Soup's On!

Blessings, Darlings!

The weather has turned blessedly cool and refreshing after the record heat of summer (and the record high temperatures that the DC area hit even last week!).  So I can go back to ENJOYING hot bowls of soup again.

My love of soup goes WAY back, before even my earliest memory.  My mother remembers the first time she fed me soup.  Apparently I couldn't get enough.  I'm sure it was chicken soup, served as part of Shabbos dinner, and she made it herself.  She didn't say if it had noodles in it.  She DID say that she stopped feeding it to me that night before I was done eating all I wanted. 

My favorite soups are hearty stew-like ones, full of vegetables, meats, noodles or rice or potatoes or matzo balls, etc.  But that's not to slight cream based soups, or lovely broths, or silky split pea, or.... well, you get the obsession.

Usually we have soup with lunch almost all year.  This year, with the heat, we really couldn't face that (and we really don't like cold soups), so we've been soup-free for rather a while.

But it's time to get back on the soup bandwagon! 

Simmering has started again in my kitchen.  Barley, unhulled, is almost done cooking.  It will be joined by stock from the freezer, a can or two of mixed veggies, and a can of beef.  Maybe a can of mushrooms, too.  Tomatoes? Why, yes, since the garden is still burying us in them!  Herbs and other seasonings will be adjusted, bowls will be filled, and comfort food will fill our tummies, easing cool-weather sharpened appetites.

I'll be repeating the magic of soup making at least once a week for the next 9 months (except during the move, when I expect we'll use a lot of canned soup).  I can't wait!

Frondly, Fern