Get out your crockpot, and if you don’t like scrubbing the crockpot after the soup has cooked, add a crockpot liner (a wonderful invention). Add a whole chicken, or if you prefer white meat only, add enough chicken breasts (with our without skin…according to your own dietary needs) for the people who will be eating the meal. Add enough cubed potatoes, carrots, celery, onion, and other vegetables of your choice (I like to add fresh green beans). Add spices to taste. Add enough liquid to cover your chicken, and then some more, for the amount of soup broth you desire, whether it be water with cubes of broth, canned/boxed chicken or vegetable broth, or another broth form of your choice. As an alternative, I often add small bow tie pasta noodles or small shell pasta noodles to the soup (bow tie noodles shown below), instead of potatoes, .

Set the crockpot timer, and there you go! When you arrive home from work, the aroma of food for the soul will fill your kitchen. Your chicken soup will be ready to eat (other than possibly shredding/cutting the chicken).

Serve with rolls, biscuits or bread. Adding matzoh balls or dumplings to the soup is also a great idea, if you have the time when you get home, if not, not to worry, the soup itself is more than enough, and a healthy meal, in addition.

The bare branches on the trees can have their own beauty, against the sky.

Leaves cling to the branches, not quite ready to drop off, as autumn is ending, and winter will soon begin. Look around and about, you will see nature’s beauty everywhere, even in the most simple of forms.

To read the article on the girl from the depression era, visit this site. The story is fascinating, and you will be able to see a current photograph of Katherine McIntosh within the article.

You can check it out, here.

The book documents Obama’s road to presidency through 150 photographs, capturing his campaign both publicly and in private moments.