Poco-Cocoa

Thank you all so very much for all your well-wishes! I think they’ve helped…I’m feeling much better now. I don’t think I could run a marathon, but then again, I couldn’t do that before I got sick either, so I think I’m good. 🙂

Last night I finally cooked something. Even though it’s a jillion degrees outside, I decided I wanted soup. Feel-Better Soup. So I chopped and chopped and stirred and stirred, and we feasted on this nutrient-packed dish, along with an ear of corn-on-the-cob each. Actually, we ate the corn first, while we were waiting for the soup to simmer, and we found that it makes an excellent appetizer! I think we’ll do that more often during the summer, when each cob is a mere 25 cents.

So, the soup. I made it up as I went, and I tried to write everything down once I was done, so hopefully I didn’t forget anything. It’s such a forgiving soup, though, so it probably wouldn’t matter if I did. I think you could add any vegetable, any bean, any pasta, and still end up with a good meal.

I’ve been crafting, too, though I’ll have to wait to post photos until the recipients of said crafts have received their goodies. I have two swaps ready to be mailed out on Monday, so the photos will be coming soon.

Today’s agenda includes work (Am I late? Oh, just a few minutes more!), the World Cup, and maybe a nap. Happy Sunday, everyone!

Feel-Better Vegetable Soup

2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 large yellow onion, chopped
3 carrots, peeled and sliced
3 cans vegetable broth and 1 can water
1 can diced tomatoes with basil and garlic
1 teaspoon dried thyme
3 red potatoes, diced
1 small broccoli crown, cut into small florets
1 cup green beans, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 can great Northern or cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup ditalini or other small pasta
Salt and pepper to taste
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese for topping

Heat olive oil in a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add onion and carrot and saute for 4 to 5 minutes, until onion has softened. Add broth, water, tomatoes, thyme, and potatoes, and bring to a boil; simmer 5 to 10 minutes. Add broccoli, green beans, great Northern beans, and ditalini, and cook 10 minutes more, until pasta and potatoes are tender. Add salt and pepper to taste, and top each serving with a sprinkling of Parmesan.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.

…and still sick. Yuck! I thought I was getting better by Tuesday, but it turns out it was the calm before the storm. It’s now a sinus-coughing-achy thing. I really should go to the doctor tomorrow. I really should. Will I? Probably not. I just hate going to the doctor, waiting to be seen, getting checked out, and being told, “You have a cold. Give me your co-pay, go home, and take two Tylenol.” You know?

Anyway, as a little Get-Well present, my friend Vidya dropped this lovely apron on my doorstep this week. Isn’t it great? She attached an awesome vintage dishcloth to it…I’ve already used it at the B&B. What a sweetheart!

Today I took my niece Kourtney to the airport and sent her back home. Here she is enjoying her last bit of Whole Foods chocolate for a while…

I miss her already! It was a fun couple of weeks, though the past week must have been boring for her with me sick in bed, sniffling and such. I will get better tomorrow. I will! And I’ll get everything done for all my swaps coming up, and cook real food and pay my bills and clean my house and all the other little things I’ve neglected since Kourtney and The Flu have come to town.

But tonight, I’m going to attempt to catch up on blog-reading. It’s hard to read blogs with a nearly-sixteen-year-old in the house…right now, it’s so quiet I can hear the raindrops outside. Different, but good.

Yesterday we spent the afternoon at Krause Springs, about 30 miles out of Austin. Lindsay and Chad went for a swim with Shara’s child-sized floaties…they’re too cute! It was a beautiful day, full of almost-rain and cool water and butterflies and hummingbirds, and was only marred slightly by my sore throat and headache. I’m glad I had some outdoor fun yesterday, because today my cold/flu/whatever hit me really hard. I actually came home from work early because I felt so bad, and now, at 7:00 p.m., this is my first foray out of bed. Why is it that when you’re sick, even your skin seems to hurt? Ah, well, Justin was kind enough to bring me soup and hot chocolate and a book of crossword puzzles, and my boss was kind enough to call and say I didn’t need to go in to work tomorrow. Hopefully this thing only lasts a couple of days.

So until better days, internets, it’s back to bed for me. Hope your holiday (for those of you who are from the U.S.) is lots of fun!