Soup, Soup, Soup - Minestrone

Minestrone Soup is one of my favorites because it always reminds me of home and my mom's homemade bread.  Almost every time my mom made this soup, she also made bread.  Nothing is better than homemade soup and fresh bread.  Okay, actually, nothing is better than fresh, warm bread.  Ahh, I miss those days . . . but, at least I can still enjoy the soup.  My mom's recipe requires multiple hours - cooking and adding ingredients at various stages; I found that the recipe turns out just as yummy when done in the crock pot, which makes it super convenient.  I love crock pot recipes.  Hope you enjoy this one.


Minestrone Soup
Ingredients
1 lb hamburger or stew meat
1/2 onion, diced
4 Stalks of celery, diced
2 Cans stewed tomato, or equivalent of home-canned tomatoes
2 Cans water
1 cube or tsp beef bouillon
salt and pepper, to taste
1 tsp basil, dried
3-4 Large carrots, cut into pieces
2-3 potatoes, cubed
1/4 C. Rice
Brown hamburger; add onion and celery - saute.  In crock pot, add all ingredients - except for rice - cook on low 6-8 hours,  Add rice the last 30 minutes.
Serves: 4-6

Completely Random

• Can anyone tell me one good thing about earwigs?  We have way too many of them in and around our house and they gross me out.
• Proof that Ken irons more than I do - I had to ask Ken how to refill the water reservoir for the steam feature.
• I love being able to watch football on TV at any given time on Saturday.  But I hate hearing that my college team lost by 1 point in a double OT.
• I love, love, love my new chair . . . especially the stain resistant feature.  The crayon that Amelia colored on the chair wiped right off :)
• I'm not sure which I dislike more: killing a big spider or not killing it and wondering where it went.
• Amelia did nursery all by herself for the full 2 hours last week, but didn't last more than 30 min. this week without Ken.  
• I got started on the baby's pieced quilt this weekend, only to discover that I didn't buy enough fabric of some of the colors because I forgot that not all fabric comes in the same width.  The end result: I'll just make the quilt smaller.

Soup, Soup, Soup - Gazpacho

As the Fall season approaches, my friend, Brenda, encouraged her blog readers to share their favorite soup recipes.   I am obliging her with not only one, but three soup recipes . . . on 3 different posts.  However, my disclaimer is that these will not be one of those cool blogs with step-by-step pictures. They will simply contain the recipe, with a few of my comments thrown in for good taste.


Although my first soup recipe is not a "fall favorite", it's great for this time of year when tomatoes and cucumbers are abundant.  This soup recipe comes from Spain, which I got on my trip to Spain many years ago.  I usually only make this soup once a year, and typically wait until the tomatoes, etc. are in season, for optimal flavor, but you could make this soup any time of year, or for a cool, themed dinner party . . . which has always been my plan, but I have yet to throw a cool, themed dinner party.  So, without further ado, I present "Gazpacho".  Enjoy!

Ingredients

1 3/4 lbs tomatoes
1 tomato, chopped fine - Garnish
1 1/2 red bell peppers
1/2 - 1 red bell pepper, chopped fine - Garnish
1 Cucumber
1 cucumber, chopped fine - Garnish
1         Clove of garlic
1/2 tsp whole cumin
1 tbsp sherry vinegar
1/3 - 1/2 C. dry white bread, crust removed, crumbled
1 c. + olive oil
Water
Salt
Instructions: Clean and chop all vegetables, then place them in a  bowl (except the 3 for garnish), along with the cumin, vinegar, olive oil and bread.  Cover with water, add salt to taste and let sit for a few hours in the refrigerator.  Place ingredients in a blender and liquify.  Strain.  Add more water if necessary and taste for salt.   Let soup chill in fridge for at least 30 min. prior to serving.  Serve very cold with the remaining garnish ingredients.  Serves 5.  Goes great as a side with fish or chicken.

Check another one off the list

 I finally finished Amelia's Christmas stocking.  It took longer than I thought, but at least it's done before the baby comes . . . and for that matter, before Christmas ;) 

Behold, the chair!

After much searching and test-sitting, a compromise was made, and the chair I liked the most was purchased.

(Ken gets to pick out the sofa and love seat when we save up more money.)

Yeah!  Cross one more thing off my to-do list before the baby comes.

18-Months and growing

• Amelia is now old enough to go to nursery at church; she seems okay with it, but we'll have to see how she does when Ken isn't there the whole time.
• Amelia loves vegetables.  The other night I had to bribe her with green beans to get her to eat her chicken.  She will also ask for all the mushrooms I have once she has eaten the mushrooms in her entree.
• Books I have read suggest that by this point, the morning nap disappears and they just have 1 afternoon nap.  Amelia is just the opposite.  Her morning naps keep getting longer and she fights taking an afternoon nap, even though I still need an afternoon nap.
• At 22 lbs she has finally reached the 25% for weight for her age group.
• Her first vocal word is "yep" or "uh-huh".  She continues to add more signs to her vocabulary every day and Ken heard her say "Daddy" today.
• Her pediatrician saw a molar trying to break through, but I haven't had to deal with a grumpy girl, so it must not be hurting her too much.
• She loves to push the cart at the store, rather than ride in it and often gets comments about what a great little helper she is.
• She "reads" stories to herself by signing what she sees in the pictures.
• Amelia loves to help me with whatever I'm doing - putting laundry in/out of the washer/dryer, putting pillows on the bed, etc.
• She has mastered kissing (complete with kissing noises), and kisses everything - the car doors, her stuffed animals, the refrigerator.
• Amelia loves to stop and smell the flowers - real, silk, or on paper.

Random Thoughts

• I'm almost finished with Amelia's Christmas stocking, but I'm burned out from working on it and have little desire to finish it.
• Still chair shopping; Ken and I can't agree one.  I'm tempted to just go buy what I want and apologize afterwards ;)
• 7 weeks to go and I am SO not ready for this baby.  I'm ready for it to be out of me, but there are so many things I need to do (not just want to do) before the baby comes, and I have no momentum to do more than the basics.
• Another week of hot temperatures.  I can't wait for the rain!
• We have a ton of green tomatoes, but none of them seem to be ripening - even with all the heat/ sun we've had lately.  When they do ripen, they'll probably all get ripe at once.
• Ken has started looking at houses to buy; not that we're ready to buy yet, he just wants to see what's out there.  Me - it's too overwhelming; kind of like researching the new car we can't yet afford. 

Labor Day Weekend

Ken kept saying that we needed to get more toys for Amelia, and I kept telling him he had to do it, because I didn't want to (for various reasons) . . . so he came home with this (and a few other items).  And everyone is happy (even if they don't look completely happy in the picture).

We went to Portland for Labor Day weekend.  We were able to do a session at the temple - thank you to the Bullocks, who babysat Amelia.  And then we went with the Bullocks to the Lake Oswego Farmers Market.  The best part was watching Amelia play in the fountains, but sadly, we forgot our camera, so you'll just have to imagine how cute/ fun that was.


On Sunday, we went to Cannon Beach for the day.  It was about ten degrees cooler than it was in Portland, so it was a beautiful day - just right for sitting on the beach and watching people play in the water.

 "Dad, here comes the wave."

 "I don't need any help; I've got this wave."

 "Whatcha doin', Dad?  Digging a hole for me?"

 "I think it needs to be just a big bigger."

"Just right!"

And on Monday, we went to visit Ken's mom.  Amelia found a bowl of rocks, of all shapes and sizes, with water in it, and thought it was the best toy.

She also found a ball that Grandma had, and had fun playing with it with her Daddy.

 Thanks to everyone - we had a great, labor-free, weekend!