First Day of Fall

Colten was under the impression that all the leaves would fall from the trees and pile themselves up this afternoon waiting for his return from school. He might watch a little too much Charlie Brown. It's probably a good thing they didn't all fall off today because they just would have blown right on out of town anyway.

Even though the cold front still hasn't reach us yet, I thought the first day of fall called for soup. Potato soup and homemade rolls.

Potato Soup
3 pounds potatoes
1 package bacon
1 onion
1/2 bag of carrots
2 teaspoons parsley
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon oregano
3 tablespoons butter
1 container chicken broth
2 can evaporated milk

Wash, peel, and cut up potatoes and put on stove to boil. Since I was putting these in the crock pot, I boiled for about 10-15 minutes, if you plan ahead and start all this in the morning you wouldn't even need to preboil, but where is the fun in that?

Cut up your bacon and fry it. Trust me, it cooks a lot faster all chopped up first. Once your bacon is done cooking, or if you want to dirty up another pot then feel free. Melt butter in pan, the saute onion, carrots, parsley, oregano, and basil for 4-5 minutes until tender.

Dump potatoes, bacon, sauteed veges, and chicken broth in crock pot. I let it cook on medium for a couple hours, pour in the two cans of evaporated milk and let it warm through.

It's spoon lickin' good.

Epic, all three kiddos commented on how wonderful it was, it was the 'best soup in the whole wide world' according to Miss Emma.

Country White Bread or Dinner Rolls for the bread machine
1 cup water, plus
1 tablespoon water (70-80 F)
1 large egg
4 1/2 teaspoons vegetable oil
3 1/4 cups bread flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

In bread machine pan, place all ingredients in order as recommended by the manufacturer. Select the dough/pasta setting. Let the bread maker do all the work.

Lightly grease a 9 x 13 baking pan. When dough is finished shape into 12 uniform-ish sized balls. I always grease my hands to help keep the dough from stickin' to me, and since the average life span of rolls at my house is less than 30 minutes I really don't worry to much about making them pretty. Cover and let the rolls rise in a warm, draft free place, I usually stick them on top of the preheating oven, probably not what they teach in Home Ec, but whatever, it's probably not even called Home Ec anymore. Preferably let them double, but who has the patience for that? Bake in a 350° oven about 12-15 minutes until golden brown. After removing from the oven, brush the tops of the rolls with melted butter and enjoy.



Told you I never let them double in size, and still they taste AMAZING!

Swoon. Talk about some good lookin' buns. . . (let's just home they don't stick to mine)

What is your favorite kind of soup?