Broccoli Soup

Alright guys, since it is a cold and rainy day here in Chicago, I went ahead and made this yummy soup again for dinner.  Here is the recipe I got a while back from my favorite food blog, www.justcookalready.com

(my notes are in red)

Broccoli Soup

2 T butter

1/2 cup cream,heavy  (I ommit this - instead just add fat free half and half until the soup looks a little creamy color)

1 onion, chopped

half-n-half - see my notes above

1 russet potato, peeled & chopped

nutmeg to taste (I ommit this too)

6 cups canned chicken stock (I just do 6 cups water + 6 chick bullion cubes)

3 cups chopped broccoli florets and stems

salt & pepper to taste

In a large pot, melt butter & cook onion until tender over medium high heat.

Add hot stock & bring to a simmer. Stir in broccoli and return to a simmer. When potato and brocolli are tender, puree in batches in a blender, magic bullet, or food processor. You can puree until creamy or leave it a little chunky, how I like it.  Return to pot and add half and half. Season to taste.  

{sometimes with this i like to make a roux to make it even creamier.}  (Roux - in a seperate small saucepan, melt 4 tablespoons of butter, wisk in 6 tablespoons of flour.... or just melt butter in microwave then wisk in flour.  Add/wisk this mixture to the soup to make the soup creamier.)

My boys love this soup, especially with homemade bread.  When Davis gets really excited about something, he twirls his wrists and ankles in excitement.  Tonight he was so giddy again with this soup, his hands were out of control and knocked the bowl of soup all over me.  I am covered in green mush.  Anyway, enjoy.  

Here is the bread we love to eat with our soup.  This recipe is from Grant's sister, Gwyn, and it is so good...always a crowd pleaser.

PEASANT BREAD

1 pkg yeast

2 C warm water

1 T sugar

2 t salt

4 C flour

olive oil

cornmeal (optional)

melted butter

Dissolve yeast in water, sugar and salt.  Add flour and stir until blended, do not knead.  Dough is very wet.  Cover and let rise 1 hour or until doubled in size.  Flour hands, remove dough and place 2 rounds on oiled cookie sheet, sprinkled with cornmeal.  Let rise another hour.  Brush the top with melted butter and bake at 425 for 10 min.  Reduce temp to 375 and bake for another 20 minutes.  Brush again with butter and serve warm.

Preschool

Today was Noah's first day of preschool.  Grant asked him how he liked it when we picked him up, and Noah said, "it was awesome!"  Grant told him, "good, because now you'll be in school for the rest of your life."  Ha!

I had to laugh when they talked to the parents at the beginning about what they'd be learning throughout the course until it ends in December:  the children's first and last names, letters and abc's, colors and shapes, just to name a few...  Noah has known all of this since we was at least two.  I think he had his abc's down by 18 months.  This should be interesting.

Back to school night

I made Noah one of his favorite dinners for his big "back to school night" feast; broccoli soup and homemade bread.  Either we all have the same taste buds, or it's just darn good soup, but Davis loved it as well.  He was so giddy with each spoonful I gave him.  

 Then I had to do something with all of these apples!

 So caramel apple cheesecake bars it was.  Yum.

We topped off the night with a special father's blessing before Noah starts school tomorrow.  It was so sweet as he just sat there and listened to the blessing that Grant gave him.  Noah loves learning and I know he will do well and will be such a good boy in his class.

I'm a little anxious for the two and a half hour break each day as well!!  :)

Apple picking

We went apple picking yesterday to the cutest orchard about an hour south of us in Northern Indiana.  They had lots of cute stuff for kids to do as well, and Noah was in heaven watching the band perform.  He is already asking for a banjo for Christmas.  We had much better weather this year than when we went last year, and we came home with two big bags of our own hand picked apples.

We even drove through Gary, IN on the way down there (Michael Jackson's hometown).  It was the most abandoned and depressing town I've ever seen; very interesting to see.

On the move

We've got a crawler!  Davis is 8.5 months... Noah didn't crawl until 10.5, so yay for the big guy!  Probably should start baby proofing now.

I think it was the cinnamon burst cheerios that we put on the ground that really made him go for something.  Why is food always a motivator?  Ha.  Way to go buddy!

these are from my camera phone, so not great quality, but the smile on Heavy D cracks me up.  he is one happy boy!

 i'm supporting davis in these pictures, taking some of the load off of my back.  check out those "so cute i could squish you all day" rolls.

love these two sweet boys that keep me busy all day long!  i'm a lucky mama.

Pinkberry & Fall

One of the guys from Grant's business school class is opening Pinkberry in Chicago so he invited us to their VIP event for their 2nd store opening in the city.  Their 1st store opened here just over a month ago and we have been regulars, so this was a treat!

There are too many tasty places around here.  Chicago is not doing my scale any favors.  When I was pregnant with Davis, I kept asking my doc why I was gaining more weight with that pregnancy, and he said it was Chicago that was doing it to me.  Dang you, Chicago!!

 I couldn't even get Noah to look up for a picture, he was too busy inhaling his fro-yo.

 Davis loves everything sweet.  He is not the best eater with foods, but when you get anything like ice cream near him, he has no problem not spilling a single drop.  He must have gotten my sweet tooth.

Last week was really hot in Chicago; this week it is definitely fall!  I put some pants on Noah the other day and they were practically capris on him so we had to do a little shopping for this tall guy (hence, the new, long pants).  All day he's been begging to wear his new batman shirt from "Old Ladies" as he calls it.  (Old Navy)

Doughnuts

This morning we got up early and hit up the ever popular doughnut vault.  I'd say it was worth getting up early for; although the feeling you get after eating these treats isn't the greatest.  Noah was saying the whole way home that he was sick.  Sugar overload for sure.

 He sure loved every bite though and was one happy guy.

 Davis also loved the little doughnut morsels that I gave him.

Davis has his two lower teeth and an upper fang tooth.  It's pretty hilarious.  Now he's getting three more on top... poor guy.  So pretty soon he'll have four top teeth and his two lower.  He will look pretty silly with his toothy grin!  

try this

You won't be disappointed.  Although your waistline might be after indulging in a piece.  :)

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/beattys-chocolate-cake-recipe/index.html