Simple Potato Soup
Chicken or Vege Stock
Organic potatoes
White balsamic vinegar
Sea Salt & freshly ground pepper
Organic bacon (optional)
Irish cheddar (optional)
Fill half of your soup pot with stock. Eyeball how many potatoes will fit in the pot and still be covered with liquid. Rinse and peel your potatoes. Quarter the potatoes. Add them to the stock. Bring to a boil and simmer until potatoes are cooked through (You should be able to pierce the potato chunks with a fork with no problem, like a pillow!). Using a hand held emulsion blender, blend until silky smooth (or transfer to a high speed blender). Add sea salt and pepper to taste. How do you know how much to add? Take a spoonful of unseasoned soup and taste it. Then take another spoonful of soup and add a pinch of salt to it. What a difference right? Season the soup pot with generous palmfuls of salt until you get it to taste like that original, perfectly salted spoonful. As for the white balsamic vinegar, add a tsp or two at a time and stir in. Taste. When you get it right it'll just POP in your mouth. Trust me, go for it. (I added between 2 and 3 Tbsp's I think.) A little acid will surely brighten up the soup. Hey, it got people like my Mom (who hates potato soup) to fall in love with this simple comfort food! MAJOR SCORE!
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- Each #SettheTable2017 post begins with a featured recipe(s) + upcoming week's game plan followed by a picture diary of last week's chaos. I sign off every post with a handy reference list of my favorite foodie articles.
- #CatchmyGrit on my Instagram throughout the week to capture the fun, the food and the family table reactions (good and bad). C'est la vie, I selfy-ishly light it UP in pics and videos to keep truckin!
- New to this series? Here's the STORY behind my #SettheTable2017 food adventures with Pure Barre Kildeer.
- My go to's for meal planning inspiration: 1. Jamie's Ultimate Recipes App + 5 Ingredients - Quick & Easy Food 2. Sarah Britton's My New Roots Blog + Recipe App) 3. Rachael Ray's Week in a Day Cookbook 4. Kimberly Snyder 5. The Pollan Family Table 6. Toss your Own Salad
Week 44's Game Plan:
Wrap it UP with last week's family table action:
Literally... wrapped Tommy up...
I turned the potato soup into a cheese sauce for our Halloween Taco Tuesday. I sort of forgot to soak the cashews (damn!) but had plenty of potato soup leftovers. I had made a vegan cheese sauce before from potatoes and carrots so I figured this little "change up" would work out just fine.
To my leftover potato soup, I added lemon juice, cayenne pepper and nutritional yeast from last week's Raw Cashew Cheese recipe to taste.
Not to shabby my pretties... not too shabby!
I was gone from my family table two days this week for a downstate trip to the Action for Healthy Kids IA/IL School Wellness Conference. Here was the first slide of our presentation - The West Oak School Chef's Tasting Table adventures with Sue Kruckman (School Nurse and Wellness Committee member).
We begin this year's Chef's Tasting Table series on Thursday at West Oak!
- One Pan Fabulous Fish (Quick & Easy Food)
- Taco Tuesday
- Linguine with Spinach and Golden Parmesan Breadcrumbs (Pollan Family Table)
- Rustic Tomato Soup + Grilled Cheese
Wrap it UP with last week's family table action:
Literally... wrapped Tommy up...
I turned the potato soup into a cheese sauce for our Halloween Taco Tuesday. I sort of forgot to soak the cashews (damn!) but had plenty of potato soup leftovers. I had made a vegan cheese sauce before from potatoes and carrots so I figured this little "change up" would work out just fine.
To my leftover potato soup, I added lemon juice, cayenne pepper and nutritional yeast from last week's Raw Cashew Cheese recipe to taste.
Not to shabby my pretties... not too shabby!
I was gone from my family table two days this week for a downstate trip to the Action for Healthy Kids IA/IL School Wellness Conference. Here was the first slide of our presentation - The West Oak School Chef's Tasting Table adventures with Sue Kruckman (School Nurse and Wellness Committee member).
We begin this year's Chef's Tasting Table series on Thursday at West Oak!
Around 20 family tables of 20 people wined, dined and raised their paddles for Pilot Light Chefs on Friday. I am an Advisory Board Member for this incredible Chicago food education organization and I was honored to volunteer as Table Host for Chef Paul Kahan (Pilot Light Chefs Founder, One Off Hospitality) and Chef Ryan Pfeiffer (Chef De Cuisine, Blackbird).
It was an incredible, awe inspiring night of food and wine. Our fundraising goal was obliterated (I cannot WAIT for the final numbers...) All proceeds will directly fund and support teacher institutes, common core aligned food ed lessons, and portable kitchen units that are reimagining curriculum around food in the classroom.
Good food education is magic.
And I believe
in
Magic.
Set the Table.
It all starts at home plate.
ps
It all starts at home plate.
To the Mullies we go...
xoxoL
ps
My Top 11 #SettheTable2017 Topics:
- Study: Eating Food with Fewer Pesticides Boosts Women's Chances to Conceive.
- Will the Gut-Brain Connection Revolutionize Wellness?
- Come to the table - Join Slow Food USA!
- Stay on TOP of the Global Food Revolution Newsfeed.
- Robyn O'Brien: Why Our Food Is Making Us Sick.
- Kimbal Musk Wants to Reengineer the American Stomach | Why Food is the New Internet.
- Buy Antibiotic Free and Know the Source of Your Family's Meat.
- The EWG "Clean Fifteen + Dirty Dozen produce guidelines helps you save money + reduce the pesticides and herbicides = Antibiotics harmful to our gut microbiome + mycobiome.
- Avoid artificial colors and preservatives to keep your gut, your "second brain" happy + healthy.
- Why, When and How to Eat Wheat.
- Why do Some People do well as Vegans and Vegetarians (Clues from the Magical World of Genetics).
