Leaf Me!

Mondays are crazy-busy this school year.

So I make crock-pot dinners so we can eat at a decent time.

Today while we were taking a bit of a break

from our history and Language Arts and math

so that I could get the potato soup in the crock pot

I looked out the front window

and found Abbie

and Luther

in the leaves.

She was raking up the leaves into a pile

and getting everything just so

and while keeping Luther on the leash

she was teaching him how to run

and JUMP

into the leaf pile.

And then they were happy to hang out together

covered in leaves.

There are actually people who don't like trees in their yard

because they don't want to deal with the leaves.

I'm not one of those people.

And in case you would like a good potato soup recipe, here's one to try. I just kind of make up the quantities depending on how much I need to make. But basically, this is how to do it:

Potato Soup

Chop up an onion (or two) and about 1/2 a package of bacon and cook it up in a pan on the stove top. I've also made this soup without bacon and just sauteed the onions a bit, and it is fine.

Put 6 (ish) cups of water in crock pot. Add one teas. chicken bouillon for each cup of water. Peel (if you want, otherwise scrub real good) 6-7 medium potatoes and chop them up, add to the crock pot. After the bacon and onion are cooked, add them to the pot. Add some pepper and-here is the key ingredient-dill weed! Yes! Really! Shake in a teas. or more or less.

Let this cook on high for 4-5 hours or on low for 5-8, until the potatoes are tender. The last half hour or so add about 1/3 cup of flour to 1 cup of half and half and mix that up well and add it to the soup. This will thicken it. Just before you serve it grate a cup or two of cheddar cheese and add that and let it melt. Sometimes I add steamed corn. Sometimes broccoli.

This is a family favorite. Tweak it until you like it. Maybe I'll post a picture later when it is all done.