The Soup Project

Going outside has been utter joy for the past 2 weeks, no more cringing as you get slapped by a wave of heat the second you step outside (or what I like to call the "oven effect"), or gasping for breath as you literally get suffocated by hot humid air. Nope, that's all history!

Now it's gorgeous winter-ish weather here! (YES Nasser, winter. Oh for heaven's sake get over it:P)
It hasn't rained yet, but I can't wait till it does. I love rain.. love walking while it does, feeling the raindrops landing on my head, nose and boots, and eventually getting drenched:)
I love bundling up at home, snug and cozy and eating yummy hot soup- which brings me to the topic of my post!

Soup. I've been craving all sorts of soup!
And thus decided to launch my "Soup Project". For the last couple of days I've been surfing the net for yummy soup recipes and have decided to go ahead and try a new soup every weekend! Yum.

Besides, ever since I moved back with my parents, my cooking skills are getting rusty! So a little bit of polishing would do them good.

I had decided to make chicken noodle soup tomorrow, but when I found out that mom was about to make a light side dish to today's lunch- I seized the golden opportunity and made my soup.
I didn't have any of the chicken noodle ingredients, so I made "Potato Soup", instead.
I got the recipe from Allrecipes.com

INGREDIENTS

3 potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 cup water
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped carrots
1 cube chicken bouillon
1/4 cup nonfat dry milk powder
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups skim milk

DIRECTIONS
1. In a large saucepan over high heat, add the potatoes, water, onions, celery, carrots and bouillon. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes, or until potatoes are tender. Mash slightly.
2. In a small bowl, mix together the milk powder and the flour. Gradually add the milk, stirring until smooth. Add the milk/flour mixture to the potato mixture, stirring constantly. Cook and stir until soup is thick and bubbly.

It's very simple and all in all was ready in 1.5 hours (of course that because I'm SUCH a slow vegetable chopper! Chopping the onions into small pieces alone took me maybe 30 minutes!!). If you know what you're doing, it shouldn't take you more than 45 minutes.

I made minor changes, for example I scratched out the celery (didn't have any) and put more carrots and onions instead. I also started by sauteing some garlic with onions and the potatoes and carrots. I also didn't use chicken bouillon cube- just water and added our usual spices (salt, pepper, cinnamon, cardamom, etc..), a tip from my sista!

Oh and when I served it, I sprinkled it with a generous amount of finely chopped parsely- which looked nice and added a lot of flavor.

I'm happy to announce it turned out so yummy! Mom and dad loved it (or at least did a very convincing act of liking it, which is fine by me!;P). Very thick and filling, but perfect for the coooold and bitter winters (for those of you in the Americas!)

My next soup will be Chicken Noodle Soup. I'll tell you how that goes. Oh and if any of you have their own tried and tested yummy soup recipes that they can share with me, I'd be very grateful!:)

Oh speaking of yummy things, I just have to share this recipe with you. My mom saw it on Rachel Ray's show and tried it out. It's called Apple Cider Chicken, eaten on top of a base of mashed potatoes.
It was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GOOD. You have no idea! You must all try making it- and it's so easy! (that's what my mom said)

Hmm.... for a blog that's supposed to be about my "classroom experiences", I do talk a lot about food, don't I?
Oh well, try to stop me!:D