Soup Night and More

A couple of years ago the Men’s Club at my Church began a Scholarship Program. Obviously that meant we needed money to support it. We began to run some simple money raising events on Saturday evenings after our 5:00 pm Mass. Besides a few “Hot Dog Nights”, dogs with all the fixings, chili, kraut , relish etc, we also decided to have a “Soup Night”. Well, since big mouth here ran the successful dog nights, guess who ended up in charge of Soup Night. The first of what now appears to be an annual event was held last year. Big question for me was how much soup do I make? All we asked for was a donation to the fund, and did not charge for the soup. Because it was free and no tickets were sold we had no idea how many people would attend or how much soup they would consume, a real shot in the dark for me.
I got real lucky because I guessed at 150 portions which lasted to the very end. Three totally empty pots. There were three because I made 50 portions of three different soups, Minestrone, Sicilian Chicken and a Corn and Cheese Chowder. I made the same soups for this year’s event and got many request for the Minestrone recipe. Those who I’ve sent it to in the past said they really enjoyed it, so I thought I’d pass it along in today’s Blog.

Quick & Easy Minestrone Soup

2 cans (14-1/2 oz each) chicken broth
2 cans (14-1/2 oz each) stewed tomatoes untrained, coarsely chopped
2 cups or 19 oz can cooked kidney beans, drained
1 package (16 oz) frozen mixed vegetables
1/4 cup pasta of your choice (penne, elbows, orzo) uncooked
1 teaspoon dried basil leaves
1 teaspoon garlic powder
A few dashes of Worcestershire sauce
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a large sauce pan. Bring to boil on medium-high heat. Reduce to low and simmer 20 minutes or until pasta is tender. The addition of some kielbasa or cooked chicken will add to the flavor of this quick and easily prepared soup. Makes 8 to 9 one cup servings


Now as you know this Blog Site, “Rhino Roars”, was established to provide me with a platform to let off steam and bitch about all the things that annoy this old fart, so I have to get away from all that good stuff like recipes and charity events and move on. Since most of my avid…lol…readers live in Connecticut, they’re all aware of our recent batch of snow storms, some big, some small, and a few near misses. The frequency of the storms has given me plenty of opportunity to get pissed at the forecasters. There’s an old say that if you don’t like the weather in New England, wait for some short period of time, I don’t remember, and it will change. This has held true for a long time, yet these idiots have decided that they can predict and tell us about an upcoming storm seven or eight days in advance. Now tell me this doesn’t screw people up. Plans get changed, things get cancelled and super markets have to double their purchases of bread and milk. I’ve often wondered, do people drink more milk during a snow storm and won’t all that bread turn stale? And, as I wrote before, my wife Marge spends the better part of the morning preparing for disaster. Problem is most of these predictions never materialize and I end up having to drink a gallon of luke warm coffee and tomato soup

Back to a restaurant complaint. Did you ever notice that when a restaurant is not busy the service deteriorates? Just try to get that second cup of coffee. When it’s busy they are constantly walking around with pots asking if you need a refill, but on a quiet day their eyes never fall on your pleading face or notice your frantically waving hand.
Just last Saturday we, (my golfing partners) and I met for breakfast at a restaurant we often go to. Place wasn’t busy at the time. When my friend Bob came in he ordered a decaf. He was told that a fresh pot was brewing and he would have to wait. Not a problem. I had a perfect view of the pot and watched the coffee complete its journey into the pot. Well, I watched the filled pot sit there, and sit there while three waitresses were catching up on all the exciting things that happened in their lives over the past week. We finally got lucky when someone else ordered a decaf forcing one of them to look in the pot’s direction. I’ve seen this type of thing happen many times when restaurants weren’t busy. How many times have you had waiters or waitresses disappear for so long you’ve been ready to send out a search warrant.
I’ll stop now because I’ve got too, too many restaurant complaints to include here. See you again shortly.