First brisk day of the season and I bust out the soup!

I love summertime. It's so short that I try to cram as much summertime fun in as I possibly can. I also love to cook. Summertime is usually tons of grilling and other foods that don't heat up the kitchen.

One of my favorite things to make are soups. That's one of the few reasons that I tolerate cooler temps nine months out of the year in Montana. A hearty stew, pork green chili, cheesy bacon potato, regular chili, cheesy cauliflower, homemade chicken noodle.  So many soup possibilities! They are easy to make, the kids generally like them, and soups are an affordable way to feed a decent sized family.  Toss in whatever random ingredients you have and more than likely it will turn out ok.

This morning, when I realized it was going to be our first "feels a lot like fall" day of the year in Billings, I starting thinking about making a soup. When there is a chill in the air, lots of  people think pumpkin spice (ugh, overload)... I think soups.  Anyway, I made a really awesome Italian Wedding Soup.  There are a million different ways to make it, but this recipe is a good starting point. I used those frozen Costco meatballs, which makes it real quick to put together.

I know we've got a lot of warm days yet to come. Hopefully, it'll be nice through October. But if it all goes to hell and winter comes early, at least I'll have soup.

I