Among my favorite foods are vegetables and cheese. This simple yet savory soup combines the best of both worlds for me. It is rich but small servings with fresh bread and salad would make for an excellent meal.
Rich Vegetable Soup
2 brown onions, thinly sliced
2 medium zucchini, sliced
1 cup fresh green beans, trimmed and cut into pieces
1 can of garbanzo beans
1 can diced tomatoes
1/4 cup butter
1 cup white wine
1 cup chicken broth - canned or homemade
4 cloves of garlic, smashed and diced
5-6 fresh Basil leaves, minced
1 bag leaf
Salt & Pepper to taste
1 cup mild cheddar, shredded
1 cup grated Romano or Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon corn starch
1 cup heavy cream
Slowly brown the onions in the butter until they are tender and golden. Place in an oven-proof baking pot with a lid. Add the zuchini, beans, green beans, tomatoes, wine, broth garlic, Basil, and bay leaf. Cover and bake at 375 degrees for 45-60 minutes. Stir and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Mix together the corn starch with the cheeses. Stir in the cream and cheeses into the pot and cook in the oven for another 15 minutes or until cheeses are melted and the soup is bubbly.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
The Many Faces of Howl the Cat!
A scenario to try out for size . . .
Here is the scenario:
You have a wonderful friend. The only 'problem' with the friend is that if he is handed a gun, he will immediately begin shooting people. However, he can be in a room full of guns and will never pick one up himself. The only way he can use a gun is if it is handed to him.
Well, one day you decide to see for yourself if this story is really true. You hand the friend a loaded gun and he begins to shoot at every person that comes within range. Hiding behind a a protective barrier, you find you are amazed to realize that the friend truly would shoot and kill people if given the chance.
Eventually, in my made-up scenario, your friend is apprehended and the shooting stops and all that is left are wounded and dead people. You shake your head over the waste and destruction of human life.
Stop to think about it . . . Who is actually a part of this shower of deadly bullets? Would he have done this horrible deed if he had not been handed the gun? And, most importantly, who put the gun into his hand, knowing that he would use it?
Isn't this a lot like the 2008 election? We had a candidate running for office who was quite openly and adamantly in favor of death . . . the death of the unborn baby. One of his big contributors was Planned Parenthood. Even if he had never said a word, his voting record for the short time he was in the Senate spoke volumes of his point of view on the matter of the preborn. He was in favor of abortion and partial-birth abortion. He even stated he would never want his daughters burdened with an unwanted baby.
Now we are outraged at the turn of events during the last four years. Within days of getting into office, all of President Bush's restraints on abortion and embryonic testing were rescinded. Just recently, he signed a mandate that would require all employers, Catholic/Christian or not, to cover all the medical procedures that result in the death of innocent babies at their most delicate stage of life.
A look at the voting results shows that the election got major support from Catholics and Christians. Those votes put this man into office. Since it wasn't any secret that the wannabe-presidential candidate was in favor of everything anti-life, what moved these people of faith to place their vote and the lives of untold future babies into his hands?
Thinking back on the little scenario with the gun, do you see a like situation? Like the friend with the 'gun problem', a president can only act on such things if handed the 'power'. Who handed him the power by way of their vote to see if he would use it?
You have a wonderful friend. The only 'problem' with the friend is that if he is handed a gun, he will immediately begin shooting people. However, he can be in a room full of guns and will never pick one up himself. The only way he can use a gun is if it is handed to him.
Well, one day you decide to see for yourself if this story is really true. You hand the friend a loaded gun and he begins to shoot at every person that comes within range. Hiding behind a a protective barrier, you find you are amazed to realize that the friend truly would shoot and kill people if given the chance.
Eventually, in my made-up scenario, your friend is apprehended and the shooting stops and all that is left are wounded and dead people. You shake your head over the waste and destruction of human life.
Stop to think about it . . . Who is actually a part of this shower of deadly bullets? Would he have done this horrible deed if he had not been handed the gun? And, most importantly, who put the gun into his hand, knowing that he would use it?
Isn't this a lot like the 2008 election? We had a candidate running for office who was quite openly and adamantly in favor of death . . . the death of the unborn baby. One of his big contributors was Planned Parenthood. Even if he had never said a word, his voting record for the short time he was in the Senate spoke volumes of his point of view on the matter of the preborn. He was in favor of abortion and partial-birth abortion. He even stated he would never want his daughters burdened with an unwanted baby.
Now we are outraged at the turn of events during the last four years. Within days of getting into office, all of President Bush's restraints on abortion and embryonic testing were rescinded. Just recently, he signed a mandate that would require all employers, Catholic/Christian or not, to cover all the medical procedures that result in the death of innocent babies at their most delicate stage of life.
A look at the voting results shows that the election got major support from Catholics and Christians. Those votes put this man into office. Since it wasn't any secret that the wannabe-presidential candidate was in favor of everything anti-life, what moved these people of faith to place their vote and the lives of untold future babies into his hands?
Thinking back on the little scenario with the gun, do you see a like situation? Like the friend with the 'gun problem', a president can only act on such things if handed the 'power'. Who handed him the power by way of their vote to see if he would use it?
Saga of our car ends on a happy note . . .
Yesterday, as I sat waiting for my son to exit his history class at college, I noticed a funny little light on the dashboard of the car. I do not like unexplained, funny little lights because they usually mean something needs attention. When we got home, my husband confirmed that we do not want that little light on our dashboard and set out to find a repair shop to check this out for us . . . before something either falls off the car or starts a fire. :-)
This is one of those times that we sincerely bless the Internet because he was able to get remarks, experiences, and reviews about a number of car repair shops. We gingerly approached the selected shop with eyes darting around to see if anything would set off alarms in our mind. Nope. It was clean, well cared for, and tidy. We went in and the owner said they could do a diagnostic test on the car but it would take two hours. Since I had followed my husband over in his work car, we went home to have lunch and await the dreaded recommendations.
Two hours go by and no word so we call and the owner said they had pinpointed something from the test but they couldn't find a thing wrong with a part called the 'air flow control'. We took our daughter over to college for her class and got back to the shop a total of three hours later. The owner said they reset the light. They could find absolutely nothing wrong. We started to pay for the $80 diagnostic test and he said there was no charge for that since they didn't find any problem! The pouring rain didn't seem quite as bad as I happily drove home!
We have dealt with the car dealerships on repairs before but have several bad experiences. The last time, they informed us that my husband's work car had a leak. Uh, the garage floor was absolutely clean and no guages indicated any losss of fluids in the car. They were willing to 'rush' the job knowing we needed the car and the cost would be over $600. We declined. I'm willing to bet that if we had gone to the dealership for yesterday's non-problem, they would have, indeed, charged us for the diagnostic and replaced the air flow thingy . . . regardless. One guess where we are going for the next oil change?
I remembered my prayers, yesterday . . . you think they helped?
This is one of those times that we sincerely bless the Internet because he was able to get remarks, experiences, and reviews about a number of car repair shops. We gingerly approached the selected shop with eyes darting around to see if anything would set off alarms in our mind. Nope. It was clean, well cared for, and tidy. We went in and the owner said they could do a diagnostic test on the car but it would take two hours. Since I had followed my husband over in his work car, we went home to have lunch and await the dreaded recommendations.
Two hours go by and no word so we call and the owner said they had pinpointed something from the test but they couldn't find a thing wrong with a part called the 'air flow control'. We took our daughter over to college for her class and got back to the shop a total of three hours later. The owner said they reset the light. They could find absolutely nothing wrong. We started to pay for the $80 diagnostic test and he said there was no charge for that since they didn't find any problem! The pouring rain didn't seem quite as bad as I happily drove home!
We have dealt with the car dealerships on repairs before but have several bad experiences. The last time, they informed us that my husband's work car had a leak. Uh, the garage floor was absolutely clean and no guages indicated any losss of fluids in the car. They were willing to 'rush' the job knowing we needed the car and the cost would be over $600. We declined. I'm willing to bet that if we had gone to the dealership for yesterday's non-problem, they would have, indeed, charged us for the diagnostic and replaced the air flow thingy . . . regardless. One guess where we are going for the next oil change?
I remembered my prayers, yesterday . . . you think they helped?
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