Crockpot Soup with Potatoes and Roasted Cauliflower

It's weird how some days I can spend so much time cooking, and other days I have no time at all and want something quick. We have pizza once a week just because, but the other six nights its something homemade, unless we get invited to someone elses place. If it's my brother CC, then we get some aged beef on the barbecue, and it's delicious! If it's at either of my daughters' place, we get a big green salad with something I probably made and brought over, like lasagna, because I don't want them have to go to any trouble or expense.

This vessel right here is my favorite cooking appliance

Made this the other night. Have about half leftover.

Anyway, today I am off work, and my husband is at work. Perfect day to clean house, right? Uh huh. So here I am, watching Hoda and Kathie Lee and blogging about food. I don't get another fresh vegetable box delivered from SLO Veg until Monday, so I am using what I have. A survey of the frig shows some leftover mashed potatoes, some butternut squash pasta (Taylor really loves it and will eat it today for his lunch, or breakfast, or brunch, or whatever you call it when someone wakes up and eats midday), and a half of a whole roasted cauliflower and three carrots. It was part a great fish and veggie dinner the other night, but just the hub and I were home, so there was a lot left. (Hardest part of meal planning is knowing for sure how many eaters I might have.) Hmmm...I could just throw the potatoes and the cauliflower into the crock pot and in three or four hours I will have Roasted Cauliflower and Potato soup, right? Right! 

I browse Pinterest for a few recipes and decide I am right on track. There a dozens of pins for cauliflower soup which must be all the rage right now. Most are substituting cauliflower for potatoes in hopes of have a slightly more healthy cream soup. But after talking with a dietician this week, my hub (who has been advised to monitor his blood sugar levels) and I learned that a carb is a carb is a carb. Blood sugars fluctuate more from carbs than anything else. Portion size is the key. A small potato is one carb serving. A giant potato equal three or four carb servings. One carbohydrate serving equals 15 grams of carbohydrates. She said everyone is different, so some people may tolerate one source of carbs better than the next person. She said just count your carbs--four servings allowed per meal, one for snacks. Beer counts as carbs. And cheese is a protein. Done. That was easy.

Literally just threw it all in the crock pot

So, back to the soup, where I have a big head start in using leftover roasted vegetables. I dumped in the container of potatoes, the half head of cauliflower, the three roasted carrots, some chopped red onion and two cloves of mashed garlic. Then I added two cups of chicken broth that I had stashed in the freezer. After looking at some other recipes, I might add some Dijon mustard and hot sauce for a little spike. I will blend it together with an immersion blender and stir in some shredded cheese until it all melts. I have some in the frig that is a mix of cheddar and Monterey jack cheese. I checked out my plastic storage containers, which all have measurements listed on them. The potato container is four cups. There is about 2 cups worth of cauliflower there. One half cup of cooked vegetables counts as one carb, so it all depends of how many cups of soup we consume. Two cups of soup is the whole meal, or one and a half cups of soup plus one beer. Its interchangeable. That's it. Soups on!

My soup was kind of chunky, but you can use an immersion blender to smooth it out if you like.

Here is the recipe I modeled from Aris Menu:

Roasted Cauliflower Soup 
http://arismenu.com/roasted-cauliflower-soup/

Ingredients

• 1 large head of cauliflower, chopped into small florets
• 4 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 4 tbsp olive oil, divided
• salt and pepper
• 1 large red onion, finely chopped
• 4 cups vegetable or chicken broth
• 3 cups mashed potatoes
• 1 tbsp turmeric
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 tbsp honey dijon mustard 
• 3-4 dashes of your favorite hot sauce (I used McClintocks)
• 1 1/2 cups freshly grated cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese
• 
  

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400. Add cauliflower and garlic to a very large baking dish. Drizzle with 1-2 tablespoons olive oil and season with a generous pinch each of salt and pepper. Bake until browned and softened, about 30 minutes.
2. In a large pot, heat 1-2 tbsp olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and season with a pinch each of salt and pepper. Cook until tender and fragrant, about 7 minutes.
3. Add broth. Increase heat to high and bring to a boil. Stir in mashed potatoes.
4. Add cooked cauliflower and garlic scraping baking dish well into the pot. Add turmeric and curry powder, salt and pepper. Add mustard and hot sauce.
5. Puree using an immersion blender, high quality stand blender (will likely need to do in batches), or food processor (will also likely require multiple batches. Return to heat and stir in cheese. Add extra salt and pepper if desired. Serve immediately. Leftovers may be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to one week

Note: When Lee checked his blood sugar  2 hours after dinner, it was high. I might make this soup again without all the potatoes and see what the results will be.

Roasted Potato Salad with Lavender

We got some beautiful Red Potatoes in our box from SLO Veg this week. I love red potatoes! I had to make something with them first thing!

I remember my sister making a lavender potato salad for a family potluck, so I decided to use that herb. I had gotten some lavender from SLO Veg several months ago and now is a good time to use it. First off, I wanted to roast the potatoes and infuse them with some Rosemary flavoring. 

I rinsed and quartered my potatoes, then put them on a baking sheet. I drizzled on a few tablespoons of butter olive oil that I had gotten in Monterey at Tasty Olive. That store has about 50 different olive oil flavorings, plus a bunch of vinegars, and my girls and I had a ball there last November. I am sure some of our local growers have similar flavors of oils and vinegars, so I am going on a search for them very soon. 

Meanwhile, I set the oven to 400 degrees and layed a few sprigs of freshly cut rosemary on top. I put the potatoes in the oven and let them roast for a good hour while I was packing my husband a lunch and making our breakfast. (Sprouted oatmeal with fresh strawberries stirred in!)

(to be continued!)

Potato Encrusted Bank Rockfish and Bok Choy

Thursday's delivery from SLO Veg always includes a pound of fresh caught ocean fish from our local fishermen. Our fish this week is Bank Rockfish. I saw a recipe earlier in the week on "Just A Pinch" website that I knew would be scrumptious, so I could hardly wait for the fish to arrive. "Just A Pinch" is a collection of recipes from real home cooks, like me, so I want to share it with you and hope you enjoy it too! The recipes are shareable, pinable and printable, if that makes sense to you. http://www.justapinch.com/

I had two big russet potatoes that I precooked in the microwave and let cool off. The author of this recipe, Kathy, didn't mention this step, but I think shredded potatoes are best precooked, otherwise they get all gummy. I shredded the cooled potatoes with my favorite vintage appliance, my Oster Kitchen Center. It has a mixer, blender, chopper and food processor attachments. I used to have an ice cream attachment too, but that got lost in a zillion moves over the past 10 years or so. I don't know why the company discontinued these things, because I love it. I burnt out the motor on mine a few times and my father-in-law always ordered the parts and fixed it for me. I guess after he was gone, I had no one to fix it anymore, so I got rid of it. Then, when I met and married my husband Lee, he came complete with an Oster Kitchen Center, garlic press and four (that's right, four!) pizza cutters. Just a little bonus. It's missing the slicer blade, but it does have the grater and french fry blades. I look for parts whenever I am browsing through a thrift store.

I had two large filets and two smaller pieces. I did the steps of flouring, coating with egg and pressing on the shredded potatoes, then I fried them in a pan of hot oil for about 5 minutes on each side, until a nice brown crust formed. I had three oval ramekins waiting, so I put the browned filets with the two smaller pieces in one of the ramekins and the two larger filets in the other ramekins and popped the fish into a preheated 450 degree oven for a good 10 minutes. I wanted the fish to be completely cooked through, as well as the potatoes. While the fish baked, I prepared some bok choy using a recipe from the SLO Veg recipe site.  http://www.sloveg.com/printRecipe.cfm?recipe_id=141.

With a few olives as an appetizer, the Sugar Snap Pea slaw I made earlier today and a cocktail made just now by my husband using fresh squeezed grapefruit juice from the fruit from our SLO Veg box, I think we had a pretty well rounded dinner. Time to sit down and chow down with the hub. The third ramekin of fish can be his lunch for tomorrow or a late night snack for our young adult whenever he blows in.

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Potato Encrusted Fish

added by Kathy Williams

Can use frozen shredded potatoes. just remove the excess water

Cook time: 10 Min  Prep time: 15 Min  Serves: 4

Ingredients

3 large russet potatoes, (precooked) shredded

1/4 c bread crumbs

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

4-6 oz fresh or frozen white fish such as cod or haddock, 1 inch or more thick

1 c flour

3 large eggs beaten

Directions

1. Preheat oven 450 f. Lightly coat a sheet pan with cooking spray. If using frozen fish make sure it is defrosted.

2. You will need a dish for the eggs, a dish for the flour, and a dish for the shreaded potatoes. (I use a 9x13 glass pan).

3. Toss together the grated potatoes, breadcrumbs, thyme, onion powder, salt and pepper.

4. In a fry pan, heat about a cup of oil about med-med high heat.

5. Dredge fish in flour, shake off excess then dip in egg and let excess drip off. Crust the fish in the potato mixture, pressing to adhere.

6. Add encrusted fish to hot oil. Cook to brown the potatoes to crispiness. Flip and brown the other side. Drain on paper towel.

7. Place browned fish on greased pan and bake in oven for about 5-8 mins. until cooked through.


Bok Choy by Lynn Adams 
Ingredients:1 cup chicken broth
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 lb. baby bok choy, trimmed
1/2 teaspoon Asian sesame oil

Bring broth and butter to a simmer in a deep large heavy skillet. Arrange bok choy evenly in skillet and simmer, covered, until tender, about 5 minutes. Transfer bok choy with tongs to a serving dish and keep warm, covered. Boil broth mixture until reduced to about 1/4 cup, then stir in sesame oil and pepper to taste. Pour mixture over bok choy. Purplekimchi- Very, very easy! Reduce butter to 1T add sliced ginger and 2 cloves minced garlic to the chicken broth. Increase sesame oil in the reduction to 1T - deelish! Tasted like the bok choy I've had in restaurants.

Potato travels from Ukraine to Italy: Varenyky to Gnocchi

BHG recipe for Tuna and Mushroom Gnocchi

I went from the Ukraine to Italy this morning with my potatoes. I started off making potato-filled varenyky (perogies) for our annual Ukrainian dinner celebrating my Mom's Ukrainian heritage. I just added some flour and an egg to a couple of cups of mashed potatoes and came up with a dough sturdy enough to roll into a rope and make into little dumplings of gnocchi. I cooked them in the same water as I had been boiling the varenyky in. Then I dug out a recipe I had clipped from a Better Homes and Garden magazine for "Gnocci with Mushrooms and Tuna". I had made it once before with store bought, shelf stable gnocchi. I watched Giada make gnocchi on her show last week and wanted to give it a try, so here goes!


I couldn't find Giada's recipe for gnocchi, so here is one from Eating Well:
http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/potato_gnocchi.html

Rolling out the potato dough and cutting it into small pieces, then making fork marks on it.

Homemade Potato Gnocchi

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/potato_gnocchi.html
From EatingWell:  November/December 2009 Traditional homemade gnocchi (little Italian dumplings) are made with just potato, flour, egg and salt. Be sure not to work the dough too much or the gnocchi will be tough. Toss them with your favorite sauce and dinner is served!
About 12 dozen (or 6 cups) gnocchi, for 6 servings | Active Time: 1 hour | Total Time: 2 1/4 hours

Ingredients

• 2 pounds medium Yukon Gold or russet potatoes
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg yolk, beaten
• 1-1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Pierce potatoes in several spots with a fork. Bake directly on the center rack until tender when pierced with a knife, 45 minutes to 1 1/4 hours, depending on the size and type of your potatoes. Remove to a wire rack and let stand until cool enough to handle, 15 to 20 minutes.
3. Scoop the insides out of the potato skins and push through a potato ricer fitted with a fine disc onto a clean counter. (If you don’t have a ricer, mash the potatoes until smooth.) Gather the potato into a mound on the counter, sprinkle with salt and let cool, about 15 minutes.
4. Put a large pot of water on to boil.
5. Pour egg yolk over the cooled potato and then sprinkle 1 cup flour on. Use a bench knife or metal spatula to gently fold the flour and egg into the potatoes until combined (it will not look like dough at this point). Gently squeeze, knead and pat the dough until it holds together and resembles biscuit dough or cookie dough. The dough will be a little sticky; if it’s very sticky, add more flour, about 1 tablespoon at a time, as necessary. Be careful not to overwork the dough: overworked dough will yield tougher gnocchi.
6. Pat the dough into a 1 1/2-inch-thick disk and then divide it into 4 equal pieces. Working on a lightly floured surface with lightly floured hands, roll each portion into a 24- to 26-inch-long “snake,” 1/2 to 3/4 inch wide. Start at the center of the dough and roll out using your fingertips and very light pressure; gently pull the dough out as you roll. Cut the snake into 3/4-inch pieces. Use your fingertip to make an indentation (or “dimple”) in the center of each gnocchi. Place the gnocchi on a lightly floured baking sheet as they are made. Repeat with remaining dough.
7. Adjust the heat so the water is at a gentle boil. Add about one-quarter of the gnocchi at a time. When the gnocchi float to the top, transfer to a parchment or wax paper-lined baking sheet with a slotted spoon. Continue boiling the gnocchi in batches until they are all cooked, returning the water to a gentle boil between batches. Serve immediately or see Sautéed Gnocchi (see Tip).

Gnocchi drains on a broiler pan after it has been boiled in water.

Now what? Ukrainian Feast!

So at the end of the week, I still have some purple kale, some bok choy, cilantro, the golden beets, one Fuji apple, half of a red onion and a couple of oranges, all from the SLO Veg box. I used the last of the curly lettuce today in our lunches, and the tangerines have been good lunch snacks all week. I have plans for some of it for my Sunday Ukrainian dinner. Its a celebration of my dear mother's Ukrainian roots.

The beets and onion will go into the Borscht. I still have some baby carrots, so I am okay there. I used all my red potatoes in a salad earlier this week, so I will need to augment from the grocery store as I need more potatoes for my perogies (varenyky). More onion, too. Ukrainian veggies consist mainly of potatoes, cabbage, mushrooms and onions. I plan to make three fillings for the perogies: sauerkraut, salmon, and potato. I might add some kale to the salmon mixture...that would be interesting. I could put some into the Borscht, also. Red beets are standard for borscht, so this one will just be a golden version. Maybe if its not so pink, more of my family will like it!

I am going to make a sort of compote out of the oranges to serve with the honey cake (Medinyk) that I have already baked. I also plan to make that Apple Ambrosia recipe I posted up earlier and see how my family likes it.

So my grocery shopping list includes apples, onions, red potatoes, mushrooms, cabbage...and sour cream!