I’m realizing that a lot of my daily life is a simple series of action and reaction. For instance,  I recently read, well, more like devoured, the book “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” and after reading something that good there are two logical actions that must be taken: 1) watch the movie on Netflix, 2) order the follow-up book immediately on Amazon.

Another instance is when Lindsay Lohan went to jail, and I the immediate action of people unhealthily obsessed with celebrities everyone was to look up her mug shot.  I would like to tell you that I don’t often follow celebrity gossip news, but my grandmother would disapprove of me to lying to this many people at once.

And now, whenever I make risotto, the immediate reaction the next day will be to make risotto cakes. Although some brilliant bloggers claim that everyone has already heard of the trick of turning leftover risotto into little cakes, I am only just now catching on to this trend. I’m a little behind the times, remember?

I’ve always been hesitant to cook risotto specifically for the reason that leftovers are a waste. Micro-waved day-old risotto is certainly something I’ve ever craved. These little cakes, however, are exactly what I needed in my recipe arsenal. They add in a whole new texture with the crispy fried bread crumbs on the outside, and seal in the melty goodness within that is almost, if not just, as good as the original dish.

Roasted Red Pepper Risotto Cakes

These cakes can be made with any leftover risotto, but I just loved the flavor and color that the red peppers added.

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1 medium onion, minced or finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 whole roasted red peppers
½ cup white wine
1 ½ cups Arborio rice
5-6 cups vegetable stock
1 cup water
½ cup grated parmesan cheese
½ cup dried bread crumbs

For the risotto:
Combine the water and vegetable broth in a pot and bring to a simmer.

Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Saute the onion for 2 minutes or until it begins to soften. Add in the garlic and peppers and sauté another two minutes. Add in the rice and stir for another two minutes, just until the rice begins to brown.

Pour in the white wine and stir until all of the liquid has evaporated. One ladle at a time, at the simmering broth to the rice and stir gently to develop the starches. Wait until all of the liquid has evaporated before adding the next ladle of broth. Once most of the broth has been added in, taste the rice occasionally until it becomes tender. Remove from heat and stir in the parmesan cheese.

For the cakes:
Eat however much of the risotto you want now, and then refrigerate the rest, at least for an hour.

Form the chilled risotto into small balls, and cover both sides with the bread crumbs. Add 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil to a skillet and heat on high. Cook the cakes in the oil, 2-3 minutes on each side or until the bread crumbs are golden brown. Serve over mixed greens, or as a side item.

“Millions of peaches, peaches for me, millions of peaches, peaches for free”…(on a sammich!). Umm…do you remember this song? If not, apologies for 90s reference. I love the 90s…and peaches. I love peaches when they’re in season. Heck, I love peaches even when they’re in a can. I love, love them in salads, and on their own. Not while driving, though. I always end up with a sticky steering wheel and a pit that I don’t have a place for. Even though my teachers in school always told me I could throw it on the grass, I feel bad. It’s still technically littering since it’s not going back into the earth for a few weeks, ya know?

Anyway, back to peaches…I especially love them on this sandwich. I’ve eaten this sandwich a bunch of times, but each time using pears, but since peaches are in season right now, I figured I’d put them to good use. And I think it turned out pretty great. Pearhaps you should try it!

Oh and if you don’t have a panini maker, I wouldn’t sweat it. Make it like a grilled cheese in a pan.

{Slice a peach in 1/4″ slices}

{Brush the back of your ciabatta bread with olive oil}

{Toast your panini slices for a few minutes, just until warm. Then spread the tallegio on one half. Pile it on too. You want this sandwich cheesy. By the way, you don’t have to use Tallegio…I’ve used Brie with great success.}

{Place your pretty peach slices on top of the cheese}

{Drizzle honey on the peach slices}

{Sprinkle salt and pepper on the fruit slices and then top with a handful of argula}

{Place sandwich in panini maker for 3-4 minutes, or until cheese begins to ooze out. Yum.}

Peach and Tallegio Panini

Recipe from Giada DeLaurentis

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Makes 4 sandwiches

1 (1-pound) loaf ciabatta bread (or 8 slices country bread)

1/4 cup olive oil

8 ounces Taleggio cheese or brie, sliced

2 medium peaches, cored and cut into 1/4-inch wedges (I used yellow peaches)

2 tablespoons honey

Pinch salt

Pinch freshly ground black pepper

3 ounces arugula or spinach

Preheat the panini machine. Cut the ciabatta loaf into 4 equal pieces. Halve each piece horizontally to make 4 sandwiches. Brush the bread on both sides with olive oil and place the bottom-half of the bread slices in the panini machine in a single layer. Heat until golden, about 3 to 4 minutes. Continue with the remaining top slices of bread.

While the top slices of the bread are in the Panini machine, begin forming the sandwiches. Divide the cheese among the warm bread. Cover the cheese with slices of fruit. Drizzle the fruit with honey. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Top with a handful of arugula. Place the warmed top half of the bread over the arugula and return the competed sandwich to the panini machine for 1 to 2 minutes more to finish melting the cheese. Remove from the panini machine. Cut the sandwiches in half and serve immediately.

Sometimes things don’t always go as we planned. I had planned to watch “The Wizard of Oz” at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. I had even called all my friends, cooked up some recipes, scheduled a time to meet, loaded up the car and driven all the way to Hollywood just to have a picnic in the cemetery. However, when we turned the corner and were preparing to enter, we were met by this:

The photo doesn’t really do it justice, but basically the entire city of Los Angeles had the same thoughts that we had. And unfortunately for us, they had the idea about an hour sooner, and we didn’t make it inside. Yeah, it was a bummer. There are few things sadder than having a picnic meal and nowhere to picnic.

Luckily, I’m blessed to have flexible and endlessly enthusiastic friends. We took our picnic dinner and headed to a teeny tiny park in Universal City. We sat on blankets and drank wine, ate our food and watched the sunset go down. It was good, even without the red slippers or munchkins.

There was one thing that turned out exactly as I had planned. This walnut pesto. It was just as tasty, satisfying and unique as I had been hoping for. My photos of the final product I feel are a tad lacking, I’m going to blame the change of venue on that, although it could have just as easily been the wine I was drinking. Wine or no wine, this is a great spread to have for your next picnic.

Walnut Pesto

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

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1 cup shelled walnuts, even better if you toast and cool them first
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 small garlic clove, peeled and crushed
3 sprigs of thyme, cleaned
Salt
Small splash of red wine vinegar
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons minced sun-dried tomatoes (oil or dry-packed will both work)
1 loaf or baguette of crusty bread, sliced and toasted.

Combine walnuts, parmesan, garlic, thyme, salt and vinegar in a food processor and coarsely grind. Stir in the olive oil and tomatoes. You may need to add a little extra oil if your tomatoes aren’t soaked in oil.
Spoon the pesto over the toasted bread. Spread a blanket on the ground and have a picnic.

I have to confess that I was once a bit of a pizza purist. To me, pizza meant crust, sauce, mozzarella cheese and pepperoni. As a kid I was incredibly stringent on this rule. It was a huge step when I finally began to eat sausage on my pizza, but no one was crazy enough to think I might try green peppers or mushrooms.

Nowadays I tend to be much more adventurous. I like pizzas with different sauces like pesto, or even those that don’t have sauce like a classic Margherita pizza. This however, might be the biggest leap I’ve ever made. There isn’t any sauce, just a drizzle of olive oil. You won’t find mozzarella but instead a mild Fontina cheese. Oh yeah, and there’s also the potato and arugula. I was stunned to learn how amazing arugula could be on a pizza when I went to Pitfire, but potato? On a pizza? My adult self wanted to try this, but I could hear the little kid in me screaming “Gross! I’m not tasting it!”

Trust me though, you’re gonna want to give this a shot. If you actually do have small children, feed them a “normal” pizza while you dig into this. The mild potato and Fontina combined with the peppery arugula is perfect for the summer; light, flavorful and satisfying.

Potato and Arugula Pizza

Adapted from The Complete Italian Vegetarian Cookbook

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Pizza dough, either store-bought or homemade
1 larger baking potato, scrubbed
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 medium garlic cloves, minced
2 cups arugula leaves
3 ounces shredded Fontina cheese (about ¾ cup)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Slice the potato into thin slices. Toss in 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and lay out on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until just tender. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

Raise the oven temperature to 500 degrees. In a small bowl combine 2 tablespoons of olive oil and the minced garlic. Set aside. Wash, dry and coarsely chop the arugula. Toss the arugula with 1 tablespoon olive oil and set aside.

Grease a baking sheet with olive oil and stretch the dough to fill it. (You can also use a pizza stone and roll the dough out to a 12-inch circle on a pizza peel) Line the dough in rings of potatoes, starting from the outside and working inward, leaving a ½ inch border around the edges. Brush the potatoes with the garlic oil.

Place the baking sheet in the oven for about 10 minutes, or until the crust starts to brown and the potatoes are golden brown.

Sprinkle the arugula evenly over the pizza. Sprinkle the cheese over the arugula and bake for another 3 minutes, or until the cheese melts.

“When are you making that Gouda sandwich?”

This is the question that Chase has been asking me since we moved to LA. See, in my humble hometown of Hendersonville, North Carolina there is this utterly adorable sandwich place called The Pampered Palate. It’s super tasty and ridiculously cute. On the menu they have a sandwich that is deceptively simple: Smoked Gouda croissant with tarragon mayonnaise. I took Chase there once, ONCE people, and he hasn’t stopped talking about it since that happy event three years ago.

I think that my initial reason for putting off making this sandwich is that I’ve been convinced it would be a disappointment. I mean, it sounds too simple, smoked Gouda, a croissant, and mayo with tarragon added. But this thing was so freakin delicious I couldn’t help but think that there had to be some secret ingredient they weren’t mentioning. Something that made this a sandwich worth talking about three years after eating it. Turns out, it’s just further proof that amazing food doesn’t have to be complicated or use crazy ingredients. I made this in roughly 10 minutes, and after tasting it I immediately remembered  why this sandwich has been in my head all that time.

A word about tarragon – not once have I ever tasted a sauce and thought, “Man, this could really use more tarragon.” I’ve certainly said as much about basil and thyme, but tarragon is a bit foreign to me and not something I would normally think to use. However, I would not for one second consider eating this sandwich without the tarragon mayo.  It is as important, if not more so, as the Gouda cheese. I don’t know that they were thinking over there at the Pampered Palate when they put these ingredients together, but someone deserves a medal.

Smoked Gouda Croissant with Tarragon Mayonnaise

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The original sandwich on the Pampered Palate’s menu calls for sliced tomato, but I’ve omitted it since I’m not a fan of raw tomatoes. Feel free to add it back in.

2 croissants
2 teaspoons chopped fresh tarragon
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
Smoked Gouda cheese, sliced
Sliced tomato (optional)

Lightly toast the croissants to warm them up. Meanwhile, mix together the tarragon and mayonnaise. Slice the croissants in half and spread the mayo on one side. Line the other side with slices of cheese, (and tomatoes) whatever amount you desire. Get ready to taste and incredible flavor explosion.

For the most part growing up, I was a pretty good kid.  I never got in huge trouble or needed long-term grounding.  But on the few occasions when I did get sent to my room for a few hours, I remember it really hurting my feelings.  My first instinct was to make my parents “pay” for being so mean to me, so I’d usually find myself mumbling, “Well, fine…I’m just…I’m just…gonna run away!” I always dreamed about the moment when my parents realized I’d skipped town and how bad they’d feel about being mad at me in the first place.

I had a really romantic image of what running away was, and I blame it all on Snoopy.  He had that perfectly straight tree branch with the blanket wrapped around.  It probably contained all his prized possessions.  Whenever I envisioned packing my own little knapsack, I thought of all the cool stuff I’d take with me. Like my Cookie Monster! And some UNO cards for entertainment, some Capri Suns for when I got thirsty and some flaky biscuits for a snack.  

My Mom always got those pre-made biscuits; you know, the ones that come in that tube and require you to peel the paper back and pound it on the side of the counter. Man, I loved making those things explode.  I ate them with everything from scrambled eggs to a bowl of soup, or in the car on my way to tennis practice.

If I had known that every other pouty kid in the world had at some point dreamt of running away too, maybe I wouldn’t have felt so special. One day when I have kids and they’re strategizing their escape, I sure hope they plan on taking these with them. They’re cheesy, a little smoky with a super soft, moist center and a crusty outside–a surefire way to set you apart from the other runaways–a reminder that you’re no normal biscuit, you’re special to someone…now get your ass home.

Chipotle Cheddar Drop Biscuits

Recipe from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking

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Yields 20 biscuits

Not gonna lie, these biscuits have a kick to ‘em.  It’s actually what makes them charming, but if you’re sensitive to heat, I’d cut the chipotle powder to one teaspoon.  I paired these biscuits with loquat jam and I was in heaven.  The spicy, savory and cold sweet combination (from the jam) made them truly amazing.

2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon chipotle powder

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1-inch pieces

2 cups grated and tightly packed sharp cheddar cheese

1 1/4 cups buttermilk (cold)

1 large egg

Kosher salt for topping

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, pepper, chipotle powder, sugar, baking powder, cream of tartar, and the 1 teaspoon of salt.

Add the butter and, using your hands or the back of a wooden spoon, work the butter into the dough. The mixture should look like coarse sand. Add the cheese and stir to thoroughly incorporate it into the dough.

In a small bowl, whisk together the buttermilk and egg. Add to the flour mixture and stir until just incorporated. Do not overmix.

Use a small ice cream scoop or a 1/4-cup measuring cup to scoop the dough and drop it in mounds onto the prepared baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Sprinkle with kosher salt and bake in the center of the oven for about 20 minutes, rotating the baking sheet halfway through the baking time, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center of a biscuit comes out clean.

Transfer the biscuits to a cooling rack. The biscuits can be served slightly warm or at room temperature (we like them slightly warm).

Store the biscuits in an airtight container for up to 2 days.

We’re friends right? I mean, I like you, and if you like me then I guess that means we’re friends. So I can tell you about my guilty pleasures. What exactly is a guilty pleasure? It’s something that you know without a shadow of a doubt is bad for you and has no business being in your life, and you still think it’s wonderful. When it comes to TV shows, I am obsessed with the Real Housewives on Bravo. Notice how I didn’t specify a specific city? That’s cause I love all of them. Regardless of how loudly Chase or my friends tell me that these shows are trash TV and are a dredge on society, I still can’t help but be enthralled with the meaningless drama that consumes these women’s lives. Go ahead and judge me, I’m used to it. (Oh, and for anyone that watches, I’m totally on Team Bethanny)

Now, my food equivalent of a guilty pleasure is fettuccine Alfredo. Maybe you’re wondering why Alfredo is a guilty pleasure and not chocolate cake? Here’s the thing about unhealthy foods, you have your items like cookies and cake, that make no pretense of what they are: sugar and fat, plain and simple. Then you have things like fettuccine Alfredo that tries to convince you that it’s dinner, perhaps even part of a well balanced diet. Don’t be fooled though, this entire meal is two things: starch and heavy cream and I LOVE it. All you health nuts can yell at me all you want, you can tell me how fattening it is, how each bite is clogging my arteries, you can give me your estimates on how long it’s going to take me to exercise off this fat, and I will smile at you over my plate of steaming pasta, complete undeterred from eating the whole thing.

However, the other day I decided to try and make my guilty pleasure food just a tad healthier. This recipe uses whole wheat pasta, which pumps up the nutrition factor. It also calls for milk instead of heavy cream, which tones down the fat. So, here’s an Alfredo that you can feel just a little less guilty about. Don’t get me wrong though, calling this a “healthy” dish would be like saying that apple pie is healthy because it has fruit in it. But if it makes you feel better, you can call it whatever you want.

Fettuccine Alfredo

Adapted from Cooking Light

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1 tablespoon olive oil
2 small garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 ¼ cups milk
2 tablespoons cream cheese
1 ¼ cups freshly grated parmesan cheese, divided
4 cups (roughly ½ lb) hot cooked whole wheat fettuccine
2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley
Freshly ground black pepper

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and sauté one minute. Stir in flour and cook for 30 seconds. Gradually whisk in milk until fully blended. Stir constantly and cook 8 minutes or until mixture is thickened and bubbly.

Add in cream cheese and cook for 2 more minutes. Add 1 cup of the parmesan fresh black pepper and stir until cheese melts. Pour the sauce over the fettuccine and top with parsley, remaining cheese and toss well to coat. Enjoy it and don’t worry, you don’t have to tell anyone.

Okay, this might be a big mistake. I could be putting my entire engagement in jeopardy by telling you this story. However, I don’t see how I can post this recipe for mac and cheese without giving a little background. Here’s the thing – Chase used to not be able to cook at all. I mean, I actually had to teach him how to heat up canned soup. So the fact that this delicious bowl of cheesy-ness is now in my life proves that anyone, I mean ANYONE can learn how to be an amazing cook.

The first time Chase made mac and cheese he wanted to do it all on his own, with no help from me. Which I thought was awesome, to be honest. So, while he got hard at work in the kitchen I curled up on the couch to catch up on the latest episode of “Real Housewives” – try not to judge me. However, eventually there was this absolutely amazing smell of cheese the lured me off the couch and into the kitchen, just in time to see Chase pouring a heavenly pot of cheese sauce onto…raw pasta.

Me: Ummm…babe? Aren’t you supposed to cook the pasta first?
Chase: No, the recipe says to use uncooked pasta.

I took a glance at the recipe and saw no mention of cooking the pasta, which was quite odd. Then… I glanced at the ingredient list and this is what I saw:

• 5 cups cooked pasta (1 lb uncooked)

Oh dear lord.  My well-intentioned boyfriend had only read the parenthesis and just dumped cheese sauce on raw pasta that is supposed to be cooked. I didn’t see any easy way out of this, and so I broke the news to him that the pan full of mac and cheese that he was about to put in the oven had to be thrown out. Well… I had a bit of a boyfriend meltdown on my hands immediately following that, and for a second it seemed that we weren’t going to be having mac and cheese that night, if ever again. However, after rinsing the sauce off the pasta, cooking it, and then making a fresh sauce from whatever cheese we could scrounge out of the fridge, everything somehow turned out okay.

These days, Chase doesn’t hesitate to boast about his prowess when it comes to mac and cheese. And rightfully so, when he comes up with recipes like this. Until now, he’s tried to keep this tale of his early failure under wraps, but I have to admit it’s one of my favorites. So again, remember this story if you ever get discouraged from a lame kitchen mistake you’ve made.

And babe? Since I assume you’re reading this, I love you. Seriously. Hopefully you can forgive me for this.

Smoked Gouda Mac and Cheese

Recipe by Chase Livengood

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Here’s the trick about smoked gouda mac & cheese. Smoked gouda on it’s own isn’t very creamy and has a very strong flavor, so I don’t think it makes a good mac & cheese on its own. However, if you combine it with some sharp white cheddar beware: This stuff is better than anything you’ve ever had.

1 lb package short pasta (penne, elbow macaroni, etc)
4  tablespoons  butter
4  tablespoons  all-purpose flour
4  cups  milk
½  teaspoon  salt
½  teaspoon  fresh ground black pepper
½ teaspoon paprika
8-oz block sharp white cheddar cheese, grated and divided (about 2 cups)
8-oz block smoked gouda cheese, grated and divided (about 2 cups)

Cook the pasta according to package directions, set aside. (don’t forget this step!)

Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium-low heat; whisk in flour until smooth. Continue whisking and cook for 2 minutes. Gradually whisk in milk. Whisking constantly, cook for 5 minutes or until thickened. Reduce heat to low and stir in salt, black pepper and most of the cheese, reserving about a cup of cheese.

Pour the pasta in a lightly greased 8 x 11 x 2 baking dish. Spoon the cheese sauce over the pasta, stirring lightly to even out the sauce in the pan. Sprinkle the top with the remaining cup of cheese and the paprika.

Bake at 400° for 20 minutes or until bubbly. Remove from oven, and prepare yourself for out-of-this world macaroni and cheese.

When I think of spring, the first thing that comes to mind is that scene in Bambi where all the birds are singing and being really lovey-dovey.  You remember that scene, don’t you? And Bambi, Thumper and Flower are all confused as to what’s happening and the owl starts to explain what being twitterpated means, but they totally don’t understand.

Looking back, what surprises me the most was that Thumper didn’t know what it was. If anyone out of the group would’ve known, it should’ve been him. I mean seriously, he’s the kid that grew up waaaay too fast and knew waaay too much about everything. Remember him egging poor, scared Bambi out onto the frozen pond? Remember how smooth of a skater he was with his hands behind his back just skating along?  He’s the type of kid that pushes your kid in the closet with a girl/boy, gives your kid their first cigarette, first joint or first sip of alcohol. He’s the kid no parent wants their kid to hang out with. Total bad apple.

I digress…if the owl had these pancakes on hand to sort of explain what twitterpated means, then they would’ve understood. Because these pancakes taste like love, romance….or twitterpatedness (word?). These seriously are the most romantic pancakes I’ve ever tasted. Correction: these are the most romantic food I’ve ever tasted. Forget oysters, forget chocolate…forget all the supposed romantic food. Mascarpone Rosewater Pancakes are the taste of loooooove.

Mascarpone Rosewater Pancakes

Adapted from The Picky Cook

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Yields about 8-10 pancakes

2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/3 cup sugar

pinch of salt

2 cups buttermilk

2 large eggs – lightly beaten

2 tablespoon unsalted butter – melted

1/3 cup mascarpone – lightly whisked with a fork

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon of rosewater

zest of 1 lemon

Pre-heat oven to 150˚F so you can keep the pancakes warm while the others are cooking.

In a large bowl, combine the flower, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt.

To the dry ingredients, add the buttermilk, eggs, butter, mascarpone, vanilla, rosewater and lemon zest.

Stir all the ingredients until they are just combined. Do not over mix. And then let the batter rest for about 10 minutes. While the batter is resting, heat up your griddle or cast iron skillet slowly and brush with 1 tablespoon of butter. Once the batter is done resting, take a 1/4 cup  of batter dropping it onto the griddle or cast iron skillet. Cook until bubbles form along the sides. Flip. Then cook until browned.

Once they’re done, put them on a plate in the warm oven until you’re ready to serve. Top with warm maple syrup and a dollop of butter. Voila! Love on a plate.

I definitely would not have eaten this as a kid. Not because it isn’t a good soup, but because my taste as a kid was a bit limited. Let’s take a moment and look back at all of the other things I didn’t eat as a kid:

Hamburgers. Yeah, I know, I am the only kid in America that grew up not liking hamburgers. For a short time as a teenager I thought they were the greatest thing on earth, and then in college I gave up beef and now I’m back to and sans-burger diet. Sorry burgers, we just weren’t a good match.

Fish. I have no defense for this, other than to say that I’m making up for it now by attempting to consume my weight in sushi at least once a month.

Apple Pie. I know, right? I used to think that cooked apples were “slimy” and therefore wanted nothing to do with them. Cherry pie rocked my socks. However, I now make apple crisp as often as is humanly possible. I haven’t had cherry pie in over 5 years.

Salads. I did not like lettuce and probably wouldn’t have liked arugula if it had been offered to me. I definitely would not have eaten this soup. I also would not have eaten it because it had goat cheese in it, which would definitely fall under the “weird” category for a kid. Beyond the “weird” factor, you want to know the #1 reason I would have never eaten this? Because I was one of those kids that did not allow their foods to touch each other. To have foods touch each other on the plate was enough to send me into hysterics. This soup, which is basically a goat cheese salad that is cooked in broth and then pureed into a heavenly green goodness, would have probably caused me to run crying from the room.

But, I’m a big girl now, and I eat all kinds of things. Like raw fish, and apple pie, and even a soup with lettuce in it.

Arugula Soup with Goat Cheese

Adapted from Giada De Laurentiis

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1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small or ½ medium onion, thinly sliced
3/4 pound russet potatoes, peeled and diced
3 1/2 cups vegetable stock
1 cup assorted lettuce (butter, red leaf, green leaf)
2 cups arugula or spinach leaves
1/4 cup cream
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 1/2 ounces goat cheese, sliced

In a medium pot heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions and saute until tender and starting to brown, about 4 minutes. Add the potatoes and the stock and  bring to a simmer over high heat. Reduce the heat and continue to simmer, covered, until the potatoes are almost tender, about 20 minutes. Add the arugula and lettuce to the pot and continue simmering, uncovered until the greens are tender, another 2 to 3 minutes.

Using an immersion blender, blend all the ingredients in the pot until smooth. You can also transfer the lettuce and potatoes to a blender and then returning to the pot once blended. Add the cream, salt, and pepper. Pour the soup intoserving bowls. Top each soup with sliced goat cheese and stir to combine. Serve immediately.