Spinach Bacon Soup

So everyone is talking about 'Going Green' these days to save the environment. Well this recipe is so green you might have your fellow diners, or yourself, doing a double take!




This recipe comes from the book, Gourmet Cooking for Two. This is an old cookbook I picked up at an antique store not too long ago. It is by a Finnish woman named Beatrice Ojakangas.




There are not a lot of ingredients in this but it is tasty. You need some spinach, bacon, onion, milk, salt and pepper. The recipe called for rosemary also, but it just didn't make it into the photo.




Slice up the onion and your prep work is done.




Cook up the bacon and try to keep husbands and dogs out of the kitchen. Good luck with that.




Get the bacon out of the pan and hide it if necessary. Drain out all but one tablespoon of the fat. Reserve half a piece of bacon for garnish.




Throw everything in the pan. Don't freak out, the spinach will reduce down in just a couple of minutes.




Once everything is reduced and softened, it is time to blend it up.




Give it a whirl!




Look at how green that is! Add in the milk until it is your desired thickness and blend until smooth.




Get it back in the pan and check it for seasoning. Add some salt and pepper if needed.




Serve it up with the reserved bacon and admire its green beauty. Then taste it, and you will be amazed how tasty something so simple and so green can be.

Chicken with Cauliflower and Parsley

Just 2 posts after my hiatus, I am of course bringing you a dish featuring chicken thighs. I just love the things, what can I say?




The recipe is from Everyday Food magazine, one of my favorites. It serves four and since I love chicken, I just made the whole thing. It would be very easy to cut in half. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees and lets get started.




You need very few ingredients for this one. Some chicken thighs, parsley, cauliflower, vinegar and capers.




Get your chicken seasoned with some salt and pepper. This is a very important step, you have to season your food for it to taste good!




Measure out the vinegar and parsley.




Break up your head of cauliflower into florets and drain and rinse your capers. If you are unfamiliar with capers they are little pickled flower buds and are quite tasty. If you cannot find capers, green olives would be an ok substitute for this recipe.




Now that we are done prepping, it is time to cook the chicken. Using an oven proof pan, put the chicken skin side down and cook it for 5-7 minutes.




Flip it over and cook for 3 more minutes or until browned. As you can see I had some issues with the skin sticking to the pan.




Add in the cauliflower and give it a little stir around so it gets some of the chicken fat and flavor on it. Don't forget to add some salt and pepper so it gets seasoned correctly also.




Pop it in the oven and let it cook for about 20 minutes. This is the perfect time to clean your prep dishes, or to check your email and hope the dishes magically wash themselves.




After the 20 minutes is up, stir in the capers, vinegar and parsley. You are now ready to eat!




It really doesn't get any easier than that. Just a few ingredients and you have a dinner loaded with flavor and tasty veggies.

Chili Mac N' Cheddar Soup

I am back! We are all moved in to the new place and I can't wait to start cooking again. I have a ton of recipes in back log for the blog, so I am back at it and you will notice everything is in my old kitchen. My new kitchen does not have a gas stove and I am so very sad about that. If anyone has any tips about cooking with lights instead of fire, please let me know. It will take some adjustment for sure.

But for now, lets get into a comfort food recipe that will be a BIG hit with everyone. Well, except my husband who doesn't eat soup.




I honestly have no idea what magazine I clipped this out of. I did not cut this recipe in half because I knew I would love it and enjoy the leftovers.





Lets gather some ingredients. You will need an onion, ground beef (I used fake meat), chili powder, cumin, milk, broth, a can of cheese soup, elbow macaronis and whatever you would like to garnish it with.




measure out your noodles, mine are in Pyrex of course. Moving all the Pyrex was quite a chore, but everything made it in one piece.




Grate your cheese. I did NOT use all of this but the husband uses grated cheese often so I went to town.




Measure out the spices.




Chop up your onion.




And measure out your milk.




Once you are all prepped we can start to cook. Saute the onions over medium high heat for about 4 minutes.




Add in the meat and cook that for an additional 4 minutes.




Add in the spices and give it a stir. Let this cook for about 2 minutes, you will smell the spices starting to get really fragrant.




Add in your milk, broth and the canned soup and give it a stir. Bring it to a boil and reduce the heat. Cover and simmer for about 3 minutes.




Stir in the pasta and you are almost done!




Cover it up and let it cook for five minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the cheese. Cover it back up and let it sit for five more minutes or until the pasta is done to your liking.




Take off the lid and look at all that cheesy goodness.




I served mine up with some diced tomato and a couple of tortilla chips. This soup was so good and so simple.

I am so glad to be back and again ask for any tips on cooking with an electric cooktop stove.