Blue Cheese Cabbage Cream Soup

I traveled up to Omaha a few times this past fall and my colleague, Lisa Thomas, took me to a bistro that has become my favorite.  Taxi's offers this outstanding cream soup which combines blue cheese, cabbage and caraway seeds.  We unsuccessfully asked for the recipe but after trying it a few times, I think I got close.
I would love to have them view my recipe to see just how close I got.  Share with your friends, everyone and hopefully it will make it to the chef at Taxi's.

Blue Cheese Cabbage Cream Soup 4 main servings or 8 cups as an appetizer
6 cups of green cabbage, chopped to bite-sized pieces
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 TBSP caraway seeds
1 TBSP olive oil
1 TBSP sea salt
1 TSP  white pepper
Place these ingredients in a stock or soup pot on medium heat, with a cover. Saute and sweat the cabbage and onions until tender, about 15 minutes.

Then add 4 TBSP flour, (I used oat bran flour for the gluten free choice)
Stir the ingredients until thick.

Add 2 cups chicken broth and 1 quart 1/2 & 1/2, slowly and alternating, to make a creamy béchamel sauce. Simmer to thicken.

Then add 3 to 4 oz. crumbled blue cheese.  Simmer and stirring constantly until melted.
Ladle into bowls and enjoy!

Turkey Chili

With all the turkey leftovers, this is my favorite.
TURKEY CHILI (picture posted on my facebook page)

1 lb. white turkey, broken in bite size pieces
2 lb. cut up heirloom tomatoes (or regular if you don't have a garden, I used Granny Smith and orange Branywine to give my chili fresh color)
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2  14 oz.  cans of kidney beans, drained
1 lb. bag of frozen corn
1 4 oz. can of tomato paste
1 quart of freshly made salsa ( you can use a jar salsa but results are not as good, I made many batches and froze some for winter chili making)
2 tsp ground cumin
3 tbsp. chili powder,( I use 1 of each, chipotle, ancho and regular hot)
1 tbsp. salt
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 cup chopped roasted hatch green chilies, (you can substitute a can of chopped green chilies)
1/4 cup dried polenta or 1/4 cup quinoa

Place all ingredients in a crock pot on high for the first 30 minutes, then reduce to low for 4 hours.
30 minutes before serving, add polenta or quinoa to thicken.  Serve with grated cheddar and sour cream.
Yummy!

Winter Salad

Winter Salad
With the last batch of beets from the garden, I roasted them with a bit of drizzled olive oil, salt & pepper.
3 large beets washed and quartered
4 cups of Spring greens, placed in a bowl
1 cup chopped Romaine lettuce
1 granny smith apple washed, peeled and chopped
5 radishes, washed and sliced
1/4 cup feta cheese

Dressing:
1/4 cup Olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup real maple syrup
add to a bowl or jar and mix

The beets will make the apples and feta a bright red and the luscious greens & red look like Christmas.
Enjoy!

No Kitchen! But lots of Yummy Galubki !

So, back in August we gutted half of our house.  I should say Steve and his cousin Daniel did.  They removed 3 walls added beams, bumped up the ceiling in the living room and we now have an open concept Living room, Dining room and kitchen.  Three long months with no kitchen, so the garden is on hold.  I have Swiss chard, much to Steve's dismay, and cabbage and just picked the last of the beets and that's it.  House3 takes priority and I'll start seedlings to go in the hoop house during my Christmas Break.
We are very tired of working but we make progress each night, like install of few can lights in the ceiling or get some painting done. New hard wood floors were installed two weeks ago.  I have to finish them, with a natural clear coat.  I want all the color variation to show.  The counter tops are the project for the rest of November.  The photo above shows the stone material, Turkish Quartz.  It has a sheen with iron colored spots.  It's fabulous!
Rather than sharing stories of the garden, for the winter I will share updates on the progress.  Hopefully we'll be done to reveal by New Years.  Even that will be pushing it.
So, with no kitchen, I am using a microwave in the basement, a sink in the laundry room (also in the basement) and an oven and crock pot in the garage!  I am about to have a nervous breakdown.
Right now, I am getting by with a lot of wine!

But, after picking some fabulous cabbage, and me, being a polish-descent,  lover of galubki (stuffed cabbage rolls) I decided to try the dish unrolled!
Unrolled Galubki
Enter one crock pot.
 Place 4 cups, ripe chopped tomatoes (had them fresh, still from my garden)
1 small head of green cabbage, coarsely chopped
2 cups veggie juice (I like Trader Joe's the best),
 2 cups beef broth,
 4 TBSP brown sugar,
1 TBSP Caraway seeds,
1 chopped jalapeno (seeded),
4 stalks of celery, diced,
1 lb. ground beef, browned in a sauté pan,
 1 tsp garlic powder,
 1 tsp salt,
 1 tsp black pepper
Heat on low for 4 hours, then add 1  cup long grain rice, cook on low for an additional hour, stir well and serve.
Just like I remembered as a child but much easier!  Pollock's unite! Get out of the kitchen.  Use your crock pot and get the same great tasting results!

Hard Freeze Warnings for Tonight and New Babies at the Farm.

I just got back this week from Palm Springs.  Nights have been 39 to 40 degrees, quite a difference from Palm Springs weather.  Starting last night I picked 30 lbs of green tomatoes, cut all my herbs, picked the tomatillos and covered the cabbage, beans and pepper plants.  Hopefully we will have some warmer weather for a while so I can get a good batch of beans before Thanksgiving.  I really only need one more good week.  Plants are full of blossoms. 
We also have 8 new baby ducks at the farm.  Our Mallard female got together with a mallard male and a Peking male, so we have a mixture of black and beige ducks.  One baby seems to be almost all white and the others look like Dalmatians! It will be interesting to see what they look like as full grown.
With the cold weather descending on us, I made a pot of hearty Butternut Squash Soup with coconut milk and ginger with a bit of spice.  Sort of a Thai theme. Recipe below:
1 large roasted butternut squash, peeled and cut into small pieces
4 cups chicken broth
1 tbsp. minced ginger
salt & pepper to taste
2 cloves garlic, mashed
1/2 cup of red lentils
1.4 tsp. cayenne pepper
Cook the above ingredients in a crock pot oh high for 4 hours.  Add 1 can of lite coconut milk and stir to combine.  Use an immersion blender to blend until smooth, adjust seasonings to taste. Serve with crusty French bread and Chardonnay! Yummy

Fall is finally here!

It was 98 degrees yesterday with humidity in the 60's and today after thunderstorms all night, fall has finally arrived.  Crisp 70 degrees this morning and all the animals are happy! 
I picked all the apples this morning and will make sauce.  Last year we had more apples and pears than we knew what to do with them and this year I only yielded half of a 5 gallon bucket.  Crazy!

Tomatoes are still doing great since we had Indian summer weather, up until yesterday.
I have to make Salsa Verdi today, I am making a batch of Gazpacho for dinner.  I'll serve it with spicy grilled shrimp, yummy!

Kitchen reno going slowly so I am freezing as much as I can.  Spinach, chard and roma tomatoes are all going in the freezer.

Updates on Reno soon.

Fall planting with 100 degrees? Let's make salsa instead!

Its moving toward mid-September and its been over 90 for the past two weeks.  I have processed at least 40 lbs of tomatoes, and made salsa enough for a year in a Mexican Restaurant.  We will be able to enjoy tomatoes for the entire winter.
But, alas, the heat won't help my cool weather planting.  Its too hot to plant my greens, beans and cauliflower.  I'll just have to wait until the weather breaks.  I am busy running events for my day job anyway, but when I get back next week I'll have to start picking my apples.  I ate one yesterday, right off the tree and they are just about ready.  Another two or 3 weeks will do it.  We could use some rain too.  No new tomatoes are sprouting and all the green ones are ripening at the same time.  Too many at once!!!!  We'll be eating tomatoes 24/7!
Along with the crazy weather, we are renovation our home.  Steve has removed two walls in between the living room, dining room and kitchen.  We now have a true Open-Concept house. He is now busy building custom cabinets, our sink, pot-filler and faucet will be in this week.  Now to pick out the counter top and have them come and make a template. Ouch, its all expensive when you do so much at once.  Thank God we have free labor.
Our mallard duck has begun layer her eggs.  I have moved 4 of them this week, under the road runner nesting chicken.  We'll see in 3 weeks, we may have more babies this fall.
We now have 3 male ducks and 1 female.  Two males are pekins, you know, the Aflac ducks, and one male is a mallard.  One of the white ducks wants the female, so he keeps chasing the male mallard away.  He is being terribly obnoxious and we have to go out there and yell at him to make him stop. Crazy ducks. The other white duck is sedate as he lost his mate to a critter awhile back.  He just follows every other bird we have.

Here is the salsa Recipe I used last weekend:
4 lb. ripe red tomatoes
2 tbsp. lime juice,
2 fresh jalapenos, seeded and diced
2 tbsp. fresh cilantro
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp cumin, ground
1 small onion, minced
1 fresh garlic clove, minced.
I threw all ingredients into the food processor and pulsed, adjusted seasonings (like add more jalapenos if needed) then pulse until chunky but blended.  This makes 1 quart.