Eat at Our House -- Nov. 4, 2009
Dorothy Eedy As I was watching the roofers putting on a new roof on my neighbour’s townhouse, I couldn’t help compare the job with everything else we do. It took just under two hours for them to prepare for the job they had to do before they even had started the task of shingling. I guess it is part of everything we have to do in life, whether it is planning meals, going on a trip, starting a job, or preparing our kids for school.
My profound thought of the day or attempt at trying to to sound more learned than I truly am?
Every once in a while I do a cleanup and go through all my bits and pieces of notes and recipes and start throwing out the stuff that I force myself to realize I will never use.
This time I really went to work and watched as the pile grew higher, a great feeling of being pleased with myself as I viewed my cupboards and drawers to see how neat everything looked.
While in the mood, I attacked my large walk-in closet, the pride and joy of my house, but also a great place to store things away. I filled several boxes and bags to take off to my daughter-in law, who lives in the country outside Barrie.
Their small country church joined two other country churches and put on a sale of good used clothes but this time added shoes, purses and hats, usually not accepted a sales. They made close to a $1,000 and plan another sale in the future. There a many in the area that are suffering from lost jobs, etc. and this appealed to the community especially with winter clothing being offered.
My father used to say, “One never stops learning,” something I didn’t understand when I was young and thought I knew everything. But now I know even old cooks learn new tricks, so I thought I’d pass on two very simple ones which many know already but I just put to use.
The first is using parchment paper to line my cookie baking sheets. For years I went through greasing them and it was always a mess to clean up, now I just measure my parchment sheet to fit the cookie sheet and presto, no clean up, just throw away, and each sheet can be used two or three times.
If you were ignorant, like myself, about this great help to the cook, you can find parchment paper at your local grocery store.
The other is the use of muffin tin liners, I always used them for muffins but now also for when I bake tarts; if filling runs over the edges, there is no mess to clean up!
 I guess like Jerry Seinfeld’s show, this is a column about nothing! But not completely, as I have two great soup recipes to pass on, with the cold days upon us you will find both to be very filling, especially if served with hot rolls.
Chunky Potato Soup
3 medium red potatoes
2 cups water
1 small onion
3 tbsp. butter
3 tbsp. all-purpose flour
crushed red pepper flakes
ground black pepper
3 cups milk
1/2 tsp. sugar
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1 cup cubed cooked ham
Peel potatoes and cut into one-inch cubes. Bring water to boil in large saucepan, add potatoes and cook till tender. Drain, reserving liquid. Set aside potatoes. Measure 1 cup of leftover cooking water, add water if necessary; set aside. Peel and finely chop onion. Melt butter in saucepan, add onion, cook stirring frequently until onion is translucent and tender, but not brown. Add flour to this, season with pepper flakes, and black pepper to taste, cook three to four minutes. Gradually add potatoes, the reserved cooking liquid, milk and sugar to onion mixture in saucepan. Add cheese and ham. Simmer over 30 minutes, stirring frequently. Serve hot.
Thai Sweet Potato and Coconut Soup
(the coconut milk can be replaced with milk but you will lose some of the flavour)
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, chopped
two cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp. chopped fresh ginger (found in vegetable section in grocery store)
1 tbsp. Thai curry paste (can be found in local grocery stores)
 2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
4 cups vegetable stock or water can be used
salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup canned coconut milk, stir well before using (any leftover should be frozen)
Heat oil in a large saucepan, add onions, garlic and ginger, cook gently five to seven minutes. Add curry paste and cook another 30 to 60 seconds, add sweet potatoes and stir well to coat, add stock or water and bring to boil. Add 1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Cook 25 to 30 minutes until potatoes are tender. Cool slightly and puree.
If mixture is too thick add additional water. Add coconut milk and cook five minutes longer. Adjust seasoning if needed.  Serve hot with a decorative drizzle of coconut milk.