Soup!

This is a change for the blog - not writing about grandkids!  Or knitting!  I like trying new recipes and during the last six weeks with Laura living here we tried quite a few new ones.  It was fun having her in the kitchen helping and talking about whether we really wanted to make it the way the recipe said or change it to our idea of how it should be.  The best one we tried was called the Rich Italian Sausage and Potato soup.  It is on the All Recipes web site where I seem to get most my new recipes - I get an email from them every day with suggestions and this one was a huge hit.  I have to say it is the best soup I ever made. 

I made a few changes to it - I used regular bacon because I could find the pancetta bacon (and never heard of it before) and the second time I made it I used half and half instead of the heavy cream.  It was cheaper and I actually thought it tasted better.  I also used more potatoes than it called for simply because we like potatoes.   For the chicken broth, I have been saving the liquid that remains in the crock pot after fixing a whole chicken in it and freezing it in small bags - about a cup each.   I had never cooked with kale before so that was fun.  Also discovered that kale does not keep well - if you don't use it all - throw it away your refrigirator will smell most unpleasant.  I think next time I will cook the sausage in with the bacon and onions instead of baking it in the oven. 

Here is a link to the soup recipe - hope you enjoy it too.

Italian Sausage and Potato soup

Yarn Hop 2012

Again this year I participated in the Central Kansas Yarn Hop.  It is always fun to see the different shops and the new yarns but this year was more fun as two retired friends were able to go along too plus Laura was here so she went as our official photographer.  :)   Many shops were quite impressed when we explained she didn't have a passport to be stamped because she was our photographer.   It was quite the running joke throughout the day.  

The day started by picking up Sandy Leithoff and heading to Melissa King's house.  Melissa lives north of town and had invited us for breakfast - and what a feast that was.  Melissa is a great cook and got many of us at work involved in the freezer cooking method which we all loved.  She also cans and makes jellies and always explains that "it is so easy".  Ha!    The breakfast was just amazing! 

Our first stop was in  El Dorado.  This was my third visit to the ElDorado shop and the third building it has been in.  This shop is in an old house and we missed it the first time we went by.  

Next was Newton - which is in a huge building that also houses four other types of businesses.   She has a marvelous selection of crochet thread - every color they offer.  This was the best smelling shop too as other other shops in the building had candles and food items for sale.  We purchased some peppernuts and a dry corn soup mix that I now wish I had bought the larger size - it is fabulous.

Then we went to McPherson, Salina and Abilene.  After dropping off Melissa, Sandy and I stopped at Twist on our way home.  The Salina shop is the largest of all the shops and the gals there are super nice and friendly.  The Abilene shop is the smallest but had good sale items and has the best name "The Shivering Sheep"

 
Since Dennis and I had a trip planned for Texas the next day, these were the only shops I got to visit during the hop.  Next year we are planning a longer day by starting early in the morning at Wamego and then "Hopping" along the way back.  It was great fun - I don't think there was a moment of silence the whole day and an awful lot of laughter. 

Kindergarten Pumpkin Patch

The girls had a field trip to the pumpkin patch that is across from the August airport - I had never heard of this place but it is awesome and they had a fabulous time.  They rode the bus and I met them there and was "in charge" of them which I was very happy to do.  The first thing they saw was a huge slide - it was built on a hill and looked way too big for them but all their classmates and their teachers were going on it so grandma kept quiet and stood and watched them come down.  Lily and Audrey are so light they were going to fast and tumbled along with sliding and didn't try it a second time.  Izzy is heavy enough that she did fine and went a second time.  The place also had a huge air pillow - it was a bouncy device that the kids climbed up the side and then bounced on top.  They loved it.  I think they could have spent all day bouncing on it.  They also climbed around on hay bales, rode tricycles around a path, played on playground equipment and went through a milo maze which is like a corn maze but a lot shorter and quicker.   Then of course we rode the wagon out to the pumpkin patch where they got to pick out pumpkins which were much bigger than I expected them to be.  All in all it was a great morning and we all had a lot of fun.