Potato Soup

I know.  Potato Soup?  Really?  Yes, really.  It's pretty spectacular and REALLY easy.  Like make it tomorrow easy.  Really.

It comes from this recipe, but I changed it just a little
http://www.food.com/recipe/unbelievably-easy-potato-soup-74275

For each person:
Cut up and put into a small pan:
One decent sized potato (you can peel them, but why?  It makes the soup harder to make and takes out some of the nutrients.  I say - Keep the skins!)
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped celery.

Put in water that doesn't quite cover the vegetables and bring to a boil, then turn it down to a simmer until the vegetables are tender (maybe 10 minutes?).  Drain them a little, but don't feel like you need to get all of the water out.  Then mash up your vegetables with a fork or potato masher.

Add:
1/4-1/2 cup half and half - basically until it's to the consistency you like your soup.
Plenty of salt and pepper (If you think the soup doesn't have much flavor, just add some more salt.  Remember that there isn't any salt in the recipe up to this point, so you can control the taste and sodium content).

Heat it a little more and enjoy!

See, I said it was easy :-).

-Jennifer

Chocolate pie!

This was so easy and so good.  I feel like a slacker using a pudding mix, but it's worth it for the taste!

Chocolate pie

Pre-cook and cool your favorite nut crust from the "Desserts" post.

In a medium bowl, mix together:
1 small box chocolate pudding mix (Jell-o brand was gf last I checked, but I'd call to make sure)
2 c. ice cream
1 c. milk

Pour it into your crust and refrigerate for a couple of hours or overnight

Beat until soft peaks form or shake in a tightly sealed jar until stiff:
1 c. heavy whipping cream
1/2 t. vanilla
1 t. sugar or 1 T. powdered sugar
pinch of salt

Spread over your chocolate pie and top with chocolate shavings.

Top with cool whip, if you can't make your own whip cream.

-Jennifer

Desserts

I'll flesh this out more tomorrow, but I wanted to get the basics up here so you had something to work with.

These are notes from my friend Lynn about what she does for her gf pies

+++++
I make crust with almond flour . . . probably not easy for her to get, but
she can grind them herself if she has almonds and a coffee grinder. 

JOC nut crust: 375 oven, 2 cups almonds (or walnuts or pecans) chopped to
meal or ground, mixed in with a fork the following: 4 tbs. softened butter,
3 tbs. sugar, 1/4 tsp. salt.  Press into pie plate; bake until golden brown,
10-15 min.

I do an apple pie with a more streusel-like topping with the almond crust
also.  You could tell her to do JOC nut crust (pre-bake it), do filling for
JOC Apple Pie II (7 cups peeled, cored, and sliced apples; heat 3 tbs.
butter until sizzling, add apples, toss and cover and cook on medium,
stirring frequently, until apples are softened on outside but slightly
crunchy, 5-7 min; stir in 3/4 c. sugar, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 1/8 tsp. salt;
cook on high until apples boil and juices become thick and syrupy (3 min.),
immediately spread on wax paper-lined baking sheet to cool to room temp; put
in cooled nut crust), and bake it with a streusel topping made from ground
almonds, butter, and a some brown sugar mixed together (Try this one: 1 cup
ground nuts, 1/3 cup brown sugar, 3 tbs. butter, mixed with a fork and
spread over top of pie filling before baking).  I'd bake the thing at 375
until the filling has begun to bubble, over an hour?  I don't remember how
long I bake apple pie . . .

Another yummy dessert that I have made in the past is a pre-baked nut crust,
filled with sliced pears, caramel poured over it in ribbons (cook 1 c. sugar
and 1/4 c. water on medium until it barely starts to turn golden brown, not
stirring at all, shaking the pan a bit to help clarify the sugar), and then
pour on a custard made from 1 egg, 1/2 cup milk, 2 tbs. sugar, and 1 tsp.
vanilla whisked very well together.  Bake at 400 until pears are soft and
custard is firm, 20-30 min.
++++

Cornbread Stuffing

Stuffing is probably the hardest thing for me to give up at Thanksgiving.  I love bread stuffing!  Ah, well... I love the people I spend Thanksgiving with more than bread stuffing, so I'll survive without it.

Make the Southern cornbread the day before, so that it's cool and easy to chop for this recipe.

Cornbread Stuffing

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Chop into cubes
1 recipe southern cornbread

Put on a rimmed cookie sheet (I grew up calling these jelly-roll pans, but I'm not sure what the rest of the world calls them).  Toast them in the oven for 5 minutes to dry them out a little.

Turn oven down to 350

Heat in a large skillet over medium heat:
4-8 T. butter

Add and cook, stirring, until tender (5 minutes)
2 c. chopped onion
1 c. chopped celery
1 seeded and chopped green bell pepper
1 seeded and chopped red bell pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced (or pressed in a garlic press)

Remove from heat and stir in:
1/4-1/2 c. minced fresh parsley
1 t. dried or 1 T. fresh chopped sage
1 t. dried or 1 T. fresh thyme
3/4 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper

Stir into bread cubes.  You can add up to1 cup of chicken stock at this point.  It depends how you like your stuffing.  If you like it more firm, you can also add 1-2 beaten eggs.  I usually add some stock and no eggs.
 
 Pour into a shallow baking dish and bake at 350 (or really, whatever temp you have the oven at for everything else) for 25-40 minutes, or until a crust is formed on top and it is heated through.

-Jennifer

Cornbread

This is the recipe I made for you at least once while you were here and works well as a side anytime (especially with chili).

Southern Cornbread

Preheat oven to 450.

Place a heavy 9-inch skillet, preferably cast-iron, or 8x8 baking pan:
1 T. bacon fat, lard, vegetable shortening (or in a pinch, butter)

Whisk together:
1 3/4 c. stoneground corn meal (I used Hodgson Mills)
1 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
3/4 t. salt

Whisk in another bowl until foamy:
2 eggs

Whish in:
2 cups buttermilk
(I rarely have buttermilk, but it's easy to make a substitute.  I put 1 T. lemon juice for each cup of milk into a measuring cup and add milk to equal a cup - for this recipe, I put in 2 T. lemon juice and add 1 7/8 c. milk.  Let it sit for 5 minutes and it works like buttermilk for most recipes)

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until just blended.

Place skillet or pan in oven and heat until the fat smokes (or just melted and the pan is hot.  Smoking fat always scares me a little).  Pour in all of the batter at once and return to the oven.  Bake for 20-25 minutes until the top is browned and the center feels firm when pressed lightly.

I'll put the rest of the cornbread stuffing recipe in another post.

-Jennifer

Carmelized Onion Sweet Potatoes

My friend Lynn found this one many years ago.  It's the only reason sweet potatoes made it onto our Thanksgiving table, as none of us were big fans of the mashed, sweetened variety with marshmallows on top.

The original recipe is posted here:
http://www.bhg.com/recipe/vegetables/mashed-sweet-potatoes-with-caramelized-onions/


We've made a few changes, but not many.

Carmelized Onion Sweet Potatoes   

4-8 Tablespoons butter
2 pounds yellow onions, peeled, halved, and thinly sliced (7 cups)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 pounds sweet potatoe
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup sour cream

Directions
To caramelize the onions, in a large skillet heat 2-4 Tablespoons of the butter over low heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring frequently, about 1 hour or until golden brown, very soft and sweet. Season with the 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper. Remove from the heat; set aside (This can be done in advance)

Poke holes in the potatoes with a fork and roast them for about an hour at 400 degrees.  This can be done the day before, then peel and mash them.
(The other option is to peel and chop the potatoes into 1/2 inch cubes.  I don't know if you've ever peeled and chopped a raw sweet potato, but it's a pain!)

Add the remaining butter to the hot mashed potatoes and let melt.  If your potatoes aren't hot enough to melt the butter, just melt it over medium low heat and add it to the potatoes. Stir in the milk, sour cream, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir in caramelized onions, reserving a few onions for garnish. Cook and stir over low heat until heated through. Transfer to a serving dish. Top with reserved onions.

If you are making it advance, skip the "heat it through" step and put it in the fridge overnight.  Then, cover it and put it in the oven with everything else and heat it through.  It will probably take 30- 45 minutes at any temperature from 325-375.

Makes 8 to 10 servings.


-Jennifer

Wilted Spinach Salad

We've done a lot of different salads over the years. This is the one thing that has changed almost every year. Otherwise, we are pretty set on the menu.

Wilted Spinach Salad

6 cups (5-ounces) fresh spinach leaves, washed, dried, and chilled
2 slices bacon, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
1 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup sliced red onion
1/4 teaspoon coarse or sea salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly-ground pepper
1/8 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 tablespoon good-quality aged balsamic vinegar
1 pear, seeded and thinly sliced
bleu cheese to taste

Preparation:

Remove stems and veins from spinach and tear into bite-sized pieces; place spinach in a large bowl.

In a small frying pan over medium heat, fry bacon approximately 5 minutes or until crisp; transfer with slotted spoon to paper towel-lined plate, leaving fat in pan.

Return frying pan to medium heat; add 1 T. oil, onion, salt, pepper, and sugar. Cook 2 to 3 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onion is slightly softened. Add balsamic vinegar; swirl to incorporate.

Pour warm dressing over spinach and toss gently to wilt (when properly wilted, the leaf edges soften slightly, but the spinach retains some crunch).

Using the same pan, add remaining oil and pears. Return to medium heat and cook 2-3 minutes until pears are just softened slightly.

Sprinkle pears, bacon and bleu cheese over spinach and serve immediately.

Makes 4 servings.

-Jennifer