Very funny Strega Nona !

It started off with good intentions. I was going to make soup for dinner- take beef bones, onions, carrot , celery and water , toss in a couple bay leaves , apply heat and you get stock. Strain, add new veggies and you get soup. I had beef bones with meat on them ( forget the name of the cut at the moment), celery, a bag of baby carrots that needed to get used, a head of cabbage that had been forgotten and 4 tomatoes that needed using. Half a half cup of barley and somehow it became this:
a six quart crock pot of beef vegetable barley soup that would be for dinner, another dinner, a few lunches and.... thankfully soup made without potatoes or pasta freezes very well. A bowl of this and a corn muffin made with whole wheat flour and stone ground corn meal made for a very tasty, satisfying, economical and fiber loaded meal. However it is proof that I cannot make soup. I turn from a normal cook to Strega Nona's apprentice, who could feed a small neighborhood when she finishes !

Thanks for the comments about my exercise dilemma. It's not something that is impossible, but instead something that requires a little creative thinking. I got in my 30 minutes of rowing ( 3.8 miles, not sure of the calorie burn) , 20 minutes of Pilates, more attempts with the hula hoop and 5 minutes of walking...without any banging from downstairs. I am thinking that if I can perhaps time this to happen when they are out , I can do this until it thaws out enough to let us walk outside. Weather is a big variable , and today we are supposed to get all the way up to the upper 30's, but have a rainy day. Mess out there today, but it's a sure sign that spring will get here soon enough.

Now off to find home in my freezer for that soup....