Colorado Pie (and Condensed Tomato Soup)

Does anyone know why this is called Colorado Pie? I like to hear the history behind recipes and their names.

The original recipe didn’t call for potatoes and also had more meat in it. I had only thawed a 1/2 pound of meat so I added the potato to fill it out. It was delicious and I think I’ll always do it this way. The pie still felt plenty meaty to me.

I have to be honest and tell you that the kids did not like this. They were in awful moods this evening, though, so perhaps they aren’t good judges. Brad was not around (it’s rye chopping time!) so he didn’t have any. But I loved it! Very easy meal.

Colorado Pie

Adapted from More with Less

1/2 pound ground beef or venison

1/2 of an onion, chopped

1 medium potato, cut in small cubes

2 cups fresh or frozen green beans

salt

pepper

1 recipe condensed tomato soup (recipe below)

1 double whole wheat pie crust (I doubled this recipe)

Cook the potato and green beans until soft.

Brown the meat and onion. Use a little oil or butter if the meat is very lean. When brown, add the cooked veggies, season with salt and pepper, and stir in the soup.

Roll out the bottom crust and fit into the pie pan. Do not crimp. Roll out the second crust and when it’s ready, pour the filling into the pan and then top with the second crust. Cut off excess around edges, crimp, and cut a few slits in the top. Bake at 400F for about 30 minutes or until bubbly and crust is done.

Serves: 4 – 6

Condensed Tomato Soup

Adapted from More with Less

2 T fat (butter, oil, etc.)

3 T unbleached flour

1/2 cup spaghetti sauce

1/2 cup water

Melt the fat in a small pan. Whisk in the flour. Slowly pour in the sauce and water, mixing all the while. Cook, whisking constantly, until bubbly and thick. Use in any recipe that calls for condensed tomato soup.

Yield: about the same amount as a 10-oz can of condensed soup

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Vegetable Soup

I love soup. You take random bits of food floating around in the fridge and freezer, throw them in a pot, and call it a meal. Easy, economical, and wholesome.

The flavor of simple soups such as these really depends on the stock you use. I prefer homemade but if you are going with something bought, make sure it’s one whose flavor pleases you because you will definitely taste it in the end result.

Have fun with soup! I very rarely follow a recipe so I didn’t write down any amounts for the ingredients here. That’s the great thing about it. If you don’t have an ingredient you can very well skip it or replace it with something else.

Vegetable Soup

chopped onion

olive oil

cubed potatoes

diced carrots

stock (chicken, beef, vegetable, whatever)

frozen corn

chopped cabbage

chopped beet greens or Swiss chard

Italian seasonings or herbs of choice

salt

pepper

Saute the onions in the oil until soft. Add the potatoes, carrots, and enough stock to cover. Simmer until veggies are nearly soft. Add the remaining ingredients along with more stock to make the soup a nice consistency. Simmer another 20 minutes or until all veggies are cooked. Serve with bread, biscuits, or muffins.

Yield: as much as you want!

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Harvest Stew

Bennet’s first meal. He thought it strange but he ate a good tablespoon so I was happy.

The big kids were entranced. Now I’ll be fighting little fingers trying to stick tidbits and morsels into the poor baby’s mouth.

I’m not really pushing the solids on Bennet yet. I just do it occasionally for fun. I don’t follow the “recommended” timeline for feeding baby. (What IS recommended, anyway? There’s so many conflicting reports out there.) I just go with the flow and do what I think is best for baby at the time. Jada didn’t get solids until she was 8 months, Tage was 7 months. Bennet’s almost 7 months so probably at some point in the next few weeks I’ll get a little more serious about things.

I also don’t follow the charts for WHAT to feed baby when. I figure as long as I’m feeding him completely unprocessed foods, then he should be fine. I’m pretty sure the doc would gawk if I told her my babies had raw cow’s milk before they were one. And that Bennet’s first food was a combination food instead of a single food puree. Obviously I’m a bit of a rebel. But my kids are healthy and they eat their vegetables with little to no complaint so I think I’m doing something right.

Eh, I could go on and on about my opinions concerning feeding kids. But that’s not for today. Or maybe ever. I’m not very good at writing such things. I’m terrified of writing my opinions, actually.

So anyway, Bennet’s first meal was vegetable soup. He liked it well enough and didn’t get diaper rash or a stomach ache from it. I call that a success.

This is just a simple stew of vegetables. I’ve adapted it from Extending the Table, a world community cookbook.

Harvest Stew

adapted from page 91 in Extending the Table

3 T olive oil

1/2 a onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

2 t chili powder

salt and pepper to taste

2 pints canned diced tomatoes

4 cups peeled, cubed butternut squash

2 cups corn kernels

1 1/2 cups chopped cabbage

1 cup chopped greens (kale, chard, spinach, you know the drill)

Heat the oil in a soup pot. Add the onion and saute lightly. Add the garlic, chili powder, salt and pepper. Stir and saute another minute or so. Add the tomatoes, squash, corn, and cabbage. If using kale, add it now, too. Simmer for 45 minutes or until squash is soft and flavors are melded. If using chard or spinach, add it near the end of the simmering time.

If serving soup to baby, puree until fairly smooth. Allow to cool until just warm.

Yield: 2 quarts?

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Broccoli Soup with Skillet Croutons (and Weekly Menu for 10/22/12)

This week I have potatoes to use. I didn’t grow many potatoes this summer so I ran out of them in September. I have been getting them from my parents since they had a bumper crop. Yukon Golds aren’t very good for long-term storage so they have some sprouted potatoes that need eaten quickly. I also have a bunch of leftover cooked broccoli. I made it the other night expecting my brother and Brad to be eating supper and then neither of them did so there’s a load of it in the fridge. Other than potatoes and broccoli, the menu is pretty much comprised of things from the freezer and pantry.

Monday: Broccoli Soup (recipe below), Carrot Sticks, Bread and Jam

Tuesday: Cheesy Chili Pie (inspired by this), Green Salad, Chow Chow

Wednesday: Shepherd’s Pie, Green Beans, Applesauce

Thursday: Mushroom Lasagna, Broccoli, Fresh Bread

Friday: Venison Meatballs with Gravy, Mashed Potatoes, Peas and Carrots

Saturday: Sausage, Sweet Potato and Apple Bake, Green Beans, Harvard Beets

Sunday: Negotiable

And now, since it’s fall, and broccoli is in season, and maybe you have some broccoli that ought to get used, here’s some soup.

It has taken me 6 years (today’s our anniversary!) to make a broccoli soup that we actually like. I don’t know why it took me so long to ask my mom how she makes hers. We’ve always liked it but I suppose I thought I could do better. Beeep. Wrong. Mine were always too vegetable-y tasting or too gloppy with cheese. Ick.

So while my mom rarely has a real recipe that she follows, she said she just makes a white sauce and adds cooked broccoli and some cheese. Easy enough. So I finally did it. And I’m writing it down so that I never go looking for a better recipe again.

Usually we eat just plain soup but sometimes I have a hunk of stale bread that needs used before it turns into chicken food. So I whip up these croutons. It’s a lovely way to spruce up a plain bowl of hearty soup.

Broccoli Soup

1 medium head of fresh broccoli

3 T butter

4 T all-purpose flour

3 cups milk

1 t salt

1/4 t black pepper

1 1/4 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Separate the broccoli stems from the florets. Finley chop both the stems and the florets, keeping them separate. In a sauce pan, bring 1 cup of water to a boil. Throw in the chopped stems. Stir and then a minute later, throw in the florets. Stir again and cook until everything is soft but not mushy, about 5 to 8 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Meanwhile, in a large sauce pan, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour. While continuing to whisk, slowly pour in the milk. Once it’s all stirred in, season with salt and pepper and bring up to a boil. Remove from the heat and stir in the cheese and cooked broccoli. Serve immediately.

Yield: about 6 cups

Skillet Croutons

1 1/2 cups stale bread cubes

1 T olive oil

1 T butter

salt, granulated garlic, dried basil, dried oregano

2 T freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Over medium heat, heat the oil and butter in a small skillet. Throw in the bread cubes and stir to coat. Season with salt, garlic, and herbs. Don’t be shy with the seasonings…croutons need a lot! Continue stirring every few minutes until the cubes are golden brown. Throw in the cheese and stir to distribute. Remove from heat and serve immediately.

Yield: 1 1/2 cups

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Corn Chowder

We done did do our corn last week.

Fortunately we had some kind help. Brad’s parents joined us for a lot of the time. I’m glad. 30 dozen ears of corn is a lot. We ended up getting 62 quarts out of the mess.

I also braided my onions, using Jane‘s instructions for braiding garlic.

I think they look right splendid. We’ll see how they hold up over the winter and if they keep any better hanging up than when I threw them in boxes in a closet.

If you are harvesting dozens of ears of corn and bushels of onions, take a bit of time to make some of this soup. It’s delicious and very filling. Maybe you’ll be sick of corn by the time you are finished freezing it but we always end up eating the ears that get left in the patch for the next week. I made this soup a night or two after the big corn day.

The kids were not thrilled. It may have been a bit peppery for their tender taste buds. Brad and I loved it, though.

The original recipe called for potatoes instead of zucchini. I figured the corn offered enough starch so I substituted the zucchini to get some more veggies in there. Come winter time, when my belly is craving more starches, I may just switch it up and use the potatoes. Then, of course, I’ll be using frozen corn and dried herbs. I may also just stir in some canned diced tomatoes at the end of the cooking time rather than buying one of those red orbs from the store that taste like cardboard.

Corn Chowder

Adapted from a Lancaster Farming recipe, contributed by Grace Beck

1 large onion, chopped

1 rib celery, chopped

2 t butter

5 cups fresh corn kernels (about 5 large or 8 small very mature ears)

2 cups chicken stock

1/4 cup brown rice flour

1 1/2 t salt

1/2 t fresh ground pepper

3 cups diced zucchini (2 medium)

2 leaves Swiss chard, chopped

2 cups milk

3 T chopped parsley

3 T chopped basil

chopped tomato

Saute the onion and celery in the butter until just softened. Add the corn, stock, flour, salt, and pepper. Cook for 20 minutes, stirring often to ensure the corn doesn’t burn on the bottom. Add the zucchini, chard, and milk and bring to a boil. Cook until the corn and zucchini are tender, another 15 to 20 minutes, again, stirring often. Off the heat, stir in the parsley and basil. Garnish with chopped tomatoes and more basil and parsley and serve.

Yield: 2 quarts

P.S. There will be one more party food post later this week…after I gather some recipes from contributing cooks.

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