I've turned into my mother.

And I'm okay with that. See, growing up the minute a drop of rain hit the Florida pavement, my mom would be inspired to make soups, stews, and *shudder* stuff like stewed tripe. Do you know how often it rains in Florida? Let's just say that in spring and summer you can set your clock for a 3pm shower. Yeah, right in time for the walk from the bus stop to the house.

I've never been a fan of soups and never really considered them a meal. Add in the mystery meat meets kitchen sink factor of soups and stews and you'll quickly realize why for a picky kid, soup on the menu is pure torture. So to walk home in the torrential rain and get a whiff of that unmistakable soup scent as I turned the corner on my block was adding insult to injury. For dinner I'd pile a bowl with some white rice and sometimes drizzle on some soup as a sauce or skip it all together. I'm sure my mother was thrilled - I'm still sorry for the picky eating mom! These days I've learned to like soup even though I still tread the line carefully by making palate pleasing simple soups and serving something alongside like grilled cheese, homemade croutons or homemade bread.




Of course in typical irony what happens the minute someone around here starts to sniffle? I pull out the herbal stuff, the tea, the vaporizer and the soup pot. It's like a reflex so carefully honed I should have been born straight into grandmotherhood. And on days when the sky doesn't break and a certain Ida wants to shower our drought ridden state with almost 6" of rain? You guessed it, soup. Luckily for me my kids like soup.




Last night's version was a super easy Creamy Tomato that doubles and freezes amazingly well, which is exactly what I did. Since we're all still pounding out the congestion around here I figured the bit of cream in the soup would be enough dairy for the evening and opted for homemade breadsticks instead of our usual grilled cheese. Oh my goodness I think I'm in love. Long, puffy, garlicky breadsticks to dunk into tomato soup. After I'd set the breadstick limit on the carb fiends otherwise known as my sons they moved onto dunking carrots sticks. Infinite possibilities! The breadstick recipe is from Melanie at My Kitchen Cafe and the soup recipe comes tomorrow. Enjoy the soup weather, whenever it comes your way!