Chicken Pot Pie Soup

Girlies, it doesn't get any easier than THIS....a nice bowl of (almost homemade!) HOT soup on a winter's day, a busy one, too. ( I'm rather partial to a chowdery soup on a really cold day.)

I'm loving the old-fashioned Christmas lights hanging from the ceiling and the flag hanging on the wall.

Since we're all so busy with Christmas preparations, we need quick meals this time of year, right? You can make this in less than a half hour, especially if you have leftover turkey (gobble gobble!) or chicken: this is a quick and yummy soup. I had it at a restaurant once, came home and tried to duplicate it, and I did a pretty good job, if I do say so myself.

Oohh...la la! Vintage ornaments!

Serve it with biscuits or with discs of baked pie crust placed around the perimeter of the bowl, it's kinda cute and is extra yummy that way. Cornbread would be great with it, too!

Lovin' that blue gingham couch and the dishtowel stockings!

CHICKEN POT PIE SOUP
Use:
Leftover chicken or turkey, at least a cup diced, more is always better or in a pinch use the canned chicken breast

2 cans of cream of chicken soup
or
1 can of cream of chicken and 1 can of cream of celery
or
1 can cream of chicken and 1 can of cream of potato

Frozen mixed vegetables, cooked and drained (I use Spartan brand!) at least two cups, I like more. (Or if you have leftover veggies in your fridge, throw them in!)

2% Milk to dilute, at least two cups, or more so the consistency is to your liking, I use closer to four cups.

Nature's Seasons by Morton's, to taste

Coarsely ground black pepper, to taste

(If you prefer, you can also saute or soften in water in a frying pan: celery, onion, and diced potato. Drain them then add to the pot, this will add to the body of the soup. I usually keep a leftover baked potato to dice up in the fridge for soups like this and that's what I add.)

WHISK THE SOUPS AND MILK TOGETHER TO HEAT over low to medium heat, THEN ADD THE OTHER INGREDIENTS INCLUDING SPICES, TO FINISH HEATING THROUGH. SERVE!

***This recipe is easily adaptable....want more soup? Use more cans of Cream of Chicken soup to start with and just add more milk!

I hope you like it! My husband is especially happy to eat this soup and what's leftover gets put into pint canning jars for him to take to work for lunch and warm up in the microwave! It's a "free" lunch!

Have a cozy day!

The cozy images in this post are taken from a 1998 Christmas copy of a coffee table-style Country Living book.

No snow here yet....but Texas and California are seeing snow these days, what's up with that?

Hey, how's the weather where you're at?!

The Bing Crosby Show....Wartime Radio

Every now and then, I get a chance to browse on PLAYLIST.COM for new or seasonal songs for my blog's play list. Sometimes, while I'm browsing, I'll find a little treasure hidden among the songs there.

(By the way, did you know that, if you prefer NOT to hear music when my blog loads, hit "end" on your keyboard, and then scroll up just a hair or two and go to "What's on the Record Player?" click on the largest round button on the play list box and that should stop the music for you. Unfortunately, you would need to do this each time you log on to my blog page or you can just hit mute when you log in.)

Recently, in an effort to load some Christmas songs onto my play list, I accidentally came across a BING CROSBY RADIO SHOW that shows a date of 12-24-1942! This, of course is a Christmas eve radio show and is it ever GOOD.


If you are like me and love all things vintage and you'd like to listen to the whole broadcast, you'll need to leave the computer on my blog page for awhile because it lasts almost an hour. Just hit number four down on my play list and let the fun begin.


Keep in mind that all the music and everything is done live!

In this broadcast, you'll hear sentiments from the war years and inspirational readings, banter between cast members, and of course, good old Bing singing all kinds of Christmas songs sometimes in duets. I enjoyed it immensely and think you will too. Even the commercials were fun, done live.

There was also a patriotic edge to the whole show; and the reading at the end was especially poignant. I like the encouragement that was given to both the listener at home and the soldier abroad....truly thoughtful.

Here's our old vintage radio. We once had it restored to work, but it's getting harder and harder to find the old tubes and right now it isn't in working order. When it has all tubes working, it can pull in radio stations from literally everywhere, some in languages we don't even understand.

While researching for this post, I found this website for more old-time radio shows to listen to from your pc: go to Old Time Radio Network where you can hear Lucile Ball, or Bob Hope, just about anyone from the old radio days. What fun!

This little treasure is something I hope you are able to enjoy sometime this Christmas season, perhaps while you bake or decorate. I am so glad someone took the time to upload it to Playlist's website. Listening to old radio transports us back to a simpler time.


This is how the show ends:

"MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE, FROM HOLLYWOOD. THIS IS THE NATIONAL BROADCASTING COMPANY."





More old time radio on the internet here. And here.

Happy Birthday!

Around here, Thanksgiving's feast (when we all gobbled until we "wobbled") is quickly followed by a Special Someone's birthday.

He is celebrating tonight with his wife (that's me!) and two of his three kids with a dinner out at his most favorite steakhouse, ever: LUCKY'S, where' he'll most likely order a slab of ribs. (Lip smackin' good!)

When we get home, it'll be this delicious cake with some ice cream for a truly decadent dessert. For now, it's sitting on the counter, patiently waiting...


Happy Birthday, Honey!

Just for Today....

I'm enjoying the quiet.

It's rare when I crash.

I normally go and GO and go some more.

But today, I can't go.

Head hurts.

Body hurts.

Tired.

Need to recover.

Just to BE.

I'm enjoying the quiet.

More than that, though, I NEED it.

How are YOU feeling this Monday after Thanksgiving?

SCENIC SUNDAY: Fall Sunset

11.21.09
Just outside the back door...

Headin' to the Deer Woods...

Dad and son heading to the deer blind. They are actually at least a quarter mile from the house here, I used my telephoto.

Mr. Redbone Hound keeps his eye on anything that "isn't supposed to be there" and he knows who those hunters are, but keeps his eye on them anyway. He secretly wishes he could deer hunt, too. He actually loves to watch hunting shows on the outdoor channel and will sit and wait and wait to see an animal. He knows when the hunters whisper that they're getting ready to shoot and he gets as excited as the hunter. We like to say that Duke watches a "magic window" which is the television because he "hunts" on television more than he does in real life!

Thanksgiving 2009

For Thanksgiving we have a few traditions...one being that we never decorate for Christmas before Thanksgiving is over, either inside or outside. (So tomorrow will find me schlepping the pumpkins and corn shocks and gourds to a wheelbarrow and dumping them all and perhaps de-tangling the Christmas lights.)

Another tradition is that we use some special dishes that we only use for Thanksgiving dinner and they include these vintage pheasant glasses...

As well as these vintage ironstone dishes with the bittersweet pattern...bought by my husband while we were dating. He bought them because I was coming to his house for Thanksgiving dinner and he wanted nice dishes for us, instead of his mismatched bachelor goods.

So....we used them for our dishes as newlyweds and then, when I got new at some point, I decided that we would keep these to use always for Thanksgiving dinner. Our kids have heard the story of these dishes so many times that they can recite it to us...!

Another tradition is our Thanksgiving morning cinnamon rolls....made the night before so we can watch the parade and not worry about what's for breakfast. I can get right to dinner prep if there's no breakfast mess to worry about! Cinnamon rolls aren't that filling so I consider it a "light" breakfast, even though there's a stick of butter in the pan! (Don't tell anybody!)

Two pumpkin pies, plain with just a bit of extra ground cloves and cinnamon, with no fancy topping like nuts, served with homemade whipped cream.

Mmmm....Thanksgiving is so worth looking forward to and I find it fun to cook for it simply for the smells...they're heavenly!

Another tradition is that we clean up from dinner, and then kick off the Christmas season with an evening at a movie theater, and come back home for leftovers and pie. To kick the Christmas season off with all of us going to a Christmas movie (whenever possible), just seems right.

This year, we watched "The Blind Side" and I heartily recommend it. It's not a "Christmas" movie per se, but it did include Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays toward the beginning of the movie. I can't say enough good about this movie, if you get a chance, go see it! Guys especially love the story and Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw are the main characters and did an awesome job. Anyone who remotely loves football will love this heartwarming, true story!

Our menu is boring to some perhaps, very predictable, very traditional...

This year it was fun to look at the table and see all that we had grown ourselves in the garden, such a good feeling and we're thankful for a good year from the garden.

Oldest son....for whom I am so thankful (and he's wishing I would stop with the camera already!).

Mr. Farmhouse...I can always count on him (always, so thankful!) for help with anything I need while I'm making dinner.

Being the only girl in the house now (Jamie lives many states away!) the boys always rib me about lighting candles for special dinners. I can take the ribbing and I light the suckers up anyhow!

Son number two makes it a point to never smile for the camera if he can get away with it....thankfully today he sorta smiled.

And he makes it his business to dispense quickly with at least a half-dozen of the homemade dinner rolls, another tradition.

And we all like lots and lots of turkey, and value the leftovers for turkey sandwiches. Cooking for Thanksgiving is totally worth it just for the leftovers!

Of course, we missed Jamie and Thad today, but we'll be seeing them at Christmas time. They're always in our thoughts when we're not together on a holiday. I posted these pictures mainly so she could see that we're still doing everything the same as we always have!

What are some of YOUR Thanksgiving traditions??



And, just to keep it real......this is what I had to deal with all day long on Wednesday!!

Purty, ain't it? Real purty!

MMM.....yup, the SEPTIC TANK!

NOW PLUG YOUR NOSE...and don't toss your cookies, this is life in the country, you know! And it's NOT ALWAYS PRETTY!

I woke up Wednesday morning ready to put on an apron, turn on the radio and hum and bake and cook all day long, but the septic tank decided to BURP and man did that burp stink!

I thought, man, what in the world IS THAT? (The nose knows!) Well, my nose wouldn't leave me alone and I was all over this house sniffin' and lookin' and checkin' trash cans and dumpin' them, looked in the fridge, checked anything and everything I could think of.

Then I went in our second bathroom and WHOOOOOOOEY!!! I knew instantly.



So.....
I called my husband with the dreaded news (and thanked God that it happened on Wednesday and not TODAY!!) and he came home and uncovered it (these are the times when I'm glad I'm not the man, know what I mean??!) and hooked up the hose.

Meantime, I got ahold of the yellow pages and the septic guy got here a couple hours later (you talk about a crappy job!). Well, the nice fella with the big red tank truck with the bull painted on the back (!!!!) got half the tank done, and came to the door and said he had to go dump it (yes, he said "go dump it", really he did!) and he'd be back in several hours! Okay...

Well, he left that beautiful green hose laying on the yard until three hours later when he came back, finished the job and left. WHAT A STENCH we were blessed with while that tank lay open for four hours!!!!!! We couldn't let the dogs out and while we had no septic I couldn't finish the laundry, run the dishwasher, clean the bathrooms....practically nothing that I had on my list to do that day. So I did other chores that involved no water.

Once he left, we opened the windows and aired the house out and I got myself busy and completed a whole days' worth of work in the hours between six and one thirty in the morning.

I'm tired.

I'm thankful for indoor plumbing, I really am.

And I'm also thankful for septic service. Truly.