Veggies and Lentil Soup, Apples and Pumpkins, Yay!!

On the plate:  Veggies and Lentil Soup

Soundtrack to cook to:  Michael Buble's Christmas (I know...it's way too early to be listening to Christmas music, but it snowed the other night and it made me think of Christmas.)

"Apples and pumpkins, yay!!"  That's the phrase that I kept saying to Alexander to get him excited on the way to Meadowbrook Orchards.  I called earlier in the week to see if they had "pick your own" apples and pumpkins.  However, there was a light dusting of snow the previous night.  I really should have called ahead of time, because the orchard was an hour away; however, I went ahead and drove anyways.  The drive is absolutely picturesque with gorgeous, winding, tree-lined streets and beautiful little ponds along the way.  I thought to myself, that if the orchard didn't work out, we would at least be in the same area as a corn maze that I've gone to before.

As Alexander was in the back of the car saying, "Apple...yay!" while lifting his hands, I noticed that the "pick your own" sign was taken down in front of the orchards.  *Womp!  Womp!*  Not only were they just selling pre-picked apples, but they only had about 10 pumpkins left.  Thus, I decided to drive down the road to the corn maze.

Double *WOMP WOMP!*  The corn maze was closed due to field conditions and impending snowfall the next day.  Sheesh!  Can a mother catch a break?  Alexander was beginning to get fussy (and rightly so, because I had promised him apples and pumpkins and had not produced), so I gave him his snack trap full of cheddar bunny crackers and started to head home.  I knew that on the way home, we would have to pass by Walden Pond which has a farmstand on the side of the road.

A view of the farmstand near Walden Pond.

Alexander walking around the farmstand area checking out
the "na-nas" (pumpkins).  He was very excited and kept saying, "Yay!"

Alexander checking out the little pumpkins...

...and the bigger ones.

I then picked up Alexander and took him around to the bigger pumpkins.  I wanted to get one nice, large, pumpkin.  I pointed to one pumpkin and asked, "Alexander, would you like to get this pumpkin?"  To which he replied, "No."  I then pointed to about three other pumpkins, and he vetoed all three.  I then put him down and asked him, "Well then, Alex, which pumpkin would you like?"  He enthusiastically and excitedly ran over to two little pumpkins and said, "NA NA!!"

"You want these pumpkins, Alexander?"

"Yesh"

"NA NA!!" (Pumpkins in Alexander talk)

And so it was decided.  No other pumpkins would suffice, nor would he allow me to get any other pumpkins.  I grabbed a bag of Cortland apples and paid for everything while the little guy was still in a pleasant mood.

After his nap, I was racking my brain on what to make for dinner.  We had already had chili but I was still in a soup mood because of the weather.  We had a bunch of vegetables in the fridge that needed to get used, so I decided to make lentil soup with a vegetable hodge podge (again, I basically threw in whatever was in the fridge that was about to go bad).

Start off by cooking the hard vegetables first.

Then throw everything else in the pot, including the lentils.

About 10 minutes before you serve, throw in some pasta.
Then top it with parmesan cheese and serve!

This was just what the doctor ordered (and Joseph appreciated it as well...ha ha ha).  It was the perfect way to end such a cold day.  As an added plus, Alexander loved the pasta in the soup, so I gave him almost all of the pasta in my bowl.  Success!  Until next time...

Love and kisses,

Nikki