Soup Sunday's

Last night we had our second weekly Soup Sunday!! It was a success. I made Sausage Lentil soup. It wasn't completely from scratch, Thomas and I went to this great nursery by our house called Watson's and they had a package of this soup. I love that place. We had to get sausage and beef broth then I doctored it up too adding celery and cayenne pepper and red pepper flakes. We got a fresh loaf of sourdough and heated it up in the oven. I must say that Soup Sunday's are great. I just learned that my grandpa held "Soup Sunday's" when my mom was growing up, so that is kind of a fun little unknown tradition that I am keeping up!

Enjoy your week!

May the good saints protect you and bless you today and may trouble ignore you each step of the way - Irish blessing

Week in Review

So, our week has been somewhat eventful. I was able to bring pumpkin soup to work several days for lunch. It was still good the next few days!! I must say that I am a pretty good cook, Thomas agrees.

I went to my very first Zumba class on Monday. It was pretty fun, I would go again but I don't think that I am completely hooked. But it was still fun.

Thomas and I had Thursday off due to Veterans Day. While we did recognize them we also went up to Seattle to go to the Seattle Science Center to the Harry Potter exhibit. It was not what I had expected but it was still really fun. I know that the costumes were on fake manikins but I could not get over how small everything was. Hermione made me feel like a giant when I saw how small her clothes were. It was really cool to see so many of the things they used in the movies. I thought that the shop at the end was pretty cool how you could get a real wand, well not a real wand but the ones that they used in the movies. It was however, a little unnerving that you could by Voldemort's wand.

Saturday, Thomas and I did some much needed things around the house and finally got the awful, ugly brass screen off our fireplace. We had our first fire of the season last night, we used a duraflame log. Now we are trying to build a fire with wood we got from my parents and some stubborn newspaper, its taken about 25 minutes but I think that it has finally caught on, its crackling and really fun! I love this time of year. Just a week and a half until Thanksgiving!! I am so excited!

[recipe] Soup Sunday's

During the summer, I thought it would be fun to start a new tradition in our household (of TWO) and that was to make a soup on Sunday. I haven't really gotten the tradition off the floor so to speak as I have only done it about 4 times.

Never the less, since this is the First Sunday of the Month, I have no excuses so today I made soup for dinner. And that soup is Pumpkin Soup, I have to say it was pretty good and I gather I would be interested in making it again. I did make some changes to the recipe. I did not add any maple syrup and I added cayenne pepper to make it a little spicy. It did take A LOT of salt to bring it to the right seasoning.


If you are interested here is the recipe courtesy of Better Homes and Gardens.

Ingredients

• 2 medium carrots, sliced
• 2 Tbsp. butter
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 stalk celery, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 15-oz. cans pumpkin
• 1 32-oz. box reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 cup half-and-half or light cream
• 1/2 cup water
• 3 Tbsp. maple syrup
• 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
• 1 Recipe Spiced Croutons, recipe below
• Celery leaves (optional)

Directions

1. In large saucepan cook carrots in hot butter over medium heat for 2 minutes; add onion, celery, and garlic. Cook 8 to 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender.
2. Stir in pumpkin, broth, half-and-half, water, maple syrup, and pumpkin pie spice. Heat through. Season with salt and pepper.
3. To serve, top soup with Spiced Croutons and celery leaves. Makes 8 side-dish servings.
Spiced Croutons:In bowl toss 3 cups 1-inch bread cubes with 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice. In large skillet cook bread cubes in 2 tablespoons hot butter 8 minutes or until toasted, turning occasionally.

Nutrition Facts

• Servings Per Recipe 8 side-dish servings
• Calories200,
• Total Fat (g)9,
• Saturated Fat (g)5,
• Monounsaturated Fat (g)2,
• Polyunsaturated Fat (g)1,
• Cholesterol (mg)21,
• Sodium (mg)590,
• Carbohydrate (g)28,
• Total Sugar (g)11,
• Fiber (g)4,
• Protein (g)5,
• Vitamin C (DV%)12,
• Calcium (DV%)9,
• Iron (DV%)14,
• Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet

Not only did I make soup today but Thomas and I went shopping at Ikea (love that place) and got a new coffee table. It is a large rectangle that is a dark wood color and it is perfect.

I also had a problem sleeping last night, I woke up at 2:00am or was it 3:00am - who knows with the time change - and could not fall back asleep. I tried laying with my eyes closed counting backwards from 100 which usually works, nope, then I tried reading, got through two chapters and only 2 left, nope so UP I was for the day and still going strong. I did have a 10 minute period during church this morning where it felt good to close my eyes but I am pretty sure I was awake the whole time. Hopefully I will get to sleep tonight, since I have to go back to work.

Holiday's

Ok so I am now officially on the countdown to the holidays with Halloween just over. While I am super excited for Thanksgiving, the whole Christmas season is way more exciting.

Halloween was a laid back holiday this year. Thomas and I got more headstones to go in our front yard to make a graveyard. We carved pumpkins and got lots of candy for all the little trick or treaters we were hoping to get. I turned on lights in the house lit the pumpkins and waited in costume to greet them and hand out candy. But No such luck, we were stiffed. We did not get one trick or treater what a bust, on the positive side we have lots of candy that we can get on a sugar high from.

I need to begin decorating for Thanksgiving in my house and outside as well. We still have a lot of Halloween stuff up. I just haven't made time to do it yet. Our pumpkins are rotting on the doorstep and I don't think that I can in my right mind give them to the chickens - so into the yard waste they will go. Hopefully today. As far as decorating for Thanksgiving, I am not too sure what to do. All I can think of are turkeys, gourds, and leaves. Maybe I will make a garland of leaves to hang on the mantel.

I do have a little bit of a creative side in me. I have fallen in love with block letters, though they are hard to find. So, I found these great wooden blocks at Michaels (except they only carry like 3 at a time and don't replace them for 5 months) that I always buy every time I see them there. I am determined to get enough to have a word or saying for each holiday. So far all I have is for Valentine's Day "LOVE". Each block is painted a different color that goes with the holiday and then I stencil on the letters. I have acquired enough blocks for Thanksgiving to say "GIVE THANKS" and I believe that I have enough colors to make it. I was however lucky to find blocks for Easter "EASTER" and for Halloween "WICKED". The blocks are displayed on the mantel of my fireplace.

I have been receiving daily emails from Better Homes and Gardens for ideas in decorating your house for Christmas. I am so inspired and I cannot wait to begin. I am going to make wreaths to hang in the windows, a garland to go around the garage door, and "candles" to go on the windowsills. More ideas to come and pictures might be posted if I can remember how to post them.