Creamy New Potato Soup

This is the time of year when soup and vegetables from my garden sound so appealing.  The other night I was really wanting something.  I just wasn't sure what.  So I let my taste buds lead the way, and I ended up with this soup.  It was delicious, and Fall-y, and worked for a sick neighbor, too!

Creamy New Potato Soup
by: Carolyn

4 c. chicken broth
1/2 tsp. onion powder
small potatoes, or larger ones, cut into chunks (I used all my little "new" potatoes from my garden)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 c. butter
1/4 c. flour
1 can evaporated milk
1/2 c. milk
1 bag of frozen peas
fresh ground pepper
ham, cut into small pieces

In a large pot, bring the chicken broth, onion powder and salt to a boil.  Add the potatoes and cook until they are tender.  Meanwhile, in a saucepan, whisk together the butter and flour over medium-high heat.  Slowly pour in the evaporated milk, stirring constantly.  Continue stirring until it begins to thicken.  Add this mixture to your pot with the potatoes and stir it gently.  Stir in your frozen peas (I added about 3/4 of the bag, but you can add more or less, according to what you like).  Add your sliced ham and milk, and bring it to a low boil, then turn the heat down and cook it until your peas are tender.  

Pickled Beets

My husband's grandfather Theurer used to pickle beets and Dustin grew up loving them.  He has been begging me for years to make some pickled beets, and they just sound so disgusting that I couldn't bring myself to do it.  This year, we planted two rows of beets in our garden (which was a big sacrifice, in my opinion, giving up two whole rows of space).  The weather must have been perfect for beets this year, because they grew like weeds!  I used the leaves for green smoothies, and we pulled all the beets last week and pickled them, using Dustin's grandpa's recipe.  So, I am putting this on here for future posterity (and maybe for future me, as I will probably get talked into this again).  Now these are not spiced pickled beets.  Dustin's grandpa didn't make them that way, so Dustin didn't want them that way.  These are just regular ol' pickled beets.  If you want spices, google it.  There are tons of recipes.

Pickled Beets
from: Herman LeRoy Theurer

1 quart cider vinegar
4 c. brown or white sugar (or mix them, like I did)
1 pint beet juice
1 Tbsp. salt
Beets

First, wash your beets and remove the greens.  Boil them for 30-45 minutes, or until they are tender.  Remove them from the water and the skin will easily peel off.  Slice them into chunks, or slices, or if they are small enough, you can leave them whole.  Put them into quart size jars, leaving about an inch of headspace.  Meanwhile, in a large pot, stir together the vinegar, sugar, beet juice and salt and bring it to a boil.  Carefully pour it into the jars (with beets in them), leaving 1/2 inch of headspace.  Then you will need to put lids on your jars and process them, based on your altitude.  For my altitude, I had to process them for 40 minutes.  Leave them alone for a couple of weeks, to let the beets pickle (this has been the hardest part for my husband!).  

I don't know how many beets we used, but I did end up making another batch and a half of the sauce to pour over the beets.  You may need to make more if you have more beets than sauce.