Rating: 💋 💋 💋 😘
I know many people are not able to be with family this year for Thanksgiving, and our Thanksgiving celebrations might be looking a little - or a lot - different. For this reason, I am just going to gloss over the holiday. If you would like to hear about how we do Thanksgiving in my house in a normal year, you can check it out here. It seems redundant to do it again anyway, so let's move right into winter survival mode.
I mostly consider winter a bad word but it does have its good points, like hot chocolate, ice skating, the holidays, and this soup!
You can find the recipe for this Winter Minestrone here.
My mom has several minestrone recipes that we cycle through and this is one of my top. First of all, look how gorgeous! It is brimming over with colorful vegetables. A strong base of onions and celery holds up the sweet carrots, tomatoes, and squash, which is all rounded out with a healthy amount of spinach. Add in a little salty crumbled pancetta, sprinkle with fresh herbs and shaved parmesan, and your night is made!
To top it all off, quite literally, my mom makes these mouthwatering parmesan croutons. They are pretty simple - slices of baguette popped in the oven with butter and shredded cheese - and they taste so much better than those dry little pebbles they sell pre-made. I am such a sucker for homemade croutons. Sa-woon!
I hope you are all keeping yourselves warm and cozy as the chill sets in. On the bright side, the holiday season has arrived in full force. I think it is safe to say we need it more than ever this year.
This past Sunday, my mom festooned our house with garlands, lights, holidays rugs and towels, Nativities, and holiday figurines. Most notably, there are twenty-five elves sprawled around the house to keep an eye on us. My mom started that back when we were kids so we would stay in line. She even moved them around to follow us. It was Elf on the Shelf before that product was even sold. I will never forget the one time somebody, not naming any names, misbehaved and we woke up the next morning to find the majority of the elves crowded in our shared bedroom. I opened my eyes to see an elf fully staring me down. When we ventured outside our bedroom, all the rest of the elves were perched on the stair railing just outside our door. It was terrifying. The message was loud and clear: behave, or else! Some of the elves are freaky-looking too. If you all are lucky, I will include some photos in the next blog. In all seriousness though, my mom's schemes with the elves are super entertaining and I am loving all the decorations. It makes life a little bit more fun.
Also, now that Thanksgiving is over, I am finally ready to listen to Christmas music. I will be bopping to this Ariana gem all through December. It looks like the funnest music video shoot ever. I need that energy in my life!
XX,
MK
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