Homemade Bean Soup

So today is sort of gloomy... cool and gray.  It looks like rain.  Steve and I are both a little lazy and want something to eat that is warm, filling, and convenient while we click between the Louisville football game and the NASCAR race.

What could be better than bean soup and cornbread?

This is an "almost homemade soup":

In a 2 1/2 qt. soup kettle add

• 1 can great northern beans
• 1 can navy beans
• 1 can red bean
• 1 can large butterbeans
• 1 pkg. smoked sausage (diced / sliced)
• 1 medium onion (diced)
• 1 green pepper (diced)
• 1 can Rotell tomatoes with green chilies
• 1 chicken boullion cube
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 cups water

Bring to a boil, then lower heat and let simmer for about 30 - 45 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit for 10 minutes before serving.  This is a great soup to have with tortilla chips and a little hot sauce, or cornbread.

* You can substitute any beans you like.  I love to add black beans or large red kidney beans for a colorful bowl of soup.

ENJOY!

OK, so I need to get serious again

I've lost 35 lbs since February!  That's wonderful, isn't it??  Well, I still have 30 more to go.  Currently I'm at a standstill... a plateau.  I am bouncing between 173 - 175, and I can't seem to break the 173 'pound barrier' !  LOL

So, today I'm going to focus on moving more.  Housework, although helpful, is NOT to be considered exercise!  Back to the treadmill and floor exercises.  UGH!

This is me at 173:

I'm thrilled to see that I have a WAIST... and that I don't have the muffin tops that have been with me for a couple of years!  This brings me JOY.   

I will post my progress each week... complete with photos!  This will give me some accountability.

After lunch, it's time for a ride...

Can you hear it???   When it's idling it says, "potato - potato - potato"...   that's when you know it's a real Harley !   LOL

Not such a lazy Sunday

We've been busy all morning!  It's just now noon, and we've finished the laundry, had breakfast, cleaned the kitchen, made the bed, vaccumed and straightened the living room, and collected all the leaves in the yard.  The leaves were the toughest job!  The wind wasn't very cooperative.  After that we cleaned off the porch and swept out the garage.  The yard looks a LOT better:

There is a "chill" in the air

So soup is on the menu !  Tonight we enjoyed steaming bowls of homemade vegetable soup

Warm pumpkin bread

and really good coffee!

Now we are stuffed, and being lazy.  Me on the computer and Steve watching the NASCAR race in Charlotte, NC. on tv.

I love cooking and putzing around doing nothing !

Turkey in the straw !

These turkeys are fattening themselves up for someone's Thanksgiving Dinner !

It's that time of year.

The trees are putting on their fall colors...

Pumkins and Scarecrows come out of hiding...

I enjoy the fall of the year.  It's like earth's 2nd chance...  old things are tossed away, and after a period of hibernation, all things will become new.



A Blank Mind

Sometimes I have no idea what I want to talk about...

Can't see the forest for the trees...

Mt. Carmel Methodist Church

"You can't see the forest for the trees"
I've heard that phrase so many times.  On this particular day it hit me square in the face!  Traveling south on HWY 421 I glanced east to see the Mt Carmel Methodist Church.  It's a lovely small rural church with a fine steeple.  Years ago it became etched in my memory when I saw it aglow in a dazzling sunset.  Back then (30 + years), the trees that you now see were just young sapplings and the church was completely visible and striking...  much like God's welcome sign on a lonely road.

Fast forward to the present; the trees have grown and now shade, protect and yes... "hide" the church from immediate view as you travel on HWY 421.  This lovely church is still there, you just have to look past the trees... thus:

"You can't see the forest for the trees..."  Isn't that a wonderful analogy?

If we focus on the small things in life, the minor distractions, hurdles, detours, disappointment etc.  we can't see the big picture... it doesn't mean our goals, dreams, healings, prosperity, or peace aren't available or coming!  We just need to get our focus off the minor details (trees) and on to the BIG PICTURE !
May God bless each of you with an abundance of joy!