The weather in Seattle has a taken a turn for the winter. I hear it has been doing the same across the rest of the country as well, so now is the perfect time for hearty foodstuffs, such as soup. 


Now, I know that there are people out there who do not believe in soup as a meal. Whatever, I say to you, it totally is. Granted, there is definitely a hierarchy of soup insofar as  satiety is concerned. You know, broth being at the bottom and something like stew being closer to the top. This soup is a contender for one of the higher positions. 


Now, the reason I have given it such a strange name is because of what I put into it: root vegetables and beer. Exactly the type of fare a peasant in the Middle Ages would have eaten, although most likely not at all in the same form. 

Lis brought over these adorably weird and fun purple potatoes, so of course these were in the soup. I was hoping they would turn it a great scifi color, but the carrots we threw in dominated the color palette instead. 

The potatoes were roasted in olive oil with carrots, onions, garlic, celery root and hickory salt, black pepper and cayenne, then pureed (using my new immersion blender!) with a bottle of Hoptober Ale and chicken broth. (Substitute the chicken broth for vegetable broth and you have a great vegan recipe.) Topped with a little lemon juice, basalmic vinegar and a good sharp cheese, this was a great meal for a cold and dark winter night.  

This is definitely a recipe I am looking forward to perfecting. And should you want to make it even more authentically peasant-like, serve with a brown bread and a side of meat, preferably something roasted over an open flame. 

Every morning at work we are supposed to bake something to offer our customers. Usually we make one of our quick breads; they smell amazing while cooking and the sweeter the smell at 10am, the more people we can draw in. 


This morning I was in charge of creating this baked treat with accompanying aroma. At first I was just going to make our go-to treat of Pumpkin Quick Bread except we were out of eggs. Everything else we had available to sample either also needed eggs or was Christmas candy. 


So I started rummaging. I remembered we had one pre-made pie crust left from our demos over the weekend and I found a whole bunch of granny smith apples in the fridge. So I decided to throw together a tart. And honestly, I really did throw it together. Here is the "recipe."


10 in tart pan
1 Pre-made pie crust
3 granny smith apples, peeled and sliced
3 heaping spoonfuls of sugar
Juice of small lemon
Cinnamon 
1 tablespoon butter


Pre-heat oven to 375. Place pie crust in tart pan. Refrigerate while you peel and slice apples. Using a very sharp knife will help keep your apples from browning, as will having some of the lemon juice already in the bowl you're using to collect your apple slices. Once you've sliced all the apples and they are coated in lemon juice, add the sugar and cinnamon and toss until thoroughly coated. Arrange inside tart shell. Cut the butter into small pieces and dot over the tart. Bake. Enjoy. 


Hurray! Really easy and really good- just thought I'd share. 


(Sorry, no pictures.)