Bloggin' Umholtz

The first pond

OK folks,

Here's the pond.

The pond is located at the far end of the rock wall in yesterday's photos underneath the pin oak.

If you look real close in this photo you'll see a couple of goldfish hiding under the lily pad. Good luck trying to find the black bug eyed fish, which, by the way, received the name Angel from my wife. She even trained it to eat from her hand.

I will be away for the next few days, but I promise when I come back we'll finally see a turtle.

Today I took first place in our office soup cookoff. Each March we have a soup contest. it's called Aftonase's Winter Doldrums Soup Cookoff. It's named after my great-grandfather Afton Sembrat. He liked soup.This is the first time I've won in 5 years.

Here's the winning recipe.

Aftonase’s Archipelago Gulag Goulash

Ingredients

1 3-4 lb beef roast
2 Tablespoons olive oil
3 chopped garlic cloves
2 cans beef broth
1 large can whole tomatoes
2 cans Italian seasoned diced tomatoes
1 can whole kernel corn
1 can cut green beans
1 can sweet peas
1 can navy beans
1 can great northern beans
1 bag (72 count) frozen precooked Italian meatballs



Brown a 3 to 4 lb. beef roast in a Dutch oven with olive oil and chopped garlic. Place the roast in the crockpot, add two cans beef broth and one large can whole tomatoes. Cook on high setting for 4 hours. Remove beef. Smash tomatoes. Add two cans of Italian seasoned (basil, oregano, garlic) diced tomatoes. Using two forks shred beef roast and add back to crockpot. Add the following: one can whole kernel corn, drained; one can cut green beans, drained; one can sweet peas, drained; one can navy beans, drained and rinsed; one can great northern beans, drained and rinsed. You can substitute frozen vegetables for any of the canned vegetables.

Depending on whether you like thick soup or more broth, you can add another can of beef broth and/or seasoned diced tomatoes at this point. Your meatballs and beans will soak up broth.

Add Italian meatballs – as many as will fit in the pot. (usually about half the bag)

Finally, sprinkle some red pepper flakes over the top as per your taste. Put the lid on the crockpot and simmer until meatballs have thawed and soup is heated through.

This recipe will fill a 6 qt crockpot…and then some.

Enjoy