A Soup A Day.. Mostly

Growing up I hated soup.  I don't know if it is because my mother only made the out-of-the-can crap, or my taste buds just weren't ready for them, but I hated them.  In fact, I hated them until just a few years ago, and even then I was extremely picky with what I ate.  Then, my husband brought me to a local restaurant called John J. Jeffries (Check out their page here ).  If you live in Lancaster, Pa and you have never been here, believe me, you are missing out!  John J. Jeffries buys all of their ingredients locally and base their menu selections around what is in season.  Everything that I have tried there has been to die for.  And while it's true that they are a bit on the expensive side, it's also true that you don't have to spend an arm and a leg to have a delicious meal.

For instance, and this is how John J. Jeffries relates to this post and this blog, I often will split an appetizer with the hubby and savor a nice bowl of soup for my meal.  In fact, John J. Jeffries might be to blame for my new found love of soup.  They just happened to be serving a delicious pumpkin bisque the day that Joseph (my husband) and I dined there for my birthday, and anyone who knows me knows how much LOVE all things pumpkin.  So, I had to try it.  And I fell in love.  I don't know how, but I made that bowl of soup last the better part of an hour, savoring every sip.  The next time I went in they had a mushroom bisque and then a carrot soup.  I loved every soup I tried there, and it made me want to try more.  So I started ordering soup, bisque, or stew every where I went.  Butternut Squash soup at Rachel's Creperie (another must if you are ever in Lancaster), mushroom soup at the brewery, Pepperjack Tomato soup at Isaac's, well, you get the idea.  John J. Jeffries created a monster. 

In July, I gave birth to our beautiful baby girl, Story.  Here she is: 

I told you she was beautiful. 

Anyways, my sister-in-law brought us some Chicken Noodle soup to help out during that first week we were home.  Confession: I was not looking forward to it and I just pretended to be excited, but the truth is that I hated Chicken Noodle soup, or so I thought. We sat down for dinner that night.  I took a bite, and it was pretty tasty  it was so delicious!! It dawned on me that night that all of those delicious soups that I had been having out must have recipes and that I could make them myself!!! 

Which leads me to this blog.  January has always seemed like a boring month to me and Joseph.  It's after several months of exciting holidays, it's dreary and nothing really exciting happens.  And January is cold.  What better month to eat soup than January!? So, I thought it would be a wonderful opportunity to experiment with some soup recipes and make a project of it.  And that's why "January is for Soup."

I have some rules in my head as to what counts and what doesn't count as a soup, but I'm not gonna be too strict on myself since part of the purpose is to have fun with this.   And realistically, I won't be making a soup every day since we'll be eating leftovers sometimes, but when I do make a soup, I hope to post it on here with the recipe, some pictures, and our thoughts.  Enjoy!

Oh, if you want to submit a soup for consideration (yes, I did feel very pretentious typing that out) you can send it to cassiemariedemme@gmail.com .