Potato, Kale and Leek Soup

I made this the other day for the girls who are getting over a bout with a nasty cold/flu bug. I've never been one to cook with a recipe so keep in mind that you can adjust the seasoning any way you see fit... And, if you've never prepped a Leek before I've embedded a short video on how to get it done quickly... Cheers

Potato, Kale and Leek Soup

- In a large soup pot saute the following in a small amount of cooking oil on low heat [I think I used Sunflower]. This soup is creamed so there's no need to get fancy with the knife skills.

3 Leeks -  Sliced
2 Carrots - peeled and sliced
3 cloves Garlic  - peeled and halved
1 Small Onion - sliced
3 Ribs of Celery sliced
Big Pinch of Salt, Thyme and Rosemary
2-3 grinds of black pepper

- Let these saute slowly while you prep the other ingredients, we're looking to get the celery translucent, the onion and leeks slightly browned...

4 Russet Potatoes - Peel and Thick Sliced, Add them into the pot and toss in with the other ingredients
1 Large Bunch of Kale, cleaned and added to the pot*
1 Tsp "Spike" seasoning [if you've never heard of it >> http://amzn.to/cGvNf2 ]

*Note: I wash my kale, then tear the leafy matter by hand away from the stalks and spines and toss it directly into the pot. I dislike stringy things in my soups. blech

- Cover the ingredients with water. Bring to a boil and then set to simmer for an hour
- Puree the ingredients in the pot. Using a blender stick works best. This time I used a strainer and processed small batches in a blender with a little cooking liquid each time and kept transferring it back to the pot

1/2 Pint of Heavy Cream - stir this into the soup
Salt and Pepper to taste

Thats about it. If you think its a tad too thin, like mine was, I used a little corn starch to tighten it up - like 1 tsp diluted in cold water and whisked it in. Enjoy !!

Snack Machine Point Ohhhhhh

After a long hiatus from posting to the snack machine I have decided to give it another go for two main reasons

1. There has been a recent uptick in recipe requests and I need somewhere to share those
2. There has been a recent uptick in friends that are expecting kids of their own this year

And, there's the fact that it was stupid to let it go in the first place. Lucky for me I didn't delete the blog altogether. Even though the posts were few and far between the kids and I got a good laugh over them this morning. Then I thought about how many laughs it will get 5 years from now or 10 or 20....

We even updated the links that have been hanging onto the sidebar since 2006. The new kid snacks replaced the old links to Sailor Moon, Rubba-Dubbers and PBS kids to their more recent fixations like....... Glee [rolls eyes]

So there you have it. Consider the snack machine back on the air....

Shane