Hey Rebekah! Your vampire soup looks de-lish… might be too pretty to eat! I love your tradition of creating home spun memories of your own with SOUP!I share your love of making soup for certain occasions. When ever we have a guest fly in from various points of the world, I always put on a big pot of homemade chicken soup, complete with honey cornbread and a salad…Our guests always enjoy a warm bowl of soup after a long day of traveling and it’s light on the tummy too! I put on a pot of Chili or we make meat ball subs on Halloween! I’m looking forward to seeing what your farmgirl readers dish up in the way of soup recipes!

Happy Halloween!
Deb

Rebekah, Thanks so much for sharing the harvest soup recipe. I bought a beautiful pumpkin tureen recently and I’ve been looking for just the right recipe to ‘make & take’ for our Thanksgiving get-together.

In regards to your request for soup recipe suggestions, many folks love potato soup and there are gobs of good recipes. The addition of yummy dumplings or ‘fat’ noodles takes potato soup from being a "comfort food" to much more interesting. I like the firm sort of dumpling…chewy, Spaetzle style. VERY easy to do too – eggs, flour, salt – then drop them in teaspoon size ‘glops’ in the hot soup for about 10 minutes before serving. My mother prefers the soft kind that are like floating raft of biscuits. You drop larger glops of biscuit dough into hot soup until you cannot see liquid. Cover the pot and let the biscuits cook for about 15 minutes – until the tops are dry and done looking. These are good with just about ANY soup or stew. You’ve got your bread and soup in the same pot. Serve it up with a large ladle and include a couple of biscuits in each bowl.

I look forward to checking back to see the other recipes that are sure to come. LOVE soup!
Shery

How about a pumpkin or butternut squash soup? There are many great recipes online. Allrecipes.com has some good ones. Enjoy your party!

I just made an amazing Potato Leek soup. Here’s the link:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/potato-and-leek-soup-recipe2/index.html.

It does have a little bacon which gives it a great smoky flavor, but I suppose you could omit that. Happy Halloween!

Sounds like a wonderful tradition! My little one is five, so I have the pleasure of being totally into halloween this year. I love your soup idea, and i make a mean chili that goes great with grilled cheese ‘sammiches’ so I think I will borrow your idea so there is a nice hot pot to come home to after all that walking and candy-getting.

Another idea for a soup is a brunswick stew. I am from Brunswick co., VA, and I KNOW how to make a mean stew. I even have a variation that doesn’t require i knife and fork to get through it. Just email me if you’d like the recipe. And thanks again for such a great tradion idea.

Happy Halloween!

Cream of Mushroom and cream of turkey with Wild Rice. yum.

The soup and recipe look great!
There’s one I enjoy making for a crowd that is so easy. Brown some smoked sausage (turkey should work fine) and add onion. Put in slower cooker with cans of broth (I use beef, but use what you like) and cans of drained Great Northern beans. Cook on high for one hour, then on low until you are ready to serve. Everyone loves that soup!
Happy Halloween!

I was about to suggest White Chili, but I agree with the Pumpkin Soup. Since the party is for Halloween, do the Pumpkin Soup and top it with toasted seeds from the pumpkin. Serve it in hollowed out little pumpkins. Have fun!

Minestrone! I have a family recipe that is out of this world. I’d share, but don’t have time to type it. Perhaps I can email it with an attachment? You’ll do it again and again.

Patty, I hope your soup turned out delicious! Those were the beet greens. I chopped them up and added them to the soup. Yum! And so good for you!

Delicious! I made the soup. So GOOD!

I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1997. When I was 41 I had my very first mammogram and that’s how it was found. So, get your mammogram!!!
I decided I wasn’t going to sit around and feel sorry for myself, so I started a Charity called Because There Is Hope "Faye’s House". We offer lodging to cancer patients that come to Spokane, WA for treatment. We currently have host homes where volunteers in the community have opened their homes to the patients. Our ultimate goal is to have a house "Faye’s House". We are currently raising the funding needed to have the home through, donations and fundraisers.
I never dreamed that I would have breast cancer. But, I did not let it stop me from helping others.

hi rebecca,loved the post…When I was recently at our Barn Yard Days event,they had scarecrows made up all in pink with spray painted pink pumkins for heads and pink pumkins all around,it was awsome,but my camera broke and I did,nt get any photos,it is a wonderful event here,and all of the companies have things you can purchase in pink.As for your daughter,some of us had mothers that tried and failed,mine tried,and I still had a wild streak.But,I diffinately think that you did the right thing with the instructor,I wrote a similar story on my blog about good grooming and the underpanties story.Women showing there underwear is a real pet peave of mine.So,I would feel the same about the instructor.There can never be enough information out there about breast cancer awareness,I just wish there was the same out pouring over men,since I lost a dear male friend to testicilar cancer.Take care of those girls,and that girl,good job,blessed be,carol branum

Such a great and timely post Rebekah! I’m so glad you took that responsibility to protect your daughter so seriously and took the time to follow through with your concerns. Even though my personality would be to let things go when my girls were young, I knew that if I didn’t stand up for them and protect them, there may be no one else that would. We have to set aside our insecurities to be the role model our children need in this changing world. They are great mothers today and are modeling those same attributes to their daughters and follow through with their concerns too. As far as breast cancer, I have not been personally touched by this disease in my family, buy some of my friends have been. Race for the Cure is a terrific organization of knowledgeable people and survivors coming together to support each other, and I try to support them too in all the ways that I can.

While I would normally have no trouble with that as "dance practice" attire (hopefully changed before out on the street), and have a tat myself, I am so with you that if the girls were required the teacher should be the example par excellence not the exception. I saw the same thing at each of my older sons’ 8th grade promotion parties. There was a dress code for the kids that the teachers didn’t live up to! Seriously! And sadly at my church there are girls with skirts way too short and I know their dads, who are *leaders* in our congregation! Not fair to the young men, like my sons, who are taught to be gentlemanly to girls who dress like they’re at the beach! (We live near one, but that’s no excuse for that kind of clothing choice at church of all places.)
I have 3 boys and just the one girl…she and I both wear skirts all the time with what we call "modesty shorts/pants" or leggings underneath…for her esp cus she likes climbing etc, for me cus I hate stockings, and for both cus they are just more comfortable as well as better coverage. I try to help her see/feel the diff of dressing modestly…besides being courteous and feeling feminine it’s also more comfortable than having skin showing everywhere…

Yesterday was my 4 year anniversary of my diagnosis with breast cancer. I was 57. Thank you for again stressing the importance of mammograms…it cannot be said enough. My breast cancer was found ONLY in a mammogram, so tiny it could not be felt by the radiologist when she was on top of it with ultrasound. The tiny 6mm was removed in a lumpectomy and I only needed radiation, no chemo, to give me a 98% chance it will not return. But the other way to take care of our bodies is to stay fit and healthy and at a weight appropriate for us. When I was diagnosed I had just lost 95 pounds with a healthy eating and exercise program. The radiologist told me that if I had still weighed 240 pounds, the chances of a mammogram detecting my breast cancer so early would have been slim to none. So along with your mammograms and self exams, really look at a lifelong committment to getting and staying healthy and active!

Breast cancer has had a big influence on me of late. My coworker and friend was diagnosed in April of this year. All summer she has been going through chemo and this Friday she will be going in for major surgery. She is the first person I’ve known and been close to that has gone through this. It’s almost surreal watching her struggle with the side affects of chemo. It’s like even though she’s told me she has cancer, even though I see her tired and sick, even though she’s lost her hair, I still can’t wrap my mind around the fact that this person who sits right next to me almost every day has cancer. It’s been inspiring because I think that her positive attitude has lent some normalcy to the situation and this is why it seems so unreal that she has cancer in her. She goes about her daily business. She’s a mom and a woman and like all of us, she does what needs to be done. I’m very proud of her.

As for taking care of my girls, I don’t have any girls to take care of yet. I will say that I agree that is up to each of us to be a positive role model for the young girls around us, and not just our own daughters. However we can only do so much. I think you’re wrong in saying that we can’t let them mold themselves. They will be their own people and they will make their own decisions regardless of what we do. I would never want to raise a daughter who wasn’t independant enough to think for herself. All we can do is show them the good paths to go down. It is up to them to make the decision of what paths they will follow.

thanks so much for writing this piecs, rebekah. i am recovering from breast cancer and thought your piece was so timely and sensitive.
my hope and prayer is that one day we will be able to have targetted treatments and women will be able to keep their "girls". i miss mine,(and my eyebrows,too), but i feel so lucky to be alive and able to share this wonderful life.
thanks again for your words, rebekah, i have enjoyed reading your blog in the past, but just never left a comment.
love,
frannie in texas

My daughter who turned 40 this past summer has been a joy to me and I am sure our talks over the years were not always welcomed by her but she listened and sometimes agreed. We kept the line of communications open and she is doing the same with her daughter…..

Being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007 at 58 was hard to hear. Lumpectomy, radiation, and medication have been the order of the days that followed. Today I work hard at
eating better and being active….oh, and yes one more talk with my daughter…get your mammogram.

I have tried to instill a strong sense of self worth in my daughter, teaching her she is valued because of the wonderful girl she is, not based on possessions, appearances, or boy friends. I think she got it, she has become a very confident loving person that I am so very proud of. No fears, she will be OK when she goes out into this old world.

What a wonderful post. I can’t say enough how thankful I am to read and know that others are willing to stand up for what’s right when it comes to our children. Yes, perhaps ballet attire might be a small thing to some, but often those small things can have a huge impact. My 10-year old daughter’s teacher recently hosted a campout for the kids in her class. It was also an overnight event at the school and I found so many moms curious about what was to take place, yet none of them would ask the teacher. I stepped forward and asked for an agenda. If someone is going to have my daughter for 17 hours, I want to know what they plan to do during that time. Who will chaperone (strangely enough, no parents were allowed), what are the sleeping arrangements, how are you securing the school, can she call home if she gets homesick? Sadly, the teacher was obviously not happy with my asking, and provided only a sketchy agenda. You’re so right…it IS up to us to take care of them. They count on us, they need us, they deserve the best we can give them.

Thank you Rebekah!! My daughter and I are committed to and participate in yearly breast cancer fundraising events . . those that require the commitment of lots of money and time and travel. You can read about our 2010 adventures on the Farmgirl Connection, under "ACROSS THE FENCE", titles "IN IT TO END IT . . .FARMGIRLS FOR THE FIGHT". And, there cannot be enough awareness or enough self-care and teaching for others!!!
THANKS FOR YOUR POST and the reminders!!!!
CJ

Had to chime in late to say "AMEN!"

Thank you for the post! Breast Cancer awareness is so important. This month I had my gymnastic girls wear pink leotards in honor of Breast Cancer awareness month.