Hello and welcome back to The Stone Soup Cook! I’m really so glad you’re here!
I’ll start with the apology. Life has been too much for me to handle of late–lots of travel, family emergencies, urgent household projects and a sick dog. I had to let a lot of things go and I’m only just getting my head above water. I’m happy to report that after countless vet appointments and lots of rest, the little face below is mostly back to his old self after suffering a mild heart attack upon meeting a very sweet and playful Irish Wolf Hound puppy over the holidays–but he’s caused me many sleepless nights…
It feels really good to get back to my desk to do some writing. It’s been months. In fact, it’s been so long that WordPress has updated a bunch of stuff since my last post and it’s taken me a bit of time to sort out the changes. But, they’re sorted and I’m off.
It’s been raining here in my little corner of the world–finally! It’s been so bone dry that I was beginning to wonder if we were already done with our rainy season. But, starting last night, we got downpours and howling winds. And today, it’s been raining steadily off and on–just one of those gorgeous, chilly, inclement days. And what better time to whip up a batch of Stone Soup and Cheesy Quick Bread?
I first developed my recipe for Stone Soup several years ago, during the pandemic. I love the story of the strangers who create Stone Soup with ingredients contributed from a community of strangers; and eating Stone Soup is like a warm hug on a chilly evening–but best of all, it uses up the odds and ends in your fridge at the end of the week. Prior to creating this blog, I published a cookbook for family and friends that included my recipe for Stone Soup. I recently reprinted the cookbook and gave it to a group of new friends, and lo-and-behold, Stone Soup is having a moment! Several of my new friends (as well as some old friends) have embraced the simple elegance of Stone Soup and, much to my delight, are sharing their versions with me. One friend used parsnips as the main vegetable, another made a vegetarian version, still another made diabetic-friendly version by eliminating the starchy vegetables. My recipe for Stone Soup is very flexible and designed to be only a template for your own version based on your needs or what you have on hand at the moment.
And now for the egregious oversight: The other day, a new friend asked for the Stone Soup recipe. I told her I would bring her a cookbook at our next meeting, but advised her that in the meantime, she could find the recipe on my website. When I got home, I checked my blog to see what I had written about Stone Soup. To my horror, I realized that I, “The Stone Soup Cook,” had never published my recipe for Stone Soup–nor was the recipe for Cheesy Quick Bread on my website. How does such an oversight happen? I have no idea and I’m not going to try to guess. Instead, I am now going to right this egregious wrong:
Here, finally, is my recipe for Stone Soup:
And since man should not survive on Stone Soup alone, here is the recipe for cheesy quick bread to go alongside the soup:
I hope you enjoy both on a chilly winter evening with a glass of wine and someone you love.
Enjoy and we’ll chat in another day or two. Until then,
Peace, love and good food,
Keri
