cream of veggie soup

I invented a new recipe today. I didn't take any pictures since I wasn't sure how the recipe would turn out.  Maybe I'll take a photo later. I was needing to use up some of my veggies, since they were starting to go bad. 

So I threw this together:

cream of veggie soup

3 potatoes, cleaned and chopped
3/4 cup chopped broccoli
1 1/2 cups chopped cauliflower
2ish cups vegetable broth
3ish cups beef broth (I used 3 cups water and 2 bouillon cubes)
1 T oil
3/4 cup purple cabbage, roughly chopped
2 leeks, sliced and rinsed
4-6 cloves garlic, minced
6 white mushrooms, roughly chopped
1/4-1/2 t. dry thyme
3/4 t. dry basil
3/4 t. dry parsley
1/4 cup milk (optional)
sausage, browned and crumbled (optional)
grated cheese (optional)

1.  Put the potatoes, cauliflower, and broccoli in a stock pot with the beef and vegetable broth and turn heat on medium.
2.  Meanwhile, in a saute pan saute the leeks and garlic in the oil until the leeks are getting limp.  Then add the mushrooms and cabbage and cover for 1-2 minutes, until the cabbage is wilted.
3.  Add leek mixture to the stock pot, bring to boil.  Cook until the potatoes are tender.  Add the thyme, basil, and parsley.  Remove from heat. 
4.  Blend soup until creamy (if using a stand blender, you'll have to work in batches, filling the blender only about half way)
5.  Add milk (I used goat milk, and only because the soup was looking a little thick). 
6.  Fold in cheese (I used about 2-3 ounces of a Parmesan and Irish cheddar mixture) and sausage.

I was a little worried about how it would taste because the color (muddy green) didn't look that appetizing.  It sure did taste yummy though.

****edit****

Here's some photos.

warm your bones.

The last two days, I've made soup. . . the two days that have been above 50 degrees.  Figures.

Today's was cream-less Toscana soup.  I think I might like it better this way.  It's lighter and more refreshing.

I used...
4 potatoes
3-4 cups of chicken broth/vegetable broth (I used a combination)
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1/3-1/2 cup yellow onion
Italian Sausage (however much you like)
Kale (again, however much you like. I used 1-2 cups)

It's yummy.  Boil the potatoes in the broth until they're soft.  Boiling them in the broth makes the potatoes taste delicious by themselves.  Saute the onion and garlic together, add it to the boiled potatoes.  Brown the sausage, add it to the potatoes, remove from heat.  Chop the kale into bite sized pieces, add it to the soup, and put lid on for about 5 minutes, until the kale is tender (but not mushy!)

It's pretty quick and easy to make. . . Jesse took a shower in the time I made the soup, anyhow.

do you see a person looking over a child in the steam?

Anyway, tonight I'm broadcasting the basketball games.  It's fun.  It will be interesting, as we're on our own tonight.  The cheerleaders are also sponsoring "80's night" so I'm supposed to dress up.  The thing is, I don't have any 80's clothes.  Also. . . I hate the 80's.  That decade is so overdone.  Can't we be more creative than that?  Even the 70's would be better!  My favorite would be the 40's or 50's... not that I have clothes from those decades either.  But I'm serious.  Organizations need to stop with the 80's thing, because it's not cool anymore... assuming it ever was.

I can see a bird here, I think.

purple potatoes

purple!

 I'd heard about these beautiful creatures before, but had never found them anywhere. . . not until I was at the health food store about a month ago.  I spotted the beauties, but ended up not buying any.  Bad decision.  I couldn't get the little spuds out of my mind.  Two weeks ago when we were back in Fayetteville, I bought a few of them.

so pretty

I browsed online looking for an interesting recipe to use them in, but I couldn't find anything that especially piqued my interest.  They sat on the counter for about eight days until I decided to bake them in the oven like I do white potatoes.  I could at least compare their taste that way.

garlic, thyme, rosemary, basil, olive oil

I smashed them with my fork once they came out of the oven.  They looked mostly brown before I smashed them, which isn't very visually interesting.

They were pretty and they were yummy!  I think they cook a little faster than russets, but the flavor is actually pretty close, unlike that of the sweet potato.  I thought it would be much more flavorful than it was.

Today I leave you with a photo of my small but functional kitchen.  It's probably where I spend the most of my time, besides the bedroom, of course.

Creamy Potato Leek Soup

I made a delicious soup I found on cooksister.com.  It was scrumptious.  Oh, and did I mention it was easy?

Creamy Potato Leek Soup

2 large potatoes, diced (I used 5 smallish red potatoes)
2 large leeks, thinly sliced (make sure you rinse them well in a colander, as they're pretty dirty)
1 clove garlic, crushed (I used 4 cloves)
2-3 cups chicken stock (I used about 3 1/2, you just want enough to cover the potatoes, plus a little to make up for evaporation loss)
100 ml cream or milk (I used about 2/3 a cup half and half)
1 tsp dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil

Method:
1) Heat about 2 Tbsp olive oil in a large saucepan.  Add the garlic and the sliced leeks, reserving about 4 Tbsp of leek slices for the garnish.  Add the potato cubes and sautee until the leeks begin to colour.

2) Add 2-3 cups of chicken stock (depending on how thick you like your soup) and bring to a simmer.  Simmer on low heat for about 20 minutes until the potato cubes are soft enough to mash.
Remove from the heat, mash with a potato masher to break up the largest chunks, then add the milk or cream and blend with a wand blender until smooth enough for your liking.  (I just used a regular blender and poured it back into the pot when I was finished).

3) Add the dried thyme, check for seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste.  If the soup is too thick, add a little more water.  Return to low heat.

4)  Devour.

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We started a rating system, -5 thru 5, 0 being neutral.

Jesse's rating: 3.