Two (New) For Tuesday

I had apples and peanut butter together for the first time today. I know you're thinking, how long have I been living so wrong? I am already over the moon since honeycrisp are in season. I am eating one a day-minimum. Adding crunchy peanut butter into the mix nearly sent me over the edge. I don't normally slice my apples so I am not good at it yet, but it was all going the same place so it did not need to be perfect. I really wanted to take a picture but I was at work and only had my cell phone. I had to hurry in case anyone saw a flash and asked what I was doing. I barely have them understanding what I eat and why, I am pretty sure MoFo would blow their minds. If confronted, I could have played dumb and asked "Doesn't everyone take pictures of their food to post on their blogs?".

Tonight I made "Chunky Celery Soup" from 101 Cookbooks, definitely in my top 5 food blogs. I've never tried a recipe of hers that I did not like. I nearly ran out of steam with the prep, but my mom offered her assistance. Everything did not come out as uniform as I would have liked but without her help I would probably still be peeling and chopping so we'll let that slide for tonight. My soup looked and smelled so delicious while cooking that I hoped not to mess it up. It's a really simple recipe which seems impossible to ruin, but I've done it before by misreading measurements or rushing. I cheated with the brown rice by using instant and I added two bay leaves for the final simmer for some extra flavor. If there are not too many spices listed I worry I will have a watery pot of veggies, but again, I know Heidi would never steer me wrong. If you aren't going to make the pesto I would suggest adding a bit more seasoning. However, I fully recommend you go for the pesto. It was my first time making one as well as the first time actually using the celery leaves. I had to go through about a dozen bunches of organic celery to find a winner, but I did end up with just over a cup of leafy goodness. I had chopped enough garlic for the pesto and the soup then realized the garlic for the pesto was probably meant to be whole since it's a puree. I put the chopped garlic plus a few more cloves into the processor along with the other ingredients and yumminess ensued. As far as I am concerned, you can never have too much garlic. I usually put 2-3 extra cloves per recipe, sometimes five.



My sister did a quick taste when she came home from work and immediately packed her lunch portion, as did I. I have two jars full of soup in the fridge but I don't think they will survive very long. I passed the recipe to my co-workers this morning so we'll see who else made it and how theirs turned out. I think it might be fun to do little cook off's or even take turns bringing soup, salad, bread. My other friend wants to start a little baking business but so far I am only a recipe follower and not an inventor. I feel like I would have to put a huge "these are not my recipes but I did make them with love" disclaimer on whatever we might put out there. Not that I am in any hurry, I just started cooking dinner again.