Soup's On!

Thought for the day:  The lore has not died out of the world, and you will still find people who believe that soup will cure any hurt or illness and is no bad thing to have for the funeral either. [John Steinbeck, East of Eden]

Who doesn't like soup? A dainty little bowl before an entree is swell, but I enjoy a good hearty soup as the main course, too. (I'm not positive, but I think February is National Soup Month, so talk about perfect timing...)

Anyhow, I'm pleased to be participating in the Souper Blog Hop today, which Chrys Fey is running in support of the release of her mother's first book Pea Soup Disaster. (That's right! Another author in the family!)

First, I'll share a spiffy soup recipe with you, and then I'll share info about the book, okay? (For those of you who don't give a diddle about preparing soup from scratch, don't worry. I'm gonna tell you about a terrific CANNED soup, too.)

SUSAN'S YUMMY SPINACH SOUP

This soup is my own concoction, so I've never had a recipe for it. But this week, I made a point of writing down how much of everything I was using so I could translate my wing-it style of cooking into something you guys could use. I made a smallish pot, enough for Smarticus and me to enjoy at two meals... with biscuits. So you can adjust the amounts accordingly.

INGREDIENTS
2 bone-in country style pork ribs
32 oz. chicken broth or stock
2 medium potatoes, cubed
1/3 c. chopped onion
heaping 1/2 c. instant barley
2 5-oz. bags of triple-washed baby spinach
splash of milk

1. Place ribs in pot, salt and pepper to taste, and cover with chicken broth. Bring to a boil and simmer until meat is tender. (~1 hour) (If you use regular barley instead of instant, add it to the pot after about 40 minutes)
2. Remove meat from bones and cut into bite-sized pieces. Return to pot and add chopped onions and cubed potatoes. Simmer for about 10 minutes. If using instant barley, add that now, then simmer another 10 minutes.
3. Add spinach and stir until limp and cooked to your taste. Add a drizzle of milk (or half and half, whatever you have on hand) and season to taste.
NOTE: I usually prepare soup and then refrigerate a couple days to let the flavors "marry." Not necessary, though. It's already plenty yummy at this point. Enjoy!

Don't want to go to all of that trouble? How about the best-tasting canned clam chowder you've ever tasted? That would be Tony's.

We first tasted this award-winning chowder at Tony's restaurant in Cedar Key, Florida. their chowder is a three-time winner of international clam chowder competitions, so ya KNOW it's gotta be good. We enjoyed it so much, we bought a case of it from the restaurant to bring back home with us. Natch, the canned isn't as good as the nectar they serve fresh in the restaurant, but it is reeeeeeally good. Add a blob of butter and some half and half to this concentrate, and your tummy will thank you. If you want to fancy it up a bit, add some chopped chives or chopped onions and a bit of crumbled cooked bacon. Either way, it is a soup that'll make you say, "Mmmm! Mmmm! Gooooood!" Some grocery stores around the country sell it, and you can also order it from the restaurant via the internet.  Just look up Tony's clam chowder.

            So what's YOUR favorite soup?

Okay, I've done my easy-peasy part for this blog hop. Now it's time to move on to check out Elaine Kay's new book... featuring PEA soup.

BLURB: Gregory Green loves his mom’s pea soup, but when he eats it at school, all of his friends make fun of how it looks. He doesn’t think it looks like bugs, and it tastes good! Then at recess, his friends run from him, screaming, “He’s a monster!” Gregory doesn’t know why his friends are being mean until he sees his skin is green. The teasing gets worse until an unlikely friend comes to the rescue—his teddy bear, Sammy. Sammy usually only comes to life for Gregory and his family, but Sammy has an important lesson to teach Gregory and his classmates.

Available in Print:

AMAZON

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Elaine Kaye got the idea for Pea Soup Disaster from her son who loved to eat her homemade pea soup. Pea Soup Disaster is the first of many fun stories featuring Gregory Green and his teddy bear, Sammy, as part of the Gregory Green Adventure series.

Kaye has worked as a library assistant and teacher's assistant in elementary schools in the Sunshine State. She currently lives in Florida, but she has called Michigan; Honolulu, Hawaii; and Okinawa, Japan home. She is a grandmother of three boys.

Find Elaine:

Website / Instagram / Litsy - @ElaineKaye

Goodreads / Amazon

Sounds good, huh? Here's wishing Elaine much success with her new series. Like daughter, like mother...

                           Until next time, take care of yourselves. And each other.

P.S. The other participants will be doing their Souper posts on Monday. (Chrys was nice enough to let me post mine on my usual blogging day.) You can find a link to a list of other Monday-posting participants HERE