Thanksgiving Menu–Velvety Vegetable Soup

Liquid Gold

“Liquid Gold is what I call this hearty, healthy soup. I tripled the recipe in order to have enough for fifteen people plus leftovers. (You gotta have leftovers!) Since it’s packed with veggies, I forgo serving salad at Thanksgiving dinner. We have the soup course and then it’s straight to the main event.

Happy cooking, hon!

VELVETY VEGETABLE SOUP

Ingredients:

2 onions, sliced

2 stalks celery, cut up

2 Tablespoons margarine

4 cups chicken or vegetable stock

2 medium potatoes, sliced

2 carrots, sliced

1 zucchini, sliced

salt and pepper to taste

4 sprigs parsley or dried parsley

sugar to taste (optional)

Directions:

Saute the onions and celery in melted margarine.  In a soup pot combine sauteed vegetables with remaining ingredients except sugar, if using.  Cook gently on low heat until vegetables are soft.  Either pour soup into a blender * (in two or three batches) and blend until smooth–OR–use a hand blender to blend veggies right in soup pot.  (I prefer using the hand blender because it’s not as messy.) Taste to correct seasonings.  This is when I sprinkle a little sugar in and mix.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings

*Blender tips:  Let soup cool a little first before pouring into blender and don’t fill blender the whole way.  When done blending, pour soup back into soup pot.

Freezing Tip:  Freeze, defrost, and re-blended with hand blender. Heat and serve.

 

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Homemade Potato Chips

Homemade Potato Chips.

Grilling Season’s Here!

I don’t like potato chips. Plain, I mean. If they’re covered in sour cream & onion or salt & vinegar flavoring, then I could munch away until I practically pay someone to remove them from my sight! So, I have no idea why homemade potato chips entered my “dinner brain” and wouldn’t go away until I made them.  These were delicious! For those friends of mine (you know who  you are) worried about cooking in oil/”it’s not good for you”/”why would I promote these as healthy,” CHILLAX!

I promise not to make these more than a few times the whole summer.

The only flavoring on these is a bit of salt.

I believe when a recipe has less ingredients than fingers on a hand, and those ingredients are not made of chemicals, then the result can be called healthy or a healthy alternative.

So there!

1. Peel potatoes and set up food processor with slicing disk.

 

2. Slice potatoes.

 

 

 

 

 

3. Add potato slices to preheated olive oil.

4. Fry potato slices until golden. Drain on paper towels after removing from frying pan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Serve.

Homemade Potato Chips

Ingredients:

Potatoes–I used Russet potatoes, quantity depends on how many people you are serving and size of potatoes, I used 4 medium potatoes for 3 people.

Olive Oil–for frying, the oil was so clean that I collected it to use again.

Salt–to taste

Other Spices–optional

Directions:

1.  Peel potatoes and slice in a food processor.

2.  Heat olive oil in pan until its hot.

3.  Fry potatoes in oil until golden brown, turning to cook both sides.

4.  Drain on paper towels and sprinkle salt to taste.  (If using other spices, sprinkle now.)

5.  Serve and enjoy!

Herbed Roasted Potatoes

Guess what I’m making as a side dish? I thought this would go well with chicken cutlets and fresh steamed green beans.  Hon, the only question left is what’s for dessert?

Herb Roasted Potatoes

Ingredients:

◦   1 1/2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes (I used Russet potatoes)

◦   1 tablespoon fresh parsley, minced (I used dried herbs)

◦   1 tablespoon fresh thyme, minced

◦   1 tablespoon fresh chives, minced

◦   Kosher salt or sea salt, to taste

◦   Fresh ground black pepper, to taste

◦   Paprika

Directions:

1.  Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F, and spray rimmed cookie sheets with cooking spray. Slice your potatoes so that they are to about 1/8” thick. Place them in a large bowl.

2.  Add herbs to the bowl, and sprinkle with salt, pepper and paprika. Drizzle enough olive oil over the mixture only to lightly coat the potatoes, and toss the ingredients until each potato slice is coated.

3.  Lay the potatoes out on the cookie sheets in one layer and place in the oven, on the center rack.

4.  About halfway through baking, flip potato slices over so that the other side of the potatoes will brown.

5.  Roast for about 25 minutes or until potatoes are nice and golden brown.  Remove from oven and sprinkle with additional salt if desired.  Serve immediately.

Serves 4-6

source: Mama’s Gotta Bake

Thanksgiving Dinner–Velvety Vegetable Soup

In the mood for soup?  Hon, trust me when I say everyone loves my Velvety Vegetable soup! It’s hearty, tasty and healthy, and the number one recipe people ask me to share. I serve it instead of salad on Thanksgiving. Since a lot of prep work is required, I make large batches a couple of times a year, then portion and freeze for future meals.  If you want to freeze, fill container about two thirds full (it expands when frozen) and defrost a day or two before serving.  When defrosted, re-blend the soup with a hand held blender if necessary.

VELVETY VEGETABLE SOUP

2 onions, sliced

2 stalks celery, cut up

2 Tablespoons margarine

4 cups chicken or vegetable stock

2 medium potatoes, sliced

2 carrots, sliced

1 zucchini, sliced

salt and pepper to taste

4 sprigs parsley or dried parsley

sugar to taste (optional)

Saute the onions and celery in melted margarine.  In a soup pot combine sauteed vegetables with remaining ingredients except sugar, if using.  Cook gently on low heat until vegetables are soft.  Either pour soup into a blender * (in two or three batches) and blend until smooth–OR–use a hand blender to blend veggies right in soup pot.  (I prefer using the hand blender because it’s not as messy.) Taste to correct seasonings.  This is when I sprinkle a little sugar in and mix.

*Blender tips:  Let soup cool a little first before pouring into blender and don’t fill blender the whole way.  When done blending, pour soup back into soup pot.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings