It's a good day

I am having a good day today, nothing special or out of the ordinary, just simple and good.  I was able to keep my house clean all day, some days that feels like quite the feat as the kids seem to follow behind me like mini-tornadoes.  And I managed a  home cooked meal that had my husband humming, I love it when I can make something so simple and his heart brims with love for me! One thing I really appreciate about my husband is how much he always notices and appreciates the little things.  I think that is important for us moms that feel like we spent the day "in the trenches" of dirty diapers and dirty dishes.  Sometimes I get to the end of my day and I think "what did I do today?" so when he walks in and says "Honey the house looks so beautiful" or "This is the best soup I have ever had" it makes the simple life feel rich after all. 
Ok, sorry about all the mushiness.  Maybe I should just share my recipes and quit with the emotional fluff?

Still on a fall kick I have been gathering all my favorite fall recipes and of course new ones always make the mix and am excited about all the fall inspired stuff I can bring between now and Thanksgiving.

So tonight's menu was very simple; Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup, Applesauce.  No big deal right? Well when all those items are homemade, use items from your garden and take regular no-brainer items, keep the simplicity but kick up the elegance it's worth a closer look. 

Now if you haven't already seen this...

then maybe you don't know about Pinterest. I LOVE Pinterest.  I totally blame my sister for introducing us.  Here are some good descriptions:

HAHA that's so true, or to sum up...

Yes, I love it.  And I have actually starting using it! I have taken 5 pictures this week based on ideas from my photography board.  And I have 5 crafts planned and like 8 recipes planned from other boards so hey I am at least applying it!   So anyways enter with caution, it's addicting...

All that to say that found this soup recipe on Pinterest! (Feel free to pin my blog anytime you want too because that is like an early Christmas present to me!)

Grilled Ham and Cheese and Tomato Basil Soup

Ok grilled cheese doesn't require much instruction I would hope! I didn't fancy it up in any way but I did do dual-cheese with a slice of Provolone and a slice of Colby Jack and because my carnivorous husband is dead-against meat free meals we made them honey ham and cheese! Yum.  Perfect for dunking in the soup!

Soup:

3 cloves of garlic, minced

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1 28 oz. cans of Meijers Organic Basil and Garlic Crushed Tomatoes

1 28 oz. can of Basil and Garlic Whole Tomatoes

2 cups of stock (chicken - I used organic, low sodium)

2 colored peppers coarsely chopped

A couple handfuls of cherry tomatoes (the last of our garden, hand crushed)

1 tsp of sea salt

1 tsp of sugar

1/2 tsp of fresh ground black pepper

1/2 cup of heavy cream

3 tablespoons of fresh basil, julienned (I actually added some to the soup and then some as a garnish too)

Parmesan cheese

In a saucepan, saute garlic in olive oil on medium heat for 1 minute - being careful not to burn the garlic.  Add the crushed tomatoes.  Add the whole tomatoes one at a time, squeezing them into the pan to break them up. (also threw in some of our tomatoes - the more the merrier right?)  Add peppers. Add the juice from the whole tomatoes, as well.  Add chicken stock, salt, pepper and sugar.  Cook the soup on medium at a simmer for 10 minutes.  

To finish, reduce the heat to low and stir in heavy cream and basil.  Serve topped with Parmesan cheese

 

Warm yummy goodness!

 

Still recovering from when I went peach crazy last month I have been avoiding a similar obsession with apples although I know they will be popping up in my food like crazy this month.  I wanted to try making homemade applesauce.  Even simpler I wanted to make it in the crockpot.  Almost all recipes I found online were the same.  So Monday night before bed I started the applesauce at like 11 pm set for 8 hrs I woke up to apple-cinnamon goodness.  I was a little surprised by the look.   It's.....brownish red! (Kind of like apple butter!) As near as I can tell the color may be related to the ripeness of the apples or the type of apples so I can offer you no guarantees of what color your applesauce will be if you attempt this! One kid already doesn't like applesauce so I knew it was a long shot but thought maybe a smidgen of whipped topping would sweeten the deal...not so much! Incidentally the other kid hates tomatoes and refused to eat the soup and was apprehensive about the color of the applesauce so she wouldn't eat that either so the dinner was kind of a bust with the kids.  Oh well. Hubby and I enjoyed ourselves!)

 

Crockpot Applesauce

 

Told you it was dark!

 

Easy and yummy though.  While watching the Sing Off on Monday night I peeled and cored and cut my apples into wedges.  I got two different "good for baking" types from Robinette's Apple Orchard, I think Gala and Spies.  Originally the recipe said 10 apples but it said your crock pot should be 3/4 full so I ended up closer to 15 apples.  Then I added 1 cup of apple cider, 1 tsp of cinnamon and that was it! Slow cook on low 8-10 hrs.  Made about 8 cups of applesauce.  You could do a cup of water and 1/2 cup to a cup of sugar instead of cider but my friend told me to try cider, kill 2 birds with one stone! The color issue is funny to me but I don't mind it.  The kitchen is an unpredictable world.  I kind of like when things don't turn out exactly how you wanted but still taste great, teaches you to be more flexible and easy going about your cooking I think.  My mom and I were having a heart to heart about balance and time management last week and she passed on her sage Motherly wisdom "Honey, in all honesty, you just need to remember, things don't always need to be perfect." You're right Mom (as always!) and sometimes you just need to let yourself off the hook.   I have gotten pretty good about this when it comes to my cooking.  Now I need to work on that with my photography.  And my house-keeping.  And my, sigh, the list goes on and on...

 

But! Today was a good day.  I hope you are having a good day too! I hope you are warm and cozy as the nights grow colder.  I hope you have some delicious soup on your menu for the week.  I hope you love yourself enough to let things go as good enough, I am learning this day by day.  I hope you also are blessed with wonderful people in your life to affirm your efforts as I am blessed to have.  Have a wonderful night everyone!