Spaghetti Soup and Fall Music

For those who asked, here you go!

My "fall music" is a CD of Celtic Psalms.  I looked on iTunes to see if I could find something to link to, but it's not there.  And when I Googled Celtic Psalms, it pulls up the album by Eden's Bridge, but that's not what I have.  My CD is green, and it has several of the Psalms sung Celtic-style.  It's very quiet, very soothing, and reminds me of fall because the first time I played it, I was rearranging furniture in my family room after Caiden was born, and it was fall.  There's nothing I love more than rearranging the furniture, except for the season of fall, so when I have both at the same time, it's bliss.  Hence the "fall music" love.

See, doesn't this look like fall music?

Here's the info, if you're interested:

Celtic Psalms, "The Celtic Series"

Produced in MCMXCVIII (Is that 1993?  I can't read that many Roman numerals.)

by Bill Vincent

"Music to Soothe the Soul" is printed on the CD.  See, I told you it's soothing!

And the spaghetti soup recipe, from the cookbook, "Better Homes and Gardens Biggest Book of Soups and Stews."  I love making soup because it's real cooking, but everything goes into one pot, and I usually don't have to worry about keeping a good eye on it.  It's hard to ruin soup.

Souper Spaghetti

1# lean ground beef

1/2 c. each chopped onion, green pepper, celery, carrot  

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 1/2 c. water

2  14 oz. cans diced tomatoes, undrained

1 jar spaghetti sauce

1 T. sugar

1/2 tsp. dried Italian seasoning

1/2 tsp. salt or 1/4 tsp. coarse Kosher salt

1/4 tsp. black pepper

dash crushed red pepper

2 oz. dried spaghetti, broken into 2-in. pieces

several pieces fresh basil, if you have it handy

NOTE:  Most of these ingredients can be changed out for other things, like different veggies, or different styles of tomatoes, etc.  Like I said, it's hard to ruin soup.  And since soup is almost always better the next day, make a lot, and you can feed your kids a hot lunch.  I added a can of beans and more noodles the second day, to make up for what we'd eaten for dinner the night before.

Cook ground beef and all veggies over medium-high heat til browned and vegetables are tender.

Add rest of ingredients and bring to boil.  Then reduce heat to boil very gently, uncovered, about 12-15 minutes or til pasta is tender.

Serve that with some crusty bread and a salad, with your fall music playing quietly in the background, and voila!  Instant Autumn.  :)  Which is important in Texas, where fall comes somewhere around Thanksgiving.  Until then, I just pretend.

Happy fall, friends!  Enjoy the recipe and the music!  If you make it, let me know what you thought!