Apple-Cheddar-Potato-Parsnip Soup

I realize my soup names are not always the most creative, but no one can accuse them of being inaccurate!

I made a huge batch of this.  Halve or quarter this recipe at will, but as far as spices go it should always be to taste, so don't get too hung up on math!

Serves: 6 - 8 (around a 12 oz serving)

Ingredients:
Shredded cheddar - 8 oz
Red Potatoes - 5 medium
Parsnips - 2 medium
Gala apple - 3 medium
Lemon Juice - 2-3 table spoons
Knorr Vegetarian Vegetable Bullion - 2 extra large cubes
Water - 4-5 cups (less for thicker soup, more for thinner soup or unexpected company!)
Dried Sage - to taste
Nutmeg - a dash
Salt - a teaspoon or so, to taste

Peel your parsnips. Chop your potatoes and parsnips up into smallish pieces and cook in boiling, salted water until soft (10-20 minutes).  In the meantime, get 2 cups of water into a large pot with both bullion cubes and your spices. Place on lowish heat and cover.

Chop up your apples into smallish pieces.

Are your potatoes and parsnips ready? Good. Drain them.

Now you'll want to blend your potatoes, parsnips, apples and remaining water in a blender or food processor. You might have to do this in several batches! Use enough water to allow your blender/food processor to work without difficulty but not so much that you really thin out the soup. 2-3 cups total should be more than enough.

Add your blended potato-parsnip-apple goodness to your broth. It should be quite thick and you might have to guide it out with a spatula or wooden spoon. Mix well.

Add shredded cheddar, stirring as you do.

Stir occasionally and let this soup simmer for a while -- long enough so the cheese melts in. (For a rule of thumb try 10-15 minutes at least; more is always OK).

Then... serve!

Here are approximate nutrition facts, courtesy of the myfitnesspal.com recipe calculator. Serving size is around 12 ounces.

SOUP-A-THON 2012

What's that you say? Soup-a-thon?

It's kind of like NaNoWriMo but it's for soup.  One soup per week, every week until my freezer is full or I just flake out on it too much to recover from. 

Pictured in that photo, by the way, is black bean soup and tomato-cheddar-pepper soup side by side in the same bowl. No, it is not Photoshopped, just carefully ladled. People call out Photoshop way too often these days. Sometimes stuff just really does look cool!  But I digress.

SOUP-A-THON 2012

The -thon is upon us. Every week I will post a new soup experience with photos and a recipe. I'm making big huge amounts so that I can freeze some and give some to friends and generally spread the yummy winter soup love. Halving or quartering these recipes should be fine, but I would advise you to use spice and bullion to taste, rather than doing math on my already guestimated amounts.

WEEK ONE: Apple-cheddar-potato-parsnip
WEEK TWO: Tea & Fake Sausage
WEEK THREE: Avocado & Tomato
WEEK FOUR: Cheesy Spinach & Tomato
WEEK FIVE: Broccoli Cheese
WEEK SIX: Vegetarian Sausage and Peppers

Microwaved Baked Potato Pizza With Tarragon

So, I don't have a stove! I can't really say what's wrong with it but it won't turn on and it's a really old gas stove so I'm leaving it to a questionable expert (my super) to examine it rather than risk burning my new apartment down.

I'm someone who really enjoys cooking awesome food despite unexpected limitations, so today I decided I would have toaster oven bagel pizza for dinner. But! My bagels went unexpectedly stale (too stale even for toasty resurrection).  And thus was born...

Microwaved Baked Potato Pizza With Tarragon


Serves: 1
Calories: 400 (this may vary depending on potato size and cheese saturation level)
Ingredients:
1 potato
Handful of Grape Tomatoes
Handful of Shredded Cheese (I used Sargento's Artisan Blend of Mozzarella and Smoked Provolone)
Small (a little goes a long way!) bunch of fresh tarragon
1 tbsp Butter
Lemon Juice
1 clove garlic

Start by microwaving your potato. Wash it and POKE HOLES IN IT FIRST! to avoid disappointing results like in-microwave explosion. Use a fork and poke deeply. Different potatoes take different amounts of time to bake in a microwave; if you feel uncertain start with 4 minutes and go from there.

While your potato is microwaving, chop up your garlic and tarragon very finely. Put them into a mug. Add lemon juice--just enough to sort of generously coat/cover your garlic and tarragon. Add a dollop of butter. Set aside.

Slice or chop up your grape tomatoes as you see fit.

When your potato is done, microwave your mug of butter, lemon juice, garlic and tarragon for 30 seconds or until butter is melted.

Cut your potato into quarters and fluff it a bit. Pour half the butter mixture over it. Then dump your tomatoes on top of it and then your cheese. Pour the rest of the butter mixture over it. Microwave this for 20-30 seconds.

Ta-da! Microwaved amazingness.

I ate this with a glass of cheap Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, which I feel goes fabulously with anything even vaguely Italian.

Soupy Feel Better Pasta

Good for fending off a cold or seasonal stuffiness. Serves 2.

Ingredients:

4 cloves garlic, sliced

one third of a medium onion, diced (small)

one medium tomato, diced (small)

Half a pound of elbow pasta

4-6 cups of broth (depending on desired soupiness level)

Lots of dried basil, black pepper, and garlic

Splash of lemon juice

Some grated Pecorino Romano cheese (if you're feeling sassy)

I prefer to make my broth with Knorr's vegetarian vegetable bullion, but any broth that suits you is fine. Put your broth into a medium pot and bring to a boil. While it is heating, chop up your garlic and onion. Throw half of that into the pot with the broth. The rest is going to go in at the end, raw, which is both great for you and delicious. But if you totally can't deal with raw onions and garlic, I guess you better put it all in now.

Also, splash in your splash of lemon juice and shake your spices in. A few generous shakes of both black pepper and garlic and a shake or two of dried basil -- that's the ticket. If you have fresh basil, yum, lucky you. You may want to slice or tear it up to release the flavor and you can put it in now or wait until the end.

When the broth is boiling, put in your pasta and cook it the same length of time you'd usually cook pasta. Test an elbow now and then to see when it's ready; you don't want to overcook them.

Don't drain, just serve! Garnish with your diced tomatoes and, if you're feeling sassy, some pecorino romano cheese.

Beany Shroomy Love Soup

This is another "you should write this down" soup that my roommate likes. It's sort of vaguely asian tasting.

Ingredients:

-one can of black beans (16 oz)

-one can of water

-two bullion cubes (I like knorr's vegetarian vegetable)

-two scallions

-some olive oil

-a dash or two of cooking sherry

-four or five garlic cloves

-half a tsp to 1 tsp of smashed up sichuan pepper (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sichuan_pepper)

-a few spoonfuls of lemon juice

-6 fresh mushrooms, sliced.

-some cayenne pepper (to taste)

-optional: cubed mild cheese or firm tofu

Chop your garlic and scallions finely. Put them and some olive oil in a pot and on medium-low and let them get bubbling. Add your smashed up sichuan pepper and some cayenne pepper, if you're feeling it, now. Let this simmer a little bit, but stir it so your spices don't get stuck.

When you've bubbled a little bit, open your can of beans and dump that in (no need to drain it; this is soup we're making here). Add a can of water, and your two bullion cubes, and a few spoonfuls of lemon juice (this is a taste thing; go conservative and you can always add more later) and some sherry. Then add your mushrooms. If you're adding tofu you should add it here, but if you're adding cheese wait so it doesn't turn into a blob of doom. Then cover and let bubble for a while.

Ready! If you're adding cheese, scatter it and stir well so it doesn't turn into a blob. That's it!

Tomato Cheddar Soup

Serves 3-6 depending on portion size. This is easy, fresh and delicious. If you have never had tomato soup made with fresh tomatoes, MAKE THIS RIGHT NOW.

Ingredients:

5 medium ripe tomatoes (I like roma tomatoes or fresh-on-the-vine)

half a head of garlic

6 leaves fresh basil

6 oz cheddar cheese

3 cups vegetable broth (I'm a big fan of Knorr's vegetarian vegetable)

olive oil

Salt, pepper, a little cayenne pepper if you're feeling it

Large splash of lemon juice

The best recipes are simple.

Get your broth going first. Heat in a small saucepan until bullion is dissolved or, if it's ready made broth, just until it's hot.

Slice your garlic up finely. Put it, and some olive oil, and your 6 basil leaves, ripped up, into a small saucepan on medium. Cover with a spatterguard OR with a cover that's not on all the way so steam can get out. When some of the garlic is golden brown, you're good to go. Add it to your broth.

Your tomatoes should be cut into medium-small chunks. Dump the tomato chunks into your blender and add maybe a cup of the broth--this just makes the blending easier.

Blend until liquefied. Add this to the rest of your broth in a pot. Add spices, lemon juice. At this point, by the way, you have an awesome base for ANY kind of soup if you like tomato-based soups.

Add your cheese, diced up into small pieces or grated. Cook on medium, stirring frequently and keeping loosely covered (some air should be able to escape so it doesn't boil over). Cook until the cheese is melted throughout the soup.

Ready to serve! Mmmmmmmmm.

Another Awesome Black Bean Recipe

Serves 2, or perhaps 4 if it's an appetizer.

Ingredients:

1 can of black beans (15.5 oz)

1 avocado (the smaller ones that look like reptile eggs, not the big bright ones)

4-5 cloves of garlic

Small bunch fresh cilantro (leaves from 2-4 stalks is good)*

Half a cup of cranberry wine**

Big handful of Queso Blanco, cubed***

Olive Oil

Black Pepper

Cayenne Pepper

Paprika

*Cilantro has a lot of personality so if you don't like it, leave it out or go for parsley instead.

**I just happened to see and buy cranberry wine last week, for the first time ever. You can substitute cranberry juice, but it needs to be the real deal--all cranberry juice, no added sugar or corn syrup.

***Or feel free to substitute with a cheese you like better. Firm and mild is good.

Chop up your garlic finely, and put it in some oil in a medium sized pot, over a medium sized flame. You want to let it bubble and brown but not get too burnt. You may want to put a spatterguard or cover it partially to avoid spitting oil.

When your garlic is brown, add your can of beans (don't drain) and your cranberry wine or juice. Add your cayenne pepper, paprika, pepper. I just used a few shakes of each. Turn on high for now to get it nice and hot, but once it starts really bubbling you will want to reduce the heat until it just simmers.

While it is simmering, slice up your avocado into small manageable slices, and chop up your cilantro very finely. The best way to do this is with a big sharp knife and a lot of small chops. (AND CAUTION, PEOPLE! Kitchen safety please.)

Let it simmer for 10 minutes or so, them remove from heat, add your cilantro and your cheese, and stir immediately so that the cheese does not glob together into a cheeseball of doom. Avocados go on top. Ready to eat!