cooking:
Now that the weather has turned to cooler days my trusty Le Creuset is back in regular cooking rotation and soup is on the menu most weeks. Last week our bunco hostess served a delicious minestrone soup using quinoa instead of pasta. I could not get it out of my head and asked her a couple of times for the recipe. However, she had a busy conference weekend and was delayed in passing it on. Good old Google: I figured it was probably a pretty basic recipe and a quick search brought up many recipe options.
I have several Barefoot Contessa cookbooks and the recipes are reliably good. So I went with Ina’s “Winter Minestrone“ from her Fool Proof book. Not to brag or anything, but it was fantastic. I substituted 1/2 cup uncooked quinoa for the pasta and added a couple extra cups of stock. This recipe got 2 thumbs up from everyone and is going to be in rotation at my house. I think you could easily make this a vegetarian option by omitting the bacon and using vegetable stock.
Side note: I have a trusty butternut squash soup recipe that has been a delicious dinner choice. However, I have made it so many times over the last few winters I miiight be a little burned out on it. I was excited to try this Barefoot Contessa recipe as it too has butternut squash in it.
eating:
Have you ever tried the garlic mozzarella bread with brown sugar from Rock Pizza? It sounds weird but was recommended by a waitress many years ago and we have never looked back. Honey and I order it almost every time we go. And since most Friday’s are pizza Friday, we eat at The Rock often.
doing:
Did you catch the full moon a few nights ago? As I looked at the moon lighting up my nieghborhood this week I felt so connected to all my people. I have a close girlfriend who recently relocated out of state and I imaged she might be checking out the sky from her new backyard, too. Her and I share the moon even if we no longer share a zip code.
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