Cheese Soup - winter's best friend

I just glanced at next week's temps - 40s - not bad I thought, with the children being home from school I wanted to actually leave the house with them and venture forth.Then it hit me - the big snow warning on Thursday THIS week arghh! Not again. Forecast is for up to 12" by nightfall. And with that I bring you cheese soup.

Cheese Soup

Yield: serves 4-6
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

3 slices thick-cut bacon, chopped
1 sweet onion, finely diced
1/2 red pepper, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons flour
2 cups of stock (your choice)
1 cup half and half
4 ounces sharp white cheddar, freshly grated
4 ounces extra sharp yellow cheddar, freshly grated
4 ounces colby jack, freshly grated
fresh herbs for garnish
salt and pepper to season if needed
bread rolls for serving

Directions:

Heat a large stock pot over medium heat and add chopped bacon. Fry until crispy and fat is rendered, them remove bacon with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel to drain. Reduce heat to low and add onions, peppers and garlic, stirring to coat. Cook for about 10 minutes, until vegetables are translucent, stirring occasionally. Increase heat to medium-high and add in butter. Once sizzling, which in flour and cook for 3-4 minutes until flour is nutty and golden. Add in stock and stirring constantly, cook for 5 minutes so the mixture somewhat thickens.
Add in half and half, then reduce heat to low and gradually add cheese while stirring. Stir until smooth, then fold in bacon and serve immediately. Garnish fresh chopped herbs over top if desired.

[Because any cheese soup can get "gloppy" after it sits, I suggest making this as close to serving time if possible. If the mixture gets too thick, add a bit more liquid and stir over low heat. ]

Thank me later!

bathtime for babies

I feel oh so very accomplished in the hours following bath night success.  Successfully getting 5 children under 9 in the tub, hair washed, nails clipped, dried and pajamad (not a word but sooo should be), is nothing short of a miracle. I try to do every other night in the winter months, due to dry skin issues. But in the summer when they're playing outside a daily bath is pretty much a necessity. Not one I love! The one part I do enjoy, apart from their squeaky clean after appearance - is the drying of the hair. Not the brushing, lets get that straight right away! There's something about that almost silent time with them sitting with the blow dryer hum and nothing else, and that warm comfort of the miracle being almost complete. It's a time I cherish for sure.

On that joyous note I have to tell you about my trip to Target yesterday - not one bottle of bubble bath in the whole store! And when I asked the cashier - can you believe he didn't have a clue what I was talking about! What's the world coming to!?

waning on winter

It may only just be the end of January tomorrow, but I feel like this winter has gone on long enough. Here in New York we've had snow pretty much every other day since November. If it's not been falling thick and hard, it's been blanketed and frozen from the last storm. I've never known snow like this. I've never known cold like this - it hasn't been above freezing during the day for weeks. We gave up clearing the pathway sometime late December and just gave into the soft crunch under foot every morning. The birds are all so active this time of year. So I'm trying hard to keep my feeders full and my suet supply stocked. The thing is I love winter.

When Fall starts dwindling I get so excited at the prospect of the first snow, the sparkling ground and snow laden pines fill me with so much joy. Our property here is just under an acre consisting of a large lawned piece at the front and a wood of Maples at the rear. From the end of Spring when the last of the dogwood and cherry blossoms have fallen - it's pretty much green central station. Green trees, green grass, green bushes.. it's hard to grow flowers well at the front because of our resident deer families. So I welcome that roll into the colorful Autumn oranges, and then the white out that follows. But after three straight months of white, I find myself once again craving the green. Everything looks so dead at this point, with no twinkling white Christmas lights to give it that joyful glow.

 I planted my seeds the night before last. Broccoli, Kale, Watermelon, Zinnia, Sunflower, Moon Flower, Morning Glories... That gave me a bit of a boost, the thought of what's to come in a few months when the snow has gone, and the world wakes up again. but the children look so cute in their mittens and hats, thick winter coats and snow boots, I think I need to take a walk in the mountains to grasp the beauty of what's still here, because even though my love for winter is hiding, the sparkle is still twinkling.

et voila!

The 5 hour/5 day cardigan is done - added some fancier trumpet style sleeves and the sweetest snow bird buttons to complete it and it looks beautiful:

I will definitely be making another one - but this time remembering the whole, no pun intended, knit into the back not front to get the holey lacey effect you want for girlish style. But as it is I love it. Can't wait to see baby wearing it with a little sleepsuit underneath. Perfect for chilly winter days! Next on the knitting agenda is a hat using Martha Stewart's yarn range, available at Michaels. I'm switching the colors a bit and doing a soft lilac instead of the green - I think it will be beautiful. Will update with a completed pic when it's finished.

been a while...

So we moved into our house at the end of October, and as you can imagine its been non stop ever since! The first week we here in New York were hit with an early snowstorm, that due to the leaves still being on the trees, took many of them down, including the one across our road right onto our power line! Queue no power for 6 whole days. No heat, no light - nada. And to say it was freezing is an understatement! Luckily we had hot water, for an as yet unknown reason, and with having a fireplace we could have some heat during the day. Sadly the children missed the chance to play in the first snow of winter in our new home, as it was just too freezing in the house to warm them up again. They also missed Halloween - which of course was very upsetting - seems to be their favorite day of the year! Non stop unpacking and painting, buying bits and bobs for various rooms, then boom the holidays hit. As of the day after Christmas we have a new addition to the family - an 8 week old Newfoundland Landseer puppy. He is adorable, but was ridden with fleas - so that plus the non stop night whining has been a challenge to say the least! I'm really hoping for a break when January comes. Although I'm determined to get my party business up and running so that will clearly take up some time. Still a lot to do around the house - funny how something like losing power for a week can seem to set you back for months!

onward

So we have found another house, that passed inspection with mostly flying colors. It is a 5 bedroom, 2 living rooms, 3 bathrooms, 2 fireplace spread, and suits our needs just perfectly. There is a large almost acre garden, and it is set 600feet up a mountain so lots of fresh air for my asthmatic daughter. Also it is still the same great school as the termite-filled house, and there's a school bus, so all in all - great. We made an offer which was accepted, and now the waiting game has begun. The buyer of our house was on vacation for 2 weeks (with no one covering him?!) and so there was the first delay. It is now almost a week since he got back, but still no word. Although our buyers have paid deposit, and all contracts have been signed, they could still jump. This being my biggest fear, as then we are left with starting the whole selling process again from scratch. Argh! Meanwhile I have been planning the new house to keep myself busy. I have chosen paint colours and designed my garden front and back! Also the children and I have been packing up not needed stuff, and still it feels like the house is full. Really hoping to hear from our lawyer in the next few days with good news, so we can start working out dates for closing and moving. It is now too late in any case to move in time for the children starting school, as that's only 5 weeks away, so we will need to put them back in to their old school for a while, which is not the disruption I wanted for them, but cest la vie. We are off to Disney World for the first week of September, so I'm hoping that will be a welcome break for them and us. At least it will take our minds off all this uncertainty.