Birthday Weekend + Soup + Decorator

My sister in law, Suzanne, introduced our family to the concept of birthday’s being celebrated for longer than just one day. Her family has celebrations lasting all month long . . . that could be a slight exaggeration but I would say they celebrate for at least long weekends. I love the opportunity to celebrate, anything. I love spreading out the kids birthday’s. This was my birthday weekend and it was such a great time. I woke (late, woohoo!) on Saturday morning to this breakfast  . . .

We had a slow morning and then went out on the boat. We hung out on a beach in the harbor. It was a cool, sunny day. Fleet told me that it’s a really good treat to get Gatorade on the boat. I told him that he’s a really great treat for me. He said, “A treat you get to enjoy everyday.” True.

There is nothing like a nap on the boat after a day in the sun. I used to love doing this as a kid.

We rode bikes on Sunday and discovered a beach near our house.

I always love “boneyard” beaches.

And my sweet hubbie got me a laptop for my birthday. I think he’s tired of having to share!

My friend, Megan, recommended this cookbook, Simply in Season, years ago and I’ve made a lot of the recipes. They are separated out by season. I like finding recipes that use in season produce. I’ve had this book for about 6 years so there is likely an updated version.

I made a delicious soup this week from the “Fall” section. It’s a keeper. It’s full of veggies and has great flavor. Everyone liked it. I noted the changes I made to the original recipe in italics.

Autumn Vegetable Soup

Ingredients

• 1/2 c chopped onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 c each – kale, cabbage, carrots, red or green pepper, chopped I used baby kale and I bought pre-chopped cabbage, like for coleslaw
• 1/2 tsp each – salt, basil, oregano
• 1/8 tsp pepper
• 2 cups bean cooking liquid or vegetable broth I only had chicken broth so that’s what I used
• 1 cup tomato juice I used a medium sized can of seasoned, diced tomatos
• 3/4 c cooked beans I used a can of cannelli beans with their juice
• 1/2 c corn I didn’t add corn
• 2 tsp dried instant barley
• 2 tsp alphabet or orzo pasta, I used orzo
• 1 1/2 tbsp red cooking wine I forgot this!
• 1/2 c tomatoes, chopped
• 1 tbsp fresh parsley

Directions

1. In soup pot, saute onion in 1 tbsp olive oil over medium heat until soft. Add garlic and saute one minute
2. Add kale, cabbage, carrots, peppers and dried spices and saute a little. Turn heat down to low, cover pan and let cook about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Add broth through cooking wine and bring to a gentle boil and simmer for 15 minutes.
4. Add chopped tomatoes and parsley and simmer another few minutes.

Voila! We served ours with parmesan. This recipe made enough for about 6 servings. I will double it next time because I like to get at least two meals out of a cooking session.

I finally hired that decorator for the porch. What do ya’ll think? I was thinking about asking them to do the rest of the house . . . oh wait, they already finished the rest of the house. I would say that their style is “unorganized, chaos.” Let me know if you would like to borrow them to help you redecorate any rooms in your house. They’re not cheap but they do have a strong impact.

My mom hasn’t been feeling well this weekend so I get to celebrate with them later and thus the “birthday weekend” is turning into the “birthday long weekend.”The boys are wondering when all our friends are coming over for my party, I thought that was pretty cute.