The clarion call has gone out!  We have begged for your comments, we have whined for your ideas and suggestions.  We have prayed for your success stories.  Today we bring you one such offering.  For those of you who depend on Food Pantries, Food Commodities, and Food Stamps for your grocery budgets, you will greatly appreciate having this information.

Renita was not convinced she could just “whip something up”.  She is accustomed to using recipes and her own tried and true methods.  She was skeptical that a meal could be made up without lists and lots of stressing over the process.

Today she emailed me, proud as punch, with a sweet success story about her soup:

It was noon and time to think of eating.  She studied the contents of the refrigerator and the cupboard and came up with a new way to revamp an old recipe.  It was Potato Soup.  She substituted  refrigerated, cooked potatoes in lieu of peeling and boiling.  She dared to use a can of cream of celery soup rather than cream of chicken soup-and NO Food Police came to her kitchen door!  She decreased the number of strips of bacon the recipe called for because she only had three!  She did not feel like chopping and sauteeing an onion, so she used onion powder and finished the creation off with 2 soup cans full of milk.  Heat, eat, serve, RAVE.  Easy as 1-2-3-4!

I am very proud of Renita’s effort!  I am equally grateful that she shared her story with us. 

At a recent Cooking Class we ‘winged’ our menu on the spot.  I think some of the students were somewhat aghast that I had not PLANNED more carefully but the fact is that I cook on the fly much of the time.  I have an array of food; I know what we will enjoy most; I change it up from time to time.  That’s what Renita did.  She used what she had on hand in a new and creative way.  It must have felt like an adventure to her. 

It’s important to relax and enjoy playing with your food!  It is a fact that YOUR energy goes into that food.  If you are tense and anxious, the food is infused with tension and anxiety.  Conversely, if you are relaxed and loving, filled with the joy of preparing food to nourish your body and food you will enjoy with people you love–that’s the energy that will be infused into all the things you prepare.  A simple muscle test will prove that point.

Since you have Renita’s method for Potato Soup, I’ll give you the version I like to make.  It is one of those comfort foods:

***POTATO SOUP***

1 Potato per person + l for the kettle, washed and cut into bite sized chunks

1/2 onion, chopped

2 carrots, peeled and chopped or sliced, depending how you want it to LOOK

2 ribs celery, chopped

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 tablespoons butter or oil

2 tablespoons flour

6 cups milk – This is ideal for prepared powdered milk; canned milk will work, too.

This is the cooking method:

Sautee` the onion, carrot, and celery, and potatoes in vegetable oil in a LARGE, HOT skillet

When the veggies are tender, remove from skillet and set aside.  Put 2 tablespoons butter or oil into the hot skillet.  Sprinkle flour into the butter and allow it to heat through.  Add some of the milk to make a thin “gravy”.   Add the rest of the milk to the thickening mixture in the skillet.  Add the cooked vegetables to the soup and heat thoroughly.

This is good when seasoned to taste with salt and pepper but if you like variety, you can add a bit of dried dill just before it’s served. 

Another variation is to add cooked bacon, cooked, diced ham or shredded cheese as a topper when serving.

If you have chicken stock, you can use that with the milk to make 6 cups.  Also you can vary the amount of flour, depending whether you like thick soup or a thinner style.

This is really delicious and more filling when poured over crusty toasted slices of thick bread to serve.

Piping hot potato soup on a wintry day is very satisfying.  Fruit and a cookie makes a simple dessert for this menu.

You are invited to visit www.foodstampscookingclub.com  and we eagerly await YOUR success stories.  Please send those to foodstampscookingclub@gmail.com  For more help in creating food for your family, please visit one of our advertisers, Saving Dinner .

Connie Baum