There must be hundreds of turkey soup recipes floating out there to help use up your leftovers from Thanksgiving. This is the first time I ever made by own turkey stock, as I usually just use a carton of chicken broth. I was amazed at how prominent the turkey flavor was by making it from scratch. It has to cook for about 4 hours, so it takes time, but the prep work itself,
Fall has definitely arrived – although we were treated to sunny days this weekend, you could definitely feel the chill in the air. So Soup Season is here. I love homemade soups and this one is simple to make and ready to eat in under an hour. I use an immersion blender to finish this soup as I like small bits of the vegetables still in tact, and an immersion blender offers you more control on how smooth, or how chunky you want your soup, as opposed to a food processor. Me, I like it a smidge chunky!
Our last port of call was Copenhagen. I found Copenhagen to be very similar to Seattle – beautiful waterways, lots of colorful boats in the canals, numerous outdoor bistros right on the edge of the water, and lots of very friendly locals out and about enjoying a cool summer day. It was lovely! We took a short tour to see the Amalienborg Palace Square, the winter residence of the Danish royal family, that forms a spacious octagonal square surrounded by four identical rococo palaces occupied by the Queen, and each of her sons. It’s quite impressive!
So we are now truly on our way – we have seen the sites of Stockholm, tested the waters there, had a little lox and some swedish meatballs and started cruising our way to Helskinki (known as the City of the Sea) in Finland and then onto Tallinn in Estonia. It is so wonderful to leave one country at night and wake up in another country the following morning. In fact, we noticed at dinner the evening we left Helsinki (on our way to Tallinn) that we were moving quite slow, very slowly, and then uh oh, we were stopped. What had happened on our ship? Did we hit something? Did we forget something or someone back in Helsinki? Nope, apparently it is only takes about 2-1/2 hours to cross between Finland and Estonia
It’s getting cold outside – had to wear a jacket this week for the first time this Fall. And I notice quite a few people at work have colds, quite a few. So of course I started to get a cold too, which means a mean stuffed-up head cold. But wait, there is a sure-fire cure for this besides taking two aspirin and going to bed – it’s called Hot and Sour Soup. For some reason I don’t think to have this soup during Spring or Summer.
Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen have brought humor, inspiration and motivation to millions of people through their Chicken Soup for the Soul series. They chose their title as their inspirational stories were meant to be “good for the soul” same as chicken soup is “good for the body”. While I have not ventured yet into making a remarkable homemade chicken soup,
I am not one to jinx our great weather, but we have had several hot days in a row – it actually hit 82 degrees today, so time to bring out the cold soups. I made Vichyssoise a few weeks ago, but you spend a bit of time over a hot stove cooking the potatoes, while this soup is strictly prepping vegetables and some blending. And no cooking translates into no heat in the kitchen – one of my favorite ways to cook on a hot summer day. Put away your timer as this recipe will only take 15 minutes to prepare. Add 2 hours to get the soup chilled and you are ready to relax with a refreshing bowl of Chilled Cucumber Soup.
In celebration of the Summer Solstice which begins today, I made a batch of Vichyssoise. Summer is my favorite season – I love going to my local Farmer’s Market on Saturday where you find fruits and vegetables robust with flavor and shiny, amazing colors – so fresh! Summer brings sunshine to the Pacific Northwest (yes we do get sun) and on those really hot days I crave cold soup, in particular Vichyssoise or cold potato/leek soup. Vichyssoise was created by Louis Diat, chef at the Ritz-Carlton in NYC. In 1917 he recreated his mother’s potato and leek soup, and added cream to cool it down. He named it Crème Vichyssoise Glacee (chilled cream vichyssoise) after Vichy, a spa town nearby his hometown in France.
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