One of the gifts my Mother passed down to me early in life was teaching me how to cook.

Even though she was a good cook, I think she aspired to become an even better cook, because she was always reading recipe books, magazines, and trying new dishes.

Although most of us are not professional chefs, I’d say most of us who cook are always looking for “easy” recipes.

Just in time for the holidays, I’m so excited to share with you my Sweet Pumpkin Barley and Sage Soup.

It’s a hearty dish to serve as a light meal or as a course for your Thanksgiving Dinner.

One thing that makes cooking easier, especially over the holidays, is to be able to cook with reliable appliance, like the GE Brand.

When we remodeled our kitchen 2 years ago, one thing we did to save money (as the economy was sinking before our very eyes) was to put our old appliances back in the “new” kitchen.

We now have a beautiful kitchen, and I am grateful, but I will admit it would be nice to have a GE Café™ Advantium 120V Oven and a GE Café™ Double Oven Range.

A girl can dream, right?

There are many fabulous features of these built in ovens which can be placed above a cooktop, or as a free-standing range, such as:

Speedcook oven
True European Convection oven
Warming/proofing oven
Sensor microwave oven
Glass touch, backlit controls*
175 preprogrammed recipes

Have you ever experienced the need to prepare several meals at once, along with a variety of desserts for Thanksgiving, but have been unable to do so because of a limited cooking range?

I can raise my hand to that!

That’s why I think the GE Café™ Double Oven Range is a brilliant move.

You can actually cook different dishes in the UPPER and LOWER ovens at different temperatures!

More outstanding features:

Performance
The Precise Air™ convection system uses a reversing fan that circulates heat and air through the oven for evenly browned and baked foods.

Versatility
The TrueTemp™ griddle system provides a flat, non-stick surface and offers a choice of cooking from 200° to 400°. The double oven cooks two dishes at different temperatures all at once. Pizza mode is ideal for preparing fresh or frozen pizzas. Slow cook mode offers two slow cook options for specific meals.

Appearance
NextStep controls take all the guesswork out of setting your oven. This knob-free, glass touch system illuminates to lead you through the control-setting process and helps create delicious results every time.

Having an efficient kitchen sure does make cooking easier, even though looking back to years past with a tiny kitchen, we still had many memorable Thanksgiving meals in our home.

Sometimes I got the meal out to the table on time, but actually, thinking back … I do remember my friend Hoppi brought the turkey that year.

Why? Because I just didn’t have enough cooking space/ovens to get it all done!

Today I’m sharing with you a wonderful soup that would be wonderful to cook during the Thanksgiving holidays, and, on top of the recipe we are giving away a $100 VISA card!

Wouldn’t that make holiday shopping much easier?

HOW TO WIN $100 VISA GIFT CARD

Sit back, enjoy the recipe, and let me know what appliance in your kitchen would you replace if you had the opportunity?

HOW TO WIN A GE Café™ ADVANTIUM 120V OVEN
Here’s a bonus. Check out the BlogHer GE Café™ informative Prizes & Promotions section between 11/10/11 and 11/30/11 to learn how you can win.

Rules for $100 Visa gift card sweepstakes:
No duplicate comments.
You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry
methods between 11/10/11 and 11/30/11:
a) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
b) Tweet about this promotion and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment
on this post (I’m @SandyCoughlinRE on Twitter)
c) Blog about this promotion and leave the URL to that post in a comment on
this post
d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about
an alternate form of entry.
This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older
Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail.
You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be
selected.
The Official Rules are available to read, HERE.
This contest will run from 11/10/11 – 11/30/11.

Visit my fellow bloggers and join in on our GE Café™ Thanksgiving “progressive meal” by gathering recipes for your Thanksgiving. Click for more chances to win a $100 Visa gift card.