Kitty's Kitchen Sink Chowder

Temperatures here dropped very unexpectantly into the low 60s. Normally most people don't think that's too bad, but I'm in Florida. That's cool for here this time of year. I threw together an unlikely chowder based off of mood and spoon tasting. It turned out really good.

Kitty's Kitchen Sink Chowder

8 cups of chicken or ham broth or stock
3 cups of cubed ham
1 teaspoon of chopped rosemary, fresh
1 lb of bacon, diced
4 lg cloves of garlic, minced
6 large red potatoes, peeled and cubed small
2 large carrots, grated
1 cup frozen corn niblets
1/2 cup broccoli florets, chopped
1/2 rib of celery, finely chopped
1 1/2 cup half and half
1/4 red sweet bell pepper, diced
2 tablespoons of ground black pepper
1 tablespoon of white pepper
2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon of paprika
dash of cayenne pepper
green onion for garnish

Pour your broth in a large stock pot with your cayenne, rosemary, paprika, ham, white and black pepper over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Add potatoes.

In a frying pan cook bacon over medium heat, reserving all drippings. Add 3/4 of the bacon to the stock pot. Add carrots, celery, garlic, red bell pepper and onions to the bacon droppings. Saute until tender. Drain if need be then add to the stock pot. Add corn and broccoli to the stock pot.

Cook down until the potatoes start to mush. Stir in cheese until thoroughly mixed, then sour cream and half and half. Serve ASAP.

Garnish with remaining bacon and minced green onions.

Baeckeoffe - French Lamb Stew

This is a very simple, very savory stew that will feed 4 people comfortably. If you're not fond of lamb, pork or beef could concievably be used in its place without swapping ingredients.

Baeckeoffe

1 tablespoon butter
2 leeks, trimmed and chopped
4 potatoes, cubed
12 oz lamb, cubed
4 oz white wine
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a heavy Dutch oven, sauté the leeks in the butter until they start to turn tender. Add the potatoes and the lamb to the oven, and then toss with the white wine, salt, and pepper.

Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour. Serve ASAP with crusty bread.

Beef Stew Cassarole

As rainy as it is I want warm comfort food that you eat with a spoon and warms all your innards. It's stew time.

Beef Stew Cassarole

1 1/2 pounds cubed beef stew meat
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 (14.5 ounce) cans Italian-style diced tomatoes
1 (14 ounce) can beef broth
4 carrots, chopped
2 potatoes, peeled and chopped
3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
2 tablespoons Dijon-style prepared mustard
salt and pepper to taste

Combine meat and flour in a large plastic food storage bag and toss to coat evenly. In a saucepan brown meat in hot vegetable oil. Season with salt and pepper, if desired. Add tomatoes, beef broth, carrots, potatoes and thyme. Bring to boil; reduce heat to medium-low, cover; and simmer for 1 hour or until beef is tender. Blend in mustard and serve.

Mushroom and Barley Soup

1/4 cup barley

6 3/4 cup chicken or Veggie bouillon

1 bay leaf

1 tbs butter substitute

12 of mushroom slices

1 tsp olive oil

1 onion chopped fine

2 carrots sliced thin

1 tbs chopped tarragon

1 tbs chopped parsley

salt and pepper

1. Rinse/ Drain Barley. Boil Bouillon, add bay leaf and salt. stir in barley. Reduce heat, cover, simmer 40 mins

2. Melt butter in skillet over med heat. Add mushrooms and seasoning w salt and pepper. cook/ stir for 8 mins until golden brown. Remove from heat.

3. Heat oil. add onions and carrots. Cook 3 mins over med heat until onion is done.

4. Add remaining boullion. Boil. Stir barley and liquid and add mushrooms. Reduce heat. Stir in tarragon and parsley.

Scandinavian Cold Raspberry Soup

A very elegant and flavorful meal suitable for a romantic dinner or a very hot day.

Scandinavian Cold Raspberry Soup

2 (10 oz.) pkg of frozen red raspberries in syrup, thawed
½ cup orange juice
¼ cup lemon juice
¾ cup chablis or dry white wine
orange sections
sour cream (optional)
1 tablespoon cornstarch

In a blender, puree 1 package of raspberries; strain and remove any seeds. Put orange juice, lemon juice, puree and cornstarch in a saucepan and cook over medium heat until thickened. Cool.

Stir in remaining package of raspberries and chablis. Add orange pieces and a dollop of sour cream for garnish.

Clair-Mel Corn Chowder

Another staple of my family's food life was SPAM. Why? Because.. I don't know why. Probably since it was cheap. I have only two ways that I'll eat it to this day. This is one of them.

Clair-Mel Corn Chowder

1 can of danish ham, spam or 1 lb of ham chunks
2 cans of creamed corn
5 red potatoes, quartered and peeled
4 slices of white american cheese
4 tablespoons oil
½ cup sautéed onions
salt & pepper to taste
half and half (optional)

Fry the potatoes in oil under a covered lid until tender. Add the ham and cook another two minutes. Add the cheese, onions and corn and cook over medium heat until smooth. Salt & pepper to taste.

***Use half & half to thin out the soup if you want.***

Jesse's Leek Soup

Another of my dad's inventions. If you like leek soup you'll not be expecting this. It's very light- almost dainty- and very smooth.

Jesse's Leek Soup

4 medium leeks, cleaned and derooted
2 cups milk
¼ cup cooking aherry or dry white wine
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
dash of salt & pepper

Chopthe leeks finely to the white/green bulb section and separate the inner layers. Cut the upper darker green leaves in 1/4 “ sections. Boil the leeks in water until they can be pierced with a fork very easily. Drain.

Add sherry, milk, salt and pepper and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes. **Do not let it boil or scald** Take the soup off of the range and stir in the mozzarella cheese until blended. Serve very hot.

Chilled Peach and Blueberry Soup

For that not so normal day when you need something different for a meal. Great for tea parties.

Chilled Peach and Blueberry Soup

2 ½ lbs. very ripe peaches
2 tablespoons honey
½ cup orange juice
½ teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 cup vanilla yogurt (or soy yogurt)
1/8 teaspoon almond extract
grated zest of ½ lemon
juice of 1 lemon
1 cup blueberries (washed if frozen)

Peel peaches, remove stones and chop. Reserve 2 cups. Place remaining peaches, honey, orange juice, yogurt, ginger, almond extract, zest, and lemon juice into a blender. Process until very smooth. Pour into a bowl and stir in reserved peaches and blueberries. Refrigerate until well chilled.

Pasta e Fagioli

Okay, this recipe is hard to share because no one really has ever written it down. My grandma learned from her mother, and when my mom was visiting at Dad's house, she learned to make it by watching his mom ( I always thought her name was Grace, but I got that confused because they lived on Grace Street. Grandma's real name was Delores but everyone called her "Aunt Honey" since she had so many sisters in her big Italian family). I'm not even sure after 4 generations of interpretations away from Italy if this even qualifies as Pasta E Faggoli (i pronounce it like Pahst-ah-FIH-johl... i could be wrong, but that's how I thought I heard my Uncle and Dad say it.)

First dice up two medium onions (or one big 'un) and garlic (i buy garlic chopped already in a jar). This is all you need for the fry stage, but I often add chopped green or yellow summer squash and/or chopped tomatoes. For added flavor, you can also use ham, bacon, a pork chop or remains of a ham dinner/ hambone at this stage too, but it still tastes great meatless.

Heat up a few tablespoons of olive oil on the bottom of the soup pot, then add in your diced/ chopped veggies and any ham/ pork. let it sizzle and brown, stirring to keep it from sticking to the pot. Have a cup of water handy to add just at the point where it's browned before it starts to burn. Add the water and stir in 2 small cans of tomato paste (12 oz total?) fill the soup pot about 1/3 with water. if you added a hambone, leave it in there for now- pick off the meat later. add the seasonings- this is to taste: oregano, parsley, salt, pepper, and majoram if you've got it. turn the heat down to low or low-med to let it simmer. Add a couple handfuls of barley and a handful of lentils. Leave the lid half off. stir it in passing now and then. If the water is too low from simmering off, add more)

After an hour or so (longer if you have the time!), fill up the pot with water, stir, add some noodles, like ditalini or elbow macaroni, anything like that. When the noodles are done, it's ready to eat! we usually have either ham sandwhiches or Cheese sandwhiches with this.

Cottage Beef Stew

I'm down sick today. First thing I did upon waking up was pull out the crock pot and start throwing food into it knowing that as soon as the sun goes down I'll be feeling too bad to cook. This is what I've made.

Cottage Beef Stew

2 lbs beef stew meat, trimmed and cubed
1 1/2 cup baby carrots, whole
2 medium potatoes, cubed into thin planks
1 Spanish onion, chopped
1 rib of celery, chopped thinly
1 lb white mushrooms, sliced
4 garlic cloves, minced
4 cups of beef stock
5 tablespoons of teriyaki sauce
1 10.7 oz can of cream of mushroom soup
1 tablespoon paprika
2 teaspoons thyme
1 teaspoon of black pepper
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 cup of flour
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon of season all
sour cream

In a large ziplock bag combine the season all and flour. Toss beef to coat. Brown the meat in oil then place in the crock pot. Combine all remaining ingredients in the crock pot and place it on high for 6 hours (or low for 12 hours). If cooked on the stove top simmer for three hours covered. Serve with a dollop of sour cream atop each bowl.

Comfort Chicken Stew and Dumplings

I like my chicken stew to be more dumplings than stew and heavy on the herbs. Here's my usual recipe for feel better down home Southern stick to your ribs comfort food.

Comfort Chicken Stew and Dumplings

2 medium carrots, thinly sliced
1 rib of celery, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 large onion, sliced
1 cup of frozen peas
teaspoon of olive oil
28 oz low sodium chicken broth
2 cups of water
1 goya bullion cube
1 teaspoon of sugar
splash of cooking wine (I use marsala or chardonnay)
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1/8 teaspoon paprika
2 lbs of cooked chicken breasts, cubed
pinch of salt
1/8 teaspoon basil
1/8 teaspoon thyme
1/8 teaspoon sage

Dumplings

2 cups of pancake mix
1/8 teaspoon onion salt
1/8 teaspoon basil
2/3 cup of milk

In a deep chicken skillet mix carrots, garlic, onions, celery, spices and 1 can of chicken broth and cook over medium-high heat until tender. Add remaining broth, wine, chicken and frozen peas and bring to a boil.

In a seperate bowl mix all of the dumpling ingredients and mix until thick and a little chunky (not a pretty mixture. add more milk if needed by eyeballing it). Drop by extremely oversized tablespoons until you've covered most of the surface of the stew. Lower heat to medium and cook for 10 minutes. Cover and cook for an additional 13 minutes.

Serve ASAP. Comfortably serves a family of 6.

Holiday Lentil and Ham Soup

Every Christmas I order a 10 pound spiral honey roasted ham and every Christmas I have a ton of leftovers. Usually they get made into omlettes or hash or sandwiches which is lovely. But this year I was left with a massive soup bone and a lot of really tough meat around the bone. I preserved the entire bottom of the ham and any chunk ham left clinging to the end and froze it to use in soup later. Instead I made soup the next day. This was my first attempt at lentil soup and it was *good*.

Holiday Lentil and Ham Soup

1/2 lb of dry lentil, rinsed
6 cups of chicken stock
1 cup of chopped sweet vidalia onions
1 celery rib sliced finely
1 T minced fresh garlic
1 t white pepper
1/8 t sweet dry basil
2 cups of ham (I like squaring off cubes or shredding off the bone during cooking)
hambone
2 T olive oil

Sautee veggies in olive oil until tender. Add to a crockpot with remaining ingredients and cook on high for 4 hours. Periodically open and shave meat off the bone if using a soup bone. Reduce heat to low and cook for another 1-2 hours.

If using a soup bone or salt back remember to leave the fat on. It adds to the flavor of the soup. Do not substitute bullion cubes.

Perfect Croutons

Big, buttery, perfect croutons very similar to Outback Steakhouse's.

Perfect Croutons

2 loaves bread, cut in 1-inch cubes
2 1/2 pounds lightly salted butter (not margarine)
3/4 cup of finely chopped fresh garlic
2 1/2 tablespoons McCormick Cajun seasoning

Preheat oven to 250-275 degrees F. Put bread on cookie sheet and toast bread in oven until it's golden brown; this will take about 20 minutes or less depending on your oven. Watch them! When bread has toasted to a golden brown, take out of oven and let cool (do not try and coat croutons when warm or they will not come out right). Melt butter until it looks like mayonnaise (do not melt to a liquid). Add garlic and seasoning to butter. Set aside. When croutons have cooled, place butter mixture in a large bowl. You might have to soften butter mixture again. That's ok, but remember, not to a liquid. Add croutons to butter mixture and coat each crouton gently using your hands (you might want to use plastic gloves). Make sure that the garlic is staying on the croutons. If you need more butter go ahead and add a little more. One important thing that you need to make sure you do, is not overdo on the butter or they will burn and get soggy. Put croutons back on cookie sheet and bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Gently shake the pan to make sure they are all browning correctly. Do not over shake though, garlic might come off the croutons.

Pub Style Sour Cream and Chives Potato Soup

1 1/4 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and diced into 1/2-inch squares
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) margarine
3/4 cup flour3/8 pound onion (about 1 medium), chopped
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
7 cups water1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons chopped chives
1 tablespoon chicken base
1 teaspoon seasoning salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 cups 2% milk
1/2 cup half-and-half cream1
1/2 cups sour cream

Croutons for garnish if desired Cook potatoes until tender. Set aside. Melt margarine in small saucepan over medium heat. Gradually whisk in flour until well combined. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, about 3 to 5 minutes or until mixture turns an almond color and is very creamy. Set aside. To make soup: In large kettle, saute onion in oil until soft. Add water, bay leaf, chives, chicken base, seasoning salt, pepper and garlic powder. Bring to boil. Whisk in milk and half-and-half, then prepared roux; cook, stirring frequently, until thickened. Add sour cream and potatoes. Simmer. Remove from heat and serve with croutons if desired. Makes about 2 1/2 quarts.

Tea Time Peach Soup

Sometimes a refreshing cold soup can be the center piece of a delicate luncheon. This soup is perfect for a ladies day or a civilized tea.

Tea Time Peach Soup

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup fresh orange juice
6 ripe peaches, pitted
Spare water for boiling
1 tsp. water

Peel peaches, drop them into briskly boiling waterfor one minute. The skins will slip right off. In a blender or food processor, puree peaches, orange and sugar until smooth. Add water and chill. Serve cold.