about it constantly. And I thought to myself "well, if he's so hell bent on everybody knowing how to make the shit, I will learn!"

Having NEVER attempted risotto in my life, and having only the brief knowledge of what I'd watched people cook on tv (and a glance at a few online recipes) I embarked on my risotto quest.

With this image firmly implanted in my mind:

I began

Mushroom Risotto with Caprese Salad

What you need:

Basmati Rice

Stock (chicken, vegetable, whatever)

Butter

Olive Oil

Mushrooms

Onions

Scallions

White Wine

Garlic

Salt

So I started with two pans the first with Basmati Rice (washed) and two ladles worth of vegetable stock. I then proceeded to add another ladle every time it didn't look 'wet' anymore while stirring.

In the other pan I sautéed olive oil, minced garlic, chopped onions, and scallions until they were caramelized.

I then put them in a separate container to the side.

In that same pan I then added 1/2 stick of butter, mushrooms (chopped) and sautéed

After they were cooked I then threw the onion/garlic/scallion mix back into the pan and stirred. I then topped it off with half a cup of white wine.

By this time my risotto finally looked fluffy (and didn't taste crunchy) 

I poured the contents of one pan into the other.

Stirred.

Vwallah!

It turned out PRETTY DAMN GOOD. I was proud.

Yes chef!

To die for tomato soup

So I've been very domestic lately with my new found lover boy. I've had the urge to cook and clean constantly and once again experiment with food.

So, not feeling 100% I wanted tomato soup. However, I'd rather die than eat that tomato paste in a can Campbell's crap filled with preservatives.

Here's what you need:

A dozen ripe tomatoes

Basil (fresh)

4 oz Cream Cheese (half package)

2 Tbs olive oil

1 large onion

2 cups (1/2 box) of vegetable stock (could also use chicken or beef)

1.5 Tbs minced garlic

Salt & Pepper to taste

Ok, easy peasy.

Get a big soup pot and put the stock in. Put on high while you chop tomatoes. I just diced mine.
Throw tomatoes into the broth
When they're both boiling turn down to medium
Put lid on

In a separate pan:
put olive oil in pan and let heat
chop large onion and add to pan with garlic
Reduce to medium and stir vigorously.

Once you start to get some color on your onions add about 2 leaves of finely chopped basil.
Reduce to med-low heat.

Let that cook down. (this takes maybe 2 minutes. Don't do it long enough to let anything burn)

Add the 1/2 package, 4 oz of cream cheese (can use full fat, 1/3 less fat, whatever) cubed or softened.

Stir and cook until thoroughly mixed.
Remove from heat.
Pour in tomato/broth mixture.
Stir until mixed.

I then gave two cranks on my salt mill
Then one on my pepper mill (i'm not a huge pepper person)
Put the top back on and set it between medium and medium low.
Cook for 45 minutes.

Should smell like tomato soup when you take it off. Everything should look like (slightly chunky) tomato soup. If it doesn't, put the lid back on and give it a few more minutes. Feel free to crank up the heat a little at the end if you need to. But make sure to stir if you do.

Finally, remove from heat. Take handheld blender (like the old-timey milkshake blenders) and blend the chunks of tomato until smooth.

I made crescents with fresh mozzarella inside because who wants tomato soup without a grilled cheese?

An Old Fashioned Baby Shower [Card]

Keeping with my Bestie's love of all things vintage and shabby chic (and because I found these great planters at Goodwill, her mom and I have decided to throw her a vintage baby shower.

I'll put pictures up of everything as it comes together, but first and foremost, I am so proud of my two vintage cards that I changed to make look like her and her husband. I'll show the original and my edits.

If you're wondering how I did it...two softwares: GIMP and FotoFlexer. GIMP is an online, free to download photoshop-light that allows you to add layers. And FotoFlexer is an online free to use editing software that I've been using for years.

The Original Card

Beautiful, touching, but she does NOT have black hair

So Gimp:

Use the lasso tool to select the area you want to recolor

Go to: Layer: Add new layer

Pick the color that you want to recolor it 

Use the fill bucket

In most cases you then go to the layer menu and select mode from "normal" to "overlay." HOWEVER, if your color is lighter than the original, that doesn't work.

So I chose mode as "lighten only"

Looks a little unnatural. But not TOO bad.

I then went back to "layer" and merged down the layers together and saved it / exported it.

The I went to fotoflexer.com

I uploaded the image

I selected the "effects" tab

Then "tint" and chose a light pink color to tint the entire image.

It took away the starkness of the orange hair, and it gave it a beautiful vintage feel. 

Second card:

She and her hubby both have red hair. His is more blonde with a little red and a redish beard. Hers is red red. 

Found this adorable brunette couple and a baby card:

Gorgeous but they're not brunette.

So off to gimp:

So Gimp:

Use the lasso tool to select the area you want to recolor

Go to: Layer: Add new layer

Pick the color that you want to recolor it 

(I picked an bright orange/red for her hair)

Use the fill bucket

Go to the layer menu and select mode from "normal" to "overlay." 

Tada! Hers looks great. 

Merge layers.

His hair: trickier. 

I once again do the 

So Gimp:

Use the lasso tool to select the area you want to recolor

Go to: Layer: Add new layer

But here's where I have to change it up.

I add four new layers, all of the cutout of his hair.

The first layer I made very light blonde and picked "Lighten Only"

Then I combined the two.

The second layer I made a darker blonde

"overlay"

The third layer a light red "overlay"

The fourth layer a medium red "overlay."

Pick the color that you want to recolor it 

Merge them all.

You get this:

Not bad, but he has a beard.

I google beard drawings. 

I pick one:

I go to fotoflexer and use the "smart cutout" tool to leave ONLY the beard and no background.

I then "tint" the beard:

Tada! Now I layer it over the original picture and I erase off the extra edges and tilt it to fit.

Tada! I made an Aliya & Cody vintage card!

If you want to make the vintage cards you love look like the people you love feel free to use my techniques. And if you don't know what to do for something you can always ask me or google is your friend. And because Gimp and FotoFlexer are both free you can play around on them as long as you want until you get your desired result.