Hurricanes Are Fattening

Easy Vegetable Soup

Stress eating anyone? Has it happened to you? I'm finding it hard NOT to be stressed right now. We are still trying to get things done post storm—along with everyone else who needs contractors and tree services and insurance adjusters at the same time. Again, I am so aware that we are okay. We are the lucky ones. But it still has be be dealt with.

Every time I make the 30 minute trip into town, I ride through winding wooded country roads. I knew the storm blew hard through there. But after a couple of weeks, it looks even worse. But the green leaves are falling and the leaves on the downed trees have turned brown and have shriveled, so I can see more now. Huge root balls where big trees were uprooted are in the woods, in people's yards, in public spaces. Big gaping holes, enormous holes are left where the trees pulled up. No doubt what color our soil is here. We live in red clay territory.  

The news? All disturbing. I only watch the highlights in the morning now. We can't live in a hole or under a rock, but I can limit how much TV news I see. I think most of us are dealing a little more stress than usual right at this moment in time.

And that's how I found myself doing some major stress eating for the last couple of weeks. Then I visited the doctor several days ago and I had to step on the scales. Standard procedure. When I saw the number, I told the nurse that obviously hurricanes are fattening! She laughed and agreed. Junk food. More snacking because we weren't doing anything else for days. Eating what was the easiest to make, maybe without power. 

So last weekend I made a big pot of my "get back on track soup." The recipe has been on the blog for years. It was a WW recipe.  Over the years, I have tweaked it enough to share again. It's still a very light soup. But it's tasty and it's filling. I don't mind eating it for several days in a row. It really helps me move back into a better pattern. I don't have to think of what "healthy" recipe to cook for a few days. I promised Daddy-O  that while I eat this soup for days, I would make him anything he wanted. He doesn't love soup, but he will eat a small bowl as a side dish. At least I know he's getting vegetables.

EASY VEGETABLE SOUP

1 16- oz bag frozen vegetables for soup
1/2 medium head cabbage, finely chopped
1 medium onion, diced  (or 1/2 large onion)
1 15-oz can cut green beans, drained
1 28-oz can crushed tomatoes
1 pkg dry Ranch Dressing mix (all I had this time was dip mix)
1 tomato can full of water (swish to get all of the tomatoes) that's about 2 cups

1-quart low sodium chicken broth 
freshly ground black pepper, to taste 

Put all ingredients into a pot. Bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 45 minutes or longer, until vegetables are as tender as you like them. We like ours cooked longer, until the cabbage is very tender. This time I probably let it simmer a little over an hour.

There is no meat in this. (Much to Daddy-O's dismay.) You can certainly add some. I have added cooked chicken, leftover roast, etc. But when I'm in this "less is more" mode, I prefer just the vegetables. In my mug of soup, I like to crumble two saltine crackers into it. That's how we ate soup growing up, so for me it's comfort food.

And last night I enjoyed "comfort food" for my soul. We had a concert at our church that had been scheduled months ago. The college students who sang had just gotten back to campus after it was closed for a couple of weeks to get things up and running. I sat in our very old sanctuary (built in 1857), looking at the evening sun stream through our beautiful stained glass windows and listened to the rich harmonies of old hymns. And I let the words "peace like a river...love like an ocean" seep into my being. 

 

What A Difference A Day Makes

Wednesday morning, Sept 25

 

Like so many people in our state and our neighboring states, last week didn't end like it started. I have photographed this barn hundreds and hundreds of times for years. I've documented the sunrise in all seasons. When I walk into the kitchen each morning to get coffee, the old barn and the sunrise is my first view of the day.

Saturday morning, Sept 28

Then on Friday morning my sky view was unlike anything we had ever seen. Hurricane Helene blew right over us. Here. Hundreds of miles from the coast. In a place where hurricanes don't exist. Until last week.Typically by the time a hurricane makes its way this far inland, it's no longer a hurricane. The storm has lost most of its fury and we might get rain and wind. Not this time.

We were lucky. I almost didn't share the photos of this barn because our damage looks minor when you see what happened in North Carolina. We have watched in horror at the complete destruction others are dealing with. Communities are trying to figure out how to get children back to school. Our schools here start next week, two weeks post storm. Just north of us, they are digging wells at schools to provide water in hopes of reopening in a few more weeks.

We have more significant damage across our farm. Barns will have to be torn down. Roof repairs need to happen. But our house was untouched. And we had a generator that ran for a week. We were among the lucky ones. I only want to say how quickly things can change. In ways that we can't predict. 

Everything is  better with ice cream.

Now on to kitchen things. My cooking keeps getting simpler and simpler. And the internet provides endless possibilities of 2 and 3 ingredient recipes. I am fully aware that these shortcut recipes are not gourmet kitchen creations. But they are tasty. Good enough to make again. Some days "good enough" is as all I require.

Apple Spice Cake

This quick cake popped up a couple of times in the last few weeks. I had a can of apple pie filling in my pantry that needed to be used sooner rather than later. (Can't remember why I bought it a year or so ago.) I made this the day before the storm not knowing it would be our treat for days while the power was out.

The original used nothing but a box of spice cake mix and a can of apple pie filling. It reminded me of the Pumpkin Spice Muffins we have made for years. I had to adjust to use what I had on hand. Here is what I did:

APPLE SPICE CAKE

1 box yellow cake mix

1 teaspoon apple pie spice

1 can apple pie filling

about 1/2 cup water, enough to be able to blend ingredients

Blend the apple pie spice into the dry cake mix. Cut the apples in the canned filling into bite-size pieces. If the apples in the brand you have are soft, you could mash them up. 

Stir pie filling and water into the cake mix. Spoon into a greased 2-qt baking dish. Bake at 350º for 30-ish minutes. I watched until it got brown on top.

Sometimes I do have spice cake mix on the shelf. But the yellow cake and apple pie spice was great. You could use pumpkin pie spice, too, or even cinnamon with a little nutmeg. USE WHAT YOU HAVE!

The original recipe didn't even use water. I could not even get the cake and pie filling mixed, so I added water, about 1/2 cup, like the pumpkin muffins. Enough to mix things together. It's still a stiff batter. I just realized you could copy the pumpkin muffin recipe even further and make muffins. 

Also keep this recipe in mind if your circle includes anyone with an egg allergy. No eggs here!

And then last night Mother Nature brought us another unexpected event. But this was a wonderful one. Way down in the Deep South we got a glimpse of the Northern Lights.