Snow and Soup

Some of you might cluck your tongues at me, but I’ve already opened and used two of my this year’s Christmas presents.

The snowblower arrived Thursday night, and was assembled by noon on Friday, and in use before dark. I’d have used it as soon as it was assembled, but had to wait while the batteries charged. I’m really going to enjoy this present. I can tell, though, that I’m going to have to get it going before we drive out of the garage and pack the snow down. It did chunk out more of that packed snow than I thought it would. I just have to tip the front of it up and work slowly into the banked snow, then back up and go over the same area with it level, and work slowly. The blade is thick plastic. It’s lightweight enough for me to pick it up and cart it up onto the deck, which is where I’m going to leave it. The batteries and charger will stay in the house until needed.

The other present I opened and used almost immediately upon arrival is my whirley-pop pan. I’ve wanted one for years, and finally ordered it for myself. It uses much less oil, there’s markedly fewer “old maids” left after popping, and no spattered oil all over my stove top. Our usual Sunday supper is a large bowl of buttered popcorn. Actually, there are two bowls. Dennis likes his with double butter and no salt, while I like mine with a liberal sprinkling of popcorn salt. Sometimes I’ll slice a crisp, tart apple into it.

My German grandmother, Emma Woodford, taught me to like it that way. She thought popcorn was a waste, rather like gum, which keeps your mouth busy but provides no nutrition. She insisted we eat a healthy apple at the same time we had popcorn. (I’ve found the apple/popcorn treat doesn’t work so well in more humid locales. There it just makes the popcorn soggy.)

That makes me think of my father, Emma’s son. His opinion of comic books and cheap romance novels was that they’re bubblegum for the mind. They keep your brain busy but with nothing edifying to impart. He did, however, allow us, his children, to thoroughly enjoy Mad Magazine back in the day, as well as enjoy popcorn without always having apples with it.

I plan to make a few batches of caramel popcorn soon. I think I shared that recipe last year. It’s a process, with the caramel being made in the microwave. Then it’s poured on the popcorn in a big paper bag and finished in the microwave. It’s a Christmas treat our grandsons enjoy.

After playing with my snowblower I made a large pot of ham and potato soup. This is one of those meals that’s different every time I make it because I don’t follow a recipe but just start cooking. This was one of those times I wish I had written down exactly what I used, a lot of which came from my garden.

I chopped up a couple smaller onions, one white and one yellow, and sauteed them in avocado oil, over medium heat. (Sometimes I use coconut oil, sometimes canola.) While they were softening, I grated a large carrot into the pan. I left all that to simmer over low heat while I scrubbed up eight smaller red potatoes, and chopped them into 1/4-1/2” cubes, leaving the skin on for more nutrition. After adding the spuds to the pan, I poured in a container of chicken stock, raised the heat and brought it to a boil. Once boiling, I lowered the heat, covered the pan, and let it simmer until the potatoes were soft.

Half the potato/carrot/onion mix was put into the blender and pureed, then returned to the pan. It made the soup thick without adding any flour. I added some cubed leftover ham, maybe 1 1/2 cups, and seasoned with freshly grated pepper and smoked paprika. I stirred in freshly grated sharp cheddar. A small red onion was minced to sprinkle on each serving, along with extra grated cheese. I added a dollop of plain Greek yogurt to my bowl, which Dennis declined. It was fabulous.

I remember my 10th-grade science teacher telling us about starving German children eating potato peelings the more wealthy people were discarding, and how they survived on that because most of the nutrition in a potato lies right under the skin. In hindsight I think she was telling us about some of her relatives. I’ve always liked the occasional raw potato. My youngest once told the waitress “raw” when asked how she’d like her potato prepared. We were both shocked when the waitress said she didn’t know if that was allowable. I guess she’d never considered consuming one that way. I’ve heard one other adult say she had no idea you could eat a potato raw. As a youngster, we would eat raw green peppers just like an apple, which my mother-in-law though odd. My daughters all ate almost everything from the garden raw. (I don’t like green beans raw, because they’re ‘fuzzy.’ I don’t like raw peaches for the same reason.)