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Cheesy Potato Shallot Soup

Cream, cheese, potatoes and bacon; there is nothing wrong with this. Unless you're a lactose intolerant, bacon-hating low carber, of course. Or vegan. Then, there's just more for the rest of us. So, party on you lactose intolerant, bacon-hating low carbers and vegans!

Prep time is a little long if you're peeling and chopping your own taters, but it's worth it. But, you can always get a bag of Simply Potatoes if you want to speed the process. Cook time is about a half-hour.

The only trick to this soup is stirring in the cheese. In a normal cheese sauce/ broth situation, you'd use a whisk to incorporate the cheese. Here, the potatoes would get in the way. I used a slotted spoon and the folding method and the cheese blended beautifully.

Cheese Potato Shallot Soup

Ingredients:

• 3 strips thick-sliced bacon, cut into cubes
• 2 shallots, diced
• 4 russet potatoes, chopped into 1/4 inch cubes and soaked
• 3 cups heavy cream
• 2 cups grated cheddar cheese
• 1-2 cups chicken stock
• 1-2 teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce
• sprinkle Italian seasoning
• pinch dry mustard
• 1-2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• Kosher Salt and Ground Black Pepper to taste

Method:

1. Cook bacon in saucepan until crispy. Remove from pan and reserve for topping. Leave rendered fat in pan.
2. Lightly saute shallots in bacon drippings and a little salt and pepper for 2-3 minutes until slightly clear. Add garlic and cook for one more minute.
3. Drain potatoes and add to Shallot/ Garlic mix in pan. Add several large pinches of salt, 1-2 more grinds of pepper, the dry mustard, the Italian seasoning and the stock. Stir, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
4. Add the cream, Worcestershire, and bring to scalded temp (steaming without bubbles). Slowly add the cheese a pinch at a time. Gently fold to combine the cheese, not adding any more cheese until the previous addition is no longer visible.
5. Add more salt and Worcestershire if needed.
6. Top with bacons. Eat. Enter soup coma.

Garlicky Herb Cheese Dip

The trick to any kind of dip is you HAVE to let it sit for a while and steep. Some flavors will mellow while others will come out stronger, but the main thing is the flavors will become more cohesive and blend so much better. Basically, the flavor profile will change dramatically for the better after a 24-hour chill out in the cold box. Same goes for other dips, as well.

This is an easy dip to prepare- no cooking, just a little chopping of the herbs and crushing of the garlic before dumping it all in the food processor.

This dip is also better with fresh herbs, but you can modify it for dry if you want. You might have to up the measurements, though.

And seriously- buy good cheese for this. That pre-grated processed stuff that's been sitting on the shelf for weeks? Please, don't. It won't taste good and it won't function the same way in the dip. If you get pre-grated, get the fresh-grated from the deli.

Garlicky Herb Cheese Dip

Ingredients

• 1 8oz Package cream cheese
• 1 tablespoon Mayo
• 1 cup sour cream (add more if you want a thinner dip)
• 4 oz each Freshly grated Parmesan and Asiago
• 2-3 cloves garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon rosemary
• 1 teaspoon fresh sage
• 1/4 teaspoon thyme
• One small handful (Approx a cup) fresh flat-leaf (Italian) parsley
• A couple drops of Tabasco
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• pinch of dry mustard
• fresh-ground pepper to taste (I usually add 1/8 teaspoon)
• Salt to taste, if by some chance the cheese doesn't provide enough.

Method

1. Chop herbs and run garlic through garlic press (or mince it), add to food processor and blend until finely chopped, but not a paste. Use the pulse setting for this.
2. Add Cream cheese to garlic herb mixture and blend until combined.
3. Add the sour cream, mayo and cheese and blend. Add more sour cream by the spoonful if desired for a thinner dip.
4. Add the Tabasco, onion powder, dry mustard and pepper. Blend
5. Put in serving bowl, cover and chill for at least 12 hours. 24 hours is better.

I find that the parsley is very strong at this stage and the garlic hits you at the end. I almost regretted the amount of parsley at first. Don't worry- this will change a lot after sitting. Resist the urge to add more garlic until you let it sit. The parsley/ herbs will mellow and the cheese and garlic will come out more.

Have I mentioned you should let this sit for a while? Because you should. ;)

Homemade Onion Dip

"This dip with either start wars or end them"
                                         -Cristina

We tried this out last weekend at the Xmas gathering at our place. Two different people tried to steal the dip and by the end of the night, the bowl was empty.  The next day, people were requesting more.

You have to let the onions slowly cook down.  There is no way to speed the process up.  If you do, you'll just end up with burned onions, rather than true Caramelized onions.

This is my variation of the original.

Caramelized Onions

• 3 large (4 small) sweet onions, diced to 1/4"
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1-2 teaspoons brown sugar (to taste if needed; it's only needed this addition once for me)
• 1-2 Pinches salt (3/4 way through cooking, to taste)
• 1-2 Pinches pepper (3/4 way through cooking, to taste)

Heat the butter in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add the onions, salt and pepper and stir to coat. Reduce the heat to low and cook until the onions are golden, stirring every 5 minutes.  This step will take 45-80 minutes, depending on the onions.  (note: it will look like a LOT of onions initially, but they will reduce in volume by about 70% when they are done cooking)

Add more salt and pepper if needed. If not sweet enough, add the brown sugar and cook for an additional 5 minutes.

To make the dip:

• Caramelized onions (at room temperature)
• 8 ounces room temperature cream cheese
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup regular mayonnaise
• Pinch of paprika
• 1/2 tsp cracked black pepper
• Pinch of salt
• 1 large clove garlic

Assemble all ingredients in food processor and mix on low speed to combine.  Scrape down sides of bowl a couple times during mixing to ensure dip is fully mixed.
Place dip in sealed bowl and refrigerate for 24 hours.
Take out of refrigerator 15-20 minutes before serving to allow dip to come to room temperature.  Stir before serving.

Awesome Peanut Butter Cookies

We love peanut butter cookies! These are everything a good cookie should be- soft, chewy and decadent.

I love adding a chunky salt to the top after rolling in sugar- it gives the cookie a whole new dimension. I prefer Gray Salt, but Kosher will work fine. But, that's up to you. If you do, reduce the salt to 1/4 teaspoon in the batter.

 Ingredients

• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup crunchy peanut butter
• 1/4 cup vegetable shortening (think Crisco)
• 1/4 cup butter, softened (not margarine, butter)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour (must be AP, not self rising)
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 regular Heath toffee bars, chopped. (two bars will be about 2.8 oz by weight)
• Granulated sugar for rolling.
• Kosher or Gray salt for topping (totally optional, but reduce the salt in the batter to 1/4 teaspoon.)

Method

Combine sugars, peanut butter, shortening, butter and eggs in mixer.  Scrape down bowl once or twice.  Beat until light and airy.
Wisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt, then with the mixer on low speed, slowly add to the wet ingredients.
Add chopped toffee bits.  Turn mixer up to medium speed.  Beat until dough forms a ball.

Cover mixing bowl and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Heat oven to 350f.

Make 1" balls of dough, lightly roll in sugar and place 3" apart on ungreased cookie sheet.  Flatten with fork dipped in sugar to approximately 1/2" thick. (if in doubt, leave them a little thick)

If desired, sprinkle the salt over the top of the cookies at this point. I prefer the Gray.

Bake ~11 minutes until edges are lightly brown.  The cookies should still be soft in the center. - This may vary depending on your particular oven.  Start checking them at about the 9 minute mark and adjust as necessary.
Remove from oven and let sit on cookie sheet for 2 minutes.
Move to wire rack to cool.

Makes about 18 cookies.

Ginger Lime Cranberry Sauce

I added orange before it was trendy. Now that it IS trendy, I wanted to do something different.

This is really, really good. Like "I'm going to make this past the holidays" good. The lime and fresh ginger add a dose freshness that's balanced out by the honey and vanilla. It's modern while still feeling traditional.

Ginger Lime Cranberry Sauce

Ingredients:

• One package of Cranberries (usually 12oz)


• 1 cup of water


• 1 cup of sugar


• 1 Tablespoon of honey


• Small pinch of salt


• 1/2 teaspoon each grated fresh ginger and fresh lime zest (this MUST be fresh. Nothing else will work. Really.)


• 2 drops of Vanilla extract

Method:

1. Prepare the ginger and lime and put aside.


2. In a saucepan on medium heat, heat water, sugar and honey just until the sugar and honey melt. It's okay to stir this.


3. Add the cranberries and salt


4. Cook the cranberries until they start to pop and break down a little (approx 10 minutes), stirring occationally.


5. Add the lime zest and ginger and cook for another 5 minutes.


6. Remove from heat and add the vanilla.


7. Chill and serve

Just a note: Add the lime and ginger a little at a time if you're unsure. I like strong flavors, but you might like it turned down a notch.

o_O

Apparently, "save draft" is Blogger for "publish unfinished post."

Okie dokie, then.