Trapped in a Dutch Oven

If you didn't snicker even a little bit at that title post, I think it's about time you acquaint yourself with a little website called Urban Dictionary.  Try typing in your first name and see what kind of person the world really thinks you are...  But I digress.  This isn't about dutch ovens, it's about soup.

It's July- the PERFECT time to be writing about soup, no?  Well, it's gray, it's cold(by my standards), and it's been raining on and off for DAYS ON END.  I think the all caps are necessary to make you understand how much I really detest rain.  Especially when I'm trying to wear flip flops.  Wet, cold feet- is there really anything worse?  Save your comments if you want to pipe up right now and tell me that, yes, in fact, there are things much worse than wet feet, like perhaps my overuse of the comma in this sentence and definite improper use of it.  I'm not an English teacher, and I really don't give two hoots.

If you know me, you know how much I ABSOLUTELY LOVE POTATOES.  Preferably in the form of french fries, but I'll take them anywhichwayexceptraw.  I even had a french fry bar at my wedding, which raised some eyebrows from the venue staff, but they pulled it off for me in a very big way- thanks, Bayshore!  

So, when the weather gets cold, and there's not much left in my fridge, I know I can pull out a few potatoes, some frozen bacon, and have a lovely and comforting bowl of soup curled up in front of my fireplace. If I had a fireplace.  Hmm.  Oh well, the next house perhaps.

When I make soup, or really anything for that matter, I'm not really a rule/recipe follower.  I don't like directions- they're really more of a guide, aren't they??  So, a handful of this here, a plop of that there, and voila!  Most of the time it works, and sometimes we end up eating cereal for dinner.  Live and learn.  Any form of potato soup is my favorite thing to make, though- it really doesn't require a recipe.  If I have some cream cheese in the fridge, I'll throw in a dollop of that.  It gives a nice, creamy, cheesy texture and flavor without having to empty half a bag of shredded cheese into the pot.

If you love to make soup and don't have a dutch oven (yep, we're back to that), I really suggest you get one.  Most people think of le Creuset when they think of enameled cast iron pots, but you really can buy any kind.  Mine is the Lodge brand, which is less than half the price of a le Creuset, and has held up just fine.  They work great to brown meats and make a lovely roux to thicken your sauces, too.  

Another thing I like to do when making soup or dishes with bacon is to cook the bacon in the oven.  I just started doing this earlier in the year, and am so mad at myself for not knowing to do this sooner- it would have saved so many grease splatter cleanups!!!  Just throw your bacon on a cookie sheet with a lip all the way around (does this have a different name that I don't know?  I'm not a baker.), throw it in a cold oven, and turn up the heat.  Ten minutes later, your bacon is cooked to perfection, and you have zero cleanup!  Please take note from my lovely iphone photo that the inside of my oven has not been cleaned ONCE since moving into my house six years ago.  Any volunteers to come do that?  I'm not interested in doing it.  EVER.

Once the potatoes are soft, give them a quick buzz with an immersion blender (again, if you don't have one, get one.  It makes making soup a breeze!!).  Throw in your bacon, cream cheese, and anything else you have left in the fridge or freezer- corn, peas, whatever.  Sop it up with some bread, or leftover pita that you stole from the mediterranean restaurant last week after a family style luncheon/baby shower, and you're good to go.  (What, you don't do the same thing?  They're just going to throw it out anyway!!)

Picture proof that I wasn't kidding about the pita.  I don't joke about free food.

Bon appetit!

PS:  If you're wondering what this post has to do with "The Regular House", and are thinking to yourself that this blog would be about DIY and such, please take note of the unedited and non-spruced up version of the only useable counterspace I have to work with in my tiny kitchen.  I'll probably complain about it in a later post.  Cheers to small spaces!

No, the picture isn't stretched.  I have an abnormally long stove.  It's weird.