A Short Post to Get You in the Spirit of Autumn

It's been a while since I've posted a recipe and I'm sure you've been starving ever since.

Here's a great vegetarian soup you'll love. I mean it. There's cream and cheese in it.

Creamy Vegetable Soup

Ingredients:
3 carrots
1 green pepper
1 yellow onion
4 potatoes
1 head of cabbage
2-3 tbsp of thyme
1 bay leaf
3 tbsp of butter
3 tbsp of flour
1 1/2 cups of half and half (or, if you're feeling decadent, heavy cream)
2 cups of shredded cheese (any kind you like. A mix of cheddar and mozzarella works well)

1. Chop carrots, green pepper and onion and sautee in olive oil for 5 minutes
2. Add peeled and chopped potatoes and cook for 5-10 minutes
3. Add bay leaf and season with thyme, salt and pepper
4. Pour in 8 cups of vegetable broth and cook for half an hour
5. Add chopped cabbage
6. Cook for another half hour.

7. Make a roux by melting 3 tbsp of butter in a small saucepan. Add 3 tbsp of flour and cook for 4 to 5 minutes. Add a cup of hot broth to the roux and blend together. Add roux mixture back into the soup.
8. Add the half and half and cheese.

You could make it vegan by leaving out the cheese and half and half but it would then most likely be half as tasty.

Once the cheese is melted, you have a delicious and healthful soup.

Cyd wanted to sit in the tiny fairy chair and kept falling off.

On Sunday, we went on our annual pumpkin picking trip. We've been visiting our "pumpkin lady" since Fiona was two-years-old. Back then, there was a field of pumpkins and it was the perfect setting for the quintessential fall photo. Here are a few I've taken over the years:

If this doesn't scream "FALL IS HERE", nothing does.

Over the years, the field was reduced to a small corner next to the barn. 

But, against all odds, I persevered in my attempt to capture the moment of the season. Because if you don't take a photo of it, how do you know if it really happened? You don't.

 This year, it was a small corner INSIDE the dark barn. My photo opp was in jeopardy. 

So we carted the pumpkins outside and I got my damn photos after all. 

I'm sure there are bigger, better pumpkin patches in the area, but we've grown attached to this place and its people. Who else grows white gourds in the shape of graceful swans? Who else will round down when weighing your gigantic pumpkins? We have our traditions and our loyalties and we'll be there again next year, even if I have to Photoshop a few pumpkins in my photos to enhance the memory.

Peace, love, and autumnal goodness.