Charlie's Potato Soup

I made this soup last night for Charlie (he wanted me to get the canned stuff!!!). Now that I have a recipe he can make it himself!

 Charlie's Potato Soup 

1/4 to 1/3 lb bacon
1/3 to 1/2 large onion
6? medium potatoes
2 cups water
1/2 cup half and half

Fry the bacon on medium low until crispy. Add onion and cook until soft. Add the water and use the Cuisinart blender to mix all. This is tricky with so little water so if you can double the recipe it will help. Add potatoes and boil until soft. Add half and half and enjoy!

Swedish Wedding Meatballs

I plan to serve meatballs at the wedding reception. Maybe meatballs are an old fashioned idea but they remind me of the "good old days". Certainly the recipe I started with was retro- as it came out of the First Pres. Church cookbook from the 70's. The same recipe was submitted by 3 women and contained 1 teaspoon of nutmeg, allspice and mace. I looked on the internet and in cookbooks, some recipes called for 1/8 teaspoon of nutmeg and allspice. I cut out the mace and then added it back in, I tried recipes with baking powder and ground pork not sausage. For weeks Gordon and Marielle have endured meatball recipes. Tonight Marielle said without any humor "I am not going to eat any more meatballs- I'm done."

I finally came up with the perfect combination (I hope!). If you come to the wedding you'll get a chance to tell me. Just so you know...Marielle couldn't help herself. She had a few meatballs tonight.

Swedish Wedding Meatballs

(for a crowd) 

2 eggs

1/2 cup cream

2 slices of good white bread, crust removed and torn into pieces

1 lb Jimmy Dean Natural Sausage

2oz finely chopped onion

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon mace

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons brown sugar

1 lb 85% ground beef

Sauce:

1 cube butter

1/2 cup flour

1 can Swanson's chicken broth

1 1/2 cups half/half cream

1 teaspoons Lowery's seasoning

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

1-2 teaspoons Kitchen Bouquet 

Whisk the egg and cream together in a medium bowl. Add the bread and set aside. In a standing mixer beat the pork, onion, nutmeg, allspice, mace, pepper, salt and brown sugar on high for 2 minutes. Add the egg mixture after making sure it has no bread chunks remaining. Mix for 1 minute. Make sure the mixture is homogenous. Add the beef and stir until just mixed. Dip a tablespoon in a bowl of cold water and scoop out a generous tablespoon of mixture. Place it onto a broiling pan. Convection roast or bake the meatballs for 25 minutes. Add to the sauce.

Sauce: melt the butter, add the flour and cook for 1 minute. Add the rest and cook as you would a gravy. Add more liquid if the gravy is too thick.