Cooking In A Green Year

Broccoli

 A new year is upon us and I am excited to eat lots of leafy greens. I love Christmas and everything that it brings but, I am happy to have the time to cook again.  The above photo is the most recent box, all those greens are chasing away memories of cookies, bacon wrapped dates, and the never ending parade of cheeses paired with something cured or pickled.
It has been uncharacteristically cold and rainy here  lately, and as a result I've been on a soup kick. I first made Broccoli Soup from this amazing looking Broccoli.  I have learned that Broccoli is one of the first things I need to use from the box because it goes bad really fast. I combined two recipes to make the Broccoli Soup. Using the Joy of Cooking: 75th Anniversary Edition - 2006 and a recipe from Food & Wine. I overcooked the broccoli and it didn't come out the prettiest of colors but it tasted good.

A week later I made kale soup testing out a new Christmas gift

Forgotten Skills of Cooking: The Time-Honored Ways are the Best - Over 700 Recipes Show You Why
I am completely obsessed with this book. I am already making a mental list of what I want to make. And if I feel like a challenge it has sections on preserving and how to build your own smoker, out of a metal trashcan. I wonder if smoking vegetables would work. The soup was easy, simple, and delicious. It has potato in it, which gives it a thicker consistency and I managed to not let the greens overcook.

We enjoyed both soups with a slice of bread, or my favorite popovers.

Red Kale

Overall I think both the soups, while using two different vegetables, were really similar. If the weather keeps up perhaps I will start turning other greens into soup. Or some other delicious dinner to be had. All I know is that I am glad to be cooking in this new year and await the surprises that come in the new vegetable box

Broccoli Soup

Kale soup