Tuesday 12 January 2016

The Warming Power of Soup



The days are crisp and cold but all is bright (I do love the brightness of an Alberta winter).  Snow reflecting the sun's rays and clear blue skies make a cold prairie winter (just) bearable....   

Chilly days call for plenty of warming and soup is the very best way to do just that.  There's nothing quite like a hot bowl of homemade goodness to nourish and warm you right to the core.   On Saturday, to satisfy a craving, I made Italian Wedding Soup which (in my family's opinion) is the perfect combination of light and hearty.   I used an adapted version of this recipe.  





Into my stock pot of homemade chicken broth went the sweated veggies.  They simmered while I made meatballs from local pastured pork (in Great Grandma Amy's mixing bowl).




Fresh parsley, grated parmesan cheese, bread crumbs, and egg and seasoning made these little morsels so tasty...  Make lots because you can never have enough meatballs in the soup!   My family actually fights over them and rations them out - it's ridiculous really, but someday I'll look back on it and laugh....  








As the meatballs baked, I added some broken up whole wheat spaghetti noodles to the broth (which were cooked to doneness just as the meatballs came out of the oven).   Into the soup pot they went with some chopped fresh spinach.  By this point, the tantalizing aromas brought the family (and 2 of our children's friends) from far and wide....   Having just pulled a loaf of sourdough out of the oven it was all too much to bear and nobody could wait for supper to eat so we ate at 4:30 in the afternoon!  Would you believe I have no picture if the finished soup or the bread?  I blame that on having a horde of hungry mouths to feed in that moment.  LOL

To note - THIS is the sourdough loaf I'm crushing on at the moment.  It's so good and so easy - I make it every day using fresh ground Gold Forest Grain's Einkorn wheat berries.





8 comments:

  1. Well this post has my mouth watering :) If you don't mind my asking, do you have a grain mill or do you get it freshly ground right from the farm? A grain mill is on my next year's Christmas wish list (it's not just my kids that start planning what they want next year before there's dust on the gifts from this year LOL). I'm researching mills and if you have any recommendations that would be great!

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    1. Yes, I have a Nutrimill. I recently had to have it serviced after 9 (approx) years. It works perfectly and should run for another 9 if I keep taking care of it. I did some research on a replacement (in case it could not be repaired) and I really liked the Komo. I especially liked the chute so that you can quickly grind a small batch of grains for baking or porridge, etc. right into the bowl you are baking in (or a measuring cup). That process is a bit more complex with a Nutrimill in that you have to remove the flour bin and decant the ground flour (it's a bit messy as flour gets everywhere).

      If I had to buy again, I'd buy a Komo.

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    2. Thanks so much! I trust your opinion :)

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  2. Meatballs in soup sounds like a lovely combination, will have to try that one thanks :-)

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    1. Oh, it's VERY good... but then again, meatballs make anything good, LOL!

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  3. My family calls me the "Queen of Soups". There is nothing like a bowl of soup to fill the tummy. Your recipe sounds wonderful. I can even imagine your meatballs lined up in a hoagie bun!

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  4. What a gorgeous photo and recipe too...miss you and hope all is going well for you and your lovely family
    xxx

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  5. Okay now I want some of your bread to go with my hamburger soup tonight. No time so may make biscuits instead.

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