Potato Soup Through the Ages

Comfort.

Simple, tasty, and full of memories.

This is one of those recipes I've had since I moved out....long long ago. A recipe I called my Nana to get. Back in the day when there was no such thing as nationwide calling. You better believe I got charged for every minute I was on that phone. Tediously writing down the ingredients and directions and asking questions as we went along.

Nana was so patient and thorough. I just love my Nana. I think I'll give her a call tomorrow and tell her so.

Now, I have to admit, this isn't her exact recipe. Not that there is anything wrong with Nana's recipe...but you know how it is. We just can't leave well enough along. We have to play with it and tweak it and make it our own. And I'm not saying that my variation is by any means better. It's just different.

I don't have a recipe with exact measurements. Sorry....just wing it. You'll be fine. It's a very forgiving recipe. I'll try and guide you in the right direction though.

First off, I got about 6 slices of bacon, chopped 'em up and fried them in the pot I planned on using for the soup

Remove the bacon (set aside for garnishing later) and leave enough fat in the pan to saute a chopped onion and a chopped celery stalk. Towards the end of the sauteing, add in a minced garlic clove. Mean while, peel and dice several potatoes. About 5 or 6, depending on the size. Add the potatoes to the onions and celery. 

Add enough chicken stock to the pot to cover the potatoes by about an inch

Add some seasoning.....a bay leaf, a bit of salt....maybe 1/4 tsp. of cumin....a dash of worchestershire sauce. Allow to simmer until the potatoes are done....but not mushy.

While thats going on, get some other goodies ready.....some broccoli, dice up about 4 oz of cheese. I used sharp cheddar and some swiss. (ya...it's that lunch sandwich version of swiss which is NOTHING like "real" swiss which might be why I like it cuz I'm not a swiss fan.) My sister likes to use velveeta.

I know....thats cumin and a bay leaf there, which are already in the soup. Don't worry about it. I'm just not writing this in the order of my pictures. I got ahead of myself or something.

Ok...so the potatoes are tender (not mushy)....time to take some (not all) of them out and set aside

Remove the bay leaf

If you have one....get out your handy dandy immersion blender (or tater masher or pour it into a blender or something)

And blend away!! Cream those taters...mash em up baby!

Once that task is done to your liking....add some broccoli

And Cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese

Stir it up...and cook until the broccoli is tender and the cheese is melted

Return the potatoes that you had set aside to the pot

Season with white pepper

Were you ever told that you should season soup with white pepper instead of black pepper? Anyone know why?

Now give it a taste. Season with some salt and more pepper if needed. Garnish with cheese, green onions, sour cream and the bacon you cooked earlier....

and enjoy a wonderful bowl of what my daughter describes as "a twice baked potato in a bowl"

Which is very filling and satisfying 

Although I was only able to eat half the bowl before I was extremely full. 

But there might have been a reason that is totally unrelated to soup. Other than I enjoyed it while i was cooking my soup. 

Have you ever had or seen that strawberry / banana juice that's sold in the market along side the orange juice? 

Well, I finally found the reason for its existence.

One must mix it with Malibu Coconut Rum prior to consumption. 

Eat, Drink and Be Happy!

One last thing, then I'll let you go. I've entered my Potato Soup in the Souper Sunday fun that goes on over at Debs from Kahakai Kitchen. Check out her blog this Sunday and see all the other yummies that she has going on.

Gotta have it NOW

Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Sour Cream Cake! ooooooh yaaaaaaaaaaa. I saw this baby over at Joanne's Eats Well With Others and it not only impressed my mental senses but made my mouth water and instantly became a "need"....."must have"......"craving".

I knew I had to make it that night. And I did. I even stayed up late to make it. I didn't know we'd be going out to dinner that night. But I did know that I had to make this cake.

I'm not sure if it was the chocolate that seized my attention or the fact that it contained sour cream. Now I'm not some kind of sour cream crazed foodie. I like it just fine but no more than the average person. But there's something about baked goods with sour cream. An extra tang....deeper flavor.....and a super moistness that happens when it's added to a recipe. I don't know why. It just does. I think it's the 21st century version of the buttermilk reputation.

Anyways, regardless of why....I did. I made this baby and I'm proud of it. And let me tell you something....this is an awesome companion with your morning coffee.

1 stick of butter (the original said unsalted. I used regular) at room temp
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 egg yolks
3 egg whites
1 1/2 (or so...I always spill) vanilla extract
16 oz sour cream (I think it was suppose to be reduced fat but I forgot)
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350' F

Grease a 9x13" pan.

Cream the butter and sugar together, in a large bowl...add egg yolks and vanilla.
In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and baking powder.

Then you will alternately add the sour cream and then the flour mix into the butter mixture.

Thats some thick batter we have goin on

In yet another bowl....beat the eggs whites until stuff

(if I didn't know any better, I'd say it was awfully cold outside. Oh wait....it was....at least for SoCal)

Fold the stiff egg whites into the thick batter.

Mix together your 1/2 cup sugar and 1 tsp. cinnamon 

Pour Spread 1/2 of the batter into your prepared pan. Sprinkle the top with 1/2 of the cinnamon sugar and 1/2 of the chocolate chips....then carefully spoon and spread the remaining batter into your pan

 Try not to get too many of the chocolate chips mixed into the batter

Sprinkle the remaining cinnamon sugar and chocolate chips over the top of your cake

Looks promising, doesn't it?

Bake for about 40 - 50 minutes, or until your inserted toothpick comes out clean

mmm....let it cool before you cut into it.

Meanwhile....look at this crust!!

The chocolate chips are soft and the cinnamon sugar encrusted top is nice and crumbly. And talk about moist? You've got that too!  I took this to work (so I wouldn't eat it all. And yes, I left a few pieces at home for the girls)...and it was gone in no time.

Gotta love those quick disappearing desserts

Black Bean Hummus and Homemade Pita

One of the gals at work mentioned Black Bean Hummus. My ears perked and interest piqued! Whaaaaat is it? I've never heard of it!! Tell me more!!

She said it was simple.....same recipe as regular [chickpea] hummus only you use black beans.

Well heck....I've gotta try me some of that!

Let me tell ya....YUM! Super YUM!!! Super EASY!!! and I'm thinking...let's serve this for the SUPER BOWL!!! Too bad a team with purple jerseys won't be playing. I'm not saying any team in particular. I'm just sayin....you know....cuz it's like.....I dunno.....a color thing?

Cuz my Black Bean Hummus came out kinda purple.....ya know?

2- 15 oz cans of black beans, drained. Reserve liquid
2 or 3 garlic cloves
1/4 cup tahini
juice from 1 lemon
Olive Oil and Paprika to garnish

In a food processor, chop up the garlic cloves. Add the beans, tahini and lemon juice. Just as it's coming together, starting adding some of the reserved bean liquid....until you have the desired constancy. Enough to make it smooth, but not runny.

Put it in your serving bowl. If you have an immersion blender, you might wanna give it a few pulses in the hummus....just to give it that extra smoothness. Drizzle with Olive Oil and sprinkle with paprika.

Serve with pita slices.

Wanna try your hand at making pita? It's the easiest thing ever!!!

You can find the Master Recipe for White Flour Dough here at the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day blog.

So...you make that dough (4 ingredients...flour, yeast, water and salt....come on, I know you can do it!!)

Preheat your oven and stone to a piping hot 500'

After that first initial rise (there will be no second rise), grab about 1 lb of dough. Shape it into a ball (don't knead...just pull the dough under until you have a smooth ball.....this takes less than a minute). Place it on a well floured surface

Divide the dough into 4 and shape those into balls

Use enough flour to keep them from sticking but not so much that the dough dries out...don't stress over it...don't over think it......you'll be fine

Now....take one of those little balls....flatten it a bit....roll it out, turning, rolling.....kinda like you would for a pizza, until it's about 1/8 thick.

Slide it onto you stone and bake for about 5 - 7 minutes. After the first 4 or 5 minutes, I took the pita off the stone and continued to bake it directly on the rack (placement of racks is not important) so that it would brown a little.

Remove from the oven.....Oh look!!! It puffed up!! That means he's got pockets...wooo hoooo

Now let him cool. In order to maintain the pliable softness that pita's are known for.....cover this guy up with a little cotton towel and tuck him in until he cools off

He'll flatten out as he cools. Serve warm or at room temp.

(This was my whole wheat version)

Want more hummus variations? Check out the Southwestern Hummus that I make with cilantro and jalapenos

(this hummus tastes best with tortilla chips)

Soo....there ya have it. Black Bean Hummus and Homemade Pita and links to more. You have no excuse now. If you haven't tried hummus or if you tried the store bought stuff and thought you didn't like it....give it a second chance. It's good stuff.

White Chili

I enjoy a good bowl of chili. It's filling, comforting, flavorful...sometimes spicy. It's kinda like an adventure to eat a bowl of chili. Especially when you add a good slice of cornbread.

But I have to admit something here......and all you chili lovers out there, don't be hate'n on me. There's something about White Chili that makes my taste buds sing. I like it better than regular chili. And it's the only chili I like with beans.

You see, I'm not real big on beans.

But White Chili is different. The beans are different. The flavors are different. It's warm, hot, spicy and cool all at the same time. It's a taste bud playground.

I mean...take a look at these ingredients and tell me you don't agree (well...don't really cuz it might hurt my feelings....hahahaha)

Btw...this recipe was adapted from one of those little mini cookbooks you find at the grocery store right at the checkout counter. It's from Pillsbury Slow Cooker. But this night, I didn't have time to "slow cook" it. I needed it ready soon. So I stove topped it

2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (or 5 or 6 chicken thighs) cut into bite sized pieces seasoned with salt and pepper
Olive Oil to saute chicken
6 garlic cloves
1 medium onion, diced
1 tsp dried oregano
1 1/2 cups chicken broth, divided
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (more for more heat)
1/2 tsp cumin
2 14 oz cans of Cannelli Beans, undrained
1 10 3/4 oz can cream of chicken soup
1 4.5 oz can chopped green chilies
Hot Pepper Sauce to taste if desired
Avocado, Sour Cream, Cilantro to garnish if desired

Heat oil and saute your chicken in the pot that you're going to cook your chili in. Remove the chicken and set aside. Saute the onion in the pot....add 1 cup of the chicken broth and de-glaze your pot.

Now this next step is not necessary.....nor is it recommended. But I'm going to share it with you anyway. Don't ask me why.

Maybe just for the adventure of it?

I was checking out Melissa D'Arabian's recipe for White Chili because the name also included Quick Roasted Garlic. I mean....how could that not sound good?

So I tried her "quick" method for roasting garlic and wanted to add that to my chili recipe.

I shoulda known...I mean, if i were thinking logically, it woulda been obvious. But nooOOOOoooo....I did as I was told and then went DUH afterward.

You see, you take your garlic cloves, skins included and put them in a small microwave safe bowl and add 1 tablespoon of oil and 1 teaspoon of water, like so....

Cover, leaving a vent and nuke 'em for about 1.5 minutes, or until the garlic is soft.

They're supposta be buttery soft. I mean, isn't that what roasted garlic is all about? Well....these were just greasy. And its no wonder. I mean, basically they were "boiled" in oil. Wtf? How is that even remotely considered "roasted"?! Really Melissa?

Sooo...just saute the little buggers with the onion, towards the end of that sauteing process.

Now...back to business. Return the chicken to the pan and add the remaining ingredients (don't forget about that other 1/2 cup of chicken broth), except for the green chilies, hot sauce and garnishments.

Simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Just before serving add the green chilies and optional hot sauce (I opted out)

Serve and top with avocado, sour cream and cilantro or anything else you can think of that would enhance your dining experience.

Want some?

HBin5 Whole Wheat Apple Strudel

Apples, pecans and cinnamon......Oh my!

This is the final bread from this particular assignment with HBin5 club being hosted by BigBlackDogs....

There was a lot of talk about how this particular recipe works or doesn't work. I'm glad I waited until the end to make mine cuz I think I learned an awful lot from the others. Actually I know I did.

One of the biggest issues was the wetness of the bread due to the baked apples. Another concerns were too much filling and air pockets. (making mental note)

When it came time to make mine, I didn't have the required amount of dough left in my bin after making my Soft Sandwich bread and my Hamburger buns. I think I had about a pound instead of 1 1/2 pounds. Normally that would have really worried me and I would've other thought everything but the way this bread is made and assembled.....for some reason I was pretty calm. I figured it would either work or it wouldn't....

Only time would tell.

Sooo...I got out the good stuff and got to work...

One of the suggestions was to use only one apple instead of the recommended two apples. Noted. And since the issue had to do with moisture I picked out what I consider a rather dry apple....Red Delicious.

For the rest of the ingredients, I pretty much kept those amounts the same, even though my dough was "smaller" than the recipe called for....but I eyeballed it so I can't be positive but does it really matter?

And then I thought.....how yummy would this be if I added.....

wait for it....

wait.... for.... it............

CHEESE!!!!

Brie Cheese to be exact!

Yaaaa...that's the ticket. 

So I sliced off probably a bit more than half of this little "wheel". And I proceeded to roll out my dough into a rectangle.....sprinkled the cinnamon fruit goodies and laid out the cheese

Note to self: next time maybe lay them out the other direction...it will be easier to roll

And the next step was to roll this baby into a log, starting on a short end

It took some work but I did it.

Then came an obstacle. I wasn't really paying attention....but ummm....my log is longer than my bread pan. eerrr....crap. That was dumb. What the hell was I thinking? (someone's voice in my head keeps saying "that's the problem...you weren't thinking) yaya..whatever. Shut up and let me think. Ok...not a lot I can do here....other than.....yep....you got it....squuuuuiiiiiiiiish

(ssshhh...don't tell anyone but..I had to squish this poor little loaf twice because I had forgotten to grease the pan....so I had to un-squish, grease and re-squish. That's a lot of squishing. It's beginning to look a little bit like a caterpillar isn't it.)

I'm trying to think.....that picture might be after the rise. but I can't remember. So I'll include this one also...which shows the top sprinkled doused in cinnamon sugar just before going into the oven. Oh ya, I had almost forgotten to add the cinnamon sugar....this little guy was already in the oven for a splint second when I remembered that step....(whew...not my day for "thinking" AT ALL!). 

Ya, so I gave it an egg wash and cinnamon sugar bath while it was all squished in its little tub.

Now because I had used less dough I set the timer for 45 minutes. (instructions had said 50 - 60 minutes). I purchased an instant read thermometer which is totally useless for my intended purpose as the instructions (which were read after I got home and the next day after every important paper, receipt was tossed in the trash and taken out) said not to use it in a closed oven. And by the time it "instantly reads" anything? The temp has changed. Good thing it was cheap.

Anyways...I ended up cooking this little caterpillar for pretty close to the full time of 60 minutes.

(apparently my breads have a "thing" going on with San Andreas)

But check this baby out......

See those little bits of white? The tell tale signs of the brie. Which added a slight tang that only brie can do while meshing with the sweet interior.

This makes the most awesome toast! My first slice had spun honey....that was so good even Simba was begging for a bite

The kids and I have discovered that it's even better as cinnamon toast. This lovely loaf has been a great hit! Loved it and I would make it again...espeically for a holiday.