The Best Potato Soup EVER!!

About 12 years ago or so, Scott and I went down to Monterey California (and right now we can't remember why we were there, isn't that sad? That is why I have this blog, to help me remember things like this!! tee hee!)

Anyway, as we were roaming around the city, we found a wonderful restaurant...Italian, of course! And the reason I can remember it and the name, Rosine's Cuisine, is because I bought their cookbook! And they have the best, I mean the really best Potato Soup recipe. Tonight when I was talking to my dad, he said he made the best potato soup he ever had and it was from Rosine's, I had given the recipe to my mom years ago. So I thought, WOW, I better post this in case someone needs to have this soup this fall, using some of those good potatoes from the garden or at least those yummy small gold yukon ones from the store (or better yet, the farmers market!) This is comfort food at its BEST!! So good to warm the tummy and the soul on those cool fall and winter evenings...very filling, with only a garlic or cheesey bread to go with it!

Potato Leek Soup

1/4 # raw bacon, finely chopped
2 Tbsp butter or margarine
3 leeks, white parts only, chopped
1 cup celery chopped
4 cups of potatoes, peeled and cubed
3 cups strong chicken stock
3 chicken bouillon cubes
1/4 tsp. pepper

Roux: 1/4 cup margarine or butter
1/3 cup flour
3 cups milk or half and half

In a large saucepan, (or Dutch oven!) cook the bacon in the butter until almost crisp. Now I like mine crisp, so I make sure all the pieces are really crisp! Add the leeks, celery, and potatoes. Cook for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally and browning up the potatoes. Add the chicken stock, bouillon cubes and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile in another saucepan, melt the margarine or butter. Stir in the flour, making a roux. cook for a few minutes, then wisk into the soup (I usually take a ladle of the soup and add it to the roux before I dump the whole thing into the soup...just to make sure it blends good and doesn't get lumpy!) When the soup has thickened, add the milk or half and half, sirring well. Taste for flavor and adjust salt and pepper if necessary.

That's IT! However, my own version is slightly different..
1. my hubby doesn't like cooked celery so much, so I leave that out.
2. I don't like soggy bacon, so I take my bacon out of the pan after it has been crisped up. I DO NOT add it into the soup, I serve it as a garnish on top of the soup!
3. I add a little bit of grated cheese on top, along with maybe a few slices of green onions and then of course the bacon bits!
4. to be honest, I actually fry up closer to a whole pound of bacon, cause you know, when you trim the fat and have those little itty bitty pieces, they don't go very far and I like to have more than just three or four pieces sitting on top of my bowl of soup! I just wrap those bacon bits into a paper towel and then into a zip lock bag and can just pull a few out at a time as I serve up the soup for several days!

I hope you have a chance to make this and I wonder if Rosine's is still around? I have made several of their recipes, next time I will post their delicious 'meatballs'. My family LOVES them and Scott likes me to make meatball sandwiches when I have leftovers!

So, as Julia Child would say: Bon Appetit!!

Julia Child I am NOT!

Bon Appetit everyone!! I went to the movie theater tonight with my two friends, Liz and Becky. We saw: "Julia & Julie. I give it TWO THUMBS UP! I really really liked it, there were so many funny, laughable parts to this movie and gosh darn it, I sure wanted to have some "beef bouillanase" (how the heck do you spell that anyway?) by the time the movie was over! Had to settle for "Chile's", however the company was great! I showed off some cards that I have made over the course of several weeks, and I gave Lizi her birthday card and a little box I made that held 4 (four!!) dark chocolate Moonstruck chocolates! Dark chocolate is Lizi's most favorite chocolate and she deserves the best for her 60th birthday coming up next week!

After watching this movie which featured Merrell Streep as Julia Child and then Amy Adams as Julie Powers, (who happened to start a blog featuring all the recipes she made in one year from the Julia Child Cook Book), I thought maybe every once in a while I should post a favorite recipe here in case anyone wanted to try it out. The other night at Bill's birthday dinner, Scott was asked to name his favorite restaurant. And try as he might, he really couldn't come up with a favorite (although we both love Mexican), he turned to me and said, "You have really spoiled me with the meals YOU make". AAAHHHH, isn't that sweet? Or was this a hint to start cooking again? I kind of go in spurts of cooking a lot and then not at all! Of course, that doesn't count lunch cause I do that everyday for him and Joe...although Subway, Papa Murphy's, 5 Guys Burgers and Fries, Big Town Hero, even the chinese restaurant in Willamette (Essence of China) helps me out with lunches. So, okay, I do pretty good following a recipe and I do get a lot of kudos from my sons-in-law when we have family gatherings....especially if it is 'Italian' food!!

So lately, Scott has been having a hunger for Monkey Bread. Have you ever had it? It is easy peasy to make, so I am going to share the recipe here and I want you to know that I did not make this up, you can find this on many websites just by typing in Monkey Bread. The version I use is from OurBestBites.com. You really should check out this site, I have made many of the dishes from this site and they have all turned out really good. So now for the recipe:

Bundt pan butter and floured (I actually use Pam spray and flour!)
1/2 cup sugar
2-3 Tablespoons of cinnamon
2 cans of the buttermilk Pillsbury or store brand name is fine refrigerator biscuits
1 stick butter
1/2 cup brown sugar

Combine sugar and cinnamon in zip lock bag (gallon size)
After you "pop" open the biscuits, cut each one into 4's!, toss them into the sugar/cinnamon bag in batches to cover all the sides of the dough. Melt the one stick of butter and add brown sugar and bring it to a boil, then add the nuts if you are using them! Place all the pieces of the biscuits into the Bundt pan spreading them out evenly. Pour the butter/brown sugar mixture over them. Bake for about 30 minutes. Remove from the pan fairly soon while it is still hot! (Now, this is just me...but I actually save a bit of the butter and brown sugar mixture..just a bit and heat it back up quickly when I pull the bread out of the oven and when I turn it over onto a plate, I pour the remainder of the caramel over it, so now what was on the bottom gets all that nice gooey syrup on top. That's it, easy peasy, I told ya!

Okay, so a side note here: This is NOT low cal!! AND I think you need to make this when you are having a small crowd. Of course, when I make this for the 4 men building our house, it gets almost entirely devoured! But..."I am just sayin'" make it when you know others will be around to help you eat it all gone...and especially while it is nice and hot fresh out of the oven!!

So let me know what you think! Are you wondering why it is called "Monkey Bread" I think because of all the little pieces (you know the dough biscuits you cut into fourths) in this bundt pan get "picked" at just just like monkeys who pick at each others hair to ummmm, you get the idea! Now the recipe I posted here is actually one from Paula Deen, but in comparison, they are quite similar. Sometimes I even double the butter and brown sugar and really make it yummy!