Day 4...Cooking Through 25 Days of Gooseberry Patch Christmas

Silly me...I had another blonde moment! I seem to have those far too often these days. If those wild gray hairs keep growing, I'm going to have to start blaming it on old age pretty soon!
I clicked on "Publish Post" instead of "Save as Draft". So if you've seen this post looking like it wasn't finished...well, it wasn't. But it is now!


Is it cold where you live? Do you have snow? Have you sent any of it to me yet? We don't get a lot of snow, if any, here in South Arkansas. The weather man gets our hopes up a lot, but those magical flakes do not make it down this far. If they do, we have to look up at the street lights so we can see it falling! Most of the time it turns to rain before it hits the ground. But, it is cold enough here to want a steaming hot bowl of soup at the end of the day....Yum!
This recipe was found on pg 121 in Coming Home for Christmas cookbook. Have you ever eaten Goulash? Well, it has a taste like that (my recipe anyway) but in soup form. It smells so good cooking and taste even better! This soup was a big hit with my family. But, in my opinion, as good as it was, I think it could use an extra can of beef broth. By the time we got to the bottom of the pot, it was mostly vegies and meat. But we like a lot of soup juice...we need it so we can sop it up with our bread!


Zesty Vegetable Soup by Cyndie Noethen in Montpelier, OH
1 lb ground round
1 medium onion, chopped
2 13-3/4 oz cans beef broth
2 14-1/2 oz cans Italian tomatoes
1 t. Italian Seasoning
salt and pepper to taste
1 lb bag frozen mixed vegies
1/2 cup elbow macaroni

Brown ground round and onion in a medium stock pot. Drain excess fat and add beef broth, tomatoes, and seasonings. Simmer for 20 minutes.


Add frozen vegies and elbow macaroni and continue to simmer over low heat for 30 to 40 minutes.





**I also baked up a batch of my Italian Bread Rolls. This is a bread machine recipe, but I put it on the dough cycle and make rolls in the oven. These rolls will be published in Gooseberry Patch Mom's Very Best Recipes in April 2011. I'm so excited about that too!


Italian Bread Rolls by ME!!
1 1/2 cup water
2 T veg. oil
1 t lemon juice (from a bottle is fine)
2 t salt
3 T sugar
2 T dry milk
4 cups flour (all-purp. or bread)
1 T garlic powder
1 T Italian seasoning
1 pkg yeast (1 1/4 tsp.)
I buy the Bread Machine yeast in a jar, but the packets of Quick Rising Yeast works great too!
Put your bread machine on "dough setting'
My bread machine takes 1 1/2 hrs to make the dough, but I let it sit in the machine about 30 minutes longer for the dough to rise to the top. I find that the rolls are much lighter this way.
I pinch off the dough, about 2 inches in diameter I guess, and roll it in my hands to form a ball. I place them on a cookie sheet sprayed with non-stick spray and bake them for about 15 - 20 minutes on 350* or until lightly golden on top. After removing them from the oven I brush butter over the tops of the rolls...lots of butter!!! (which is not good for my 'diet' that I am trying to maintain!) And...of course, I forgot to take photos of the dough and all. But, they these rolls aren't hard to make at all.

Ok, now while the soup is simmering and the dough is rising, I want to share something else with you. CANDLES. I'm picky when it comes to the smell in my house, but then again, what woman isn't? I want to walk in my front door and get that 'cozy, curl up on the couch with my snuggie, a cup of hot cocoa, and my little doggie Tila' feeling.
At the beginning of Fall, I went to our Hallmark store to smell their new candles. I found this one. Maple Pancakes. Oh my gosh...I love this candle! I left it burning by accident last night...yes, I know! Shame on Me!....but I woke up to my kitchen smelling like someone was making me some homemade pancakes for breakfast! Well, that didn't happen. But, a girl can dream can't she?
I ran out of these candles last week, so the other day I went in to Hallmark just to buy these Maple Pancakes candles. I was so excited when I found they put them on the Fall decor aisle and they were 75% off! Woo Hoo! Yay me! But then I was bummed when I found out they only had 6 votives left. But, at least I still got a good deal on what I got! I can't be too bummed about that! Sure wishing I lived closer to a Yankee Candle store though!One of my other favorites is Hazelnut Cream. I buy this candle at WalMart. As soon as the cool weather begins, this is the candle that I burn! It smells soooo good too! During the Christmas season I set it in my snowman and put it on the table. With these two candles burning...my house smells cozy. Just the smell I was going for!

Ring the dinner bell! It's time to eat! Look at this soup.... Doesn't that look good? It sure was delicious! And the rolls....well, they were definitely used for sopping up the soup!
Thank you Ms Cyndie and Gooseberry Patch for another yummy recipe! This one is a keeper too!