It Was a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Stealing a little from Mr. Rogers (whose show, by the way, I never saw) because it perfectly described yesterday.

I began feeling better by degrees--as the day warmed up, I felt better! Well enough to do some computer work, some laundry, some eBay, and even cooking.

In the late afternoon I ventured outside to sit on the swing. I wish I had had my camera then because I was immediately inundated by every four-legged critter we own. I think they must have missed me the last couple days. When I finally went inside for my camera, they went back about their business, of course.

The flowers are in such beautiful bloom right now. Daffodils everywhere. We are missing quite a few under the maple but I believe they were a victim of two dry summers and the thirsty water maple. Still we have plenty to keep me happy.

Larry has been busy as can be outside. His current project is tearing down the old turkey house. We used to raise them but haven't done so for quite a few years and the building had become an eyesore. There's plenty of salvageable lumber and roofing tin though.

Our part of the world is greening up so nicely, and I am so afraid it will all be for nothing because it is just too early. Maybe we'll get lucky. Right now I am happy to sit in the swing and enjoy the beauty. A side benefit of being sick is taking time to do things like that.

I even made some chicken noodle soup from scratch too. It is exactly what I want to eat right now. And being outside to enjoy this soft spring weather? It's exactly what I wanted to do, too.

Here's the basic recipe for the soup:


Chicken Noodle Soup
Boneless chicken, cooked and cut into chunks
Onions and celery, chopped (I used the onions I dried last summer)
Herbs to your taste (I only used parsley this time)
Garlic, black and red pepper
Worchestershire sauce
Water and chicken broth
Noodles

For this soup, since I had no chicken broth, I used bouillon cubes. I used 4 quarts of water and 3 cubes.

Add everything except the noodles to the cooking pot and bring to a boil. When boiling, add the noodles. When it returns to a boil, turn down the heat and cook for about 10 minutes or until the noodles are done.

I don't measure when I make soup bu here's a guess at the amounts I used to make 4 quarts of soup: about 3-4 cups of cut-up cooked chicken, about 1 large onion, 2 stalks of celery, a teaspoon of parsley, 1/2 tsp dried minced garlic, 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, 1/4 tsp black pepper, 1 tsp Worchestershire sauce, 1/2 pound or less of noodles. No salt because bouillon is full of salt and no additional was needed.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.