Soup N Salad

So here goes these are the first 2 recipes of the 500 I am attempting to conquer.  I have been cooking out of one of these cook books for a little while now, so some of these recipes I have done recently.  Therefore, I will count these two that I did the other day as the start of this challenge.  I plan on repeating the recipes I've already made int he one cookbook, just to make it official!  The other night for dinner I made this potato-leek soup along with a spinach salad.

I had the soup for lunch today and it was just as good leftover, as soup usually is.  The soup is SO easy and quick to make and is a great meal for a rainy spring day, which we have been having a lot out here in MT (along with some snow...NOT cool in MAY!).  The recipe calls for heavy cream, but of course that would not fly with me so I used 2% milk.  You could also use fat free half and half to make it a little thicker.  I think next time I will add another potato to mine, because it wasn't quite as thick as I like it, but STILL delicious!  Who needs heavy cream anyway! :)  I garnished the soup with some chives and also put a dollop of fat free ricotta and a pinch of parmesean that I had just hanging out in the fridge, oh and don't forget the pepper!   For the salad I substituted dried cranberries for the cherries and soy nuts for the pumpkin seeds, because those are the things I happened to have on hand.  Hope you enjoy these first recipes...only 498 to go! ;)

Potato-Leek Soup

6 med leeks (whites only, thinly sliced)

2 cans (14.5 oz each) chicken broth

1 baking potato (peeled and diced)

3/4 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup fresh chives

coarse salt

Combine leeks, broth and potato in a large saucepan with 2 cups water and 1 tsp salt.  Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for about 20-25min.

Puree the soup in batches in a blender (or use an immersion blender if you have one, and if you don't GET ONE cause they are GREAT).  Stir the cream (or milk) into the pureed soup and season with salt and pepper.  Garnish with chives and whatever else your heart desires...ENJOY!

Spinach Salad with Dried Cherries

4 tsp red-wine vinegar

1 TBS dijon

2 TBS olive oil

coarse salt and fresh ground pepper

8oz baby spinach

Garnish:

thinly sliced red onion

dried cherries

pumpkin seeds

In a large bowl whisk together vinegar, mustard and oil until combined and thickened; season with salt and pepper. 

Add the spinach, onion and cherries to the dressing; toss to coat.  Top with pumpkin seeds.

Well time to get started on dinner....excited about this one, will post about it later.

Logan's Rating: ***