A Little Time Away With The Family

Hello Friends! I'm back after a week of non-blogging and taking it easy with my boys! We have had some much needed vacation time together and just returned from a few days stay at Disneyland!! Nothing like a trip to Disneyland to rejuvenate you and make you feel like a kid again!!! I will tell you that I broke my camera on this trip :( .

So, I had to "rough it" old school style by purchasing one of these . . .

 

Ha ha, do you remember these disposable cameras? Yes friends, I actually used film. I am waiting on the photos from our trip to be developed. As soon as I have them I will be posting about our time spent at the happiest place on earth!!

 

Last night, I had my first fall drink of the season from Starbucks; ( Pumpkin Spiced Carmel Apple Cider)! This of course made me think of all of you and all of the fun fall festivities I'm sure you are beginning to engage in!

 

Here I am at Mickey's Toon Town with my little pumpkin! We were hiding from Daddy, but he managed to get this shot of us from his cell! :)

Although it is still pretty warm here in Southern California to even begin to think about making soup, I have started collecting fall and winter soup recipes. One of my favorite fall meals is warm soup. There is something just so cozy and comforting about sipping soup on a crisp fall evening. Soup can easily be made in large batches and frozen. Soup is great served in a bread bowl or with a grilled cheese sandwich; ( Robbie's favorite). Here is one of my favorite fall soup recipes.

Pepper -Corn Chowder

 

Ingredients

1 cup chopped onion

5 leek, cleaned and chopped

2 cups loose-pack frozen whole kernel corn

 14 ounce can reduced-sodium chicken broth

1 medium red sweet pepper, chopped

1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

3 saffron (optional)

Snipped fresh chives and/or ground black pepper (optional)

Directions

1. Coat a 4-quart Dutch oven with nonstick cooking spray. Preheat over medium for 1 minute. Add onion and leek; cook 5 minutes until tender, stirring occasionally.

2. Add corn; cook 5 minutes or until corn softens, stirring occasionally. Add one can of the chicken broth. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer 20 minutes or until corn is very tender. Remove from heat and cool slightly.

3. Transfer half the corn mixture to a blender or food processor; cover and blend or process until smooth. Return pureed corn mixture to Dutch oven.

4. Add remaining broth, the sweet pepper, 1/8 tsp. black pepper, cayenne pepper, and saffron. Heat through. Top with snipped fresh chives and/or additional ground black pepper. Makes 6 (1-1/3-cup) servings.

 Happy Soup Making!

Blessings,

Sarah