Sausage Minestrone soup was pretty good. It wasn’t fantastic, but it was good. It was a bit too spicy, so I’m going to cut the red pepper flakes in half, from 1/4 t to 1/8. I’m also going to add more pasta, because my dad and I felt there was too little. It was a nice dinner with Italian bread and a salad. The bread was store bought. I should look into making my own sometime, and do a soup and bread night like Megan used to do. Here is the recipe for the soup with my added changes. I think I liked the pasta e fagioli better, and that didn’t have meat in it.

Sausage Minestrone Soup

2 T Extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups water
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can (10.5 oz) chicken broth
1 t dried basil leaves

1 t dried oregano leaves
1/8 t crushed red pepper
12 oz Italian turkey sausage, thoroughly browned
2/3 cup pasta – ditalini or small shells
1 (16 oz) cannellini beans, drained

Heat oil in large saucepan over med heat. Add onion and garlic cook for 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add water, tomatoes with liquid, broth, basil, oregano and crushed pepper. Bring to a boil.

Meanwhile, cut sausage crosswise into ½-inch slices. Cut each slice into quarters. Stir sausage, and pasta into soup; simmer 13 minutes or until pasta is tender. Add beans; cook until heated through.

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Speaking of Megan, she called me today, and we talked for a whole hour! I still miss her and I still wish that she and Mac would move home to the US. She said that Mac wouldn’t be able to get a job, but they could live near me, and he could help me run my garden and tend to the chickens! We would have our own little eco-community.

I spent a lot of time today looking at recipes to make later this week. I think I want to try a potato soup. It will be like a clam chowder, but without clams. They make a good one at Panera Bread that I enjoy. It’s the only one I’ve ever had. Monday night I have class, so I won’t be making anything. Wednesday night we’re going out to dinner with Bob and Gail for Gail’s birthday. That’s two days I don’t need to make dinner.

While talking to Megan, I mentioned to her that it seems like every single dinner they make is delicious. She is always writing on her blog about how wonderful their dinner was. I don’t understand how they can continuously cook fantastic meals. Megan explained it differently, and said that perhaps she just isn’t picky. Either way, I still find it amazing that they are able to cook meal after meal that she (and probably also Mac) find delicious. I thought the pot pie was delicious, but I don’t think that this soup was. I’d give it 3/5 stars. The pot pie gets 5/5!  Perhaps I should start rating all of my recipes like this.

I also need to get better at photographing my meals.  I should decorate my plate with fancy napkins, and decorate the food with fresh basil or parsley.  I also should not use my iPhone as my camera!  It makes the food look not-so-good.

Update (the next morning):  I tried my first hand at food photography!  I think they came out pretty damn good!  Muuuuuuch better than the iPhone.

The chili came out really good!  I started it kind of late - around 2.  It simmered on the stove for three hours!  But it was good, and everyone really liked it.  Trevor said it was very good for my first chili, but he would recommend adding in celery when I am sauteing the onions.  I thought it was a good suggestion - it will add it something fresh, and a nice crunch.  There’s a lot left over, so when we got home, I packaged some up in tupperware for my dad and Larry for lunch tomorrow.  I guess it will freeze nicely, and we can use it for a nachos topping, or as a filling for burritos.

We were at Liz’s house watching the game (Liz is a member of Beers For Good, and helped organize Brew Year’s Eve).  She somehow got on to the topic of energy, and solar power, and she mentioned that she had a solar powered water heater!  It’s been in the house for a long time, and still works.  We all went into the room and saw how it hooked up.  It was pretty neat, and I told Trevor that I would want one of those in my mini house.  We started talking with Liz about my mini house, and I pulled up the plans that I liked from the Tumbleweed Tiny House Company.  The three of us looked at the plans, and found that it actually lists specifics about the width and height, and how large each room is and everything.  Liz got out her tape measurer, and we decided to see just how big my mini house would be.

We were able to measure it out perfectly in her house so we could all visualize where the house would be.  Liz pulled out 18 feet (the length of the house) and stood down at a weird end, (where there is a piano and a wall in the way), so I had her move down to the other end so we could get an area that was open.  She had a wood stove in her basement (we were in the basement which is finished), which was the exact point of our measuring.  The 18 feet went out to the end of the stove, and then it cut across to the wall perfectly the other 13 feet (or so).  It was big enough for a full sized couch, and I was able to see what it would look like to cut into the room with the bathroom and kitchen.  We were also talking about what it would look like if the loft didn’t extend the whole floor, but was cut open, so you could see up into the loft.

Kind of like this, but on a smaller scale:

I would also want the one wall (right near where that hanging light is), to be a lot of windows, especially up top, to get some light into the upstairs loft.  I could also do a skylight over that open area.  Then, it could look down over the living room area.  Also, with a banister like the one in the picture, it could be removeable, so that I could hoist furniture upstairs.  We started talking about the loft because I was asking how I would get a bed and desk upstairs.  Trevor said that I would have to build the house with the furniture already up there.  I mentioned that I wouldn’t even need a bed (he was talking about me having a big bed that I’d have to put together, with a head board and everything), and I said I would just get a mattress and boxspring and set it on the floor.  He didn’t like that idea, and said “Yeah, or you could just live in a trailer.”  He thinks that not having a bed makes it even more white trash-ish, I guess.

We all decided that once it gets nicer out, we’ll go out in our side yard and measure out exactly the size of the plans I’m looking at.  Then we will get a real feel for what will fit where (will a double bed really fit where they have it pictured?).  Liz also said I should take a look at her shed, because it’s about the size I’m looking at.

Or, I could just buy this house from Home Depot for $10,000.  It’s 240 sq ft, but probably no loft.