Lemony Kale & White Bean Soup

Ten states, one month = exhausted!  After a whirlwind month of traveling for both work and pleasure, I am worn out, home sick, and wanting to get back into my normal eating routine.  Traveling can definitely expose you to amazing food, but after a month straight it takes a toll.  One of the few days I was in Chicago, I picked up some soup at Hannah’s Bretzel and was inspired to make it.  I stumbled onto this recipe on a blog that I have made many dishes from.  It is amazing how cathartic a perfect fall day in Chicago can be…picking up mums, pumpkins and squash to get in the fall spirit and doing some good old home cooking.  This soup has a scrumptious blend of flavors that are perfect for a fall day.

Tomato Soup

It’s my first day back in Chicago after a great Christmas in Atlanta and I thought I would give a few of my new gifts a whirl – thanks for the pot utensil clip Mom and pot holders Michael and Libby! Even though we were one Klindt (well, now Schumacher) short this year, we had a lot of fun, eating, drinking, watching movies, and SLEEPING.  I am not sure about you, but when I have a chunk of time off, my body will shut down and go into hibernation mode for a while. 

Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup with Homemade Noodles

It has been rather chilly in Chicago over the past week (and when I say rather, I am talking about 0 degrees when I wake up with negative wind chills). Thankfully, I made a large pot of chicken noodle soup while it was snowing last Sunday which lasted me a few days.   The old Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup commercial kept popping in my head as I made it…the one where the snowman comes into the house and the snow melts away until you see a little red headed kid.  Since I didn’t want to venture out into the snow that day, I decided to be a little creative and made my own egg noodles, and they turned out AWESOME!!!  Definitely a great way to add a special touch to soup.  They tasted like little dumpling strips in my soup...yummmmm!  While I was making the noodles I realized I don’t own a rolling pin, so my noodles are a bit thick, but if you own a rolling pin, I am sure you can roll them out much better than I could with my hands. Enjoy!

Wedding Soup

There are moments that can remind you what life is all about…sometimes big and sometimes small.  Last weekend was one of those bigger moments, my sister’s wedding.  The amount of love and joy surrounding the weekend was very special to be a part of.  Two families coming together to create a day that will always be remembered.  From the week of prep leading up to the festivities to the kick-off with rehearsal to the main event and reliving stories the next morning at breakfast, lots of great memories were made.  

Bacon Corn Chowder

Are you looking for a quickie???  Ok, get your head out of the gutter, it is not that kind of blog. This recipe was SUPER fast (20 minutes WHAT?!?!) and tasted great – a perfect weeknight meal.  When I found it on Cooking Light, there were mixed reviews…most of the negative comments were about the cooking directions, and I have adjusted them based on what I did.  The recipe also originally called for shrimp to be added, but I decided to substitute with some leftover chicken (already cooked) – put that in after the blending step.  To finish it off, I paired the soup with a nice piece of toasted sourdough bread to dip in the soup.