The snow is more fluffy today than last week. This is the type of white stuff that I like! Much easier to shovel and usually the storm passes much quicker.
Even though we are getting snow, I’m not making bread. I’ve done a lot of baking this weekend! I’ve been recipe-testing a new cookie recipe. It should be ready for posting soon!
Today, I’m making chicken soup.
Many of these were taken around my property, but the weather was so nice today that I took a walk in the neighborhood. I was able to snap a few more photos. One my walk I was able to hear the birds chirping and the snow melting off my roof.
Too bad that will all change in less than 24 hours. More snow is on the way! Granted, not as much as last weekend, but still.
And this stuff was just starting to melt away, too….
I finished the cutting prep for tonight’s soup! I’m glad I save the time now, so I’m not freaking out later. I can’t want to share recipe with you all next week. Now, I can start baking cookies. I can almost smell them already.
Ever since I graduated college, I drank tea in the morning upon waking up. It’s not that during college I was a coffee drinker, because that wasn’t the case either. I just never really enjoyed coffee. It wasn’t until I started working and got involved with theater once again that I would drink coffee and even then it’s only certain flavors. It’s still extremely rare for me to down a cup of coffee.
I guess I’m just not a coffee person, no matter how hard I want to be.
My love of tea has been a steady one. It is now part of my routine. I wake up and immediately fill the teapot with water and bring it to a boil. While it’s heating, I reach for my mug in the cabinet, place a teabag inside it, and wait for teapot to whirl with steam. Once it’s calling to me, I pour the hot liquid over the tea bag, cover it with my cup lid, and let the black tea steep for six or seven minutes. Yes, that long! I like it strong.
Depending on my mood, I’ll add some stevia or some honey, especially if I have a sore throat. But most mornings, I drink it black. Adding sweeteners to my tea is even more of a rare occurrence since last summer. That’s when I started cutting out excess sugar and processed foods.
On a related note, I do sometimes drink herbal tea as well. But this is rarely done in the morning. I tend to save the herbals for the evenings or in the afternoon on a snowy or rainy day. My herbal tea choices often coincide with the season: fruitier flavors in the summer; warmer, spice-flavored (like apple cinnamon) ones in the fall. Peppermint in the winter. These are almost never consumed with milk or an added sweetener. I find that adding to these teas overpowers the natural flavor of the herbals or the overall flavor it is trying to convey. Lately I’ve found that I’m drinking more dessert flavored teas at night. Red Rose makes some amazing teas that taste just like a blueberry muffin or a slice of lemon cake. They may quell your “need” for something sweet after dinner. You can find them on Amazon here.
Anyway, I digress…
What is your drink of choice in the morning? Are you more of a coffee person?
This week I am planning to move away from Ina Garten when it comes to my weekly Friday cooking. As of this moment, I am planning to make a vegetarian dish. Probably a soup. It seems like this time of year, my family enjoys having soup in the house on the weekends.
But the question remains….what soup?
This recipe can be found in Foolproof, page 53.
Last Friday was really cold! Like really, really cold. Mother Nature was definitely preparing us for more than a foot of snow we got on Monday. But, with the colder weather on Friday, I decided that a soup would be the perfect dinner. Of course, I made an Ina soup!
Continue reading “Barefoot Contessa Recipe #30: Winter Minestrone and Garlic Bruschetta”Does anyone else like spiral-bound cookbooks? Personally, I love them! I think they hold up much better than hardcover, and especially softcover ones. It’s a shame that they aren’t printed more often. I guess I’m in the minority on this opinion. After all, publishing is a business.
The snow has come and gone! My house has about a foot of snow. The most that’s falling in one storm in quite some time. Working a full, regular day today. But I’m exhausted from all the clean-up and snow removal, both yesterday and this morning. At least I can take it easy at work and think about what I’ll be making this week.
I bake bread!
This is how February is greeting Connecticut.
I’ll be honest, I’m not a fan of snow and the anticipation of over a foot of the white stuff isn’t making me happy.
But! It is pretty!
Not looking forward to shoveling later, though. How many days till spring?
