Cauliflower Soup

Fall has finally come to Texas.  And with it a bit cooler temps.  At least for Texas.  I think it was only 60 degrees the day I made this soup. 

Soup is my favorite thing to make on a chilly day.  Well, almost favorite.  It’s pretty much a tradition that I make chili when the first cold north wind blows through our yard.  But I got in a hurry this year and made chili a few weeks ago.  When it was just barely cooling off and the temp was about 81.  Because sometimes 81 feels cool in Texas.  Just wait until you northerners hear what the temp is in January.  You are going to be sooooo jealous!

But I was talking about soup.  I got this recipe from The Pioneer Woman.  Where I get most of my favorite recipes.  This one has butter and heavy cream.  If you’ve been paying attention on this blog, you are not at all surprised.  But I also added an ingredient to PW’s recipe.  Beware Sally!  I added red peppers.  And there are pics to follow.  Sally just decided to not read the rest of the blog today.  She’s my friend who hates peppers of any kind.  But if you’ve been reading this blog, you already know that.  We’ve talked about Sally’s hatred of peppers before.  Just go to Pioneer Woman’s site, Sally, and print the recipe.  She didn’t use peppers in hers.

Pioneer Woman’s Cauliflower Soup

You start with butter and onions in a heavy pot.  And it already smells wonderful in the kitchen.

Chop up some carrots, celery (not pictured because Dear Hubby had run to the store to get some while I was busily chopping this stuff), red peppers (if you’re like me and want to be different and add a bit more color to the soup) and cauliflower.

Throw everything but the cauliflower in the pot with the onions and cook for a few minutes.

Then add the cauliflower and some fresh parsley or even dried parsley flakes, cover and cook for about 15 minutes.  Then add 32 oz of chicken stock and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer.

In another pan, melt some butter.  Then stir in about 6 tablespoons of flour.

Whisk in 2 cups of milk and bring it to a boil.  Remove from heat and whisk in 1 cup of heavy cream.  You heard me.  Cream.  Yummy goodness.  I think PW used half & half, but I went for the heavy stuff.  The whole shebang.  Just because.

Add the butter/flour/milk/cream mixture to the simmering soup.  Add a little salt and pepper too.  Cook for about 15-20 minutes more.  Adjust the seasonings, if necessary.

Before adding the soup to your bowl, throw in a dollop of sour cream.  You know.  A dollop.  Or a couple of tablespoons.  More yummy goodness.

Serve with crackers or crusty bread.  Very yummy.  Perhaps even if you don’t like cauliflower!  It’s the cream and the butter.  Anything with those ingredients just has to be good.

Now go to the link to Pioneer Woman above and print out the recipe!  And feel free to be extra daring and throw in some red peppers.  Unless you’re Sally.  Then you have my permission to leave them out.

Enjoy!
Barb

Posted in food, recipes | Tagged , | 5 Comments

Friends of the Blog

I have the best friends in the world.  Blogging has brought me some new ones too.  And it has reconnected me with old friends.  Childhood friends from many, many years ago.  Too many years to count.  But that’s another story.

At our recent Bee Retreat I returned to my sewing machine one evening to find this cute mailbox.  Filled with very touching notes from all my friends at the retreat.  I sat and read each and every one.  It was a very emotional moment for me!  So emotional that I recently realized that I never thanked these gals for all their special words.  So……

THANKS, GIRLFRIENDS!  You all are the best friends a quilting blogger could ever have.  I love each and every one of you and I cherish the relationship that we have.  I am blessed!

I also plan to read these notes over and over again.  Every time I feel a bit down in the dumps or unmotivated to blog.  You all energize me!  And everyone needs a little extra energy now and then.

Then yesterday the mailman delivered a special box to my front door.  And this was inside:

A sweet note from a dear old friend and this fabulous fabric bowl!

Isn’t it great?

Just in time for Fall decorating.  I just love it.  Thanks, Cyndie!  You made my day.

Cyndie is a childhood friend.  Who reconnected with me when her sister sent her a link to the blog.  She lives in Ohio.  If she were closer, I’d be very tempted to jump in the car and head over to see her.  But Ohio is a ‘fer piece’ from Texas!  I still have hope that we will get to see each other again sometime.  Maybe she’ll even be able to come to a JSS Retreat someday.  Now that would be somethin’!

Included in the envelope was this picture of Cyndie when she was about 10.  And it’s exactly how I remember her.  It’s one of those tiny little school pics that we used to hand out to all our friends in school.  So cute!  What a wonderful walk down memory lane for me.  Maybe one day soon I’ll dig out some old pics of me and post one of those too.  Just to see if it would be exactly how she remembers me.

And it’s all because of the blog.

Love you all!
Barb

Posted in just stuff | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Blogger’s Block

I’ve had a bad case of Blogger’s Block lately.  Or maybe it’s Information Overload.  It’s certainly not that I haven’t had material to blog about.  I did a lecture recently about Dear Jane and took pics there to share.  I’ve been to Houston Market and took 6,328 pics there.  OK – maybe it was only 159, but that’s still a lot of pics to sort through for posting.  And I think I still have a pic or two from retreat that I meant to share.

It could be that I’m saving my energy for a big wedding this weekend.  Remember my friend, Susan? 

 

This is Susan with her beautiful Baltimore Album quilt that got a first place ribbon at our quilt show in September.  She made this quilt as a wedding gift for her son and his wife.  This weekend her daughter is getting married.  And I think I’m the Official Blogger for the wedding.  So I’m saving up my energy for that.  As if you could save up energy for certain blogging assignments.  But that’s my excuse and I’m stickin’ to it!

Off to find something to wear to the Big Event…..
Barb

Posted in quilts | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Nine Patch 101 – Take Two!

Suz made some cute nine patch blocks at retreat recently.  And we got a few of us together and made a video to show you the handy dandy way she did them.  A new technique for making them that was very cool.
 

Remember these cute little blocks?

Now you can make them too!  Here’s the video to show you how……

Nine Patch 101 – Take Two!

Enjoy!
Barb

Posted in quilts | Tagged , | 15 Comments

The Big Green Egg

The JSS Bee ladies were entertained and well fed by LaNelle and her Dear Hubby this week.  And The Big Green Egg.  Which just happens to smoke to perfection.  And we got to experience it first hand.

Beware!  Yummy food pics to come.  Proceed with caution if you are hungry.  Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

And here it is!  The Big Green Egg.  Smoker Extraordinaire.  Fabulous Tasty Brisket Maker.  LaNelle showed how it works to Judy and Gloria as we all looked on.

See?  She gave us a big tutorial on how to use it.  Which is “Put the wood in the bottom and put the meat in the top.  Close it up and let ‘er smoke!”  Or something like that.  Of course, it also entailed Dear Hubby getting up in the middle of the night to check on it.  Multiple times.  Because LaNelle wanted it to be just right for the JSS gals.

Here’s what it looks like where the wood goes.  And it was still warm from the all night cookin’.  See how thick the walls are?  Heavy-duty cookin’ happenin’ here.  Barbecue at its finest.

This is the view while you’re cooking in the Green Egg.  We wanted to stay for a year.  And the weather was perfect for our visit.  As if LaNelle had ordered it special for the day. 

Madelyn & Melinda stood on the deck and enjoyed the beautiful day.

As did Suz & LaNelle.  Apparently folding your arms was the order of the day.

Suz also had some conversation with Jade.  Or is it Gigi?  Who can tell them apart?

See?  Two peas in a pod.  They enjoyed being on the deck as much as we did.

Before it was time for lunch, I was able to sneak around the house and take some pics of really cute things that LaNelle used in decorating……

Like this Seasonal Guy with a Fall table arrangement behind him.  Does he look familiar?

How about this cute pillow?  Ouch!

Loved this old guy sitting in front of the fireplace.

How about this cute sign next to the door into the house from the back yard?  I wiped mine, but I’m not sure that Gigi and Jade did.  They just ran in and out any time the door opened.  They were very happy to have company.

Good to know in case you were in the mood to get a hook wet off the dock.

Cute cupcake pin cushion hanging from the design wall in LaNelle’s fabulous sewing room.  Her room had a view of the lake!  We could have sat in there all day too.

Several of the gals wanted to take this cool chest home with them.  LaNelle had lots of interesting things for storage in her sewing room.

Including a special chair where Gigi and Jade had their very own quilt to lay on.

Who could resist that sweet face?

This cool window treatment hung in the living room window.  LaNelle told me it was a camel’s harness!  Very interesting!

These happy daisies were in a vase in the kitchen.  Where we soon headed for a wonderful barbecue lunch!

There was brisket cooked in the Big Green Egg.  Oh, my.

Deviled eggs on a pretty pottery plate.

Cole slaw……..

Baked beans, anyone?

This was my plate.  With a cool Fresca on the side.  I think I refilled my plate 4 times.  Or maybe I just did that in my dreams.  It was all so very yummy!

And then there was dessert……

Pumpkin Cheesecake.  With whipped cream.  I want another piece.  Now.

After lunch (or maybe it was before) we had Show ‘n Tell.  As all good quilters do.

Melinda showed us this fabulous quilt that she made.  I think she’s keeping this one all for herself.  Love the colors!

Suz showed us this great Grandmother’s Flower Garden quilt.  The top was given to her and she had it quilted by some ladies in her church.  Hand quilted.  Here’s a closer look…..

And a look at the back where you can see all the nice hand quilting stitches.

Betty smiled as she stitched with the gals.

And just to prove that I actually do get out a needle and thread occasionally, the gals insisted that we take my picture too.  I had my coffee nearby on a cute little stand that LaNelle provided.  And my handy dandy new light around my neck that I had just bought from Melinda and had to try out.  It’s great!  I was working on a Dear Jane block.  The DJ gals reading this will be happy to know that.  I think I stitched three whole seams that day.  Woohoo!

After lunch we all went back outside.  It was such a perfect day that we all just wanted to sit on the deck and visit.

Madelyn has a trip to Hawaii planned soon so she was working on her tan in the sun.

While Betty preferred the cool shady part of the deck.

And Gigi just surveyed all of her back yard domain.  And kept an eye on everything that we did.

I couldn’t resist lots of pics of the cute puppies.  Don’t you just want to give her a big hug?

Even this guy came by to check out what the quilting gals were doing.

And we plan to go back to LaNelle’s again real soon.  So keep that Big Green Egg fired up and ready to go, OK LaNelle?

Hugs,
Barb

Posted in food, quilts | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments