Oh my goodness, it feels so good to be home.
My time in Europe these past few weeks was such a gift, and filled to the brim with so many wonderful memories with friends. But between the six-course meals each night on the Mediterranean cruise, paella in Spain, and pub food galore with friends all over England, I think it’s safe to say that I probably ate more carbs (and specifically, potatoes!) in the past month than ever before!
When I was a kid, our extended family used to love meeting up for big dinners regularly at our neighborhood Italian restaurant, DeFazio’s. Everyone would order these huge steaming plates of delicious pastas, salads, sides and more. And Yours Truly would order…”plain spaghetti”. Oh yes. I was the token picky eater in the family. And no thank you, I did not want to “just try it”. ;)
Luckily, though, everyone at DeFazio’s always received a steaming bowl of minestrone soup as an appetizer. And over the years, I began to grow more and more fond of this yummy pasta soup, even though I would have had a small heart attack at age 10 if anyone had told me that there was zucchini snuck in there!
Last week when I asked our GSO Facebook followers what recipes you all would like to see on the blog this fall, two top requests quickly emerged: vegetarian recipes and slow cooker recipes.
So your wish is my command — I made you some Slow Cooker Root Vegetable Stew!
Today I made one of my favorites for a special treat — classic lobster bisque.
I have a long list of restaurants I whose lobster bisques I adore, but for some reason I had never before tried making it at home. (Somehow lobster tails don’t seem to make it into my budget too often!) But my recent discovery of a bag of frozen chopped lobster meat from Trader Joe’s inspired me to give it a try. And I’m pretty sure now that this soup may make it into “the rotation” (as my friend Christin calls it) of favorites from now on.