The Monday prior to Christmas, I was out doing some last-minute Christmas shopping. I had a few books "on hold" over at Eerdman's Publishing Company/Bookstore and went over to pick them up. I love this bookstore. They have a wonderful children's section, as well as an entire wall of "slightly irregular" books for 70-80% off! I couldn't resist looking through that sale section, so the few titles I had called ahead to have put on hold kind of grew ...
One of my favorites that I picked out that day was "Grandpa's Soup," wonderfully written by Eiko Kadono and beautifully illustrated by Satomi Ichikawa. It was originally published in 1997 in Japan, but Eerdman's picked it up and published it here in 1999.
Rather than to try and summarize the story for you myself, here is what the Horn Book Guide had to say about it: "Unhappy after Grandma's death, Grandpa finally decides to re-create the soup she used to cook. With each try, he remembers another ingredient, and every day he shares his soup with an increasing number of guests -- from mice to children ..."Saturday, December 26, 2009:
Since we had so much leftover turkey from our Christmas Eve meal, and we had so many future lunches to prepare, and I had tasted my Aunt Jan's delicious soup and had a good recipe from the internet, I decided to make some tasty turkey noodle soup. And why not read this beautiful book to Jackson and Karis while I was preparing it?
I will tell you, Jackson and Karis were less than enthused about the prospect of turkey noodle soup! But no matter, I certainly wasn't going to force them to eat it ... and there were plenty of other folk coming and going around the Jones Junction that perhaps (!) WOULD like a hot bowl of soup for lunch ... so I was undeterred!
I didn't have time to take many pictures of this whole process. I KNOW Karis and Jackson's little faces don't look very happy in these pictures ~ but actually, they DID enjoy the story very much!
And I absolutely LOVED reading it to them as I made the soup!
This huge pot-full of soup was enjoyed (by at least some of us) for a few lunches. It made our whole house smell yummy and delightful. I'm glad I made it! :) Here is the recipe I used:COUNTRY TURKEY NOODLE SOUP (printed from COOKS.COM)
3 (14-1/2 oz) cans Swanson clear ready-t0-serve chicken broth
(I used some leftover turkey broth + 1 can of Swanson's)
1/4 C chopped celery
1/4 C chopped carrot
1 Tbsp minced onion
1 Tbsp minced parsley
1/8 tsp poultry seasoning
1/8 tsp thyme leaves
2 C diced cooked turkey
1 C cooked medium noodles
In a 3-quart saucepan over medium heat, combine all ingredients EXCEPT turkey and noodles. Cover; heat to boiling. Reduce heat to low. Cook 20 minutes until vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally. (Actually, you can cook these vegetables much longer and just let them kind of stew on LOW). Cook noodles according to package and then add the cooked noodles and turkey, making sure the turkey is heated through before serving.
Grandpa Jones thinks this recipe would have been better with less turkey broth, because of the fat content. He says perhaps equal parts water and turkey broth would have worked better. Perhaps he is right!
* * * *
It is now New Year's Day 2010. I am very behind in posting pictures from the last week. I plan to work on them during the next few days and kind of post a day at a time. Grandpa Jones is sicker than a dog. Both of us were way too exhausted to go the New Year's Eve party we were invited to last night ... we stayed at home like a couple of lumps and did absolutely NOTHING. It was actually kind of wonderful!
It's difficult to believe Christmas has come and gone. It feels like kind of a BLURR. Lots of stuff happened. We made many many nice memories with our family which I will share in the days ahead. But I would be lying if I didn't tell you there were some "bumps" along the way. I've decided to sit down in the next day or two at my computer and write down the activities and plans that worked well and the ones that did not ... as well as all of the meals and holiday goodies that were made ... how could things be made simpler next year? Two of our Texas families weren't even "home" this year ... what would happen if EVERYONE was able to come home for the holidays all at once? How could we possibly accommodate that many folk eating that many meals at our house? So I'm going to try and figure that out while everything is fresh on my mind.
In the meantime, I hope your New Year is the best one ever ...
1 comment:
We had a great time with you guys. I'll send you a copy of of my pictures if you want once I get home. Sorry to hear that dad is so sick now. None of the kids seem to have caught it so far. Feel better dad!
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