Cream of Potato Broccoli Cheese Soup

Ok, here’s the thing: I LOVE any kind of soup that has the word ‘creamed’ in it. But I feel like that word kinda gets a bad rap. I mean, just because it says ‘creamed’ doesn’t necessarily mean there’s actual cream in it, right? In my definition, a creamed soup simply speaks to the texture. It means it’s like, creamy, in like the sense that it’s all soft and the ingredients are like, creamed together. Are you following me? What I’m basically trying to tell you is that there is no cream in this creamed soup. It is semi-good for you. Sorry. But I swear you won’t miss the cream in it. I swear. Try it. Ok?

This is one of my very favorite recipes that I made up all by myself, so I’m particularly proud of it. It is so simple, has really great and healthy ingredients and also allows you to play with some yummy (and possibly unhealthy) toppings. And you can put it in a bread bowl too. I mean, really.

Cream of Potato Broccoli Cheese Soup

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon butter
1 leek, chopped
4 potatoes, peeled and cut coarsely
1 head (or bag) of fresh broccoli cut coarsely
1 head of cauliflower cut coarsely
6 cups of vegetable broth
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese (reserve for the end)
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions
In a large pot, melt butter and throw in chopped leeks. 

Add a healthy pinch of sea salt and pepper. Cook leeks in butter for a few minutes (the smell will intoxicate you; it is sweeter and more subtle than an onion) .... 

...and then add potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower and vegetable broth.

Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for an hour.

After soup has simmered, cream it, baby.  I’ve been making creamed soup ever since I got this little beauty for my wedding seven years ago. It's like a hand-held blender. Just stick it into the pot turn it on. Magic. Creamed soup in a jiffy. Or creamed mashed potatoes. Or, whatever. If you don’t have one of these, though, it’s ok. A hand-held mixer would do. You could even mash it all up by hand with a potato masher if you were either desperate or happen to be a college student.

 After soup is creamed, add cheddar cheese a little at a time and melt.

I like this soup in a bread bowl. To do it like I do, buy mini sourdough bowls from the store, cut the top at a diagonal all the way around, and then push in the sides with your fingers. Bake at 350 degrees for 7-10 minutes just until warm.

Serve soup topped with your favorite garnishes – I love bacon and green onions. I also think Kale Chips would be good on top, for those of you who are vegetarian, in which case shield your eyes from the bacon-food-porn below.

We had our friends Kiersten and Michael over for dinner and they made a super yummy salad to go along with it. It had tomatoes, edamame, feta and corn. Yum.

I will be mad at you if you don't try this because I just won't understand why you wouldn't eat something so delicious that also happens to not have cream in it.

- Amber

Old-Fashioned Chicken and Dumplings

When Amber announced January was soup and stew month, I turned to my Cook’s Illustrated Soups Stews & Chilis cookbook. I sat next to Curtis on the couch, watching the Seahawks smash the Redskins, and browsed through the pages until I found a recipe that sounded delicious and didn’t require a trip to the grocery store.

I found a recipe for Chicken and Dumplings that could be easily be adapted for a simple and satisfying Sunday dinner. I love chicken pot pie but have never made nor had chicken and dumplings. The verdict (from both Curtis and me) is that this is really delicious, but I think I was expecting the “dumplings” to be more like biscuits or a chicken pot pie crust. Once I got over this and embraced what dumplings are, it was pretty darn good. I tripled the recipe so we’d have enough to share with our frozen dinner club.

The original recipe calls for roasting chicken thighs, which I’m sure is amazing, but I followed Missy (Easy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup) and Megan’s (Easy Pho) lead and took a shortcut and just boiled and shredded chicken breasts. It also calls for celery which I didn’t have on hand, so I threw in a sweet potato instead. It was perfect Sunday comfort food after a busy fun-filled weekend with the Beauties in Bellingham!

Old-Fashioned Chicken and Dumplings
Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated Soups Stews & Chilis

Note: The recipe specifically says NOT to substitute boneless, skinless chicken breasts or to use low-fat milk for the dumplings – I did both and it turned out just fine! 

STEW
2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded (I boiled from frozen for about 20 minutes and they pulled apart perfectly and were nice and moist.)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 celery ribs, sliced ¼ inch thick (I didn’t have any, so I threw in a peeled and chopped sweet potato)
1 medium onion, minced
1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves or ¼ teaspoon dried
1/3 cup flour
¼ cup dry sherry (I buy the cheap stuff from Trader Joe’s and keep it on hand for cooking)
4 ½ cups chicken broth
4 carrots, peeled and sliced ¼ inch thick
2 bay leaves
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup frozen corn
3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves

DUMPLINGS
2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole milk (I used 1%)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter

DIRECTIONS 
1. Boil and shred chicken breasts (this takes about 20 minutes).
2. Heat oil and butter in a soup pot or Dutch oven. Add the celery (or sweet potato), onion, and ¼ teaspoon salt and cook until the vegetables are softened, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in the thyme and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Slowly whisk in the sherry, scraping up any browned bits.
3. Gradually whisk in the broth, smoothing out any lumps. Stir in the carrots, bay leaves, and shredded chicken.
4. Stir in the peas, corn and parsley and season with salt and pepper to taste. (At this point the stew can be refrigerated for up to 3 days; reheat over medium low heat.)
5. FOR THE DUMPLINGS: Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl (I used my kitchen aid mixer). Microwave the milk and butter until the mixture is warm and add it to the flour mixture.
6. Return the stew to a simmer. Drop golf ball size dumplings into the stew, leaving about ¼ inch of space around each dumpling. Cover, reduce to a gentle simmer, and book until the dumplings have doubled in size, 15 to 18 minutes. Serve.

Cocktail Hour in Bellingham courtesy of Kirsten - Recipes coming to Thirsty Thursday soon! 

Easy Phò

Yummy Final Product

The Beauties were lucky enough to get together last weekend and do what we do best: eat & drink! We were especially celebrating this Beauty and soon to be mama!

Beautiful Ems

Since I am in a month of retirement, after the weekend I got to go to Emily's to keep celebrating and I made dinner for her and Curtis since they both had to work. I love noodle soup and one of my very favorites is Phò.  Phò is a Vietnamese noodle soup but my favorite part is all the fresh herbs and condiments that dress it up. The biggest problem with finding a recipe that qualified as easy since they all seem to include strange cuts of meat (oxtail anyone?) and it takes hours to make the broth. Even in retirement, I don't have the patience to spend four hours making broth. But I was not deterred! There had to be a cheater way that is just as good and I think I found it!  This was yummy, easy, and a perfect meal on a cold winter night in the Northwest with some of my favorite people & furry friends.  You can also make it vegetarian very easily.  

You can find the original recipe here.

Ingredients in Cheesecloth

Easy Pho

Ingredients:

2 Boxes Beef Broth (could use Chicken or Vegetarian)
1/2 Tsp Anise
1/2 Cinnamon Stick
2 Whole Cloves
1 Tsp black peppercorns
1  slice fresh ginger root
1 T white sugar
1 T fish sauce

1 package cooked Udon Noodles (you can find in the fresh/veggie section usually)

2 packages thinly sliced pork (you could use chicken or mushrooms)

Toppings:

Sriracha
Hoisin Sauce
Chopped green onion
Chopped fresh cilantro
Chopped fresh basil
Bean Sprouts
Limes, quartered

Put anise, cinnamon, cloves, peppercorns, and ginger root in cheesecloth and tie up.  Side note: We had an adventure with this. Emily had the cheesecloth but we had to do a little searching for tying it.  I probably wouldn't have even had cheesecloth but I found these at Bed, Bath, & Beyond.  If I had a kitchen, I would get some for mine.

Emily doesn't it know it yet but I bought her some!

Simmer spices in the two boxes of broth for 1 hour. Add meat of choice and simmer for 1/2 hour. The udon noodles need to be warmed up or put in boiling water for just a few minutes. If you are more of a Missy cook (aka cheater), and like we did you can put the broth and meat on top of noodles and then microwave for a minute.   Add condiments and enjoy!   The longest part of this meal is the chopping.

2013 Challenge: Food Themes!

A new year, a new challenge

Wow. We at Beauties and the Feast can hardly believe we’re about to kick off our third year of food blogging. With nearly 220 posts and over 57,000 page views, we couldn’t have imagined having more fun while so many people tuned in to read about our culinary successes, disasters and life reflections.

We’ve had a new challenge each year. Our first was for each of us to claim a month and post a recipe, and have each one of us follow the recipe and post about the results. The second year we went Iron Chef style and chose an ingredient of the month, which challenged us to use something in a creative and delicious way. This year we’ve got a new challenge and we can’t wait for your participation.

In 2013 we’ll each be choosing a food theme in the beginning of the month. This way, we promise you’ll still have at least 4 new recipes (hopefully 6!) and hope that you’ll join in on the fun by sending your recipes to us, or volunteering for a guest-post!

January's Food Theme

Photo courtesty of allthingschristmas.com

So to kick off January, the month of freezing weather, frosty window panes and weekend days spent indoors curled up in a warm blankie, I’m choosing to proclaim the month of January Soup & Stew month! Also, I just got a brand new dutch oven for Christmas that I can't wait to use.

Thank you to all of you who read about, comment on and try our recipes! We really enjoy your participation and inspiration.

Happy 2013!

Love,
Megan, Emily, Rachel, Jolie, Missy and Amber