The End of the Beginning

Happy, Blessed Easter

Fabulous Tomato Soup

Tomato soup is tomato soup, right? Wrong!  I was invited over to a friends house for lunch and the husband made some tomato soup that was awesome!  I will never eat canned tomato soup again!  He was kind enough to share his recipe.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Tomato Basil Soup

1 large onion, chopped
1-2 cloves garlic, chopped
1-1 1/2 Tbs dried basil
1 49 oz. chicken broth
2 lg cans diced or whole tomatoes cut up
1 c. heavy cream
1 c. half & half
3 Tbs butter
salt & pepper to taste

Melt butter in a soup pot.  Saute onions until soft, about 5 min.  Saute garlic until fragrant, about 1 min.  Add basil and stir in.  Pour in tomatoes and chicken broth.  Cook on a soft simmer for 20-30 min.  Puree soup in a blender* or with a stir stick.  (If using a blender be EXTREMELY careful of the hot liquid!)  Place soup back in pot and add heavy cream and half & half.  Stir to blend.  Heat soup and serve.

Add toppings if desired - parmesan cheese, sour cream, chives, croutons

*Please be extremely careful with hot liquid, I found out the hard way.  No matter how tightly you think you can hold the lid on the blender, hot liquids will spray!  Let mixture cool off before blending!

Is this what He meant?

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Philipians 4:13 Does this apply to the new shower curtain I put up? This project is one that I have been putting off and finally did today. My bathroom has a tub/shower enclosure that had a sliding glass door. When I shower my elbow kept hitting the door, and I couldn't sit on the side of the tub to shave my legs, and it was difficult to bath my grandson. So I finally took the doors down and put up one of those rods that arches out. It makes the bathroom look a little smaller but it makes the shower area much more roomy!
Philipians may not have been referring to something as trivial as this, but I believe anything I do in my life is owed to Him. For my health in being able to do it, the intelligence to follow directions, and the creativity to change things. These and so much more, I am thankful to God! Next time you have a project your not sure you can tackle, keep Him in mind!