Joy in the Kitchen!

Today is PERFECT fall weather!  A bit overcast, breezy, high of 60 degrees if we're lucky.  I love fall!  One of my favorite fall things is SOUP!   Garden Chowder with Ham is a hearty way to celebrate fall. We grow a fair sized garden each year.  I love to wander through it in the fall and shop for dinner.  This is what I chose to use for our chowder today.   If you don't have a garden to shop in, enjoy wandering through the produce section of your favorite grocery store and select the vegetables you'd enjoy best! (Don't discount the small amount of green pepper though - it adds such a rich flavor!) The vegetables I chose today are those that are still available in my garden in the fall.  The summer squash is finishing up and the texture of it always changes a bit, more dry maybe.  If we were making this earlier in the summer we could add peas or green beans, but those vegetables are done in my garden this time of year.  You co...

The other day I went grocery shopping after my kids went to school.  It goes pretty quick now that my children are all in school and I just hop in my car, all by myself, and head to town.  That particular morning as I shopped, I noticed many cute, young, Mom's pushing carts adorned with preschoolers and babies.  Some of them looked exhausted, others were full of energy!  A few sounded frustrated and impatient with misbehaving kids, a few seemed to ignore their kids (though you never know - I used that tactic some myself when one "no" didn't suffice), and one sweet mom was singing to her baby as she walked down the aisles. Nostalgia hit for a moment as I missed my young mama days!  I have 8 children with 23 years between the oldest and youngest.  I've spent a LOT of time the past 30 years being a mom to preschoolers!   I finished my shopping and got in line at the checkout right behind a frazzled mom with 2 kids, maybe 2 and 4 years old, begging ...