Melissa’s Cozy Teacup

I’m totally addicted to cooking books. Not all cooking books. Just ones with specific themes, especially if they can contribute to a great party or tea theme. One such series of books is by Leisure Arts. Just skimming through the books shows that there really isn’t anything too leisurely about the recipes or crafts but they are arty. I just finished putting together Cream of celery Soup from the 1997 edition fo the book:The Spirit of Christmas.

Yes, I am well aware that it is July, however, good looking soup is good looking soup and it’s fun to experiment with recipes and shake things up once and awhile.

So, here is the recipe with a few creative changes:

6 Cups coarsely chopped celery (I used one large bunch so there was a little more than 6 cups)

5 Cups peeled and coarsly chopped potatoes

1 Cup chopped green onions

3 Cans (14.5 oz each) ff chicken broth (you may need more if you use more celery as I did. I ended up using about 8 cups)

2 TBS freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 tsp dried tarragon leaves

3/4 tsp table salt

1/2 tsp white pepper

1 Cup plain low fat yogurt (I plan on using sour cream)

2 tsp cornstarch

In a large Dutch oven (I threw it all but the yogurt and cornstarch into a large crock pot and set it to high) combine celery, potatoes, onions and chicken broth. Cover and cook over medium-low heat 1 hour or until vegetables are tender (poke with fork to find this out) They say to reserve the broth and use a slotted spoon to sift out the veggies and puree in a food processor. I used a wand mixer right in the crock pot and it worked out fine. Return vegetable puree to broth in the pot and stir in the lemon juice, tarragon, salt and white pepper. Cover and cook for another 10 minutes or until mixture begins to simmer (do not boil). Remove soup from heat. In a small bowl, whisk yogurt and cornstarch until well blended. Gradually stir in yogurt mixture into soup. Spoon into serving dishes, garnish with celery leaves and serve.

Makes 12 cups of soup.

Addition; the original recipe does not call for garlic. I love garlic so I added three cloves to the soup. Yo, of course, don’t have to do this, I just felt the need for garlic.