Fall Garden Chicken Noodle Soup

I will say that it was a “learning year” in the garden.  We started out hypervigilant and would water and weed the crap out of that garden.  It was our baby.  Then we slowly let life get in the way.  BUT we learned some productive things.  We like something that we can just pick when it’s ripe, like our tomatoes.  The lettuce just wasn’t our thing and was so…well needy.  Next year we plan on planting pepper plants (which are our fav.) instead of lettuce.  The green onions and regular onions were kind of a bust as well.  We really haven’t figured out where we stand on that issue and if we are ready to step up our gardening skills or just want to be lazy.  Anyhoo the carrots came beautifully!          

They were kind of a bitch to peel since they were a bit on the small side, but they were worth it!  I decided to make chicken noodle soup with my carrots since I LOVE to make big batches and freeze a bunch for winter….yum!          

But you can’t have home made chicken noodle soup without home made noodles, now can you? For those of you who don’t know, the answer is no.         

My soup takes around 2 hours to make from boiling down the chicken, to chopping the carrots, celery, and onion, adding seasoning, and making noodles.  Contrary to what some may think, whipping up your own noodles is pretty fast and low key, not to mention delicious!  Don’t be afraid to try it next time you are whipping up a pot of soup!          

Outside House Tour

I figured it was about time to give you a tour of the outside of our house before the leaves start to turn and the snow starts to fall.  This is the outside of our house with the attached small porch deck and the larger deck to the side.  

This is what the house looks like from the street...

and if your ready to climb up on the porch and knock on the door. 

Going to the left of the house you will see the lovely landscaped garden the previous owners created.  I was so surprised and excited when I found out I had hydrangeas.  They are my favorite fresh flower to cut and put in vases all over the house!

In the left side yard there is also a great manicured flower garden which took absolutely no work on my part!

Continuing on to the left side of the house you see...surprise! It's a sunken in patio!

This is the patio view from within. 

This is a long view of the side yard.....

 which obviously continues into the back yard!

The previous owners left us this little bench and fire pit, which we moved into the back left corner of the lot for added privacy.  We love to have fires and roast marshmallows after a long day of playing yard games so we were ecstatic when we found out that these little beauties were ours. 

 Here are some views of the back of the house, complete with the stairway that leads up to the storage room above the garage.  The room above the garage was an excellent bonus for added storage!

This is the deck that leads from the garden all the way across the back of the garage and onto the main deck.  We envision that this will be a great place to put our bistro set we now use as our main patio set when we upgrade.

This is the outdoor area we spend the most time in, the main deck.  We absolutely love to grill and enjoy time eating and sitting out here!  The door enters into the kitchen which is perfect for preparing meals outdoors. 

Lastly, this is the view of the whole house, including the garage.  My hubby would be remiss if his beautiful garage didn't make this post. Let's just say he got the garage he wanted and it happened to be attached to the prefect house! Lucky us!