Rain, Soup, and Bread

First of all, here was the site that greeted me when I got up today. North Texas finally got some much needed rain! We still need lots more, but at least this is a start.

Rainy, cool weather makes me CRAVE bread and soup. So, that's what was on the menu today. I didn't do the meringues I was hoping to, due to the humidity.

First up, I made Onion and Fontina Beer Batter Bread. This involves precooked onions, a stout ale, and fontina cheese. I used a smoked fontina that is divine--one of my favorites. Unfortunately, the cheese flavor was buried under the ale and onions. This was a pretty bread to look at, but it didn't do much for my taste buds. I like onions, but maybe this was too much. Oh well, live and learn!

For soup, I made a Southwestern Potato soup. Nothing fancy, as I just used ingredients I had on hand. I sauteed diced potatoes and garlic in a bit of olive oil until brown. I added chicken broth, S&P, and a can of (purists, beware. You won't like this.) Campbell's Cream of Chicken Verde soup. I had it, I didn't have green chilies, and I'm on a quest to use what's in my pantry. The chile flavors came through and were just what I was looking for. To finish the soup off, I added a little bit of sharp cheddar and garnished with fresh bacon bits.

My other weekend creation was a Thai Stir Fry with Beef and Coconut. This was another 'throw it all together' dish. It was pretty good, though I would have liked it more spicy. I ran out of the Thai Chili Sauce (another ingredient-gone) in the process, and the serrano pepper I added didn't spice it up enough. I had defrosted some ground round with a hamburger on my mind, but veggies were calling my name. So was the Lite Coconut Milk I've had a while. Here is the result. I'll repeat a variation of this.