Home Cooking: Potato Soup and Fried Apples

First, it may be spring per the calendar, but, here in Texas, we are having a rainy day, and tomorrow it will be stormy and cooler. So that makes it perfect weather for soup, right?

Second, I don't understand why the apple recipe I'm talking about is entitled Fried Apples, because, to me, they are cooked, sautéed, caramelized even (as in just some cream shy of being homemade caramels).

Regardless I'm craving both the soup and the dessert, and am enjoying them again this month.

I love The Pioneer Woman's Perfect Potato Soup recipe, and it's great even without the heavy cream added. Although I would happily add it, if only it were found in my fridge. For added convenience when making this soup, I use frozen veggies (whether labeled for soup, for fajitas, or simply a seasoning blend containing the Holy Trinity), and I also bake extra potatoes one night to dice into the soup I plan to make the next day. Find Ree Drummond's recipe here: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2013/01/perfect-potato-soup/.

For a quick and easy Fried Apples recipe, here's a good one: http://southernfood.about.com/od/apples/r/bl80905e.htm. I must admit the smell of cinnamon makes me think of Thanksgiving and Christmas, even if it is April.

Enjoy!

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What lies behind you and what lies in front of you pales in comparison to what lies inside of you. Ralph Waldo Emerson
When you give someone a book, you don’t give him just paper, ink, and glue.  You give him the possibility of a whole new life. Christopher Morley
The best inheritance you can leave your kids is an example of how to live a full and meaningful life. Dan Zadra

Ree Drummond's Black Heels to Tractor Wheels

As authors, we can read other authors' books, watch a million movies, camp out at the library, all in the name of research.  What a grand career we are in. 

So, under that guise, I have listened, so far, to two-thirds of the inspirational audiobook written and narrated by Ree Drummond entitled Black Heels to Tractor Wheels, a love story about how the author met, dated and married her husband.  This is The Pioneer Woman from the website of the same name, with her online collection of all her loves:  photos, recipes, family, movies, homeschooling.  She can even be found on TV with her cooking show.  And her true-life love story should make everyone jump for joy that true love exists, that men like Marlboro Man live and breathe, and that they apparently love their women, happy flaws and all.

Ree did the taping on her audiobook.  She seemed to be sticking straight with the script, although I would be dubbing in more afterthoughts, side notes, laughter, crying, what-have-you.  I'm impressed she held it together when narrating her personal story, including recalling her propensity for Lucille Ball-like incidents, her own mistakes.

I'm not completely through the taped book, but it is uplifting, even while wrapped in reality.  Of course, I'll finish listening to the audio today, and may have to do so over and over as I try to separate myself from the sheer joy of the story to be objective enough to see her writing techniques.  Even if I'm not capable of that distancing, it would be no hardship to hear the whole wonderful how-we-met rendition over and over.

May we all share in such happiness, love, life.  Have a good one, everybody!

P.S.  Per a quick internet search, the movie rights to Ree's love story have been bought.  I hope we get to see the movie soon, but . . . there is no guarantee how fast that will happen.  Still nice to know it is being considered.

P.P.S.  I finished listening to the audiobook the other day.  My first leg of reading was the more fairy-tale events leading up to real life.  So the story has its sad moments, its tense moments and, even as a blog reader knowing she has four kids, the oldest is female, you get caught up in the story events, like guessing the sex of their first child:  "I just know it's a boy."  Plus hearing or reading about a "three-week honeymoon in Australia" sounds wonderful, doesn't it?  Wait until you hear the details of their honeymoon.  It just goes to prove that things on the outside, or on paper, are not what they seem.  Still, good reading.  Realistic.  Honest.  And proves true love, that magical, mystical, blissful, passionate version we thought was meant only for romance novels, can exist in real life and wins out over "small" things like not having a dishwasher with your first infant, or having money troubles, or going from a city life to a working ranch where there are no days off, no ice days or other such weather-related cancellations, no sick days, no ten-holiday-a-year benefits.  I said it before.  I'll say it again.  Inspirational.