Potato Soup

Last weekend was miserable. It rained for almost three days. But a good rainy weekend is good for a few things: staying in your pjs, binge watching netflix, reading in bed, and soup! I thought this was a pretty good potato soup recipe but then I have no experience making potato soup. I've had some very good restaurant potato soup but I'm sure they put a ton of unhealthy things in it instead of just half a ton. I used our Dinosaur BBQ Cajun Foreplay Seasoning and it was divine.

Please excuse my messy stovetop!

 It was served up with some Cabot cheddar, homemade bacon bits, and nice crusty bread.

Potato Soup

(from the Pioneer Woman)

Ingredients:
6 slices Thin Bacon, Cut Into 1-inch Pieces
1 whole Medium Onion, Diced
3 whole Carrots, Scrubbed Clean And Diced
3 stalks Celery, Diced
6 whole Small Russet Potatoes, Peeled And Diced
8 cups Low Sodium Chicken Or Vegetable Broth
3 Tablespoons All-purpose Flour
1 cup Milk
1/2 cup Heavy Cream
1/2 teaspoon Salt, More To Taste
Black Pepper To Taste
1/2 teaspoon Cajun Spice Mix
1 teaspoon Minced Fresh Parsley
1 cup Grated Cheese Of Your Choice
Directions:
1. Add bacon pieces to a soup pot over medium heat and cook bacon until crisp and fat is rendered. Remove the bacon from the pot and set it aside. Pour off most of the grease, but do not clean the pot.
2. Return the hot to medium-high heat and add the onions, carrots, and celery. Stir and cook for 2 minutes or so, then add the diced potatoes. Cook for 5 minutes, seasoning with salt, pepper, and Cajun spice.
3. Pour in the broth and bring it to a gentle boil. Cook for 10 minutes, or until the potatoes are starting to get tender. Whisk together the flour and the milk, then pour into the soup and allow the soup to cook for another 5 minutes.
4. Remove half to 2/3 the soup and blend in a blender/food process until completely smooth. Pour it back into the soup pot and stir to combine. Let it heat back up as you taste for seasonings, adding more of what it needs. Stir in cream, then stir in parsley, reserving a little for garnish.
5. Serve in bowls garnished with parsley, grated cheese and crisp bacon pieces.

Big Kid Dinner

Before I ran off to the shore for the week I made Mr. Lawyer a real dinner with sides and everything! The delicious Modenese Pork Chops made an appearance along with my favorite Farmer's Market Squash Saute. For something on the starchy side I tried a new potato recipe. "Crash Hot Potatoes" involve boiling the little spuds first, followed by smashing them, and finally baking them. You have the freedom to season them with whatever herbs you have on hand which is a bonus. I liked them because you get fluffy baked potato bits but you also get these nice crunchy bits. I see more of these little spuds in our future!

A little "Mise en place" going on.

 Modenese Pork Chops...who doesn't love a recipe that calls for opening a bottle of wine?

 Crispy bits and fluffy bits all at once!

Big kid dinner plate!

Crash Hot Potatoes

(from the Pioneer Woman)

Ingredients:
12 whole New Potatoes (or Other Small Round Potatoes)
3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
Kosher Salt To Taste
Black Pepper To Taste
Rosemary (or Other Herbs Of Choice) To Taste
Directions:
1. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add in as many potatoes as you wish to make and cook them until they are fork-tender.
2. On a sheet pan, generously drizzle olive oil. Place tender potatoes on the cookie sheet leaving plenty of room between each potato.
3. With a potato masher, gently press down each potato until it slightly mashes, rotate the potato masher 90 degrees and mash again. Brush the tops of each crushed potato generously with more olive oil.
4. Sprinkle potatoes with kosher salt, fresh ground black pepper and fresh chopped rosemary (or chives or thyme or whatever herb you have available.)
5.Bake in a 450 degree oven for 20-25 minutes until golden brown

C+ Cornbread

I have not had any luck making cornbread from scratch. I've tried multiple times, Mr. Lawyer tried once in Syracuse, it just never works. Too dry, too sweet, weird texture, doesn't rise, etc. I think we're just Jiffy people. It's what I grew up on and it's easy. This recipe was probably the best texture that I've gotten from a homemade cornbread but the taste was lacking. Oh well. Wish I had some birds to feed.

Cornbread

(From the Pioneer Women)

Ingredients:
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup milk
1 whole egg
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup shortening
2 tablespoons shortening
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Combine cornmeal, flour, salt, and baking powder in a bowl. Stir together.
3. Measure the buttermilk and milk in a measuring cup and add the egg. Stir together with a fork. Add the baking soda and stir.
4. Pour the milk mixture into the dry ingredients. Stir with a fork until combined.
5. In a small bowl, melt 1/4 shortening. Slowly add melted shortening to the batter, stirring until just combined. In an iron skillet, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons shortening over medium heat. Pour the batter into the hot skillet. Spread to even out the surface. (Batter should sizzle.)
6. Cook on stovetop for 1 minute, then bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Coffee and Soup

Do you know what I love about the week after Easter? HAM BONE! Almost every year Mr. Lawyer steals the ham bone (Sorry Mrs. T!) and makes his delicious Split-Pea Soup. He has made it four times now: three with the ham bone and once with pork chop (which was subpar!). I haven't found a way to make the picture look pretty but let me tell you, it's delicious. The recipe is HERE.

And now for a recipe I'm not too sure about: Iced Coffee. It didn't blow me away but I was resistant to dumping in cups of sugar. I've made two cups so far, one was plain and the other I added 2 tablespoons of sugar. You couldn't taste the sugar....it makes me scared to think of how much sugar and stuff that the coffee shops add to it!! Cold brewing the coffee was fun, I used some Cinnabon flavored coffee that had been in the freezer a while and I like the flavor it added (duh, that's the point of flavored coffee). It was a nice after school pick me up but it stills needs some tweaking.

Iced Coffee

(From the Pioneer Woman)

Ingredients
1 pound Ground Coffee
8 quarts Cold Water
Half-and-half
Sweetened Condensed Milk or Sugar (2-3 Tablespoons Per Serving)
Note: Can Use Skim Milk, 2% Milk, Whole Milk, Sugar, Artificial Sweeteners, Syrups...adapt To Your Liking!
Directions:
1. In a large container, mix ground coffee with water. Cover and allow to sit at room temperature eight hours or overnight.
2. Line a fine mesh strainer with cheesecloth and set over a pitcher or other container. Pour coffee/water mixture through the strainer, allowing all liquid to run through. Discard grounds.
3. Place coffee liquid in the fridge and allow to cool. Use as needed.
4. To make iced coffee, pack a glass full of ice cubes. Fill glass 2/3 full with coffee liquid. Add healthy splash of half-and-half. Add 2-3 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk (can use plain sugar instead) and stir to combine. Taste and adjust half-and-half and/or sweetened condensed milk as needed.

Before the stir...