French Green Bean Soup

This turned out to be a most delicious soup...better than I had expected given the simple ingredients. The recipe comes from a new cook book by Crescent Dragonwagon "Bean by Bean". You begin by mixing together finely chopped garlic and butter.

Chop a whole red onion.

Chop celery.

Saute the onions and celery in a large pot.

Add potatoes, fresh green beans, and vegetable stock.

Cook until bean and potatoes are tender. Puree the soup in a blender or a hand held mixer.

Add a dollop of the garlic butter and freshly cracked pepper. It was delicious and nutritious!

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

Wow...my last post was 2009! Back then I was attempting to model blog writing for my students using a website called think.com. I "think" it is still around but not sure. My students did make "blogs" on this website but unfortunately it was a closed system. The only people that could read their posts were other students at our school that also used think.com. Not much of an audience, right? Because of that the blogs quickly withered and died. An audience is what nourishes and feeds a blog. If I don't have an audience whom am I writing to? I could just as well keep a diary rather than a blog. Well, I'm  back and I have a new recipe to share!

Blueberry Pancakes

Homemade blueberry pancakes are deliciously easy to make. Blueberries are a good source of many important vitamins and nutrients. Have you ever been blueberry picking? If you have, you will understand why fresh blueberries are not cheap. My son and I went blueberry picking last summer on a farm north of the Twin Cities. It was a beautiful sunny day and we spent about two hours picking blueberries. Blueberries grow on a bush and must be picked by hand. We finished up with about a one gallon ice cream bucket full of yummy purple berries.

Here is my recipe for blueberry pancakes:


1 egg
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups flour
1 cup frozen (do not thaw) or fresh blueberries

1. Mix egg, oil, and buttermilk.
2. Add salt, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and flour. Mix well.
3. Heat a small amount of oil in a non-stick pan.
4. Ladle about one cup of batter into the pan when hot.
5. Sprinkle blueberries throughout the pancake.
6. Turn over when golden brown on one side.
7. Top with butter and real maple syrup.

Yummy!

Limeade

Do you like lemonade??? Have you ever had limeade? If you like lemonade you'll also like limeade. Limeade is easy to make and is VERY good for you---lots of vitamin C. Here is an easy recipe for homemade limeade with just three ingredients:

First you need to make "simple syrup". Simple syrup is simply dissolved sugar in water. You need to dissolve the sugar first because the sugar won't fully dissolve if you add it directly to the limeade.

Simple Syrup

1 cup water
2 cups sugar

1. Bring water to a boil. Add sugar and stir until dissolved.
2. Remove from heat and let cool.

Limeade

2 cups fresh lime juice (about 12 limes--do not use bottled lime juice)
2 cups simple syrup
4 cups cold water

1. Squeeze limes. Pour into large pitcher.
2. Add simple syrup and cold water.
3. Stir.

You can make homemade lemonade the same way. Just substitute lemon juice for lime juice. Remember to always use fresh limes and lemons!

Cheers!

Do I have time for this?

Well...here it is...my first blog entry! Am I out of my mind??? Do I have time for one more thing in my life that I don't HAVE to do but I WANT to do??? If anyone reads this blog I guess that question will be answered by any future writings!