Super Soup Recipes

We're happy to share a few of the recipes for the Souper Soups that we enjoyed during our special event a few weeks ago.

The Creamy Sweet Potato Soup recipe, originally a recipe from Bon Appetit magazine, was found on the Internet.  The recipe can be found here.

Apple Pie Soup

This fun soup slowly cooks in a crock pot.  Once it's done cooking, process in a food processor until smooth.  Refrigerate until serving time.  Garnish with heavy cream and walnuts.
1-1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon allspice

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

3 cups water

3 cups apple cider

4 large Granny Smith, peeled, cored and sliced

2/3 cup raisins
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
4 tablespoons honey
1 cup vanilla yogurt
Heavy cream, whipped and chopped nuts (garnish)
Combine the spices, water, cider, apple slices and raisins in a slow cooker. Cover and cook on low 6 hours or until apples are quite soft. Puree the soup in a food processor, a partial batch at a time, until all the apples and raisins are pureed. Stir in the lemon juice and honey.  Just before serving, blend in vanilla yogurt.  Garnish as desired.

Italian Vegetable Soup
1 pound ground beef
1 c. diced onion
1 c. diced celery
1 c. sliced carrots
1 garlic cloves, minced
1 can (16 oz) tomatoes
1 can (15 oz.) tomato sauce
1 can (15 oz.) kidney beans, undrained

2 c. water
5 tsp. beef bouillon granules
2 Tbsp. dried parsley
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. dried basil
1/2 tsp. black pepper
2 c. shredded cabbage
2 c. frozen green beans
1/2 c. small elbow macaroni
salt, to taste
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese, for garnish
In a heavy stock pot, brown beef; drain.  Add all ingredients except cabbage, green beans, and macaroni. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer 20 minutes.  Add cabbage, green beans, and macaroni.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer until vegetables are tender.  Serve garnished with Parmesan cheese.  Yield:  10 - 12 servings.

Surprise "giveaway" on Rosemary's Sampler tomorrow! 
Be sure to leave a comment on tomorrow's post to enter in the drawing.

Super Soups for Supper

Earlier this month, we offered Sensational Super Soups for Supper as a special event in the tea room.  Every soup spoon available was put into use for this fun evening!  Nancy prepared a wide variety of soups while Susanna presented an informative program between each course that included historical information, seasoning tips, and garnishing techniques.

The first course featured a Chilled Fruit Medley, a recipe from Lunchtime in Gettysburg, a cookbook from the now closed Civil-la-tea Tea Room.  Served in a clear glass punch bowl and garnished with ruby red pineapple sage blossoms, it was a sweet and creamy beginning to the super supper.

The second course was Rosemary Corn Soup accompanied with Cheddar Chive Crisps. A fresh sprig of rosemary garnished this hearty corn soup.  A Creamy Sweet Potato Soup, garnished with a star shaped crouton and served with a moist Pumpkin Bread was the next soup in our 5-soup menu.  Organic, fresh, local sweet potatoes were cooked and then pureed to create a creamy tasty soup. 

The main course was a hearty Italian Vegetable Beef Soup, garnished with Parmesan cheese.  Warm Parmesan Herb Biscuits accompanied the bowl of soup.

For dessert, a chilled Apple Pie Soup, garnished with heavy whipped cream sprinkled with walnuts    completed the assortment of soups. All in all, it was a fun evening!

Paperwhite Narcissus

Paperwhite narcissus are a favorite Rosemary House gift for the holidays. We sell the bulbs loose or pre-packaged in charming containers with stones to hold the bulbs in place, complete with instructions for forcing the bulbs indoors. They are a fragrant addition to any household. Happy to bloom with just water, they do not require any special sunlight making them a perfect gift for teachers, shut ins and others who enjoy watching things grow. This special little gift will carry us through these dark winter months. Once they are done blooming we toss them in the compost heap as they will not re-bloom in this area of PA, it is just too cold. The blossoms, once spent, can be found drying in our garage, as they are a symbol of prosperity and who doesn't want that in the upcoming year!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We Thank Thee
By: Ralph Waldo Emerson
For flowers that bloom about our feet,
Father, we thank Thee.
For tender grass so fresh, so sweet,
Father, we thank Thee.
For the song of bird and hum of bee,
For all things fair we hear or see,
Father in heaven, we thank Thee.









(For the beautiful floral arrangement, complete with fresh sprigs of Rosemary for Remembrance, my sisters and I thank a dear family friend.  Such a thoughtful and caring expression of love.  Thank you, D.K.)

With Love

We share with you today a family favorite ~ my father's recipe for Potato Filling ~ a good old fashioned Pennsylvania Dutch recipe.  It has been a family tradition to enjoy this potato filling every Thanksgiving and every Christmas.  We would all awaken to the delicious fragrance of sauteed onions and celery as it was my father who would begin the preparations for our family meal.  He would prepare the turkey, stuff the bird, and begin making the potato filling.  Over the years, the responsibilities for the meal have been transferred to younger hands, but as long as he could, he was willing to help with the preparations and would saute the onions and celery for the potato filling

During one of Dad’s election campaigns this recipe was used on the back of his campaign card and even voters from the opposing party were asking for his card!  My father won the election for Mayor that year, and my mother always referred to this as 'the recipe that won the election'.

Byron's Potato Filling
½ pound butter
½ loaf white bread, cubed
½ bunch celery, diced
3 large onions, sliced
12 large potatoes, boiled
2 C milk
4 eggs
1 T salt
½ c fresh parsley, minced

Melt ¼ pound of butter, each, in two frying pans. In one pan, brown the bread cubes until they are crisped, In the other, stir fry the celery and onions until softened and translucent. Mash the potatoes, gradually adding the milk, eggs, salt and parsley. Fold in the cooked celery, onions and browned bread cubes. Pour into one large ovenware dish or two small ones and bake for ½ hour or until the bird is carved.

The Blog Writers, Susanna and Nancy, with their 89 year old Father.  Forever in our hearts.

Byron Leibold Reppert 1921 - 2011

Le Chardon Tearoom



(Photo from TeaMap website.)



One of the many benefits of attending a meeting of the Mid-Atlantic Tea Business Association (MATBA) is that the sessions are held in a tea room.  Last week, PA MATBA members Susanna, Nancy, Janet and Marcella traveled to Le Chardon Tearoom in Hopewell, NJ.  This casual European style tea room, operated by a Scottish mother-daughter duo provided the location we needed for our meeting and offered afternoon tea for our luncheon.                                                   

Le Chardon means Scottish thistle in French and connected their heritage with time spent in France.  The plates and tea cups at our table featured the lovely thistle. A choice of Butternut squash soup or Lentil soup preceeded the tiered tray. 

Afternoon tea sandwiches included a cucumber sandwich on white and wheat bread, salmon on pumpernickel, an open faced chicken salad sandwich, and ham on a croissant.  All very fresh and tasty, it was a nice variety of sandwiches.  Dessert was a slice of bakery made pear tart with a hint of almond flavoring. 

We had gathered early in the morning and scones and tea were served at that time, and not served during the Afternoon Tea.  It was a fun gathering of fellow business owners, tea speakers, and tea enthusists.  In the morning session, Susanna presented an informative program on Guerilla Marketing. Following her presentation was a program on The Art of Blogging by Darlene Meyers-Perry.   The Business meeting, conducted by MATBA president Kirsten Kristensen concluded the day.  A quick journey back to PA, and it's back to business for everyone.

Tidy Tools

Spotted this attractive and clever tool storage hanging on a friends potting shed.  After you clean and oil your hand held tools for the winter, find a simple piece of iron fencing  and you're all set!

Spicy Roasted Red Pepper Hummus with Feta Cheese

Here's a tasty fall appetizer we served recently.... we just love the gorgeous colors!  We even had a few edible nasturtium blossoms to use as garnish.The recipe can be found on the Internet site 'All-Recipes' here . This tasty hummus, a delightful combination of roasted red peppers, garbanzo beans, feta cheese, parsley, and a touch of lemon juice can be quickly mixed together in a food processor. We found the flavors improved after the hummus sat overnight in the fridge. Sprinkled with additional feta cheese just before serving, we offered pita chip crackers and halved yummy peppers to accompany the hummus. Oh so good!

You can use jarred roasted red peppers to really make this a super quick recipe.  But, if you happen to have red peppers on hand, you can roast your own.  There are several ways to roast peppers, and a quick search of the Internet will provide you with assorted options!  I placed them on a foil lined tray and baked them in the oven at 450 degrees for approx. half an hour.  They were turned a few times so that all the sides of the peppers charred.  When they were removed from the oven, I put them in a large bowl and placed a plate over the bowl so they could continue to steam and cool down.  Others have suggested putting them in a brown paper bag until they are cool.

Once cool enough to handle, simply cut the ends off, remove the stem and seeds, and peel off the outer shell of the pepper.  If you aren't using all of your peppers, store them in the fridge covered in olive oil.  They'll be ready for your next recipe that calls for pimiento.  I like to add finely chopped pimiento to chicken salad.

Stuffed Mini Sweet Peppers

These petite Yummy (that's their actual variety name) snack peppers are well quite yummy!  They are delicious plain, eaten as 'chips' with hummus, or lightly roasted and stuffed.  Oh yum!

We recently enjoyed them at our Garlic Dinner stuffed with feta cheese, herbs, and garlic
and baked in the oven for a short time.  They were quite popular. 
Bet you can't eat just one!

Stuffed Mini Sweet Peppers

25 - 30 peppers

7 oz. feta cheese

2 oz. cream cheese

1/4 c. fresh basil

1/4 c. rosemary

1/4 c. sun dried tomatoes (not packed in oil)

2 cloves garlic, minced

Wash and prepare the peppers.  Slice the peppers in half and remove seeds.  You can also leave the pepper whole, cut the stem and top off, and carefully remove the seeds.  We found it was easier to eat the peppers when they were halved.  It does however, present a nice variety to have a combination of whole stuffed and half peppers on a platter.

Place the cheeses, herbs, tomatoes, and garlic in a food processor.  Pulse until evenly chopped and a fine mixture remains.Gently spoon the mixture into the whole peppers or onto the pepper halves.  Place the stuffed peppers onto a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil or parchment. 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Bake for 8 - 10 minutes .

19th Annual Garlic Dinner

Garlic! Garlic! and more Garlic!  We had our annual garlic dinner last week.  The appetizers set the scene, a plate full of garlic that included pickled garlic cloves, Rosemary Garlic Jelly over cream cheese served with garlicky crackers, Feta & Garlic Stuffed Sweet Peppers, and Swiss Apple Melt.  Oh yum!
The salad featured assorted leafy greens, cranberries, garlicky almond slivers, feta cheese, and a homemade Italian dressing.

For the entree, Cheesy Garlic Chicken with whole garlic cloves, oven roasted garlic mashed potatoes, green beans, and to-die-for garlic Parmesan bread.  And dessert was Apple Cream Pie, yes, with thin matchstick pieces of garlic baked with the apples.  Alas, no photo of dessert, it was gobbled up too quickly!

Definitely a dinner for those who love garlic!  By the end of the meal, each guest consumed three heads (not merely cloves, but heads!) of garlic.