Soup Season

Today is the first day of fall, and that means soup season.  I love soup season!  As far as I’m concerned, you can’t have enough good soup recipes.

My first new soup of the season is Creamy Vegetable Soup.

In a large saucepan combine the following and simmer in a box of vegetable stock till the vegetables are just about tender.

• 1/2 cup diced celery
• 1/2 cup sliced carrot
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 1 cup chopped broccoli
• 1 cup chopped cauliflower
• 2 cups cubed potatoes
• 2 cups corn
• 2 cloves garlic
• dash of pepper
• 2 Tbsp. bacon bits (imitation for vegetarian, or real bacon or diced ham)

When the vegetables are almost done, add cheese if you want.  I used Velveeta because it melts so well.  You can use cheddar.  Lower the heat and continue to simmer while making the white sauce.

In a medium saucepan, melt 3 Tbsp. butter or margarine.  Add 3 Tbsp. of flour and mix.  When all the flour has been wetted, add 2 cups milk.  Whisk to get it mixed thoroughly.  Stir constantly over a med.-high heat until it is thick and bubbly.  Add it to the vegetables.  Stir thoroughly and it is ready to serve.

It turned out delicious!  Happy fall!

Carrot Cake

Just before I nearly impaled myself, I had pulled some carrots.  Now, if you know me, you know I like to turn my veggies into delicious desserts.  In this case, I thought it might help the eye heal too.  You know, carrots are supposed to be good for the eyes.  Anyhow.  I made a carrot cake.

I like easy, so mix everything together:

• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 1 Tbsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 Tbsp. ground ginger
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 4 cups grated carrot
• 1 cup chopped walnut
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1 1/2 cups honey
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 4 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla

Pour it into a greased 9×13 cake pan and bake ate 350°F until a toothpick comes out clean (about 50 minutes).

I used a traditional cream cheese frosting for it.

Even if it didn’t help my eye heal, it tasted pretty darn good!  It was so good that I grated enough for another cake and froze it.

In other news, I still have no electricity in my house, but we’ve cooled down enough that I took Rocky back over and am sleeping there at night.  I have to admit, I am starting to be a bit anxious to have my electricity restored.

Ethel’s Best Pickled Beets

I am not a fan of pickled beets, but I do like to garden, and I do like to feed people, so I will occasionally can my dad some pickled beets.

I am using the recipe his mother used.  It’s called “Ethel’s Best Pickled Beets” on her recipe card.  I assume the Ethel she is referring to is her sister-in-law, my great-aunt.  In other words, this is a family recipe that is quite old.

I pulled some beets from the garden because they needed to be thinned.

When I was ready to make my pickled beets, I trimmed them.  Leave just about an inch of the stems and an inch of root.

Then scrub them as clean as you can get them.  I actually use my green scotch pad to scrub them.

Then you put the beets in a pot of water, making sure you have enough to completely cover them, and boil them for about twenty-five minutes.

Do not discard the water.  Remove the beets and the skins will just slip off.

Now you can cut off the rest of the stems and roots.  Honestly, they will probably just rub off with the skin.  Slice or dice the beets.  If they are small (2 inches or less in diameter) you can leave them whole.

Place them in the jars you plan on canning them in.  I got five pints from those few that I pulled.

To make the pickling, you will use your reserved beet water, vinegar and sugar in equal amounts.  For the small batch I was canning, I used 1 1/2 cups of each.  I had more than I needed.  That is the nice thing about this recipe.  You can make whatever amount works for you; just keep the 1:1:1 ratio for the pickling liquid.

The first time I made these, I was rather disgusted with the thought of using the water the beets were boiled in.  I measured out my water and then decided to run it through a milk filter.  To my surprise, it was clean.  There was not a single drop of dirt in the filter.  If you don’t believe me or just want to feel better about it, you can always strain the water through a coffee filter.  Place your water, vinegar, and sugar into a pan and heat to dissolve the sugar.

Then pour it over the beets, filling the jar to 1/2 inch (another pickled beet recipe I looked at said 1/4 inch) from the top.

Wipe the rims of the jars clean and adjust the lids.  Process the jars (pint or quart) in a boiling water bath for 30 minutes.  These are best left for a day or two before eating.

Since I had some of the pickling juice left, I decided to slice a cucumber from the garden.

They became pink refrigerator pickles.

For the record, they were delicious.