Steak and Potato Soup Recipe

First of all, I have to tell you how nice the last 28 hours have been for me.  B was picked up by his Nana yesterday at 11am and I'll get him back at 5pm this afternoon.  I love that boy more than life itself, but we all need a break from our kids once in a while, especially when you are home with them all day, everyday. Some of the things I've enjoyed during my childless time:

1. Not having to lock the bathroom door, or even close it
2. Not having to pause and rewind a show I am watching every 117 seconds b/c B has a burning question, need or story to tell that cannot wait
3. Only preparing food for myself, whenever I wanted it, and not listening to any complaints about what I made (the hubs and I decided to do our own thing for dinner last night)
4. My house is just as clean and picked up as it was 28 hours ago
5. No noise except the 80s music on Pandora and the sound of my own voice talking to the kitties.
6. The hubs and I watched a couple of epis of Tosh.0 last night.  Have you ever watched Tosh.0???  OMG, that man is so wrong and so politically incorrect and says things that are OK to say in your head but not out loud.  And b/c of that, he is so funny your sides and your face will hurt from all the laughing at the end of one 30-minute episode.  Add him to your DVR and when you've had a bad a day and the kids are asleep, watch him.  All that laughing will release some serious endorphins and will pick you up.  Just put a fan or white noise machine in your kid's bedroom so you don't wake them up with your hysteria.
7. I haven't had to remind anyone of anything at all
8. Not a single question has been asked of me...*sniff, sniff*...this one makes me so happy I'm tearing up...
9. No one is following me around b/c his irrational fear of not remaining within eyesight of me is back again (hence #1 on this list is #1 on this list)
10. I am blogging before 11pm

I could go on, but my time alone is ticking away...

I had a buttload of steak leftover in the fridge and the hubs tried to throw it out last night.  He's a disposable kinda guy.  I wanted to use it up somehow and, thankfully, he did not argue with me.  I'm sure he chose not to this time b/c he knew tonight was trash night and figured he'd get rid of it them.  When I woke up this morning, and mind you, I woke up b/c my body had had enough rest and naturally woke itself up, instead of being yanked awake by pokey fingers, someone jumping on me, breathing on my face, tickling me or singing at the top of his lungs, I had 3 distinct thoughts.  1) It's raining, 2) I bet the business manager did it. He was the only one who knew she was pregnant. How come the detectives aren't looking at him? (I fell asleep before last's night epi of "Body of Proof" was over, and 3) Steak and Potato Soup.

I was very happy to have this last thought, b/c I usually just make a breakfast hash with leftover steak and I wanted something different.  Plus, the amount of leftover steak I had would have made hash for 5 people.  I searched "Steak and Potato Soup" recipes on the net and decided on the 2nd one I read b/c it was easy, I had all the ingredients and it called for leftover steak instead of fresh.

I created a tab at the top of my blog for recipes that I can post, but it only holds one post.  If I want to add recipes, I have to edit the one post and put the new recipe either at the top or the bottom of the document.  So, I'm going to post recipes as regular posts from now on.  Here is the link to the Steak and Potato Soup recipe I used.  Since I'm allergic to olive oil, I used Wegman's Basting Oil and t white potatoes instead of russetts.  The hubs gets heartburn from cooked tomatoes, so instead of using 1/2 cup of tomato sauce, I squirted a smidge of tomato paste from a tube in there and mixed it in with the veggies until it carmelized, just to bring some color and flavor depth to the dish.  I had a bowl for lunch and it was DELISH!  I am serving it for dinner, tonight and then will freeze the rest.  

It's funny that the recipe says to serve it with Ree Drummond's "The Bread".  I just made The Bread for the 1st time on Monday night to go with Spinach and Cheese Tortellini.  It was good, but not as goooood as she described it.  And I know why, too.  The hubs was upstairs with the boy b/c the boy needed a shower and refused to be on a different floor all by himself, when he called down to ask what was burning.  So, I had to take the bread out of the oven.  :o(  It needed about 30 more seconds under the broiler to be goooood.  The hubs didn't even eat any b/c he was not feeling well.  I am going to put the leftover bread back in the broiler tonight to finish it off to the gooooodness stage and serve with the soup.  He'll thank me!