I have to write about this. I have stayed quiet long enough. I can't keep it in anymore. You know "Something borrowed, something new"? The award winning (probs not) TV show where the brides bring a yellowed family heirloom wedding dress to be whitened and remade into an amazing modern unique piece and where they then choose between that and a new off-the-rack wedding dress. And they always have a sob story about that heirloom wedding dress that belonged to their mother who died saving orphaned puppies from being made into fur coats before the bride was born. Or it's a dress with lace made by greatgreatgrandnonna Giuseppina who lost her arms in a horse cart accident when she was a baby so had to make all that lace with her toes. And how much it would mean to them and their family if they wore the dress and then they all go for the something new and choose the same bloody strapless mermaid gown. It does my head in!

The other thing that has been stressing me out this week is being between notebooks - you know at work when your notebook is full and you need to start a new one and then lug them both around because so much irreplaceable wisdom has been doodled on the pages of the old notebook. Like this:





So it's been quite demanding. I'm sure you can see why I'm in desparate need of a holiday, so lucky then I am taking a few days off to visit parents and recharge.

I've been doing a bit of freezer clearing because my parents' annual moose has been delivered by the hunter dude and apparently about 150kg of meat is still after some initial distribution waiting in my parents several chest freezers. Coinicidentially (or not) I had this trip planned and will also coincidetally have quite a lot of space in my suitcase to bring back any random souveniers.

I decided to use my last portion of ground moose to make a wonderful warming soup for husband to heat while I'm gone. This was originally my mother's recipe or actually something she copied from a magazine ad for cream cheese.  I've modified it a bit and you can use any veg you have in hand. I think the key is ground meat, tomatoes and cream cheese. A super easy and tasty weeknight meal.

Ground moose or beef and vegetable soup with tomatoes and cream cheese (serves 4)

Oil
1 yellow onion
2 carrots
1 celery stalk
2-3 garlic cloves
2 potatoes
1 red or yellow bell pepper
300-400g ground beef (or venison)
400g can of tomatoes
1 can of water (or enough to cover everything)
beef stock pot (or a tbsp of game fond)
salt
black pepper
100 g cream cheese (Philadelphia)
fresh herbs

Chop all the veg and mince the garlic. Heat a tbsp of oil in a deep non-stick pan. Add the onion, celery and carrots. Saute for 5 minutes on medium heat, don't let the veg brown, although if that accidentally happens when you are simultaneously packing your suitcase, it won't ruin the soup.

Add the garlic and continue to saute for a few minutes. Add the ground beef and continue to cook breaking the meat down with a spatula until the meat is lightly browned. Add the potatoes, bell pepper, tomatoes, water, stock and seasoning. Bring to boil and leave to simmer on low heat until all the vegetables are cooked. Add water if necessary and add the cream cheese and mix well until cheese is incorporated. You can add some fresh herbs if you have any - I had some parsley ad basil.

Serve piping hot with fresh bread.