My Best Potato Soup (It could be yours, too)

Isn’t it Purrrtyy? (In my best southern accent)

Potato Soup GO!

Finally had the opportunity to use my parsley. See those green things in my soup!

Alright, Potato Soup is easy, but you need to know a few things. Adding Milk and Cream to soups can turn into a disaster if you don’t control your heat. Make sure you veggies are all about the same size, so they can cook evenly. And don’t forget to season as you go. You may end up with bland potato blah.

Trying to be consistent with the style of the recipe card.

This is where I start my spiel on be careful with your knives. I managed to get a big boo boo on my finger. Not the first or the last. But Dang it does hurt.

I used half and half instead of cream because I had it in my fridge.

You can substitute chicken stalk, and bacon. If you prefer a more vegetarian option. Use olive oil or some other oil. Whatever you prefer.

Just know that if you leave out Milk and cream you are not going to have as creamy of a product as you expect.

Prep all your Veggies, and cook your bacon!

 

 

 

 

Set Your Bacon Aside. Pour some of the grease out, You only need a little.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saute the Veggies, (note that your bacon may leave a bit of bits on the bottom, sauteing should clear it up, if not that wine will do it. Splash the wine and cook til it evaporates. Add Broth, Potatoes, and fill remaining with water 3/4 way to the top. Bring the pot to a boil. 10 minutes or so until tender.

 

 

 

 

 

Whisk together milk and flour. Add to the pot, bring to about medium heat. To cook out the flour mixture. Take several scoopfuls of soup and place in a blender. Blend to a smooth texture. Add back to the Pot and Stir.

 

Lower the Temperature to low, add cream, and allow a few minutes to cook.  Do NOT bring this to a boil. It will scald.

Add a handful of minced parsley and stir.

Serve with crumbled bacon and grated cheese.

 

Enjoy the soup. Serve with some bread and butter.

 

 

Chili With Beans (dried beans, rehydrated)

Comfy cozy Dinner. Let’s face it people, it’s cold outside. Well, it is here in Germany. Winter is making it’s presence known this year, very early.

My favorite meal when it’s cold is Chili with Cheese accompanied with Corn Bread, drizzled with honey. Makes a girl happy.  See Next post for cornbread recipe.

So remember to start soaking your beans the night before. I’m still iffy if my chili is going to be ready for dinner. (crossing fingers, I have been soaking them since yesterday afternoon).  They aren’t tender yet.

You can use canned beans the day of.  I am trying to limit my waste a bit more and save a buck.  Yes, I did use canned tomato sauce and tomatoes, but I am going for practical here.

I normally make my own chili spice, but seeing as I just recently came home, I still need to do a pantry/spice cabinet inventory. (You can also use the pre-made packages)

There are no rules on how you put this together, I usually start throwing things into the crock pot. Beans, Meat and Onion.

Adding spices, tomato stuff, and then water.

See my giant transformer (the silver box) it powers my mixer and sometimes my slow cooker. Hulking thing.

See, what a girls gotta do when you live in Germany and have American Appliances:

Cook on High til those beans are tender, fork tender.  I will update this post with a photo once it does finish. Don’t forget my following post for corn bread that goes with the chili. If you have honey set that on the table. Don’t forget the cheese and cracker for the chili. What do you top on your chili?

Take the leftover chili, put into freezable container, allowing the chili cool time before actually putting it in the freezer. This recipe makes more than enough for two people. So I take the extra and freeze it, for another day when I don’t want to cook. It’s all about being thrifty and practical.

Lentil Vegetable Soup

As you can see I have tried to “decorate” my blog for upcoming Halloween. I never really was into Halloween, but now with a kid, it’s a must. I hope you enjoy the slight splash of color.

Lentil Soup! I haven’t really dealt with Lentils since Culinary School. If you don’t know what Lentils are:

Lentils are legumes along with other types of beans. They grow in pods that contain either one or two lentil seeds that are round, oval or heart-shaped disks and are oftentimes smaller than the tip of a pencil eraser. They may be sold whole or split into halves with the brown and green varieties being the best at retaining their shape after cooking. http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=52

They are a very healthy bean, and a great substitute for things like potatoes in soups.

My recipe I used chicken broth, although this may be substituted for vegetable broth.

Ingredients:

2 Celery Stalks (Chopped)

2 Carrots (chopped)

1/2 Onion (Chopped)

3 garlic cloves (minced)

1 Cup uncooked Lentils

1 can of Chicken or Vegetable Broth

3 Cups Water

Salt/Pepper as needed

Olive Oil

Okay so chop your vegetables to your preference in size. Just remember that you have to cook them before adding liquid to make the soup, so they should relatively be the same size and be able to cook through easily, if not you may end up with a crunchy soup.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Add about 2tbsp.  of olive oil to a pot, heat on medium high, add veggies. Render til veggies become soft. Add garlic towards the end.

Add Broth and 3 Cups of water, Drop in lentils. Simmer for 15-20 minutes.

The lentils will soak in some of the liquid. So there will be less. If you prefer more liquid, you can add more. Or add less Lentils.

Enjoy with the following post of Irish Soda Bread.

Very Quick and Easy Let me know how it works for you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chef Huston’s Cream of Cucumber Soup (Potage Cumberland) (Cross Creeky Cookery)

Okay So I wasn’t keen on cucumber soup much less cream of cucumber soup. I mean who eats cream soups these days?  But I have to say I went full speed ahead and made it. It was a pretty simple recipe so it’s not like I was spending too much time on something I didn’t plan to like.

 

I technically halved the recipe. Because I didn’t want to let too much go to waste, I am eating it as we speak. I know my husband wont eat it, and convincing my two-year old it is good will be a feat.

So First you need to wash a large cucumber. Leave the peel on (for the color), Grate on a grater on the coarse side.  Prepare a saute pan with 2 tbsp butter, on medium high, Add Grated cucumber (discarding the liquid from the cucumbers)

 

 

 

Then Brown the cucumbers slightly. Adding the  1 tbsp flour and mixing in, add the Hot milk and stir, I let it simmer for just a moment. Somewhere in here add about a 1 tsp of salt. Because I added a few pinches. I needed to add more at the end, it didn’t  taste quite right

 

 

 

 

 

Blend Cucumber mixture in a blender til all blended (it will be a coarse cream soup) You will feel the texture in your mouth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Final Look: It will be flecked with green.. It’s not a green soup necessarily.

Mine was frothy from the milk, but I think if you let it sit before pouring it might settle. And I garnished it with sliced cucumbers, and a little bit of fresh cream.  I’m sure you could add nutmeg or dill just a little might give it a pop.

I at this with Mother’s Biscuits and it was delicious. You have to do both together, let me know how it tastes. I am telling you that probably made the soup even better.

 

As always thanks for reading. See Previous Post for Mother’s Biscuits How-To.