Thrifty Recipe Swap

Over at my friend Gayle's blog, she is having a thrifty recipe swap. Isn't that a FANTASTIC idea! We all get bored with the same ol' recipes. It's nice to find some budget friendly variety!

For 15 years I was a vegetarian, and let me tell you, it's a whole lot cheaper! While my family occasionally eats meat now, we still eat vegetarian 4 - 5 nights a week. Here is one of our family favorites. It's on the super frugal side, it's healthy, and SO delicious. Oh, and the best part, ALL of my kids love it, and none of us like peas. It's THAT good!

Fresh Green Pea Soup and Cottage Cheese Dill Bread

Fresh Green Pea Soup
1 Tbs butter
1 c minced onion
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 c veggie broth, chicken broth, or water
4 C fresh or frozen peas
1 c milk (low fat is fine)
black pepper to taste

Up to 3 Tbs fresh or 1 Tbs dried:
Basil, dill, tarragon, parsley, chives
(this is your choice. I have found dill to be the best, and I often add chives and tarragon too. Fresh herbs are the best in the summer when my herb garden is growing. This time of year I make it with dried herbs and again, I think the dill should be the prominent herb)

Melt butter in a soup pot. Add onion and salt and cook on medium until the onion is soft (8 - 10 min).

Add the water and bring to a boil. Lower heat, cover, and simmer about 10 min. Add the peas, cover and remove from heat. Let stand for 5 min (or until the peas are tender)

Puree the soup with the milk in a food processer or blender, then return to the pot.

Heat soup gently. Add your own personal selection on minced fresh, or dried herbs.

*This soup is also great served cold on a warm summer day!


Cottage Cheese Dill Bread
I always serve this bread with the soup. It's great by itself, or with cream cheese and thin slices of cucumbers.

A little butter or oil for the pan
2 c white flour (I often use spelt flour with wonderful results)
2 t baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 c cottage cheese
2 eggs
6 Tbs milk
1/4 c honey or sugar
4 Tbs melted butter
3 Tbs fresh dill, or 1 Tbs dried

Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly grease medium-size loaf pan.

Sift together (honestly, I usually don't sift to save time) flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Make a well in the center.

Combine cottage cheese, eggs, milk, honey, and melted butter in a separate bowl. Mix well. Add to the dry ingredients along with the dill, and mix just enough to blend. The batter is fairly stiff.

Spread evenly into loaf pan. Let it bake 50 min, or until knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before you remove from the pan, then cool on rack for another 30 minutes before slicing.

These recipes serve about 4 adults. Because our kids are still little (we have 4 kids), we can get away with not doubling it ... yet. However, if your family is larger, or "big eaters" you may want to double it. ~K

Oh, and I've got to give credit where is is due. These great recipes come from the cookbook "The Enchanted Broccoli Forest" by Mollie Katzen. The entire cookbook is phenomenal!