Saga of the Sourdough Starter

I am a chronic suffer-er of insomnia. This hasn't always been true of me. It's only become a real problem in the last two years. It began when I was pregnant with my youngest daughter, Caroline. It's extremely annoying to me but I will say that I have used the time it allows for some serious thinking. So tonight is one of those nights where I cannot get my body to cooperate. I can hear snoring upstairs where my wonderful husband and three beauties are sleeping. Bless them all...but what to do? So I started thinking about my last post. I mentioned a Sourdough Starter that I learned to make when I was in my early twenties. I tried to remember the recipe but it just wasn't coming to me. I got out my trusty-dusty The Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook (my absolute favorite wedding present from-I have no idea who!!). Sure enough there in the sticky pages was the recipe for a Sourdough Starter! I swear-this cookbook has everything in it! Don't you just love that! Actually, many of the pages are stuck together where I have spilled food on the page...messy cook! Cut me some slack people...I've been using this cookbook for 10 years! It has been my inspiration for countless recipes. To be honest, it is one of the only cookbooks that I will use because I'm not the best recipe follower-but I love to read cookbooks to get ideas for my own recipes. I think it is because I don't like over complicated recipes...or over complicated anything for that matter. I mean really-why do it to yourself? Get this totally over-priced piece of meat and this ridiculous slab of cheese that you will only use in this one recipe and then cook it for 15 hours over low heat stirring every half hour while balancing on one foot. Ok-maybe I exaggerate slightly...you get what I am saying! Some things in your life don't have to be so darn complicated to really enjoy. But here I have gone off my subject-Sourdough Starter. So now I am looking at this recipe and quite honestly, why was I so afraid of it? You can keep it in the fridge (not a science project on your counter!!) and you only stir it once a day. I can handle that. So tomorrow...I'm gonna make it and see where we go from here! I will post my picture and result in my science fair project Sourdough Starter! Wish me luck! I am planning a meal to bring a family in just a few weeks and they may be my next victims getting some awesome beef vegetable and barley soup with sourdough rolls. Pictures and recipes to follow soon...Maybe.

For the love of soup.

A million years ago when I had just graduated from high school, I made friends with a Pastor and his wife. At the time, they had six kids, no money and therefore needed to make their meals go as far as possibly. So they had soup and rolls...a lot. If there was a roast one night, the next day there was beef soup. Whatever was on sale could be made into some sort of wonderful warm splendor. At the time, I was eighteen years old and knew absoultely nothing about cooking. But my friend (Elizabeth) loved me and was a very patient teacher. So we made soup and bread together, feeding hungry little mouths with this amazing warm stuff. Funny how the time flies and now I am making soup and bread for my (much smaller) family. What I learned is that most soups start with the same basic ingredients that most people already have on hand; fat (butter or oil), onions, celery, carrots and liquid. I learned that chicken stock was your friend and that a sour dough starter on your counter (with a little care and love) could last the rest of your life. Life lessons- I'm tellin' ya! Then about 10 years ago, I wrote a bucket list that included "learn to bake bread" on it. Well, it took some time but I accomplished that goal and make a pretty wicked yeast bread. Yum! I still love the idea of sour dough starters and stuff like that but I'm not big on having things growing on my counter...at least not at this stage in my life. If I am not eating at Panera Bread (ahem)...I love to make soup for my own family. When the weather turns colder and the leaves are falling from the trees I start thinking about all the soups I can make. There is just something so comforting about soup. My favorite soup is vegtable beef with cream of chicken and rice as a close second. This all leads me to wonder- what's your favorite soup? Would you want someone to bring that to you as a meal? And if you had a cookbook called "Can I bring you a meal"...well, would you like a soup and bread section? And honestly, I need someone to bring a meal to-so I can practice. Seriously people!