Oh the Weather Outside Is Frightful....But Tonight Is Downton Abbey!

We've had snow and today we had freezing rain.  Our church services were cancelled today because the roads were in such horrible condition.  So, after making homemade Belgian waffles, I asked hubby what he wanted for lunch today.  His response?  "Grilled cheese and soup."  Okay.  Not a problem.  I should have stuff for that on hand.  I have been trying to get away from canned soups lately.  Have you read the labels?  I know it is convenient.  But, when you have family members with food allergies, there is a lot of label reading.  And I just think it is healthier for us to have food as fresh as possible anyway.  I got to thinking about progress.  Way back before we had the canned foods in the grocery store, families did their own canning.  I doubt they used the chemicals that are in the canned foods on the grocery shelves today.  Hubby and I have been looking at ways to do as much as we can to grow our own food to sustain our family and supplement from the store.  We haven't gotten there yet.  We are seriously considering what we could possibly do.

So back to the soup.  I started thinking about what I had on hand.  I'm not running errands today.  I didn't have any boxed broth on hand.  I can't use bouillon due to the food allergies.  I was hoping I had some bone broth left in the freezer.  JOY, JOY, JOY!  I had approximately four cups of bone broth in the freezer!!!  Time to make some more.  I had potatoes and carrots and onions and we had a few mushrooms that were beginning to freeze in our garage fridge.  I had some canned tomatoes (I know, I know, I was just talking about canned foods, but I'm making progress).  Hubby suggested corn, so I had some canned corn.  OK, my thoughts on the canned foods I'm using.  I've found that the simple single ingredients don't seem to have as many chemicals as the foods that have many different food items together.  Have you looked at the canned "chili"?  It has textured vegetable protein (TVP)in it!  Anything like that I need to stay away from because of the food allergies.  And MSG!  And I remember reading somewhere that autolyzed yeast extract is another way of saying MSG.  Hubby and I recently looked at the label of an organic canned chili and if I remember correctly, it had TVP in it.  I prefer fresh, then frozen, then canned.  But, we have to be realistic too and have some food on hand for disaster preparedness.  So, I try my best to stick with the better canned foods. 

Back to the soup.  We'll call it, Whatever I Had On Hand Soup Of the Day.  I washed, peeled and chopped the carrots, potatoes, onion and mushrooms, a little smaller than bite sized, because I still have some smaller mouths to feed in this house. 

Sad looking veggies that are just right for soup making.

Veggies chopped a little smaller than bite size.

And then, because hubby is a hunter, we had some venison in the freezer that we thawed.  Some was already cut for kabobs, so I just cut them a little smaller, and the other was a back strap that I cut up.  I've learned from The Pioneer Woman and Rachael Ray, that browning the meat and veggies adds a dimension of flavor, so I heated up my pot and melted 1/4 cup of butter. 

Roughly cubed venison.

And while I waited for the butter to melt, I stood over the pot, watching it, with my hair pulled up in my choice of the day Lilla Rose Flexi-Clip.  I prefer to work in the kitchen with my hair up and my Lilla Rose hair jewelry holds my hair up with style and doesn't hurt!  Back to the soup.

My Lilla Rose Flexi-clip holding my hair up and out of the way.

Then I added the cut up venison, seasoned with Celtic Grey Sea Salt and pepper and browned it for about 5 minutes. 

Venison meeting the melted butter.

Venison gets seasoned.

Then I added the veggies and seasoned again. 

Time for the venison and veggies to get happy.

After the meat and veggies had some time to get happy together, I added some pre-chopped garlic as an afterthought and then the canned tomatoes and bone broth to the party, along with the water I used to rinse out the tomato can. 

Bone broth from the freezer, crushed tomatoes and Celtic Sea Salt.

After the meat, veggies, garlic, tomatoes and bone broth started to sing, I added the canned corn, drained (you could probably rinse them too, if you wanted to) and about a cup of alphabet pasta.  I let it continue to simmer at a bubbling pace (medium to medium-high), for about 8 or 9 minutes, according the directions on the pasta box.  The corn and pasta were afterthoughts, after hubby and I took the pictures.  Very little math done here today.  I just went with what I felt was going to work. 

Time for a happy dance!

The family all really liked the results.  All but one ate the soup and the one who didn't is my pickiest eater, and the one with the worst of the food allergies.

Now, Downton Abbey!  Tonight is the premier of Season 4!!!!  We are having a mini party here for it.  I'm going to be watching with my oldest, 2 of her friends who live close by and my 2nd oldest daughter is going to join us tonight.  I will be making some scones, lavender shortbread and white chocolate hot cocoa with a splash of lavender extract.  If I have time, I might add something else into the mix.  I have some Petite Palmiers hanging around that I could make some caramel toffee sauce for dipping in, if I have time.  I happen to have some smoked salmon on hand, that I picked up at Costco a few days ago.    It has been a long wait for this season.  I didn't get around to watching the repeats that PBS ran.  I'll try to post about the fixings and what we think about tonight's show.  I think the only New Year's Resolution I have is to blog more often.  I enjoy this, and I want to do this more often.  Life sometimes gets busy though, so I'll do my best.

So how about you?  Do you watch Downton Abbey?  Do you like to make or buy special goodies for watching it?