teacher by day - chef by night
Who needs to plant your own garden when you have good neighbors! I know that this time of year many people feel they are over-run with Zucchini – if you find yourself in this situation, then I am sure you are already being a good …
I tasted these a day later and they were good enough to eat, but resisted temptation and let them sit another week or so and they were worth the wait! These are nice and crunchy still with all the taste you would expect from something pickled. So get your harvest of peas (or go ahead and make this with the green beans that are currently in abundance) and make up a jar of these to enjoy in a few days – YUM!
Since I bought my house in 2009, every year at the end of April and through May I get very excited. You see, the wonderful woman that I bought my house from was a wonderful gardener and had a green thumb with her flowers – both things that I struggle with (Rich is a half-way-decent-ish gardener and I am working on the flower thing). Because of Marie’s skills (she was 89 and still living well and happily on her own – may be all be so lucky) I end up with quite a few bunches of asparagus, during the season we get at least a dozen pieces every day
We eat most of our asparagus fresh (& warm from the sun) right after picking it. We love it grilled as well.
This week I was craving some soup – so whipped up this Cream of Asparagus Soup. Putting some toasted garlic bread with fresh butter & parmesan on the side, we had a fresh, light, healthy, filling, quick, tasty dinner.
.
Just because its spring doesn’t mean that you need to give up ‘soup days’ – just come up with different ways to enjoy it.
SO – How do you enjoy your spring/summer soups!?
[adapted from Simple Bites]
Melt the butter in a large dutch oven over medium heat. When melted, add the leeks and sauté until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté an additional minute.
Stir in the flour, mixing well with the butter, and cook for 2 minutes. Whisk in the white wine. Make sure to scrape up any browned bits. Cook for 1 minute. Add 3 cups of broth, whisking to eliminate any lumps. Bring liquid to a simmer over medium-heat. Add the asparagus pieces and the bay leaf. Reduce to medium-low heat and cook for 7-10 minutes, or until the asparagus is tender.
Discard the bay leaf. Add the mixture to a food processor (or use that great immersion blender), working in batches if needed, and purée until soup is very smooth, about 2-3 minutes. Add the remaining 1 cup of broth, if needed. Pour the soup back into the pot over low heat. Stir in the cream, salt, pepper, nutmeg and lemon juice. Heat the soup for 2-3 minutes. Adjust seasonings to taste, and add extra liquid until preferred consistency is reached. If desired, grate a bit of fresh Parmesan on top.
I also want to try this raw asparagus salad from Geny Foodie later this season too!
“If I ordered these in a restaurant and they tasted like these, I would be happy.” and “I really hope you are going to make these again” … when those are the phrases I heard from Rich when he was enjoying these, I knew that …
Who doesn’t love ranch dressing!? When we were little kids, ok, well always, we love dipping our veggies (or chips or breadsticks, or whatever) it in! The only bad thing is all the preservatives and who really knows what goes into it. Here is your solution …
I don’t even like Pot Pie… I have told Rich that since we first started dating (and too bad for him, because he loves pot pie)! As much as he loves Pot Pie, I guess I might love him (eww barf – I know!) because I decided to put my hate of cooked veggies & pot pie to the test and make him one of his “favorite” foods. I made some changes here – which its Pot Pie – you can do that! I hate hate hate peas & cooked carrots – so they didn’t go in there (I used green beans instead of peas & actually cut up 3 whole baby carrots to put in there, just to push myself a little more – I know mom, I willingly put carrots into something that was getting cooked)!
(As adapted from Closet Cooking– congrats to Kevin for making his own pie crust, and as a side note: I now have this blog bookmarked because check out some of those “top recipes”… yeah, thats what I’m talking about!)
2 tablespoons butter
1 onion (chopped)
2 stalks celery (chopped)
1 small small carrot (chopped)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
1 cup milk
1 pound cooked chicken (shredded)
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 cup frozen/canned green beans
1 cup canned corn
salt and pepper to taste
2 pre-made Pillsbury crusts
Directions:
Melt the butter in a large pan. Add the onions, celery, and carrots and cook until tender, about 10-15 minutes. Mix in the flour and let it cook for a minute. Carefully mix in the chicken stock followed by the milk. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the chicken, thyme, green beans, corn and season with salt and pepper. Pour the filling into a pie dish with the bottom crust laid inside (read the box for help here if you need it. Place the 2nd pie dough over the pie plate and fold any excess under itself. Seal the top and bottom crusts. Cut [3] 1-inch slits on the top. Place the pie onto a baking sheet and bake in a preheated 400F oven until the crust is golden brown, about 25 minutes.
Surprises of Surprises – I LIKED IT! (My parent’s first dog was Mikey – like the Life commercial, this way in case mom made something dad hated: they could feed it to the dog & say “Mikey likes it”). The flavors all worked, there were veggies I liked – and Pot Pie is no longer something I will say “eww” to (as long as the right veggies are in there!)
I leave you with this: Force yourself to try something new – go out of your comfort zone – take a chance… some of the best things in life come when you say ‘why the heck not’!
*and don’t forget to comment & explore the blog