Creamy Cheddar Potato Soup

This past weekend was one of those weekends?  You know, the type where you kind of look at yourself and did I just do that?

Everyone has their forgetful moments but for the most part, I am the type of person who remembers to turn things off, to take my keys, phone, and wallet with me every time I leave the house, and to turn off the lights and lock the doors.  Or so I thought.

The weekend started with me realizing that I had left my hair straightener on overnight.  Not a big deal but I usually remember to both turn it off and to unplug it after use.  

And leaving it on overnight is much better than that one time in college when I curled my hair (rare enough as it is) and one week later picked the curling iron up off the floor to put it away, only to burn my fingers because it was still on! Leaving a hair tool on for a week is a record that I hope I do not break!

For most people, the hair straightener incident would give the hint to pay closer attention to turning things off... but not for me. My brain must have been in a thick fog.

Soon after that I proceeded to leave the house while leaving the tea pot on.

Now wait, stop, don't panic yet!

It was an electric stove that was on, the heat was at the lowest setting. I left a Turkish tea pot on, which is consists of two pieces: a top with brewed tea and a bottom with water. There was plenty of water and the heat was not strong enough to boil the water.

After leaving the house and proceeding with my day, my mind finally came to realize the error I had made! It only took about 2 hours. And a running home we went.  

We arrived home to a working stove top, warm water, and no fires or other major disasters.  Just that feeling of did I really just do that?

The answer is yes! Yes, I just did that. (Hanging my head in shame).

 

Some emotional traumas can only be cured with really good comfort food.  In this case, a bowl cheddar potato soup did the trick. I made this soup last week because I had a huge block of cheddar cheese that I needed to finish and I am so happy that I did. The soup is smooth and creamy and delicious.  I was eating two bowls at a time.

If you love potatoes and cheese then what is not to love about this soup? It is so easy to make that I am getting hungry from looking at these pictures and I am tempted to go make another pot.

Creamy Cheddar Potato Soup

Makes 8-10 portions

Ingredients
1/3 cup chopped onions
2 tablespoons butter
3 large potatoes, peeled and diced
3 cups vegetable broth
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
2 cups milk
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon paprika

1. In a large pot, saute the onions in butter until they become tender.

2. Add in the potatoes and broth and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat, cover the pot, and simmer for 15-20 minutes until the potatoes become soft.

3. Using a hand blender, puree the soup until smooth.

4. Add in milk, cheese, pepper, and paprika.  Stir over low heat until the cheese is completely melted.  (I used my hand blender and pureed the soup one more time to break up the cheese and to get a creamy texture).

Enjoy!

Rona

Happy Passover!

Happy Passover to all who celebrate, and for those who don't, there's nothing to say you can't enjoy some Jewish comfort food as well! Because really, that's what matzo ball soup is--good ole heart-warming, feeling down, comfort food. And you don't have to just wait until Passover either for an occasion to make it. Matzo ball soup is like chicken soup, good for any and all of life's problems. Am I right?

If you have never made matzo ball soup before, don't fret. It's really pretty simple and fool-proof. The only challenge can be getting each matzo ball to the desired fluffiness level, but to me that's all just a game of luck.

So for some amazing fluffy balls (giggle), follow along:

 Ingredients (makes about 8 matzo balls)
1 cup matzo meal
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 stick margarine, melted
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste
4 tablespoons chicken broth
Fresh dill, shredded (optional)
Fresh parsley, shredded (optional)

Procedure
1) Mix together the egg, margarine, and chicken broth in a large bowl. Add the matzo meal, shredded herbs, salt and pepper and mix well until you have an even consistency.

2) Cover the bowl and refrigerate for approximately 30 minutes.

3) Fill a large pot with chicken broth (homemade is always preferred) and bring to a boil. If you do not have broth, you can also make the matzo balls in salted water.

4) After 30 minutes, take the mixture out of the refrigerator and gently roll 1-1 1/2 inch balls in your hand. It's helpful to wet your hands slightly before rolling the balls so the mixture does not stick to your hands.

5) Add the newly formed balls into the boiling broth and cook for 30 minutes, covered.

6) Serve with chicken broth, and garnish with dill.

And the last step--enjoy before it's all gone.

Thanks for reading!

~Alyssa

Brown Lentil Soup

Before I share this recipe, I’d like to preface first that I am letting you guys in on a nice little family recipe. For as long as I can remember, my dad has been making us red & brown lentil soup. Rona blogged about the red lentil here, but because the tastes are so different, I figured I’d also share brown lentil soup with you all. I feel like I’m sharing a piece of my childhood, so take good care of it!

Reasons I like this soup. 1) It’s filling because lentils are a great source of protein. In fact, according to my wiki app that I have pulled up right now, lentils have the third-highest level of protein, by weight, of any plant-based food. Thank you wiki. 2) It’s delicious. That’s good enough for me.

Ingredients

3 cubes Knorr beef bouillon

2 large carrots, diced

3 large sticks celery, diced

1 large yellow onion, diced

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 tbsp olive oil

2 cups uncooked brown lentil, rinsed

1 can (14.5 oz) stewed tomatoes

1 tsp kosher salt

Pepper to taste

2 bay leaves

1 tsp cumin

2 large tomatoes, cut into cubes

Procedure

1. Fill a 6-quart pot with water, about 3/4 of the way.

2. Add 3 cubes of beef bouillon and bring to a boil.

3. While waiting for the water to boil, prepare the diced vegetables and heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a medium-sized pan. Add the carrots, onion, celery, and garlic to the pan and fry until lightly brown.

4. After this is done (or before), open your can of stewed tomatoes and blend in a food processor until smooth. This step is to avoid tomato chunks in the soup.

5. Once the water is boiled and the bouillon cubes are dissolved, pour the stewed tomatoes and lightly fried vegetables into the soup. Add the lentils, salt, pepper, bay leaves, and cumin. Stir well and reduce heat, letting the soup simmer for 1 hour.

6. In the meantime, prepare your potatoes. After an hour, add the potatoes to the soup and cook for another 15 minutes until the potatoes are soft (test with a fork.)

And that's all!

~Alyssa

Red Lentil Soup

There are so many types of lentil soups in existence and from many different countries, that it is hard to pick a favorite.  I have tried red lentil, yellow lentil, and brown lentil soups all made with different spices and of different consistencies.  While I enjoy them all, my favorite version of the soup has to be my dad's recipe.  I have been eating it for years and can remember my dad making this from a young age.  This lentil soup recipe is one of the first recipes that I was able to make well.  I love the color of the soup and the slight acidity that comes from adding lemon juice.  It is such a great dish to make as fall approaches!

Ingredients

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium sized yellow onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
6 cups chicken broth
2 cups red lentils, rinsed
1 16-oz can of tomato sauce
1 tablespoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon coriander
Juice from 1/2 a lemon
Salt and pepper to taste

1. In a large pot, heat the oil.  Cook the onion and the garlic until soft.

2. Add the broth, lentils, tomato sauce, cumin, coriander, lemon juice, salt and pepper.

3.  Bring to a boil and then lower the heat and simmer for about 45 minutes or until the lentils are tender and the soup is thick.  More water can be added if the soup becomes too thick.

Enjoy!

~Rona

Black Bean Soup

This soup is really easy and quick to make. Also, it is perfect when your fridge is empty and there is no trip to a market in sight.

I should preface this recipe for "quick" black bean soup by saying that while making the soup is fast, cleaning up after yourself may not be. The recipe requires using a food processor, which I find to be very convenient...until you have to wash it. One reason that my food processor/blender remained in a box in my bathroom, gathering dust, for at least six months. Now, a dish washer would certainly speed up the time spent cleaning up but those things are only for those of us who live in a world with large kitchens and modern appliances, something that I will continue to lack for the foreseeable future.

This soup tastes great when you add a spoon of sour cream or plain yogurt, some tortilla strips, and eat it with some bread and guacamole on the side (I actually think that I could find any excuse to eat guacamole, that is how this soup came about...from trying to think up of something that would serve as a compliment to the guacamole that I needed an excuse to make).

Also: I have made this soup several time and sometimes it just doesn't taste as good as it should.  The trick to making a good soup is to chop the onions and saute them so they get sweeter.  If you first run the onions through the food processor and then cook them in olive oil, they stay bitter and give the soup a bitter taste. 

Black Bean Soup
makes 4 portions

Ingredients
2 15-oz cans of black beans
1 cup of vegetable broth
1 small onion, cut into small pieces
1 clove of garlic, cut into small pieces
1 jalapeno pepper, cut into small pieces
Tabasco sauce (optional)
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon cumin
salt and pepper to taste
chopped cilantro for garnishing (optional)

1. Start by cuting the onion, garlic, and jalapeno. I did not cut the pieces too small because they will go through a food processor later.

2. In a small pot, heat olive oil on low heat and cook the onion, garlic, and jalapeno until the onion gets soft, for about 5 minutes. Add a few dashes tabasco sauce if you like spice.

3. Remove everything from the pot and pour into the food processor. Chop for several minutes until the pieces become small. Return it to the pot and add the vegetable broth.

4. Pour the black beans and the liquid into the food processor and chop until the beans break into pieces. They do not need much time, you want to be able to tell that there are small chunks of beans left.

5. Pour the beans into the pot and add the spices. Cook for several minutes until the soup heats up but does not start to boil.

Serve immediately.

Enjoy!

~R