I'm having that want-to-stay-in-my-jammies-all-day feeling all because Mother Nature dumped 10 inches of snow on us at a time when I thought winter is waning away and the days are getting longer. What a downer. I'm not going to bore you with what winter wonderland looks like and with the wind chills in the single digit out there I'm not about to go out and take some pictures.All I could think of right now are these chocolate-covered strawberries, cream puffs and tiramisu to give me some comfort. This is actually an old picture from Issa's birthday in 2007, during those days when she still had time to bake and before she ended up doing some real work that pays some real good money. These were her creations. Unfortunately for my dessert today I have to settle for persimmons, apples and a cup of avocado shake.
Sounds healthy, ha? It doesn't hurt to try, but it seems I've developed a sweet tooth in my senior years. Chocolate tempation gets harder to resist and I'm not even allowed to have any, but I do cheat every now and then.
It felt like a soup day and since canned Campbell's soup is not an option in my household and neither is microwave cooking, I decided to ransack the pantry and dig in the fridge for some ingredients. White beans, a stick of carrot, my mother's stewed tomatoes, chicken stock, onions, pasta shells and three strips of bacon (there's where the guilt comes from. Listen, I've modified the recipe using 3 instead of 4 strips, so give me some credit there) and voila, we're good to go!
Did I surprise myself! I'm not really into beans, I hate baked beans and chili, but this soup really kind of changed that. This is Mmm-mmm- goood, sprinkled with grated parmesan cheese, goes straight to the heart! And this was just an experiment. Not bad for an impromptu dinner, easy and convenient.
No guilt Pasta e Fagioli, hearty, stick to the ribs snowy-day soup. Mangiare!
