Like a peal of a bugle
Upon the still night
So flames her deep scarlet
In dim forest light.
A heart-throb of color
Lit up the dim nook
A dash of deep scarlet
The dark shadows shook.
Thou darling of August
Thou flame of her flame,
'Tis only bold Autumn
Thy ardor can tame.
The Cardinal Flower by John Burroughs
(1837-1921)
my niece and nephew across the Pond. They recently took a vacation into Austria, and my niece was very sweet letting me share her photos. They went on an 8-1/2 mile hike through very picturesque scenery, finding several mountain sheep along the way.
as well as young reindeer?
And not to forget the spectacular scenery.
and did I mention sheep?
Chicken Rice Soup - 6 servings
1 tablespoon oil
1 onion, minced
3 large carrots, peeled and diced
1 stalk celery, diced
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon back pepper
5 cups low sodium chicken broth
2 chicken breasts
1 cup brown rice
1 cup evaporated milk
Instructions
In a large soup pot, heat oil over medium-high heat.
Add onion, carrots and celery and cook and stir for 3-4 minutes, until onion begins to turn golden.
Add garlic, parsley and thyme and cook 1 minute.
Add salt and pepper, broth, chicken and rice.
Stir and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
Reduce heat to medium-low (a simmer), cover, and cook for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes, or until vegetables and rice are tender.
Remove chicken from pot and shred.
Add back to the pot and stir in evaporated milk.
Serve.
A great Fall weather soup and we thought this was one of the best we have made.
But, when I first took the cover off the pot, my first reaction was to say, "Oh!" There wasn't much broth left and it looked more like a risotto consistency than soup. Next time I would have a little extra broth on hand to pour in if needed. We had no more in the pantry. This is entirely due to our own taste and you may think differently if you make it, as a soup, but we loved it.
Also we might put in less rice as it obviously absorbed much of the broth. I suppose we could have cooked the rice separately and added it at the end, but the whole point was for the rice to pick up the flavor of everything it was cooked with.
We used white rice instead of brown.
We doubled up on ingredients as it was our intention to eat this over a few days, and also put some in the freezer. It freezes well but perhaps with a few changes - *see the paragraph on freezing below.
It would be easy to turn this into a vegetarian dish for those who don't want to use meat, and then of course you'd use the vegetable broth.
I wasn't sure about using evaporated milk but I needn't have worried. It was great.
As we doubled up on our ingredients, we thought it might be a good idea to use 1 can of evaporated milk and using the same can filled with 2% milk (but see notes in the next paragraph). We also said instead of the milk, thought we would try a can of coconut milk next time.
*If you are going to freeze this soup, I remember reading somewhere that using a higher fat milk is better rather than the low-fat that I normally use. Low fat tends to separate during the freezing process, and when heating it up from a frozen or thawed state. Better to use whole milk for instance, or even cream when you know you might be putting what's left in the freezer.
If you run out of broth you can use water and a bouillon cube, using the instructions on the packet or jar.
Adding corn would be a nice addition to this soup.
There are approximately 332 calories per 1-1/2 cup of soup. Not exact, just a guideline.
Even as a surprise 'risotto' we gave our meal a ten out of ten.
We served it with a slice of Italian bread, and the next day I made Chile Cheddar Biscuits. That recipe will be posted next Monday.
I also added a few leaves of cilantro for garnish. Not just to pretty it up a bit but I like the taste.
Thanks for looking, have a great week and...
Thank you for visiting and have a great weekend.
The Garden Year
On Monday (21st) we went back to the garden as we woke up to sunshine and cooler temperatures. It was 64 degrees when we left the house. In today's post I am sharing Gregg's photos of the hummingbird we saw.
I don't know my hummingbirds very well, so perhaps someone who does can name this one. It seems to have little white tips on the end of its tail feathers.
I have cropped each photo and put the cropped version below the original.
Not necessarily about this particular one, the red lettering will take you to an interesting field guide here.
Below you can see the flowers this little hummer was so interested in. I am pretty sure it is the Lobelia laxiflora var angustifolia, also Sierra Madre Lobelia. A very hardy flower and easy to grow.
Our son sent these when he was walking the other day. He knows we enjoy photos says I with a smile. One or the other of us will say, "Oh, you're going walking? Don't forget to take photos!"
Continuing from my previous post of our walk - you can find Part 1 here - in the photo below we are looking back at the front of the house. There is a gift shop and tea room inside. We haven't had a meal there yet, but it is on our list when things start getting back to normal.
This is the same house that we had walked behind. The people who owned this home must have enjoyed their large garden at the back. It is a very large grassy area and is edged with beds of pretty plants and flowers.
I have enjoyed finding out their names, always looking for a marker first and then using my plant app. If I am not convinced of an ID I will research them on line. A fun activity when I get home as I go through the photos.
