Channeling a Housewife: Cabbage and Potato Soup

Last week a man left two boxes of books on the porch for our Little Free Library.  As I walked outside to greet the stranger, our dog Treble ran past me and tried to eat or at least intimidate the poor guy. After I rescued the man, I apologized profusely and thanked the now in a hurry to leave man for his donation.

I always sort through books donated and put nonfiction in one box, general fiction in another, mysteries and thrillers together in a box, romances in another, and children’s literature has its own section in our Plant Room where I store books awaiting placement in the LFL. 

Plant Room Hiding Place for Books

Under the tie-dyed tarp is a treasure trove of books for the LFL

As I examine the books the man donated, I notice a 1980 compilation of Southern Living recipes. Leafing through the book, I look up cabbage recipes because I have a head of cabbage leftover from New Year’s. Hmmm, cabbage potato chowder catches my attention so I mark the place.

After a brief warm spell, the weather turned cold again in Shreveport so I seriously start thinking about the cabbage and potato soup. I grab the cookbook, then look at a few recipes on-line to see other ideas for potato cabbage soup.  I decide I’ll add carrots and celery to my soup since I have both on hand. 

The soup making and nesting process begins. I chop up the carrots, celery,  ½ head of cabbage, and one large Idaho potato. The vegetables steam in a little water until they are getting soft, then I add four cups of chicken broth, a bouillon cube, several cups of milk and heat everything together.  I throw in seasonings—black pepper, a little rosemary, and a heaping teaspoon of Dijon mustard, a stealth ingredient mentioned in an internet recipe.  After everything is hot, I add a partial bag of grated Monterey Jack cheese because it's in refrigerator and needs to be used. Once it melts, soup’s on.

Cabbage Potato Soup

Corn bread, also made using a recipe from the pictured Southern Living cookbook, completes the comfort food duo. Finally I prepare a quick Waldorf Salad to add fruit to the meal.

I feel as if I’m channeling a ghostly housewife from years gone by who isn’t quite ready to give up her KP duties, but that’s okay. So far as I can tell, it’s a win, win arrangement.

Rites of Autumn

We are entering my favorite time of the year.  I love the promise of cooler weather, even if in Louisiana, we don’t actually experience the cooler weather.  My husband always announces at the first of September, “Thank goodness, only two more months of summer!”  An exaggeration, I hope, although the weatherman has been hinting at temperatures that could approach 100 degrees in some parts of the Ark-La-Tex this week.

Even in the Deep South, fall rituals arrive whether Louisiana is in synch weather-wise or not.  For instance, it’s football time in the SEC!  I have to admit I enjoy watching college football on Saturdays.  The roar of the crowd takes me back to Volunteer days, attending football games at the University of Tennessee.  After the game, friends would often come to our on-campus apartment to eat supper.   Anyone who drove to the game wanted to wait for the traffic to clear and restaurants were packed.  My ex-husband and I were too poor to offer anything other than spaghetti to a hungry crowd of twenty-something graduate students, but no one complained.  Now my husband Ricky and I watch college football from the comfort of our recliners, cheering for our favorite teams while we snack on Earl Campbell sausage. 

I have other fall rituals.  I love fall magazines, full of pumpkins, gourds, autumn leaves, and the colors of fall.  I like fall festivals and holidays, Halloween and Thanksgiving.   I have a few decorations that say fall is here.  There’s a small Mickey Mouse Dracula snow globe and witches and crones and black cat decorations and noise makers and jack-o-lanterns.  Some would say I’ve fully embraced my inner child.

Gourd Jack-o-lantern

For Thanksgiving, I’m such a turkey, I have a turkey collection.

No matter what the outside temperatures are, the hint of fall sends me into the kitchen to cook.  Sometimes I try recipes found in magazines.  Last week I made the Creamy Polenta with Mushrooms and Collards from the October Country Living magazine.  Here is the recipe from the magazine. Everyone who tasted it seemed to like it. 

Creamy Polenta with Mushrooms and Collards

I still have frozen blueberries from the summer, so I’ve made two batches of blueberry muffins and one of banana blueberry muffins. 

Blueberry Banana Muffin

We harvested the last of our green peppers, so naturally I fixed stuffed peppers for supper.

Peppers from our trough garden

Stuffed Peppers

I’m not boasting of any culinary talents here.   I’m just having fun anticipating the return of cooler weather and enjoying my annual rites that welcome autumn’s arrival, which will be here—someday, eventually, just wait for it….it’s on its way.

Watching Football and Baking Fig Bread

It’s September, and although the weather is still hot here in Louisiana, college football is on the TV, and my thoughts are on baking.  Finally I feel like heating up the oven, besides I enjoy making quick breads in the fall.  Thoughts of my morning cup of Community Coffee with a slice of _______ (fill in the blank) are highly motivating.

Come on, Vols!

Today I thought I would try a loaf of fig bread.  Unfortunately I have no figs but I did find a jar of homemade fig preserves in the cabinet.  I thought I would try that as a substitute.  (Note: I’m printing original recipe because it is definitely better.)

Fig Bread

Cook Time: approximately 45 minutes – 1 hour
Total Time: 1 ½ hours

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 cups ripe figs, mashed
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 3 cups flour
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• cup chopped pecans

Preparation:

Beat eggs; add sugar and beat well.

 

 

Add the mashed figs and vegetable oil.

Sift together flour, soda, salt and cinnamon.

 

Add the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk to the mixing bowl. Beat well.

Fold in chopped pecans.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour in greased and floured loaf pans. (Check frequently--it may not take that long to bake.)

Makes 2 large or 3 small loaves. (Mine only made one large loaf.)

 

Now if my football teams would only have good seasons.

 

Bloodroot and Rosemary Biscuits

While looking for books to donate to a church media sale, I happened upon Susan Wittig Albert’s Bloodroot, published in 2001, which has been on my library shelves for quite awhile.  I  tried reading this mystery before but didn’t get far.  The setting is the Mississippi Delta rather than the herb shop and tearoom in the Texas Hill Country of Albert's other China Bayles mysteries. 

I picked up the book again and decided if it didn’t hold my interest this time, I would donate it.  I must have been more amenable to reading about the South this go-around, because I finished it quickly.  I actually enjoyed learning some back story about China and her mother Leatha, with whom China has had a troubled relationship in the past. 

The aunt who raised Leatha and who owns the family’s Mississippi plantation is ill with a degenerative neurological disorder, and Leatha is caring for her when secrets from the family’s past begin to emerge, and Leatha asks China for help.  China’s legal skills from her former career are called into play, and some unexplained ghostly assistance points China in the right direction.

Ill-conceived and extreme measures taken to hide family secrets lead to unnecessary deaths, and the sins of the fathers must be uncovered in order to move forward.  The decisions of the characters propel the plot at a more leisurely pace so this isn't a "sitting on the edge of your seat" mystery.  While the characters are fraught with human frailties, the reader is left with hope for the future.

Of course, there is the usual information about herbs in this series, and since I’m taking a Master Gardener class, I try to pay attention to all the Latin names! 

Bloodroot (Sanguinaria Canadensis)

Master Gardener binder at my desk--reading this week's assignment!

My reading also inspired me to make some rosemary biscuits though I didn’t use the exact recipe provided in the book.  I had some heavy cream in the refrigerator left over from Christmas and decided to make cream biscuits from a recipe found here on the Internet.  Essentially you add heavy cream to a mixture of flour, baking powder, sugar, salt.  I added dried rosemary to the recipe and they turned out well.  I was able to use the leftover cream, but these rich biscuits certainly aren’t something I would make often. 

Toasted rosemary biscuits with honey for breakfast

Thoughts of Food on a Cold Winter's Night

 

I spent much of a Christmas holiday a few years ago in the mountains of Southwestern Virginia where I was born and reared, and where my mother, my two sisters and our families gather every year.   An ice storm's aftermath, plus a dusting of snow, had provided us with an icy, cold, white Christmas.

My childhood home

One frosty night I decided I wanted a pot of spiced tea that, in our family, we have always called "Russian tea."  I had only made the instant mix in the past, so my mother had to show me how she mixed up the pitchers of Russian tea that were often in the refrigerators at our house, or at our grandmother's house, during the winters of my childhood.  Soon, a saucepan containing water, cinnamon sticks and whole cloves was simmering on the stove, filling the house with its fragrance.  We next made a pot of tea, then added orange juice, lemon juice, sugar and the liquid strained from our spices.  I kept inquiring about a recipe but my mother worked intuitively and with frequent taste tests.

Once the tea was made and I was sitting with my steaming cup, my mother retrieved her recipe box from the kitchen shelf.  Inside the box were 3 x 5 note cards, newspaper clippings or handwritten scraps of paper representing my childhood in the form of recipes for casseroles, salads, cakes, cookies--even my grandmother's Russian tea recipe!

My mother began to look at each recipe, culling out duplicates, or dishes she said she would never make again.  As she discarded recipes, I would often protest, "But these have historical value, you can't just throw them away."

 

I started my own stack of cards, and that is how I came to own my grandmother's Russian tea recipe written in her own cursive handwriting, my Aunt Dean's recipe for Christmas fruit drop tea cakes and a version of Snicker Doodle cookies made by Mrs. Brown, an older woman in our neighborhood.  All of these women have passed away, but each was alive again as we read their recipes.  I copied my mother's recipe for lemon squares that I had needed several years ago for a party, and didn't have, and recipes from my sisters for blueberry cake and moist 'n creamy coconut cake.  My mother and I spoke of recipes we wished we had--my maternal grandmother's roll recipe that called for potato water and my paternal grandmother's recipe for carrot cookies. 

Reading recipes on a cold winter night in Virginia helped me remember many magical times from my childhood and evoked memories of family and friends.  I know how fortunate I am to have grown up in a household where we had plenty to eat, surrounded by a loving, extended family.

M.F.K. Fisher, the essayist who writes about food in many of her books, stated it this way: "When I write of hunger, I am really writing about love and the hunger for it, and the warmth and the love of it."    She went on to add that, "...with our gastronomical growth will come, inevitably, knowledge and perception of a hundred other things, but mainly of ourselves."

What Next? Zucchini Corn Bread!

This week has flown by and there seemed to be no time or energy for blogging.  One night we attended a going-away party for one of my husband's colleagues, another night I had one of my neighborhood association board meetings, plus the preparations for the meeting. I've worked every day and worked out, too.  Before I knew it, the week was coming to an end and the weekend was beckoning! :-) 

However, you probably won't be surprised to learn that I still managed to try out a new zucchini dish this week--zucchini corn bread.  I'm a country girl, and I do love my corn bread with the Farmer's Market fresh green beans.  I found the recipe in my hometown Big Brothers/Big Sisters cookbook, and several of my sister's friends had submitted it, so that was enough endorsement for me.  Comfort food from home...

So, here's the recipe....

Zucchini Corn Bread

3 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup self-rising corn meal
1/4 cup self-rising flour
1 1/2 sticks of margarine, melted
3/4 cup cottage cheese
2 cups shredded zucchini

Combine all ingredients.  Pour into greased pan.  Bake at 400 degrees for 35 minutes.

Batter looks like this

Baked corn bread detail

The corn bread was moist and delicious.  This would make a good foundation for a hearty Mexican corn bread.

Fortunately, last weekend I had time to read so I have four more "beach" reads to share with you tomorrow. These are all Kindle downloads--two selected because they do have beach settings, and I spent last summer reading about France so this year I guess my focus is the beach. 

Making Zucchini Bread

During the summer in Southwestern Virginia where I grew up, I daresay many folks have a loaf or two of zucchini bread stored in their freezer as a way to preserve the plentiful squash, as a sweet treat with coffee on a cool mountain morning, or for that occasion calling for a gift of food--"bread and butter" token if you are visiting someone over night, a bereavement, new neighbor or an elderly person who no longer bakes for themselves.  I love zucchini bread so that's what I have been doing lately--baking the golden loaves. 

I recently sent a loaf with my husband to work, and it was a hit.  The doctors hail from many countries, so they weren't familiar with zucchini bread but now I've made converts.  I think the doctor from Peru and the one from Panama vied for most pieces eaten.

Every cookbook from my hometown has a recipe for zucchini bread, but they are all essentially the same.  I'm using the basic recipe here.  So, are you ready to make some zucchini bread?

Ingredients

3 cups flour                                   1 cup each chopped nuts and raisins (optional)

1 1/2 cups sugar                            1 cup oil

1 tsp. cinnamon                             3 eggs, slightly beaten 

1 tsp. baking powder                      2 teaspoons vanilla

3/4 tsp. baking soda                       2 Tbsp. applesauce (my sister's secret

2 cups shredded zucchini                    ingredient)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Grate 2 cups of zucchini.

In large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, cinnamon, salt, baking power, baking soda, zucchini (and nuts and raisins--I don't add these because not all people like them.)

Dry mixture without zucchini added.

 

In another bowl beat eggs, oil--add vanilla.

Pour the wet mixture in with the dry mixture, which will have zucchini added to it. Add applesauce and stir until moistened.  Pour into two greased loaf pans.  Bake at 325 degrees for one hour.  Don't overbake.  Cool in pans for 10 minutes.

Now I'm going to make some more zucchini bread to take on vacation with us, so we can enjoy a slice with coffee while we bask in sweet sea breezes!

P.S.  My bread never takes an hour, my latest batch was done in 40-45 minutes. 



Squash and tomatoes

I have been blessed with an abundance of yellow and zucchini squash, tomatoes  and cucumbers.  It is a wonderful problem because I love garden vegetables.  However, I do need some new ideas about squash recipes.  If anyone has great squash recipes that use a lot of squash, let me know. 

Tomatoes have taste, something I tend to forget throughout the winter.  We had BLT's yesterday, caprese salad Saturday, and I tried a wonderful Greek Pasta Salad recipe from Pinterest that calls for tomatoes and cucumbers.  I have included this recipe below and I highly recommend it.

Greek pasta salad with sun-dried tomato vinaigrette



Greek Pasta Salad

Ingredients

For the dressing:
1 garlic clove
7 sun-dried or slow-roasted tomato halves, roughly chopped
2 Tbsp plain nonfat yogurt
1 tsp Greek seasoning
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1-1/2 tsp honey (or sugar substitute)
5-6 tsp water

For the salad:
8 oz rotini or other twisty pasta
1-1/2 cup diced fresh tomatoes, any type
1 cup diced cucumber
1/2 medium green bell pepper, diced
1/2 cup pitted large black olives, sliced in half
3 Tbsp chopped fresh dill
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese, or more to taste

Directions

In a blender, combine all dressing ingredients, and blend on high speed until smooth. If you'd like the dressing thinner, add a bit more water. Set aside.

Bring 4 quarts of water to the boil in a large pot. Cook the pasta according to package directions; drain and add to a large mixing bowl.

Combine all remaining ingredients in the mixing bowl along with as much of the dressing as you like. Garnish with some extra dill fronds, and serve at room temperature.

(from theperfectpantry.com recipes)

*********************************************************************************

Another recipe from Pinterest I prepared and loved is included below--just be aware that you need to parboil, steam or otherwise precook potatoes before adding this to this dish if you use Idaho potato.  New potatoes may cook faster.

Stacked Squash Casserole

Ingredients

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion
1 tsp minced garlic
1 medium zucchini
1 medium yellow squash
1 medium potato
1 medium tomato
1 tsp dried thyme
to taste salt and pepper
1 cup grated cheese (I used Italian blend and Gouda)

I added other spices that I like (e.g. oregano, basil) and also probably doubled the recipe as I have no medium size squash!

 STEP 1: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Finely dice the onion and mince the garlic. Saute both in a skillet with olive oil until softened (about five minutes).

STEP 2: While the onion and garlic are sauteing, thinly slice the rest of the vegetables.

STEP 3: Spray the inside of an 8x8 square or round baking dish with non-stick spray. Spread the softened onion and garlic in the bottom of the dish. Place the thinly sliced vegetables in the baking dish vertically, in an alternating pattern. Sprinkle generously with salt, pepper, and thyme.

STEP 4: Cover the dish with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil, top with cheese and bake for another 15-20 minutes or until the cheese is golden brown.

Stacked Squash Casserole

( from budgetbytes.blogspot.com)

So, I'm going to turn my old Chambers oven on as I wait for folks to share their delicious squash recipes.  In the meantime, I think I'll stir up some zucchini bread!

Thinking about Herbs

I'm sitting here eating a piece of rosemary bread with honey, thinking about herbs.  I didn't make this bread, just baked it, but lately I have been contemplating cooking with herbs, all because of the third book I've read as part of my Foodies Read 2 Challenge.  Susan Wittig Albert's An Unthymely Death is one of those books that I've had sitting on my shelf for awhile.  I had read a little bit of it but laid it aside and forgot about it. As I gathered books from my library for the Foodie Reading Challenge, I realized this would be the perfect opportunity to complete it.

Albert, as mystery lovers will recognize, is the author of 21 mysteries featuring China Bayles, a former criminal defense attorney and current proprietor of a herb shop, Thyme and Seasons, and a tearoom, Thyme for Tea, that she owns with her best friend Ruby Wilcox who also features prominently in the herb series mysteries.  Albert has other mystery series, too, the Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter and the more recent garden club mystery series.  She writes a series with her husband under the pseudonym, Robin Paige; and she has written 60 Youth Adult Books, in addition to several nonfiction books.

A former English professor, Albert is, to state the obvious, a multi-talented and prolific author. 

An Unthymely Death fits in with the China Bayles series.  It is a collection of short mystery stories featuring China and Ruby, interspersed with numerous sidebar facts about herbs, herbal recipes and craft ideas featuring herbs.  For example, there is a mini history of mustard, a listing of herbs for a tea garden, as well as herbs of the Bible, instructions on how to make a tussie mussie, and scores of recipes.  Albert is also the honorary President for 2012-2014 of the Herb Society of America.  To read more about herbs and the herb society, Click Here.   She also has an excellent website with lots of links and information about herbs on it.  Wittig's About Thyme website gives recipes and a lot of fascinating facts about herbs.  To view this website and find more herbal recipes, Click Here.

Two recipes I want to try:

Faerie Blossom Cookies

1/8 cup sugar

1/4 cup fresh lemon-basil leaves, packed down

1/4 cup fresh lemon balm leaves, packed down

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened

1 egg

3 tablespoons lemon juice

3 cups flour

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease two baking sheets.  In a blender or food processor, process the fresh herbs with the 1/8 cup sugar and set aside.  Using your electric mixer, beat butter or margarine until creamy, gradually adding the 3/4 cup sugar.  Add egg and lemon juice and blend.  Add herb-sugar mixture, then flour, 1 cup at a time, beating to blend thoroughly.  Shape into one inch balls and place two inches apart on greased baking sheet.  Dip the bottom of a glass in sugar and flatten each ball.  Bake until golden brown, about 8-10 minutes,  Remove to wire racks to cool.  Makes about three dozen.

 

Rosemary Caper Tapenade

2 small (6 or 8 oz) jars of oil-cured black olives

1/3 cup olive oil

1/3 cup tiny capers (nonpareil) drained

2 (2 oz) tins flat anchovy fillets, undrained

1 tablespoon lemon juice

3 cloves garlic, minced fine

2 teaspoons finely minced fresh rosemary leaves or 1 teaspoon dried

Pepper to taste

Pit the olives and place in a blender or food processor.  Add olive oil and blend.  Add capers, anchovies, lemon juice, garlic, and rosemary.  Blend until smooth (or, if you prefer, still slightly grainy).  Taste and add pepper if you like.  If the spread is too thick, add additional olive oil.  Refrigerate several days for best flavor.  Serve at room temperature.  (To store, pack in a large-mouthed jar and cover with olive oil.  Cover jar tightly.)

There's only one thing standing in my way to culinary prowess with herbs--my current herb garden!

Umm, this is my current herb garden, the planter outside the back door
and it's empty--no seeds sprouted.