"Soup"er New Year!

I don't really much like New Year's Resolutions.  They kind of seem like extra long versions of "what I gave up for Lent" (something else I don't get).  It's hard to narrow it down to specific items to list.  And if you announce your resolutions to others I always get the sense that people are watching, not so much to cheer me on in my endeavor, but to witness the moment in time when the resolution is abandoned (I read recently that on average most people abandon their resolutions on or before January 10th - so if you've made one, you've only got 8 more days to keep it up).

So my resolution this year is simple:  Just do better than the (fill in the blank) before.  Better than yesterday, last month, last year, EVER (there are a lot of options here and no reason to beat yourself up because like Scarlet O'Hara says "tomorrow is another day")

This is how I see it working - I'd like to make changes in my life but I'd like them to not just be something I try really hard until January 10th and then give up completely.  My hope is that changes, however small and simple at the time, become more of a life changing development (I am afterall, as are each of you, a total work in progress).

I'm finding this...already on January 2nd...to be a fairly liberating experience.  Without exacting standards, rules and expectations to guide me, I can achieve victory (sometimes small, hopefully larger ones as well) easily.  And failure...well failure is not an option here.  What matters is success!  Feeling successful (which I've discovered generally leads to actual and more, real and sustainable successes).

So here's to my successful January 1st!  Yesterday we had family over to celebrate the New Year.  My personal success involved entertaining without spending a ton of money, using what I had (pretty much) on hand, trying not one, not two but THREE new (surprisingly healthy) dishes, each of which was so good, I thought I would share these easily found (and incredibly delicious!) recipes:

From Allrecipes.com (I recommend you join - spend the $20 so you can make your own recipe.  Lots & LOTS of recipes, brutal reviews - you'll find out quickly, before spending time & energy & money, what changes you might want to make, AND you can create your own recipe box so you can quickly find that recipe you loved!)

• Soup #1 - Sweet Potato Chili  Not too spicy (I used all ground turkey because that's what I had)

• Soup #2 - Tangy Vegan Crockpot Corn Chowder (crockpot was busy with soup #1 above so I made this on the stove)  Nobody at our house is vegan but I had collected this recipe because 1) I'm always on the lookout for vegetarian recipes - especially ones that would be palatable for carnivores; and 2) my sister-in-law, whom I adore, has recently (due to health concerns) adopted a vegetarian lifestyle and while she is completely unobtrusive about it, I like my guests to be able to eat something when I invite them over for a meal.  It did require some additional shopping because we don't typically (read "NEVER") have soymilk on hand nor did I even know what "vegan butter" was (this I froze the remainder so I will have on hand for future meal for S-I-L).  This soup was so good my "definitely-carnivore-isn't-that-why-we-have-canine-teeth-husband", after tasting it, declared he was ready to become vegan!

From The Pioneer Woman Cooks website (I totally love Ree Drummond!!!) and you can find a link to her website and the right side of this page:

• Soup #3:  Sausage, Potato & Kale Soup  According to everyone at my house, she's wrong!  This isn't AS good as Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana - this is BETTER!!!!  (And anytime you can sneak kale in as an ingredient, it's a really good thing!)

So 1/1/13 is in the bag and I'm judging it to be personally successful.  I hope yours was as well!  I'm going to find a project to tackle to continue on my personal journey towards success and happiness.

~later, tw

(PS - Go make some soup!)