Amy Scott's Thoughts

Bubble, Bubble!

If you guessed my hubby, Jeremy, you would be right about every other day off the week, but… NOT TODAY! Today I made soup for the first time – completely by myself! I’m pretty proud right now! You  have to realize that I have next to no cooking skills. Every year I tell myself that this is the year I’m going to start cooking dinner. I’m really good at Kraft Mac and Cheese and anything you empty from a box and put in the oven. However, to me that doesn’t really count.

I loved getting Food Network Magazine over the last year. It was a Christmas gift in 2011. This year I decide that I couldn’t live without it, so I subscribed for three more years. I know that three years is a long time, but it was the best deal for the price. I usually make one thing a month from the magazine and it’s usually the best looking dessert that catches my eye. While the key-lime cheesecake bars will probably be next, something else looked good too. Okay, a lot of things looked good. It was the cheese edition! How could it not? I stopped to ponder making their Apple-Cheddar Soup with Bacon. It sounded like a great flavor combination that reminded me of going out for fondue. This Friday, I made sure to add the ingredients to our shopping list.

Apple-Cheddar Soup with Bacon!

While the directions say it should take 40 minutes, it took me about an hour. I crisped up some bacon in the pot. I chopped up the onion, apples and potato. I stirred frequently to make sure that nothing burned. I added the liquid ingredients and then the cheese! This was my first time making soup, but it was also my first time using the stick blender. Very educational.

Normally when I cook, I feel like the food wins – not in a yummy tasty way, but in a it conquers me kind of way. I’m always stressed about does that look cooked all the way through, should it smell like that, should it look like that. I’m always second guessing myself. You should take that as a sign that I really care for those who are going to eat it. No food poisoning on my watch.  Surprisingly, everything went as plan and nothing caught me off guard. Hurray!

I sprinkled some bacon on the top of the bowl and took a thick slice of bread for dipping because to me bread and soup are made me to dipped together. It was tasty! Jeremy gave me his approval and so far we’re both still standing! Woo hoo! Success! For those of you who make soup from scratch all the time, don’t mock. This is a baby step in the right direction for me. I’m trying to discover other uses for my kitchen besides baking. But speaking of baking, I’ll be heading back into the kitchen to make a sheet cake later this evening. I’m going to attempt cake pops take two tomorrow night. I think I’ve learned from my mistakes so hopefully my second attempt will turn out better then the first. I learned the hard way in the cake pop world that size really does matter!