a couple more recipes

I didn't post when I made these, but they were both delicious so I'm posting here.

 

Potato and Cauliflower Casserole

Ingredients

• 2 large potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup shredded Swiss cheese
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a medium casserole dish.
2. In a pot with enough water to cover, boil the potatoes 10 minutes, or until tender but still firm. Drain, and set aside.
3. In a pot, place the cauliflower in a steamer basket over boiling water. Steam 5 minutes, until tender but still firm. Set aside.
4. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, and whisk in the flour. Gradually stir in the heavy cream until thickened. Remove from heat, and mix in 1/2 cup Swiss cheese until melted. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Arrange the potatoes and cauliflower in the prepared casserole dish. Pour the cream sauce over the potatoes and cauliflower, and sprinkle with the remaining Swiss cheese.
6. Bake 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until bubbly and lightly browned. 

I made a couple of changes to this one. We didn't have any swiss cheese or cauliflower on hand (unfortunately) so I used cheddar and broccoli. And because I was making this as our main course I doubled the recipe. I also used coconut milk in place of the heavy cream because it was all I had. I worried it might make the dish taste too coconutty, when I mixed up the sauce I could really smell it. But once everything cooked, you would NEVER know I used coconut milk at all! It was DELICIOUS and with not even a hint of coconut flavor. I look forward to trying this recipe again with the cauliflower and I think I will use the coconut milk again! 

White Bean Soup

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 large carrots, chopped
• 1 (10 ounce) can golden corn, drained
• salt and pepper to taste
• 5 cups vegetable broth
• 2 (15.5 ounce) cans white beans
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley

Directions

1. Heat oil in a large stock pot over medium-high heat. Saute garlic until tender, approximately 5 minutes. Stir in carrot and corn, season with salt and pepper, and cook another 2 to 3 minutes. Pour in vegetable broth, beans, thyme and parsley, and bring to a low boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook approximately one hour.
2. Separate soup into 2 equal portions, and allow to cool to room temperature. Once cooled, puree half of the batch in a blender or food processor until smooth. Return both batches to the stockpot, and heat until warmed through. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper as needed. Serve hot.

The changes I made to this recipe are as follows: I diced probably 4 sm-med potatoes and added those to the mix. Then, instead of separating and waiting for the soup to cool I just used the hand blender to puree some of the mix right in the pot! In the end I found it to be a little thin, so I added a small spoonful of flour to thicken it up a bit. Worked like a charm! I served homemade dinner rolls and they were AMAZING dipped right into the soup and used as a spoon to scoop up all the yummy soupy goodness! TASTY! Will definitely be making this one again!!! Maybe adding some barley next time.