Will you forgive me for being gone so long if I offer up a cute picture of puppies?
What about a kitten?
How about a photo of the festive cheeseball I made for Thanksgiving?
Can I be forgiven now?
I hope so.
Mostly because I created a facebook page for this blog, invited people to join. . .and then promptly dropped off the face of the earth.
The short version is, we didn’t go grocery shopping for a few weeks, kind of living off of what we already had in the house. And then I got sick. And then Dennis got sick. And then I continued being sick.
I’m pretty much back to normal at this point, minus the annoying cough that I can’t seem to shake.
I haven’t been cooking my books recently, but I have every intention of getting back on track very soon, so please don’t lose faith in me. Getting off to a rocky start, but I’ll be in full swing by the beginning of 2013. (That is, if the zombie apocolypse doesn’t happen and the world doesn’t end.)
To make up for it, though, I’m going to give you a non-cookbook recipe. It’s a recipe that started out here, and then with some changes, ended up here, and is now being presented here after further revisions. I hope you enjoy this as much as we do!
8 strips bacon, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 apples, peeled, cored and diced (I used Gala; the original recipe calls for Granny Smith)
2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
¼ tsp. dry mustard powder
1/2 tsp. Cayenne pepper (The original recipe calls for smoked paprika, but I substitute this. It’s on the spicy side, so you could either go with half the amount or leave it out entirely if you’re not into spicy.)
1 tsp. minced garlic
¼ cup all-purpose flour
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup beer (The type doesn’t matter, but if you want a lighter beer flavor, a lighter beer should be used. I use Bad Penny Brown Ale [http://www.beeraday.net/beer/
1 cup heavy cream
8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese
In a large pan, fry up the bacon.
Once bacon is crisp, remove and set aside. Add onion, carrots, apple, and celery to the bacon grease (I usually don’t use all the grease and pour some out) and cook on medium heat until the fruits and veggies are translucent. Add in the garlic and sauté for 30 seconds.
Throw in your spices and flour and cook for about 1-2 minutes.
Add beer and chicken stock and let simmer on medium for about 15 minutes.
Whisk in the cheese. Once the cheese and soup are all blended together, add cream and stir. Serve warm with bacon on top.
