Cream of Celery Soup

I have a surplus of celery. Really. In the fridge, I had almost a full bunch and another completely full bunch. Then today, in our Orlando Organics delivery, I got another full bunch.


So what could I do with bunches of celery? Cream of Celery Soup!

I rough chopped the nearly full bunch and sliced a medium onion and sauted these in about 2 Tbsp. butter. I let them go for about 10 minutes because of the large amount of celery.

To that, I added about 3 cups of a combination of chicken stock and veggie stock. (I had these in the freezer. I made them some time ago.) Let them simmer for about 15 minutes or so.

After straining the broth, I put it back in the now clean pot and added 2 cups of milk, and another half cup of milk in which I had dissolved about 2 Tbsp of cornstarch. I let this simmer for another few minutes, and voila!

Cream of Celery Soup.

In the picture I garnished it with some fresh ground nutmeg and parsley flakes. Whatever doesn't get eaten will be frozen to be used later in sauces, soups, casseroles, whatever. The perfect 2DG dish!

Enjoy!
-J

Steak MonaVie

Well, 2DG has spent the last few months settling into our beautiful new kitchen and saying goodbye to the old one. I've been too busy with everything to let you know what's going on! Well today, I tried a meal based on Beef Burgundy, but using a top sirloin steak and MonaVie Essential. I figured since it's fruit based, I could use it in place of the burgundy wine.

First I cubed 1 pound of boneless top sirloin steak and marinated it in 2 oz. of MonaVie Essential juice for about an hour. While that was sitting, I sliced a medium onion, 2 carrots, 2 celery stalks and minced 1 large garlic clove and put that aside with some sliced baby portabella mushrooms.

Next I browned the steak cubes in about 2 T of butter just to sear them on all sides, reserving the marinade, and put them in a casserole dish. Then all the veggies went into the skillet to soften for about 5 minutes, then they went into the casserole dish. Now I deglazed the pan with the reserved marinade and another 2 oz. of MVE. After that bubbled a little bit, I sprinkled in 2 or 3 Tablespoons of flour and stirred til it thickened. Slooowly I added about 2 cups of beef stock, stirring to thicken. Then into the casserole dish with the sauce. The covered casserole dish went into a 350 degree oven for an hour. Then I put in another 2 - 3 oz of MVE and put the dish back into the oven for another hour, uncovered this time.

Served on a bed of mashed potatoes, it was very tasty and the steak was nicely cooked and tender. I was afraid it would be over cooked and dried out, but that wasn't the case at all.

I will be incorporating more MonaVie juice into my meals from time to time, and will let you know how it turns out.

Enjoy!
-J

p.s....now I can hardly wait for some homemade peach/plum pie!