It's Soup Weather Out There!

I love to make soup. It doesn't matter what kind, although I do have my favorites, I just love to make it. I love chopping the vegetables (Mom says I get that from my Dad), I love browning the meat in the bottom of the pot, I love mixing the herbs and seasonings to create just the right combination of flavors for that particular batch. If any two ever came out exactly the same I'd be very surprised.

My all time favorite it Beef Barley with Vegetables. My great-grandma (Doozie) used to make a version of it that was out of this world. Mine is not nearly as good as hers but I put up a good fight. I buy the cheapo beef bottom round steak or top round if it's on sale. Either one will do because the soup is going to cook for at least 45 minutes to an hour. Even the cheapest cuts tenderize after cooking for that length of time. A good, flavorful, hearty soup takes time. Don't cheat yourself (or the goodness of soup) by trying to rush through it. You'll only be disappointed to find you have a watery, bland base with tough, chewy meat.

My next favorite is Chicken Noodle with Vegetables. Rarely do I make a soup that doesn't have lots of chopped vegetables in it. They are optional, of course, but they add a flavor dimension you just can't get from meat and broth alone. I have tried Chicken Noodle with white meat only, dark meat only and a combination of both. Dark meat wins out hands down. It has the extra little bit of fat that you need for browning, it has a tenderness that white meat can't claim and it packs in the flavor at a much lower cost. If you just don't care for dark meat, go ahead and substitute the white meat but don't blame me if it comes out dry and tasteless. lol  I would advise you to add some extra chicken bouillon or even poultry seasoning if you go with the white meat alone.

For either of these two soups you should have a pretty good size bunch of celery scraps either fresh or those you've been saving up in your freezer. The tops and the root ends should be simmered with the meat and then removed before adding in the remaining ingredients but we'll get to that when I post the actual recipes. For now, it's enough to know you'll need celery at some point :) and quite a bit of it.

Other ingredients I can't do without during soup season include barley, whole wheat thin spaghetti, fennel seed, bay leaf, kosher salt, black pepper and anise. Anise is a long-forgotten spice that hints of licorice but when added to other ingredients, surprises you with its spark of flavor. I use it in Swedish Meatballs (coming up in another episode lol), hamburger soup, homemade hamburger helper (that you can cook in an electric skillet!) and of course my beef barley soup. A little goes a long, long way so if you're looking to purchase it, buy the smallest amount you can. Sprinkle in just a little pinch, stir and cook the soup and then taste it. If you can't taste the anise yet, add just another little pinch. Continue until you get the flavor and then stop. You can easily overpower any other spice in the pot with anise if you aren't careful. I can usually find it in the Badia spice section of the store.

As you can imagine I'll be making soup this weekend ha ha ha I'll pick up the round steak and another bag of barley at Publix. I have everything else I need already in the pantry or freezer. I can't wait to start the soup early in the morning so the cabin will permeate with its scent and make my mouth water for that first steaming hot bite come lunchtime. A piece of bread and butter on the side and I'm good to go. With any luck, I'll still have some left for lunch on Monday LOL  Maybe I should wait until Sunday to cook it :)

You may have guessed already that wintertime is upon us. I know the first day of winter hasn't come yet but no one told the temperature that. It was 42 and dropping when I got up this morning. At around 6am I talked to Wally and it was spitting ice on the tin roof. The first time I saw this happen, I thought it looked like someone had dumped a huge bucket of silver glitter from the sky. Of course it was daylight then. This morning it was still dark but he could hear it landing on the roof.

I didn't leave the house without bundling up. Well, here they call it layering but we've always said bundling up. I went through my "Darcy's Winter Clothes" box to find my warmest sweater, took about 20 seconds tops. It's a buttery yellow colored sweater that has thick fleece on the inside. It's one of those kinds that looks like they sewed it inside-out. You know the type? With the seams on the outside? Yeah. Anyway, it's the warmest thing I own and it's a pretty color. I put that on, I put on my jeans (not in need of long underwear just yet) and I put on what we call, my Vegas socks. lol These are socks I bought the first time I went to Vegas. Uncle Dee showed me that they have a thicker padding around your toes and heels so you have cushion while walking the streets of Vegas. Well, that extra padding comes in handy here too but not so much for walking as for keeping my toes warm :)

I put on the gray boots Neccy gave me and I'll take just a second here to enlighten you on these. They are Keds. I would imagine they were somewhat expensive as anytime there's a brand name involved it typically comes at a higher price. They come just above my ankles and they are lined with some fabric I'm not familiar with but it's very, very warm. Neccy had them back when she was in SC but rarely, if ever, used them. They are brand new and just my style except for that they are a little too big. They are 8's and I wear a 7.5. That's not a big difference but when it comes to shoes, they have to fit perfectly. Otherwise, you know what you'll do... you'll just leave them in there on the closet floor, never picking them to wear but always giving them the occasional glance and saying, gosh I wish those fit...

With the Vegas socks, since they are thicker, the shoes fit perfectly :) I'm so happy to have shoes that keep my feet warm I just can't tell you. It seems like when my feet are cold, nothing else can get quite warm enough. lol I put on my new carhart jacket, I gathered up my AT&T bag that I carry everything in, I got my purse and my keys and I was out the door. Blast of cold air hits me right smack in the face and reminds me that I forgot my scarf and gloves! Dang it - back inside, hunted for but couldn't find scarf, hunted for and found gloves, back outside, brrrrrr

My little car doesn't take much to get warm but I sit and let it warm up even still. I arrange all my crap in the passenger seat so it won't tip or fall over while I'm driving and I put on some lipgloss to keep my lips from getting chapped. I'm prone to that little red ring like kids get because I can't stop licking my lips when they get dried out in the cold weather. The heater is on and warming up the car, I have my gloves on so the steering wheel isn't so cold and I begin to back out to leave my home. As I round the driveway, I see that the front porch lights are on and I smile as I look out over the picture they present of the front yard. It's hard to leave with that sight in my eyes but leave I must do... It beats the heck out of any Thomas Kinkade painting :) but he's really close to nailing it ha ha ha ha ha.

Heading towards the split in the driveway I see that my decorations have all but been dismantled by the horses. They discovered the hay the other day and have been munching away at it ever since. The mums were knocked over as were the pansies. I'm pretty sure the pumpkins and gourds were covered in hay and haven't been uncovered as of yet. I'm going to have to get out there this afternoon and rescue the flowers. I planned to bring them up to the cabin at some point anyway but now it seems the horses have a new schedule for me.

It had to happen sooner or later and this way, the dogs can have the straw for the doghouse, the horses got to eat the hay and the cabin will have colorful flowers for sometime yet to come. With nothing in that space, it'll get my mind wandering on just what to put there for Thanksgiving. hmmmmm 

Up at the cabin the mums that Wally's grandma planted have started to bloom. Two plants have white flowers and the other one has red flowers. They are so cheery looking compared to how it actually feels out there :) I'll set the two yellow mums on either side of the front porch posts. There's an old cart out by the grill that I'm going to bring around and set under the tree just off the front porch. I'll load the pansies up in that and have it lean against the tree. How easy is that? lol Well, it would be easy if I didn't have to re-pot everything that the horses knocked over but that's what happens in big business.... LOL

A couple weeks ago I bought some Narcissus bulbs. These are otherwise known as "paperwhites." The green stalks emerge and grow to be about 12-18 inches tall and then a bunch of "papery" white flowers will appear that are so beautiful you just can't wait to smell them. Ha ha ha if you've ever grown these, you know very well what they smell like and it ain't nowhere near as pretty a smell as the flowers are!!! Oh boy, you don't even want to get near them and by all means, do not bring them inside. Poo is all I can say. They smell like Poo! Talk about looks being deceiving... these flowers must be the epitome (Mom) of that saying. LOL
I still had to have them because they are pretty and they can take the cold weather so it's okay if they stay outside :)

I have a red amaryllis that Sandy gave me and it has sprouted some new growth as well. I didn't think it made it over the summer when it was so darn hot outside but I checked it the other day and noticed some bright green coming up from the bulb. Looks like maybe my winter gardening will be more successful than my spring or summertime efforts proved to be. Hey, that's okay with me - I'm going to need some color before too long :)

I have a new challenge out on the farm. When the horses are up at the cabin with us, while we enjoy watching and riding them, they think everything is theirs to eat. Exhibit A - My car. They didn't actually eat my car but when the sweet feed was in the trunk, Rebel was rubbing his head on that little scoop thing on the trunk lid. We had to take the bag out of the trunk and put it in the can over by their feeding area so they couldn't get to it. The can is on the other side of the gate when the horses are at the cabin. Exhibit B - The chicken scratch a.k.a. Rooster Feed. I fill up a mayonnaise jar and toss out handfuls for the roosters. Well, the scratch feed has corn in it and we all know horses love corn! Rebel was right over my shoulder with his nose trying to see if I would give him a handful too. He had sweet feed and I'd already given him two carrots since Smokey wouldn't come to me yet he still wanted the scratch feed... there's no end to it :) I had to throw the scratch feed up under the back porch where only the roosters can go otherwise, I think Rebel might have run off the roosters and gobbled up all their scratch... lol!

When I came back inside Wally asked what I was up to. Apparently, after Rebel ate the carrots, he ran around the front yard over to where Smokey was and created a little stir. I didn't see him go because I was trying to lead the roosters away from him so he wouldn't see the corn. Well, he caught me anyway but he didn't get the corn. lol All Wally saw was the horse running around the yard and he knew I was out there feeding the roosters so he didn't know what was going on. It was all good but that Rebel has to be watched now that he knows the roosters get corn... lol! Guess which rooster is smart enough to get out of the path of the horses...? That's right, lil Roo takes off running in any direction that the horses aren't. LOL! He's so smart.

I can't hardly get away with calling him "lil Roo" anymore though. He and the Rooster Thugs are getting fatter by the day. Maybe they put on weight just like all the other animals when winter approaches? I don't know about that but I know they are getting fat. lol 

Our weekend schedule? I think we'll ride the 4 wheelers around the property checking for holes in the fence. This being the first official weekend of hunting season, probably all those hunters who had to work all week will be out early in the morning. We'll be out there with them and I'll be wearing my hunter orange vest and hat lol! Not taking any chances :) Maybe I'll even bring the rifle and try my luck at it this weekend...?

We might try the meat place again... some warm sausage biscuits would be nice especially if it gets in the 20s as predicted...horseback riding is a possibility now that they are up at the top of the hill with us and of course, I'll be cooking up something yummy for our tummies in my kitchen. You're welcome to come join us but be ready to wake up with the roosters! Don't worry, I may not drink coffee but I bought some just in case we have visitors. You'll have to make it for yourself though - I have no clue how that thing works.

Don't forget to set your clocks back this weekend...I'll be planting my tulips, daffodils and irises at some point and with any luck even the Hosta will make it in the ground. What's on your agenda? I hear the weather in FL is supposed to be really nice - maybe even a bit chilly? Get your chili (ha ha) pots out and cook up a batch...send me your recipe so I can try something different?  Whatever you do make it worthwhile and have a beer for me (or 2 LOL).

"If soup isn't hot enough to make a grown man wince, it's undrinkable."  ~Grey Livingston