Sunday's Soup/A Soup With Options

Little Mr. Berkley has now been with us for 2 weeks. He is the happiest dog I have ever seen. Believe it or not, he actually wags his tail while he sleeps :) What a gift!

Back in May, my husband and I spent 3 days touring around Wisconsin, visiting creameries, and tasting cheese. In my book, heaven! We try to do this about once a year. It's such fun. One of my favorite creameries is Union Star Cheese Factory. It's a family owned business that has been in existence since 1911. They make a 5 year aged cheddar that is my absolute favorite.  

I had given a friend of mine a block of the cheddar. She had thrown away the wrapper, so didn't know where it came from, but wanted to share the information with a friend of hers. So, I looked up the site. While I was there, I noticed that they had a recipe section. I like recipes :) Come to find out, they had a recipe for a Beer Cheese Soup. Now, typically, I would have passed right over the recipe, but what caught my attention was the list of ingredients with all the vegetables. Really?!! I always thought that Beer Cheese Soup was just that, beer and cheese. While I do love cheese, I absolutely hate beer, at least to drink it. But, there are a few recipes where I will use beer. So, I decided to give it a try.

The vegetable ingredients consist of carrots, green pepper, onions, celery, and mushrooms. You can find the recipe HERE.  

Since I had not made the soup, I followed the directions pretty much as written, but with a couple of exceptions. Rather than saute the vegetables in butter, I used 3 tablespoons of olive oil. I also deleted the ham, so mine is a vegetarian version. 

Once the vegetables are tender, but still crisp, flour and cornstarch are added  to thicken the soup. The recipe says to stir the flour/cornstarch into the vegetables and continue to cook for another 3 minutes. You'll find that it seems quite thick at this point.  

Rather than chicken broth, I used a vegetable broth. Milk is also added to the mixture. I decided to use my hand held blender and slightly puree the vegetables. So, they are somewhat pureed, but still have texture. Once the spices have been added, the soup is delicious without the cheese and the beer. So, you could actually stop here and enjoy the soup as is.   

I added the cheese and only 1/2 cup of the beer. 1/2 cup of the beer blended nicely into the soup, an entire cup, in my opinion would have been too much.

What I ended up with was a velvety smooth, delicious soup.

Union Star does have a mail order service, but they only ship cheese from October-April. I sent some to a friend of mine who now lives in Galveston, Texas, but grew up in northern Wisconsin. She said that it tasted like home. Their 5 year aged cheddar crumbles when sliced and has a true sharp cheddar taste. Delicious!

Even if you can't get the Union Star Cheese, get a really good sharp cheddar from your grocer and give the soup a try. A wonderful treat! Just in case you missed it, you can find the recipe HERE :)    

Making The Indulgent A Little Healthier/Gloriously Green Macaroni and Cheese

Macaroni and cheese has ALWAYS been a favorite of mine. Truth be told, I usually dreaded dinner as a child. There was always some vegetable that I was going to have to choke down. Believe it or not, I hated vegetables!!! Funny how life can take a complete 180 degree turn :) But, I could take just about anything if I saw that macaroni and cheese was on the table.

A few years ago, I started making a macaroni and cheese dish with roasted cauliflower. I have friends who always request it if they are coming for dinner. Well, I think I have a new favorite! This one is made with spinach and it's REALLY, REALLY good.

Gloriously Green Macaroni and Cheese 

Ingredients; 

1 12 oz. pkg elbow macaroni, whole grain if possible
16 oz. spinach chopped fine
2 cloves garlic minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons corn starch
3 cups unsweetened coconut milk beverage
2 cups white sharp cheddar cheese shredded 
1/2 cup Romano Cheese shredded
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
2 teaspoons Herbs de Provence
1 cup bread crumbs for topping
salt and pepper to taste

1. Begin by boiling a large pot of water and cooking elbow macaroni per directions on box.
2. Heat olive oil in pan and saute spinach with garlic until spinach has wilted. Set aside.
3.Melt butter in heavy sauce pan. Slowly stir in corn starch with a wire whisk. Add milk. I used a coconut milk beverage. If you would like, you may always use regular milk. Stir milk into butter/corn starch mixture. Stirring continuously, bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook until thickened, about 2 minutes.
4. Add sauteed spinach and garlic to the sauce and stir well.
5. Add shredded sharp white cheddar to sauce/spinach mixture and stir until all cheese has melted.
6. Add dry mustard and Herbs de Provence.

7. Once elbow macaroni has cooked, drain and rinse in cool water to stop the cooking.
8. Pour spinach sauce over macaroni and stir well. Pour into a greased baking dish. 
9. For a crispy topping, melt 2 tablespoons of butter and combine with 1 cup of fresh bread crumbs. I added 1/2 cup of shredded Romano cheese and 1/4 teaspoon of crushed red pepper. 
10. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, or until topping has browned.
     

Serve and enjoy!!!

This makes a wonderful main course dish, just add a side salad. Leftovers keep well...if you have any ;)

A quick note on the cheese that I like to use...
There's a wonderful creamery in Wisconsin called Union Star whose cheese I love. 

They do have a mail order business and you can find the cheese HERE. You may think that one cheese is just as good as another. You'll change your mind if you ever try the Union Star cheese!

Hope you enjoy the macaroni and cheese as much as we did. I'm at a point now that I don't think I'll ever eat macaroni and cheese the old fashion way again! 

Sunday's Soup

I simply love cauliflower, however it is cooked. Recently, I was scrolling through Pinterest and I came across a soup called
Roasted Cauliflower and Aged White Cheddar Soup

If you like cauliflower, I STRONGLY encourage you to give this soup a try. It is wonderful.
When I went to the site to check out the recipe, I found out that the creator of this recipe is a guy named Kevin Lynch. He says, "I came to realize that my meals were boring and that I had been eating the same few dishes over and over again for years. It was time for a change! I now spend my free time searching for, creating and trying tasty new recipes in my closet sized kitchen." Well, this soup is a winner. You can check out his website and take a look at the array of cookbooks that he has written, as well as this recipe here, http://www.closetcooking.com/2012/02/roasted-cauliflower-and-aged-white.html
Here's the recipe. As you can see, it is quite easy to put together.

Ingredients

• 1 small head cauliflower, cut into florets
• 2 tablespoons oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 teaspoon thyme, chopped
• 3 cups vegetable broth or chicken broth or chicken stock *
• 1 1/2 cups aged white cheddar, shredded
• 1 cup milk or cream
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Toss the cauliflower florets in the oil along with the salt and pepper, arrange them in a single layer on a large baking sheet and roast in a preheated 400F oven until lightly golden brown, about 20-30 minutes.
2. Heat the oil in a large sauce pan over medium heat, add the onion and saute until tender, about 5-7 minutes.
3. Add the garlic and thyme and saute until fragrant, about a minute.
4. Add the broth, deglaze the pan, add the cauliflower, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes.
5. Puree the soup until it reaches your desired consistency with a stick blender.
6. Mix in the cheese, let it melt without bringing it to boil again.
7. Mix in the milk, season with salt and pepper and remove from heat.

*Be sure to roast the cauliflower and don't skip that step. The roasting gives the soup a wonderfully rich taste. When it comes out of the oven it will be beautifully browned.

By the way, I did not use cream and quite honestly, I used skim milk. I couldn't be happier about how it tastes. I did add about an extra 1/2 cup of milk to get the soup to the consistency that I wanted. I also used vegetable broth rather than the chicken broth. Other than adding a little more milk, I made no other changes to the recipe. To serve the soup, I sprinkled just a bit of Thyme on top. 

Once again, if you like cauliflower...and cheese :), be sure to print off the recipe and give this soup a try. I know you won't be disappointed.