I’d Belong, if I Could!

Last night I fell asleep with that eternal question on my mind. What am I going to blog about tomorrow???  The funny thing is, I went on to dream that I received a large envelope in the mail, and inside, among other things, was a bumper sticker that said:

 I’m a Member of the Bloggers Club!

I remember feeling terribly honored, and terribly nervous too.  Talk about pressure!  Often, I find that coming up with blog post ideas is a bit like trying to figure out what to make for dinner.  Sometimes it’s easy-I have all of the ingredients for a pretty impressive meal-but at other times I have to root around the cupboard inside my mind hoping to find some fast inspiration, like a can of tomato soup or a package of hot dogs. And somehow, I  manage to create a little something out of practically nothing.

Take the above picture today.  I thought I’d use it at the top of this post because I really like it. It’s an old ad for coca-cola, and I love how colorful and tropical and vintage it is, and how it makes me feel warm and happy when I look at it. 

Sort of like my new enameled cast iron Dutch oven.  

I chose the color Caribbean Blue.  Isn’t it festive!

For years I’ve been a dyed in the wool, die hard fan of the crock pot.  I’m even on my third one.  Lately though, I’ve had the desire to do more hands on cooking.  And I thought the perfect place to start, was to get a piece of cookware that truly inspired me to actually want to go into my kitchen and, well, cook.

My sweet daughter Amy has been sick the last few days, (She has had one heck of a year-first pneumonia, then a bad cold, and now the flu this week.)  and she was craving soup-corn soup.  It’s simple to make, comforting and nourishing, and delicious, too.

Here’s how:

In a large pot-a Caribbean Blue enameled cast iron Dutch oven, for example, sauté two coarsely chopped peppers in olive oil until tender, and set aside.  Then, combine 4 cups of chicken or vegetable stock and a 16 ounce bag of frozen corn and cook for 30 minutes.  Remove one cup of the corn, and process the remaining corn and broth mixture, plus the two peppers in a food processor or blender until smooth.  Combine the corn, broth and pepper mixture with the reserved  cup of whole corn and reheat in pot until heated thoroughly. 

That’s it! 

Very easy, and really good!    (I should note that you need to be careful when blending hot liquids-do only small amounts at at time because they tend to expand and I don’t want any of my precious blog readers to get burned!!)

So once again, the ingredients for a blog post have presented themselves-and maybe I’ll like being a member of the Bloggers Club, after all! 

Too bad it only exists in my dreams…

Happy Friday, dear readers!   I hope each and every one of you have a great weekend!!