Soup's On!

We feel the need to make a confession.  We're soup fanatics.  There, we said it.  It's not that we simply like soup; we love soup.  When you look out your kitchen window and see this:

You know it's a good day for soup.  It's snowing and 22° and we want to eat something that will warm our innards.  Let's do beef today.  We dig around in the freezer to find two packages of soup bones.  Yes, two.  We don't mess around; we make BIG pots of soup in this house.

What do we love about soup?  We've actually discussed this subject many times.  We obviously love the flavor or combination of flavors you can get in a pot of soup.  Yum.  Nutrition is important to us, too.  Steve has promised me that he will live to 100.  What a wonderful way to get some extra vegetables in our diets.  Soup is also one of those true comfort foods.  Soup reminds Steve of his grandparents.  He has good memories of tasty soups eaten with them at their home and up at the cabin.  He remembers going back to the cabin after a day of hunting and seeing the windows all steamed up.  He knew Grandma had something good cooking.  Soup has the power to make him feel loved.  Therefore, I naturally love making soup for him.  It's really starting to whiten up outside now.

Making soup is a creative process.  Don't ask me for a recipe.  Soup is one of those things that changes each time I make it.  Choose some meat or poultry.  Throw in various veggies, herbs and seasonings.  Don't forget plenty of onion.  It's always fun and interesting to see how each batch turns out.  Today's pot holds beef, onion, three types of potatoes, carrots, celery, mushrooms, a little of this and a little of that, two bay leaves, etc.  We had some errands to run today, so there was no time to make homemade noodles.  I made dumplings instead.  The windows have steamed up and the bowls are waiting.

Add a spectacular salad, a pot of tea, and soup's on!  Oops, we were so excited about eating that I forgot to take a photo until after dinner was over.  It looked much better before I attacked it with the ladle.

The innards are warmed and my husband feels loved.  He said I hit a home run.  All is well in the Keweenaw.