Sarah's Magical Soup : Creamy Chicken & cheesy tortellini

First of all this was a total team effort, kind of. 

& friendly reminder, for a cooking post, there won't be pictures.

No ones food ever turns out like the pictures, so, pressure off.

Someone posted a creamy crockpot chicken recipe on facebook, & it looked delicious. 

& then, today someone mentioned chicken noodle soup 

for the cold weather. 

& a light-bulb!

RECIPE-ish

one sweet onion diced

2 whole carrots, washed & chopped 

2 TBS butter 

carton of chicken stock or broth 

2 cups of water

small can of cream-o-chicken soup, undiluted 

1 block of cream cheese, you pick the variety, softened

shredded chicken, canned or otherwise or not at all 

Tortellini, as much as needed

TO DO 

add the diced veg to warm stock pot, with butter,

 over medium heat,

to soften 15-20 minutes, stirring as needed.

Add in stock or broth, simmering an hour until fragrant. 

add the rest & boil as needed to cook tortellini.

season to taste!

salt, pepper, garlic, parsley, etc.......

Feel free to add greens :)

Be warned though- 

children who were happy to eat all these things previously

will boycott 

because:

They don't like chicken soup

There might be potatoes 

There's chicken  

There could be veg hiding 

(All very real possibilities, except the soup,

 it is in fact soup, but since when??) 

HI-HO SILVER: My thoughts on marriage

You might have guessed from the title, but just in case,

 be prepared for horse analogies.

 Just saying.

I had a video pop up in my Facebook memories today, 

& it got me thinking how marriage is like a team of horses, 

aside from the obvious that they & you are linked together.

But if you think of pulling a load, up a moderate incline, 

not even barefoot in the snow both ways, 

if you both aren't working together, it just ain't gonna work. 

I don't care who you are.

This does happen to be an example of in the snow, but that's just a challenge in life.

When you watch the video,

 it takes the pair a few tries to get started together,

 but they do 

& they are successful!

With the help of their farmer,

 talking to 'em,

 telling to come back or move on,

 they make it to the top.

This is my garage door. 

& if you haven't noticed, 

there is some kind of weird crack between the frame & whatever the other part is called.

We, Mr D & I, 

noticed that some weeks back after arriving home.

& our conversation went something like this----->

me: There appears to be a crack

him: Yes, I noticed that last week

me: well, maybe we should do something about it?

him: some spray foam would fix it

me: That's easy. I can get some the next time I'm out.

(& I do)

& that picture was taken tonight.

It's actually become a friendly joke.

Because that crack is pretty much our entire relationship.

Could I find a step stool & spray the darn foam?

Easily.

 I've become pretty handy at fixing stuff since getting married.

This next video, sums up what happens when 

you don't pull together 

& the train wreck that ensues.

Surrounded by people who care about them, 

everybody comes out ok, though. 

TEAMWORK MAKES THE DREAM WORK

*WARNING* 

this video will make you want to cover your eyes & hide.

I promise, promise 

everybody gets up & walks away just fine.

It's tense.

It's scary.

IT'S HORRIBLE TO WATCH

Imagine what it must have been like to go through.

I like Big B......just kidding

This is my refrigerator, 

& I'm sure by now you've noticed that it's smaller then the average bear.....

or typical American refrigerator.  

& here is why---->

I had a larger version, that mostly fit, but not well. 

There was much cabinet rearranging to make it fit, 

& it was heavy enough it took several large men to maneuver it into place. 

After nearly 4 years it died.

RIP.

During one of the hottest summers in the history of forever.

When the A/C also went over to the other side.

mkay?

I was hot & tired 

& lacking in large men to maneuver.

& really felt called to use the rearranged cabinets

 I couldn't reach over the top of another flat 

& inevitably cluttered surface.  

I. WAS.OVER. IT

We've (& by WE, I mean I) have been making a point of trying to live purposefully.

& I realized as I was cleaning out a large 

& no longer cold refrigerator,

 how much extra 'stuff'' we (& by we, I mean I)  

had accumulated.

Enter my fun size fridge-et.

I can both maneuver & reach over it. 

It also forces us ( & by us, I mean me, the grocery shopper) 

to be thoughtful about what is bought & kept. 

No more very new cheese or very old meat lurking in the corners.

It's about big enough for milk, butter & our veg.

not much room for excess.

I was previously, & still am, in possession of a lovely, big pantry & a chest freezer.

You'd be surprised what you can freeze...

& because it's in the basement & frozen

 I don't have to worry about the 

bottomless pits called pre-teen boys 

snatching whatever they can find.

Starving as they might be.....they don't hunt. They scavenge.

I do miss my ice maker, but not so much that I want to step in puddles of melting ice, abandoned by the same boys, 

who can also not bring themselves to bend over 

pick up dropped ice.

Such is life outside the box.