Cold weather Potato Chowder with Caraway Cheese

On March 11th, I made the Cold Weather Potato Chowder with Caraway Cheese.  This soup was a huge hit.

I made bacon for breakfast and saved four strips out to garnish  the soup.  I also used the bacon drippings to saute the onion and celery for the soup.  Once those were soft I added a pound of diced potatoes, garlic, chicken stock and milk to the pot and simmered until the potatoes were tender.  When the potatoes are soft you add the grated Havarti cheese with caraway seeds to the soup.  Then you make a paste of butter and flour and add to the soup until completely blended.  This thickens the soup up nicely.  To serve the soup, you add fresh chives and crumbled bacon as garnish.

Comments included 'yummy', 'delicious', and 'more bacon'.  They said the soup was warm in your mouth and was nicely aromatic.  This was definitely my favorite soup so far and one of the most widely appreciated.

Melt in your mouth Beef and Barley Soup

On March 4th, I made the recipe for 'Melt in your mouth Beef and Barely Soup.  It was a long cooking beef stew.  First you brown the meat, then add beef stock, Soy Sauce, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper.  You simmer this for over an hour.  While its cooking, you saute the veggies - carrots, celery, parsnips, and onion until softened.  Separately, you saute the mushrooms until lightly browned.  After the meat has cooked, you add the vegetables except the mushrooms, along with cubed potato, barley, and thyme to the pot.  You simmer this for almost an hour then add the mushrooms.

I made this soup a day ahead and served it to the family the next day.  It was a good stew and everyone enjoyed it.

Stone Soup

Last week's soup was Stone Soup.  This was not a recipe from the book but instead was my son's idea, he's been wanting to make it for a long time.  Its based on a story in a picture book by Jon Muth.  The characters in the book claim not to have anything to make soup with but after they all come together with one ingredient, they make an entire soup.  He thought this would make a great soup.

He wanted to use as many ingredients as he could so the recipe included: corn, peas, potatoes, carrots, celery, mushrooms, onion, garlic, ginger, green onions, leeks, chicken, and dumplings. He made the dumplings ahead of time, earlier in the day and then got down to the process of chopping all his veggies. 

Then I guided him in what order to cook everything - first we sauteed the onions, celery, garlic and ginger in some olive oil.  Then we added the chicken stock and brought that to a boil.  We then added the potatoes and carrots, let them cook, then the smaller, lighter veggies, and the dumplings at the end. 

It turned out great, and had a fantastic flavor.  I don't think the dumplings were popular and the soup would have been fantastic without them.  Either way, it was a hearty and popular soup.

Ingredients

Dumplings