Knitting, Knitting, Knitting...And Soup

These are busy days here. So there might be less blogging as I tried to stay focused on a special knitting project with a deadline. It involves 1500 yards of slippery bamboo yarn that needed to wound by hand. I figured that out after I tried it with the swift and winder. It wanted to slide right off the swift. Thankfully, just after the failed attempt doing that way, Daddy-O came in from his farm work and was willing to help me.

I made sure he had washed his hands thoroughly. He rolled up his shirt sleeves. He took off his watch that had a strap with a buckle. And he settled in to watch the evening news while I wound the 760 yards. It took us an hour to wind this one skein of yarn. There is another skein that will need to be wound later. But we won't worry about that until I knit enough to need it.

I started the project this past weekend. And as of this morning, I have about six inches of lace completed. That leaves only 50+ inches to go. I think I can do this! The past few days, I have mostly knitted. Knitted and watched old movies that everyone else saw years ago.  I know that can't happen every day, but I'm taking advantage of these rare unscheduled days this week to get a good start on this.

Creamy Tomato Soup

All this knitting means less cooking. Less time in the kitchen. So I'm sharing a recipe I made twice right before Christmas. I looked for the recipe last week and the first place I looked was here in my own recipe index. It wasn't there. I nearly panicked! I wasn't sure where I had found the recipe in the first place. It took some searching to find it again. So I'm posting it here for my own piece of mind.

This soup was extra yummy. The first time I made it with heavy cream, like the recipe calls for. The next time I used half-and-half because that's what I had on hand. Both were good. But to be honest, we liked the heavy cream version best. My knitting friend (and blog reader) Betsy tried it after I did and she said she used almond milk and that also worked well.

I found the recipe on The Pinning Mama and she has the recipe written for a stovetop version, too. To be honest, it possibly is faster than the Instant Pot. The IP requires that "before and after time" when the pressure builds up and then must be released. But the IP version cooked the tomatoes so soft that the texture of the soup was perfect.

The soup freezes beautifully. I put single servings into pint-size Ziploc freezer bags and popped them into the freezer. Daddy-O thawed one out while I was away last week and said it was just as good as the first time.

CREAMY TOMATO SOUP (Instant Pot)

1 (28-oz) can crushed tomatoes (I found a brand without basil added)
2 (14.5-oz) cans diced tomatoes, with juice (or one 28-oz can)
1 (14.5-oz) can low-sodium chicken broth (2 cups, if you have homemade)
1 tablespoon crushed garlic (I used the kind in a tube)
1 tablespoon dried basil
2 tablespoons sugar
1/3 cup butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 cup heavy cream

Put tomatoes, broth, garlic, and dried basil into Instant Pot. Put on the lid, close the vent and set it to Soup Mode for 20 minutes. When it's done, do a quick release of pressure. Add sugar and stir to dissolve. Add butter and stir until melted.

While stirring continuously, very slowly pour in heavy cream. Stir until it's well blended. (The slow pouring of the cream helps it blend in smoothly and not curdle.)


The instructions here are written for an Instant Pot. But check out her blog (link above) for the cooking time on the stove if you don't have an Instant Pot.