Creamy Potato and Spinach Soup for Cook The Books October/November Pick: The City Baker's Guide to Country Living by Louise Miller

It's Cook the Books time again and for October/November, we read The City Baker's Guide to Country Living.by Louise Miller, hosted by Claudia of Honey From Rock. It's a foodie/baked goods-friendly novel, although I don't bake and chose to make a warming Creamy Potato and Spinach Soup as my book-inspired dish. 

Publisher's Blurb:

When Olivia Rawlings—pastry chef extraordinaire for an exclusive Boston dinner club—sets not just her flambéed dessert but the entire building alight, she escapes to the most comforting place she can think of—the idyllic town of Guthrie, Vermont, home of Bag Balm, the country’s longest-running contra dance, and her best friend Hannah. But the getaway turns into something more lasting when Margaret Hurley, the cantankerous, sweater-set-wearing owner of the Sugar Maple Inn, offers Livvy a job. Broke and knowing that her days at the club are numbered, Livvy accepts.

Livvy moves with her larger-than-life, uberenthusiastic dog, Salty, into a sugarhouse on the inn’s property and begins creating her mouthwatering desserts for the residents of Guthrie. She soon uncovers the real reason she has been hired—to help Margaret reclaim the inn’s blue ribbon status at the annual county fair apple pie contest.
 
With the joys of a fragrant kitchen, the sound of banjos and fiddles being tuned in a barn, and the crisp scent of the orchard just outside the front door, Livvy soon finds herself immersed in small town life. And when she meets Martin McCracken, the Guthrie native who has returned from Seattle to tend his ailing father, Livvy comes to understand that she may not be as alone in this world as she once thought.
 
But then another new arrival takes the community by surprise, and Livvy must decide whether to do what she does best and flee—or stay and finally discover what it means to belong. Olivia Rawlings may finally find out that the life you want may not be the one you expected—it could be even better.

• Publisher: ‎Penguin Books; 

• Paperback: 352 pages

My Thoughts:

Overall, I enjoyed this story as books where starting over in a small town/community or starting over, in general, are my jam, especially where food is involved. I do admit to not liking Olivia much when the book started, but she grew on me as the story continued. The town of Guthrie with all its quirky residents and small-town politics grew on me as well. Although I fear I could never warm up there--the blood things after 22+ years in a tropical climate, the book definitely made me want to go for an extended visit. And Salty the dog was perhaps my favorite character. In the end, it's a good rom-com that had me smiling and tearing up a few times and a good story to cozy up with. 

There is food galore in the book from apple pie (there's the contest of course) to muffins and scones, cookies (macaroons, butter cookies, sugar cookies, peanut butter cookies, and pecan sandies) to locally-made cheeses, and all manner of breads. There were desserts aplenty, but also a harvest dinner with corn consommé, a fancy salad, prime rib, mushroom risotto, popovers, a cheese course, and even a Thanksgiving dinner. I was going to do the riff on the risotto as it's a favorite and then I switched to a corn soup (heartier than consommé), but at the end of the day, I was craving a simple potato soup, so that's what I made..Is it in the book? Not at all. Would I have wanted it if I was staying in a sugaring house in Vermont in the fall and winter? Absolutely!

Creamy Potato and Spinach Soup

By Deb,  Kahakai Kitchen

(Makes about 4 Large Servings)

2 Tbsp butter

1 onion, diced

2 stalks celery, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

½ tsp paprika

½ tsp celery seeds

½ teaspoon thyme

1.5 lb potatoes of your choice, cubed

2 1/2 cup low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth

1 cup whole milk or milk of choice

¼ cup all-purpose flour

1 bag (8oz-ish) baby spinach washed & chopped

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Melt butter in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the diced onion and celery and sauté for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened. Add the garlic and herbs, and cook for an extra minute or two, until the onion is coated and smells good. Stir in the cubed potatoes and broth, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer, cover with a lid and cook for about 15-20 minutes or until the potatoes are tender, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, whisk together the milk and flour in a cup. When potatoes are tender, add the flour and milk slurry and stir until the liquid in the pot comes back up to a simmer and starts to thicken (it should take about 2-3 minutes).

Add the spinach to the pot and cook stirring for about 3-4 minutes until the spinach is wilted. Taste and add salt and pepper, adjusting the seasoning to your liking. 

Serve hot and enjoy!

Notes/Results: Sometimes it's the really simple things in life that taste the best and this soup is an example of that. Heartly, creamy, warming, and delicious, it was perfect for our starting to get a bit cooler at night, weather. I only wish I'd made a bigger batch. 

The deadline for this round is today (surprise, surprise) but if you like food and books, and foodie books, join us for December/January, when we'll be reading I’m hosting for December/January when Debra of Eliot's Eats is hosting with Undercooked: How I Let Food Become My Life Navigator and How Maybe That’s a Dumb Way to Live by Dan Ahdoot.   

 

The Book Tour Stops Here: A Review of Cora's Kitchen by Kimberly Garrett Brown, Served with 3 Mashed Potato Recipes

Happy Friday Eve! I am pleased to be today's stop on the TLC Book Tour for Cora's Kitchen by Kimberly Garret Brown, a historical fiction novella. Along with my review, I am including three mashed potato recipes inspired by my reading. (And OK a craving too!)

 Publisher's Blurb: 

A peek into a Black woman writer’s life and experiences during the Harlem Renaissance

It is 1928 and Cora James, a 35-year-old Black librarian who works at the 135th Street library in Harlem, writes Langston Hughes a letter after identifying with one of his poems. She even reveals her secret desire to write. Langston responds, encouraging Cora to enter a writing contest sponsored by the National Urban League, and ignites her dream of being a writer. Cora is frustrated with the writing process, and her willingness to help her cousin Agnes keep her job after she is brutally beaten by her husband lands Cora in a white woman’s kitchen working as a cook.

In the Fitzgerald home, Cora discovers she has time to write and brings her notebook to work. When she comforts Mrs. Fitzgerald after an argument with Mr. Fitzgerald, a friendship forms. Mrs. Fitzgerald insists Cora call her Eleanor and gives her The Awakening by Kate Chopin to read. Cora is inspired by the conversation to write a story and sends it to Langston. Eventually she begins to question her life and marriage and starts to write another story about a woman’s sense of self. Through a series of letters, and startling developments in her dealings with the white family, Cora’s journey to becoming a writer takes her to the brink of losing everything, including her life.

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“Through journal entries and letters, Cora invites us into not only her kitchen but also into her intense inner life, torn between her obligations as a wife, mother, and librarian and her urge to cook up her own stories. Though her friend Langston Hughes urges her to follow her passions, Cora’s commitment to write is challenged daily by life’s circumstances, only to find a surprising new source of encouragement. As 1928 unfolds, CORA’S KITCHEN delves deeply into what it means to be a Black woman with ambition, to make choices and keep secrets, and to have an unexpected alliance with a white woman that ultimately may save both of them. In this intimate and expansive novel, Kim Garrett Brown renders Cora with immense empathy, acknowledging and confronting Cora’s own prejudices and allegiances and the social pressures that continue to reverberate far beyond this story. Cora’s Kitchen is a poignant, compelling story in which misfortune and fortune cannot be teased apart and literature and life have everything to do with each other.”–Anna Leahy, author of What Happened Was

“It has been said, the universal is found in the specific, and in CORA’S KITCHEN all women will find their challenges and longings expressed in unflinching honesty. Kimberly Brown’s characters are faithful to a time, yet timeless, transcending the years to both painfully and beautifully illustrate the struggles women face to find and fulfill their vocations. Spellbinding.” –Erika Robuck, national bestselling author of The Invisible Woman

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‎ Inanna Poetry & Fiction Series September 20, 2022 

Paperback 176 Pages

My Review:

Cora's Kitchen is a epistolary novella, told the the main characters journal entries and letters to and from the poet and writer, Langston Hughes. I enjoy books that give me a look into a another person's life that is different from mine, and Cora James couldn't be more different. Cora is black, married to her musician husband, has two teenage children and is a librarian living in New York during the Harlem Renaissance. More than anything, she dreams of being a writer. At her library job, she befriends Hughes and strikes up a correspondence with him where he gives her advice and encourages her writing dreams. When Cora's cousin, Agnes, is severely beaten by her husband, her aunt asks Cora to take over Agnes' job as a cook for a wealthy white family so she won't lose it. This puts Cora in the orbit of Eleanor Fitzgerald and her family and she strikes up a relationship and friendship of sorts with Mrs. Fitzgerald. At least as much of a friendship as is possible between women of two races and unequal classes in the 1920s. Time in between cooking has Cora writing in her journal and crafting story ideas and getting an opportunity through Eleanor to leave her job and family responsibilities in the city and write for a few weeks in the summer. 

Seeing life as a black woman through Cora's eyes during a golden age of African American culture was interesting. Due to her and her husband's jobs, she was in the orbit of many names of the day. In Addition to Langston Hughes, prominent figures like W.E.B. Du Bois and Zora Neale Hurston were mentioned and it made me want to learn more about the period and life in Harlem. Cora has some hard realities to face with her relationship with her husband, her teenage son hanging out with a bad crowd, and the domestic troubles of her cousin, so it is easy to sympathize with her as she struggles to achieve her dreams in a world and era not very accepting of women equality in general, and especially not women of color. Not only does she struggle to be a writer, Langston Hughes chides her to be responsible to the Black community and be their voice--"the voice for a people who have been silenced for centuries." That's a lot of pressure. Although a quick read due to pages and style, Cora's Kitchen is a thought-provoking book, beautifully written and engaging. I would love to read more about Cora's journey and will keep my eye out for more from this author.  

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Author Notes: Kimberly Garrett Brown is the publisher and executive editor of Minerva Rising Press, an independent women's literary press. Her publications include The Rumpus, Women Writers, Women's Books, Linden Avenue Literary Journal, Black Lives Have Always Mattered, The Feminine Collective, and the Chicago Tribune. She lives in Boca Raton, Florida. 

www.kimberlygarrettbrown.com

 

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Food Inspiration:

Food is not a huge focus of Cora's Kitchen, but it is mentioned in the meals Cora makes for her own family and the Fitzgeralds. Mentions included the basics like roasted meat/pot roast and potato dinners, chocolate cake, sandwiches, peach pie, and ice cream.

At one point, one of the characters mentions that Cora's cousin makes better mashed potatoes and Cora knows that her own mashed potatoes are smoother and better. I thought the rivalry in cooking was fun so with a nod to that mention and a craving for good mashed potatoes, here a three favorite recipes:

Julia Child's Homemade Mashed Potatoes: classic buttery (of course) goodness.

Tessa Kiros's Sage and Rosemary Mashed Potatoes: these stand on their own but would be perfect for thanksgiving.

Looking for something a bit healthier? Herb and Olive Oil Mashed Potatoes from The Mediterranean Diabetes Cookbook by Amy Riolo are delicious and feel decadent.

I may have to break down and make some soon! 

Note: A review copy of "Cora's Kitchen" was provided to me by the author and the publisher via TLC Book Tours. I was not compensated for this review and as always, my thoughts and opinions are my own.  

You can see the stops for the rest of this TLC Book Tour and learn what other reviewers thought about the book below.

  Tour schedule:

Tuesday, September 20th: 100 Pages a Day…Stephanie’s Book Reviews
Wednesday, September 21st: Wall-to-Wall Books
Thursday, September 22nd: Kahakai Kitchen
Friday, September 23rd: 5 Minutes For Books
Monday, September 26th: A Bookish Way of Life
Tuesday, September 27th: Laura’s Reviews
Wednesday, September 28th: Instagram: @camreviewsbooks
Thursday, September 29th: Instagram: @bookdragon217
Monday, October 3rd: Instagram: @openbookbyleila
Tuesday, October 4th: Instagram: @blackbiracialandbookish
Wednesday, October 5th: Instagram: @neverthless_she_reads
Thursday, October 6th: Instagram: @irishgirliereads
Monday, October 10th: Instagram: @karendeeandabc
Tuesday, October 11th: Instagram: @dai2daireade

  

Low Effort But Fully Loaded Potato Soup for Cook the Books Dec/Jan Pick "Midnight Chicken" and Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammie) Sundays

In a stunning turn of events, ;-) I actually made it into the kitchen this weekend and I am bringing you a new soup this Sunday! Please forgive the fact that it is probably the easiest soup possible in the world, requiring mostly just dumping packaged ingredients into the slow cooker. But it is a soup nonetheless, and a fully-loaded potato soup full of comfort and made for our Cook the Book January/February selection, Midnight Chicken (& Other Recipes Worth Living For) by Ella Risbridger and hosted by Debra of Eliot's Eats.

Publisher's Blurb:

There are lots of ways to start a story, but this one begins with a chicken.

There was a time when, for Ella Risbridger, the world had become overwhelming. Sounds were too loud, colors were too bright, everyone moved too fast. One night she found herself lying on her kitchen floor, wondering if she would ever get up--and it was the thought of a chicken, of roasting it, and of eating it, that got her to her feet and made her want to be alive.

Midnight Chicken is a cookbook. Or, at least, you’ll flick through these pages and find recipes so inviting that you will head straight for the kitchen: roast garlic and tomato soup, uplifting chili-lemon spaghetti, charred leek lasagna, squash skillet pie, spicy fish finger sandwiches and burnt-butter brownies. It’s the kind of cooking you can do a little bit drunk, that is probably better if you’ve got a bottle of wine open and a hunk of bread to mop up the sauce.

But if you settle down and read it with a cup of tea (or a glass of that wine), you’ll also discover that it’s an annotated list of things worth living for--a manifesto of moments worth living for. This is a cookbook to make you fall in love with the world again.

My Thoughts:

Midnight Chicken is a charming book, written in the vein of a cookbook/memoir which is my favorite kind. I enjoy cookbooks that don't just give me a recipe, but give me a story about that recipe--what inspired it, why it's a favorite, when they first cooked it, or how they enjoy it. Ella Risbridger does this very well, and when accompanied with the beautiful watercolor illustrations by Elisa Cunningham, it makes for a very pleasurable read to meander through. 

I bought a print copy back in June during the Amazon Prime Day sales and paged through it slowly after it arrived. But then, I gifted it to a friend who was feeling down in the dumps, meaning to get myself another copy, and I never did. Cue the past week where I checked out the e-book from the library in a panic (where did January go?!) and went back for another skim. I found that I could really relate to the author this round, as I have been in a "funk" the past several months, and even something I always loved, cooking and blogging, has become overwhelming. I am mentally and emotionally exhausted and honestly, I have just been doing the bare minimum to get by. While my issues are not as serious as the author's seem to have been, I can understand where she was coming from and I am glad she was able to pull herself out of her depression with support and focus. I'm not sure yet what that looks like for me, but she has inspired me to get to work and figure it out. And I will be grabbing myself another copy of this gorgeous book. 

So, what to make? As mentioned my kitchen efforts lately have been slight, and although I wanted a warm and comforting bowl of soup, I didn't really connect with the soups in the book and wanted something REALLY low effort. I decided to pull out my slow cooker and do a "dump it in" recipe where I didn't have to chop and prep much. Potatoes are my love language and Ella covers them especially in the Picnics and Pack Ups chapter with recipe sketches for Pocket Potatoes and Lid Potatoes (like a twice-baked potato). I put my cubed frozen hash brown potatoes into a fully loaded soup--which just requires some time to cook but very little else. I started mine at 11:00 PM Saturday night, so it was cooking at midnight at least! ;-)

Low Effort But Fully Loaded Slow Cooker Potato Soup

By Deb, Kahakai Kitchen

(Makes 6 Large Servings)

1 package frozen sautéed glazed onions or 2 large sweet onion chopped

1 large package frozen hash brown potatoes (I used cubed)

1 can condensed cream of celery soup (or condensed cream soup of choice)

1 package Ranch dressing seasoning mix

2 tsp roasted garlic powder

6 cups light vegetable or chicken broth (I used non-chicken stock paste)

1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened and cut into pieces

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Optional Toppings: grated cheese, fake or real bacon crumbles, chopped green onions or chives, sour cream 

Dump onions, hash browns, cream soup, and Ranch dressing seasoning mix in bottom of a large slow cooker. pour the broth on top and gently stir. Set slow cooker on high and cook for 4 hours, stirring about every hour. Check potatoes for softness, reduce heat to low and cook another 90 minutes, adding the cream cheese about 30 minutes before down. Let cream cheese melt, stir to mix completely and season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. (Note: you can puree some of all of the potatoes, but I found it creamy enough that I didn't bother)

Serve in bowls, topped with grated cheese (I used a Tillamook Cheddar Mix), chopped chives or green onions, fake or real bacon bits, and a scoop of sour cream if desired. 

 

Notes/Results: Creamy and indulgent without having to go to a lot of trouble--the hardest thing is cleaning up the slow cooker after, and you can't beat that. I pretty much used everything packaged and I don't regret it, as I now have cozy lunches for the work week. You can of course add other veggies and make more of an effort, but this is a good recipe for a lazy weekend. I will happily make it again.

The deadline for this round is tomorrow, Monday (1/31/22), and Debra will be rounding up the entries for Cook the Books on the website in a day or two. If you missed this round and you like books and food and foodie books, join us for our February/March pic, the novel Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews hosted by Simona of briciole.

Let's see who is in the Souper Sundays kitchen this week.  

Shaheen of Allotment2Kitchen is here with a Vegetable Pasta Bake (Salad) and says, "I made the tomato sauce for the pasta bake from scratch, but if you want you can use ready made or passata even.  Stir in the cooked macaroni pasta and chopped vegetables: mushrooms, red pepper and spring onions; and for some piquancy capers and black olives. Served like this, its good as a Pasta Salad: warm or cold; or Sprinkle the top with grated cheddar cheese and bake!"  

Melynda of Scratch Made Food shared two salads this week: Mediterranean Cottage Cheese Salad with Za'atar Tomatoes and Olives saying it "is light, refreshing, and delicious! Perfect as a side salad or as the main dish for a light supper or meatless meal." 

About her Red Beet Salad with Cranberry Maple Vinaigrette, she says, it's "a unique and delicious salad from our days living on the upper peninsula in Washington state! Don't pass this lovely salad by..."

Simona of briciole stopped by with a Honeynut Squash and Red Beet Soup also inspired by our Cook the Books selection, saying "I was not inspired to make any of the recipes, but one of them reminded me that red beets are called beetroots in England and that inspired me to grab a beautiful bunch of them at the farmers market, with their glorious greens (foglie di barbabietola) still attached. In our household we LOVE beet greens so those disappeared fast. The book includes a recipe for Butternut squash mash, which reminded of a recipe I made some time ago that brings together those two ingredients into a bright soup that is just perfect for when the weather is gray and cold."

Debra of Eliot's Eats shared this pretty Delicata Squash, Apple & Spinach Salad made with items from her weekly farm produce bag, saying, "What was the verdict of this salad? The roasted squash was a hit and this coming from The Hubs who does not care for it. I would probably add some shavings of parmesan to the salad or maybe a crumble of goat cheese. I definitely needed to season the salad dressing a bit more with salt and pepper. I saved some of the squash seeds for the upcoming garden!"

Thank you to everyone who joined me this week! 

(If you aren't familiar with Souper Sundays, you can read about of the origins of it here.
 

If you would like to join in Souper (Soup, Salad, and Sammie) Sundays, I would love to have you! Here's how...

To join in this week's Souper Sunday's linkup with your soup, salad or sandwich:

• Link up your soup (stew, chili, soupy curries, etc. are fine), salad, or sandwich dish, (preferably one from the current week or month--but we'll take older posts too) on the picture link below and leave a comment on this post so I am sure not to miss you. Also please see below for what to do on your blog post that you link up to Souper Sundays in order to be included in the weekly round-up.
• Although we are pretty wide on what defines a soup, sandwich or salad, entries that are clearly not in the same family (ie: desserts, meats, random main or side dishes that aren't salads, etc.) are meant for another round up and will be deleted. 

and 

On your entry post (on your blog):

• Mention Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammies) Sundays at Kahakai Kitchen and add a link back to this post. (Not to be a pain but it's polite and only fair to link back to events you link up at--so if you link a post up here without linking back to this post or my blog on your post, it will be removed.)
• You are welcome to add the Souper Sundays logo to your post and/or blog (completely optional).

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Updated Link Party--Open through Sunday /13.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Have a happy, healthy week!

A Pirate's Potato, Cod, and Garbanzo Bean Stew with Saffron for Cook the Books Club's Oct/Nov Pick: Cinnamon and Gunpowder and Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammie) Sundays

It's been an age since I actually made a soup on Sunday. Busy life, a general funk and laziness, mostly. This week I am back in the kitchen with this Potato, Cod, and Garbanzo Bean Stew with Saffron, inspired by our Cook the Books October/November selection Cinnamon and Gunpowder by Eli Brown, hosted by Claudia of Honey from Rock.

Pirate stories are usually fun and Cinnamon and Gunpowder is no exception. Owen Wedgewood, a chef is kidnapped by the captain of a ruthless band of pirates, Mad Hannah Mabbot. Mabbot will spare his life if he cooks a delicious meal for her every Sunday. Although the provisions and kitchen on the ship are not to the chef's usual standards, and he tries to escape at every turn, Wedgewood manages to make some unique and delicious dishes as the pirates are chased by a crafty privateer and comes to appreciate the crew and even his captor captain. 

It's a relatively quick read and I was surprised at all of the food mentioned. I didn't immediately take a shinning to the overly picky and pious Wedgewood, but I grew to enjoy him, the crew and Captain Mabbot and enjoyed the journey. 

There was so much food in the book, not all of it appetizing but very interesting like how Wedgewood makes a sort of sourdough starter to make bread and his fermenting of cabbage for sauerkraut and turning corn into hominy. Some things I did want to try--if I ate meat, the basil-beef broth, and duck with cherry glaze. Other food--the daily gruel, "patch,"--a mixture of wine, tea, lime juice, ground cloves and water that the crew drinks. There was fish and seafood aplenty of course and dried treats like figs and tomatoes, and all kinds of fresh tropical fruits and exotic foods. I especially loved when Wedgewood was introduced to miso from a Japanese fishing boat!

Ultimately, I decided to mix a few different ingredients and things that caught my eye in the book into a hearty stew for my bookish dish. For the first dinner Wedgewood cooks, he mashes and dries a potato on the hearth and uses it to crust some cod. There is mention of cocido "a dish too sublime to be called bean stew" that an online search mentioned the use of garbanzo beans. Then there was saffron, the favorite spice of Wedgewood's late wife, that he wears around his neck in a pewter locket. I combined those with a few other ingredients into a stew, thickened with dried potatoes and made rich with coconut milk and spices. 

Potato, Cod and Bean Stew with Saffron

By Deb, Kahakai Kitchen

(Serves 6)

2 Tbsp butter

1 medium sweet onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tbsp all-purpose flour

1 pinch saffron threads

6 cups broth, chicken or light veggie (I used non-chicken broth base)

1 bay leaf

1/2 Tbsp dried parsley

1/2 Tbsp dried basil

1/2 tsp turmeric

1 cup dried potato flakes 

1 lb baby Yukon Gold Potatoes, scrubbed and halved or quartered depending on size

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 (14.5 oz) can coconut milk or 1 1/2 cups milk of choice

1 lb cod fillets, cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks

sea salt and coarsely ground pepper

chives or other herb for garnish

In a large soup pot, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add onions and cook until tender and onions start to turn translucent, about 6-7 minutes. Add garlic, flour and saffron threads, and sauté another 2 minutes. Stir in 1 cup of the broth and whisk until smooth, then add the rest of the broth and the herbs, the potato flakes, potato pieces, and chickpeas and bring to a boil. 

Reduce heat and simmer for 25-30 minutes, or until potatoes are almost cooked through. Stir in cod, cover pot and cook about 6 minutes and add add coconut milk, cooking another 2 minutes until fish flakes easily and soup is warmed through. Season to taste with salt and black pepper. Serve in bowls, garnished with chopped chives or other herbs of choice.

Notes/Results: Thick, hearty and satisfying with a sunny flavor and color, you can call this a soup, chowder or stew. The coconut milk, flour and potato flakes thicken it up to a nice stew--although you could omit and make it a brother bowl. You could also add additional vegetables if you have them available in your pirates larder. It's much simpler than Chef Wedgewood would have made but I like the fact that the delicate exotic saffron and cod shine through. I would happily make it again. 

The deadline for this round is Tuesday (11/30/21), and Claudia will be rounding up the entries for Cook the Books on the website in a day or two. If you missed this round and you like books and food and foodie books, join us for our December/January pick hosted by Debra (Eliot's Eats), Midnight Chicken by Ella Risbridger.

Now let's check out the Souper Sundays kitchen and see who is here:

Melynda of Scratch Made Kitchen shares her Easy and Delicious Beef and Vegetable Soup, saying "Busy times require easy-to-make meals. And this time of year, you just can't go wrong with soup! This Easy and Delicious Beef and Vegetable Soup is just the recipe you need. It makes enough for dinner tonight and some to tuck away in the freezer for another day. And did I mention there are lots of vegetables in this soup? Simply add some bread and butter on the side and fresh fruit for dessert." 

Tina of Squirrel Head Manor brought Creamy Chicken Gnocchi Soup and says, "Just because I am in Florida doesn't mean the temperatures are always warm . A hearty soup is always welcome, no matter the weather, but this particular soup is a definite keeper. Creamy chicken gnocchi soup can be whipped up with a few pantry staples such as canned broth, gnocchi and spices and a package of chicken."

Thank you Tina and Melynda for joining me this week! 

(If you aren't familiar with Souper Sundays, you can read about of the origins of it here.
 

If you would like to join in Souper (Soup, Salad, and Sammie) Sundays, I would love to have you! Here's how...

To join in this week's Souper Sunday's linkup with your soup, salad or sandwich:

• Link up your soup (stew, chili, soupy curries, etc. are fine), salad, or sandwich dish, (preferably one from the current week or month--but we'll take older posts too) on the picture link below and leave a comment on this post so I am sure not to miss you. Also please see below for what to do on your blog post that you link up to Souper Sundays in order to be included in the weekly round-up.
• Although we are pretty wide on what defines a soup, sandwich or salad, entries that are clearly not in the same family (ie: desserts, meats, random main or side dishes that aren't salads, etc.) are meant for another round up and will be deleted. 

and 

On your entry post (on your blog):

• Mention Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammies) Sundays at Kahakai Kitchen and add a link back to this post. (Not to be a pain but it's polite and only fair to link back to events you link up at--so if you link a post up here without linking back to this post or my blog on your post, it will be removed.)
• You are welcome to add the Souper Sundays logo to your post and/or blog (completely optional).

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Have a happy, healthy week!