Blood, Soup and Tears

Monday night "my girls" came over for dinner and much-needed girl time. I decided to make 2 new soup recipes - Cream of Poblano & Green Chile and Creamy Sweet Onion. I didn't really have recipes for them, but had thought they out in my head.

I was going to prepare some of the ingredients Sunday evening after spending the day at my folks house - slice the onions, make the croutons, roast the poblanos. Josh and Meghan gave me a mandolin slicer for Cmas and it was going to be the first time I used it. I was pretty psyched. I don't know what possesses me to not use the slicing guard - even after my mom told me to be sure and use it - but I didn't even get through one whole onion before I sliced off part of my thumb. I'm not missing a chunk of my thumb between 1/2 to 3/4 inches long, and pretty deep. I began to cry and panic and called my mom. She and Dad came over and we decided I needed to go to the ER even though they probably couldn't do anything. Dad took me to the ER and Mom stayed home with Paddy. Before I left, Paddy offered me some of his "bubble gum medicine to make me feel better" and told me to be good. After 3 hours in the ER, in which I bled the WHOLE TIME, I got bandaged up with some gauze and Neosporin. My doctor was the worst doctor I have ever seen - inconsiderate, too busy and rude. He literally spent 1 minute with me saying he couldn't fix me because I couldn't get stitches and all he did was stitches. All that waiting for that comment. I was very obviously unimpressed with this man's care AND HE KNEW IT. I hope Covenant sends me a service survey. The nurse bandaged my thumb with lots of padding and it was large, kinda made me feel like I was in a Looney Tunes cartoon.

So, Monday afternoon rolls around and Mom offered to come help me finish cooking. I decided she was like my own little Ratatouille, like from the movie, only I wasn't in her chef hat pulling her hair to make my recipe. It was fun to cook together and to have her be impressed with my recipes.

All the ladies agreed that we have to do "girls night in" more often. And without further ado, here are the recipes. . . ENJOY!

Cream of Poblano & Green Chile

2 roasted poblano peppers, ½ minced and ½ pureed
3 slices of bacon
2 cans of whole corn, pureed with milk
1 can creamed corn
½ stick of butter
2 cans Campbell’s Cream of Poblano soup
2 can chicken broth
2 cups of Half & Half
½ block of cream cheese

Saute the roasted poblanos with the bacon until the bacon is crisp. Add all the other ingredients. Bring to a boil. Then let simmer for 30 minutes. Be sure to stir frequently so the milk and cream cheese doesn’t stick to the bottom of your dish.
Serve with tortilla chips and Monterey Jack cheese.

Creamy Sweet Onion soup
4 sweet yellow onions, sliced thinly –BE VERY CAREFUL WHEN SLICING!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Olive oil & butter for sautéing
¼ cup flour
2 tsp hamburger or steak seasoning
3 can beef broth
2 cups Half & Half

Saute onions in olive oil and butter. Add flour and brown the onions and flour. Add the beef broth and half & half. If you want thicker soup, you can add a tbsp cornstarch mixed with water.
Serve with croutons and Swiss or Gruyère cheese.