TRAVERSE CITY -- Drop by the Adair household at this time of year and you're likely to find yourself following your nose to a pot of soup simmering in the kitchen.
Zita Adair grew up with a mother who she said "always had a pot of soup on the stove." In those days, every bit of the soup was made from scratch right down to leftover bones set aside to be boiled into stock.
"Her kitchen was her domain," Adair said. "My dad worked 9 to 5 and dinner was on the table at 5 o'clock. She'd start dinner, and sit down for Bill Kennedy (on TV) at 1 o'clock, or (get) on the phone for hours. The biggest invention then was the long telephone cord."
Adair herself tends to lean more toward soups with a vegetable base that she often enhances with mushroom broth. One of her favorites is a cabbage soup made from your basic everything-but-the-kitchen-sink type of recipe.
"It's broth and fresh vegetables," she said, "whatever you can get fresh from the market or farmers market -- whatever vegetables are in season. I make it up."
Adair also loves a good homemade chicken noodle soup. Her family has another favorite, split pea.
"If you've got a ham bone, what are you going to make?" Adair said.
There's a method to her soup madness. Busy working full time as a special education teacher's assistant for the Traverse Bay Area Intermediate School District and taking college classes as she finishes her degree in social work, Adair knows if she makes a big batch of, say, cabbage soup on the weekend it will feed her and husband Rick through a good part of the next week.
"I don't have time to cook during the week," she said. "I'm taking three classes."
It's a system that has come into play even more since their two children reached adulthood and aren't living at home anymore.
"It took a while to get used to," she said. "I was overbuying -- and I'm still learning, still adjusting."
That's where a freezer helps. Adair divides the soup into individual servings and stashes them in the freezer. That way, no matter what time she and Rick get home, it's easy to thaw and have a hot homemade meal in minutes.
When she can, Adair also likes to make some of the Lithuanian dishes she grew up knowing. Potatoes and cabbage were staples.
Every now and then she makes up a pan of kugelis, grated potatoes topped with cream.
"It's very fine, so it looks like polenta," she said. "It's very yummy."
And she also has a few favorite casseroles that can be stretched to cover several weeknight dinners.
But when all else fails, there's always soup.
"My girlfriend says, 'I can always count on a pot of soup at your house,'" Adair says.
Cabbage Soup
1 quart mushroom broth
2 T. Better Than Bouillon Vegetable flavor
2 quarts water
1 small head cabbage, chopped
1 small head cauliflower, chopped
3 carrots, diced
1 can stewed tomatoes
1/2 onion
2 stalks celery
1 medium green pepper, chopped
1/3 c. barley
2 bay leaves
Tortellini
Salt and pepper to taste
Sweat onion, celery and green pepper in a little bit of olive oil. Add broth, water, bouillon and bring to a boil. Add cabbage, cauliflower, carrots, stewed tomatoes, bay leaves and barley. Cook on stove for about an hour. Add tortellini at end. Cook until tortellini are done. Adjust seasonings as needed.
Kugelis (Potato Pudding)
10 lb. Idaho potatoes
4 Vitamin C tablets crushed
6 eggs; slightly beaten
3 t. salt
12 oz. can Pet Milk
6 slices white bread
1 stick butter or margarine
1/4 t. pepper
1 lb. bacon, chopped
1 very large onion, chopped
Dice bacon and fry until almost crisp. Add chopped onion and butter, saute until golden. Set aside to cool. Pour Pet Milk over bread in bowl and mash with fork. Peel and grate the potatoes fine (smaller than hash browns) or process in blender or food processor. Pour potatoes in a large bowl. Add crushed Vitamin C tablets to whiten potato mixture. Add eggs, salt and bread soaked in Pet Milk to potato mixture. Stir well. Add 2/3 of sauteed bacon and onion to the potato batter and mix well. Pour into a greased 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Lower oven to 400 degrees and bake 30 minutes. Lower to 350 degrees and bake for one more hour or until edges are crispy brown. Take out of oven and rest for 20 minutes. Cut into squares and top with leftover sauteed bacon and onions. Serve with sour cream or applesauce.
Brown Rice Casserole
1 c. raw brown rice
2 c. fresh corn kernels or 10 oz. Bag frozen
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 c. grated cheddar or cojack cheese
11/2 c. skim milk
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. chili powder
Dash pepper
1 can whole pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1 small can minced green chilis
Dash Cajun sunshine (hot pepper sauce)
Sliced jalapeno peppers
Combine all ingredients except sliced jalapenos and mix well. Pour into greased 2-quart casserole. Top with sliced jalapeno peppers. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Serves six to eight. Great for a potluck.
-- From Jane Brody's Good Food Cookbook
Kathy Gibbons can be reached at gibbonskath@yahoo.com. For more Everyday Cook columns, log on to record-eagle.com/everydaycook.
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