French Onion Soup

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French Onion Soup

There are only a couple places that we like to go for French Onion Soup, but we can assure you that nothing beats T.W.O.’s French Onion Soup! It’s savory, light and healthier than most recipes! Every minute cooking it will be worth it in the end!

Ingredients:
– Beef broth*
– 5 sweet onions, sliced
– 1 bottle dark beer
– ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
– 3 cloves garlic, minced
– Salt
– Pepper
– Olive oil
– Baguette, sliced
– Mozzarella, sliced

*The secret to this recipe is the broth.  T.W.O. used the broth from their seven-bone roast they cooked a couple nights before.  The meat was seasoned with Montreal Steak seasoning and onion soup mix.  Make sure to strain the broth before using it for your French Onion Soup!

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Sautee the onions and garlic in olive oil for 8-10 minutes or until soft.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

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In a pot, bring the beef broth to a boil.  Add the garlic and onions.  Slowly stir in the beer, balsamic vinegar and fresh pepper.  Cook on high heat for 1 minute.

Bring the temperature down to low and cover the soup.  Cook for about 40 minutes to 1 hour.

Once the soup is ready, ladle some into an oven safe bowl.  Turn the oven on broil or 500°F.  Put the bread in the oven and broil until a little toasted.  Once toasted, put the bread in the soup and top with a slice of mozzarella.

Place the soup in the oven and broil for about 3 minutes or until the cheese browns a bit.  Remove from the oven and place on a plate so you don’t burn your hands!

Ready to serve! Happy cooking.

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Stay Fit in 2014

We all make New Year’s Resolutions and most of them involve EXERCISING. Here are a couple ways to stay fit and feel healthy in the New Year:

1. Take the stairs instead of the elevator

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2. Sit on an exercise ball while watching TV

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3. Take a break from desk work and walk around the office building at least once a day

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4. Try a new exercise class like Pilates or boxing

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5. When you wake up or before you go to bed, do 3 sets of 1 minute planks. (That is only 3 minutes out of your day)

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6.  Use your canned vegetables or soup as weights while cooking (3 sets of 20 curls)

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7. Sit up straight in your chair…don’t slouch. This will help you keep a strong core and prevent back problems.

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8. On the weekends, ride your bike or walk instead of driving

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9. Take hikes instead of watching TV

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The key to accomplishing your goals is to find a fit-buddy and encourage each other! Before you know it, summer will be here and you know what that means…swimsuit time!

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Goodbye San Francisco, Hello Southern California

After nine and a half years, it was time for T.W.O. to be back in the same city. We went to college in different cities – San Diego and Santa Barbara- and then we began our careers in different cities – San Diego and San Francisco. Five and a half years of living in San Francisco, K will be now moving back to the sunny, sandal wearing, coastal part of California. San Francisco was a great chapter and this post will be dedicated to some of the best moments K had in San Francisco. Along the way friends were made, goals completed, became Vice President of the Walk to Work Club, volunteered, experienced city living, shared many laughs, captured many moments with the camera and most importantly learned more about myself. I am truly going to miss my family and my friends that still live back in SF, but I know that I will be visiting. You can take the girl out of the city, but you can’t keep her from visiting! Cheers to memories that will stay with me forever!

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Bay Area Sporting Events

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Ciao Ciao San Francisco!

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Artichoke & Spinach Pizza

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Do you know what night it is?? Yep, that’s right…Friday Night Pizza Night! We are featuring an Artichoke & Spinach Pizza this week. It’s a hearty pizza with a béchamel-style sauce and fresh spinach that will please any crowd. Check out how to make this delicious, gourmet pizza below!

Ingredients

– Pizza Dough*
– Cornmeal
– Flour
– 8 oz fresh spinach, divided
– 2 Tablespoon butter
– 2 Tablespoon unbleached flour
– ¾ cup milk
– ¼ teaspoon onion powder
– 2 cloves garlic, diced
– 1 Tablespoon Extra Virgin olive oil
– 6 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded
– 2 ounces Pecorino Romano, grated
– 1-8 ounce can of marinated artichoke hearts
– Krazy Salt
– Fresh Ground Pepper

 *T.W.O. used pizza dough from VJB Deli.

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Preheat oven to 425ᴼF.

Roll out the pizza dough on a floured/ cornmeal surface. Once the dough is evenly rolled out, transfer the dough to a greased cookie sheet.

In a large sauté pan, heat 1 Tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat for about 1 minute. Add ¾ of the spinach and sauté for 3 minutes or until wilted. Remove from heat and place on paper towels. Once some of the oil is drained, chop the spinach and set aside.

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In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Whisk in flour and onion powder and cook for 2 minutes. Slowly add the milk and increase the temperature to medium-high heat for about 4 minutes or until the sauce thickens. Make sure you are stirring constantly, so the sauce doesn’t burn. Remove from heat and stir in 1 clove of diced garlic, pepper, Krazy Salt and sautéed spinach.

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Chop the remaining fresh spinach and set aside.

Add the white béchamel spinach sauce to the top of the pizza dough. Add the fresh spinach along with the remaining 1 clove of chopped garlic. Sprinkle the shredded mozzarella and Pecorino Romano cheese on top.

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Let the pizza rise for about 15 minutes. Note – you don’t want to put the pizza in a cold oven, so make sure your oven reaches 425ᴼF.Once the oven is ready, place the pizza in the oven and watch closely. Do not open the oven door, as you want to keep the heat in. The pizza will take 15-20 minutes. Once done, take the pizza out of the oven and let it sit for 5 minutes prior to cutting.

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Happy Friday Night Pizza Night!

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Tips for Thought in 2014

NY Day Post

Tip #1: Saving a Cell Phone

If your phone accidentally ends up going for a dip in the water, don’t freak out right away.  The old trick of rice does actually work if you use  a mixture of brown rice and basmati rice.  Uncle Ben’s doesn’t make the cut! The mixture of brown and basmati rice soaks up the water that is in your phone.  NOTE – T.W.O. does not guarantee this will work for every phone, but its worth a try, right?  Thank you to a special someone for the science experiment project!

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Tip #2: Fast Track to Drying Painted Nails

Have you ever left the house with wet nails? Or too impatient to let your freshly painted nails to dry and decide to move onto something else that causes the polish to get ruined? This mostly likely has happened to all of us at least once or twice in our lives. But don’t worry, T.W.O. has a solution! Cold water! After painting your nails, place your fingers into a bowl of  ice cold water for  about 1-2 minutes. If you don’t have a bowl handy, run your hands underneath cold water from the faucet. Wah-lah! You are ready to walk out the door without messing up your nails!

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Christmas Recap

T.W.O. had a wonderful Christmas spending it with family last week.  We were fortunate to have been able to celebrate for an entire week with our family.  Check out some of the highlights of our holiday.

Pre-Christmas

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Chrismtas Eve

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Christmas

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New Years Eve Tablescape

T.W.O.’s Inspiration

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T.W.O.’s Design Board

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1.  Charge-It-By-Jay. Black Round Chargers; 2. Solaris Dinnerware; 3. Stainless Steel Sphere; 4. Miranda Flutes;5. Vega Star; 6. Spike Napkin Ring; 7.Mercury Tealight Holders; 8. Ella Napkin

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9.  Mercury Glass Logs; 10. Pascual Mirrored Tray11. Nest Runner

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Post-Christmas Workout

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T.W.O. is up early and ready to burn off the Christmas calories.  We put on some of our new Nike gear we got for Christmas and took it for a test run followed by a Pilates class.  Check out our new workout clothes below.  Hope you all get out there and shape-it out too! #weruntoeat

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Nike ‘Pro Hyperwarm’ Training Topimage

Nike ‘Pro Hyperwarm’ Print Tightsimage

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Nike ‘Leg-A-See’ Tights

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