It's Monday Night, Are You Ready for Some ... SOUP?

While Monday nights in September bring football fans back in front of their TV sets, they bring MY family back to the dinner table. After a summer of flying by the seat of our pants, grabbing dinner out on our way home from the beach or throwing something simple on the grill, the fall months trigger my nesting gene to kick into action and start cooking my brains out.

A family tradition we've had in our family for years is Soup and Panini Night. Every Monday beginning when school starts I make a soup and some kind of specialty grilled sandwich. My family usually puts in their "orders" the night before for their favorites and I can honestly say that they are usually choices that meet everyone's tastes.

But there are always those times when making a homemade soup is not in the cards because of either a busy schedule or just plain old dinnertime exhaustion. It's then that I turn to my "busy mom's pantry" and pull out a slow cooker soup kit. I add a couple of simple ingredients in the morning before heading out the door and we all come home to a house smelling soooo good and a hot, nutritious dinner on the table. I whip up the sandwiches and we're sitting down to eat in no time.

Sadly, my girls always can't tell the difference between the homemade soup I've slaved over to make or the slow cooker soup. A compliment to the soup kit, yes ... but I do still enjoy making the soup recipes that have been family faves for years. My youngest loves Potato Leek while my middle daughter is a Cream of Broccoli fan, and my oldest will always request Minestrone or Chicken Noodle.

Coupled with a mouth-watering grilled sandwich on crusty bread? Oh yeah. Monday night football is way overrated.

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