A Good Old Fashioned Celery Soup

What do you do with a bunch of celery? Use it in salad? or as a crunchy snack. However it's winter and that calls for soup. I decided to try an update of my Mom's recipe.

Unfortunately I didn't have it. Mine is a mashup of improvising on a recipe I found on The Daring Gourmet blog. I varied it and add whatever I could remember of the family recipe.
It starts with celery which I had in abundance from making lobster salad with the lobster balls I made last Monday.

I sliced the stalks and the heart into chunks the way my Mom did.

It was sauteed in organic butter (I know I shouldn't have this on a cirrhosis diet. but I felt it would add a rich flavor to the potage)

Half went in, (about  a quarter cup)

A third of a cup of a flour was added to create a roux with the celery. This thickens it. The Daring Gourmet called for a whole onion and garlic to also be sauteed. I nixed these and added a heaping tablespoon of onion powder by McCormick.

I let all this cook down for about ten minutes before adding an entire container of vegetable stock.

This is Acme's Signature line and it's a rich broth. Then it was Almond Coconut milk

And three cups of Almond Breeze's almond coconut blend. 

It was cooked down for another ten minutes as another dash of onion powder was added for more flavor and an extra three teaspoons of flour was added to thicken it. I didn't add salt but freshly ground pepper for more flavoring and bite.

It was a delicious hot bowl. The celery chunks cooked down for still crunchy on the inside , soft on the outside texture. There was also a lovely buttery aftertaste and a smoothness to the soup.

This celery soup, a mashup of recipes, is the perfect dish for a cold February night. Make it for dinner to ward off the chill. It's lovely and green, a reminder of Spring and summer to come.

The Annual Christmas Checklist

 Successful Christmas Eve and Christmas Day dinners begin with well stocked kitchens. These meals are not ones to improvise with or sub in anything last minute.Everything  should be on the ready. There should not be any hiccups or snags. The meal , albeit  sometimes a difficult cook and roast,should go easily without any drama.

By now most home chefs should have the main dish, namely the roast. Make sure that it's enough for your guests. Two servings usually work per person .If you feel you'll come up short then get a second  roast. Also have make sure you have every ingredient for your sides. Have extra cans of faves such as green beans and corn. If you haven't shopped yet, then get larger versions of what you normally buy.After all you'll not only need that olive oil for salad but you 'll need it for sauteing vegetables as well. Not only will you need more olive oil but it also pays to have extra margarine and butter , both for cooking and the table. Keep enough chicken, beef or vegetable stock on hand too It's just as valuable as a stuffing ingredient as it is for gravies. Flour is the backbone of any dinner. It is used in making roues as well as the chief ingredient for baked goods. You may think that eggs are only good for that Christmas breakfast. You're partially right, however they're also needed for binding stuffing  as well along with being those yummy appetizers deviled eggs. Remember that hard boiled eggs are also  part of the stuffing in stuffed celery too and they  make a nice addition to any salad.


What else should you have ? The basic condiments. Salt and pepper are used in almost everything, and salt even more so because of baking. Brown and white sugar is also needed. Brown sugar is needed for  rubbing onto ham as well as for candied yams. It can even be added for color to roast beef gravy. Make sure you also have filled spice jars too. Chive and dried scallions go well  in homemade mashed potatoes along with being good sprinkled on green beans. Keep in ind that you have to have cinnamon too. It 's vital in any sweet potato dish as well as gracing dessert cappuccinos.If you run out of it, don't fret Nutmeg can sub in or it if you're in a pinch. Another inventory to double check is your beverage one. You should have a basement  full of different kinds of soda and flavored waters to suit everyones' tastes.Get the kids Simply Fruit Punch to drink with their holiday dinner.It's a nice alternative to sodas and has a refreshing mixed fruit flavor. Holiday desserts stretch out into two and three hours so have plenty of coffee and tea on hand for sipping. Make sure you have a few different flavors of teas so guest can have a choice. There should be equal amounts of decaf and caf as well as espresso shots for those who have a long drive home. A nice tough is having two or three flavored creamers on hand too.

A well stocked holiday kitchen is key to a successful dinner. Make sure you have everything and you don't run out. Christmas Eve and Christmas are not the times for culinary disasters. Enjoy the holiday and holiday cooking.