Friday, December 26, 2014

St. Stephen's Day Soup

What's Cookin'?

In honor of Saint Stephen, the first Christian martyr, we ate St. Stephen's Day Soup today for dinner.  Mine ended up being more like a "souped" up potato soup because I used mashed potatoes left over from Christmas dinner instead of cut up boiled potatoes- but much better than my planned potato soup.  Also in his honor we made a point to pray for our enemies at our mealtime prayer... [You can read more about Stephen in Acts 6:1-15 and Acts 7:54-60]

Here is the jump-off recipe:
http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/recipes/view.cfm?id=1339

And another:
http://www.irishcultureandcustoms.com/2Kitch/rSoups.html

I used:
1 large yellow onion
2 C leftover roast, cut into very small bite-size pieces
3 Quarts homemade beef bone broth (more or less - I simmered a big pot with a grass-fed beef bone before making the soup)
2 T butter
1/3 flour
1 C leftover mashed potatoes (these were originally skin-on and whipped with butter/milk)

First I made the beef bone broth (super easy - just tossed a big bone in a pot of water with a squirt of lemon juice (couldn't find any apple cider vinegar) and lots of Real Salt.  This simmered for several hours.  30 minutes before serving I cooked the chopped onion in some palm shortening, then added the chopped beef roast leftovers.  When they were ready I scooped them to one side of the pot, put 2 T of butter in the cleared part of the pot, and added the flour to the melted butter.  Once the flour and butter were mixed together I started ladling hot broth in and thoroughly blending it into the butter/flour mixture.  Once all of the broth was incorporated I added the mashed potatoes.  Then I let it simmer for about 5 minutes before serving.

Oh, this is corny, but instead of stones we had scones with our soup... just because it rhymes...

I hope my adjustments make sense!

Garden Planner

What's Gardenin'?

Spring will be here before you know it!  Here is a cool online garden planner page:

http://www.gardeners.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-Gardeners-Site/default/Page-KGPJS

When you click and drag a plant into one of the squares for Square Foot Gardening it shows how many you should plant per square.  It also puts planting/care info below the diagram.

Enjoy! :)

Monday, December 1, 2014

Thanksgiving Joy

This picture of our dog at the beach during Thanksgiving break sort of says it all.  Unbridled joy :).



 
 
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Decorative Bread Link

What's Cookin'?

I love this woven apple "pie"!  If you scroll down in the comments there are more ideas.  At least once in life I have to try making the "bread basket." :)

https://www.facebook.com/Stylisheve/posts/1033859666654614

Enjoy!