Kitchenette

Oh, Internets!  I have not abandoned you, I swear!!

I realize that I have gone nearly the entire month of February without a single post, and am fully aware that if it weren’t from my very talented husband and his giant sweet tooth, you would’ve been left with nothing.

And I am SORRY!

While you have all been delighting me with your recipes and photos and concoctions, I’ve been barely scraping by just keeping up with The Project, let alone photographing and blogging it.  I’ve been on antibiotics for the last month treating my never-ending sinus infection, and one unfortunate side effect is that I don’t want to eat.  At all.

We’ve managed to stay on top of things, though, and to date have created 63 of our 366 recipes for the year.  Go us!  I managed to photograph a few and am planning on posting them really soon, as March is nearly upon us!

I feel like a bit of a loser posting yet another soup recipe, but lest I remind you, it is still winter here in Chicago, which means soup is still (always) on the menu.  And besides, I felt sick, and the only thing that sounded good was a big bowl of CHEESE.

I wanted a smooth soup, so we broke out the boat motor (aka a hand blender) on this one.  It spewed orange soupiness everywhere, to the point where I am still finding little specks of it in places I never knew existed, but man was it good!  I think it would be equally tasty, though, if you skipped the pureeing and left the veggies in their chunky state.  We used a sharp white Cheddar cheese (the orange in the photo comes from the pureed carrots) and topped it with some croutons we had lying around because, again, sick and lazy is the name of the game.

In other news, my first Daring Baker post is scheduled to go up tomorrow, so I really need to get cracking on that.  Also, Mr. K and I are heading off just now to our first of four knife skills classes.  The ever-fabulous Mr. K signed us up at our local community college as a Christmas gift, and it is finally here!  We plan on sharing a few tips and whatnot on the blog, so stay tuned!

Cheddar Cheese Soup
Adapted from Joy of Cooking

6 tbs butter
1 c diced onions
1 c diced celery
3/4 c diced carrots
1/4 c all purpose flour
4 c poultry stock or broth
1 c heavy cream or half-and-half
2 c Cheddar, grated
1 tsp dry mustard

1. Melt butter in a soup pot or Dutch oven.  Add onions, celery, and carrots and cook until tender.
2. Sprinkle with flour and cook for 3-4 minutes until golden brown and fragrant.
3. Slowly whisk in chicken broth and bring to a boil, whisking constantly.  Reduce the heat and simmer for about 45 minutes.  Puree until smooth and return to a simmer.
4. Stir in heavy cream or half-and-half, Cheddar cheese, and dry mustard.  Reduce heat to low and stir until cheese is melted.  Do not let the soup boil - if it gets too hot, the cheese will separate or curdle.
5. Season to taste with Worcestershire, hot sauce, salt, pepper - whatever your heart desires!