I have a three-day weekend and the ‘arctic cold’ is coming tomorrow night, so I’m really in the mood to cook big batches of soups and stews and sauces. Does a cold front affect you the same way?
I spent more than an hour in the grocery store earlier today rounding up ingredients for my weekend cooking spree. I’ll be making these recipes from the blog this weekend:
– which I will use to make –
– and I’m also planning on –
Since there are only two of us, I’ll be freezing large amounts of these dishes in batches for throw-down meals on weeknights. I just LOVE pulling something out of the freezer after my hour+ commute home in heavy traffic and having a hot, delicious, homemade meal ready within a half hour. Making ahead and freezing is a certain kind of self-care, ensuring that we’ll have worthy dinners even on the busiest of days.
I have aspirations to make my version of vegetable and ham hock soup, too. It has cabbage, carrots and lentils and lots of other wonderfully tasty ingredients. My 93-year old mother-in-law is a big fan of this hearty, warming concoction and I’ll surprise her with a big bowl of it tomorrow, just as the arctic air is blowing in. I’ll capture the recipe while I’m making it and share it with you.
I’m hoping the dire weather forecasts about extended sub-freezing weather are exaggerated. We had flowering plants on the patio as recently as two weeks ago; the picture below is from January 5. Tomorrow, The Grill-Meister and I will be moving all of the potted plants from the patio into the garage to protect them from the freeze – and then we’ll need to fortify ourselves with some hot soup!
Stay warm, my friends! What is your go-to hot meal in chilly weather?
© 2025, Glover Gardens
I am in the cold belt too. I will be making some bread and a big pot of soup today too. 🙂
Bread is a GREAT idea! What kind of bread, and what kind of soup? Feel free to share links here.
I made some potato focaccia, which I will post about tomorrow and some split pea soup, which is still cooking. 🙂 How about you? https://ajeanneinthekitchen.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post-new.php?post_type=post&jetpack-copy=194
Something was wrong with that link for me but I’m posting your potato focaccia here as a public service: https://ajeanneinthekitchen.com/2025/01/20/potato-focaccia/ . It looks great! I’m going to make focaccia today using your rosemary one as a guide. I ended up making a hearty vegetable soup AND my Dad’s chili yesterday, after a big batch of marinara the day before. During a cold snap, at least when it’s not a work day, I’m a cooking MACHINE. 😁
Thank you. All of your dishes sound delicious. 🙂
I can’t believe you have an hour commute. You did great with AI. Where do you live?
We’re in Tomball, TX, which is really NW Houston, and I drive to work in NE Houston… only about 35 miles but sometimes more than an hour on a high-traffic day. No complaints, though! I listen to food or travel-based podcasts, news or audio books (British murder mysteries) or turn off the sound and ponder the whimsies of life and what the next blog post will be about. 😊
I lived in Dallas, Texas for 10 years back in the ’80s. I’ve been to Houston once.
I think I answered my own question, I looked down through your posts and saw that you’re an Austin, Texas.
No, it’s NW Houston (see above), but I’m in Austin frequently because my son is a professional jazz musician and got his undergrad there… he’s in Miami now finishing a doctorate in jazz studio arranging but Austin calls him back frequently for gigs during summers and the holidays. It’s only 2.5 hours from NW Houston so we try to go whenever he’s playing live there. It has changed so much since I lived there almost 4 decades ago, but is still such a vibrant and arts-centered city. I see from your blog that you have lived in Texas during parts of your life and that we are of a similar age… perhaps we were both tubing down the Guadelupe River sometime during the early 80s. It’s a small world!
That’s cool that he’s following his passion! I was in Austin in 2021 with a girlfriend. It was the first day of our week-long trip which included San Antonio. Some 20 somethings were buying us drinks on the rooftop of a bar and when we walked through the dim corridor to leave I tripped and hit the concrete raised platform on the side, splitting open a place near my eyebrow. The bartender called an ambulance. 😳 I had to get stitches.
Wow, that is certainly a memorable experience! I think maybe you should go back to San Antonio and give it another chance. 😊
Hibiscus flower on Jan. 5th? Not too bad…