Friday, January 8, 2010

BREAD AND MILK.......................

So I called neighbor Necie the other day and asked where she had been and she had just gotten back from Aldi where they went for the infamous......"Bread and Milk"......
Does anyone but me wonder when a report of snow is announced that people
go crazy and find the need to go buy bread and milk......
What do you do with just bread and milk?
You can't even make French toast.....or what about grilled cheese?
You don't hear about people going out to buy bread milk and cheese.....
So I laughed at Necie since I had just come back from being in NYC during the recent blizzard..
and I mean "out" in NYC as me and daughter decided to take in Rockefeller Center around
midnight thinking it would be fun to take pictures.....
And I actually lived to tell about it.....something at the time I didn't think
would happen.....
So it was funny being back down South with everyone over at the local Publix yesterday
buying up all the bread and milk for the so called "Big Storm" that was a comin....
This is how cold it was here today......this was a little after 10:00 a.m. when I had to walk
the Boo.....
A little out of the norm I would say.......actually alot out of the norm....
And we did have snow.....about 1/2" but since it was so cold it quickly has turned to ice....
So what does this Jersey Girl do......
SOUPS ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
With fair warning of the snow that was coming I went shopping a few days ago and
bought the "fixens".......a well known Southern expression.....for my
BEEF AND BARLEY SOUP....
I start this soup in my crock pot at midnight before going to bed so by morning it's
perfectly cooked....and the freezing cold outside does not matter.....
The only bad thing is that the smell can wake you up in the middle of the night.....
Ofcourse normal people can plug in the Ye Ole Crock Pot in the morning cooking the soup all day.
Here's the recipe....and I use that term loosely....
As I use a little of this and a little of that...so just throw in what you like
but don't replace the short ribs with any other kind of beef....
2 cans of Campbell's Old Fashioned Vegetable Soup
add 2 cans of water.
1 box of beef broth
3 regular size cans of petite diced tomatoes (or one lg. and 1 reg.)
1 large zucchini diced
2 yellow squash diced
4 carrots rough chop
1 large russet potato rough chop
2 stalks of celery rough chop
1 small can of corn or about 1/4 bag of frozen corn
2 cups of quick cooking Barley or regular if you can't find the fast cooking
About 4 good size Short Ribs.....this is the secret ingredient folks....
Add all but the short ribs into the crock pot.....
Lightly brown the short ribs in a bit of olive oil then add into the crock pot....
season with a good amount of salt and freshly ground pepper....
Cook 8 to 12 hours......
Remove the short ribs and take the meat off the bones.....
There is a little piece of something resembling fat holding the meat onto the bone....
carefully cut this off and discard......
pull apart the meat using 2 forks then add back into the soup.....
The Boss eats this with a crumble of Feta Cheese on top and some
Rosemary Olive Oil Triscuits.....
I prefer vegetable Ritz with a bit of butter....
Now doesn't that sound alot better then bread and milk?
Enjoy and Stay Warm out there......

13 comments:

The Quintessential Magpie said...

Gosh that sounds, good!

I am sitting here baffled at how on earth it could have frozen last night down here below the frost zone(supposedly went down to 29 degrees) when it was warmer than any day this past week. And it feels colder tonight than last night. I can keep up with this insanity, Sue. And I'm freezing. I don't do cold... EVER! Help!

Your soup looks delicious. I am getting ready to go downstairs and eat now. It's 11:17, and Mr. Magpie is in one spot of the state while I'm stuck in another. So I am eating this late. Have been blogging today because tomorrow I get to work ALL day and the next and the next and the next trying to clean up my Christmas mess...

XO,

Sheila :-)

Chatty Crone said...

That food looks de-lish! We had the same thing today with the weather - cold and 1/2 inch of snow.

Andy had to slide down the hill, make a snow man (?), throw a snow ball - he said he had to do everything at once as we don't get snow that ofter,

See you soon.

sandie

Cindy (Applestone Cottage) said...

Hi Sue,
Right now that temp looks like a heat wave to me! We had wind chills of -20 last night and all I can think about is staying warm, plus I got my car stuck 3 times this week already in our mounds of new snow! Stay Warm, Cindy

Anonymous said...

Soup looks good. And FYI, the milk and bread comes in handy if the power goes out. Cold cereal with milk and PBJ's are yummy when you are trying to stay warm.

Necie

Peg said...

That sounds like a GOOD soup! I don't have any short ribs so I will put them on the grocery list... along with barley. Never bought that... is it with the oatmeal? Pa will be excited to get a new BEEF soup. Yesterday I cooked a new chicken soup. He said it was okay... just okay. Hmmm... he likes beef better! And I agree with you... what DO those people do with bread and milk?

Cathy said...

Letting the soup simmer in the crock pot overnight is a wonderful idea. How great to get up in the morning to that amazing aroma!

Salmagundi said...

What??? Do you eat the soup for breakfast after cooking it all night? Here in snow country, we don't worry too much about getting out when it is cold and snowy - we just bundle up and go. I have to admit it is much easier to drive on just snow rather on ice, which we rarely get. I made beef soup yesterday, too, but cooked it all day while I finished up that pile of ironing. Told Bob to pull out the knit shirts, or he was going to have to do the ironing for the next two months! Oh! the joy of surgery - no ironing or running the sweeper for a while. Thanks for your info and encouragement. Sally

Helen said...

I love the way so many of us go straight to comfort food when it's cold and snowy! Makes me remember what it was like being a little girl. Stay safe and warm. (I like feta cheese on anything!)

Kathleen said...

Yikes, NY weather in GA..what is this world coming to?
We are still sliding on our ice rink of a driveway...not a bit has thawed!
And I want to get out to CTS this week. I got the word from a friend they had some cute Val and St. Pat's things..
Enjoy your soup! Send the biscotti recipe so I don't have to eat the Nonni's...:)
Kathleen
NY

Mari @ Once Upon a Plate said...

Well, that's WAY better than bread and milk Sue!

I had to chuckle about the crockpot waking you up. I have done that before ~sometimes the aroma just fits into my dreams, other times it wakes me up and I cannot fall asleep. While dh just sleeps right through no matter what.

Wish I had a steaming mug of that right now. :D Stay warm, sweetie!

a quiet life said...

dang thats cold, especially for mid morning! heck i would never go for bread and milk, just see's candy is all i care to stock up on!

hope you are keeping nice and warm, grab a book while your freezing and join me at food for thought on sat, you never know what you will be cooking when it up to your authors!

Rue said...

All I have to say is that soup looks very, very good!!!

Kathleen Grace said...

I have always wondered about the bread and milk thing too, especially since it would take some kind of major emergency for me not to be able to get to the store. I mean, if you're really going to get 6 feet of snow at once, ok. But a few inches? Maybe I'm hardier than most because I live in cold, snowy Michigan. Besides, usually when the weather man starts telling us we are going to get the mother of all snowstorms we end up getting an inch and a half and they just wanted to get more air time.
Of course, in this wretched snow, that soup looks like just the thing for me:>) Thanks for the recipe. Now if I just had some bread and milk to go with it......