My Momma's Soup

 

A couple of weeks ago, when I visited my parents, my mom made some soup that was YUMMY! I couldn't wait to get home and try it myself, seeing how easy and tasty it was.  I thought I would share the recipe!

Donna's Bean Soup: 

 Ingredients:

 - navy beans (2 cans or a 1lb bag dry beans) 

 - 1 ham steak 

 - 1 cup frozen peas

 - 4 carrots, peeled and chopped 

 - 1 or 2 stalks celery, chopped

 - 1yellow onion, chopped 

 - 4 garlic cloves, minced 

 - water (about 2 cups)

 - 2 or 3 tablespoons olive oil 

Directions:  

1. If using dry beans - Soak dry beans overnight and sort &; rinse to get rid of any bad stuff. Cook bean according to package directions. 

 2. Saute carrots, onion, and celery in oil on med- high heat for about 7 minutes or until crisp-tender and onions are translucent.  Turn down heat to med.  (I didn't use celery)
 3. Add garlic and ham to pot to saute for about 5 minutes.

 4. Now add beans and water, let soup come to a simmer. 

 5. Add peas and turn down heat.  Let sit for about 10 minutes on med or low heat. 

 6. Serve with cornbread and enjoy! 

This was a hit with Josh and the girls in the house! I love one-pot meals!

Family Fun

We went to Little Rock this past weekend.  It was great to see Josh's brothers and his parents.  The only downside was Anna's growth spurt.  While I'm excited that she is growing, Anna only took about 1 hour worth of a nap on Saturday and needed to eat a lot.  We knew we were in for a rough day.  While the crying did give us a headache the next day, Anna seemed totally fine afterwards.  She apparently is over it now.  It lasted about 3 days and nights.  She's back to normal now, for the most part.  She did great in Little Rock considering her lack of sleep!

Josh missed the memo to wear Nike

Tired, growing baby!

Josh's brother and his family

These last two pictures are just from around the house.  I'm having to strap Anna in her bouncy seat now because she can squirm out.  She really wants to be mobile.  The picture on the right is from Halloween.  We just stayed inside and had a low key night.  Maybe we will trick or treat next year.  

Good news:  I bought a new camera.  I got a GREAT deal on a Nikon Coolpix from Target.  I'm excited because I already know how to use a Coolpix and I have all the gear for it. No more blurry cell phone pictures...or maybe just not as many. 

On another note, I made homemade Chicken Noodle Soup.  It was a hit with Josh and something I'll add to my normal routine of cooking.  Here is the website for the soup recipe. 

I'm also hoping to make this pumpkin smoothie sometime soon.  Click here for the recipe.

photo courtesy of Pioneer Woman (www.thepioneerwoman.com)

We should have a low key weekend.  I'm excited about the Alabama-LSU game on Saturday night.  Should be a great game.  I haven't decided who I'm rooting for yet...