Warm soup for a cold day

On Wednesday night before we went to bed I put some beef shanks and the duck breast and duck legs in my crockpot covered it with water and added an onion.  In the morning I left for work and forgot it was on.  By the time I got home on Thursday evening that crock pot had been cooking for almost 17 hours!  I turned of the crock pot and let the soup stock cool down.  Then I put it in the refrigerator.  I cut up three carrots, a leak, 2 celery stalks and a turnip and put that in the fridge as well.  This morning before I left for work I pulled out the crock pot and veggies from the fridge.  I mixed the veggies in with the stock and turned on the crock pot to low.
When I got home I could not believe that the carrots and turnip were still a bit hard.  So, I cut up 4 potatoes added it to the soup and poured everything into a soup pot and cooked it on the stove until the potatoes and veggies were tender.   It turned out awesome.  Very flavorful and filling.  We had it for dinner with some crusty bread. 

I love my crock pot because I can cook just about anything in there.  Soup, Chili, Pasta Sauce and stews.  I've even cooked lasagna and a meat loaf in there but I will admit it wasn't as good as the regular way.

After dinner I spent most of this evening taking down the Halloween decorations.  I plan to get those out to the garage on Saturday.  Now it's time to cozy the house up for Thanksgiving.  I want to make some fall themed vases and a little vignette on the back of my organ.  I'm looking forward to Christmas decorating but I want to savor the Fall colors just a little more.

One project I want to tackle before Christmas is to make a fake fireplace.  It shouldn't be too hard and my son can help me because Mr. Saylor isn't very handy.   I don't know where it will go but I think it will look adorable in the living room.  I picked up a couple of Nativity sets over the summer at Goodwill.  I can't wait to display them. 

Since today was Friday I really wasn't in the mood to tackle any big house cleaning projects.  Tomorrow I'm going to scrub down my kitchen cabinets and plan some painting projects. 

Until Tomorrow,
Debbie