Monday, July 6, 2009

Cream Soup


In 1968 feminist burned their bras as an anti-sexist act of female liberation. In the mid 1970s my father said I was to wear a bra. No halter tops or tube tops like my friends were wearing. I don't recall putting up a fight about it. My father meant what he said, I learned to live with it.


The hardest time I had living with this standard was on cold winter mornings. We lived in a tar paper shack with wood heat. It meant my father waking up during the night to add a log on the fire. Sometimes, he was tired and slept through the night. In the morning we could see our breath and the kitchen sink pipes would be froze.


On these cold mornings my mother would wake me before my brothers allowing me to get dressed by the fire. She understood just how hard it was to put on a bra with ice cold fingers. I stood by the heat, my bra tucked into the back pocket of my jeans, holding my hands to the heat. From time to time turning around so I could warm up my bra.


Once, my father came in from heating the pipes, stopped, and stared at me. I had, 'What?' On the tip of my tongue when he finally spoke. “Well, I always said you had to wear a bra. I guess I should have said where.”


I still hate the cold and I find snow only good for looking at- through the window. And chilly, dark, wet days make me want to curl up under a lamp with a good book. Those days call for the warmth of something hot in a cup. I think rich and creamy soup has a way of hitting the spot.


This Cream soup is a universal recipe. 2 cups of a single vegetable or mixed vegetables (potatoes, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower..)cooked in enough water to cover. Add 1 tablespoons of minced onions. When the vegetable(s) are tender pour in 2 cups of milk and a thin paste of flour to make the creamy sauce. Top it all off with parsley, pepper, a touch of Tamari is optional, and garlic powder. In the spring substitute the onions with a fistful of chives or leeks, tossed in with the other herbs and spices.


Here it is all together.


Cream of Soup

2 cup vegetables

1 tablespoon minced onions

water to cover

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

1 tablespoon dried parsley (2 tablespoon if fresh)

3 tablespoons Tamari (gluten-free soy sauce)

Pepper to taste

2 cups milk (take your pick: cow, goat, soy, nut, coconut, hemp..)

3 tablespoons flour (some good gluten-free choices are rice, garbanzo bean, or potato flour) in enough water to make a paste.


Place chopped vegetables and water in a large pot and simmer until tender. Add spices, herbs, and milk. Bring to a simmer and add flour paste. If you use garbanzo bean flour you will need to simmer the soup for at least 20 minutes or your soup will have a bitter after taste and cause you a bit of gas, otherwise simmer until desired thickness.

2 comments:

  1. Did I have that before? If I did I think it was good. 80)

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  2. Yes, I have made it as a potato soup, a broccoli soup, and a mixed vegetables soup. It's fun to have recipes that allow you to turn them into anything you can imagine or are in the mood for.

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