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Monday, March 28, 2022

In the Kitchen: Winter Soups and Bread

Nothing in my kitchen can quite compete with the warmth and taste of soups during the cold, winter days and months. The beginning of January I made up a very flexible menu plan for January to March ... click here to see. I love to try new recipes, but this time I focused on using recipes from my favorites, some that I had not even made for awhile. And a favorite thing on my menu plan was to prepare one of my favorite soup recipes each week. 

Now, about three months later, I just have two more soup recipes to make! We've enjoyed twelve delicious soup recipes, with two more to go. Even though it is officially spring now, the days have continued to be in the lower temps, so soups for a week or two yet will be just great. 



Even though it's just the two of us here now (in contrast to years ago when all six of our children were still at home), I continue to make the regular size of recipe, and often even double it. Did you know that most soups freeze well? I love to have multiple meals of soup in the freezer, ready to pull out on a day when I don't have time to cook, or just prefer not to cook. 

Here is a list of some (about half!) of my favorite soup recipes:

Copycat Panera Broccoli Cheddar Soup (photo above)

30-Minute Chicken Noodle Soup

Best-Ever Potato Soup

Cheesy Chicken Chowder

Lemon Chicken Soup with Rice and Peas

Taco Soup

White Chicken Chili

Creamy Tomato Basil Soup


And another favorite during winter, and also all year through is homemade bread! I usually make a double batch of bread every 3 months or so, and have a ready supply in the freezer. My lovely Bosch machine mixes and kneads six loaves of bread dough at a time. I took time to make some more just recently. The aroma that fills our home is almost as lovely as eating the bread itself!



Click here for a post from the past about this tasty bread.

And now, spring weather is just around the corner! A few days ago I took some time to make up another of my very flexible menu plans for the months of April and May. No soups this time around, but I'm looking forward to other favorite recipes for spring meals. Click here to see my winter season menu planning process, which I repeated again for this spring, just using different recipes.


Sunday, March 6, 2022

Be Still: In the Secret Place



I always love these tiny little flowers that so very quietly open up on our indoor kalanchoe plants ... a sure promise of spring to come outdoors.

And at the same time, I am reminded of how we grow and how we bloom ... just quietly listening, embracing His Truth, His Words, soaking up the life-giving waters of His faithful, unending love. Pausing in secret - waiting, listening, abiding ...

The secret place is a place where God answers and speaks to us. Nothing is more sustaining and life-giving than hearing His voice. God is always longing for an intimate relationship with His people in which we hear His voice and respond accordingly.  (Secrets of the Secret Place)

 

A little devo post shared on my Instagram this past week ...