Sugar and Spice

I have been meaning to clean out my spice cabinet for a long time now.

Time to refill the jars and give them a wipe.

Time to get rid of not so fresh herbs.

Time to put an end to searching through bags and bags

of herbs and spices trying to find the one I need at the moment.

And so I did. And went from this huge mess:

To this little basket of glorious flavor.

(Note how clean and shiny the jars are,

quickly before I use them.)

Beautiful golden curry powder.

You have got to love the color of turmeric.

The remainder of last years harvest of chili peppers.

Basically the only thing that grew well last season.

And the staples of course. I love to use

old pickle and olive jars for the grains.

They are just so nice and big!

Moving along... I was in the mood for something fresh.

Sliced tomatoes drizzled with olive oil and

sprinkled with salt and pepper.

And cucumbers with a home made ranch dressing.

Do these two things not make you think of

dinner on the deck?

And on to dessert. (Of which I am not a fan)

I found these adorable ice cream bowls

at the grocery store. So cute and very tasty I am told.

I can see putting a nice fruit salad in them

with some whipping cream in this summer.

But today it was Dulce de Leche ice cream.

(of which I am a HUGE fan)

The weekend was not so great for me as I had

a sinus headache for days on end.

Thank goodness for my neti pot.

Instant relief I tell you.

So, when I am under the weather I always

make soup.

Doesn't everyone?



Tomato Macaroni Soup

1 onion, diced

2 celery stalks, sliced

3 cloves of garlic, minced.

1/4 cup butter

3 T flour

1 28 oz can of tomatoes

3 cups chicken broth

2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp each of cumin, coriander, turmeric and chili powder

1/2 cup macaroni.

Saute onion and celery until golden.

Add garlic and saute a couple minutes more.

Add flour and stir for several minutes.

Add can of tomatoes and break them up with a fork.

Add chicken broth and sugar.

Then add spices.

Bring to the boil and add macaroni.

Simmer  until macaroni is tender, or

all day if you like.

Season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground pepper.

And today, as I am still not feeling back to normal,
we took a day off of school.
 (Don't worry Mom, we'll make up the day on Friday)
I just needed to "get out of Dodge" so to speak.
And so in the sub zero temperatures,
Athena and I spent the entire morning outside.
Fresh clean crisp cold air.
Just what the doctor ordered.
I even built a small fire in the fire pit,
which had a hard time burning
 on account of the melting snow (read huge puddle)
in the bottom of the fire pit.
But we enjoyed ourselves anyway and came into
the house for lunch of a steaming bowl of leftover soup!