Hot leftover "stoup" à lá Chef!

What a better way to fight a chilly night with a good hot soup. The midday temperatures reached up to whooping 52 °F (11 °C).
With clear blue sky, bright sunshine and a brisk north-easterly wind it resembled more an early day in March on the East Coast than a day in the Californian desert.
After a long walk with Molly Hubby took over in the cooking department.

The "Chef" pondering...

"Let's see what we have here", he mumbled and raided the refrigerator. Out came all the leftovers, bacon, onion, potatoes, cooked vegetables and a cold, grilled pork chop.

He chopped and brazed and tasted.
The final product was a delicious and warming "stoup" (soup/stew).

a variation of various ingredients...

Now all blinds are down, a hot cocoa in place and it is time for a good novel.

Voilá!

What's was in it:

onion, minced

bacon, cubed

green and yellow squash, sliced

broccoli, cooked, flowers,

carrots, cooked, sliced

potatoes, cooked, cubed

pork chop, grilled, cold, cubed

instant beef broth

sour cream

salt, pepper

Sauté onion and bacon, add everything into a casserole and fill up with broth. Simmer until warm, add a clad of sour cream and season with salt and pepper.

Spinach soup

Some days ago our Norwegian friend mentioned over the phone that his wife made an extraordinary spinach soup, That must have had an influence on hubby because today he came back from shopping groceries with a bunch of fresh spinach. We will have spinach soup today he announced!

OK. - Well I choose a spinach/potatoe variation that was done in about 30 minutes.
Additionally, and while I wasn't sure a mere soup would be enough, we had boiled potatoes, carrots and grilled pork chops.
No leftovers today.

Tasty spinach soup with boiled egg

Directions: ( for 2)

1 bunch of spinach (or 2 pkg of frozen spinach)
1 small onion, minced
1 big potato
1 tblsp bacon pieces (optional)
1 tblsp oil
1 wedge garlic, minced (optional)
1 cup vegetable stock
1 cup of cream, or sour cream
parmesan cheese, grated (optional)
salt, pepper (to taste)
balsamic vinegar (to taste, about 1 or 2 tblsp)

Rinse and chop the spinach. Peel and cube the potato. Mince garlic and onion.
Heat oil in a casserole and sauté onion, garlic, bacon bits and potato cubes for about 3 minutes. Fill up with vegetable stock and add the spinach leafs. Cook on low until the spinach is done (about 10-15 min). Add cream or sour cream and season with salt, pepper and vinegar. Take a mixer and purée the soup.
Serves with slices of cooked eggs (optional).

Precision work for cookies

Hubby was in the mood for his yearly Christmas cookies. Working on a recipe with the European "grams" he was in for precision work.

We had a good laugh as we looked at this photo.
Read the whole story here.

Yep, 250 grams!

For story and photos of last years cookies go here.

Pumpkin and cookies

I need a vacation!!
Time is nearly up. We are ready to go.

Yesterday I  picked the last vegetables out of my tiny garden. My two "magic squares" were a real success and I hope we will have another good crop come next summer.

Cauliflower, broccoli and spinach, November,7th

For supper I transformed the Halloween Pumpkins into a nice pumpkin vegetable stew, 

 and today hubby's wish was to get enough cookies for the

 days of travel. So I emptied the pantry and baked about 60 pieces ;-))

It is always good with a coffee break and home baked goodies. 

What is left: packing the stuff in the van and finally get going!
That will be done tomorrow and Saturday in that order.