Potato, Pea & Kale Soup

I love soup. Have I mentioned that? 

Panera’s broccoli cheddar… a creamy bowl of tomato… clam chowder… bean and bacon… accompanied with bread, a gooey grilled cheese sandwich, or solo… I’ll make soup in the dead of winter when it’s suitable to the state of weather conditions, but as I've said before… I’m also the crazy one that enjoys hot liquid food in the summer.

I’m a soup junkie.

Usually when I’m in a soup state of mind, I tend to throw together an assortment of whatever I have on hand in my thimble-sized kitchen: broth, onion, carrot, lentils, and various other legumes and vegetables.  However, I had a plethora of potatoes I purchased from Fresh Direct (more on that later), and I needed to use them up! I found a recipe on Food Network’s website and tweaked it a little bit based on what I already at home.

Potato, Pea & Kale Soup

Adapted from Food Network Kitchens

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 tablespoon garlic
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 1 ½ cups water
• 2 medium russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• ½ cup half and half
• 1 ½ cups frozen peas (do not thaw)
• 2 leaves of kale, leaves torn from stem 
• 1 bay leaf
• Crumbled bacon, for garnish
• Parmesan cheese, for garnish

Melt butter in a stockpot over medium heat, then add the onions and garlic; cook until soft, about 10 minutes. Add the broth, water, potatoes and ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper; bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer, partially covered, until the potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.

Add the peas and cook, about 5-10 minutes. Puree half the soup in a blender (remove the filler cap to let steam escape), then return to the pot. Add the half & half and season with salt and pepper. Finally, add kale and a bay leaf.  Simmer 20 minutes (to let the flavors meet, marry and become one). Remove bay leaf. Serve topped with the bacon and parmesan cheese, if you crave an even tastier soup.

It's soup-er.

Peanut Butter Apple Bars

Happy Belated Valentine’s Day!

Thanks, Boyfriend!

Oh those flowers?  Just a beautiful gift from my can’t-be-with-me-on-Valentine’s-Day boyfriend! 

To me, the best gifts are the unexpected surprises that come from the heart; that evoke a feeling of excitement and glee just from receiving something thoughtful that took effort and consideration.  (The chocolate was really good, too).

Not nearly as wonderful, considerate and pricey… I shared my love of cooking with my love’s love of peanut butter and apples.  That’s a heck of a lot of love... and butter... and sugar.

Peanut Butter Apple Bars

Adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 cups brown sugar
½ cup creamy peanut butter
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup diced apples, peel removed (I use Fuji)

2 tablespoons olive oil (if necessary and the batter becomes dough)

For the peanut butter glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar
¼ cup half and half
¼ cup creamy peanut butter
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9-inch by 13-inch pan and set aside.

2. In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and brown sugar, stirring constantly until smooth. Remove from the heat, and stir in the peanut butter, until creamy and combined. Set mixture aside to cool.

3. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

4. Add the eggs, one at a time, to the peanut butter mixture, mixing well after each addition. Add the vanilla extract and stir to combine. Pour the mixture into the prepared dry ingredients, and stir until batter is smooth. Fold in the diced apples. (I had to reduce the original recipe's amount of flour as the batter was more of a thick, hard to work with dough than batter. I also added 2 tablespoons of olive oil to make the consistancy easier and better behaved).

5. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan, spreading the batter evenly to the edges of the pan. Bake for 30 minutes or until the top is golden and the edges are slightly browned. Remove bars from oven and allow to cool.

6. While the bars are cooling, make the peanut butter glaze. In a medium bowl, combine the powdered sugar, milk, peanut butter, and vanilla extract. Whisk until smooth. Cut into squares and drizzle with glaze... there will be plenty, so feel free to ignore the caloric content and dive in to lick the bowl clean.

Love to love you, peanut butter baby.

Pineapple Pudding Cake

When I was younger and would spend time at my Nana’s house, a majority of our time would be spent together in her kitchen, whether it was playing games at the table or nearly causing an oil fire due to experimenting with French fry making.  I grew up watching her cook most everything from scratch.  While she left me to the easier sous-chef preparations of peeling potatoes, she rolled out hand-made dumplings to accompany chicken, turned egg whites into meringue for a variety of pies, and monitored candy thermometers for divinity during the holidays.

While my love of food and desire to cook was definitely discovered during college, I will give credit to my grandmother for honing my skills at an early age.  As I mentioned in one of my first posts, she had an old, battered, tattered and loved Betty Crocker cookbook. Even though she had numerous recipe books, this was her go-to guide for recipes and I can’t remember ever using anything else. 

We recently had to part with the beloved Miss Crocker – its splattered pages falling out and desperately hoping to be recycled.  Even though neither my Nana nor the binder are with us any longer, the memories in the food and the few salvageable pages will always be near to our hearts.

A tart, but sweet dessert that’s a perfect cross between a pudding and a cake, this recipe is one of the few vintage meals that is delicious and easy. Best enjoyed slightly warm with vanilla ice cream. 

Pineapple Pudding Cake

Serves 6

¼ cup AP flour

½ cup sugar

¼ tsp salt

1 tbs lemon rind

1 tbs lemon juice

½ cup milk

2 egg yolks, well beaten

1 (8oz.) can crushed pineapple, undrained

2 egg whites, stiffly beaten

Heat oven to 350. Blend flour, sugar and salt in mixing bowl.  Stir in lemon rind and juice, milk, egg yolks and pineapple. Fold in egg whites.  Pour into 1 quart baking dish (6 ½”) and set in pan of hot water (1” deep).  Bake 50 minutes.

Happy Birthday, Nana.
02.04.28