Beer Cheese Soup

This has been a most popular request amongst my cooking group. Mmmmm... (Ignore lovely bits of cheese that has congealed on the side of the pot) Ingredients:
2 small or one large leek (white part only) 1/4t white pepper
2 stalks celery 1/4t nutmeg
1 onion salt to taste
6c chicken broth/stock slightly less than 12oz dark beer
4T cornstarch in 4T water 2 egg yolks
3c shredded sharp cheddar 1c heavy cream

Chop all vegetables, make celery really small if you want to leave the veggies in (I usually do). Add vegetables to the chicken broth in a medium stockpot and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer mostly covered for about 45 minutes. Strain vegetables if you have something against them. Stir the cornstarch/water into the broth and cook til slightly thickened. Take swig of beer and pour remainder into broth. C'mon, I said just one swig, you want the soup to be flavored right? Stir slowly until most of froth is gone. Add cheese and stir til melted. This will take longer if your cheese is frozen. Add white pepper and nutmeg, and salt if desired. In a small bowl (I use a pyrex measuring cup- at least the 2c size) whisk the egg yolks into the cream. Stir in 1 to 2 c of the hot broth excruciatingly slowly to the egg mixture so as not to form scrambled eggs in the soup. Mix well and slowly pour back into stockpot, stirring quickly. Cook for 2-3 minutes to rewarm.

About 8 cups.

The Hunt for Vanilla Popcorn

OK, I may not be the world's best cupcake decorator (as seen here), but I can cook. This particular blog post comes after the obsessive search through all my recipe books and magazines for the recipe for Vanilla Popcorn. I had made it last fall as a snack for my monthly cooking group meeting and they had recently asked to have it made again. I shouldn't've promised til I knew where that dang recipe had gone off to. I spent literally 4 days and many hours on a hunt that proved fruitless.

So I set off to do the next best thing and make my own recipe. I based it off of the three cookbooks in the background, using a little of each, and adapting it for the pudding I knew was in the original recipe.

Vanilla Popcorn

Ingredients- 2 sticks (1 cup or 1/2 lb.) of butter
1/2 cup light corn syrup
3/4 cup sugar
1 small box of french vanilla pudding mix-instant
1 bag of hulless corn puffs
1 tsp. baking soda
No miniature magenta pony toys that somehow made it into the photo.

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. Combine butter, corn syrup, pudding mix, and sugar in a pot and boil for 2 minutes. Take off heat and add baking soda, mix quickly til combined, then pour over the corn puffs (in a large bowl). Stir thoroughly.


Divide mixture between two WELL GREASED cookies sheets. Bake for 45 minutes, stirring after 15 minute intervals. Remove from oven (they will still be sticky). Let cool, the coating will crisp up and taste ever so good! Store in an airtight container if all popcorn is not immediately consumed.

Now then, if you ask nice, I might give you my spaghetti sauce recipe. Step aside Mario Batali!