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Happy Go Stuckey

Tethering Grace & Togetherness

Summer Garden Vegetable Soup

July 23, 2014 by HappyGoStuckey Leave a Comment

So July is kind of birthday central around our house. I turned 32 on Monday and Lance turns 35- 9 days later on the 30th– and it’s never fun to confine your birthday celebrations to just one day… therefore we basically celebrate for the last half of July! Which makes August National-get-your-nutritional-groove-back month in our house.  But at some point yesterday I realized the amount of… “treat” food I had enjoyed over the last few days and felt the need to cram my system full of vegetables and nutrients for dinner. So, this lovely Summer Vegetable Soup was born. Never mind the fact that it’s about 100 degrees outside– it was still great for a rainy summer evening.

Some notes: 1. Though this a healthy recipe, it does begin with 2 strips of bacon. The bacon lends a nice flavor and when your husband says, “Is there meat in this?” You can say, “Yes! Bacon!” And that just makes most husbands happy. If you desire to make this vegetarian, just substitute a TBS. of Olive Oil to sauté your veggies in. 2. Also in the slightly decadent category, I finish this soup with 1 tbs. Heavy Cream. Feel free to leave that out. I would not sub anything else but you could add a bit of greek yogurt– just allow your soup to cool slightly so it doesn’t curdle.  Anddd….3. I do not like big chunks of vegetables that can get mushy in soup– so things that tend to do that– (carrots, zucchini, etc.) I shred in the food processor (or on a cheese grater) and it makes the soup have the perfect texture– and it’s just beautiful that way! See? 

IMG_0864

Okay for the recipe– You can use just about any vegetables you fancy but here is what I did:

 

Summer Garden Vegetable Soup

  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1/2 an onion, diced
  • 2 strips of bacon, diced
  • 32 oz. Low Sodium Chicken Broth
  • 1 large zucchini, shredded and drained
  • 1 small yellow squash, shredded and drained
  • 3-4 medium carrots, peeled and shredded
  • 3-4 medium mushrooms, diced
  • 2 ears of corn, removed from cob or 1 cup of frozen kernels (Please don’t leave this out unless you really don’t like corn– it makes the soup!)
  • 1 can of Cannellini Beans, drained and rinsed. (set aside 3 Tbs. of these beans in a small bowl.)
  • 1 Regular Jar of Marinara Sauce (Homemade works perfect too!)
  • 1 tbs. fresh sage, diced (or 1/2 tsp. dried sage.)
  • 1 tbs. fresh thyme, diced (or 1 tsp. dried thyme.)
  • a pinch of salt
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • freshly grated parmesan

In a large dutch oven or soup pot, sautée the bacon. When it is not quite done, add the diced onion and garlic and allow it to begin to brown. When the onion becomes tender and is translucent, add the chicken broth and then the carrots, zucchini, squash and mushrooms. Add Herbs and a pinch of salt and pepper. Bring to a boil while stirring occasionally. While soup is coming to a boil, take the 3 tbs. of white beans you set aside in a small bowl. Smash them with the back of a spoon and then add the smashed mixture to the soup. (this helps thicken the soup.) Now add the whole cannellini beans and stir in. Add Marinara Sauce and stir. Add the corn now. (At this point, you need to look at your soup– to see if it is too thick. If it is, fill the empty marinara jar half-way full with water and then add to the pot. Depending on how juicy your vegetables were, you may or may not need to do this. )  

After soup comes to a boil, Lower the heat and Simmer for 10-12 minutes on low until soup is heated throughout.

Taste for seasoning, add more salt and pepper if needed. If your soup tastes like it needs more flavor, you can add a tbs. or two of basil pesto– delicious!

Remove Soup from heat and allow to cool slightly. Add Heavy cream if using. Stir.

Serve bowls of soup with Grated Parmesan– and this Cheddar Zucchini Cornbread is a great accompaniment (and a great way to use up some more shredded zucchini and get more in your kiddos!)

Both the soup and the cornbread make enough for either a crowd, or plenty of leftovers!!!

Cheddar Zucchini Cornbread

 

My Mom’s Night Out
Finish. And how you must first begin. (FMF)

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I'm Cynthia and I'm so glad you're here. I am an introvert with an extrovert's love of gathering people together. I love good books and capturing moments. Whether you visit me here or on my own front porch, I'll be the one holding the Iced Coffee for us both.

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Joy is the courage of people who don’t have all Joy is the courage of people who don’t have all the answers, yet.

While you sit in a season of waiting,
the calendar can often be a cruel companion, reminding you that days go by, weeks, months— with what feels like very little change in the right direction.

Perhaps you can easily assent to: 
“Hope deferred makes the heart sick,

but you strain to see just how it will be when: “...a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” (Proverbs 13:12)

Wherever you and I are today— whether we wander, wait, stand firmly planted, or some pressed together combination of all three — we can take heart.

We are not alone.
And this will not be wasted.
What seems to be an unending blank space, an indefinite pause, is a space for new things.

Long before all is made right, and whether or not it all is tied up neatly with a perfectly crafted bow— we can know this:

We do not have to know the outcome to be faithful today.

✨Joy is not disregard for reality as much as it is obstinacy against despair.✨
Hi 👋🏻 I’m Cynthia and I’m a bit weary. T Hi 👋🏻 I’m Cynthia and I’m a bit weary. There. I said it. These days I’m gravitating to the true & the beautiful as rest for my weary self... and I wonder if you are too.

So much so, that I’m starting a new little offering, it’s called “The Feast: Wonder for the Weary” and the first issue goes out this weekend. It’s a bit more personal (okay this first one is WAY more personal. 🤭) It will be a little bit of everything, all with the goal of offering REST to both the feasters & foragers alike. If you’re already a subscriber— no need to do anything, if not— click through my bio to “keep in touch” and join the feast.✨
We are a people of both lament and praise. We hol We are a people of both lament and praise.

We hold questions without answers— yet we hold them in hands already full of good things.

We hold our daily bread, our daily gifts, and we hold the daily closeness of the God Who Sees.

The God who is no stranger to our lament, and Who Is the reason for our every hope.
He does not grow weary of our asking. Of our need to be told again, He will. 

You friend, are not invisible.
You are seen and cared for by the God who does all things well. (Even when they feel anything but.)
Married love ambition: making the kids roll their Married love ambition: making the kids roll their eyes at our “gushy-ness” as often as possible. 

President & CEO of the Lance Stuckey Fan Club— in every season, but especially on days like today.
Rainy day Mocha date, courtesy of our own toasty k Rainy day Mocha date, courtesy of our own toasty kitchen.😍🌧📚

On this chilly Saturday, we spent entirely too long browsing for books at our library and then all came home to a fire, mochas, and cocoa, respectively. Of all the things we do not know at this very moment, we know the gifts abound, and are worth counting.

PS, if you haven’t spread whipped cream on a foil-lined baking sheet to freeze, and then cut out cute shapes with cookie cutters to top your coffee or hot cocoa, may I suggest you get thee on that at once.
“If God sends us on strong paths, we are provide “If God sends us on strong paths, we are provided strong shoes.” — Corrie Ten Boom

✨File under, things to save in a fire.✨

The prayer journal pictured here contains six months of the hard & the sweet.
Six months of prayers asked & answered for ourselves and for others.
Six months of seeing through prayer, not how it changed our circumstances necessarily but how it changed us.

I always appreciate a record like this— being able to clearly see the paths we are led down, rocky though they may be? Priceless.

The ways God has come near us & drawn us to Himself again and again are written on these pages and I’ll treasure it forever.

Also pictured: Psalms Illuminated Scripture Journal. Highly recommend. Thank you always, @allifarnell
“The world is indeed full of peril, and in it th “The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.”
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

While scrolling through my photos today, my heart was heavy to realize how far back “before” was.

Before masks and distancing, before loss, before other, more personal bits of hard. Multitudinous change, neither all bad nor all good.

With our free time, we’ve introduced our girls to Tolkien, Bilbo, Frodo, and especially Samwise the Brave. They are officially hooked and we are delighted to watch them discover another world where evil doesn’t win, and the courage of the small matters much. {they close their eyes at the Orcs and we haven’t had a nightmare yet!}🤞🏻😂😬
I’m leaning increasingly more into the analog th I’m leaning increasingly more into the analog these days.

It started with the Sourdough and a dozen different kinds of jam last year.
I suddenly find great calm in activities that stand in direction opposition to hurry, the textbook definition of ✨work in progress.✨ And really, if you could see the other side of this piece, you would believe me. 🙃

Thank you to @thebarmyfox for making embroidery so accessible!
@thenester says, “It doesn’t have to be perfec @thenester says, “It doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful,” and I believe that the weeknight meal equivalent is, “Just because it’s easy— doesn’t make it a second-tier supper!”

Thank you, Spaghetti with Meat sauce for being both a ministry to mom AND a crowd pleaser. Especially on a dreary January-ish day. It is ✨quite alright✨ to make something we’ve made a million times just because we know it makes the people happy.🍝
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