Spring is Here!

So first I need to apologise to my blog, (Ahem, ::clearing throat:::) "Blog, Life of a Turnip, I'm sorry that I've neglected you these past few months, but I promise to spend more time with you from now on."Things have been kinda crazy since October, as life tends to be sometimes, but I will try to pay a little more attention to you from now on.

Ok, now that that's settled, the thing that keeps bringing me back to blogging is whenever I find a great food recipe to share. Last week was a very stressful week with projects, a paper, and exam all in one week (graduation coming up in May!) so of course what do I want when I need some comfort?...my soups...I tend to keep exploring my New England Soup Factory Book, but this one comes from one of the many food blogs I subscribe to and who I look up to maybe one day becoming myself. It comes from Sara Kate Gillingham-Ryan who writes a blog titled "the kitchn". She told the story of a girls trip where they made a soup using of course seasonal ingredients. Since we are just into spring, this recipe really interested me using the flavors of winter Parsnips, with Potato and Crab. Using the winter ingredients of Parsnips, and combining them with other ingredients I believed was a good soup to try since we are barely into spring. Tweeking the recipe a little myself, it turned out to be one of my greatest soups made so far.

Now is the perfect time to make this soup, so go to your local grocery store today and try it!

Barely Spring Parsnip, Potato and Crab Soup serves 6-8
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 leek, white part mostly with little green, sliced into thin rings (save a little for the roasted topping)
5-6 red potatoes, chopped
5-7 parsnips, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 teaspoons peeled, minced fresh ginger
1 teaspoon salt
3-5 cups vegetable or chicken stock, enough to cover
1/2 pound cooked lump crab meat (I used a little more cause I love crab)
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
Chopped Italian parsley, mint, cilantro to garnish with roasted leeks


In a 4-6 quart pot over medium flame, heat 2 Tb. olive oil. When glistening, sweat the onion, leek, potato, parsnips, garlic and ginger with the salt for a few minutes until onions are translucent, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes.





Add the stock to cover, bring to a boil then lower heat to low and simmer for about 30 minutes.


In a roasting pan, add enough leeks mixed with remaining olive oil and season with salt and pepper, Roast in 350 degree oven for 15 minutes or until brownish. Put aside for garnish.







With an immersion blender, blend soup until smooth then add cream and blend again. Add crab and cook another 2-3 minutes. Taste for seasoning. Add more salt if needed and freshly ground black pepper.









Serve warm and garnish with chopped herbs and roasted leeks. Enjoy and welcome spring!

The thing that comforts me...

So much as happened since my last blog. So much in fact, that I'm not going to spill it all out. So here is just the short and sweet version.

1. Parkside dream is gone, look forward to Parkside Cafe/Bar coming soon

2. Moved back to the parentals for the time being, after moving three times since April..

3. Going to bust my ass and finish my last two semesters to finally graduate school, even if it kills me..

4. Soon giving up one of the best things in my life, after already losing so much...by that meaning Lila..

...that's just a small portion of how much my life has changed, and keeps changing...today would have been a celebration, instead I'm finding the little comforts to keep moving...

So all in all, a lot of changes within three months time...but everything happens for a reason, even if you don't understand right now what reason that may be...all in time and patience..

During these past months, I've of course needed some good comforts...one being food, and especially homemade soups...yes, even during the summer...

One afternoon, I came home from work to a countertop filled with fresh, ripe tomatoes from the farmer's market that my mom's aunt gave her. So I took those beautiful tomatoes and took out my stockpot and proceeded to make a batch of Tomato, Corn, and Basil Soup from my favorite cookbook from the New England Soup Factory. It is my goal to make every single soup in this book because each one seems amazing. Everyone couldn't understand that I was making soup in 90 degree weather. I'm totally infatuated with soup, and I just couldn't let those tomatoes, which come around only once a year, go to waste on sandwiches...enjoy this recipe, and hopefully it will give you some comfort too....

3 Tb butter

3 cups tomato juice

2 lg Spanish onions, diced

1 6 oz. can tomato paste

5 carrots, peeled and diced

2 tea. sugar

2 ribs celery, diced

1 bunch fresh basil, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tb balsamic vinegar

8 lg, ripe, red tomatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

8 cups veg. or chicken stock

Kernels of 5 ears fresh corn

Kosher salt and freshly black pepper, to taste

In a stockpot heat the butter over med-high heat. Add the onions, carrots, celery, and garlic. Saute for 10 min. stirring frequently. Add the tomatoes and saute an additional 5 min. Add the stock, tomato juice, and tomato paste. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer, covered, for 25-30 min, or until all of the vegetables are soft and tender.

Add the sugar, fresh basil, and vinegar. Puree the soup in the pot with a hand blender or working in batches with a blender until smooth. Add the corn kernels to the soup and return the pot to med-high heat. Simmer for an additional 5-7 minutes until the corn is cooked and the soup is heated through. Season with S&P. Makes 12 servings.

Soup's On!!

Well Winter isn't officially here, but it is December and we have definitely had some blustery chilly days here in Birmingham.

I love those gray, windy, cold days when all you want to do is stay inside where it's warm, curl up on the sofa and watch bad tv or movies and make a big pot of homemade soup!

I absolutely love LOVE LOOVE soup.

(Did I say that I love soup?)

I really love any soup recipe and would literally have a bowl of homemade soup everyday during the winter months. Nothing is more fantastic or comforting to me then that. So as I was looking for a new soup recipe to try, I got an email from a new post of one of my favorite blogs called "101 Cookbooks" by Heidi Swanson. She's a "foodie" blogger, and I love reading blogs about recipes or what other people are making in their home.

Plus, to be honest, I could read recipes or cookbooks all day long.

So the recipe she posted was something I had never tried before, but sounded amazing. It was a recipe for Baby Lima Soup with Chipotle Broth. It only has five ingredients, and it does not lack any substance and definitely has a kick. Plus, it was so simple to make as well. I actually used dried lima beans, and it took no pre-soaking, and was done in under an hour. I also liked the fact that you controlled how much heat you wanted by how much Chipotle sauce you added. Eakin is not as much a spicy fan as myself, so I only added one Chipotle and about two teaspoons of the sauce and you could still get that kick.

I also added sweet frozen corn to balance the heat factor which was a nice combination. And while the beans were cooking, I also added a piece of bacon to give even more flavor, because everything is better with bacon right?

So when it's a cold bluster day, try this soup with some cornbread and it will defiantly warm you up!

Thanks Heidi!

I'm sure with winter just aproaching, I'll have more posts about terrific soups to come!