Welcome to my Kitchen

Russet potato harvest is in full swing, and these huge, processing style potatoes make a luscious soup. Swiss chard, a dark green leaf vegetable has come into prime sweet flavor now that nights have turned cooler. Pair these two readily available ingredients with chicken, broth and seasonings for a savory fall or winter season soup.

Potato, Chicken

and Chard Soup

6 cups peeled, diced potato

1 cup diced onion

2 Tbsp butter or cooking oil

2 large Swiss chard leaves, cut

into 1/2x2-inch strips

1 can (12-14 ounces) diced

chicken, including broth

3 cups chicken broth

2 cups half and half

or whole milk

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Pinch ground sage

1 tsp salt

Melt butter in a large soup kettle over medium high heat. Add onion and cook stirring often until onion is slightly golden and translucent. Add potatoes and chicken broth, reduce heat to medium and cook until potatoes are just tender. Crush potatoes slightly with a potato masher, just to break up a bit.

Add chicken, including the broth and the Swiss chard. Stir in salt and seasonings. Heat until mixture begins to bubble, stirring often. Cook for one minute or until chard is tender. Stir in half and half and heat through. Do not let mixture boil after adding half and half. Yield: 6 servings.

Note: low fat milk may be used but the soup will not be as thick. This soup is also very good without the addition of canned chicken. Clams are a delicious substitute for the chicken.

I was recently given a 1980-era Habitat for Humanity Cookbook, Partners in the Kitchen, From Our House to Yours. It contains a wide variety of recipes from around the United States. The second category in the index is Alligator. Just in case you ever need it, I now have a recipe for Smoked ‘Gator.

More appealing to the average reader is Fresh Mushroom Soup, easy to prepare from ingredients on hand. The recipe was submitted by Nancy MacLeod of Monroe, Wisconsin.

Fresh Mushroom Soup

6 cups sliced fresh mushrooms

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

1/2 cup finely chopped celery

1/4-1/2 cup butter

6 Tbsp all-purpose flour

1 tsp crushed dried basil

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

2 cups chicken broth

3 cups milk

Sauté mushrooms, onion and celery in butter in a 6-8 quart saucepan until tender crisp. Stir in flour, basil, salt and pepper. Simmer for 1 minute or until smooth, stirring constantly. Add chicken broth and milk gradually. Cook until slightly thickened, stirring constantly; do not boil. Yield: 6 servings.

During the summer, my sourdough starter gets to cool it’s heels in the refrigerator, but now that the season is changing to fall, and less garden work, I have been experimenting with a few recipes I collected over the past few months. One is for a Sourdough Pizza Crust that comes out with a texture similar to the pre-made Boboli crusts. I found the recipe at http://www.culturesforhealth.com an informative site for making yogurt, kefir, sourdough, kombucha, cheese and more.

Sourdough is a live yeast culture and all cultures vary, so I have tweaked the original recipe a bit. Odessa water is very alkaline so it slows the growth of the culture. Our air is dry, so dry ingredients are even dryer. I am printing the recipe with my adjustments, but you can find the original recipe on the website.

Sourdough Pizza Crust

1 1/2 cups thick, fresh sour-

dough starter (starter you

have mixed up and let work

over night)

4-5 Tbsp olive oil

1 tsp salt

1 1/4 to 1 3/4 cups all-purpose

flour

In a large bowl, mix together the fresh sourdough starter, one tablespoon of the oil, and the salt. Stir in 1 1/4 cups of the flour. Add more flour, a little at a time, as needed to form a pizza dough consistency ( soft but not sticky) Knead dough 20-30 times on a lightly floured surface. Cover with the bowl you mixed the dough in.

Allow the dough to rest for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Roll out dough with a floured rolling pin and place on pizza stone or pizza pan.

Bake crust 7 minutes. Remove crust from oven and brush with remaining olive oil. Add desired toppings and bake pizza until crust browns and the cheese melts, about 15 minutes more.

Note: haven’t done it yet, but I plan to try making this crust, cooling after the 7 minutes of baking, then freeze to use like a Boboli. Watch future column for a report.

I found this recipe clipped to my front door, but I don’t know who it came from. Chicken and Pepper Pizza was in the February 17, 2014 issue of Woman’s World and it features a Boboli crust, so it was perfect for this sourdough crust.

Chicken and Pepper Pizza

1 pre-baked pizza crust

1/2 cup taco sauce

1 scallion, thinly sliced (green

onion works)

2 cups sliced cooked chicken

1/2 cup diced green pepper

1 cup shredded Mexican 4-

cheese blend

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place crust on un-greased baking sheet or pizza pan. Spread sauce over crust to within one inch of edge. Sprinkle with scallions. Top with chicken, peppers and cheese. Bake 15-20 minutes or until heated through and cheese is melted. Yield: 6 servings.

Time to be thinking of holiday baking and entertaining. Do any of you readers have favorite recipes that are low or sugar free, or gluten free? Share your favorite holiday gifts from the kitchen recipes by sending them to:

Welcome to My Kitchen, c/o The Odessa Record, P.O. Box 458, Odessa, WA 99159, email therecord@odessaoffice.com or drop them in the Welcome to My Kitchen mail tin in The Odessa Record office. Layer your spent garden foliage with leaves raked from your lawn to form a compost pile that can work over the winter, breaking down into coarse loam to amend garden and flower beds next spring. Water occasionally until we get some rain.