Glad To Be Home

I have made many sunrise photos over the years from my back porch. This week I saw the sun coming up over the hospital complex. Daddy-O spent one night there after surgery this week. 

He is home recuperating now. And we are both catching up on sleep. Luck of the draw left him with a late afternoon surgery, so the post-op care meant the nurse was in his room every 30 minutes all night long. Thankfully, it was just one night. Yep, that wall clock says it's almost 2:30 AM. We watched it move slowly all night.

We've done hospitals before, so I packed a huge tote bag with all the things I thought we might need---paper and pen, cough drops, kleenex, knitting, water, a sandwich, socks, a book, iPad, a wrap, money for the vending machines and so on. I think between us, we used everything in the bag. 

We were able to keep both daughters informed as the day went on with text messages. And we could see what they were doing during the day. This was the best message! Love that at age three, Little Sister is understanding all about holidays. I will be out to visit them soon and I'll get to see her in her "perfect costume."

I'm not sure what we even ate the first night home from the hospital. I'm not even sure we ate. They didn't let him go until late afternoon so it was nearly dark when we got home. Last night we were still tired, but even when you're tired, you need supper. If we lived in a city, I would have ordered something delivered, but we don't have that option. And there aren't too many choices for pick-up, either. Mostly fast food things. So I tried to think of the easiest thing I could make with what was on hand. (My trip to the grocery store never happened yesterday.)

Thankfully I had bought a bag of frozen vegetable soup mix a couple of weeks ago. Vegetable soup mix, unlike frozen mixed vegetables, has okra in it. For me, it isn't really vegetable soup without the okra. I just added other things that I had on hand. I don't use a recipe. Best thing I found in the freezer was a small bag of leftover roast in gravy. 

I am writing down what I put in the pot last night. It's not really a "recipe," but more of a guide. I always use the vegetable soup mix and add extra onion, potatoes, corn and a can or two of tomatoes—whole or diced. After that I might add in any kind of beans or peas that are in the freezer, sometimes more than one kind. (I usually only cook a half a bag for the two of us, so there are often partial bags in my freezer.) Finely chopped cabbage would have been good, too, if I'd had any.

I don't always have leftover roast. But it surely does make good soup. I always try to freeze a little for soup when I cook a roast. Leftover chicken would work, too. Sometimes I have tomato juice or V-8 juice, sometimes I don't. I will say that this mix last night was a really good one. 

VEGETABLE SOUP

2 (15-oz.) cans diced tomatoes

1 tomato can of water

2 small cans V-8 juice (one was Spicy Hot, one was Original)

1 (16-oz.) package frozen vegetable soup mix

1/2 medium onion, chopped

1 medium potato, peeled & diced

1/2 cup frozen corn kernels

1/2 cup frozen black-eyed peas

1-2 cups frozen leftover beef roast & gravy

salt & pepper to taste

Mix everything together and bring to a boil. Turn heat down to simmer and let cook for about 40-45 minutes.

The best part about making soup is that there is plenty left for another day or two. I still have not made it to the grocery store. Surely I'll get there today. Maybe.