It's a lazy snowy Sunday here. We got a few inches of light, fluffy snow last night....it's piled up on the plants and the fenceposts, as you can see above.

The pets are all sleepy. Here is Ollie in his favorite spot on the couch. He looks rather small in this photo, but he's really a big boy - about 110 lbs.

Asparagusis enjoying watching the world go by, from his spot on the cat tree.

Tori and Spike are having a cute and cuddly nap. They are the "babies" of the family.

Pop quiz: How many kitties do you see? A hint - it's 50% of our cat population...and 4/5ths of our tabby cat population. :)

And, now for this week's edition of Freezer and Pantry Soup:

Vegetable Butternut Soup with Chevre and Pesto

6 or 8 carrots, sliced
2 onions, chopped
1/2 head celery (optional: I just had some that needed to be used up)
1 head garlic, chopped
olive oil for sauteeing
8 cups veggie stock (as usual, mine is homemade from leftover bits of veggies)
1 quart bag frozen corn
1 quart bag frozen heirloom tomatoes
3 cups mashed butternut squash
1/2 cup (or to taste) pesto
8 oz. chevre
dried sage, dried thyme, dried parsley, cracked black pepper, 2 bay leaves, and sea salt

Sautee onions, carrots, garlic and celery in olive oil. Add veggie stock, frozen veggies - heat to simmer. Add butternut, pesto, chevre, and herbs -simmer until veggies are all at your desired texture and the flavors are blended. That's it! this made a BIG batch. If you preferred, you could add cubed butternut instead of mashed,but I liked the creaminess the mashed butternut (and chevre) added to the soup. Everything I used was locally grown or produced, except for the celery,olive oil, sea salt, and pepper. YUM!