Another soupy post!

Split Pea Soup

This is a recipe from Randy's mom.  She makes it from scratch and has had the recipe in her head for years.  :)  So here are the ingredients.

Split peas(1 pkg.)
Vegetable or chicken broth (large size 1 qt.)
1 onion ( 2 inches across-use half-cut small)
4 slices of bacon or ham slices or a hambone.
For the bacon:  brown a bit, add onions, peas, and broth
For the ham:  just add to onions, peas, and broth

Cook 2-3 hours.  Add water mixture if needed.  It gets pretty thick.

Water mixture: Add water with chicken broth cubes(1-1 1/2 tsp.)

Yes, there really is leisure time!

Hello family:

Tim and I are actually doing non work things these days.  Tim seeded the front yard and lo and behold we have a good stand of grass.  I think we have given up on the back yard.  It has gone to the dogs.  Although, Tim is still planning to repurpose the Johnston (thank you) deck wood for a small deck out back.  He has been working on his church treasurers job which creates many frown lines as well as Sunday School class and a local Mental Health task force committee.

With the new job, I have evenings and weekends free.  I have rediscovered my enjoyment with house plants.  One of my favorites is “Audrey”.  She is a large aloe vera that was given to me.  When she first arrived I found her rather creepy, hence the name Audrey from little shop of horrors.  Since then I have discovered that she is really rather sensitive and sunburns.  She moved outside for just a bit this summer but had to return inside.  As you can see she is thriving and producing more little Audreys. 

I hope they don’t take over.  Here’s a couple more pictures of my plants.  Now if they can just survive the winter.  I have considered giving them all names but we shall see… The next kind I want to try is a split leave philodendron.

I’ve also been working on the house.  One large project is cleaning up the “lego” room.  Good heavens there was lots of stuff in there and many giant dust bunnies.  It’s not done yet but progress is being made.

 

This weekend we did the annual Givan Fall Festival.  Tim, Kate, Tyson, Gus and I went to Polk’s and picked out some pumpkins.  Then we followed  it up with some yummy chili made by Tim.

Happy Fall you all!

A Soup to Share! (Chicken and Wild Rice)

Here is a super easy crock pot soup that has been delicious every time I've made it! I think it tastes a lot like the Panera chicken & wild rice soup. We made it first in Minnesota visiting the lake a couple years ago.

https://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/slow-cooker-creamy-chicken-and-wild-rice-soup/dd8f8c01-7124-43ed-b408-dce697c5c634

We stuck pretty close to the recipe, but I think we did add a few more frozen veggies. Super yummy with some biscuits or a side salad.

Enjoy!

Sharings from the Shooks

Hello all:  We have been moving along with not too much exciting of late.  Tim has two new faculty that are doing well.  They are training the second faculty assistant of the year now.  He does wish the drama department did not have so much drama!!

We both enjoyed our birthdays.  Samuel cooked over the weekend for us.  He made vegetarian chili one day and pizza from scratch the next.  Nancy and Janet brought a chocolate pudding pie to work for me. It was yummy.  And of course birthday dinner in Hutch.  Always wonderful! 

Erik is enjoying the Americorp Work.  They have done trail cleaning, invasive plant removal and avoided the hurricane.  The park department workers came and got them and offered their office floor but Americorp had booked them a hotel room.  He said the electricity went out in the hotel so tahey ate breakfast in the hotel next door.  Otherwise things were good.  The tree that fell beside their campsite did not damage anyone's tent.  He posted pics on face book.

I will have to  take more pictures:)  Have a good Halloween!