Green chile, potato, leek soup with bacon

Green chile, potato, leek soup with bacon

This is not low fat, nor vegan!

1/2 lb bacon chopped

3large leeks, cleaned and chopped, or 5 medium sized leeks

5 medium potatoes, cubed

1 clove garlic crushed

1/4 c butter plus 1/4 cup for roux 

1c half and half

Chicken stock, or 1/4 c better than bullion + water

Water, enough to bring the liquid more than half way up the pan

Shredded cheddar cheese for topping each bowl

1/2 c chopped green chile

1/4 c white wine

2t flour for roux

In a large stock pot, simmer bacon until browned. Remove bacon, and sautée leeks. Add potatoes, garlic, water, chicken stock, salt and pepper.  Simmer for 20 minutes, or until potatoes are almost cooked through. Add green chili, white wine, bacon, butter, half and half. Simmer and stir until heated through. I thicken this with a little flour stirred into some extra melted butter to make a roux. Keep some extra milk or half and half on hand to thin if it becomes to thick. I also can use an immersion blender to thicken a small portion, keeping part of it chunky. Serve with great crusty French bread and white wine! Top with cheddar cheese and croutons. Happy cooking!

Pumpkin shake!

1 (15 oz.) can pure pumpkin puree

4 to 5 scoops vanilla ice cream

1 cup whole milk

1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice 1/4 t cinnamon

real whipped cream sweetened with a little powdered sugar

nutmeg for topping

Combine all, except the whipped cream and nutmeg, in blender and zip until smooth and frothy. Adjust milk and frozen yogurt to your liking if it doesn’t seem thick/thin enough. Add malted milk powder if you want to make a malt, or a little protein powder to make it a power shake. Top with fresh, sweetened whipped cream and a dash of nutmeg. 

Old Fashioned Peanut butter cookies

My Dogs love it when I get out the peanut butter!!!

3 C Flour

1t baking powder

1t Salt

2 sticks butter

1 C Peanut butter

2t vanilla

2 large eggs

Heat oven to 350. Mix flour, baking powder and salt. In large bowl with an electric mixer, cream butter, peanut butter, sugars, vanilla and eggs, add one at a time, until well mixed and creamy. Add to dry ingredients. Mix well. Drop by teaspoons, I like to use a small ice cream scoop. I use a fork to mash and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 20 minutes or until done throughout. Enjoy!

Happy Baking! Check out the great space saving mixing bowl below and the scoop for cookies!

Roasted vegetables Greek style!

This is a recipe I have been roasting for years. This time of year, during fall harvest,
You will have too much of a good thing like eggplant, squash, tomatoes, potatoes,
Onions, garlic, maybe even carrots!In addition you will need some Olive oil, salt and pepper, oregano and mint.
Also use 1 large can of tomatoes, chopped and layered on bottom of the pan.
This recipe is so easy, simply wash and cut vegetables into large chunks.
Drizzle with olive oil, toss with crushed garlic, salt and pepper, sprinkle with oregano and mint.Use any vegetables you can find.
I would use beets, but only golden or white.
Simply place in a greased roasting pan, cover with foil and roast for at least 20 min in 400 degree oven. Take off the foil and continue roasting for another 40 minutes!
Enjoy! And happy cooking! Serve with a great sourdough to soak up all the
Tasty juices!
 This is adapted from my kitchen and Giada Delourentis! Love her show,
Everyday Italian! 

Chocolate and pecan mini pies

This is a great fall recipe

 pecans are in season!

5 T Butter softened, plus 1 T melted butter

4 0z Cream cheese

1 C Flour

1 T Powered sugar

1/4 t salt

3/4 C Brown Sugar

1/3 C Mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 large egg

1 t vanilla 2/3 c chopped pecans

Mix butter and cream cheese until smooth. Blend in flour, just a little at a time, powered sugar and 1/8 t salt. Form into disk. Cover in plastic wrap and chill 3 hours, or day before. Heat oven to 325. Divide dough into 24 balls of even size. Press into 2 12 cup mini muffin tins, making a hole in center and pressing up over rim. Chill. Mix brown sugar, chocolate chips, egg, melted butter, vanilla, and remaining salt until mixed. Place some chopped pecans into the tins, top with mixture and more pecans. Bake 20 minutes. Let stand and run knife around edges to loosen. Remove and place on wire rack to cool.

112 Calories per Mini pie, 7g fat, 2.8 sat fat, 11.3 g carbs, 0.5g fiber,1.7g protein

Happy Cooking!

Cream of chicken and green chile soup

This soup was a special request from my BFF Lisa Stifel

This recipe can be adapted to make a very large portion, say for a party, or a catering job. This one serves about 6 people.

6 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed

1 onion

1/2 stick butter

1/2 t garlic crushed

3 T flour

4-6 cups chicken broth (I prefer better than bullion) look for it in a jar. It is a paste like flavoring.

For the broth, add about 4T of better than bullion to 4-6 cups of water.

1 cup heavy cream or half and half

1 cup peeled and chopped green chile more or less to taste.

Salt and pepper

Sautéed the onion in the butter till softened. Add flour to make a rue. Slowly stir in broth, chicken, garlic, and green chili. Cook and stir for about  5 minutes.  Let reduce just a bit. Turn off heat  and add cream or half and half. Heat but do not boil. Salt and pepper to taste. 

Serve with homemade Tortiallas! I like to add shredded cheddar cheese and croutons on top!

Happy cooking! 

You can make a quick version by only using the chicken and green chili. Add to cream of chicken and cream of mushroom soup! You can thin the soup a bit with some stock, milk or cream!

Candied Citrus Peels

This is a wonderful time of year to preserve some summer for later use. Citrus is in abundance and I love to put the candied peels in my hot tea on a cold winter day. You can also candy ginger this way!

 From this months edition of Organic Gardener!

Organic candied Citrus peels/Ginger too!

A few tools you will need before you begin...

Organic Citrus and or Ginger

toothbrush or veg scrubber

cutting board

chef knife

peeler

scissors

saucepan

bowl ice water

organic granulated sugar

cream of tarter

thermometer

gallon size zip loc bags

The best peels for this are Meyers Lemons, Clementines, Minneolas, Pomelos, or Honey Tangerines.

Scrub fruits well, rinse and dry. Cut peels from fruit, removing as much white as possible. Boil peels in saucepan for about 1 hour, drain and place in ice bath. Return peels to pan with as much water and sugar to cover in equal amounts 1 for 1. So if you need 4 cups water, use 4 cups sugar. Dont mix peel types in order to keep them separate. Add 1 t cream of tarter for every 4 cups water/sugar. Bring to a boil and cook for 5 minutes, reduce heat and cook for a total time of 1 hour, or when temp reaches 230 degrees. Drain and reserve syrup. Dry on wire rack or wax paper, till cooled. Place in gallon size bag with 1 C sugar and toss to coat. Leave out to let dry or cook in low oven set at 200, then turn off, let sit overnight. Return to bag and recoat. Store in airtight container with a little sugar. Enjoy in tea with honey.....Happy fixin! 

While you are at it, check out these great peelers from Sur La Table! I love the one that looks like a razor! It works great!

Kuhn Rikon Swiss Peelers, Set of 3 (Google Affiliate Ad)The Perfect Peeler by Kyocera (Google Affiliate Ad)