Spring Fever - Garden Vegetable Soup

(No bunnies are harmed in this recipe)

I totally fell for Faux Spring ... But, it's not my fault! After several weeks of blisteringly cold overnight temperatures, we were blessed with some of the most gorgeous sunny days I've ever seen in my entire life (that might just be my pummeled vitamin D levels talking), and so, my entire neighborhood lost its collective mind and for a few days at the end of February it was shorts & tank tops as far as the eye could see. We were washin' cars, mowin' lawns, and grillin' up a storm until the actual rain moved in, and got us all hunkered back down again.

With that in mind, I thought I'd hop on here and share my favorite (and easiest) veggie soup of all time, so let's go! 

Love to Love ya, Baby

"I would recognize you in total darkness, were you mute and I deaf. I would recognize you in another lifetime entirely, in different bodies, different times. And I would love you in all of this, until the very last star in the sky burnt out into oblivion." 

-Achilles, probably (The Song of Achilles by, Madeline Miller)

Let the Party Begin!

“I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time -- when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness...

The dumbing down of America is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30 second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance.” 

-Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

Good Stock

Anyone else feel like 2024 hit a tires-smoking-broad-slide into the 31st? No, just me? Okay ... Welp. I had such high hopes for a quiet, and a total bore-me-to-tears Winter that did not, in fact, come to pass, but if I can be totally annoying for a minute and reach for the "lesson" here, I'd say through it all it's become obnoxiously, if not, painfully clear how important fueling my body for the task (whatever that may be) is, and has inspired me to do a lot more of the cooking from scratch that I've (regrettably) gotten away from in the last couple of years. And I thought I'd get back to sharing a little of that with you here, furthermore, why not make our fist day, today, National Quitter's Day. Anyone who's fallen off the wagon, made their resolutions, already broke them, thinking about backing out of them, or if you just plain haven't even begun (uhm that one would be me this year - heh, you can't quit something you haven't started yet!), then this is your sign to get on track, and do the thing(s) your heart is begging you to do.

To start things off, I'm sharing my very own recipe for homemade vegetable stock, the foundation of most of the soups, and stews I make. How about we just get to the recipe, and we can hash out the reasons later.

Souper Duper Veggie Broth

Here's what you need:
1 Potato - washed, eyed, and quartered
1/2 Onion
1 Carrot - cut into thirds
1 Heaping teaspoon Minced Garlic
Pinch of Red Pepper Flakes
1 Bay Leaf
1 Star Anise
1 teaspoon Pink Himalayan Salt
1/2 teaspoon Cumin, ground
1/4 teaspoon Oregano, crushed leaf
1/8 teaspoon Thyme, ground
1/8 teaspoon Rosemary, crushed leaf
1/8 teaspoon Sage, ground
Dab of Ginger Root, freshly grated 

Here's what you do:
Throw all of the above in a 5-7 quart pot, fill with water, bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover & simmer for an hour. Remove from heat, strain, and use immediately, or store for up to a week in the fridge.

That's it!

How Do You Say De Groovy? How Do You Say De Gorgeous? Oh la la la la-la-la-la-la...

Word of the year: Delight

Pucker Up!

"The version of you that carried and kept you, somehow - thank them before you tell them what they can do better in 2025."

-@‌ShakWills (paraphrased)

I Like 'Em Real Thick & Sprucy

Whether you celebrate Christmas, or another holiday, or no holiday at all I hope today, and all of your days, you are warm, and cozy, and fed, and safe, and that you will keep your heart open to all of the miracles with your name on them in the coming year. 

xoxo

Cutie Pie

"Fact of the day: Pumpkin pie became a popular dish during Civil War-era celebrations of Thanksgiving because pumpkins were grown on small farms, not plantations, making the pie a symbol of abolitionist virtue."

-@danielsilliman, Twitter

Read more about this delicious diva, and other delicacies in Pumpkin: The Curious History of an American Icon by, Cindy Ott.

Bon appétit!