*sniffles*

Ugh, so still sick this morning... although I slept much better last night then I did the night before, and tomorrow I get to sleep in (since I am staying late at work tonight). I so look forward to sleeping in.

In anycase, I was supposed to walk last night, but didn't due to feeling crummy and tired. I did put the time to good use though! For dinner I finally made this soup that I've been wanting to try for ages (good timing too, what's better when you are sick then soup?). I can't take any credit at all for the recipe... I got it from the Pioneer Woman... unless you count excluding one ingredient as "making it your own." In which case, I totally created the best recipe for you! In either case, this soup is amazing (more non-food related items after the recipe).

The recipe, straight from the Pioneer:

Pioneer Woman's Sherried Tomato Soup

6 tablespoons melted butter
1 medium onion, diced
1 46-ounce bottle or can tomato juice
2 14 ounce cans diced tomatoes
1 to 3 tablespoons chicken base
3 to 6 tablespoons sugar
Pinch of salt
Black Pepper
1 cup cooking sherry
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
chopped fresh parsley
chopped fresh basil

Mine, I swear its better then it looks here.

1. Saute diced onions in butter until transluscent.

2. Add canned tomatoes, tomato juice, sugar, pinch of salt, and black pepper. Stir.

3. Bring to a near boil, then turn off heat. Add in sherry and cream, stir.

4. Add in parsley and basil to taste, adjust other seasoning, and serve with yummy, crusty bread on a cold, blustery, dreary, depressing, rainy, snowy day. Then close your eyes. And give thanks for soups like this.

And since my pictures weren't so fab:

From the PW herself.

What did I change? Well, no diced tomatoes... because, ick! Also I don't ever have chicken base, so I used some chicken broth instead (it was open in my fridge anyway) and no salt.

What do I think of it? Well, let's just say that everytime I'm sitting at work and I get a chill, I would open a browser window and surf over to the Pioneer Woman Cooks to read this recipe. I would feel warmer and more snuggly because of just reading about it. And the real thing is just like that except for 100x better. The sherry really adds something special.

So, definitely give this a try!

I also toasted up some rolls with garlic and thyme to serve with it. Big yum!
After dinner I relaxed for a bit, then headed outside to plant my new lilac bush.
Doesn't look like much now, but give it some time to get settled in and its going to be lovely.
And here is one of the whole yard, post planting.
Can't see it? Don't worry, I couldn't either!
But, again, give it time and it will grow and flourish and be a lovely addition to our yard.
Currently being enjoyed in our back yard? These delicate white flowers, on two bushs by the back of our house...
Hopefully I'll get some sun this weekend so I can plant this one next:
When the flowers open they will look like this:
:-) Okay, enough flowers.

I really should get back to work... and I definitely want to make myself a nice warm cup of tea. But before I leave you, two random news stories... apparently The Vatican says its Okay to Believe in Aliens! Awesome. And this story (the Ex-Candidate), this cracked me up. Hysterical. If you like Monty Python, you can't skip this. But even if you don't, still funny. Promise.

Have a great day all!