Soup du Jour #6

You know how when you wash your car and then it rains and you know you made it rain because of the car washing? Well, I think all my cold-weather-wishful-thinking-soup-making is keeping the weather nice here. The days are still nice and sunny. Sunday was absolutely beautiful! But the nights are getting pretty chilly. I almost shut my bedroom window last night and I never shut my window unless I can actually see my breath inside my room! I love sleeping in a cold room with my flannel sheets and flannel comforter on the bed and.... (ahem)... you know... no PJ's?

shhhhh....just don't tell my family....I'm sure they don't want to know that about me. Are Grandmas/Mimis allowed to sleep in the...I mean, without PJ's? I'm probably supposed to be wearing a high-necked, long-sleeved nightgown or something like that, but hey! I have a lock on my door and really....have you ever slept between flannel sheets and a flannel comforter with no PJ's?! Try it and you'll never want to buy new PJ's again!

Well anyway...I was just going tell you that I made Posole for soup #6 on Sunday.

I am not a fan of traditional Posole, which is a Mexican pork and hominy stew. It always seems too greasy to me. I like bacon and ham but most other pork I can live without. Since I really LOVE hominy, I long ago came up with my own low-fat version using chicken and leaving out the usual chili powder.

Here's my recipe for Chicken Posole:

(note: this time I didn't use the raw chicken breasts. I used my new best-friend, Mr. Costco Chicken! because as I've mentioned before: Costco Chicken = delicious, and the easiest thing ever)

4 large chicken breasts, cubed

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

5 cups chicken broth

1 1/2 tsp. dried oregano, crushed

1/2 tsp. cumin

2- 14oz cans hominy, drained

1- 4oz can chopped ortega chiles

1 Tbsp. oil

shredded cabbage

choppped cilantro

lime wedges

In a large pot or dutch oven, brown chicken and onions in oil. Add garlic and cook 2 minutes. Add broth, oregano, and cumin. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer 30 minutes. Stir in hominy and chiles. Simmer 10 more minutes.

Ladle into bowls and serve with shredded cabbage,cilantro,lime wedges, and hot sauce.

This is delicious served with jack cheese quesadillas on the side.......ENJOY!!

guest blogger, beginning sewer

Today's post will be written by a guest blogger: Granddaughter #4, age 6 (with some help from Mimi, of course)

Hi, my name is Grace. I have been waiting a long time to be six because Mimi told me she would teach me to sew when I turned six years old. All my bigger cousins already learned and I really wanted to learn, too. Last week was my birthday and I got my ears pierced and I didn't even cry, but my eyes got real watery.

And I got to help decorate my own cat cake that Mimi made for me.

I reminded Mimi that I'm six now so when can I start sewing? Today just Mimi and I were home by ourselves so today was our sewing day. First I learned all the important parts of the sewing machine. I was really nervous because Mimi told us a story before about my Gram when she was 4 yrs. old. Little Carmelita didn't listen to her Mother and put her fingers in the sewing machine while it was sewing and it sewed through her fingernails. I really like to hear that story but then it made me nervous when I had to work the sewing machine by myself. But Mimi promised that if I just mind all the rules, I wouldn't hurt myself.

First I practiced really slow on some paper with lines on it. It was really fun! After the first line I didn't even want Mimi to help me anymore!

I did 2 pages and then Mimi said it was time to try it on fabric and I got a little nervous again. I was afraid I might make a mistake. I have a new baby cousin that's getting born next month. I am making a blanket for her. Cousins are kind of confusing, but I think I get it now. Even though the new baby will be my cousin, Mimi won't be her Grandma because the baby is from my Mom's family instead of my Dad's, so my Nana will be her Grandma instead of Mimi. I have lots of cousins and Grandmas and stuff but mostly I get the point.

Sewing the fabric was really easy! I told Mimi she could go in the other room and I would call her when I got to the corners. She said I was doing really great!

Then I had to iron it and that iron really scared me! Mimi told me the same thing, that if I just minded the rules I wouldn't hurt myself and she stayed right next to me just in case. I was very careful because I could tell it was really hot and it made some noise that I didn't like but I did really good with the iron, too!

Then I had to sew all around the edge of the blanket with pretty blue thread. I wanted to use some fancy stitches that look like little flowers. That took a really long time and actually it was kind of boring.

Mimi said next time we'll just use straight stitch since it's faster and it's more fun for me anyways. It sure did look nice when it was finished, though!

SEE!!! Look what I made! It's all finished!

I hope Baby Hayden will like her new cupcake blanket! I'm going to give it to her when I get to go see her after she's born.

I LOVE SEWING! I'm really a sewing girl now, just like my cousins and Mimi and Shan!!

I love that sewing machine so much I wanted to use it some more, so Mimi cut me some scraps and while she was making dinner she let me use it all by myself while she was in the other room. I only had to ask her 2 questions!

Look what I made by myself! Some scarves for my dolls!

You know why else I love that sewing machine so much? Look what it's called.....

GRACE!! Just like me!

Next time Mimi goes to the fabric store I'm going to go,too, so I can make blankets for all my dolls, because I'm a sewing girl now!

Katy No-Pocket apron

Do you know the children's book "Katy No-Pocket"? My mother often checked it out at the library to read to me when I was little.

It was written in 1944 and has the same illustrator as the Curious George books.

It's about a mother kangaroo who for some reason has no pocket and is desperate to find a way to carry her baby. By the end of the book she is wearing an apron covered in so many pockets that she is carrying around all the baby animals in the jungle!

My co-worker has a daughter who is turning 2 this week. This little girl is rather.....quirky? Oh, the stories I hear! She really is unusually one-of-a-kind already at age 2!

Well...among all her little quirks and oddities, she really, really loves pockets. If she isn't wearing pockets herself, she'll put something in your pocket.


For her Birthday, along with a copy of the book, I designed her a Katy No-Pocket Apron, just her size, with 6 pockets across the front.




I can't wait to hear what kinds of things she finds for her funny little self to put in all her very own pockets.....

Soup du Jour #5

Our weather still isn't really soup-worthy yet, but I had the day off and was determined to make a pot of something....

I've really been craving Chinese Food lately and my favorite is Broccoli Beef, SO... I invented:

BROCCOLI BEEF NOODLE SOUP:

to a pot of beef broth (about 5 cups) add 2 tsp. fresh grated ginger, 2 pressed garlic cloves, 1 or 2 sliced green onions, a handful of grated carrot, the seasoning packet from a pkg. of Beef Ramen and a 1/2 tsp. sesame oil. Simmer while preparing the beef and broccoli.

Cut a pound of thinly sliced beef into bite sized pieces. (I used meat intended for carne asada). Stir fry quickly in a little oil until browned and slightly carmelized. Add to simmering broth. Add a few Tablespoons of water to frying pan to loosen the browned bits from the pan and then add to soup. Add 1-2 cups broccoli flowerets and the pkg. of ramen noodles, broken up a little, to soup. Simmer 10 minutes, stirring to loosen noodles.

This really hit the spot! I'll definitely be making this again.

Exactly what I was aiming for.... Broccoli Beef AND soup all-in-one!

my "dull and boring" life.....

Every so often on a Monday morning, when I'm asked how my weekend went and I reply with the usual "sewing, cooking and Grandkids", I get the response: "That's all? Again?....Don't you ever want to have more of a social life and get out and do things with people? (translation: have a date?)

Are you kidding me? Where would I squeeze in time for anything (or anyone) else? As a longtime single Mimi to 5 busy Grandkids, 2 that live in the same house with me and 3 that are only 2 miles away, when would I find the time? I may once have suffered an empty nest a long time ago (my "baby" turns 29 this month!), but does this nest sound empty to you?......

#1 runs Cross-Country with the Freshman team at the High School

#2 has taken dance lessons for 7 years and is currently taking Contemporary and Hip-Hop at a nearby Dance Studio. Her hip-hop team just performed for the opening of the new Michael Jackson movie at our local movie theater.

#3 is playing soccer

#4 just started Gymnastics and is crazy about it! Her Mother has to drag her out of there when her session is over!

#5 is playing his first year of T-ball

With games and meets and performances and helping to drive to practices when some of these things overlap, I barely have time to sew aprons or make soup!

Some of these activities are finishing up this week but I'm sure new ones will be starting up any day now......

Empty Nest? HA!!.....(and I wouldn't have it any other way)

still trying to get in the mood.....

I mentioned a few posts ago that I was feeling apron-y again after a lengthy down period...WELL,...false alarm, I guess. I don't know whether it's just the weather or hormones or burn-out or all of the above, but I AM TIRED OF FEELING BLAH! I keep coming up with ideas, thought, for Christmas gifts and such. My list is getting longer than I will ever have enough time for, so I'm trying to (to quote an old friend of mine) "Act better than you feel".......

To make matters worse, I'm sharing a table with Daughter at a Craft Fair next weekend and I don't feel like I'm going to be ready....AAACKK!! ....act better than you feel....act better than you feel....

So I am attempting to complete the following this weekend, NO MATTER WHAT!

*4 adult Christmas aprons

*4 child Christmas aprons

*print new apron brochures & business cards

*make apron inventory list for craft fair

*complete a simple fabric covered basket that will be filled with 5 small purchased stuffed dogs for Granddaughter #4's 6th birthday this week

OK...enough stalling here....I'm going to get busy right now!

I'll leave you with a show-and-tell of the few items I managed to get done since mid-Sept:

2 new sewing machine covers

2 flannel lap blankets for a wedding gift

3 grocery tote bags made from kitchen towels from the Dollar Store

2 no-sew totes made from bandanas

Composition notebooks bought on sale at the beginning of school and a few fat quarters = fabric covered notebooks/journals

and a requested Puppet Theater......(really just a curtain on a spring-loaded rod to fit in a doorway, but it works perfectly!

Hopefully there'll be much more to follow soon!

Soup Du Jour #3 & #4

Soup #3

The fact that the weather was back to 92 degrees this weekend did not deter me from my Soup-making frenzy!

The family was away for the weekend, leaving me with the house to myself, so on Friday I decided to make some "What's-in-the-Cupboard?" Soup The rule is, no going to the grocery store, just use what you have on hand. A good way to clean out the fridge and pantry....

In the fridge:

half a COSTCO CHICKEN

side note: Seriously, is there anything better than a Costco Chicken? I mean, for the price and convenience you can't beat it! And those are good size birds, too! My Chef Son gets annoyed with me when I buy them instead of making them myself ("Mom,it's just so easy to do it yourself"), but I've tried, and I honestly can't get as good a result. I can get at least 3 meals out of one chicken and half the time I use the carcass for making stock, so I really get my money's worth, so there, Son! KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK COSTCO!

from the pantry:

from the crisper and herb garden:

Boy this was tasty, even in the 90plus degree weather! (I remain hopeful that winter will really get here!) And it was even better the next day for breakfast.

There was still plenty left for the Fam when they got home, too.

Soup #4

While I was looking for ingredients for Soup #3, I found a ham bone in the freezer. "Bone" is not really true, there was a lot of meat on there, too. With some herbs from the garden and a little more help from the pantry and crisper I had a pot of Navy Bean soup ready when the Family got home on Sunday.

even the little ones ate this one (no visible vegetables!)

A little dessert from the pantry, too....cake mix cookies.

I wonder just how many meals I could come up with without going to the grocery store? Hmmmmmmm........a worthy and frugal goal, I think. We'll just see........