Good morning! I’m up and writing a quick post a la New Game Plan this morning 🙂
Yesterday we were supposed to have the most ragey rain (and wind) storm we’ve had here in six years. Considering we have a decent history of rain, that’s saying a lot. There were advisories, there were people racing to prepare, SMUD sent an email listing what to pack in an emergency kit and warning of all the dangers that lost power can cause. Schools were cancelled. People took off work. I prepped a whole bunch of work to take home so I could work from home and not brave the horrible flooded terrifying storm, as they expected roads to be quite literally flooded by the rains (and also flooded with terrified incompetent drivers.) Preston came home and prepped the apartment – he’s from Florida and quickly got in “hurricane prep” mode which I had yet to witness. We got out candles and lighters and took down everything that could fall victim to the wind on our balcony.
I talked Preston into working from home so he wouldn’t have to drive downtown to the train station and then hop on a train to work when safety and power and all that was questionable.
Annnnd…it was pretty anticlimactic.
It rained a decent amount. There was some wind. I hear it flooded pretty seriously up in the Napa area (check it out – people kayaking in the parking lots up there!) but here in Sac, at least in my cozy little area, it was pretty pleasant.
I was pretty happy to work from home and actually got far more done than on a typical day in the office, and I called it quits a little after 4! So that was a win 🙂
I also wanted to share the quick split pea soup recipe I made last night! This is the kind of thing I’m not going to make a big full blog post on, but would love to share more of! I fixed up a store-bought split pea soup mix to make it a little more fun!
quick split pea soup
serves 4
1 store-bought split pea soup mix
6-8 C water or vegetable broth (follow your store-bought mix directions)
1 T avocado or vegetable oil
1 onion, diced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
4 small yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cubed
3 T vegan bacon bits
1 Tofurkey Italian sausage, diced
Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Cook onion until soft, about 3-5 minutes. Add carrots and potato and stir to coat in oil. Add soup mix, broth or water, and simmer for 45 minutes to an hour until the split peas are falling apart and the broth or water has been absorbed.
Keep an eye out and keep tasting the soup to see if you need to add more water – if the water is mostly absorbed but the peas still have a bite and hold their shape, add a bit more water, about a half a cup at a time.
When the soup is just about done, stir in the bacon bits and cook for a couple more minutes. Meanwhile, heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat and add the diced sausage to crisp it up for a crouton topping.
Serve and enjoy!
(I tried pairing it with cornbread, but it turned out pretty dry and crumbly and not worth eating, especially considering the soup was ridiculously good!)
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