Think Fall Y'All

Do you hang some sort of seasonal decoration on your house or front door?  Perhaps a wreath or basket filled with seasonal flowers?  Well, I do and have done so for most of our 42 years of marriage.  To me, it is welcoming and adds texture and dimension wherever you place it and is also a way to celebrate the changing of the seasons.  I am a trained floral designer and have worked with flowers for 30 years.  There is a method to making a wreath and I will show you how.

Last week I made a trip to some of the craft stores and of course, to the local Dollar Tree.  September had begun and we all know that the fall season is upon us.  The aisles were filled with lots of beautiful fall leaves and flowers and it put me in the mood to make a new wreath for the front of the little yellow cottage.  It was time to take down my summer wreath and jump into the wonder of the fall season I love so much.  This is the wreath I took down.

For my summer wreath I had used reds, yellows and a beautiful tiffany blue ribbon.  It had given a cheery welcome to all guests during the summer season, but now it is time to put it away.

I was just in the nick of time with my purchases.  This weekend, our temperatures went from the high 90's nearing 100 down to the high 60's and rain.  Because of the few days of cool weather, there are already hints of red in the dogwood leaves and yellow hints in the maples.  Yes indeed, fall is on the way! Hot dog!!  If you want to make a wreath for your home, here are some suggestions for how to do it.

When purchasing decorations, make sure you do not skimp.  You don't want to be in the middle of your project and discover you do not have enough decorations to fill the wreath and have to go purchase more.   If you have decorations left over, you can always find uses for them to add to the fall flavor in your home.  I had enough left  that I will be able to make a centerpiece for my table and I still only spent $25.00.  Shopping at Hobby Lobby or Michaels when flowers are 1/2 off saves you lots of money and of course everything at Dollar Tree is - your guessed it - only $1 per item or package.  I purchased the mini pumpkins and small gourds at Dollar Tree.  The small gourds were in a package of 6 or 7 for $1.00 and the mini pumpkin were $1.00 each.  That is a big savings over prices you will pay at other stores.

The 18" grapevine wreath was $2.99 at Hobby Lobby.  I purchased one large bush of fall leaves and "weedy" things at Hobby Lobby also for 1/2 price and it was $6.00 and provided me with lots of filler for my wreath.  There were 15 stems total on the bush.

I purchased 3 large yellow sun flowers, a grapevine type garland with fall leaves, a small bush with 5 stems of thistle and two bolts of ribbon at Dollar Tree for $1 per item.   The hank of raffia came from Hobby Lobby for $2.99.  I love raffia because it adds texture and interest and there are so many uses for it!

  These are the things I purchased to make this wreath.  I did not use the packages of individual leaves on this project.  They came from Dollar Tree and I will have another project for them which I will share with you when it is completed.

The tools you need are a pair of wire cutters, a hot glue gun and glue sticks, some chenille stems for making the bow and a piece of floral wire to make the wreath hanger.  Remember, they call hot glue "hot" for a reason.  Be careful with your fingers when placing flower stems covered in hot glue in the wreath.

The first think you need to decide is where you want the flowers on your wreath.  Top, bottom, left or right side?  It's up to you.  You can make the design any way you want. I always visualize how I want the finished project to look and go from there.  Because we are taught to read left to right, we tend to look at things as more balanced when they are made that way.  Therefore, I made my wreath with the flowers on the left hand side.  You choose however you want to make yours, just use the same general method.

First, I placed the grapevine garland with the fall leaves in a reverse "S" shape on the wreath and hot glued both ends to the wreath.   Be sure and use enough glue when making an outdoor wreath so that weather and wind will not make everything fall off.

Next, I pulled the green leaves from the sunflower stems and glued them at different angles along the left side of the wreath.  This makes your "base" working area.  Place your flowers where you think you may want them before gluing them down.  I cut the sunflower stems about 6 inches long.  You want them to stand out from the wreath.  You can move them around until you get the look you want.  I glued two of the sunflowers and mini pumpkins angled up and one sunflower and mini pumpkin angled down leaving a space for filler flowers and another space where my bow would go.

Next, I took the bush with all the fall leaves and filler "weedy" things and cut it apart leaving the stems as long as they could be.  I placed the stems in different places on the wreath, moving them around until I got the look I wanted and cut each stem to the length needed.  Then, I placed lots of hot glue on the end of each stem and up about 3 inches and placed it back in the wreath.

The final step was making the bow and adding long strands of raffia to the back of the bow when I twist tied it with the chenille stem.   Twisting another chenille stem to the one tying the bow and wrapping it around the wreath snuggly keeps it in place along with some hot glue.   I added some more raffia throughout the rest of the arrangement so that there was lots of texture to represent all the dried weeds, pods and flowers of fall.  I made a hanger on the back of the wreath by putting a piece of floral wire through some of the grapevine and twisted it making a loop strong enough to hang the wreath.

Your beautiful fall wreath like the one in the first picture is now ready to hang wherever you like - on the wall, over the mantel, on the door or front of your house.  And you can say "I did that!"  This wreath would cost $50 - $75 depending on where you bought it.  You made it and saved a lot of money in the process!  I hope you try this project and enjoy it through the fall season.  This same technique can be used to make a wreath for any season or holiday!  Let me know if you try this and how it turns out.  Happy Fall Y'All.

Everyday Donna

Things to remember:

Everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn.  ~Elizabeth Lawrence

Making Guests Feel Special

It's the first day of September and I am already wondering how the summer has slipped away so quickly.  School is in session and the carefree days of summer vacation have passed.  Families with children are back in the school day routine.  And somehow, it is Labor Day Weekend already.  

September always makes me wistful for many reasons.  It makes me think of waiting for our children to be born.  We have 3 fall/winter children and one early summer child.  There is something about the way the sun sits in the sky,  the dryness of the leaves, the feel of the air and the subtle hints of fall that makes me long for those days - the wonderful anticipation of babies and things to come.

This Labor Day, we are in a new city and a new home.  I was born and raised in the same town and this is such an adventure for me.  We are having guests this holiday weekend and we can't wait for their arrival.  I spent the day cleaning and making the house ready.  I had to make a run to the grocery to pick up a few things and when I walked through the door, the beautiful array of flowers in the floral department beckoned to me.  Their color, texture and fragrance called to me, speaking of the waning days of summer and flowers in the yard and on the deck soon to be gone.  That is one thing I truly miss about summer.  I don't miss the heat and humidity, but I miss the luxury of pots overflowing with beautiful blooms and beds filled with the glory of nature arrayed in it's finest.   

Needless to say, I could not walk away empty handed.  I knew I could make a simple arrangement to go on the bedside table to brighten their room and one for the kitchen table.   Fresh flowers are the ultimate luxury as far as I am concerned.  I chose alstromeria (Peruvian lilies) in a color called red bronze and red hypericum berries for filler.  The color of the alstromeria was so beautiful it took my breath away.  If you are not familiar with alstromeria, it is one of my favorite flowers because it has many blooms per stem and lasts for a good while.  

Hypericum berries are another favorite and are long lasting.  I purchased one bouquet of the alstromeria and two smaller bunches of the hypericum berries.  I could not wait to get home and go to work. 

There are a wide variety of vases kept in my cabinets.  I chose a 10 inch cylinder vase to use in the bedroom and a 5 inch cylinder vase for the dining table so that  we would be able to see over it with ease.  I filled the vases with water and added the preservative that came with the flowers to each vase.

Always use the preservative as it makes your flowers last much longer!

The flowers had very long stems, at least 24 inches and I did not want them that long.  When making an arrangement, you want it to be approximately 1 to 1.5 times the height of the vase for good proportion.  The best tool to use to cut flower stems is a sharp knife.  I used a paring knife and cut my stems at a slight angle.   This allows the flowers to take up water.  Using scissors can pinch the stems and keep them from taking up the necessary water.

I made the arrangement in the taller vase first.  First, remove all leaves that will be below water level.  This causes bacteria in the water a reduces the life of the flowers.  Start by putting several stems of the fuller flower in first, arranging the stems at interesting angles.  For this arrangement, the alstromeria went in first.  Next, fill in with the smaller flowers which were  the hypericum berries.  

Continue filling in until you have achieved the look you want.  I  placed the arrangement on the bedside table and it was like adding sunshine to the room.  A fresh flower arrangement adds so much.  It says "you mean a lot to me" and "we are so happy to have you share our home."  The picture at the top shows the arrangement on the bedside table.  It is so cheery and welcoming.

Next, I made the arrangement for the dining table.  I used the shorter, wider vase for this arrangement.  Again, I started by placing several stems of the alstromeria in the vase.  By placing 3 stems in a triangle configuration, you have a good start.  Next,  fill in with the hypericum berry and finish with the rest of the alstromeria and berries.  

For $12.00 I have two beautiful flower arrangements that will last for at least a week.  If you change the water when it begins to get cloudy and recut the flower stems, you can extend the life of the arrangement by several days.

This is the finishing touch for the table taking it up a to another level.  It's makes eating so pleasurable, like you are at a really fancy restaurant or at an upscale party.  Why shouldn't we enjoy these simple pleasures in our own home?  Give it a try, it will make everything nicer.  You can also use flowers from your garden if you have them.  Bring the beauty inside to enjoy!  You will be glad you did.  Let me know if you try your hand at arranging flowers for your home and how it goes!  

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

"Try to remember the kind of September
When life was slow and oh so mellow
Try to remember the kind of September
When grass was green and grain so yellow
Try to remember the kind of September
When you were a young and a callow fellow
Try to remember and if you remember
Then follow--follow, oh-oh."
- Try to Remember, Lyrics by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt

The Minute To Win It Birthday Party Treats

So sorry I haven't been able to post for the past couple of weeks, but things have been a little crazy here at the little yellow cottage.  First, we switched cable/internet service and I had some issues getting everything straightened out - technically challenged you know.  Then, we traveled to Big D to help out our daughter while she made a trip to NYC to film a segment of 60 minutes.  We watched our grand children while her husband worked and she was away.  Needless to say, Grandma and Pawpaw had a great time.   There were root beer floats (our grandsons say Grandma has the best recipe - lol) and lots of games and shopping trips and so many memories made.  

We stayed for the second week to help with our grandson's "Minute To Win It" birthday party which we wouldn't have missed for anything!  He chose the theme because it is his favorite television show and it's a perfect choice for kids to play challenging games using household items with only one minute to complete each challenge!  The kids played the games over and over and it was an absolute hit.  I will post later about how to do a party with this theme.  It is inexpensive because you can use items you have around the house and we didn't have to purchase very many things at all.   It's so much fun that even a lot of the parents participated!  Then, we ended the party with a huge water balloon fight.  Oh yes, it was a rousing success!

H's favorite color is blue and he wanted chocolate cupcakes instead of a cake.  So, I used regular chocolate cake mix and made blue butter cream icing.  The dilemma was what to decorate the cupcakes with.  Well, daughter and I were driving to the store and it popped into my head what I could do.  I LOVE when that happens.

H's favorite game is one where you hold a popsicle stick in your mouth and try to stack 5 dice and then  keep them there for 3 seconds before the minute it up.  (It's not as easy as you think it would be)  Here was my idea:  sugar cubes decorated like dice using black icing!  They were adorable!  Here is what I used and how they looked up close.

I made 4 dozen cupcakes so I needed 96 dice to have a pair for each cupcake.  We bought one box of sugar cubes which was more than enough for this project.

We purchased one tube of Wilton's black sparkle gel icing for making the dots on the dice.  This was purchased at Wal-Mart.

I lined the sugar cubes up in rows on a baking sheet to keep from getting icing on the table.  I started by making one dot in the middle of all the cubes with the black gel icing.  Then, I held each cube by the corners and made two, three, four and five dots on each cube.  I had a pair of dice on the table to look at so I did not make a mistake on the way they should look.  They sat for a couple of hours to let the icing dry.  There was no need to make a six on the dice because the bottom of the cube sat on top of the cupcake.  This was a really easy process and didn't take a lot of time.   Also, the decorations were edible!

This is a simple idea that could be used to decorate lots of things.  It is quick, easy and inexpensive -- all of my favorite words!  

We had a wonderful two weeks with lots of awesome experiences and memories made that I will be writing about.  I am glad to be back because the projects are stacking up, especially with fall on the way.  Hope there will be things to inspire you along the way!  

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

Make memories because no one can take them away!

If You Can't Go To Capri Make Caprese Salad

The tomatoes are here! The tomatoes are here!  Yes, it's early August and tomatoes are more than plentiful.  There are so many of them right now it's hard to think of things to make with all of them.  Okay, you have put them on sandwiches and in salads, and stuffed them and baked them and made tomato pie and enjoyed them sliced with a little salt and pepper.  My grandmother ate hers with a little sugar on them.  Then, there is canning and freezing them and there are still mountains of tomatoes.  What to do, what to do?  You surely don't want to waste any of that heavenly summertime goodness.

One of my favorite salads to make is a Caprese salad. (Insalata Caprese (salad in the style of Capri) is a simple salad from the Italian region of Campania - Wikipedia) What is a Caprese (cuhPRAYzay) salad you ask?  It is one of the easiest and tastiest salads you can make, especially with heirloom tomatoes which are plentiful and inexpensive right now.  You can also use your favorite red tomatoes like beefsteak or better boy if you prefer.

"Heirloom Tomatoes have flavors, colors and textures that are quite different than regular store bought tomatoes. These are the varieties that our grandparents and great grandparents grew many years ago that are full of anti-oxidants, vitamins and cancer preventing agents. The colors normally determine the amount of acidity, darker colors are more acidic and lighter colors are less acidic."  www.tastefulgarden.com

For the salad in the picture, I used a Cherokee Purple heirloom tomato, a Pineapple heirloom and a Green Zebra heirloom.  They are not the red tomatoes we have all become accustomed to, but are what tomatoes originally were before hybrid varieties became popular.  The Cherokee Purple is probably my favorite tomato.  It is a heavy, meaty tomato that is sweet and juicy - absolutely delicious and is so dark that it is almost purple.    The Green Zebra is a smaller tomato that is a little bit tart, but so amazing that I cannot say enough good things about it.  The Pineapple is also delicious - big, yellow,  meaty,  and super sweet like the Cherokee Purple.  We have these tomatoes growing in our garden, but they can also be purchased at local farmer's markets.

To make the Caprese salad, you will need whole fresh tomatoes, a package of fresh mozzarella cheese (I get mine at Aldi's because it's inexpensive and good), fresh basil leaves, extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper.   Slice your tomatoes and mozzarella, putting a piece of fresh mozzarella cheese between each tomato slice.  I used 3 tomatoes and 1 package of fresh mozzarella to make the salad in the picture.  You can stack the tomatoes and mozzarella like a sandwich using 2 tomato slices with a slice of mozzarella wedged between them and a piece on top, or layer them around a serving platter like the picture above.   Take a handful of fresh basil leaves and tear them into pieces.  Sprinkle the basil over all the tomatoes then salt and pepper.  (You can leave the basil leaves whole if you prefer, just make sure each tomato slice has a basil leaf.)   Drizzle some good extra virgin olive oil over the tomatoes and you have one of the best and easiest salads you will ever make or consume!  I also like a little balsamic vinegar drizzled over mine, but I do that on my plate since Dan is not a fan.

This is a salad you can eat for your main course or you can serve it as a side dish.  My understanding is Caprese salad is traditionally eaten before a meal like an anti-pasti.  It is beautiful to look at and even better to eat!  The sweet, heavenly smell of the basil and olive oil combined with the juicy tomatoes and soft, mild mozzarella is one of the finest summertime treats I can think of.  Nature blesses us with amazing things to enjoy and this is certainly among the best.  Oh summer, how you delight us with your wondrous bounty.    Give yourself and your family a real summertime treat.  Make them a wonderful Caprese salad.  Simple, easy, made with love.  There is nothing better.

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

"It's difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a homegrown tomato." - Lewis Grizzard

Life's Short, Eat Dessert First!

We had company for dinner last night and it has been so hot, I wanted to serve a lovely, cool dessert.  First thing that came to mind was profiteroles filled with delectable Jeni's Splendid ice cream and home made chocolate syrup.  Yep, that was what it was going to be.

Don't know what a profiterole is?  It's a small cream puff.  Is it delicious?  Oh yes it is.  Easy to make?  Absolutely!  Here is what you need and all you have to do:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter
1 cup water
1 cup flour
4 eggs

In a medium saucepan, heat the butter and water to a rolling boil.  Add the flour and stir vigorously over low heat until the mixture forms a ball, about 1 minute. (it will pull away from the sides of the pan suddenly)  Remove from heat.    It will look like this:

Add eggs one at a time beating thoroughly after each addition.  Now, it will look like this:

To make small profiteroles, use a tablespoon and drop the batter onto an ungreased baking sheet several inches apart because they will get bigger as they bake.

Bake in a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes for small puffs.  If you want to make regular sized cream puffs, drop several tablespoons of dough to make each mound and bake for 45-50 minutes.  Bake until puffed, lightly browned and dry.  They will sound "hollow" when you tap on them with a knife.  Allow to cool.  Cut off the top 1/3 and remove soft dough from the interior and fill with desired filling.  

You can make savory puffs by filling with ham salad, crab salad, chicken salad, pimento cheese, the choices are endless.  These make beautiful and tasty hors d'oeuvres.  If you are wanting a dessert, fill them will cream fillings, lemon curd, or ice cream.  Cream puffs have been one of my all time favorites since childhood and I have been making this recipe for years.  

Profiteroles make a lovely presentation and you can choose any flavors of ice cream.  Sometimes they are done in a neapolitan style with vanilla, chocolate and strawberry or you can be creative and chose flavors that you love.  All 3 can have the same flavor of ice cream, it is just a little more interesting to serve different flavors.   For this dessert, I chose these flavors of Jeni's Splendid ice creams - Pistachio and Honey, Coriander Raspberry and Brown Butter Almond Brittle.  Jeni's was named one of the top ten ice creams in the country recently and we happen to have a store right in our neighborhood.  It's the first store outside of Ohio where they are based and boy, are we lucky.

To fill each profiterole, I used about 1 tablespoon of ice cream in the "cavity".  It doesn't take much to fill the small puffs.  Place the top back on the puff.  To top the profiteroles, I made a home made chocolate sauce and this is the recipe:

1/2 cup cocoa
1 cup water
2 cups sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp vanilla

Blend all the ingredients except vanilla in a saucepan and bring to a rolling boil on the stove at a medium high temperature.  Stir continuously to keep from burning.  When sauce comes to a boil, stir continuously for 1 minute.  Remove from heat.  Add 1/4 tsp vanilla.  Stir.  Let cool and pour into a pitcher or jar and store in refrigerator.  This sauce will keep for several weeks.

If you are looking for a truly decadent dessert - impressive, but easy - this is it.  I hope you will give it a try.  I know you're going to like it!!

Everyday Donna


Things to Remember:

Ice cream is happiness condensed.  ~Jessi Lane Adams

Preserving Summer Bounty The Easy Way

Tomatoes are one of summer's most joyous food gifts.   They are nothing like the awful, mealy, mushy, tasteless things we buy in the winter.   Summertime tomatoes are red, juicy, meaty and a wonderful addition to any dish, sandwich or salad.  Summer tomatoes are fabulous eaten sliced with just a pinch of salt sprinkled on them, or maybe with a drizzle of olive oil and a little fresh basil.  Oh, add some fresh mozzarella and you have a wonderful Caprese salad.  The options are endless.

But, it's time to think ahead.  It's time to think of the cold winter days that will be upon us and how we will miss these wonderful summer delights.  There is a really simple way to preserve them for those cold days when you can only dream about the juicy, red, ripe, meaty, full of flavor tomatoes you enjoyed in the summer.

Tomatoes are so plentiful right now that you can purchase them at farmer's markets for such a reasonable price you can't pass them up.  I purchased a bushel of beef steak tomatoes for $10.00 this weekend at the Nashville Farmer's market.  They are not the big huge tomatoes that you often see, but are a great size to freeze.  Yes, I said freeze.  It is so much easier than canning, cheaper because all you have to buy is freezer bags, and  safer too if you don't know what you are doing.

All you need are ripe tomatoes and a box of quart sized freezer bags.  Simple.  No sterilizing of jars, no water bath canner or pressure canner needed.  Here is what you do.

A bushel of tomatoes is a lot of tomatoes, so first sort through them, remove any that may have bad places on them or may be getting really soft and discard them.  I had a few in that category.  Next, wash them in the sink to remove any stems or dirt.  Fill a stock pot or deep pan with water and put it on the stove to boil.  I used two large bowls to hold tomatoes,one for before boiling and one for after boiling, a smaller bowl to hold the cores and skins and a large bowl filled with ice water.  I also used my canning funnel to fill the bags and a large long handled spoon to put the tomatoes into the boiling water and remove them from the boiling water.

Be aware when filling your pot with water that the tomatoes will displace the water, so you don't want to fill it to the top so that it overflows when you put tomatoes into the water.  You want the water to be at a rolling boil when you add tomatoes.  Don't do too many at a time, because you boil them for only 1 minute and then quickly remove them to a bowl filled with water and ice cubes to quickly stop the cooking.  Boiling the tomatoes loosens the skin so you can easily peel them with your hands.

The hot tomatoes will quickly melt the ice cubes, so I kept a pitcher filled with replacement ice to add to the bowl.  Because the ice melts and adds to the water level in the bowl, pour some of it out at intervals so the bowl doesn't overflow.  (Pour the water out with NO tomatoes in the bowl.)  Leave the tomatoes in the ice bath for a minute or two,  remove the tomatoes from the ice water and begin to core them and peel the skins.  The skins will slip right off.  Place the cored and peeled tomatoes into another big bowl until you are ready to quarter them and place them in bags.

I did this whole process sort of "assembly line" style.  I kept the clean tomatoes in a large bowl in the sink.  I filled a bowl with tomatoes then transferred them to the counter near the stove.  I placed some tomatoes in to boil for 1 minute.  I quickly removed them with my big long handled spoon and dunked them in the ice water bath.  I then put them on a cutting board to core and peel.  After coring and peeling, they were placed in another large bowl waiting to be quartered and bagged.    So, I had some tomatoes boiling, some in the ice bath while I peeled and cored tomatoes and then into the holding bowl.  It only took me about an hour to do the bushel of tomatoes.

Once all of the tomatoes were done, I used a tupperware bowl that holds 3 cups of liquid and quartered tomatoes until the bowl was full.  Each time the bowl was filled,  I took a one quart zip lock freezer bag, placed my canning funnel (which has a very wide mouth) inside the bag.  I held the bag and funnel in one hand while I poured the quartered tomatoes into the funnel with the other hand.  You may have to shake the funnel a bit to get all of the tomatoes into the bag.  Leave about 1 inch of headroom in the bag, pull the "zipper" almost closed, squeeze the bag to remove all of the air and finish closing the zipper.  I quickly filled the bags this way and there was no spillage or mess everywhere.

Just look at the beautiful red color on those tomatoes.  I had 8 quart bags when I was finished.  Place these into the freezer and you will have delicious, juicy, flavor filled tomatoes to use for soups, stews and sauces all winter long.  Yes, I am heading back to the farmer's market for more tomatoes now that I know how easy this process is!  Perhaps you have a bounty of tomatoes coming in from plants you are growing and don't know what to do with them all.  This is a really easy method to save that summer goodness.

Tomorrow, there will be more dipping, dunking, peeling and bagging going on in the kitchen at the little yellow cottage.  Who knew freezing tomatoes could be so easy?  Give it a try.  You will thank me in December.  I know I will thank me all winter long.

Everyday Donna


Things To Remember:

"A world without tomatoes is like a string quartet without violins." - Laurie Colwin

Florentine White Bean Soup - YUM

Today was errand day - in the heat.  The really, really hot heat.  The super humid unbearable heat.  The summertime makes you sweat heat.   The "I don't want to go outside" heat.  Yes, 99% humidity this morning before 7 am heat.  The "it's been above 90" every day and it's not even August yet heat.  This kind of heat saps your energy and makes you lazy.  At least, that's my excuse  (not sure what your excuse is).  Anyway, after lots of trips to and from, up and down, in and out of the car today, (in the heat) I did not want to cook dinner, but I certainly did not want to go back out in the heat.

I try to keep some "basics" in my pantry at all times.  I always have chicken stock in a box, there are always some cans of beans, tomato sauce, you know - the basics.  Well, it was time to think about dinner and I did not want to grill because that meant going outside  - yes, in the heat.  I know it's hot, but I am always up for a good bowl of soup especially if it's as quick and easy as this recipe.  Yum, Yum, Yum.

This recipe is from a Williams- Sonoma book called Food Made Fast - Soup.  Those are my three most favorite words, food made fast.  Soup is probably my most favorite food.  It is the one thing I really like to eat "left over."  Otherwise, I am not always a big fan of left overs.  Fortunately, I had everything on hand to make this delicious Florentine White Bean Soup.

What does "Florentine" mean?  It means there is spinach in the recipe and we love spinach so this is what we had for dinner with mozzarella/basil quesadillas.  Yes, my own little "side" invention for this evening's dinner.  Here is the recipe for this quick and easy soup.  It gives you protein, fiber, vegetables and deliciousness at a really reasonable price!  It only takes about 30 minutes to make and is waaaaaaay better than a can of Campbell's or Progresso.  Here is what you do:

Ingredients:

Olive oil, 2 TBSPs
5 slices bacon  (the recipe calls for Pancetta but it's too hard to find and it is just Italian bacon)
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
2 carrots, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 TBSP tomato paste
4 cups (1 box) chicken broth
2 cans (14.5 oz) cannellini beans, drained and rinsed  (white kidney beans are the same thing)
2 cups fresh baby spinach

salt and freshly ground pepper
a pinch of red pepper flakes (that is my addition, you don't have to use it)

1.  Sautee the vegetables

Lay the bacon slices on top of each other and cut the bacon across the grain in 1/2 inch  slices.    Heat up your large saucepan over medium heat.  Saute the bacon until it is brown and remove it from the pan, draining on paper towels.  Drain all the remaining bacon fat from the pan.  Put the pan back on the stove and add 2 TBSPs of olive oil.  Add the onions and carrots and saute until they are soft, about 5 minutes.  Add the garlic and oregano and cook, stirring occasionally, about 2 minutes.

2.  Finish the Soup

Stir in the tomato paste, mixing well.  Add the broth and the beans.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to medium.  Add the spinach and cook until it is wilted and the flavors have blended, about 10 minutes.  Add the bacon.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Add a pinch or two of red pepper flakes.  Ladle the soup into bowls and serve.

This is a 30 minute meal.  It is filling and delicious.  I know, I spent the first paragraph talking about the heat and then I recommend soup for dinner.  I don't consider soup just a cold weather meal and we have left overs for lunch tomorrow.  Yay!

For my sandwich accompaniment, I made mozzarella quesadillas.  Yes, it's a mix of food cultures but it really works!  Here is what I did:

Flour tortillas
mozzarella cheese - you can use fresh, shredded or slice some from a block
fresh basil leaves
olive oil

Heat a large skillet with about a tablespoon of olive oil.  Place mozzarella slices or shredded mozzarella on 1/2 of the tortilla and chifonade the basil leaves and sprinkle them over the mozzarella.  Fold the other half of the tortilla over the cheese.  Put the quesadilla in the hot oil and cook until the cheese begins to melt and the tortilla starts to brown.  Lift it up with a spatula to see how it is browning.  When it has reached the color you want, flip it over and brown on the other side.  Remove from pan and cut into pieces.  I made us each one for supper and it is a great "sandwich" for the soup.  So good!

 Don't be frustrated by the heat.  Stay inside where it's cool and fix a super quick, super easy, super tasty meal for you and your family.  There's always time for a home cooked meal.  Enjoy!

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

“A home is a place where a pot of fresh soup simmers gently on the
hob, filling the kitchen with soft aromas… and filling your heart,
and later your tummy, with joy.”~ Keith Floyd