I love home made soup. The stuff from the can just does not compare. It is so easy to make, just requires a chunk of time that you are home watching the pot boil. If you don’t have time immediately following the eating of a roasted chicken or turkey, you can wrap it up and stick it into the freezer. Read the rest of this entry »

I don’t think that I have ever eaten split pea soup in my life. It is just something that has never appealed to me. I’m not sure why, maybe it was the consistency which I imagined would be like eating a bowl of school paste. Green school paste. My husband has always professed his love for pea soup, hoping that I would one day decide to share the love and make it. But thick green soup? Ugh, no thanks.

I also assumed that my children would not like to eat pea soup. Because thick green soup? Ugh, no thanks. Yes, I project.

Fast forward to this year when we bought a pig. Not a live pig, mind you, but one wrapped in little freezer packages from a local grower. Suddenly I had a whole lot of Babe the Freezer Pig to make into meals.

So I thought, oh what the heck, I’ll make some of that split pea soup with ham. Surely it couldn’t be that bad. I could tell my kids that Shrek liked to eat swamp soup.

I know it sounds so appetizing now that you can hardly wait to make it yourself, right? Read the rest of this entry »

Who doesn’t love beef stew? Especially on the cold gray winter days that make you cold just looking out your window. Those of you who live in warm sunny climates will just have to turn your air conditioners up and pretend. Poor you. Read the rest of this entry »

I don’t enjoy cooking. At all. I find it to be the most challenging chore I have to do daily. And maybe that is because it is a daily thing, or thrice daily thing as the case may be. Maybe because I am surrounded by little critics who rate my cooking in a way they don’t rate any of the other things that I do around the house. I mean I am not sure the last time anyone came over to me and said, “I hate the way you cleaned the toilet.” or “Great hospital corners on my bed, mom!”

Two things I think every kitchen needs: a crockpot and a bread maker.

Oh I hear you now. Why do I want a breadmaker? It makes the bread in such a weird shape. I can’t make sandwiches out of it. Blah Blah Blah. Yes, I hear you saying that. I am here to tell you that having freshly made bread can take an otherwise ho-hum meal and turn it into a great one. Seriously.

Is there anything better than coming home from a long day and having hot soup in your crockpot and hot bread to eat with it? No, I don’t think so. Once you take the bread maker out and start using it, you will be a convert. You will use it so often that our family will beg you to stop baking bread. No, I am kidding. Who would ever complain about freshly baked bread? No one.

This is one of my new favorite soups. Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday was a busy day and not particularly my favorite day ever. I’m trying to approach bad days like the British from now on. Instead of having anxiety attacks and debating throwing myself from a bridge I am instead understating the badness of things. The day? It was? Regrettable.

I decided to make this Potato Cheddar and Bacon soup from the Kraft.com website.  A few weeks ago some friends mentioned the Kraft website as a place they find quick to make and serve dinners. That’s what I want on a busy Monday so the soup seemed like a good trial. Read the rest of this entry »