Yesterday called for soup. It's turned quite cold after Thursday's high winds and heavy rain. I kind of made this one up, basing it on a reciipe I saw online. Tomato-leek-rosemary-rice soup :) Here's the basic recipe--I don't measure so the amounts are approximate, but fairly close:

2 stalks of celery, diced

1 large leek, cleaned, cut and diced

Saute' these, then add

2 tsp chopped fresh rosemary

1 tsp chopped fresh parsley

2 tsp chopped basil (I used a tsp of dried)

Stir over medium/low heat until you can smell the herbs.

Add:

1/2 tsp dried minced garlic

2 cups chicken broth

1 quart canned or fresh tomatoes, or 1 quart tomato juice (I used juice.

Salt & pepper to taste

1-2 drops hot sauce

Simmer until flavors are blended, 15-20 minutes. While this is simmering, cook rice. I use the boil-in-bag rice, takes about 15 minutes which is perfect timing.

Add 2 cups of rice to the soup, simmer for another 10-15 minutes. Adjust seasonings to your taste.

I don't think I've forgotten anything here...

We had grilled cheese sandwiches with it. Perfection!


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

Soup: One Dozen Recipes

Winter has really arrived here in the hills. Last night was a bracing 10 degrees, with a steady wind most of the night. This was the view from my workroom yesterday. I watched the storm rage while I painted, nice and warm with the gas stove and the three dogs. With a fire in the fireplace, the dogs and cats piled up inside and plenty of projects to keep us busy, the weather hasn't really slowed us down much.

But it has made me think of soup. I've made several batches lately, and have a big tub of veggie soup in the fridge right now. I've posted several soup recipes here over the years, so today I thought I'd put together a list of all of them with links so you can find them easily.

First, is there anything as comforting as tomato soup and grilled cheese?

But even better is tomato soup with herb and cheese biscuits!
Both recipes are in this blog post.

Potato soup is a another great tummy warmer, and easy to make in the bargain. Get the recipe for a chunky version here, or click here to try potato leek soup, a smoother, cream soup that's delicious too.

Broccoli Cauliflower soup is flavorful, thick and hearty. perfect for winter days,

and so is Venison Vegetable Soup. When I make it, I use the same recipe as for Vegetable Soup, but leave out the cabbage. I don't like the way cabbage tastes or its texture in canned soups either.

Then there's Cheesy Cauliflower Soup,

and if you still have turkey to use up, try this Tomato-Turkey-Barley Soup. Yum!

There are lots of chicken soup recipes, but when we're not well, the old stand-by is Chicken Noodle Soup, right? A good variation on this is Chicken Rice Soup.

And for something a little more exotic,  Chicken Garbanzo soup.

Butternut Soup--one I like but Larry is iffy about it. No picture of this one.

And finally, the soup that is probably my very favorite, Corn and Cheese Chowder. Yum!

So there you have it, pretty much every soup recipe I've posted since I started this blog in January 2007. Enjoy, and stay warm!


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

Winter's Day-to-Day, and More Soup

Some weeks there's just not a lot to say. Life takes on a comfortable rhythm as we move from one familiar task to another.I am enjoying this slow-down period, I admit. There is something so relaxing about not having any pushing deadlines to meet, nowhere I have to be, nothing critical to be done. This has been one of those weeks; we're busy but with things of our choosing.

The continuing cold certainly impacts our activities; I'd have liked to go out for dinner tonight but with temperatures in the single digits and teens, the fun kind of goes out of it, doesn't it? We did make it out to our Ravenswood Riverbend Mall booth yesterday. A lady in Indiana bought the dining room set on eBay, so we went to rearrange and fill the space it left behind. And just before we arrived two other smaller furniture pieces sold so we had a little work to do. And I piddled around, moving things here and there, tweaking displays and changing things up to give it a fresh look. It's good to see sales still happening even though it's been so cold and snowy for the whole week. I noticed last year that smaller furniture pieces moved better at this time of year so I've been trying to keep a good stock of them in the booths.

We also made a run over to Athens to rearrange stock and begin the process of closing our booth there. After 6 months sales continue to decline and with the long drive it's just not profitable for us to continue at that location. I love having the booths, but it's not just for fun! This venture needs to be at least self-supporting, so with reluctance we made the decision to move out of Athens and concentrate on the two locations where sales are strong. Perhaps we never got a handle on what the people in that region were looking for. We'll be moving things out during February and be officially out of that mall by March 1.

With this cold weather I've been cooking more than usual. I do love to cook but seldom allow time to really get into it except in canning season. This week I've made tomato soup and butternut soup, pork roast and vegetables, chocolate orange shortbread cookies, cranberry bread, omelet, blackberry cobbler, snow ice cream...I just hope I'm not going to end up carrying it all into spring on my bones! Actually, I've been careful. The soups are low-cal and I've eaten sparingly of the rest of it. I just like to cook when it's cold out and I'm inside with no projects hanging over my head.

We made one other trip in the past week, too--all the way up to Wheeling, WV to tell stories at the library. It was cold, cold, cold that day, with snow on the ground and blowing around but the audience was warm and welcoming. Three storytelling friends came out to listen and to have lunch with us, an added treat that made the long snowy drive even more worthwhile.

We stopped at the Wells Inn in Sistersville for coffee and dessert and had a nice chat with owner Charles Winslow. You know, that's something I dearly love about this state and about storytelling--wherever I go we have friends.

I've been doing more catch-up work while looking out at the cold. Things like sorting out more drawers--the top drawer of my dresser is a real junk drawer and even Clyde the cat left in disgust when I dumped it on the bed. I've found all sorts of missing things and broken things and bits of things and just plain junk. I've also been sorting receipts from the past year in anticipation (dreaded anticipation, I should say) of doing the income tax return. No fun, but it's got to be done and this is the time to do it, while life is slow.

photo by Lawrence Pierce

I've also been planning and practicing for the upcoming Groundhog's Day program. Judi Tarowsky and I will be the opening act for French Creek Freddie, the weather-predicting maven of The French Creek Wildlife Center here in West Virginia. So I'm brushing up on groundhogology and getting a few songs lined up in preparation. The Center s planning a fun time for visitors on February 2, as the groundhog makes his appearance and lets us know what to expect for the rest of the winter. Judi and I will entertain before and after Freddie, and we're excited about being part of this fun event.

That's about all we've been doing, in addition to the usual pricing for the booths and Larry's furniture refinishing. He finished the washstand he's been working on; isn't it lovely? He's moved on to two or three new pieces in addition to just keeping things taken care of around here--winter weather means extra attention to the animals, keeping firewood ready for the fireplace, clearing walks and keeping the vehicles running. I feel lucky to have a man around to do all that cold, heavy work. I'm spoiled, I know.

Simple, homey things, delightfully unimportant and yet important for the winter-bound soul. What's been happening at your house?

Oh, and here's the recipe for the Butternut Soup. It's absolutely delicious!

2 medium butternut squash, peeled and cubed in 1" cubes
1 large onion, diced
2-3 tablespoons butter
6 cups chicken broth (I used bouillon and water)
salt and pepper to taste
nutmeg to taste

Melt the butter in a large pot. Add the onions and cook til soft and transparent. Add the broth and squash; cook until the squash is soft and mashable. Dip the cooked squash out of the liquid and blend in a blender until smooth. Put the pureed squash back into the broth, add salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste.

That's it! Easy and delicious. I would never have thought I'd like it!

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

Creamy Broccoli-Cauliflower Cheese Soup with Other Veggies

I felt like cooking today. It's been snowing all day, cold and windy and although the snow hasn't accumulated it still feels like winter outside. The maple is trying to bud and the snow piling on it makes it look like cherry blossoms. So, to warm me up, I cooked.

First was vegetable-venison soup for the canner (recipe here). I like to keep this soup on hand for those days when there's no time to cook.

As I put the first pot of soup together, I realized that I needed touse up some things there were in the freezer compartment of my fridge: cranberries, broccoli and cauliflower. That meant more soup--and cranberry orange bread.  When the bread was in the oven, I got to work concocting a recipe to make some thick, chunky, satisfying soup on this snowy-thinks-it's-still-February day.

This makes a large batch so you'll have some left to freeze for later. (I know, I needed freezer space and now i'll be putting soup back in there! Oh well.)

Here's what you need:

1 head of cauliflower, or a bag of frozen cauliflower. (I used a quart bag I'd frozen last summer)

1 head of broccoli (or ditto on the frozen)

1-2 cups of grated cheese (cheddar is best, but I used cheddar and the rest of a bag of Mexican grated cheese)

 2 medium sized potatoes

 1/2 cup of celery, chopped (I used 2 TBSP dried celery leaves because I was out of celery)

 1 onion, chopped

 2 cups of sliced carrots

1-2 teaspoons Worchestershire sauce (I used 2)

1 teaspoon black pepper

Cook all of the vegetables until tender. I cooked the broccoli, cauliflower and onions together, the potatoes and carrots each in their own pans. I added the dried celery leaves later.

Puree cauliflower, broccoli, onions and celery. Mash the potatoes and carrots (I left them a little chunky to add texture to the soup). Mix all of the vegetables together. Add the Worchestershire sauce and the pepper. Set aside.

Next you need:

2 TBSP butter
2 TBSP cornstarch
3-4 cups chicken broth (1 1/2-2 cans)
1 to 2 teaspoons paprika

Melt the butter in a heavy, 2 quart saucepan. Add the cornstarch and stir with a whisk til smooth. Add the chicken broth slowly and continue to stir. Cook over high heat, stirring constantly, until it reaches a boil. Continue to boil for one minute, still stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add the paprika and the grated cheese. Stir until the cheese is melted and the paprika is well blended into the mixture. (Then taste--it's divine! A little salty at this stage, but that will change).

Add the chicken broth and cheese mixture to the vegetables. Stir well. You're done!

This makes between 3 quarts and a gallon of soup, so it's plenty for a large family, for company, or to store away the leftovers in the freezer for later.

Linking today to Try a New Recipe Tuesday. Need inspiration? This is the place to find it!

 Copyright 2012 Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Cold,Snow, and Soup

That about sums up what's been going on around here. With temperatures down into the single digits,little bits of snow falling every day since Thursday (or was it Wednesday?), and some days with strong winds, it's been, well...winter. Finally. I would be enjoying it more if I hadn't managed to catch this sore throat-sinus thing that's been going around. Still, it's been beautiful. And before the yucks caught me, I did get out to enjoy some of what Mother Nature's been doing.

I was wishing for some food coloring when I saw these! Have you ever tried dripping a little food coloring on the top of icicles? I saw it once near my son's house, and it was beautiful--pinks,greens, yellows and blues all  in light pastel shades, captured in long icicles. If I can get out to the store again, I'll have to get some.

I don't think I will ever have enough pictures of this little cabin on our road.

The feeders have been really busy this month.Larry keeps them filled and the birds seem to appreciate it.

They all took flight, however, when these two showed up.

Charlie and Clyde were on their way to the food bowl--they have been staying inside a good bit lately, as have the dogs. The cats, particularly, Clyde, hate the snow.

We did get into town early on Saturday to get some things taken care of before the predicted snow (which was not nearly as much as forecast!). We stopped by our Ravenswood booth to pay our rent and pick up our check which was better than expected. January is a slow month in the antiques business so we were prepared for low sales. However, things had picked up by the end of the month so it wasn't too bad. I got my eBay packages out because when it snows my mail carrier can't come down to the house for them.

Besides being sick and generally miserable, I tackled a few things. I did some listings on eBay and prepared a postcard mailing to state parks to promote my campfire program. And I cooked--why is it when I'm sick I enjoy cooking so much? This time it was chicken and rice soup and chocolate chip-oatmeal-pecan cookies, and black beans with rice and salsa for Larry.

Today I have more eBay packages to mail out and more mailings to prepare. Judging by the way this bug did with Larry, I don't think I'll be up for much more than that. On the plus side, I know I'm on the back side of it now so maybe by the weekend I'll be feeling slightly more normal. Stay warm, everyone.

Here's the recipe for the soup:

2 cups of cooked chicken cut into 1/2 inch squares
1 cup of sliced carrots
1 cup of chopped celery
1 cup of diced onions
1-2 cloves of chopped garlic
2 chicken bouillon cubes, or use 2 cups of chicken broth
2-3 cups of water (depends on how strong you like your soup broth and whether you use bouillon or broth)
dash of red pepper flakes
1 TBSP Worchestshire sauce
salt and black pepper to taste
2 cups of cooked rice

Cook all but the rice until the carrots and other vegetables are soft. Add the rice and cook about 10 minutes longer. Adjust seasonings to your taste.

This is a good recipe for using up leftover rice and/or chicken. You can substitute  turkey for the chicken too.

Copyright 2012 Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Soup for the Sick

It's time to make soup. I caught some kind of bug, so I made my I'm-sick-and-I-want-comfort-food-soup. It's really just chicken noodle but when I'm not feeling well, tea, soft boiled eggs, oranges and chicken noodle soup are the foods I can stomache.

Here's my chicken noodle soup recipe (this time, anyway. It changes from one time to another.)

2 quarts of water
3 chicken bouillon cubes or 3 cups of chicken broth
3 stalks of chopped celery
1 cup of chopped carrots
1 or 2 onions, chopped (I used 2 medium)
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
herbs of your choice, to your taste. I used rosemary and marjarom.
1-2 cloves of chopped garlic
dash or two of hot sauce
salt to taste
black pepper to taste
1-2 cups of cooked chicken, cubed
12 ounces of egg noodles

Put everything except the noodles in the pot in the order listed, turning the heat on as soon as you have the water in the pot. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Add the noodles and cook until they are done, about 10 minutes.

This makes enough to get me through, and there's usually enough for Larry as well. He doesn't even need to be sick to like it!


Copyright 2012 Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

A Soup Kind of Day

It's been that kind of day. After working hard Thursday and Friday getting our booth set up, we settled in Friday evening to watch the snow fall. Yesterday we tried to get motivated to get something done, but it never worked out--both of us were just plain tired! I had a small performance last night too, that I needed to get ready for.

So we watched the snow, piddled around and then left for Charleston in the evening--thankfully the snow had stopped. And what had been predicted as 4-7" of the white stuff only ended up amounting to 3 inches here on the ridge and about an inch elsewhere. Big letdown after all the hype! But up here, it was beautiful and it was nice to see after such a snow-less winter.

Today we got to work. The house was a mess after all that moving of stuff; there was hardly a flat surface clear for sitting. So we worked on picking up and putting away before moving on to other projects. My main project today was paper--sorting out receipts from last year and getting them filed. I had been pretty good about keeping up with them until the fall, then I got so busy I just let them pile up. It's amazing how much paper can accumulate. Now I have them all rough-sorted for the storytelling part of my life; the household part is organized and filed away. Tomorrow I will tackle the storytelling receipts and get them into the spreadsheet. And call an accountant to set up an appointment. There is just too much involved with our taxes for last year to attempt to do them myself this time. Next year, I think I can get back to doing it alone, but with retirement and the land sale it just gets complicated.

I took a break in filing to make soup. It was definitely a soup kind of day and I had a hankering for a soup with barley--and tomatoes. What I ended up making was Tomato-Turkey-Barley Soup with cornbread.  Here's the basic recipe:

Tomato, Turkey, and Barley Soup
1 quart canned tomatoes
3 cups water (or more, depending on how thick you like your soup)
3 cups cooked turkey, cut into small pieces
1/4 cup dried celery leaves
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tablespoon dried parsley leaves
1/2 teaspoon dried chopped garlic, or 2 cloves, chopped
3 chicken bouillon cubes
1 tsp hot sauce
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 cup pearl barley

Turn on the stove; pour the canned tomatoes into a 4-quart or larger pot and add the water. Add all the est of the ingredients to the pot in the order listed. Cook for about 45 minutes, or until the barley is tender and ready to eat.

I served this with yellow cornbread and pumpkin butter. It was a feast, perfect for a cold winter's day. There's enough left for tomorrow too. Now that just makes me happy. You can find my cornbread recipe here and my pumpkin butter recipe here--both so simple to make and so good, especially together.

Recipe: Cheesy Cauliflower Soup

It's one of those soup kind of days. Snowing, with a cold cold wind and low temperatures. A great day for staying inside, baking bread, spoiling the pets and making soup.

Even the dogs are in today. With the temperature not even reaching 20 and the wind howling like a banshee,  these tough boys cried uncle. I don't think Jeb could get closer to the heat if he tried.

I wonder how many of you work like this: I was making bread and realized that the eggs needed to be put in the fridge. When I went to put the eggs away, I saw that there was a head of cauliflower starting to go bad. Cauliflower is dear enough these days without wasting it, so in my usual one-thing-leads-to-another style, I decided to make cheesy cauliflower soup. I've never made it before but I've eaten it and it seemed like it would be easy enough to make.

It was. I cleaned up the cauliflower and cooked it in a cup or so of water until it was soft. Then I dumped it in the blender (with the cooking liquid) and whirled it on pulse for about 15 seconds. The cauliflower was pureed, but still a little chunky, which was what I wanted. I ended up with about two cups.

To make the soup base, I melted 5 tablespoons of butter in a 2-quart saucepan, and added a chopped clove of garlic. When the butter was melted, I added a few tablespoons of corn starch (I seldom measure so giving precise amounts is really hard for me) to the butter, enough to make a smooth paste, and cooked that until it was bubbling. I added milk, a little at a time at first and stirring it in so that there were no lumps. I continued adding milk until I had added between 3 and 4 cups.

I stirred this mixture almost constantly, adding about a teaspoon each of dried parsley and celery leaves, 1/2 teaspoon of crushed red pepper, 1/4 teaspoon of ground black pepper, and a half teaspoon of salt while it was cooking. When the soup began to bubble, I cooked and stirred for a few minutes longer, then turned off the heat and added cheese.

Now I thought I had a package of grated cheese, but I had only a quarter of a cup or so. That led to more rummaging in the fridge; I found some sliced American cheese and some sliced Jalapeno Jack cheese. So I used the grated cheese, 3 slices of the American and 2 of the Jack and stirred it all in until it was melted. The cauliflower was added last and stirred in well. And then? The soup was done! It was delicious, exactly as I remembered it tasting when I've had it in restaurants.

Of course, while rummaging in the cabinet for a pot to cook the soup, I realized that a cleanout of the pots and pans was needed because I couldn't open the cabinet without things falling out. So after lunch, I sorted out the pots and pans. A few are heading to Goodwill and several are not boxed up to be listed on eBay one day. And lids! I had so many lids that had no pots! How does that happen? The cabinet is now sorted, I found many missing things which makes me happy.

And that soup, oh, that made me happy too. And there is enough left for lunch tomorrow. Yum!

Throw-Away Soup and Grape Juice

That's soup made from leftovers that might otherwise be thrown away. Today's soup was made from about a cup leftover boiled squash in butter, 4 leftover tomato slices from breakfast, and half of a grilled chicken breast left from dinner. A trip to the garden supplied a handful of royal burgundy beans (purple when raw, green when cooked), a couple stalks of celery, one onion and one big leaf of cabbage from a plant that had been beheaded already. From the cellar I grabbed a handful of potatoes.

All the veggies were cleaned, chopped and put into the pot together. I added a bouquet garni that contained a piece of chive, some winter savory, some parsley and some thyme. I added about 3 cups of water and a chicken bouillion cube and set the soup to cooking. About 20 minutes later it was done and filling the kitchen with lovely smells. I added some salt and pepper and lunch was ready.

It was delicious. A glass of the white grape juice I made yesterday and a thick slice of homemade bread spread with butter and pear conserve finished off the meal.

And to think, most of the ingredients would have ended up in the compost bucket.

I found some good things during my garden visit:

Celery, lilac peppers, a small tomato, some broccoli flowerets, a few cucumbers and the Royal Burgundy beans make a nice still life. The gardens are winding down but there is still plenty to be harvested and still some canning to do.

Today I worked on grapes again. I put up white grape juice yesterday (that's actually a lot darker than the store kind)

and today Larry brought in all of the red grapes and the remainder of the Concords.

I should be a winemaker with all this bounty!

I ended up with 20 quarts of delicious juice and 20 pints of grape jelly (some from the red and purple grapes, and some from the white grapes). We've eaten grapes daily for the past two weeks, too. The grapes don't do so well every year so I am enjoying it.

Friends and Potato Soup

I am so excited! Catherine Crowe is coming to visit! Catherine is an amazing Celtic enameling artist and a beautiful ballad singer. I met her this summer at Augusta Heritage Irish Week, and we stayed in touch on Facebook. That's how I learned that she was coming to Cedar Lakes to teach a Road Scholar class on enameling. We've been emailing back and forth trying to find a time to get together.

What does this have to do with potato soup? I invited Catherine for dinner and since I work all day I thought I'd make something in advance that was simple and would be easy to heat up. With this cool fall weather, soup seemed like a good choice--soup, with cornbread made from the stone-ground meal I bought at Jackson's Mill , a salad, and poached pears with vanilla gelatto and drizzled with our honey for dessert. Add wine, good coffee and conversation. Stir well. Should serve three comfortably.

Here's the soup recipe. Talk about easy!

Peel and cut up about 4 cups of potatoes. You don't have to peel, of course, but I did.

Dice 3 stalks of celery and one or two onions. I'm not sure how much I used because I used my frozen onions--I put in a little less than half of a quart bag.

Chop up one large clove of garlic, about a teaspoonful.

Melt 1/4 cup of butter in a dutch oven--about a 4-6 quart pan. Add the chopped veggies and saute until the onions are clear.

Cover the sauteed vegetables with boiling water, add about 1/2 teaspoon of salt (optional) and 3 bay leaves (also optional, but I like them). and cook until the potatoes are soft.

At this point you can put the pan in the fridge and finish making the soup the next day, or continue to the next steps.

Here's where you can make some choices. You can put the soup through the blender for smooth soup, mash it with a potato masher for a chunky soup (my preference) or not mash the veggies at all. You can also add some milk to the blended soup and cook to a boil, adding a little more butter and some paprika. Or you can mash with a masher, add the paprika and maybe a little ground black pepper and no milk at all. I chose this last option. In the photo above, I had not yet mashed the soup so the vegetables were still pretty chunky.

Actually, I've made this soup twice in the past day. I made it Sunday night because I thought Catherine was coming tonight perhaps---we had not got it all figured out. I thought I was good to go for tomorrow but when I got home, I found that Larry had eaten a goodly portion of it for lunch! So I made it again. It's so simple it only takes about 10 minutes to chop the vegetables and another 15 or so to cook the soup.

Two other favorite potato soup recipes are potato-dill soup and potato-corn chowder (that is luscious!). I haven't posted the potato-dill soup recipe yet, but you can find the chowder recipe by clicking here. All are perfect for fall and winter meals. Comfort food at its best.

Banana Bread and Vegetable Soup

It was a cold, cold night, down to about 5 degrees. After breakfast I decided to add to the heating efforts of the woodstove by cooking something for lunch.

I looked around the kitchen and found:
two over-ripe bananas in the fruit basket

In the refrigerator:

some wilting celery
ditto some grape tomatoes
1/2 of a cabbage
1/2 a jar of canned tomatoes
1/2 a big can of hominy
a round steak that needed to be used
some onion in a baggie, already cut up
rosemary and thyme picked from the garden yesterday, just to smell

It was evident that I needed to make banana bread and vegetable soup.

In the photo above, you can see the condition of my banana bread recipe. Now it's neatly re-typed in my computer, so I don't have to worry about trying to read the old recipe. I made muffins instead of a loaf because they're easier to carry in my lunch.

For the soup I used all the things listed above (except the bananas!) and added:

2 beef boullion cubes
Worchester sauce
some ground 3-color pepper and some crushed red pepper
salt
a few potatoes and carrots, cut up
a clove of garlic
some water

I used the celery tops and cut the rest into sticks, freshened in water.

The soup reminded me of my mother's soup-making. She did exactly the same thing, using whatever was in the refrigerator and coming up with some amazing combinations that worked well. Her mantra in the kitchen was "waste not, want not." A good rule to follow, and a good way to make some soup that's just right for a very cold day.

The pot I made this morning will provide lunches for Larry and I for most of the week, so I've saved time as well as money.

Here's the banana bread recipe:

Banana Bread

1 cup mashed bananas
2½ cups flour (all-purpose)
1 cup sugar
3½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3 TBSP canola oil
¾ cup milk
1 egg
nuts (optional)

Measure all ingredients into a mixing bowl.

Beat with a fork until well-blended.

Pour into a greased loaf pan or muffin pans.

Bake loaf for 1 hour at 350 degrees. or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Bake muffins for about 25 minutes; use the toothpick test.
Makes 1 loaf or 12 muffins.

Soup for a Winter's Day

What better meal for a dreary winter day than soup? This recipe has some unusual ingredients (at least they seem so to me) but the combination is delicious. I found it online, but made a lot of changes to suit what I had available to me in my cabinets. With gas at $3.25 a gallon today, we're not making any extra trips to town (and it's a 40-minute round trip, not counting time spent in a store).

Chicken-Garbanzo Soup

2 cans chicken broth (or 4 cups)

2 tbsp canola oil

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp salt (optional, in my opinion)

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper

3 TBSP Worchestire sauce

15 oz can of garbanzo beans, or 2 cups cooked beans

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup chopped celery

1 TBSP lemon juice

1/4 tsp ground cloves

pinch of ground white pepper

Combine these ingredients in a 4-quart pan and bring to a boil. Simmer for 30 minutes. Then add:

1 cup green peas

1 pint canned tomatoes, chopped, or 1 large fresh tomato, chopped

1 cup chopped carrots

1/c cup cooked rice

1 cup water

Simmer for another 10-15 minutes, or until the added vegetables are cooked to your taste (some people like their carrots crunchy, some like then softer).

I served with Cheesy Drop Biscuits.

Corn and Cheese Chowder

This is all that was left tonight of a large pot of delicious chowder

A houseful of guests this weekend! Tonight I remembered an old favorite and decided to make it again. It was as delicious as I remembered it, and so easy to make. This soup is thick and rich, a perfect meal for a cold Sunday evening. We accompanied it with pumpernickel bread and spinach dip.

I tend to not be exact with proportions when cooking, so all of these ingredients can be considered "abouts." Adjust to suit your own taste.

One quart (32 oz) of canned or frozen corn
16 oz of chicken broth, or 2 chicken boullion cubes and 1 pint water
1 cup water

Bring corn, water and broth to a boil. Then add:

1-2 cups chopped celery
1 cup chopped onion
4 cups potatoes, cut into 1" pieces
1 tsp dried chopped garlic, or 1 clove of garlic, chopped
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp salt

Simmer until the vegetables are soft. Then add:


1 quart of milk (I use 2%)
1 or 2 cups grated cheddar cheese

Stir until the cheese is melted and the soup is hot all through.

This recipe made enough for 4 men with healthy, outside-all-day appetites, 2 women and 2 children, with about a quart left over to enjoy tomorrow for lunch.