this killed me!

Soup

I love the change of the seasons. I love all the seasons for different reasons, most of which have to do with food (are you surprised? Really?). I love watermelon and barbecues in the summer and soup in the fall and winter. I could eat soup year round, but I love that it is socially acceptable in colder weather. Not that that stops me from making soup at other times of the year, I just won't blog about it then. My mom just made this soup and dropped it of for me to try. Ohh, it was nice, let me tell you. So if your soup recipe section is growing thin, here is a great one to try. Enjoy!

Italian Potato-Sausage Soup

20 oz. Jimmy Dean Sausage

1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

1 tsp. paprika

1 large onion diced

5 cloves of garlic minced

8 cups chicken broth

8 small red potatoes diced

1 tsp. italian seasoning

2 cups low fat or fat free milk

3 oz. light cream cheese

3 Tb. flour

2 Tb. butter

1.2 tsp. salt

3 cups baby spinach, chopped

Cook sausage in a large soup pot. Ad red pepper flakes, paprika, onion and garlic.

Saute until the sausage is fully cooked and drain if necessary. Add the chicken

broth and Italian seasoning, increase heat to high and bring to a boil. Add diced

potatoes, cover and reduce to a simmer. Cook potatoes until tender.

While the potatoes are cooking, place the milk, cream cheese, flour and salt in a blender.

Blend until smooth. Heat the butter over medium heat in a sausepan, then add the milk

mixture and cook over medium heat until thick. When the potatoes are done, add the

thickened milk mixture and chopped spinach. Season with Parmesan cheese before

serving.

Super Mom in disguise

Today I was feeling ambitious and wanted to clean out and reorganize my closet. Among the pile of clothes I spotted tyce's missing shorts.

Me : Tyce look! I found your shorts

Tyce: ohhhh!! Awesome! Mom do you have magical powers?

why yes........yes I do. Thank you for noticing.

In case you think I really am super mom, I must admit this conversation I had with mark this very evening

Mark: any chance you did any whites? he asked with raised eye brows and skepticism in his voice

Me: ummmm, I got them in the wash?!

Mark: that IS an important step. Any chance they made it into the dryer??

Me: (with some hesitation) nooooo, not exactly, but I put them in the wash this morning so maybe by now some are dry??? (hopeful)

Mark: I doubt it

You can't win them all, it's nice to know that at least one person in this family has seen past the "mediocre mom" facade I try so desperately to pull off in order to keep my "super mom" true self under wraps. It's a tough job, and takes all of my time and concentration.