Soup season!

My kids get sooooo sick of soup in the winter.  But it's so easy for me.  And it's an easy way to use the vegetables that I have on hand.  Last night I made Black Bean Soup and lately there has been Potato Leek (which is so ridiculously easy!) and Beef Vegetable and Chicken Noodle and Chicken and Brown Rice.  And of course chili...chili with beef and beans and vegetarian chili and lentil chili.  Chili is much better than soup because it comes with toppings like shredded cheese and sour cream.

This winter from our CSA we have gotten so many beets I can't believe it.  We didn't get many during the regular season and I was a little bummed.  Now they are making up for it, I tell ya!  And some of these beets are huge and gorgeous!  And because they are a cold storage vegetable, even if they get a little soft in the fridge they are still just fine.  I'm thinking of doing some refrigerator beet pickles with some of them.  I did some last fall from this recipe but didn't like how they turned out so "clove-y".

I have a batch of bread rising right now.  I've been using my high altitude book a lot the past few weeks and have been so happy with the results.  When I milled the flour for this bread, the flour smelled a little grassy. I hope the bread doesn't turn out like that or my chicken will have a fabulous snack later!