Halloween Veg Soup with Spooky Ingredients

Actually there’s really nothing very spooky about this homemade vegetable beef soup other than the low cost per serving. It’s also easy to throw together, takes about an hour on a stove set to low and is very nutritious. My only admission is to be careful with the cayenne pepper. You might want to eliminate it all together and just stick with a little salt and pepper. Personally, I like my soup to fight back!

You’ll note that I also include the gram weight of most of the ingredients. This is for anyone that wants to check this recipe for nutritional impact.

Ingredients:

1 cup beef chunks, rough cut, 201 grams

1 medium potato, russet, rough chopped, 188 grams

2 carrots, chopped, 110 grams

1 stalk celery, chopped, 66 grams

1 quarter white onion, chopped, 64 grams

1 can deiced tomatoes, 411 grams

3 cloves garlic, minced, 7 grams

1 fresh cayenne pepper, minced, 12 grams

1 small wedge cabbage, chopped, 76 grams

1 tblsp beef bouillon powder dissolved in 2 cups water

1 tblsp vegetable oil

Directions:

I begin by taking a 2 ½ quart stock pot and adding a bit of oil just to coat the bottom of the pot. I placed this on a stove burner set to medium high. Let it get hot and then added the chunks of beef that had been cut down to bite-sized pieces. I braised the meat until it was brown, about three minutes, reduced the heat to medium and added the rest of the ingredients. I then raised the heat to high to bring everything to a brief boil, then went to low heat and covered the pot.

This was allowed to cook for about one hour. Serve immediately or place in the fridge and reheat which makes this soup even better tasting.

Rival Model 4310 Rice Cooker and Vegetable Steamer

I've had this Rival Rice steamer and vegetable cooker in my family for decades and decades. Even though it was made in Thailand (or perhaps because it was made there), it has been one of the most reliable appliances I've ever owned. It's easy to clean and using it is a no brainer. Just add a little water, some veggies from the garden. Hit the little button and then wait for the lower orange light to go out. Even I can do that! It's too bad this unit was discontinued. Anything with a life span of over forty years which still works was a good buy in my opinion.

A Sunny Breakfast

Life is good when you have friends like Sunny Miller over in Rockaway Beach, Missouri. She has been very gracious to give me farm fresh eggs from chickens she has started to raise. While still small, they taste fantastic!

I threw together this breakfast which consists of bread with a circle in the center. After browning the bread, I then inserted an egg and cheese mix. This deal is also known as a Popeye Egg. In addition, I made a small amount of spaghetti topped with a low sodium sauce. This six and a half ounce breakfast had only 287 calories, so I didn’t break the diet on this go around either!

Perennial Coreopsis?

While walking in the woods near my home I came upon a group of bright tallow plants I think are perennial Coreopsis aka large-flowered tickseed. What attracted me to take a picture was the large number of bees that were all over the place. This is the first time in a long time I had observed any kind of bee. Now, I’m not sure if the bee pictured here is a honey bee or perhaps some other variant. It was just good to know they are still among us.

Micro fauna found on the lower surface of Sycamore leaves

While walking, one afternoon, in a park close to my home in southwest Missouri, I happened to spot a low hanging branch of a Sycamore tree nest to the path. Out of curiosity, I examined a leaf. At this time of the year (October) many of the trees have leaves that are just beginning to change color. The veins of the leaf were just beginning to show a little bit of yellow but, that’s not what peaked my interest.

As I turned the leaf over, I observed a literal community of bugs populating the lower surface. There were tiny little leaf mites crawling over the surface in addition to many spider mites and leaf hoppers. Intrigued, I took this leaf home to examine under my microscope. The drawing represents what I assume to be a leaf mite that was about the size of the head of a pin. Not being an entomologist, I’m not sure what they are. The fact was that every tree I examined had large population of this bug on the undersides of many of the leaves.

Unknown weed

I have this plant growing in abundance in a park behind my house. I don't think it's a dandelion, yet it releases similar airborne seeds this time of year. Right now even a gentle wind causes thousands to be release in the are. Sort of pretty, but some are finding their way into my front yard!

If anyone can fill me in it would be appreciated.

The leaves, they are a falling!

It’s already October the 1^st, can you believe it? The weather service is even talking about the likelihood of frost across the northern parts of Missouri by the morning of Monday, October the 4^th.

I got up this morning to the reality that the leaves have begun to fall off some of the trees. Always a sad time for me as it means winter is next on the agenda. I’m much more a spring personality type. That’s the time of year when nature re-awakens and puts on a burst of new growth. This time of year is more about the ending of growing things as we all get ready for a cold chill in both the air and ground.

Cold weather also means longer nights, shorter days and a severe restriction on my garden activities. Thank goodness I have the two small cold frames in the front of my house. They will become a focus for me and a continuing spark of life while everything else slumbers. As you can see, the romaine lettuce starts which don’t look like very much right now are actually growing rather quickly. Interspersed among them are Cherry Bell radishes that should be ready for harvest by the end of October.