Something new?

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I’m bored with my clothes right now.  I have no good transition pieces for this time of year.  I feel it’s too early to break out the wool and velvet, too chilly for linen, I’m not quite into wearing cords yet and I really hate all my jeans right now.  This morning I remembered I still had a balance on my Marshalls gift card that my girl scout troop gave me as a thank you for leading the troop last year, so I took myself shopping.  I spent an hour wandering around, trying things on and left with this:

A new black cardigan.
Black cardigans have been a staple of my closet since high school.  This would be black cardigan number Five in my closet currently,  not to be confused with the black velvet blazer collection.  Thankfully, both work with the black wool pleated Talbots skirt collection and the black velvet pants collection I’ve got going on.   
I wear a lot of black. And the same styles, clearly, if you are familiar with the demin skirt (as seen above) that my college girlfriends have pointed out I’ve worn since at least 1992. Although the one I’m wearing there is a newish one, acquired this summer while thrifting.  Edie has taken to calling me ‘goth mom’. Apparently, she didn’t get the memo that my style hasn’t changed since 1986, despite adding some charcoal grey in the form of cardigans and at least one wool pleated Talbots skirt and the occasional pink shirt as seen above.
The lines of this new one are divine.  And it’s cashmere.  And the price was just right.  Ultimately, both Edie & Betty highly approved my purchase, even if it’s yet another black cardigan.
I did try something new in the kitchen today though.

Fermenting peppers. 
I’m on this quest to make a good hot sauce.  Something more interesting than just peppers and vinegar.  I’ve read that fermenting is the key to Tabasco, so why not try that as my first step?  Pat’s dad, Grandpa Jack, brought me a grocery bag of habarenos that I combined with various chili’s.   I can already tell you that you need eye protection when opening the jar the fumes are so hot.  Should be good stuff.
But of course while trying something new, I had to go with what I know. 

Pickled peppers.
We opened a jar of last year’s batch a few weeks ago to eat on some nachos and they were so good we ate the entire jar. I think I used this recipe in making that batch (I used like 3 different pickled pepper recipes last summer and this one I identified by the spices in the bottom of the jar, I think.) so I went with that one again.  There are some baby pablanos in there, some jalapenos that had turned red that Grandpa Jack shared with us and then a boatload of jalapenos from our garden in there.
It’s worth noting that I finally remembered to wear gloves.  Although I did cut into the first habareno, rub my lips and then realize I should put some gloves on.  The tingling wasn’t nearly as bad as last time though.
This something new kick started the other day when I brought some beets home from the farmer’s market.  We like the idea of them, but I never seem to make them.  So I set about fixing that. You know what?  We still only like the idea of them.  The reality is, they taste like dirt. We are still willing to try some pickled, but we, as a family, may be quite willing to declare ourselves beet free.
As the saying goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.  In our house, that clearly applies to things like beets, pickled peppers and black cardigans.  Did I mention the new one was cashmere?

All you need to know.

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Last year, on the first day of fourth grade, Edie’s teacher went around the room and asked each child to use one word to describe themselves.  Edie’s word?  “Awesome”.

Come the parent teacher conference the first week in November and Edie’s teacher was in full agreement with her.  It became sort of a running theme in school last year, with one of her friends, who had to write about her in an assignment, wrote, “The reason Edie tells people she’s awesome is because she only tells people what they what they really need to know.”

Edie played soccer for the same coach for 5 seasons – from the time she moved up to U-10 in second grade until this past spring.  Coach Bill isn’t coaching U-12 this season, so we had to find a new team, which meant a new coach.  While she’s on a team with her school friends for the first time ever, her new coaches don’t know that she prefers to play defense, they are all about following the league rules and having all the girls play all the positions.  Which means everyone gets at a turn at goalie. 

She’s never played goalie.  Last season when asked, she told Coach Bill she wasn’t playing goalie because she could break a nail.

Seriously.  Instead, she played defense and probably saved more goals than the girl who played goalie that day, only because she couldn’t use her hands, her nails were safe.

These are the things that truly matter to my girl.

Saturday morning as we were setting up by the sidelines, we noticed Edie wearing a goalie shirt.  “Did she know she was playing goalie?” “I don’t know, she didn’t mention it.” 

Turns out, she didn’t know until about 2 minutes before the game started.  So, with absolutely no experience, no practice and no warning, she stepped into the goal box. 

Of course the ball immediately came her way.  And stayed down there most of the half.  Pat counted 5 saves within the first 5 minutes of the game.  The team they played were fast, tall and good.  No way could you tell she’d not ever played that position before.  She had 10 saves in all the first half, giving up just one to a girl who was just so determined to score a goal you could see it on her face as she charged up the field over and over.

I am so proud of my girl, who just stepped in and DID it.  Sure, she has her moments of serious not-quite-11-year-old girl attitude, some of her limit pushing these days has us at our limits trying to figure out how to deal with it,  she even has her moments of self doubt, but she also has this wonderful ability to pick things up and just run with it, fearlessly, and kick ass at it.   She really does tell you all you need to know when she describes herself as awesome. I may be slightly biased, but I couldn’t agree more. 

Tis better to give than receive.

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Today has been the day of Becky. 
I heard the mailman come by and when I looked in the box, there was this:
A very fun creatively packaged treat from my friend Lesa.

Just a small, clear plastic box she had re-purposed.  Perfect.

Inside was a new apron pattern, a pickle recipe and a few butterfly and bee trinkets that I can’t wait to make into something – probably for Edie’s room, since she has a bit of a butterfly theme in there.  Thanks Lesa!
A few hours later, a UPS truck pulled up and dropped this off:

A new cookbook I’ve had my eyeball on. Thanks Michele!
I can’t wait to sit down with it.
They say it’s better to give than receive though. 
When I pulled out all my cookbooks this week in the name of biscuit research, I couldn’t for the life of me get them all back in.  Which meant one thing – time to purge.  I thought I’d share them with all of you out there in the world. 
I have 5 books I’m getting rid of.  Instead of sending the entire lot to one person, I thought I’d send 5 books to 5 of you.  Simply leave a comment telling me which cookbooks you’d like – you can choose more than one (and win more than one!).  I know sometimes the Internet can make it tricky to leave comments, so you can also email me.  I’ll leave the giveaway open until October 25.  And then I’ll dump all the names in a hat and pull them. 
All of these are good cookbooks, with at least one recipe that’s a regular part of my repertoire.  But they don’t get used nearly enough to warrant the space they take up.  So, out they go.
First up for grabs:

Breadtime Stories by Susan Jane Cheney.
Paperback.
Bread and things to put on bread.  She’s baked for Moosewood, that legendary vegetarian collective in upstate NY, so there’s lots of whole grain bread recipes.  This cookbook taught me how to make english muffins.  
The Vegetarian Epicure by Anna Thomas. 
Paperback.
A classic vegetarian cookbook, my enchilada sauce is based on a recipe in here.  
Vegetarian Pleasures by Jeanne Lemlin
Paperback.
This cookbook is set up in menu format, easy to use for those who love to have a menu.

The Great Vegetarian Cookbook The Chef’s Secret Recipes by Kathleen DeVanna Fish.
Paperback.
Some very lovely chef recipes, including ones from Emerile Lagasse and Alice Waters.

Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Lousiana Kitchen Cookbook.
Hardback.
Cajun AND Creole and the difference explained between the two in this essential cookbook.
Also contains hands down, the best, quite possibly the most decadent oyster stuffing you’ve ever had. 
So, fire away.  Leave me comments, shoot me emails, drop me a line on Facebook and tell me which one of these gems you want before I change my mind and find more room for cookbooks.

Biscuit theory.

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I have long held the theory that if I just found the right biscuit recipe, I would be able to make flaky, delectable biscuits that my family would rave about.  Over the years, I have sworn by this recipe and then that one.  Among my cookbook collection, I have dozens upon dozens of biscuit recipes – my Southern Living Southern Heritage series alone has 95 recipes scattered throughout its eighteen volumes.  The “Bread” volume alone has an entire chapter on biscuits, with subsections on beaten biscuits (5 recipes, including Maryland and Kentucky style beaten biscuits), yeast biscuits, basic biscuits (17 recipes, including 3 with ‘buttermilk’ in the name), as well as biscuits suitable to be served with tea. Both the beaten biscuit as well as the basic biscuit section feature picture tutorials with step by step how-to instructions.
It’s not entirely about the recipe though, it’s about the ingredients and technique of putting those ingredients together.  While many of the recipes I have call for all-purpose flour, one could assume all flour is the same, when in fact, all purpose flour differs from  region to region.  Southern all purpose flour is made with soft red winter wheat, which has a lower protein and gluten content than what is available in other regions of the country.
I first learned this in conversations with my friend Mark down at city market this summer.  He often sets up a stand, handing out samples and recipes of dishes made with local produce.  We share similar interests in food and when he’s down there, I find myself engaged in conversations with him and other foodie types, discussing things like pickles and grits and curing your own meats and yes, flours.  Turns out that while I was reading Game of Thrones on my summer vacation, Mark was reading about biscuits.  Three books worth in fact.
As a baker, I knew the importance of different flours – high gluten flour for pizza crusts that resemble the ones your favorite local pizza place makes,  Cake flour for lightly textured cakes, pastry flour, whole wheat flour, rye flour, buckwheat flour and more, including just plain old bleached & unbleached all purpose flour, but even I did not know that flour was different from region to region, brand name to brand name.
Interestingly enough, my older (1946 & 1964) copies of The Joy of Cooking both call for cake flour in their biscuit recipes, saying that it will make for a lighter biscuit.  Nowhere else have I seen a peep about how the flour you use is a large factor in making your biscuits light and fluffy.
There are differing opinions on how much to handle the dough, whether to knead or not, some say to roll it out, others say to keep the rolling pin far away from the biscuits.  Beaten biscuits, which apparently are unbelievably light and fluffy are made by literally beating the biscuits for a good 20 minutes or until the dough starts to ‘blister’ and pop.
With it being soup season, that means it’s biscuit season too.  I made my first batch of biscuits the other night,  using a technique I picked up from Rachel’s pie class I assisted with this past summer.  She cuts her fat in in stages, handling the final crust as little as possible. This, combined with using a southern flour (which took visiting a few grocery stores, believe it or not, despite the fact that I live in Virginia, which is considered the home of the ham biscuit), resulted in what I think is hands down my best biscuit ever.
They were everything you want a biscuit to be – light and flaky, excellent with butter and some blackberry jam for breakfast the next morning too. I think I have finally figured out the secret to a good biscuit – it’s not necessarily the recipe, it’s the flour you use and how you put them together.  Really, so much to cooking is about the ingredients you use as well as techniques.
Here’s my next goal – to figure out how to make a biscuit using whole wheat flour that is just as flaky and light as a biscuit that’s made of nothing but white flour.  I know that whole grains are healthier for us and since a big part of my motivation in my food sourcing and cooking is so that my family eats healthy, nutritious food, I’m not comfortable with us eating home baked goods on a regular basis that only use white flour, especially the lighter versions with less nutrients.  I have a few ideas about how I want to go about developing my own flour mixes, namely I’m going to try mixing some cake flour with some whole wheat flours and seeing what those results are.  I’ve also gotten my hands on some lard, not from the grocery store, but from animals that have been raised humanely, not commercially.  I’ve read good things about cooking with lard and I want to see for myself how they work in my biscuits and pie crusts.

You are what you eat.  Which is why I spend so much time thinking about biscuits, clearly.

Scenes from a weekend.

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Hot air balloons overhead, market, soccer, the Fiber Festival and Sheepdog trials (where I left the camera with Edie, only to find yet more photos of her toes), an unwilling photo subject,  inspiration for new projects,  a fermenting class at the cooking school, visit with grandparents and a grown up field trip on a dreary Monday to one of the nearby wineries.
Not pictured – new orange yarn that’s already being knit up into a yummy scarf, a home run on a homemade pizza crust, a sublime batch of sourdough bread served with the last of the bacon jam & melon jam, and confirmation that the okra pickles need a few more weeks before they are prime for eating.

Random.

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My left hip has been aching all summer.  It gets worse when I don’t work out, don’t wear proper footwear and don’t stretch it, but even doing those things, it’s been aching for months.  I’m starting to think I should have it looked at by a professional.  I’m convinced I have arthritis in it and that this is my long, slow decline into old age and frail health.  The instructor of the pedal & kettle class I take a few times a week keeps talking about this fabulous yoga class that she swears is almost as good as a deep tissue massage.  Pat & Edie do yoga, but I have always dismissed it, because I like cardio and only cardio. But this instructor made a convincing argument, so I thought, why not?  Yesterday, I took my very first yoga class at the gym. She did a good bit of Yin Yoga.  Holy moly did it cure what ailed me.  Hip pain?  Gone.  Tight IT Band?  Loosened.  Sore lower back?  No more.  I’ve become a yoga convert.  I will definitely be doing that more.

I had to buy Edie new soccer cleats last week.  Did you know the cheapest women’s cleats start out $20 more expensive than the most expensive kid’s cleats?  Of course she really liked the $105 ones.  And the $95 ones.  But settled on the $40 ones (as if she had a choice).   And then proceeded to leave them on the front porch in the rain, so even though they’ve been worn for exactly one game, they have that wonderful cat-pee like smell her soccer shoes never fail to develop emanating from them already.

Awesome. 

Her Language Arts teacher asked her if she knew what a Thesaurus was and if she had one at home.  Edie had no clue what the teacher was talking about, but as the teacher started explaining it to her, she volunteered that it sounded an awful lot like the word book her mother had bought and put in her bathroom, for when she ‘needed something to read’.  The teacher then told her it reflected in her vocabulary and to keep on reading it.

That’s my secret for having a smart sounding kid – leave a thesaurus in the bathroom for her to read.

I’m not even going to speculate on what that teacher thinks of our family.  At least I pulled out what Edie considered the owner’s manual to her parents.  That’s how I got the idea for leaving a thesaurus in her bathroom, as she really will read anything we leave lying around and if she’s going to walk around quoting things she read in ‘the office’ then, it had better be good.

Since I did the piece on The Festy working on becoming a zero waste music festival in last week’s Green Homes and Living, I am now on the press list for the event. I’ve gotten several offers to interview bands playing there this weekend.  I’ve decided this means I’m a food, wine, green living AND music writer.

I might be a music writer, but I had to turn down the free passes that I was offered for the festival.  Pat’s working Saturday, I’m working Sunday, his folks are coming, Edie’s soccer game is out in Crozet smack dab in the middle of the day Saturday (ugh, I hate schlepping out there), the Fall Fiber Festival is this weekend and I haven’t the slightest clue how I’m fitting that last one in.  Edie will not hear we might not make it to the sheepdog trials this year, so I suspect it will be another one of those GO Saturdays from start to finish.  Sigh.  I’m already exhausted from the weekend and it’s only Thursday.

We’ve gotten the next swap lined up for Sunday, November 11.  The Charlottesville Cooking School is swapping us to use the space.  I’m also trying out a new website that organizes your event for you.  I think I was able to link it to Cville Swap’s Facebook  page.  Technology can be challenging.

We had company last evening, who requested we watch the debate.  I’m over this election – the rhetoric, the vitriol, the multiple nightly polling questions (they love to call on Tuesdays.  Tuesdays we are guaranteed a minimum of 4 polling calls) thanks to the fact that we live in a ‘swing state’, the canvassers knocking on our door all weekend, all of it.  I’m ready for November 7th already. I successfully avoided both conventions and was hoping to do the same with the debates.  No such luck. Thank goodness for bourbon and knitting to distract me so I didn’t fully have to pay attention.  Even though I’m pretty much over it, I found myself liking the post Patience put up this morning.  Good food for thought.

And finishing with Vegetable Soup.

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In last week’s split pea soup post, I misquoted Cynthia and promised her I’d correct it.  She was talking about vegetable soup and not split pea soup with the addition of dill and sour cream (although it does sound good for split pea soup too and I’m totally trying that my next batch).  Clearly I got confused in the 50+ comments that post generated over on facebook.  Today is one of those grey, rainy fall days that practically begs for a pot of vegetable soup simmering on the stove all day, so I thought we’d talk vegetable soup, shall we?

My vegetable soup, just plain veggies, is never the same twice.  I usually refer to my vegetable soup as ‘clean out the fridge’ soup, sometimes ‘clean out the freezer’ soup.  It starts the same way, by sauteing onions ( and/or carrots, peppers, celery, garlic) in the oil (or half cup of broth) of your choice, then adding liquid such as broth, tomatoes as well as a variety of vegetables.  Potatoes are good.  Sweet potatoes can be a fun addition too.  Beans of any sort, corn, squash, greens (kale, swiss chard, arugula, cabbage), just about any vegetable you have on hand, even leftover ones, can be thrown in the pot.  Some days it’s leftover rice, others it’s barley.  Or I’ll add uncooked rice and/or barley early in the simmering process and let it cook.  Pasta is always a nice addition, but I like to cook it on the side and add it to the serving bowl to avoid it soaking up all the moisture in the soup and becoming soggy.

Let’s talk broth for a minute, shall we?  You can use just plain water when you make a soup, as long as you add plenty of good spices and/or combine it with tomatoes.  Using broth will deepen the flavor.  I know there are some that swear by homemade broth, but not everyone has time nor freezer space for it.  I keep dried broth powder from the natural foods store in my spice cabinet as well as a paste product in the fridge that has a much richer flavor than any bullion that I will throw in for extra richness.  I’ve also found that whipping up a quick vegetable or seafood broth is quite easy, it just takes a little bit extra time.  As I prep my veggies, particularly my onions, garlic, carrots, etc, I will throw the peels and ends into a pot of salted water with a bay leaf.  Simmer it for about a half hour or more, strain and there you have it, quick & easy vegetable broth.

Now for the seasoning.  Some days I’ll throw in some pesto from the freezer, other days chili powder or even curry.  Cynthia had a batch that she had added dill to and garnished it with sour cream.   We’re big fans of grated cheese on top of our soup here as well.  You can use soy sauce, tamari or even miso. I spent years trying to figure out how to melt miso paste into soup without bringing it to a boil and killing off the all good bacteria in miso, when it dawned on me one day to borrow the trick cooks use in incorporating corn starch into sauces – adding broth from the soup to the miso in a small bowl or cup, stirring until combined, and then stirring it into the pot.  Success every time.

Bread, of any sort, seems to be the classic soup accompaniment, because let’s face it, nothing takes the chill off a day like today better than a nice pot of soup simmering on the stove while a loaf of bread bakes in the oven.  Or a batch of biscuits.  Or corn muffins.  Or a baguette you picked up at the store that you warm up in the oven. But really, that’s an entirely different post.

Seriously Old School.

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Back in the day, Friday nights were Big City nights.  Big City was the underage club downtown that all the cool kids hung out at.  And by cool kids, I mean those of us that didn’t really fit in at our various area high schools.  It was really about the music, which was definitely not anything being played on radio.  The friends I made there had a far longer lasting influence on me than most of the folks I went to high school with – it was a friend I made via Big City that told me I should consider checking out this school in Alabama called Auburn.  And the rest, as they say, is history.
Friday night, in the town I grew up in, was the Big City Reunion.   I realized it was a great excuse to go see some folks I hadn’t seen in forever, mostly my old friend Amy.
I’ve known Amy since third grade.  We have moved in & out of each others lives ever since.  Separately, we are both strong personalities, together?  We are the people your mother warned you about.  Our own mothers warned us about each other.
In grade school we would walk back & forth the mile or so between our houses.  We’d walk to the mall and play Frogger for hours at the arcade.  We’d go to the roller rink and skate Saturday away.  We were Girl Scouts together.  We grew apart for a few years in high school, but by our senior year, we had rediscovered each other and Amy was the friend who introduced me to Big City, so it seemed fitting I go to the reunion with her.
No matter how much time has passed between visits with Amy, we always pick up exactly where we left off.  That much hasn’t changed since third grade.  Actually, there’s a lot that hasn’t changed between us since third grade.  As we were getting ready Friday, she opened up her closet to dress me, neverminding that I had brought an entire suitcase for a one night stay- and despite my initial horror that she owned a Kim Kardashian skirt, despite the fact that I swore up one side and down the other it was trashy as all get out with it’s studs and fake zippers, I tried it on and realized it looked fabulous on me.  All that gym time has definitely paid off.

So of course I proceeded to wear it. 
With the tag still attached of course.
Definitely not the first time I’ve worn something of Amy’s before she had.  Probably not the last.  At least this time she didn’t even bother with “You’re not keeping that” and just skipped ahead to “Go ahead and take it home with you”.  Which I totally did because I need to have something to wear to shows that’s not my standard circa 1992 demin skirt – instead, I’m going to rock my standard 1986 taken from Amy’s closet look. 
Really, the only thing missing from our Friday night ritual was Amy’s mother sprinking holy water on us. 
Amy had a pre-reunion gathering at her house. A.J. showed up and it was great to catch up with him there – A.J. lived across the street from Amy back when we were all in grade school together, and his sister was great pals with my sister from Kindergarten, so he was one of those people I just was used to having around back in the day.  And he’s still one of those people I like having around, who understands I need to carry a spare outfit in his back seat, just in case I change my mind about that skirt.
It was also Bike Week in York.  I knew it was Bike Week, but yet I didn’t really consider what that meant. I drove up the back way, avoiding the DC beltway, which meant coming up through Gettysburg.  The route is generally clear sailing until you get to Gettysburg and then you turn onto Rt. 30, which is the old Lincoln Highway and other than paving that route, I can assure you, the road has not changed since Abraham Lincoln was President.  It has been 2 lanes my entire life and what should be a 20 minute drive always turns into the last hour of hell on a roadtrip.  As I was coming into town past the fairgrounds, it hit me that it was bike week, because there was a line of cycles pulling in, queuing up for their parade in a few hours. 
A few hours later, neither A.J. nor I put it together that Bike Week was BIKE WEEK, so as we decided to ‘cut through’ downtown, we got caught up in the mess that was going on, which meant roads blocked off and bikes everywhere you looked.
 When I called home Friday afternoon after pulling into town, I mentioned to first Pat, then Edie, that it was bike week, and both asked if that meant motorcycles.  I forget how so very different the town I grew up in is from where I live now.  In Charlottesville, Bike Week would probably be a convention of road bicyclists, dressed in spandex, not leather.  York is the Snack Food Capital of the World, while Charlottesville has been named Locavore Capital of the World.  Very different foodie destinations indeed. 

The reunion itself was a grand time.  It was held at a bar, with a dance floor of course.  Five of the old DJ’s took turns spinning records and we danced for hours.  It was great to see familiar faces that I hadn’t seen in forever.  It was like a high school reunion, but with only the people that you really wanted to see and far better music.  The vibe was exactly the same as it had been all those years ago, especially so because you can still smoke in bars in Pennsylvania.
Best of all was spending time with Amy.  A hell of a lot has changed over the last 35 years we’ve known each other, but our friendship hasn’t.  She is truly an original free spirit, my best friend from third grade and one of my most favorite people in the entire universe.  And quite possibly the person your mother warned you about.

Talking the talk.

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That little free lance project that kept me so busy for the last month? It’s out today.
18 articles on 18 subjects.  Short articles, but each one took research to write.  I know I’m good at juggling and multi-tasking, but this one definitely kept me on my toes.  I knew I could do this, but actually getting it done was a totally different ball game.
You might notice a few projects that are near and dear to me & mine.  I’ve always preferred to walk the walk – live green and not talk about it, but a paying gig to talk about a number of things we do around here (swaps, rain barrels, kudzu crafts, DIY storm windows, school gardens) and get paid to learn more about things we are interested in doing (Beekeeping, fermenting, solar power)? Fine, I’ll talk green.

I have to thank my dear husband for his inspiration and assistance – especially with the kudzu piece.  That Friday that was a sprint to the finish line, with me cranking out 4 articles and Pat finishing up his boat before heading to DC started out with us heading over to McIntire Park to harvest kudzu as the sun was just coming up through the trees.  I had never before harvested kudzu for craft projects – he’s always been the talent behind those projects, so he took a few minutes to show me what to do, pointed out poison ivy (because yes, I’m almost 43 years old, highly allergic to it and still not completely sure what it looks like), started me off and then went off to do his own job. 
Although really, he is far more inspiration than a few articles I could write.  He’s worked environmental non-profit his entire career and I like to say that it’s not just a job, it’s a lifestyle.  It’s walking the walk, so that you can teach others, so that you set an example and not just talk about it.  This is not to say we are the greenest folks on the block – there are certainly things we could do better and he is always challenging me to be thoughtful in my approach to our enviroment.  I like to think that a good bit of what we do around this house is just supporting what he does for a living, which pays for this house.  We are used to complete strangers stopping by to ask about our rain barrels, our compost bins, our boats, Edie’s bamboo playhouse and more, so the reality is, I do talk about these things, I might as well get paid to write about them too.

Starting with Split Pea Soup.

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Yesterday I posted on Facebook that I was making my first batch of split pea soup for the year.  Split pea soup is Edie’s hands down favorite soup, one she requests frequently and since she’s been under the weather with some sort of bug, she got her request.

I was first introduced to split pea soup by my friend Beppy in college – back in the days when I lived in a party house with two male roommates and I myself did zero cooking and even less cleaning, I remember coming home one afternoon to find Bep elbow deep in a sinkful of dirty dishes, cleaning away, with a pot of split peas simmering on the stovetop.  Since then, I cannot eat them without thinking fondly of her. That kitchen had the best light, even if it was otherwise a crappy kitchen with no counter space and an electric stove that my cat liked to turn on by pressing the power buttons across the top, starting at least one small fire.  Those were the days….

The thread that followed my post was a mass sharing of recipes, not just for split pea soup, but for Chicken Corn Soup and White Bean & Kale soup as well.  It inspired me to put them down all down somewhere together.

First up, what started the whole thing, split pea soup.

Becky’s Split Pea Soup
Take a bag of split peas, rinse and cover with water in a pot. Simmer for about 45 minutes.
Saute sliced onion, celery, carrots, garlic in bacon fat (or butter or oil). Add to the split peas, as well as broth, salt,pepper, thyme and barley. Cook for about another half hour or so.

Ashley suggested simmering it with a ham hock. 
Mary Ann puts sliced potatoes, ham, carrots, onion, coarse ground pepper, garlic, sea salt and celery salt in her version.
Cynthia adds curry powder.
Carla adds smoked turkey legs and a jalapeño pepper in addition to usual onions, celery carrots, garlic, salt and pepper.
Cynthia also adds dill, sour cream or yogurt to make it creamier.                 

Vikki’s White Bean & Kale Soup Stem & chop one bunch of kale; bring a quart of salted water to boil and simmer the kale for 15 minutes or so, til it’s soft. Drain the kale, put it aside, & save the liquid; should be about two cups left. Warm 1/4 cup olive oil in your pot; mince 4-5 cloves of garlic, sauté them in the oil for a minute or two, then add a large pinch of crushed sage and give it a couple stirs. Throw the kale back in, mix it up with the oil & garlic, then add the kale water plus enough extra water to make about 3 cups of liquid, plus two cans of white beans (drained & rinsed). I like to add some chicken bouillon or scrapings from the freezer, but you don’t have to; another good option is a rind of Parmesan. let it all simmer for 5 or 10 minutes, then puree it smooth with an immersion blender, salt as needed, and thin with a little extra water if you wish. sprinkle it with Parmesan before serving. Bread is a must.      

Becky’s note:  I make a similar soup, but I don’t always puree mine.  I add sweet & spicy Italian sausage that I cook in a separate pan until it’s fairly well cooked, slice it and add it after I puree (If I puree).   

Holly’s Chicken Corn Soup
Put 5 boneless chicken breasts, a cup of water, salt and pepper and a chicken bouillion in a crock pot to cook over night.
The next morning, shred the chicken, add it back to the chicken broth and add: large can chicken broth, bag a frozen sweet corn, 2 cans of creamed corn, 4 chopped hard boiled eggs (do NOT use hard boiled eggs already made from the store-I made that ‘stinky’ mistake before), also add: 1 small chopped onion, 5-6 (cubed) white potatoes, finely chopped stalk of celery and a few tablespoons of celery salt, 1/4 cup of sugar, and pepper. I have it all in the crock pot and will cook on low all day. it is really good and simple to make. Serve with bread. Occasionally have added 1/4 cup or so of whole milk if you want it a tad creamier.

Last but not least, is this recipe for split pea soup that Bonnye sent me this morning.

Bonnye’s Split Pea Soup

1lb dried split peas
2 quarts chicken broth, water or mix
1 clove garlic, minced or pressed
1pkg Canadian bacon,diced dash cayenne
1 ½ cups onion,
diced ¼ tsp thyme
dash cayenne
¼ tsp marjoram 1 tsp salt ½ tsp pepper 1 cup celery, diced 1 cup carrots, diced

Place peas, chicken broth, Canadian bacon, onions and all seasonings into a pot. Bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer, cover and cook for 1 ½ to 2 hours. Add celery and carrots. Cook for another hour. Will thicken in storage so add water if you wish when you reheat.

So there you have it, at least 7 different ways of making Split Pea Soup, two ways of making White Bean & Kale Soup and Chicken Corn Soup, a Pennsylvania Dutch classic I grew up eating at the school cafeteria – back when they still cooked school lunches.  All thanks to Facebook.  Happy Soup Season everyone!