Creamy Potato & Spinach Chowder

“The less people know, the more stubbornly they know it.”

— Rajneesh

I think it might almost be officially fall here in Alaska. And yes, in case you're wondering, fall in the Last Frontier starts in July. Prompt and decidedly unapologetic. I judge it's early arrival by the daybreak. It's been exceptionally cold here in the mornings, which is always the first telling.

Steam breathes up from the dirt road as soon the sun peeks above the mountain tops in the dawn. I start to see Bailey's breath on our morning walks as he quietly pads down our driveway and branches are softly nudged from a gentle, crisp breeze, encouraging little yellow leaves to float to the earth. And there's the rain. Everlasting rain. The kind of wearisome drizzle you think might never end until it turns out one evening to spontaneously decide to be snow. 

It's not all bad though. Autumn is one of my favorite times of the year. I love snuggling up in cozy sweaters and blankets and my special teacup deploys each evening for tea or cocoa. Coffee consumption surges as my wakings get a little colder, and a little darker with each passing sleep. 

I'll miss the light the most though. 

Last night, a lonely, bleak, and dreary evening indeed, beckoned for a chowder. A potato and spinach chowder. To be frank, any chowder would have sufficed, but I happened to have a bag of mixed baby fingerling potatoes and a lovely bundle of fresh spinach on hand and so it was. 

I'm not really sure what exactly constitutes a chowder and for fear of being incorrect on a technicality, I decided against Googling it. This is a chowder, dammit. A chunky and hot chowder promising couch snuggle-time while watching The Borgias on Netflix. That show is amazing by the way. 

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Creamy Potato & Spinach Chowder

by Katie @ Produce on Parade July-29-2014

This is a rich, luxurious and chunky soup laden with tender baby potatoes and fresh, silky spinach. Note: Peel the potatoes if you must, but I definitely recommend keeping the peels on. Kombu is a type of seaweed that helps with digestion and is a good source of natural iodine. It’s often used in broths. I get mine off Amazon, but it is optional for this soup.

Ingredients

• 3 lbs. (about 6 cups) mixed baby fingerling potatoes, whole
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 large brown onion, diced
• 1 large garlic clove, minced
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 cups vegetable broth
• 12 oz. non-dairy milk (I used hazelnut)
• 1 small strip of kombu (optional)
• 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1 bunch (10 oz.) fresh spinach leaves, washed and torn
• 1/2 diced avocado, for garnish (optional)
• 1/4 cup hemp seeds, for garnish (optional)
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley, for garnish (optional)

Instructions

Scrub the potatoes and place them in a large saucepan. Cover with water and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce to a simmer and cover. Allow to boil for about 10-15 minutes, until the potatoes are fork tender. Drain and set aside to cool slightly.Meanwhile, in a large soup pot, heat the olive oil over medium. Add the onion and garlic and sauté for about 5 minutes, until the onions become fragrant and begin to brown. Stir in the flour. Then, stir in the remaining ingredients excluding the spinach and garnishes. Stir often, until the soup begins to thicken. Turn to low and add the spinach leaves. Mash 2 cups of boiled potatoes and add them to the soup. Dice the remaining potatoes and add to the soup as well. Stir to combine. Add more broth or milk for a thinner soup, if desired. The kombu can be removed and discarded once softened, or diced up and added back to the soup.

Details

Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 15 mins Total time: 25 mins Yield: 6-8

German Word of The Day

Chowder --> dicke Suppe (dick-eh Zup-eh) - dick means thick in German!

Good Deed of The Day

Ariana Grande thinks bacon is "beyond horrifying :( shocking disgusting and heartbreaking" and so do I. Here's a link to a 60 second video on how bacon is made, which is pretty pertinent information if you eat it! Apathy and ignorance doesn't do good for anyone.

Sweet Potato & Orange Herbed Soup with Spicy Sausage

“The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.”

— Isaac Asimov

On this edition of "Get Rid of All The Food Before Our Trip!", sweet potato and orange are the stars with supporting roles from fresh cilantro and parsley, as well as spicy chipotle sausage. It's a good one, and just look how pretty this soup is! 

I had a few potatoes I knew were aging a bit and a several oranges leftover from giant bag of clementines that we'd bought from Costco a couple weeks ago. When I delved into my trusty Flavor Bible, I found that they pair beautifully together! I was pretty psyched. Two plants with one stone, if you know what I mean. Though, I've never been much a fan of citrus, specifically orange, in my soup...this was darn delicious.  

It's funny, when the herbs are blended in, the soup becomes a bit frothy which I found to be delightfully amusing for unknown reasons. It did dissipate after a short while though. 

I decided to make a sweet potato soup after learning that boiling the sweet taters is actually by far the best method of cooking for retaining their nutritional prowess. Now usually I try to stay away from boiling vegetables because I had always thought the opposite was true. Apparently with sweet potatoes, boiling is actually best. Roasting, in fact, wrecked havoc on them in regards to retaining their nutrition. Boo that!

If you want to learn more about the best way to cook sweet potatoes (trust me you do!), check out this totally interesting video from the scientific, nutritional genius that is Dr. Michael Greger at Nutritionfacts.org. Do I get excessively excited by things like this? The answer is an emphatic yes. 

A creamy, sweet potato soup enlivened with fresh-squeezed orange juice that's complemented by green cilantro and parsley, and studded with browned Mexican chipotle sausage. 

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Sweet Potato & Orange Herbed Soup with Spicy Sausage

by Katie @ Produce on Parade July-9-2014

A creamy, sweet potato soup enlivened with fresh-squeezed orange juice that's complemented by green cilantro and parsley, and studded with browned Mexican chipotle sausage.

Ingredients

• 2 large sweet potatoes, sliced
• dash of kosher salt
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 large yellow onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, sliced
• 3 small oranges, juiced
• 3 cups vegetable broth
• 1/4 tsp. ground allspice
• dash of ground black pepper
• 2 Mexican Chipotle Field Roast Sausages, chopped
• handful of fresh parsley, chopped
• handful of fresh cilantro, chopped

Instructions

Add the sliced sweet potato to a large pot. Pour in just enough water to cover the slices, add a dash of salt, and bring to a boil over high heat. Then, cover and boil for about 25 minutes.Meanwhile, in a large rimmed frying pan heat the olive oil over medium. Add the onion and garlic and saute for about 10 minutes, until the onions have browned.Juice the oranges and add the juice to a blender along with the broth, allspice, and pepper. Transfer the onions to the blender when they are done browning. Add the chopped sausage to the frying pan and brown for about 5 minutes. Once the sweet potatoes are done boiling, remove with a slotted spoon and place in the blender. Blend all the ingredients in the blender on high for several minutes until smooth and creamy, excluding the sausages and herbs.Now, add the herbs and blend until well incorporated. Heat in a high speed blender, or in a large soup pot until just heated through. You don't want to cook the fresh herbs. Serve hot and topped with 1-2 Tbsp. of the browned, chopped sausage and additional fresh herbs.

Details

Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 35 mins Total time: 45 mins Yield: 6

German Word of The Day

Orange juice --> Orangensaft (o-rongen-zahft) "Saft" means juice! 

Good Deed of The Day

This is a big one. Wool isn't really that cruel, right? "Investigations of sheep shearing found that workers in Australia, the world's top wool exporter, and the U.S. killed, beat, stomped on, kicked, mutilated, and threw sheep around as they sheared them."

Wrong. Big time wrong. These sheep aren't pets, don't be fooled into thinking that just because they aren't slaughtered (which they usually are later) means they are treated as nicely as you'd treat your animal companion. They are nothing more than a commodity in the eyes of the wool business and if you think anything other than that...it's time to open your eyes and bring an end to blatant ignorance and apathy. Help ask J.Crew and Ralph Lauren to use cruelty-free materials in place of wool! 

Copycat Campbell's Tomato Soup

“A man can live and be healthy without killing animals for food; therefore, if he eats meat, he participates in taking animal life merely for the sake of his appetite.”

— Leo Tolstoy

He got me lavender kombucha! The boy knows me...

True dat, Tolstoy.

For our wedding anniversary, I asked Todd to pick out absolutely whatever he wanted to have for dinner and I would make it or buy it. Do you know what he chose? Grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup! I wasn't really that surprised...

So I ask, "What kind of tomato soup?" And he tells me, "The canned Campbell's kind." Oh that crazy boy, for the love of Buddah!  

Clearly, there was no, nooo way I was going to buy a couple cans of tomato soup for our anniversary dinner. I just couldn't. So, I knew I had to try to replicate it instead. I intended to find a copycat recipe online and follow it precisely. There was actually supposed to be no post today at all.

However, much to my dismay, I couldn't find one! Sure, there were a few but none of them seemed very accurate. Have you looked at the back of a Campbell's tomato soup can?

No, probably not. Well, there was no choice but to make a copycat recipe entirely myself and to be perfectly frank I had pretty low expectations. Did you know there's xanthan gum in Campbell's tomato soup? Who knew?! And high fructose corn syrup, of course, but I opted for brown sugar instead. Also, their soup is primarily made with tomato paste....erm....okay, so obviously some ingredients had to change.

Imagine me serving Todd a bowl of reconstituted tomato paste, hahaha. "Here you go, Honey!" Don't worry, that didn't happen.

This soup is spot-on, you guys. It's pretty shocking really. So, if you have a weird obsession with the taste of Campbell's canned tomato soup (like someone I know) this is your recipe. You're going to love it!

Copycat Campbell's Tomato Soup

By Katie Henry - Produce On Parade

An incredibly accurate copycat of Campbell's Tomato Soup. You'll never need to buy another can again!

Ingredients

• 2 28 oz. cans of whole peeled tomatoes
• ½ cup water
• heaping ¼ cup brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp. tomato paste
• 1 tsp. seasoning salt (I use Johnny's) or table salt
• 1 tsp. xanthan gum
• 2 dried bay leaves
• dash ground black pepper

Ingredients

1. In a blender, combine all ingredients except for the bay leaves. Blend on high for several minutes, until very smooth and creamy.
2. The xanthan gum will make the soup sort of frothy. Never fear though, it will clear when heated.
3. Transfer to a medium saucepan, add the bay leaves, and heat over medium-low for about 10 minutes, until the soup turns a dark red and the froth goes away.
4. Serve hot!

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 00:10
Total time: 00:15
Yield: 4-6 servings

More Delicious Soup Recipes

German Word of The Day

Tomato Soup --> Tomatensuppe (two-mahten-zoopah)

Good Deed of The Day

Stop what you're doing and listen to this podcast episode that a reader directed me to. It will BLOW. YOUR. MIND. Fo' real. yo.