Wordless Wednesday: Negative Three

Super Soup

It was just one of those nice winter days in Minnesota when I didn't really want to go dig out my car to go to the grocery store. We rode with some friends to a cabin for the weekend, and our car  is still sitting under a nice big pile of crispy hard snow. I haven't made it to the grocery store since.... well... I don't really remember. You see, our Christmas break kind of took over our world since we were out of town for the whole three weeks, and then the cabin trip was right after that. That being the case, there really isn't much in the Frigidaire at the moment. I did find some limp celery and some carrots in one of the drawers- still good, and a bunch of good stuff in the freezer. I am so grateful for freezers. I love you, freezer.

Whatever I Could Find Soup:

Saute:

1/2 c. Chopped Celery

2 Carrots, Chopped

1 Garlic Clove, Minced

2 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts, Chopped

Add:

1 Can Cream of Chicken Soup

Add your own amounts:

Water

Peas

Broccoli

Corn

Bring to a boil until all the veggies are nice and cooked. Serve, and enjoy a warm bowl of soup in January! We had our soup tonight with some Sour Dough toast, it was so delicious!

Round and Round the Garden

One tradition that we came up with while growing up took place during the fall clean up out in the yard. Every fall we had fall clean up days, compared to a single fall clean up day... really. It takes the whole fall season to get the yard ready to sleep for the winter. One of those days would consists of trimming the grape vines. Mom would clip and trim the vines off to where she needed them to be for growing back in the spring, and the kids were in charge of hauling away all the clippings. These were the cool clippings because they could be up to eight or ten feet long. We would find all sorts of things to do with these amazing vines, one example being a game of jump rope. Eventually jumping around wore off and I figured out how to make wreaths out of some of the vines. The last couple of years that I lived at home this was my tradition. I would make a wreath for my mom and hang it somewhere in her yard, on a fence or on a gate, to add some home made character to the yard for the winter season.

This year was no different. I was actually excited for our fall clean up day (yep, just one for us this year- smaller yard). To be outside, and smell all the autumn flavors, and hear the leaves being raked off the grass. I ended up cleaning out a garden that must have had some beautiful lilly's this summer, all the stiff stems were still standing tall. They were about waist high. I decided they were perfect for my tribute to the fall and winter seasons....among whatever else was in the "to be collected by the city" pile of clippings. The stems were a little stiff, I just bent and cracked them to get them to be where I wanted. I usually use long vines wrapped around each other to hold the wreath all together, but these little guys were kind of stubborn. I had to use twine to get it to stay! Oh well. So, here you have it, my winter wreath. It's decorating the shed this year.