Bean & Ham Soup - a great meal on a rainy day!
It's absolutely pouring here and it has been for over five hours now. At this rate, going to town tomorrow is looking pretty doubtful. Am I worried about it? Not in the least! Kayla has things at the Cowgirl Swank shop covered (a big thanks to her) and preschool is somewhat optional so......I'm not stressed at all. In fact, I'm rejoicing a bit. I need a day or two in the house to get caught up on cleaning, baking, and writing/blogging! Plus, I think I can hear the green grass growing outside so all is good. :)
We have been unbelievably busy lately. I swear it's a race from sun up till sun down. That's life on a ranch though.....the winter is slower, but when spring comes....look out! We race around trying to get as much stuff done as possible. Do we complain? Not much.....we get the pleasure of seeing green grass, baby calves, and beautiful sunsets/sunrises. Life doesn't get much better so it makes for a pretty happy life out here.
We spent the weekend helping our friends/neighbors brand. Here are a few pics of the day:
Shane and Shotgun make a really good pair!
Doc is my favorite boy. He and I can accomplish just about anything we set our minds to!
My friend, Kayla, captured this picture. My two favorite guys working together. We believe in teaching our kids young. It's a good thing!
Stone and his horse, All Star. If this picture doesn't make you smile I don't know what will! :)
Today I had a monster headache. I've been fighting it for three days now. It comes and goes, but today it came back with a vengeance and turned into a full blown migraine. I take medicine for it, I use oils, I try massage, I take hot baths, etc. Almost every remedy out there I've tried......and they don't help that much. I've found that these migraines just have to throw their fit and move on when they feel like it. I blame my hormones. I'm at that time in my life where things are starting to change....that's my prognosis anyway. My husband thinks I should go to a neurologist. I'm of the thought that I can diagnose myself for a heck of a lot less money. I may give our neighbor's hired man a try though. He apparently works miracles on migraines. I'm at the point that I will try just about anything! I managed to take a hot bath, use some oils, and take a long nap today. When I woke up I could still feel a bit of a headache, but I was on the road to recovery. Hooray!!
I felt so much better that I even got some writing done. I'm writing a column for several publications several times each month so it keeps me on my toes (The Wrangler Horse & Rodeo News, Today's Horse, Cowgirl's In Style, and The Cowboy's Digest). I enjoy writing so much. It's kind of my sanctuary. I wrote about Mother's Day today.....and paid a small tribute to my mom.....she certainly deserves it! I will post it on Mother's Day so you all can read it here as well.
Today was a perfect day for soup. I ended up making Bean & Ham Soup. It was kind of a throw together meal as I didn't even have white (pinto) beans on hand. I ended up improvising and it was delicious! Here is the recipe:
Easy Bean & Ham Soup
2 medium carrots, sliced
2 celery ribs, chopped
½ cup chopped onion
2 tablespoons butter
4 cans (15 ½ ounces each) Great Northern beans, rinsed and drained
4 cups chicken broth
2 cups cubed fully cooked ham
1 tsp chili powder
½ tsp minced garlic
¼ tsp pepper
1 bay leaf
Saute the carrots, celery, and onion in butter until cooked.
Add the remaining ingredients and cook for 15-20 minutes.
Serve.
*I ended up using black beans and kidney beans in place of the Great Northern beans because I didn't have any. Guess what.....it was delicious! I'm used to improvising so I wasn't afraid to give this a try. Enjoy! ~Cheyenne