Oh my neighbor kids and parents all have the swine flu, croup and/or ear infections! Poor mama! Yesterday while I baked off cookies for the holidays I thru together some chicken soup for them.

I gathered together celery, onions, carrots, garlic and ginger in the food processor and chopped it all pretty fine in case there is any throwing up going on!

Then I sauted the veggies until pretty soft add a couple cartons of chicken stock and a can of petite diced tomatoes a bit of salt & pepper and marjoram. Since I had ginger in there I also added a bit of soy sauce and Mirin.

I think little kids have got to have noodles in their soup so I broke up about a cup of hollow macaroni sticks into 1/2 to 1 inch pieces. I cooked the macaroni in a separate pot then added it to the soup. Took the whole pot over and plopped it on their stove. Feel better soon!

mm mm good!

especially with Grammy’s Chocolate Waffies!
Makes about 60.

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup Dutch process cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
2-1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Preheat Oven 350
Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter, 2 cups sugar, and eggs on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add vanilla, and mix to combine. Gradually add dry ingredients, and combine with mixer on low speed. Form dough into tablespoon sized balls – inch and a half apart on silpats or parchment paper bake 8 minutes – turning at 4 minutes, just until shine just starts to go away – cool on sheet a few minutes before transferring to cooling racks –

I made my dough a week ahead and refrigerated it in a bowl with plastic wrap pressed to the dough and a lid on the bowl – worked great to let it sit on the counter to soften a bit while I prepared the veggies for the soup!

Speaking of cookies . . . I just love this Merry Memories arrangement we are featuring this year – the container could be a great cookie jar kinda gift container next year! So a great gift for that baker friend of yours!

Speaking of cookies . . . Our Italian Cookies offering from our baker friends on the hill are selling like hotcakes this year! We also have their pies! The Cherry Pie is as good as my own!

It is so fun when the kids come for a field trip to Walter Knoll Florist.  This group from Lindbergh School district got to learn about potting begonias at our LaSalle Garden Center location.  We love to show off our stuff, so if you have a group that would like to come for a tour (children or adults) we’ll be happy to show you around.  Who knows, maybe you’ll get to re-pot some begonias yourself!

Dog days of summer bring thoughts of refreshing watermelon to me. Great to eat as these fellows are enjoying theirs – outside – easy clean up with a garden hose, and if seeds escape, just maybe you’ll end up with something like this on your fence next year! Is this the cutest watermelon you have ever seen? It’s the size of a baseball today, but only as big as a marble one week ago.

Like Sunflowers and cucumbers, watermelons are great fun for the kids to watch grow, especially once the fruits start setting – Like I said, the size of a marble to as big as a baseball in one week – how magic is that!

Another fun kid thing is Look What I Made. Every Saturday afternoon at 2pm all of our retail locations offer this free program to children under 12. Kids come in and make a flower arrangement for a parent or teacher or even for themselves. Turnout and feedback from parents and children and WKF staff has been great. Everyone has a good time.