Friday, October 31, 2014

Cheddar Potato and Broccoli Soup


With the weather changing I have been loving soup lately. I found a recipe for potato, broccoli and cheese soup and decided to make it with some modifications. I was surprised how easy it was to make. It was very hearty and delicious and was perfect accompanied with some homemade pretzel rolls.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 1/2 - 3 pounds cubed potatoes
5 cups boiling water
4 cubes chicken (or vegetable) bouillon
3 cups fresh broccoli
salt and pepper to taste
8 oz block of cheddar cheese, shredded (we used white)


In a large pot or dutch oven, saute the onion in the olive oil. After a couple of minutes add in the garlic and saute. 


Add the potatoes, water and bouillon cubes. Cover, bring to a boil and then reduce heat to medium and cook until potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes. When there is 8 to 10 minutes left on the potatoes, add in the broccoli and recover the pot.


Once the potatoes and broccoli are cooked, spoon them into a food processor, blender, or Vitamix. Blend until desired consistency is reached.


Put soup back into the pot and season with salt and pepper. Add in the cheese and serve once it is melted and mixed in.

Enjoy!


Homemade Pretzels

A couple of weeks ago I wanted to make a snack to eat while we watched an ASU game. We had been talking about making homemade pretzels for a while so when I found this recipe and knew it would be a winner. It was so good and fairly easy that I ended up making a second batch a couple of weeks later.



Ingredients
4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 1/4 cups warm water (not warm enough to burn your finger if you put it in the water for 5 seconds)
5 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon vegetable oils
1/2 cup baking soda
4 cups hot water
kosher salt, for topping


In a small bowl, dissolve yeast and the teaspoon of sugar in 1 1/4 cup warm water. Let stand for about 10 minutes. The mixture should be foamy (see picture below).




In a large bowl, mix together the flour, the rest of the sugar, and 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt. Make a well in the center of the bowl and add the oil and yeast mixture. Mix and form into a dough. You will likely need to add a few tablespoons of water while mixing.

Knead the dough until smooth, about 7 or 8 minutes. Put dough in a lightly greased bowl and flip dough around so both sides are lightly greased. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm place until it has doubled in size, about an hour.

Once the dough has risen, preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 16 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a rope and twist into a pretzel shape or a knot.


In a large bowl, dissolve the baking soda in 4 cups of hot water.


Dip each piece of dough in the baking soda solution and place on either a greased or tin foil covered cookie sheet. Sprinkle with desired amount of kosher salt.

Bake at 450 degrees between 8 or 10 minutes or until brown.