Hearty Winter Food

Today's dinner was a hearty salad and soup combo. I don't think they compliment each other so unless your an oddball like myself use these in two separate meals.

Salad -was baby greens with the following toppings

• Honeycrisp apple slices
• lightly toasted almonds
• medium cheddar
• dried cranberries
• canned beets (for me only since hubby has no interest)

Next time I'll add slices of turkey breast to the salad as well. Dressing of choice is balsamic vinegarette. If there's no turkey I recommend using goat cheese crumbles instead of shredded medium or strong cheddar.

Hubby actually really liked the salad, it shocked me but I'm glad. It's one of my favorites and I'm not a fan of salads.

Soup- Hearty beef noodle

Everything just goes into the slow cooker for about 5.5 hours on high. A dutch oven will probably work as well, but maybe a reduced time of a couple hours simmering after coming to a boil.

• Seared stewing beef- rinsed and excess fat trimmed off to avoid scummy stuff on soup. I used tiny pieces of it but you can use a large piece of any meat and shred it into the bowl at the time you serve it.
  
• chopped carrots
• chopped onions
• chopped celery
• water- at least enough to cover all the ingredients. I added more since I like the soup.
• salt
• pepper
• paprika
• 1 beef bullion cube for every 3 cups of water used (optional)

I used mostly dried herbs, but fresh ones are better, just use less since it's more potent.

• basil
• oregano
• bay leaf
• rosemary (fresh)

After the soup is done, pour over separately cooked aldente thin noodles. Garnish with some fresh parsley or green onions.

The house smells awesome and the soup is great.

This is a recipe I will definitely repeat.