Cooking in My Sleep.......

Most days I get up and go straight to the kitchen. Instead of brushing the teeth and washing the face I open the fridge and turn on the Jennair...Three days a week I put on a big pot of soup and the other days the crock pot gets fired up. I've been known to cook from morning until night. If you lived in our neighborhood it would not be unusual to see BBQ smoke billowing off our deck at midnight. I've been using the crock pot since 1994 when I almost burnt the house down. That day will always be the worst day of my life....Cooking eggs preparing to make my famous "egg salad" I was distracted when daughter came home and suggested we go off to the mall.....Three hours later we pulled up into the cul-de-sac to find four fire trucks.....yes, even one of those huge hook and ladder thingies.......and the front door off the hinges. I saw everything in black and white . The house, the lawn, the trees and the fire trucks had no color. I thought for sure I had burnt the house to the ground....Upon entering the house I was greeted by three firemen up on the second floor balcony.....In full firefighting gear they came walking out of the husbands den mesmerized by his toy soldier collection. They were here to fight a fire and instead they were taking a tour of the house! With the husbands den being directly over the kitchen one of the fireman assured me that there was only smoke damage and I was very lucky fire hadn't spread to the room above. At that point all I could picture was a pile of melted lead......needless to say for about two years I posted a sign on our door leading to the garage that read..."did you turn off the stove?" Anyway, back to the food. Today I made a pot of Italian veggie soup. I'm entering it in a contest at Better Homes and Garden mag. We eat this all week long as I've convinced myself that it's healthy for us. It's a pot of vegetables how bad could it be?.....ofcourse the unhealthy part comes with the 2 dozen Ritz crackers with butter that I have to eat along with it.....here's the recipe............

Tuscan Vegetable Soup
3 cans of Progresso Light Italian-style soup 18.5 oz. size
1 large or 2 small cans of DelMonte petite-cut tomatoes (any brand will do but they have to be petite cut)
1 cup of canned green beans cut into small pieces
1 cup of corn, either frozen or canned
1 VERY large russet baking potato peeled and diced small.

salt and pepper to taste

a dribble of extra virgin olive oil

add all ingredients and cook to a slow boil for 30 minutes. Stir a few times. At the end of the 30 minutes cover with a tight lid and let it sit for up to 30 minutes before serving. You can eat it after the first 30 minutes but letting it sit thickens it up a bit....Serve with some freshly grated Reggiano Parmesan cheese on top and lets not forget the Ritz crackers. I discovered the new "Roasted Vegetable Ritz" and they are really good.......Enjoy!!