Cream of Mushroom Soup

Jerry told me that this was the BEST soup I have ever made and he does not even LIKE mushrooms! ;)
This recipe comes from Mama Pea at A Home Grown Journal and is part of her Soup Sunday series. It goes together quickly, doesn't call for any off-the-wall ingredients and tastes divine! Who needs soup in a can anyway?!?

Cream of Mushroom Soup

1/4 cup butter
8 oz. sliced fresh mushrooms (I used baby Portobellos)
1/2 cup chopped onions
1/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt or to taste (I used more)
1/2 teaspoon savory (I used summer savory)
Pinch of white pepper
12 oz. beef stock or broth
1 cup Half-&-Half (I used half heavy cream and half goat milk)

Melt butter in a saucepan. Add mushrooms and onions and cook, stirring often, until mushrooms are brown and most of their liquid is gone.
Sprinkle with flour, salt, savory and pepper. Cook and stir for a minute or two.
Remove from heat and slowly blend in beef stock. Put back on heat, bring to boiling, cover and reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Mixture will be very thick so simmer on a low heat and stir now and then to make sure it's not sticking.
Mix in the Half-&-Half and heat to serving temperature being careful not to let it boil.

This makes enough for two main dish servings with just a bit left over, which Jerry promptly ate after finishing his first bowlful!
Sharing with The Country Homemaker Hop, the Down Home Blog Hop and Farmgirl Friday.

Texture Tuesday - 01/29/2013

 

It's always fun when we get snow here in the high desert. We get to enjoy the beauty and it's usually all gone by noon! ;)
Linking up with P52 Sweet Shot Tuesday and Texture Tuesday. Our challenge for Texture Tuesday this week was to include at least one layer of Kim's new Minus 43 texture, which seemed appropriate for this picture!

Edited with kk_minus 43 soft light 100% and kk_1412 soft light 60%.

The Cats

Ruby is my very own "pillow pet!" She usually sleeps behind this pillow so I was happy to get this picture. :)

Her son, Bob, LOVES it when we have a fire, he has got to be the most cold blooded cat ever! See how his right ear is turned around listening to me? ;)

We also have a barn cat, I actually saw it for REAL the other afternoon lying on the pallets watching us while we were feeding. We aren't even sure if it is a male or a female but since it has been coming up on the front porch recently "talking" to Ruby and Bob (at 3 AM!!), I'm starting to think female...in heat! If so, we should be seeing more barn cats shortly! I keep hoping to get pictures of her, she's a pretty orange tabby.

Skywatch Friday - Sun Dog

We had the coolest Sun Dog late Wednesday afternoon, it kind of looked like a comet streaking across the sky! The scientific name for a Sun Dog is parhelion, from Greek meaning "beside the sun." If you want to see a really neat double Sun Dog and learn more about these atmospheric phenomena, check out Sally's blog at Sally Saw.
Linking up with Skywatch Friday and Weekly Top Shot.

Shoes

I really enjoyed our recent visit with Vey and getting to see all the cool stuff he has collected over the years! I like the way he has displayed his horse shoe collection. There are all sizes from pony to draft horse and the two part ones are for oxen.
Linking with P52 Sweet Shot Tuesday.

Barn Makeover

We enclosed the rest of the barn this past Sunday. It is something we have talked about for a couple of years and finally got around to doing. Most of the barns in this part of the country are made of metal because of the terrible termite problems.

Here, in this picture from last summer, you can see how it was open by the stalls.

The enclosed area in the picture on the left is the tack room. When we ordered the "barn" (actually a carport!), we had that part enclosed.

There is also a roll-up door to access the tack room. This is looking east.

Here are the before and after shots of the horses' stalls looking west. They now have shelter on the sides to help cut down on the wind and rain.

This is looking straight into the new and improved barn from Mysti's stall, Paco's stall is on the right. We also enclosed the far end past the breezeway to keep the hay out of the weather.

When it's colder out, Jerry puts Buddy's blanket up on the hay for his bed. If he doesn't, Buddy kind of tears up the hay making a "nest" to sleep in. ;)
Enclosing the sides created a whole new feel to the barn and we are really tickled with how it turned out! Now if we only had electricity down there...
Linking up with Barn Charm this week.

An Unexpected Visitor

We have had a pigeon hanging out down by the barn recently! That might not seem so strange to a lot of ya'll but we just don't have pigeons here in the country. As a matter of fact, there aren't even any pigeons in Benson. Lots of grackles but no pigeons. You have to go all the way to Tucson to see pigeons. So far, there is only the one and I told him that he can hang out with the Eurasian Collared doves and the Mexican grackles as long as he doesn't bring all of his little friends. I know pigeons are considered a pest by many people, Jerry even calls them flying rats, but I think they are actually kind of pretty. ;)

 

See ya' later Pigey!