Is This Soup Worth $150?

$150 soup?  Never heard of it? Well, here's a story about an adventure that involves a tow truck, 2 women, a couple of ditches, and soup that might just be worth $150.  Read on...

My day today started out very quietly, and productively.  My quiet time was spent with the Lord in a beautiful way, as I gazed outside at the snow gently falling.  Then I made a loaf of Honey Oatmeal bread for breakfast.

Next it was time to clean my refrigerator out, and soup was on the menu for the day.  I pulled all the veggies I could find out of the fridge, and plopped them on the counter.

 Broccoli, onion, garlic white sweet potato, parsnips, butternut squash, carrots, celery, kale, and collard greens were all going into the pot...

First up was to melt the butter, and saute the onions, celery and a handful of frozen poblano peppers that I found in the freezer.  I love these kinds of soups where you can use what you have on hand!

Then it was time to add in my previously made homemade turkey bone broth.  Next up were the hard veggies that would take longer to cook -  squash, sweet potato, carrot, and parsnip.

I let the soup cook for about 30 minutes or so, and then added in the broccoli, kale and collard greens. It was beginning to smell scrumptious!



While the soup gently simmered on the stove, I wanted to cook up the remaining veggies that didn't fit into the soup pot.  I mixed olive oil, rosemary and thyme with the remaining white sweet potato and butternut squash, and popped them into the oven at 425 for 30 minutes to roast.

While the sweet potato and squash were cooking, I made kale chips.  I tore the leaves off the stems (saved the stems for my morning smoothie) and placed the leaves into a bowl, and added a bit of olive oil and some salt and mixed it all well.

Kale chips!  Really, really awesome!  Love these!  It is a great way to have something crunch and salty to munch on without any carbs... so so good... :) I just popped them in the oven at 425 and baked for about 15 minutes, or until they began to slightly turn a bit brown.  They come out hot, salty and crunchy!

 And my roasted veggies... again, wonderful!  These will be put in the refrigerator to add as a side to a main dish for a meal this week.  I just love getting things like this done ahead in one day, and makes meal prep during the week much easier.

The chickens were happy... I took the veggie scraps out to them... all kinds of sweet chortling sounds as they munched away :)

Then I went for a walk, while the soup simmered gently on the stove...  and the turkeys followed me down the road.  I had just fed the chickens the veggie scraps, and they thought I still had some for them. LOL... I don't want to feed them too much, to get them dependent on us.  It is a bit of a  battle of minds, because I feel sorry for them, yet I don't want to interfere with nature.

Annie and I continued our walk.  It was snowing gently, and quite gray out.

Beautiful fences along the way.  My neighbor's fences... she has such pretty ones!

The red barn being the only spot of color amidst all the gray.

I thought this particular pine tree was quite stately, set apart in the field, against the backdrop of the mountains, and log house hidden in the woods.

Annie was grinning from ear to ear... her favorite thing to do, and mine too... walking in freshly fallen snow! We had fun making our own tracks.  I walked quite carefully though... the ice underneath the snow was a silent threat constantly to us as we walked.

Yes, it was a gray kind of day... but beautiful just the same!

Back at the house... my soup was ready.  I added a few pieces of sliced fresh basil on top as well as some of my kale chips.  Yum!

As I stirred my hot bowl of soup, I realized I was alone.  And hungry.  Should I eat?  All the family were busy today doing other things, and I was home alone with a pot of delicious soup.  I thought about how nice it would be to share my pot of soup with someone, and prayed for the food, asking the Lord if I could, how I could share this soup with someone.

I sat down at my computer desk with the bowl of soup.  My intention was to send an email to a friend while I ate my soup.  As I began to eat, I was by the window, and saw my neighbor walking down the road.  Hmm, I thought, I bet she would enjoy a bowl of soup.. so I texted her.  Her response was quick and not what I expected... "I've slid off the road just past your house, and locked myself out of the truck. I had to walk back here to my house to get my key and call the tow truck."

Oh, no problem, said I.  We've already been there and done that this week.  Don't bother with the tow truck. Our Big Daddy truck will get you out!

So off she and I went to see what we could do about pulling her truck out.

Her truck was in the ditch pretty good, and just after a very tricky corner too.  Then soon after we got there, the tow truck arrived.  So the tow truck, without much difficulty, hooked up a winch to her truck, and winched her out of the ditch, much easier than she and I could have done it.

Then my neighbor and the tow truck pulled down the road a bit to finish up the business transaction, while I told them I would go down the road to the next intersection and turn around.  During this exchange, I had invited my neighbor over for soup, and she gladly accepted.

Then my adventure really began. I noticed a creaking and a grinding noise as I put the truck in gear and it started going sideways.  I thought, Wow, these roads are REALLY icy! I was sliding sideways down the road towards the ditch that the neighbor had just got pulled out of!

I let off the gas, and steered the truck in the opposite direction and gently hit the snow bank. Then I realized as I tried to drive again that I had an issue with the rear passenger wheel of the truck. It was frozen stuck, and not turning, and dragging, and all this on ice! I had to keep driving it sideways down the road until I got to the area where I could turn around.  I finally managed to limp the truck down  and got it turned around.  Since the rear passenger wheel wasn't turning, I was going to have to drive it like this back home.  But, I was headed back towards the steep corner with the ditch where the slide had happened.  I was still driving sideways trying to stay on the road, when the tow truck driver showed up.  Since I was sideways in the road, he stopped, and I stopped. 

He told me that he had planned to go the other way out to the highway, but decided to come back this way.  I was so glad he did!  The Lord sent him!  He looked at my tire, and said yes, the brake drum was seized or froze and the tire wasn’t turning and the only way to get it free was to drive it without touching the brake.   I asked him if he would mind driving the truck around the corner past the place where my friend went in the ditch.  I was worried about how to maneuver that corner sideways! 

He was such a nice man, and drove the truck sideways around the corner for me. Then, he kindly followed me the mile to my house, as I drove down the road sideways! It was unbelievable. I prayed and prayed and prayed and asked God to let me get home without a tow bill.  The road was so slick that the tire that was stuck could not get enough traction to break free.  I'm sure the neighbors were out on their front porch wondering what in the world was wrong with truck driving literally sideways down the road!  If I tried to straighten the wheel, the truck would head straight for the ditch.  The only way to go was sideways, with my steering wheel cranked all the way to the right!  It was the most nerve-wracking mile I've ever driven! 

But there was another turn to maneuver, and while not as bad as the last one, it was still looming ahead of me.  As I wrestled with the wheel, driving sideways, I began to worry I wasn’t going to make the last turn, when suddenly the brake drum turned loose, and the truck drove straight again! Thank you Jesus!  I was amazed at how in the moment of my fear, the Lord just took care of it! 

It was quite the nerve-wracking adventure, even for me... but just at the moment when I felt so inadequate, He provided first the tow truck driver, and then unlocked the wheel before the second turn. I made it home safely, pulled right up into the driveway without any issues, and parked it right where it will stay put until my dear husband or son can see what is causing the problem.  

Why aren't husband and son home when adventures like these happen?  LOL! 

So, my neighbor had come to eat soup and was wondering what had took me so long... and we laughed and laughed until we cried after I told her the story of what had happened, because she did not see any of it.  It was what we both needed, a good laugh after all that craziness! Isn’t the Lord just amazing how He works!  

My neighbor said, "You know I ended up with a $150 tow bill because of your prayer for a friend to share your soup with",  and I said to her… "Yeah, but wasn’t this homemade soup worth $150" … and we laughed and laughed again!  This story will go down in the books for sure, and I'm sure the neighbors, and the tow truck man will have a story to tell too... I mean, how often do you see anyone drive a mile sideways?  On sheer ice! 

You know... this has been kind of a long story… but there you have my afternoon… it was amazing to me how the Lord works when you pray as you go about your day. A simple prayer – Lord let me share my soup with someone… and look at what happened with that prayer… well you just never know the twist His answer is going to take, I know that much for sure!  

I suppose I need to be careful exactly how I pray from now on... you just never know what adventure the Lord will take you on, to answer that prayer... I am speaking from experience... and laughing and thanking Him anyway! 

So what do you think of this $150 soup??? 

I think that the dear Lord has a sense of humor, and that's all I've got to say... for now...  :)