enjoying the little things

In my time off between high school and college, it is my main goal to focus on doing things that make me happy. Life has been pretty busy these last few months(maybe even years) and I have had very little time to do the things I love- take pictures, cook, draw, plant a garden, be creative, etc... Now that I have time on my hands again I get to do these things & boy does it make me happy :).

Cooking has always been a favorite of mine. I love being able to experiment with ingredients and come up with delightful combinations. This is probably why Ratatouille is one of my favorite movies of all time :). Today's challenge was to make potato leek soup. It was so good & I would love to share the recipe with you. This recipe is from my sister Melissa. She is a master when it comes to cooking. All I did was re-create the recipe and take pictures :).

Potato Leek Soup

Ingredients:

Garlic- 1 clove

Leek- 1

Vegetable Broth- 1 box or 2 cans

Milk or Half n' Half- 1 cup

Potatoes- 7-8

Parmesan- a lot :)

To begin, saute the chopped leeks and garlic in butter in a large soup pot. I used most of a leek and about half a clove of garlic, but you can use however much or little you desire. 

Once they are soft add vegetable broth. Then add chopped potatoes. You can peel them if you like, but to save on time I just used non peeled potatoes. Bring to a boil for a few minutes, then let simmer for a while until the potatoes are soft.

Then add milk or half n' half- 1/2 a cup to 1 cup depending on how creamy you like it. Then add a handful or so of grated Parmesan (or 5 handfuls if you are like me :) and salt and pepper. Let it all simmer for a bit, then cool. Let it cool because the next step involves putting it through the blender. This will take 3-4 stages depending on how big your blender is, but fill you blender 2/3 of the way and blend it until the leeks and potatoes and no longer chunky. Because they are so soft it does not take long. You will need another pan to put the blended soup into. At this point if it is too thick you can add more milk. 

Then garnish with a little cheese if you like.

Viola!