Pumpkin-Bean Soup

I found this quick and easy soup recipe on the Better Homes and Gardens web site. 
The color is perfect for fall.

Now that I'm just cooking for one, I'm always on the lookout for quick and easy meals.

I just happened to have all the ingredients at home with a few minor modifications.

Pumpkin-Bean Soup

Ingredients

1     15 oz can pumpkin

1     14 oz can unsweetened coconut milk (I used *lite*)

1     15 oz can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed (I used Navy beans.)

1     14 oz can vegetable broth (I used chicken.)

1     tsp. dried leaf sage, crushed

Salt and ground black pepper (I didn't salt. Figured with all the canned products, I didn't need anymore salt!)

Cracked black peppercorns, optional (I didn't use)

Fresh lime slices, optional (I didn't use)    

Directions   

1. In medium saucepan combine pumpkin, unsweetened coconut milk, beans, broth and sage. Heat through.

2. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with black peppercorns. Drizzle with lime.

Makes 4 servings. 

I thought the soup was very good. Certainly fast and easy. I love bean soups and would add a second can of beans. I'm going to make it again ... for our next cool spell ... (November???!!!).

Wishing YOU well and a tasty bowl of soup!

Halloween Tea

I have a theory about living down here near the Gulf of Mexico

where plants are forever green.

When Fall comes around and it's time for Halloween,

we just have to pull out all the stops and decorate.

It's sort of our color changes!

It makes us think that Fall is here and one day it will get cool.

So, today I'm sharing a Halloween tea.

My black and white tea for one.

I love the design with all the different tea pots. 

I forgot to take a photo of the bottom of the cup and tea pot.

The mark looks like a postage stamp with Pewter Tea Pots,

Designed in England written in the middle. 

I was reading the latest issue of Martha Stewart Magazine.

I'm not a big magazine reader except for this time of year

when I go hog wild and pig crazy if any publication has anything about 

the upcoming holidays. The prettier the photographs the better!

Under GOOD THINGS I found:

"Sensational Sip"

"Cider Rules"

"For those chilly autumn mornings when it's still too early to brew a hot toddy, try a warm, steamy cup of tea steeped in hot cider instead of water. We especially like Earl Grey tea; the resulting combination is a lightly sweet, subtly tart drink that warms the senses."

Will you try it???

Thanks to our tea party hostesses.

These are just a few of the tea parties in the Land of Blog.

Teapot and Tea Things Tuesday

Tea Time Tuesday

Teacup Tuesday

Tea Party Tuesday

Tuesday Tea For Two

Wishing YOU well and a wonderful cup of tea! 

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like

Halloween!

1. Pumpkins, 2. Pumpkin Man, 3. Welcome Halloween, 4. Pooh Pumpkin, 5. Little Bo Peep and Her Kitties, 6. Broom Straps Sign, 7. Four Pumpkins, 8. Black Pumpkin, 9. Ghosts

Thank you to our hostesses:

Mary for Mosaic Monday

and

The Tablescaper for Seasonal Sunday.

Wishing YOU well and a JOY filled weekend.

A Happy Halloween

 

Source: flickr.com via Snap on Pinterest

A Hallowe'en merry, a Hallowe'en bright,

Though pumpkins make faces

and ghosts walk at night,

Let no noises scare you, and don't start to run,

For 'tis but a joke, and Hallowe'en fun.

From the back of the postcard:

Ellen Clapsaddle, Postcard, N.D.

There is quite a bit of information online about Ellen Clapsaddle.
Here's just a tidbit.


"Clapsaddle's illustrations are favorites of many, and she published more than three thousand signed postcards and designed countless more unsigned pictures.  Over half of her illustrations are of children, and the rest are more general scenes.  She was born the year the Civil War ended, an only child, attended a country school and graduated from Richfield Springs Seminary, New York, in 1882.  A self-taught artist, she gave private painting lessons until she attended Cooper Institute in New York City. There, she contracted to work for the International Art Company (IAC), and relocated to Germany to design articles as diverse as porcelain, calendars and greeting cards.  She returned to the U.S. in 1906 to become principal artist for the Wolf Company, a subsidiary of IAC.

She was a very prolific artist, and her designs reflect the entire spectrum of seasonal and holiday themes, drawing upon folklore, traditions, games and nursery rhymes.  Unlike other artists whose illustrations were adapted for postcards, Clapsaddle designed specifically for the medium.

During the height of her career with IAC, she invested her earnings in the booming German postcard industry. While on a business trip to Germany in August of 1914, World War I broke out.  In the confusion and destruction, Clapsaddle became stranded and ultimately destitute.  One of the Wolf Company partners went to Germany and, after a six month search, found her in poor health.  She returned safely to the U.S., but her health declined and she lost the ability to work. She died thirteen years later at the Peabody Home in New York. "


Thank you to the lovely Beth for hosting Postcard Friendship Friday each week.

Good Morning!

Source: i-am-bored.com via Snap on Pinterest