The First Snow

Well here we are starting December and we got our first official snow today. Why I live in Michigan is really beyond me because I hate this weather. I don't like to be cold, I don't like to drive on the icy roads, and I hate having to bundle up in heavy winter coats, not to mention bundle up kids in hats, coats, mittens, boots. I'm happy just grabbing my purse, keys, and slipping on my flip flops to head out the door. I probably shouldn't complain too much since we have had a pretty warm fall for the most part. However yesterday it was 50 and today I wake up to 27 degrees and snow on the ground. That's a little too much of a change for me. I know it's only December 1st, but here's to hoping winter moves in and out very quickly!

I'm so proud of myself that I got all the Christmas decorations up before December hit. I don't remember the last time that happened. Evan helped me put the rest of the decorations out Monday night after Em went to bed. Yesterday morning when we came downstairs Em walked into the living room, and says, "Bootiful" (it sounds like boo when she says it), then she walked into the middle of the room, opened her arms up, spun around in a circle while saying, "It's so bootiful in here." She did this a few times. It was just too darn cute. She absolutely loves the Christmas decorations this year! It's so fun to watch her look at everything. I'll try to post a picture soon. I meant to take a picture tonight and forgot, and now it's too dark.

Now onto another recipe. It's actually fitting for this weather because as soon as the cold hits, what do you think of making? If you're like me it's soup! It's the perfect meal on a cold winter day. I usually make my soup up ahead of time so it's already made come dinner time, and then there's always enough for leftovers so that's another added bonus of making soup! Greg made this soup about a month ago for the first time. It was from my soup cookbook (the same one I posted the Italian Chicken Soup recipe from that's on this blog). The first time we had it we both liked it, but it had a little too much garlic we thought. We're not huge garlic fans, but put in what it called for anyway. The next time we made it, we tweaked the recipe a little. I'll post the recipe and then tell you what we changed.

Beef & Bean Soup

Ingredients:
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
2 carrots, sliced
14oz. canned black-eyed peas (found in the canned bean aisle)
1 cup fresh ground beef
1 tsp. of each- ground cumin, chili powder, and paprika
1/4 head of cabbage, sliced
8 ounces of tomatoes, peeled and chopped
2 1/2 cups of Beef Stock
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook, stirring frequently (about 5 minutes or until softened). Add bell pepper and carrots and cook another 5 minutes (we cooked a little longer).
2. Meanwhile, drain the peas, reserving the liquid from the can. Put two-thirds of the peas (reserve the rest) in a food processor or blender along with the liquid from the peas. Process until smooth.
3. Add the ground beef to the pan and cook until well browned (we cooked our burger up in a separate pan before hand and added already cooked).
4. Add the spices, cabbage, tomatoes, stock, and pureed peas and season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and cover. Simmer for 15 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.
5. Stir in the reserved peas, cover and simmer for another 5 minutes before serving!

Lisa's tweaks:
I just use the baby cut carrots (that's what I always have on hand) and chop some of those up. I don't really measure them. The second time we made it, instead of using garlic gloves I just put in some garlic powder (didn't really measure, just tasted along the way). The third time I made it with my sister and we tried this McCormick's Garlic Pepper seasoning I have in place of the garlic cloves and it tasted really good. To save time (or maybe because I'm lazy) I didn't drain the peas and just poured all the liquid and 2/3 of the peas into the food processor, reserving the rest of the peas. I used more than a cup of ground beef (didn't really measure) I wasn't about to peel tomatoes so I just used a can of diced tomatoes (with juice). The first time we used beef stock, the next two times we used beef broth (it's cheaper) and it tasted just as good. Honestly I don't really know the difference between beef stock and broth so I figured it didn't matter much.

Note: We sort of doubled this recipe. Well certain parts- carrots, black-eyed peas, ground beef (probably used about 1 lb.), and beef broth. This is a recipe that I don't think you can really screw up. If you double the beef broth (5 cups) and black-eyed peas (2- 14oz. cans) then add however much of everything else you want to your liking it will be fine. You can kind of make it your own to your preferences. If you like more or less of something then add what you desire. Enjoy!