My allergies caught up with me today and I developed a slight cough and a sore throat. This rich, nutritious, and slightly spicy soup made me feel much better.

Broccoli Beer “Cheese” Soup soothes what ales you.

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1/2 yellow onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1-2 fresh hot peppers, diced (optional)
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
• 1 ounce American style lager
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 pound broccoli, chopped
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 1/4 cup rice flour

Preparation

1. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet and saute the onion, garlic, and hot pepper over medium heat until the onions are soft, about 2 minutes.
2. Add the beer, broth, lemon juice, sugar, and broccoli and bring to a boil. Continue to cook until the broccoli is tender, about four minutes.
3. Stir in nutritional yeast and rice flour and simmer to thicken, about one minute.
4. Serve with the garnish of your choice.

Thank you, whoever you are.

We do not have a lot of appliances in our tiny kitchen, and in the absence of a stand-up mixer, our pastry cutter has become one of my favorite tools. It is great for mixing dough and is my favorite utensil for mashing homemade refried beans.

Pastry cutters are available in most stores that sell kitchen wares, and on Amazon they should run you around $10. Or you can do what we did and snag a good-as-new, heavy-duty pastry cutter at Goodwill that was discarded by either the family of someone who died or a person who just bought a stand-up mixer.

In addition to Italian Weddings, these cookies may be enjoyed at a variety of other ethnic events such as Mexican Weddings or Russian Tea Parties.

Our vegan version of these cookies uses almonds, pecans, and optionally ground flax seed for an extra nutty flavor.

Many Saturdays, by the time we get home from the farmer’s market our greens and leafy herbs have started to wilt. After spending a lot of time talking with the experts (JBG customers), here is our method for reviving and preserving our greens.

1. Place the wilted greens in your clean kitchen sink and fill with cold water.  Reduce the temperature an additional few degrees by adding some ice cubes.
2. Allow the greens to cool and absorb water for 15 to 20 minutes then allow them to dry on a dish towel or a clean dish rack for about 10 minutes.
3. Place the greens in clean, dry plastic produce bag and refrigerate until you are ready to use them.

Refreshing Greens

Today, along with our great teammates Jodi of TastyTouring and Will of NoSatiation, we won the Austin Food Blogger Alliance trivia event hosted at Gourmand’s.  Prize bags included goodies from Blackbird Bakery, Greenling, Serve Gourmet, and Savory Spice Shop. Many thanks to our team, AFBA, and the businesses that donated prizes!

The Prizes!