Zucchini Zoup

Tue, 4 Jan 2011 20:01:06 -0500

My mother-in-law's recipe for Zucchini Zoup, modified a little by me to drop the fat content a bit.

2 pounds of zucchini, sliced

2 medium potatoes, diced

1 medium onion, diced

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup or more (I get carried away) cashew nuts (broken bits/halves will do fine as we blend later)

vegetable stock cubes (2 or 3)

Salt if you need it, pepper (essential)

In your big soup pot, saute the onion and potato in the olive oil until just cooked (M-i-L uses about a stick of butter here, emulate at your own risk). Add the zucchini and saute that while you dissolve the stock cubes in hot water. BTW use Knorr or other good cubes NOT generic supermarket cubes which make the whole thing sort of weird. Add the stock to the pot and fill up with water to about the one gallon level. Bring to a boil and simmer until the veggies all look cooked (~1/2 hour). Add the nuts and simmer another 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and allow to cool. Blend the whole thing. Really, let it cool. Blending soup that's still hot leads to burns and strange green stains on the kitchen walls. Season to taste. Depending on your stock cubes and whether your cashews were salted, you may need to add more or less salt. Definitely add some black pepper. A dash of cayenne even. Reheat when needed and serve with an artistic swirl of cream if it's a special meal.

Tequila Watermelon

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 13:07:14 -0400

There are two things to do with watermelon. The first is simply to chop it up and stick it on a plate. The second is much more fun.

Ingredients:

1 Watermelon, big but not huge.

1 Bottle of tequila (I find Cuervo Gold is fine for this enterprise).

1 Helper (adult).

Method:

Find a dish or something, even a cardboard box, that will hold your melon laid down lengthwise. Take an apple corer and make a small hole in one side of the melon. Hold the melon with the hole facing the floor, and have your helper first uncap the bottle, then screw it into the hole. Now carefully rotate the whole thing so the bottle is sticking straight up, and place in your bowl, box, or whatever support you're using. Grin like an idiot as you watch the watermelon drink the whole bottle of tequila. Once the bottle is empty, unscrew and recycle it. Let the whole thing stand ten or more minutes, then cut a large oval out of the upper face of the melon so it's like a big boat. Leave dessert plates, spoons and an ice cream scoop by the melon and let the adults have at it. Guaranteed to make your party memorable. Just make sure (a) the kids don't get in it and (b) anyone who has it has a designated driver or other ride home.

GeeBee's Open Salon Blog

Zucchini Zoup

Tequila Watermelon