with merriment and cheer

and a Happy New Year too!

let it snow

On Tuesday we had our first real German snow of 2011. yes, it was less than 3 inches cumulative, but that's still something to this southern girl.

view from my bedroom

Das Bear on our little balcony playing in the snow for the
first time since last Christmas

Naturally, Bear and I decided to take a little stroll around our block...

clean and simple potato and leek soup

As a pre-Christmas / post-Thanksgiving gift, my mom bought me the Clean Eating 2 cookbook along with the "Clean Eating: Classic Comfort Foods" special edition magazine.  The recipes are absolutely amazing and I'm planning on working my way through each of them in coming months.  Since its been snowing here a bit lately, its been perfect soup and stew weather - and since I also have a huge bag of potatoes lying around (don't ask...) I decided to dive in and whip up some potato and leek soup to last me a few chilly nights!

my cornucopia of ingredients with the strategically
placed original recipe in the background.

Potato & Leek Soup with Cheddar Topping (via  "Clean Eating: Classic Comfort Foods")
serves: 6 | Hands on time: 10 mins | Total Time: 30 mins
 Ingredients:

• 2 tsp olive oil
• 3 lrg leeks, white and light green parts only, rinsed and finely sliced into semicircles
• pinch each of sea salt & fresh ground blk pepper
• 3 yukon gold potatoes, peeled and diced
• 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth (veggie broth works too, for our vegetarian friends)
• 2 cups low-fat milk
• pinch ground nutmeg or allspice
• 1/2 cup grated low-fat sharp cheddar cheese

Method:

In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium-high.  Add leeks, salt and pepper and cook, stirring frequently, until very soft - about 5 mins.

Add potatoes, and broth and bring to a boil.    Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until potatoes simmer, 8 to 10 mins.

Using a ladle or a large spoon, carefully remove 2 cups soup and transfer to an upright blender; puree til smooth, about 2 minutes.

its so pretty and bright green

Return puree to saucepan and then add cheese and stir until cheese melts.  

Ladle into serving bowls, dividing evenly.  You can garnish with some Italian parsley and/or additional nutmeg.  

I had a hearty loaf of Volkorn (whole wheat) Baguette lying around, so I used that to accompany my soup.  The outcome?  It's not as thick or creamy as I've had in the past, but thats kind of what made it great.  It's really light tasting, but also pretty filling.  All-in-all I would have to rate this a 3 on a scale of  1-10, with 1 being "pop-in-microwave-and-watch-easy" and 10 being "lock-yourself-in-the-kitchen-w/ a-bottle-of-wine-because-you-ain't-going-anywhere-for-a-few-hours" easy.

if you do decide to make this, please comment below and let us know how it turns out!

do you know what it means to miss whole foods?

Goodness I miss this store... if you've ever visited the uptown New Orleans location and their teeeny tiny parking lot, you get it.



"I've been on edge since they took Kombucha off the shelf."  Gosh I miss Kombucha...