Soup, Sandwich, Squash Night

Tonight is a good night for soup, sandwich and squash. I will have to make some acorn squash tonight (I love it so much.) The recipe is somewhere in this blog. I think I will make fried egg sandwiches. These are super easy and delicious, especially if you serve them with green tomato relish or picklelilly. That may sound like an odd combination but everyone I have ever made one of these sandwiches for has gone batshit over them and demanded jars of picklelilly. I'll post the recipe for picklelilly later tonight. It is my grandfather's recipe, although my grandmother claims to have originated it. The reason I know my grandfather is right about it being his recipe is that he got it from his mother, who used to make it all the time. In fact, during the great depression, my grandfather says that he used to sell fried egg and picklelilly sandwiches to his next door neighbor for 10 cents a piece. 10 cents was a hell of a lot of money during the depression. He says his neighbor had a lot of money. This story has been verified by other family members, so the source of picklelilly is no longer in doubt. To make one of these sandwiches you just toast a couple pieces of bread and fry an egg. Then you put some picklelilly on and eat it up. Sometimes I add a strip of bacon but not always. Thats if you want to be all gourmet or something.

The soup definately IS my grandmother's recipe. I have about 10 different recipes for minestrone soup and I have eaten probably 50 different versions. For some reason I always come back to this one, because it is one of the first soups that I remember eating and enjoying. It is easy to make and probably pretty good for you too. What more can you ask?

Muriel's Minestrone Soup

3 slices bacon, cooked crisp and chopped into bits
1 clove garlic, minced
1 medium onion, chopped
¼ c. parsley (dried is ok)
2 carrots, diced
1 large potato, peeled and diced
½ of a medium cabbage, finely sliced
1 tsp. basil
1 tsp. salt
28oz. can diced tomatoes
½ c. pasta
13oz. can kidney beans
2 qt. Chicken broth

Brown bacon in stock pot and remove from pot. Cool and chop into bits. Sauté onion, garlic and carrots in bacon grease slowly. Add the potato, cabbage, parsley, basil and salt. Cook 45 minutes in 2 qt. Chicken broth. Add tomatoes, kidney beans and pasta. Cook until pasta is tender.

I am already scheming up a loaf of bread for this weekend. I have to start early because you have to do a few steps several days in advance. I am making a loaf of sourdough pumpernickle bread. I am also scheming a smoked turkey, but that may take some considerable motivation.

The recipe for picklelilly can be found here.