Watercress & Potato Soup

Now there's nothing quite like warm soup on a cold winter's day. And here in the Great Lakes area we appear to be having the coldest, snowiest winter ever. In fact, not only do we have 3 feet snow on the ground, the branches of trees have frozen over and are glittering like shiny ornaments in the bright winter sun! Yes I spent the better half of my day admiring this sight and taking loads of photographs. With the setting sun, I decided to get back in and get some hot soup going.

We love soup so much around here that I have taught myself to prepare it 'from scratch'!! Yes, I make my own soup stock, freeze it, and keep it handy to boil up a steaming hot favourite in a snap. Here's my recipe for our favourite Watercress & Potato Soup.


Ingredients:
2 tbsp butter
1 oinion, chopped fine
1 potato, diced
5 oz watercress
2 cups vegetable stock
11/2 cups milk
Lemon juice, to taste
Salt to taste

To Serve:
Pepper, to season
Sour Cream
Orange peel

Method:

1. Warm the butter in a large non-stick saucepan. Add the onion and fry over low heat until it becomes translucent. Add the potato and fry for 3-5 minutes. Cover the pan, and cook for 5 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally.
2. Wash the watercress, strip the leaves, and chop the stems.
3. Add the stock and milk to the pan and once they are warm, add the watercress. Simmer for 10-15 minutes.
4. Season with salt and pepper, then process in a blender. Return to the saucepan and heat.
5. Adjust seasoning, pour into warmed soup bowls, garnish with sour cream and orange peel.
6. Serve with warmed crusty bread or freshly baked biscuits.

I am sending this delicious and nutritious recipe over to Lisa for her wonderful new food event No Croutons Required....

I am also sending this great winter warmer to Jen at the The Left Over Queen. Jen hosts the delightful and very easily accessible web resource: The Foodie Blogroll. It is a superb link, indeed must-have for all Food Bloggers in the Blogosphere!! Thanks Jen!!

All text and photographs in this blog, unless otherwise noted, are Copyright of © Annarasa 2007. All Rights Reserved. Kindly do not reproduce without permission.

Christmas Cookies: Cinnamon-Chocolate Swirls

Now home-baked cookies and I have a history of sorts. I developed an avid interest in baked goodies early on, and as time went by it turned into a passion of sorts. Yes, there's always a time for a story and this is one for Christmas cookies. As I stumbled across Susan's Christmas Cookies from Around the World 2007, I was inspired to dig out my old faithful - a treasured recipe book which holds a collection of my very favourite tried and trusted cookie recipes. Just a turn of the page and memories of baking batches of cookies for school events, for family, friends all came flooding back. Just as much as I loved the aroma of my Mum's kitchen every time I loaded in a fresh batch to bake, the fact remains that I really have not had the time or the opportunity to indulge in this joy for several years. Now thanks to Susan I have come back to delight in baking cookies. Of course half the joy of baking cookies at home (read from scratch) lies in the sharing. With every fresh batch I have been counting off friends and family to whom I am shipping off these delectable delights. May be that is the true spirit of a Christmas cookie - its sharing!! I have picked my favourite cookies - Cinnamon-Chocolate Swirls to share with everyone at Eat Christmas Cookies!

Two of my favourite flavours spliced together to create an aromatic and tasteful cookie. I used cocoa powder for the chocolate part of the dough. If you prefer a sweeter taste in chocolate you can substitute the cocoa powder for semi-sweet chocolate or sweet milk chocolate.


Ingredients:
11/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
Pinch of Salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
3 oz demerara sugar
1 large egg
1tsp vanilla extract

For the Cinnamon Dough:
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 level tsp cinnamon powder

For the Chocolate Dough:
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup confectioner's sugar


Method:
1. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and soda.
2. Beat the butter and sugar until creamy. Next add the egg and the vanilla extract. Beat until well mixed.
3. Gradually add the flour, blend well into a pliable dough. Divide the dough into 2 equal halves.
4. Stir the flour and cinnamon into one half, and the cocoa powder and sugar into the other.
5. On a sheet of wax paper, roll out the chocolate dough into a rectangle just around 1/8" thick. On a separate sheet of waxed paper do the same for the cinnamon dough.
6. Now, pick up the cinnamon dough using the waxed paper beneath it and place it on the chocolate dough, dough side down. Take care to align the sides correctly. Remove the top sheet of wax paper.
7. Starting with the length of the rectangle, roll the dough to form a log.
8. Cut log crosswise in half. With a sharp knife cut the log into 1/6 inch slices. Place them 1 inch apart on a cookie sheet.
9. Bake at 350F for around 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Transfer onto wire racks to cool. Repeat with the remaining logs.
10. Store in air-tight jar and enjoy for up to a week.

All text and photographs in this blog, unless otherwise noted, are Copyright of © Annarasa 2007. All Rights Reserved. Kindly do not reproduce without permission.