Recipes of a Lifetime for the Trip of a Lifetime

If you know Yvonne then you know that she LOVES to cook.  If she's happy, she cooks.  If she's sad, she cooks.  If she's depressed, she cooks.  Yvonne just loves to cook.  It's her "thing."  That's why she's amassed a few recipes through the years.  And by a few, I mean a LOT.

In thinking of ways to raise funds for Yvonne's Trip of a Lifetime to see her mother, we thought one of the most fitting ways is to use her love of cooking.  That's why we're putting together a cookbook of some of her favorite dishes.  It's a wonderful way for her to share her love, and it's a fitting way for her to be remembered for years to come.  

Please visit the "Recipes of a Lifetime" page and let us know if you'd like to order a book when they're available, hopefully within the next 2-3 weeks.  It will contain at least 50 recipes, and all proceeds will go toward Yvonne's Trip of a Lifetime.  

So, that's where we stand.  If you would like to see what's been donated, that's all on the Thank You page.  Then there's the Amazon list, and we have several ways to donate.  

• CashApp: $thespiritlady or $mysticlady54

• Paypal: @marmeesfriends or @musiccitywhowho

• Zelle: circleofspirit@gmail.com

• Venmo: @mysticlady54

• Amazon Wish List: Yvonne’s Trip by Donna Marsh

• By Mail: Contact me for our mailing address

• Gift Cards: Kroger Co., Walmart, Target, Walgreens, CVS, Texas Roadhouse, McDonald’s, etc.

The McCormick Family Cooks

The Crazy Ladies recently launched a new page on Facebook:  The McCormick Family Cooks.

This page features recipes from The McCormick Family Cookbook, edited by Donna McCormick Marsh, as well as other favorite recipes, hints, and tips from around the internet.

Purchase your own copy of The McCormick Family Cookbook.

Donna's Gazpacho

Gazpacho is a Spanish soup made of blended, raw vegetables and served chilled.  It's not for everyone, but if you love that eight vegetable juice then you will love this soup.  If you can't get over eating it out of a bowl with a spoon, then put it in a chilled mug and drink it.  It's good either way!

Gazpacho

Ingredients:

• 4 cups tomato juice, divided in half
• 1/2 medium Vidalia onion, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 1 small green bell pepper, cored, seeded and coarsely chopped
• 2 stalks celery, coarsely chopped
• 1 small cucumber, peeled, seeded and coarsely chopped
• 2 Tablespoons fresh basil leaves, sliced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil

Directions:

Put 2 cups of the tomato juice and all of the other ingredients in a blender.  Puree.  Slowly stir the remaining 2 cups of tomato juice into the pureed mixture.  Chill

Gazpacho should be served almost icy cold, so it's even better if it's allowed to chill overnight.  The flavors have time to develop and meld, while the raw onion taste greatly fades into the background and allows the other flavors to shine. 

Garnish gazpacho with cracked black pepper, diced veggies, and/or herbs. 

Serve in a chilled bowl, or mug, with toasted bread.


Serves 6.

The Perfect Christmas Fudge

From Thanksgiving to Christmas I love to cook and bake.  I especially enjoy making candy.  One of my favorite candies is fudge -- any type, and what could be a better selection for Christmas than this one?

Candy Cane Fudge

Ingredients

• 2 10-oz pkgs. white chocolate baking chips
• 1 14-oz can of sweetened condensed milk
• 3/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
• 1 1/2 cups finely-crushed candy canes
• red food coloring

Directions

Line an 8x8-inch square baking pan with aluminum foil, and then lightly coat the bottom with butter.

In a medium size saucepan, combine the chips and the sweetened condensed milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the chips are melted, or at least mostly melted.

Remove the pan from the heat and continue to stir until all of the chips are melted.  Then stir in the peppermint extract and crushed candy canes.

Spread the fudge evenly in the bottom of the prepared pan.

Dot the top of the fudge with several drops of food coloring.  Cut through the fudge and food coloring with a butter knife, making a swirl pattern.

Chill for 2 hours. Remove the fudge from the baking pan by lifting the foil from both ends. Transfer fudge to cutting board, and cut into 1-inch squares.

If you'd like some Christmas fun, check out the North Pole Community on Facebook.

My Favorite Pumpkin Cheesecake

I love pumpkin cheesecake.  In fact, I've yet to eat a pumpkin cheesecake I didn't like, but this particular one is still my favorite.  I got the recipe from a holiday article in the Herald-Citizen back in the mid 80's, and I've yet to find one better.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Ingredients

Crust:

1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 Tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 stick unsalted butter, melted                                                                    

Filling:

Three 8-ounce packages cream cheese, at room temperature

1 ½ cups sugar

5 eggs

One 16-ounce can pumpkin puree

1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

2 Tablespoons dark rum

2 Tablespoons minced crystallized ginger

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon grated nutmeg

Topping:

1 ½ cups sour cream

½ cup sugar

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 Tablespoons dark rum

Directions

Combine crust ingredients.  Pour into a buttered, 10-inch springform pan and press the mixture onto the bottom and one-third up the sides of the pan.  Chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the cheese and sugar until smooth.  Continuing to beat at medium speed, add eggs one by one, beating well after each addition.

In a mixing bowl combine pumpkin, vanilla, rum, ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Mix until smooth.  Add pumpkin mixture to the cream cheese and beat to combine.

Pour the filling into the crust and bake for 1 ½ hours, or until set.

Whisk the sour cream, sugar, cinnamon and rum together and spread over the cake.  Allow to cool and then chill for at least five hours before serving.

Can be made up to two days ahead.  Cover and refrigerate.

Cuppa Cuppa Cuppa

I’m just going to come out and say it. I’m a sucker for the movie Steel Magnolias. I watch it each time it’s on TV. I quote dialogue right along with the characters, and I cry every single time Shelby dies. I can’t help myself. 

If you’re familiar with the movie then you may have noticed how food plays such a part in the story. There are Easter eggs (twice!), the groom’s armadillo cake, shrimp at the festival, Clairee and Quiser in the grocery store, Annelle cooking something that freezes beautifully, and then there’s Truvy’s Cuppa Cuppa Cuppa Cake.

During one of the beauty shop scenes Clairee asks Truvy for the recipe for Cuppa Cuppa Cuppa, and Truvy replies, “It’s just a cuppa flour, a cuppa sugar, and a cuppa fruit cocktail, with the juice. Mix it up and bake at 350 ‘til gold and bubbly.” Truvy then goes on to say how rich this dessert is, so she recommends serving it over ice cream to “cut the sweetness.”

You may notice how similar this recipe is to my Mom’s Fruit Pie. The main difference is the texture, which is due to the amount of liquid. Both, though, are rich and fabulous, so enjoy!

Cuppa Cuppa Cuppa Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 cup self-rising flour (Bisquick also works great.)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup fruit cocktail with the syrup (Use the entire 15-ounce can for added moisture.)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Mix the ingredients until blended, and then pour into the lightly greased 8x8 baking dish, spreading the batter out as needed.

Bake until golden brown and bubbly, usually about 40 or 45 minutes.

A Cuppa Comfort

When I feel bad I crave fruity things. When it’s a dark and stormy night I crave hot comfort food. Tonight is one of those nights when it all comes together. It’s dark and stormy and I have felt much better, so I made Mom’s Fruit Pie.

About 40 years ago my aunt Joyce McCormick made a dessert for a family gathering that I just fell in love with. It was gooey, chewy, fruity, and I thought I had found my forever-favorite dessert. (This was before I discovered New York style cheesecake.) When I asked Joyce what the heavenly confection was, she said, “That’s just Mom’s fruit pie.”

Joyce gave me a copy of the recipe, and it was, sure enough, titled Mom’s Fruit Pie. I just wish I had thought to ask her if that is the actual name or if it was her mother’s recipe. I fantasize that it’s a family recipe handed down from my grandmother to my aunt and then to me, but a fantasy may be all that is.

First, the recipe as it was given to me. Then I’ll share some “enhancements.”

Mom’s Fruit Pie

Ingredients:

• ½ cup butter
• 1 cup self-rising flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup milk
• 1 large can fruit cocktail

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Put the butter in a 13”x9” baking dish and place it in the preheating oven.

Mix the flour, sugar, and milk until well blended.

Once the oven is preheated and the butter is melted, pour the fruit cocktail into the baking dish, syrup and all. Then pour the batter over the fruit. Do not stir.

Bake until the crust is golden brown. This may take as long as 45 minutes.

Now, the first thing you’ll notice, if you know a bit about baking, is that this is not a pie. It’s actually a cobbler. It’s also a thin cobbler if you bake it in a 13”x9” pan, but that can be a good thing because this sucker is RICH, and you’ll want smaller servings. Plus, the thinner cobbler also means more chewy and less gooey. You can bake it in an 8”x8” if you like it thicker, or you can half the recipe and use the smaller pan to make less. As I said, it’s rich.

The great thing about this recipe is its versatility. You can use any fruit in syrup, and it will work. Peach is my favorite. You can also use fresh or frozen fruit, about 2 cups worth, with no syrup. It changes the texture, but it’s still a delicious cobbler. You can also substitute Bisquick for the flour, and it works just fine.

And tomorrow I’ll tell you why this recipe may seem familiar to movie buffs.

Until then, enjoy!

Chocolate Éclair Cake

I received this easy, delicious recipe from my cousin Carla McDowell, of Maysville, Ky., over 30 years ago, and it has been a family favorite since.

Chocolate Éclair Cake

Ingredients:

 Filling:

• 2 (3.5 oz.) boxes French vanilla instant pudding
• 3 c. milk
• 1 (8 oz.) container Cool Whip
• Graham crackers 

 Topping:

• 1/3 c. cocoa
• 1 c. sugar
• 1/4 c. milk
• 1 stick (1/2 c.) butter (or margarine)
• 1 tsp. vanilla

 Directions:

Filling:

• Combine pudding mix and milk; beat. Stir in Cool Whip.
• Place a layer of graham crackers in the bottom of a 9" x 13" dish. Spread 1/2 of the pudding mixture over the graham crackers. Repeat with another layer of graham crackers and pudding; then top with a final layer of graham crackers.

Topping:

• Bring cocoa, milk, and sugar to a full rolling boil; boil about 1 minute, stirring very frequently. Remove from heat and cool one minute. Add butter and vanilla; stir until butter is melted.
• Pour chocolate topping over the top layer of graham crackers.
• Refrigerate overnight, or at least 8 hours before serving.

A tip to make this dessert even easier is to use a can of chocolate frosting.  You can spread it right on the top layer of graham crackers or warm it in the microwave for just a few seconds and then pour it over the cake.

Personally, I like to make it with three layers instead of two.  It just seems to just give it more of a cake texture, and the filling layers aren’t so heavy. You might need a few more graham crackers if you want to try it that way. 

However you make it – enjoy!

The Drink of the South: Sweet Tea

If you know anything at all about Southerners then you know they love their iced tea, and they take it one way -- sweet.  Well, except for me.  I like my iced tea strong, unsweetened and loaded with fresh lemon, but as my doctor likes to say, I'm not average.

Southern Iced Tea

Ingredients:

• 3 c. water
• 2 family-size tea bags
• 1 c. sugar
• 7 c. cold water
• ice

Directions:

Bring 3 cups of water to boil in a saucepan; add the tea bags.  Boil for one minute, cover, and remove from heat.  Steep for 10 minutes.

Remove and discard the tea bags.  Add the sugar and stir until dissolved.

Pour into a large container.  Add 7 cups of cold water.  Serve over lots of ice.

Yield: About 2 1/2 quarts

Note: Adjust the amount of sugar to your taste.  This may not be sweet enough even for you.  For me, it's like syrup, but as I've told you, my doctor says I'm not average.

Grilled Shrimp Salad

It's spring in Tennessee, which means the weather is constantly changing.  It's cold and rainy or hot and sunny.  It's back and forth.  As we like to say, don't like the weather?  Wait five minutes.  It'll change.

On those hot and sunny days our minds begin to think of summer and grilling.  Even though I don't handle heat well, I do love to grill, and I especially love grilled shrimp.  This salad is one of my favorites.

Grilled Shrimp Salad

Ingredients:

• 1 lb grilled marinated shrimp
• 1 pkg baby spinach
• 1 med. red pepper, diced
• 1 can mandarin orange sections, drained
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
• 4 oz. feta cheese, crumbled
• Wheat Beer Salad Dressing

Directions:

Combine the shrimp, baby spinach, red pepper, mandarin oranges and cherry tomatoes in a good-sized salad bowl.  Toss lightly with the Wheat Beer Salad Dressing and top with the feta cheese.  Serve immediately. Serves 4.

Grilled Marinated Shrimp

Ingredients:

• 1 lb deveined shrimp without tails
• 1 cup wheat beer
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/2 cup onion, chopped
• Favorite hot sauce to taste
• Black pepper to taste

Directions: 

Combine the ingredients together in an airtight container and allow to marinate for up to one hour, shaking the container about every 15 minutes.  Then proceed to grill the shrimp until just done.  Some people do so using bamboo skewers that have soaked in water for approximately an hour.  I prefer to use a grill pan. 

Wheat Beer Salad Dressing

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, very finely minced
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh basil, very finely minced
• 3/4 cup citrusy wheat beer
• 3 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar 
• 1 Tablespoon Dijon or whole grain mustard
• 1 teaspoon honey
• Black pepper to taste

Directions:

Whisk all ingredients together in a 1 1/2 quart saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for 4-5 minutes. Remove from heat, let cool. 

When Two of My Favorites Come Together

Driscoll's Strawberry Shortcake Cheesecake

Those who know me know that there are two things I absolutely love – cheesecake and fresh berries.  When I came across this recipe on the Driscoll’s website I began to think I had died and gone to heaven.  Then I realized that if I were truly in heaven I could taste this wonderful concoction, and since that wasn’t happening I knew I must still be alive.  And that means I must make this fantastic dessert.

Strawberry Shortcake Cheesecake 

Yes, you read that right!  Could anything sound yummier? I doubt it.  

But I have a problem.  

I'm on a very fixed, tight income, and I can't just run out and buy the ingredients for things like this.  I have to wait and build them into next month's budget.  Or the next, depending on the cost.  

Can I wait??  It's going to be difficult, but I will.  In the meantime, if anyone makes this please tell me if it's as delicious as I am imagining.  

If I Could Have Tea with my Grandmother

I baked my Grandmother's Oatmeal Cookies tonight.  As I said yesterday, I never got the chance to know her, as she died when my father was still a child.  I did, however, know her kitchen and the wood-burning oven she would have used to bake them. 

As I mixed the ingredients I pictured my grandmother in her kitchen doing the same.  I saw her beating the egg and adding the sugar while my father, as a child, sat on the stool they always kept there and asked questions.  Why are you doing that?  When will they be done?  When can I have one?  All of the questions a child of 5 or 6 would ask.

I followed the recipe as closely as I could, with one exception.  I did not chop the raisins, something I realized later should really be done.  This recipe has less sugar than any conventional recipe I've seen, so the raisins are used to add sweetness.  Chopping the raisins distributes them more evenly and, therefore, spreads the sweetness a little more equally.  That makes me think that this recipe was probably developed, or at least made popular, during either the Depression or World War II, both times when sugar would have been either expensive or more difficult to come by.

Pearl Burnett McCormick
High School Graduation

One thing my grandmother's recipe did not state was what temperature to bake them at or for how long.  I know her wood-burning stove would have probably had a moderate fire going for baking, so I preheated the oven to 350 degrees.  She said to drop the dough by teaspoonful, so I used a small scoop to keep them uniform and then slightly flattened them.  I baked the first batch for 10 minutes, but that seemed to be just a tad too long, so I baked each subsequent batch for 9 minutes, and they all came out perfect.  

My roommates and I all tried the cookies, and we agreed that they're really quite good, even if only slightly sweet -- the type of cookie that would be perfect with a cup of tea or a glass of cold milk.  

I imagined sitting around the old table at the homeplace on Old Sparta Road with my grandmother and her sisters, enjoying a pot of tea and her oatmeal cookies.  My father and his younger brother would be playing outside.  I could hear the chickens as the boys chased them.  I think we would talk about books, swap recipes and patterns, and share our latest needlework.  

Yes, these are the cookies I would serve if I could have tea with my grandmother.

Here is the recipe updated for today's ovens.

Grandmother's Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup shortening
• 4 Tbl buttermilk
• 1/2 tsp soda
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp cloves
• 1 cup raisins, chopped
• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups oats

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine all ingredients together, being sure to add the oats last.  This dough will be very stiff and a little dry.  Continue to work it until everything is combined.

Drop by rounded teaspoonful onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet.  Press each down slightly, but not too thin.  Bake for approximately 9 minutes, or until the bottoms are golden brown.  

Allow to cool on the cookie sheet for 2-3 minutes and then remove to a cooling rack.  

Makes 5 1/2 dozen cookies.

My Grandmother's Oatmeal Cookies

I never knew my paternal grandmother, Pearl Burnett McCormick.  She died of Hodgkin's Lymphoma less than a month before my father's 14th birthday.  Her sister Jewell once told me that I am a lot like her because I love to read and cook, but that's about all I knew about her until recently.

As it turns out, my cousin Evelyn has our grandmother's handwritten cookbook.  She took care to record her favorite recipes and bind them with a ribbon.  That tells me she treasured those.  

It's also something I would do, have done in a way.  I have many of my favorite recipes printed out and saved neatly in a folder.  Some of them have handwritten notes made in the margins, things such as additions or substitutions.  I also save recipes on Pinterest.  Some of them are favorites and others are dishes I'd like to try, although it's going to take me awhile to try them all since I have nearly 1,400 saved there.  

Now I'm saving another recipe, my grandmother's oatmeal cookies.  I'm going to bake them in the morning, and I feel that may be another link to a woman I wasn't blessed to know.

Grandmother's Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• 1 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup shortening
• 1 cup raisins, chopped
• 4 Tbl buttermilk
• 1/2 tsp soda
• 2 cups oatmeal
• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp cloves

Directions:

Stir all together, adding oatmeal last.  Drop 1 teaspoonful in place and bake until brown.




Here's how they turned out for me.  




    

Let Them Eat Two Egg Cake!

As I've said before, I love to bake.  I started doing it at an early age, and I had some good teachers.   My first cookies were peanut butter ones baked with Betty Henderson, and my first cake was baked with my Aunt Joyce McCormick in a wood burning stove.  

This is the first cake I remember baking completely on my own.  I needed to start with something simple so I searched through the gray cookbook my mother had received during her senior year of high school.  This seemed as simple as it could get, so I paired it with a buttercream frosting and was quite pleased when it came out edible and delicious, although a bit rough around the edges.  

From that point on I baked just about every Saturday, which is why I'm posting this recipe today.

Two Egg Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cups plus 1 tbsp cake flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup soft butter
• 1 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3/4 c milk

Directions:

Sift flour, measure and resift 3 times with baking powder and salt.  Cream butter until soft and smooth and gradually blend in the sugar, creaming until fluffy.  Add beaten eggs and beat vigorously until light and fluffy.  Add vanilla and stir in thoroughly.  Add flour mixture and milk alternately in 3 or 4 portions, beginning and ending with flour and beating until smooth after each addition.  Pour into two 8-inch layer cake pans, buttered on the sides and lined with wax paper in the bottom.  Bake in a moderate oven (350' F.) 25 to 30 minutes, until cake just begins to pull away from sides of pan and springs back when pressed lightly with finger tip.  Cool in pan on cake rack 5 minutes, then turn out on rack right side up.  When cool, frost between layers and on top and sides of cake with any desired frosting.  8 to 10 servings.  

Through the years I've also frosted this cake with chocolate, cocoa, and lemon frostings, and it was delicious with all of them.  It really is a simple, versatile cake that's good anytime.  

Enjoy!

A Little Easter Rabbit

For Dinner...

 

When I think of Easter I think of rabbits. I just can’t help it. Although, I guess people who know me would say there’s not much that doesn’t make me think of bunnies and rabbits. Anyway, it also makes me think of this family recipe.

 

Favorite Recipes of Putnam County Home Demonstration Club Members

My dad grew up in a large farm family, and they lived off the land so small game was sometimes part of their diet. My grandmother would cook it up in a cast iron skillet on a wood-burning stove, and I can only imagine how wonderful that smell would have been. I’m sure it called them all to dinner.

Dad also hunted when I was a small child. I don’t remember him doing it after we moved from Orangeburg, so I guess he quit by the time I was 7 or so. I do remember him bringing home rabbit, and we’d have it fried with mashed potatoes and gravy, just like his mother served.

And here’s a funny fact about me. If the rabbit has been cleaned before I see it then I can eat it, and it’s yummy. However, if I see that cute, fluffy little tail then it’s a bunny, and I don’t eat bunnies.

Don’t judge me. There is a difference.

Maysville's Transparent Pie

And no, you can't see through it.

I spent my early years in a small river town in northern Kentucky. Maysville is known as the home of Rosemary Clooney, her brother Nick Clooney, who just happens to be the father of a fellow named George, and Heather French Henry, known as Miss America 2000. It’s also the home of Transparent Pie.

I know what you’re thinking. Why is it transparent? Can you see through it? I’ve only heard that joke my entire life. You aren’t the only one who thought of it, and it ceased being funny sometime around 1967.

Anyway, this pie may have come about around the same time the state of Kentucky did since it’s an old frontier recipe designed to make use of the simple, sparse ingredients a pioneer family would have on hand. The oldest written recipe I found for it dates to around 1836 and calls for only three ingredients: butter, eggs, and sugar. The result is a thin, glossy confection that actually is nearly transparent when sliced into slivers.

As the times changed, the recipe appears to have changed as well. Those who could afford it added vanilla extract. A few recipes called for vinegar, while others called for cream. When the Depression was in full swing, the cream was swapped for evaporated milk.

For whatever reason, this rich, tasty pie is hardly known outside of the northern Kentucky area, even though that George Clooney fellow professes it to be his favorite and frequently orders some from Magee’s Bakery in Maysville. He has them shipped to his homes and movie locations, so he’s doing his best to champion it around the world.

I don’t believe the Magee’s recipe uses cream, but the recipe that has been handed down in my family does.

Fern Watson Fultz, my great-grandmother, gave this recipe to her daughter-in-law Lorene Fultz, who passed it to Shirley McCormick, my mother. It is now mine, and that makes me a fourth-generation pie baker, and I’m not ashamed to claim that title.

Without further ado, here it is.

Transparent Pie

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, slightly melted
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup cream (evaporated milk)
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 unbaked (9-inch) pie shells, NOT deep dish

Directions:

Beat butter and sugar in a mixing bowl. Add cream, and mix well. Beat in eggs. Stir in flour and vanilla. Pour into pie shells. Bake at 375 degrees for 40-45 minutes, or until golden brown and knife inserted in center comes out clean.

Beer Potato Soup

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I usually go on a rant for St. Patrick’s Day. So here’s this year’s. I’ll admit that I’ve done my share of partying in the past, but why did I? Why, on this one day, does everyone want to be Irish and get drunk? And what’s this about wear green or get pinched? Seriously? I can’t imagine St. Patrick would think that’s a good way to celebrate his day.

That’s enough ranting though. There is one good thing about St. Patrick’s Day – the food. I love Irish pub food, so I thought I’d celebrate the day by sharing a tasty recipe. I know most folks would talk about corned beef and cabbage, and I can nearly eat my weight in that yummy stuff, but it’s really not Irish. It’s actually very American in origin. That being said, here’s a recipe for a good Irish soup, only with a little twist. You'll see as this blog goes on that I like to cook with beer, so here’s my homage to St. Patrick.

Beer Potato Soup

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup onion, diced
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 1 tablespoon parsley, minced
• 4 cups beer, stout
• 6 Yukon Gold potatoes, diced, not peeled
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon chicken bouillon
• 4 cups heavy cream
• Salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

In a large saucepan, melt the butter. Add the garlic and sauté 1 minute. Add the onion and celery and sauté until tender. Add the parsley and stir.

Add the beer and potatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and cook at a slow boil until the potatoes are just tender.

With a large slotted spoon, mash the potatoes into the side of the pot. Add the sugar and bouillon, and salt and pepper to taste.

Slowly pour in the cream, stirring continuously until completely mixed. Continue to simmer for a few more minutes, until just slightly reduced.

Serve piping hot.

Serves 6.


By the way, I have an Irish lineage. What do you expect with a maiden name of McCormick?

Have a wonderful day and stay safe.