I am a Gemini and if you know anything about astrological
signs, then you know I am a “twin”. I have absolutely no knowledge of
astrological anything but from what I have gathered over my 22 years, a “twin”
has split personalities. Not in the sense that I am literally crazy, but
sometimes this does seem to be the case. As it happens, I am also married to a
Gemini. Thankfully, all four of our personalities all get along, and I think
the more the merrier!
The reason I bring this up is because I have about a million
blogs. Each one of them represents where I was at a certain time in my life,
but once I feel as if I have moved on from that place, my new blogs don’t
really fit into the theme and I create a new one. This drives me crazy!! Part
of the problem is that I am constantly changing… changing my likes and ideas
and passions. Lately I have begun to think it is not actually me changing, but
more just a matter of which personality is dominant at that particular time.
You see, I have these two jackets. I love them both, but
they are completely different. One is a leather jacket that is very badass and flattering
to my figure. The other is a knitted brown sweater that is loose and comfy with
little hobo patches on the elbows that make me look slightly homeless and all
hippie. When I am in my leather jacket I am super mom, I love to plan parties
and entertain and shop. I make dirty jokes, listen to loud music and for some
reason I like to bake cookies and make pot roasts. I am a homemaker with
attitude; I crochet rasta tams for Will’s dreadlocks and wear my favorite lip
gloss. This Jasmine wants to open a catering company for awesome parties full
of awesome food.
My hippie sweater is for the more thoughtful and selfless
Jasmine. The Jasmine who cannot separate a beef steak from the cute fuzzy face
of a sweet little cow, the Jasmine who worries about the impact she is having
on the planet and the Jasmine who wants to open a soup kitchen for those people
who need a warm meal and a hug. This jasmine is more likely to make a batch of
vegan cookies than Toll House (happily I have perfected them to the point where
no one knows the difference) and can be found sipping an espresso macchiato in
her favorite coffee place. I wear less make up in this sweater, I am likely to
have moccasins on my feet and when I am wearing this sweater I make Ally listen
to music instead of watching TV. The problem is, my moccasins don’t look good
with the leather jacket… When I bought them I couldn’t figure out which one was
really me. But I realized I like them both! So what is a girl with split
personalities to do?
I still haven’t fully figured it out. Leather jacket Jasmine
wants to live a life entertaining large groups of friends in her large house
while hippie Jasmine wants to retire on a farm where I can make meals for the
homeless. But for now my two personalities have collaborated with Will’s two
personalities and we have come up with some compromises. One of them is that
from now on the only meat we will consume has to be organic. If I am going to
eat a cow then I want it to have lived, hopefully, the best possible life it
could have (under the circumstances of being born and raised for the purpose of
being food.)
I have a new recipe for a soup that is perfect for this
weather and it is a great example of why sometimes meat is better than no meat
but it still satisfies both personalities. This particular soup does not
actually contain chunks of meat but it does use chicken broth and the
difference in taste is very noticeable if you decide to use water or vegetable
broth. The leather jacket loves those amazing flavors while the hippie feels
good about the chicken broth being organic and is very impressed with the
incredible health benefits of this delicious soup.
Roasted Garlic Soup
Garlic is fantastic
for fighting colds! Perfect for this time of year while the bug is going
around. I adapted this recipe from this month’s Whole Living Magazine with a
few changes that make it even better.
3 small heads of
garlic, halved and roasted
4 cups of organic
chicken broth, bought or homemade
4 potatoes, peeled
and chopped
¼ cup freshly grated
parmesan
Salt and white pepper
to taste
To roast garlic, heat
the oven to 375 degrees. Drizzle your garlic with some olive oil and sprinkle
with salt then wrap it up in foil and roast for 40 minutes. Let it cool and
squeeze out the yummy little garlics from the papery skin and set them aside.
In your soup pot,
bring the stock, potatoes and garlic to a boil then reduce the heat and simmer
for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat, stir in parmesan and blend with an
immersion blender or carefully in your regular blender until smooth. Season
with salt and pepper and serve!
Serves 4
