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Fresh potatoes, a staple in most kitchen pantries, have a shelf life. You may have them correctly stored in a cool dark place, but nature is telling them to begin sprouting, prepare for the new season of planting and growing. Time to make potato soup. The potatoes may be a bit soft and sprouts are started, but they will make a nice soup. Simply remove the sprouts, peel and remove any areas starting to green and you are ready chop, slice or dice for your favorite soup recipe.
Hearty Potato Soup features chunky vegetables and you can add bacon bits or diced ham, chopped cooked chicken or turkey if you like.
Hearty Potato
Soup
6 medium potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/4 inch thick
2 large carrots, peeled and sliced
6 stalk celery, diced
2 quarts water
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
6 Tbsp butter or margarine
6 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups whole milk
In a large kettle cook potatoes, carrots and celery in the water until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain, reserving the liquid. Set the vegetables aside.
In the same kettle, sauté onion in the butter until onion is soft. Stir in flour, salt and pepper. Gradually add the milk, stirring constantly until thickened.
Gently stir in the vegetables. Add 1 cup of the reserved liquid and stir gently until smooth. Add additional cooking liquid until the desired consistency. Optional: add any additional items, meat or vegetables, at this point and continue cooking until heated through. Yield: about 2 1/2 quarts of soup.
Chocolate Cottage Cheese Cookies are a fond memory from grandma’s house. My mother wasn’t fond of them so the recipe didn’t end up in our family collection. I recently came across a recipe on line duplicating the cookies as I remember.
Chocolate Cottage Cheese Cookies
1 1/3 cups butter or shortening
3 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 cups cottage cheese
4 eggs
4 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup baking cocoa
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2-3 cups powdered sugar for rolling
Optional, 1 cup chopped nuts
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or grease lightly.
In mixer bowl, cream butter and sugar together. Then by hand, stir in cottage cheese, eggs and vanilla.
Combine the dry ingredients and stir into the creamed mixture until combined. Dough will be a sticky.
Drop dough by teaspoonful in the powdered sugar and roll into balls. Place on prepared cookie sheets. Bake 10 to 11 minutes. Let cool in pan 1 minute. Then remove to wire racks to cool completely. Yield: 8-9 dozen
Note: grandma did not include nuts in her cookies, neither did I. Merleen Smith also makes Chocolate Cottage Cheese Cookies using the late Martha Bartlemay’s recipe from the green Hospital Auxiliary Cook Book. The only difference is in the leavenings, so Merleen’s version ends up flatter. She recently substituted Nestles Quik for the cocoa powder and it made the cookies softer.
Long time followers of this column know every summer I like to make a zucchini soup base for preparing winter soups. I recently substituted it for some of the ingredients in Summer Corn and Zucchini Chowder. This recipe comes from the website, Lifemadesimple. Following is the recipe as presented on the sight, with the substitutions I made following the directions.
Summer Corn
and Zucchini
Chowder
4 strips thick bacon, diced
1/2 small onion
2 ribs celery
5 ears-2 cups corn kernels
4 cloves garlic
5 cups chicken broth
2 russet potatoes, peeled and cut in 1/4 inch cubes
1 1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp dried parsley
1/4 tsp thyme
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1 large zucchini quartered and sliced
1 large yellow squash, quartered and sliced
2 cups half and half
In a large Dutch oven or kettle, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp. Add onion and celery and cook 3 minutes, then add corn and continue cooking for 4 minutes more. Add garlic and cook 1 more minute.
Pour in chicken broth and turn heat to medium high. Once mixture is simmering add potatoes, salt, pepper, paprika, parsley, thyme and cayenne. Reduce heat to medium and cook 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add sliced squash and cook an additional 10-12 minutes until vegetables are tender.
Transfer 2 cups of mixture to blender and puree. Return to kettle, add the half and half, stir to distribute and remove from heat. Serve immediately. Yield: about 2 quarts.
Substitutions: I used 6 cups Chicken Zucchini Soup base in place of the chicken broth and the zucchini and yellow squash at the point you add the chicken broth. Also, a 12 ounce can evaporated milk may be used in place of half and half.
A note about the Pumpkin Pull Apart Loaf in the last column. If you want to use home cooked, mashed or pureed pumpkin, you will want to cook it over low heat to reduce moisture and thicken before using in this recipe or it will take forever to bake and still be rather doughy in the center.
Share your favorite soup and stew recipes, bowl game party snack recipes and fun cookie recipes with your fellow readers by sending them to: Welcome to My Kitchen, Attn: Laura, P.O. Box 151, Odessa, WA 99159, email pandle@odessaoffice.com with recipes in the subject line.
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