Tillamook Cheese Soup

Ingredients:

2T butter
3T flour
4C milk
1/2 small onion, chopped
1-1/2C grated Tillamook cheese
1-3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp paprika
1 tsp fresh or dried parsley

Melt butter, add flour and when smooth add milk which has been scalded with onion cut in pieces (I do this in the microwave for about 2 minutes before starting the butter/flour on the stove). Stir until mixture boils and add cheese. When ready to serve, add salt, paprika, and parsley.

Cook's Note (Making this a Potato/Cheese/Bacon Soup):

To make the Cheese Soup heartier I follow the recipe above and add 3-4 medium potatoes (cut in small cubes to cook faster) and bacon (I've used real bacon before with some of the drippings for flavor, cooked and chopped, but it tends to sog-out when cooked in the soup so lately I've been using about 1/4C real bacon bits from Costco). I cook the milk/potato mixture on low for about 15-20 minutes, stirring often, until the potatoes at done (not mushy), then add the cheese, bacon, and spices right at the end. I also reduce the amount of salt to 1 tsp when I add bacon (it's too salty otherwise).

Crash Hot Potatoes

Here's an awesome alternative to baked potatoes that I found on the Pioneer Woman's cooking blog. I'm just going to add a link here, as she has great photos and breaks it all down step by step. Man, that chick knows how to COOK! :)

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/06/crash-hot-potatoes/

Lemoncelli & Infused Lemon Martini

Borrowed from Bend Living Home magazine, November/December 2006
Many martini lovers are learning to infuse their own vodkas with fruits, vegetables, and herbs of all kinds. Citrus fruits - especially juice oranges and lemons - are the easiest to infuse, as they take less than a week. All you'll need are basic glass jars with tightly fitting lids. Try choosing wheat or soy vodkas that have been distilled at least three times, and avoid rye- or potato-based vodkas, which are not as conducive to infusion.


Limoncelli (Lemon Infused Vodka)
8 lemons or oranges
2C water
1-1/2C sugar
1-1/2C vodka (I used McCormick Vodka, Quadruple Distilled from American Grain - about $8/bottle made a double batch with some left over)
Chop the lemons or oranges and combine them with the vodka, water, and sugar. Stir gently for a full minute, seal the jar and store in a cool, dark place for five days. While the infusion is ready now, you can continue the process for up to a month, depending upon the intensity of infusion you seek. Taste your blend occasionally to match the flavor to your taste. When the flavor is too strong, dilute with a little more vodka. If the flavor is too weak, add a little more sugar. Strain into another large, clean jar, discarding the lemon or orange pulp.
(I did my infusion for 10 days, gently shaking it each day for a few seconds.)


Infused Lemon Martini
1-1/2 oz. infused-lemon vodka
3/4 oz. Triple Sec
1 tsp lemon juice
Rub lemon around the rim of a frozen martini glass and dip in sugar. Add ingredients to shaker with ice. Shake hard and strain into glass. Add a thin slice of lemon and a sprig of mint.

Spinach Dip

Here's the recipe for the deeelish spinach dip that my husband always scarfs down in 2.3 seconds.



Ingredients:

(1) 16 oz container sour cream
(1) cup of mayonnaise
(1) 10 oz pkg frozen chopped spinach, thawed
(1) 8 oz can of water chestnuts, finely chopped
(1) 4 oz pkg Knorr Leek Soup mix

Directions:

1) Squeeze spinach until dry.
2) In a medium bowl mix sour cream, mayo and soup mix.
3) Add in the chopped water chestnuts.
4) Mix in spinach.
5) Cover and chill for at least 1 hour.

Serve with chunks of sourdough bread, celery and carrot sticks.

Cook's Notes:

Low-fat sour cream and mayo work fine in this recipe, but the fat-free stuff makes it gross so don't do it!
Also, if you can't find the Leek Soup mix at your grocery store the Knorr Vegetable Soup mix will work, too, but it isn't as yummy.
This dip seems to be even better if you let it chill overnight, so I usually make it the night before I want to serve it.