Sick day Baked potato soup

I ended up doing quite a bit of cooking and baking over the weekend--it's pretty much all I did in my sickly state other than laundry and groceries which could not be avoided!  

I had a large bag of potatoes hanging out and decided that potato soup sounded absolutely perfect for my sore throat so, despite the fact that the weather is finally getting warm and spring-like, I made a large pot of soup in my new dutch oven and used it to sustain myself for the rest of the weekend!

I looked through all of my cookbooks and favorite blogs and finally settled on this recipe from Annie's Eats based on the ingredients I had on hand and the amount of work that I wanted to put into it.  I made some adaptations, and found this to be quite delicious for a sick lady needing a bit of comfort,

Baked Potato Soup


Ingredients:
4-5 russet potatoes (i used probably 6-8 b/c my potatoes were quite small)
4 tbsp. unsalted butter
½ cup all-purpose flour, divided
6 cups 2% milk (used 1 cup cream, 3 cups skim milk, and a block of cream cheese)
2 tsp. salt (I used kosher--just threw a few pinches in to taste)
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
¾ cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese (i probably used at least a cup--just a large handful)
½ cup green onions, chopped (omitted b/c I didn't have any)
1/3-½ cup light sour cream
For topping:
Sour cream
Shredded cheddar cheese
Chopped green onions
Bacon pieces
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400° F.  Prick the potatoes with the tines of a fork.  Place the potatoes on a baking sheet and bake for 1 hour.  Remove from the oven and let sit until cool enough to handle.  Scoop the insides of the potatoes into food processor, discarding the peels.  Pulse until the pieces are broken into small chunks. (I didn't do this part b/c my processor bowl was dirty.  I just scooped out the insides and kind of crumbled them in and cut some in bits I left rather large chunks but would pulse them some with an immersion blender next time)
In a large stockpot or Dutch oven, melt the butter.  Add ¼ cup of flour to the pot and whisk into the butter.  Cook, whisking constantly, until golden brown, about 2 minutes.  Whisk in the milk and the rest of the flour (I added the cream cheese, cut into chunks here).  Cook until thick and bubbling, about 6-8 minutes.  Mix in the potato chunks.  Whisk in the salt, pepper, and cheddar cheese and stir until the cheese is melted.  Remove from the heat, stir in the green onions and sour cream. (I also stirred crumbled bacon into the soup at this point instead of waiting to use it as the topping)
Serve immediately.  Garnish with sour cream, cheddar cheese, green onions and bacon as desired.
Source: adapted from For the Love of Cooking

friday favorites

First I'll give you a hint of what is NOT my favorite...

I love my yummy brunch and all, but do you see the eggs?  Do you remember what they mean?  Yep.  Sick again.  (or should it be still??)  I finished my antibiotics for a sinus infection on Monday.  I had Dr. John look at me again on Thursday b/c on Wednesday I had started to feel worse.  He said I managed to pick up a virus while my immune system was down from the week before.  bah.  I am kinda afraid that it is the flu b/c last night I started to run a fever, and of course I am exposed to every nasty thing in my office.  But I haven't had the energy to get up and go to the doctor again.  I am considering firing my body.  It's performance has been seriously sub-par, especially since the start of the new year.  Does anyone have any good recommendations on where I can get a well-functioning new one? Any ideas at all?  Even a temp to get me through this season...let me know.

So what is my favorite this week?

My bed. But I cannot pretend that it looks this lovely right now...this picture was taken when I had first got the new bedding over the summer...now...well, just imagine bottles of medicine, tissues and magazines strewn about, and very rumpled sheets and pillows.

We got together to hang out at 6:00 last night, and had quite a wonderful time if I do say so myself.  I finally started on Julia Child's My Life in France and made it through the first hundred or so pages, finished a few magazines when my head was too fuzzy to focus on a book, had lovely cuddles w/the pets, and was surrounded by the things I need:  blue medicine, tissues, my ipod, my laptop, magazines, books, water, and my cuddly ones.  Hubs didn't get home from filming until I was extremely out of it at 10:00, and then I got even more cuddles from my favorite!  Bed and I had a lovely morning as well, hanging out until 11:30--I love the bed so much that I even had a dream about sleeping in it and never wanting to get up!  This dream was mirrored by reality.  I have been up for about an hour to make my eggs and post, but I think I will return to it in a short time...

TWD...just the wrong week

I think that the Toasted Coconut Custard Tart that Beryl chose for this week's baking assignment sounds AMAZING...but I didn't make it.

For a few reasons:
1. I just finished making last week's recipe
2. Hubs will not eat it.
3. Most of my co-workers will not eat it.
4. I am in a deep blue funk and do NOT need anymore treats lying around the house to tempt me towards emotional binge-eating.
5. I'm still a bit under-the-weather and not feeling up to any major bake-tastic feats.
6. I'm contemplating a bit of a break in baking (at least in baking just for the sake of baking and challenges) in an effort to really focus on my health and getting in shape. I feel like I need a kick start, and the blueness of my moods lately is making me mindlessly nosh on whatever is lying about. Not a good choice.

I did make the Honey-Wheat cookies from last week (chosen by Flourchild). I mean, they're full of wheat germ, honey, and lemon zest with only a stick of butter and half a cup of sugar--this is diet food! ;)

I made them for my mommy. I invited her over last Thursday after one of her dear friends had some very serious complications during a medical procedure that caused her to go into a coma and to pass away early this week. She needed to be mothered a little bit. I fed her quiche and made these cookies and served them with some lemon curd which my mommy loves. And I hugged her and encouraged her and we cried together. It has been an emotional week. The cookies were good, but the comfort was better.

Well, here's a little sunshine recipe to cheer us up:

Lemon Curd
from Martha Stewart Everyday Food, Sept. 2009

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp. finely grated lemon zest, plus 2/3 cup fresh lemon juice
• 8 large egg yolks (reserve whites for another use
• 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1 1/4 sticks unsalted butter cut into 1/2 in. pieces

In a medium saucepan, off heat, whisk together sugar, zest, and egg yolks; whisk in lemon juice and salt.

Add butter and place pan over medium-high. Cook, whisking constantly, until butter has melted, misture is thick enough to coat the back of a sppon, and small bubbles form around the edge of pan, about 5 min. (do not boil)

Remove pan from heat while continuing to whisk. Pour curd through a fine-mesh sieve into a glass bowl.i usually skip this Press plastic wrap against the survace of curd and refrigerate until cool. (To store, refrigerate in an airtight container, up to 2 weeks) in my experience, it also freezes well