And now for something completely different: purple carrots

Cooked the last veggie from my garden that was still in its original state (have a bit of homegrown stuff in various soups in the freezer, but this was still in its carrot form until today). It is a purple carrot, but orange on the inside. This year, I hope to grow a variety that is purple inside and out. From what I've read, orange carrots became popular for some political celebration in Europe, but before being bred for that purpose, most carrots were not orange and the not-orange carrots tend to be more nutritious. Haven't done a side-by-side taste test, but these taste the same, if not better.

Homegrown veggies allow me to have some "not new" food...as in, I didn't buy it new (though, in this case, the seeds were new). Plus, you get the freshest, healthiest veggies and they never have to take up room in the fridge. I had a couple exceptionally huge carrots from this batch, but most were normal carrot size. I scrubbed this really good so I didn't have to peel it since they say most of the nutrition is in the skin. (If I were eating it raw, I'd peel it, I'm not that brave a pioneer woman.) This went into chicken vegetable soup. You can see it sauteeing in the skillet...I like to sautee my soup veggies. The offspring ate three bowls, so I can feel I did my motherly duty in getting some veggies into him.

Soup is a really economical dish. I used to be even more economical, buying a whole chicken and cutting it up, but in my "old age," I've taken to buying rotisserie chicken, then saving the leftovers for soup (three chickens for three days' dinners gives me plenty for making stock and having a meaty chicken soup). Since it's getting close to Spring (in theory, at least) and this carrot was just starting to send up shoots, I cut off the top to try to regrow carrot(s) from it. Don't know if it will work, but that will be the ultimate "not new."