Soup

I made soup.

Is this a big deal? Well, yes and no. First, it's not a big deal because I make soup fairly often. But second, it is a big deal because I followed a recipe. You see, I usually make soup when we have food to use up from the refrigerator or freezer and I make it with no set formula of ingredients, spices, or amounts. Usually, it turns out very good. But sometimes it doesn't.

Therefore, I decided since this week I was going to make soup for friends, I would follow a recipe to ensure a good outcome. Broccoli cheese soup was my choice. I read several recipes and reviews of broccoli soups and decided on one from Cooking Light. But I guess old habits die hard. On my way to follow the recipe, I changed at least eight things including adding ingredients, changing ingredients, changing amounts and changing cooking methods. And guess what? I got lucky. It turned out great.

Now you may wonder how that counts for following a recipe? It counts because I had one posted on the refrigerator. Usually there is not a recipe anywhere in sight.

Here's what I ended up with.

Broccoli Cheese Soup

by June

1 medium onion-chopped

2 cloves garlic-- minced 

3 cups chicken broth

1 8 oz. package of frozen broccoli florets

2 large carrots-sliced

1 medium potato-chopped

2 1/2 cups skim milk

1/4 cup all purpose flour

8 oz. shredded sharp cheddar cheese made with 2 % milk

1/4 t of black pepper

Baked Cheese Doritos

In a large skillet or soup pot, saute onion and garlic in a little oil until they are translucent. Add chicken broth and carrot and bring to a boil. Boil for a minute. Add potato and boil for an additional minute. Then add broccoli and boil for another 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

Whisk milk and flour and pepper together until there are no more lumps. Add to broccoli mixture and boil until slightly thickened stirring constantly to avoid sticking. Remove from heat and stir in cheese until melted. 

Puree 1/2 of soup with blender or similar device. Combine with other half.

Garnish with crushed Doritos.

Enjoy.

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Note: I noticed some cream cheese in the fridge and am going to add a couple of ounces of this with the cheddar cheese next time I make the soup.

Food Waste Friday--February 3, 2012

It's time for Food Waste Friday, when the Frugalgirl encourages us to post pictures from the previous week of wasted food from our household. This accountability hopefully will help us to be more careful with our food and maybe save some money. 

Here it goes for this week.

We tried a new brand of yogurt this week and I just didn't like it. I was going to add it to a smoothie, but as you can see that didn't happen. On the other hand, we had an entire supper of leftovers last night of food rescued from our refrigerator's black hole--a big save.

Also, last week I asked for help in using up tahini and got some very good suggestions. Thanks. With research, I learned that tahini essentially lasts forever (especially when stored in the fridge) and you will be able to tell when it goes bad. Good to know.

A Second Look--Feb. 1, 2012

For variety, I did a Second Look in our garage this week. Some of the things you'll see were left by animals that visited the garage and some of the things are from our nature shelf.  Our nature shelf holds items that we find in the yard that we think are interesting.

A couple of notes: (1) The items from the shelf were photographed on our recycling bin if you want something for scale. (2) The bird nests we found were on the ground with no eggs in them. We think they were probably blown out of a tree during a storm. Songbirds are protected by law and this includes their nests. Rest assured that no song birds were harmed in the preparation of this post.

Here's what I found this week.

Fungus dug out of the ground

Bird nests-Cardinal?

Hickory nut that something has eaten

Deer jaw bone

House sparrow nest in cubby where light bulbs are stored

Yellow jacket nests. These were found in the ground with the 3 layers on top of each other. And yes, I did get stung.

Snake skin. We found this in front of Ward's work bench. We think it belonged to the black snake we had been seeing in the yard.

Ponderings from Theodore-the Early Years

Theodore has always been a thinker--meaning long after I have moved on from a subject, he is still pondering it. Occasionally, we are going to visit some of his questions and observations from his earlier years. 

    
    Mama, can God count to infinity?

Puzzles

Ward loves to work puzzles. When the weather turns cold, the puzzles come out--several a week if other responsibilities don't interfere.The reason he likes to work them so much is that he's good at them. The rest of the family can put a few pieces in after studying a puzzle for a while, but Ward can put pieces in almost as fast as he can pick them up.

And the cats can take them out almost as fast as he can put them in. You see, the cats love puzzles too. Puzzles provide lots of "toys" for them to play with. The cats bat loose pieces off the table. They pick them up with their mouths and carry them to the floor. They take their paws and remove pieces that have already been put in. And the list goes on with many possibilities. So much fun for our feline friends.

And so frustrating for Ward. Fortunately, he's good at reworking puzzles too.

One of our feline friends (Leo) at work.