When they send me to the gulag, I hope they serve goulash.

Hungarian Goulash
Cook's Illustrated, #95

1 Boneless beef chuck-eye roast (about 3 1/2 pounds), trimmed of excess fat and cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes
Salt
1/3 cu sweet paprika
1 (12-oz) jar roasted red peppers, drained and rinsed (about 1 cup)
2 tbs tomato paste
3 tsp white vinegar
2 tbs vegetable oil
4 large onions, diced small (about 6 cups)
4 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch-thick rounds (about 2 cups)
1 bay leaf
1 cu beef broth, warmed
1/4 cu sour cream (optional)
Ground black pepper

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Sprinkle meat evenly with 1 tsp salt and let stand 15 minutes. Process paprika, roasted peppers, tomato paste, and 2 tsp vinegar in food processor until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes, scraping down sides as needed.

Combine oil, onions, and 1 tsp salt in large dutch oven; cover and set over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onions soften but have not yet begun to brown, 8 to 10 minutes. (If onions begin to brown, reduce heat to medium-low and stir in 1 tbs water.)

Stir in paprika mixture; cook, stirring occasionally, until onions stick to bottom of pan, about 2 minutes. Ad beef, carrots, and bay leaf, stir until beef is weel coated. Using rubber spatula, scrape down sides of pot. Cover pot and transfer to oven. Cook until meat is almost tender and surface of liquid is 1/2 inch below top of meat, 2 to 2 1/2 hours, stirring every 30 minutes. Remove pot from oven and add enough beef broth so that surface of liquid is 1/4 inch from top of meat (beef should not be fully submerged). Return covered pot to oven and continue to cook until fork slips easily in and out of beef, about 30 minutes longer.

Skim fat off surface, stir in remaining teaspoon vinegar and sour cream, if using. Remove bay leaf, adjust seasonings with salt and pepper, and serve.

Just for the record, Cook's Illustrated rocks, even if their articles tend to read a bit like they were written by a deranged mad-libs editor. See this article and tell me it doesn't sound like every Cook's Illustrated article ever written. That said, they know their stuff.

Ours didn't seem to need any extra liquid when it was done, so I omitted the beef broth. I also used fresh roasted bell peppers instead of the stuff from a jar. I served it over toasted leftover bread, and steamed red potatoes. I had to promise Isaac that there were no mushrooms in it before he would eat it, but Joni and I both that it was good.



Apologies for how dark the picture turned out. The photographer has been sacked.

Kid ratings:

Christopher Robin
Collin
Isaac	X "One eleven"
Annette	X "ten"

Pizza and a Movie

Spicy Pizza Soup
allrecipes.com

1 3/8 pounds hot Italian sausage, sliced
1 pound pepperoni sausage, sliced
3 green bell peppers, chopped
2 onions, chopped
2 cups chopped fresh mushrooms
3 cups crushed tomatoes with garlic
1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
4 cups water
1 1/2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

DIRECTIONS

In a large saucepan, place the hot Italian sausage, pepperoni sausage, green bell peppers, onions, mushrooms, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste and water. Bring to a boil. Boil 30 minutes, reduce heat and simmer 90 minutes. During the final 15 minutes of cooking, stir in the elbow macaroni. Top with mozzarella and serve.

I also tossed in some oregano, basil, salt and pepper. Oh and a little sugar to cut the acid. Robin said he enjoyed this soup more than he expected. See he is a little scared of crazy ideas like pizza soup. But I had to make a pizza soup because the kids expect pizza every Friday Night. The kids indicated they liked it, but I think the would have like a milder, less straight tomato style soup. Collin made cheese pretzels just because he wanted to, so we had those with our soup.


Kid Ratings:

Christopher Robin
Collin
Isaac	X "sixty-seven"
Annette	X "eighty-six"

The movie was My Neighbor Totoro directed by Hayao Miyazaki, whose work we greatly enjoy.

Bock, Bock, Bock, Bagock!!!

Chicken Noodle Soup

1 onion chopped
2-3 stalks of celery chopped
2 cloves of garlic smushed and chopped
4 TBS butter
2 carrots chopped
3 chicken breasts cooked and cubed
2 boxes chicken broth
marjoram
thyme
salt
pepper
2 bay leaves
8oz egg noodles

Saute onion, celery and garlic in butter. Add carrots, chicken breast, chicken broth and seasonings to taste. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer a little while. Taste test and add seasonings if needed. Bring back to boil and add egg noodles and boil until noodles are done.

I pretty much made this up after looking over a few other recipes. I took half of it to a couple at church that had a baby on Monday. (The baby was tiny and beautiful *sniff*) We also had honey wheat bread and pumpkin shaped sugar cookies.



Kid Ratings:

Christopher Robin
Collin
Isaac	X "six hundred"
Annette	X "ninety-nine"

White Bean to e4

White Bean and Sausage Stew
King Arthur Flour
3 cups (1 pound) white beans, soaked in water overnight, washed and drained
8 cups (2, 32 ounce containers) chicken or vegetable broth
2 cups (16 ounces) water
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 pound spicy turkey sausage or highly flavored sausage, sliced
1 1/2 cups (7 1/2 ounces) onion, diced
1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) celery, diced
2 cups (8 ounces) sweet potato, diced
1 pound kale, chopped or 2, 10 ounce packages frozen kale
1/2 cup (1 1/2 ounces) signature secrets culinary thickener* (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste.
Parsley or green onions, for garnish

Place beans, broth, water and vinegar in a large pot, bring to a simmer and then cook for 50-60 minutes until the beans are soft. Check often and add extra water if needed.

In a separate pan, sauté the sausage. Pour off most of the fat and set the sausage aside. Sauté the onion, and celery until translucent. Add the sautéed onions, celery, sausage, diced sweet potato, kale and signature secrets culinary thickener if you are using it, to the beans and continue to simmer until the sweet potato is tender, about 30 minutes.

Taste, add salt and pepper if desired. Serve with a sprinkle of fresh parsley or green onion *Signature secrets thickens the soup so that the broth does not leak if served in bread bowls.
Yield: about 3 1/2 quarts stew, about 12, 1 1/4 cup servings

I didn't have any of their 'Signature secrets thickener' stuff, so I just made a whole lot of roux to start with. About 8oz butter/8oz flour, I think. I used some Italian sausage from the farmer's market, but I think a 'sturdier' sausage might have been better - like maybe kielbasa or even andouille. Also I substituted baby spinach for kale because that's what we had on hand. The sweet potato was a nice touch - something a little different from your standard 'carrots and potatoes' stew veggies.

I also made bread bowls, but I can't find the recipe now, and they didn't turn out very...bowl shaped. Bread discuses. They tasted really good, though.



Kid ratings:

Christopher Robin
Collin
Isaac	X "six hundred"
Annette	X "ten hundred"...until she tried the sausage, then it was just 5.

Hashbrown Soup

Hash Brown Soup
recommended by Leanna, acquired from menus4moms

1 sauteed Onion
3 cans chicken broth
1 Large bag Frozen Hash browns
1 Can cream of Celery Soup
1 Can Cream of Chicken Soup
12 oz can of Evaporated Milk
1 pound Velveeta Cheese

Combine onion and broth, bring to boil. Add hash browns, bring to boil. Add soups (don't dilute) and evaporated milk, bring to boil. Add Cheese. Heat until cheese melts. Optional, serve with bacon bits on top.

As you might have noticed by now, we tend to doctor up recipes. I added garlic with the onion. I used cream of mushroom soup instead of cream of celery because I bought the wrong thing. I tossed in a handful of cheddar cheese just so I could tell Robin it had cheddar cheese in it. (Velveeta is on his abomination list.) Then I opened the well stocked spice cabinet. Salt, pepper, paprika, cayenne, and dill(because I love dill in all things potato) went into the pot. Honestly, I am slightly embarrassed to admit preparing and serving such a processed food laden soup. I did it for the kid ratings. I was sure I'd get high marks for this one. I am shameless.



Kid Ratings:

Christopher Robin
Collin
Isaac	X "one hundred"
Annette

Tiny plug for the menus4moms website. This is a great *free* menu planner. In addition to the menus and shopping lists, she gives tips on how to make your life easier by stocking your freezer and pantry with often used ingredients.

Anybody wanna peanut?

Cream of Peanut Soup
King's Arms Tavern
Colonial Williamsburg
Williamsburg, Virginia

Serves 10-12

¼ cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 celery ribs, finely chopped
3 tablespoons flour
8 cups Chicken Stock* (or low-salt canned chicken stock)
2 cups smooth peanut butter
1 ¾ cups light cream or half-and-half
Finely chopped salted peanuts, for garnish

In a large saucepan or soup pot over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the onion and celery and cook, stirring often, until softened, three-five minutes.

Stir in flour and cook two minutes longer.

Pour in the chicken stock, increase the heat to high, and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce the heat to medium and cook, stirring often, until slightly reduced and thickened, about 15 minutes. Pour into a sieve set over a large bowl and strain, pushing hard on the solids to extract as much flavor as possible. Return the liquid to the sauce pan or pot.

Whisk the peanut butter and the cream into the liquid. Warm over low heat, whisking often, for about five minutes. Do not boil.

Serve warm, garnished with the chopped peanuts.

Robin chose to not sieve out the onions and celery and blend it smooth instead. He thinks that was a mistake, because when we finished preparing the soup, the taste just wasn't that great. So we added more peanut butter, a bit of brown sugar, salt and some cayenne pepper. It was good, but nothing to sell the farm for.



Kid Ratings:

Christopher Robin
Collin
Isaac	X "ninety"
Annette	X "ten hundred"

Frenchie Onion

French Onion

A bunch of onions - Sweet/vidalia and/or red, sliced thin.
- let's say about 4 cups.
3 tbs butter
Salt

Liquid - Some combination of beef broth, white wine, sherry, apple cider, and/or water.
- about 4 cups.

1 bouquet garni
- thyme, bay leaf, parsley

1 shot cognac

6 slices french bread
3 oz butter, melted
2 oz gruyere cheese

Melt butter on low in a large pot. Add onions, in layers, alternating with a pinch of salt, until all onions are in the pot. Cover half way, and cook on low until onions begin to caramelize. Cook onions, stirring, until onions are all caramelized. Add 1/4 cup liquid, and stir until liquid evaporates. Repeat with another 1/4 cup liquid. Add the rest of the liquid, and bouquet garni. Simmer on low while the bread is prepared. Add cognac a few minutes before serving.

Dip french bread in melted butter, and put under broiler until brown - watch bread very closely. Remove bread from oven, turn over, and cover in gruyere cheese. Put bread under broiler again until cheese bubbles. Spoon soup into bowls, and add bread, cheese side up.

Serve hot.

Kid ratings:

Christopher Robin
Collin
Isaac
Annette

Needless to say, Isaac, Annette, and Collin didn't like this soup at all. Oh well. I thought it turned out pretty good. Shows what I know.