Did you know that eating celery can help reduce stress? I kid you not, it’s a natural tranquilizer! If I had known that I would have dissed it less and ate it more.
Lately I have begun to realize how much of my respect celery actually deserves. I used to think it was okay with cream cheese in it, but I wouldn’t go out of my way or anything. It was a diet food; something you were supposed to crunch on to satisfy your need to chew without adding calories (it only satisfied me if it was stuffed with cream cheese.)
Then last year I moved close to my oldest sister. I was telling her one day how much I used to love her tuna sandwiches when I was a teenager. She said the secret ingredient that made them so good was celery.
What?
My mother-in-law used to make a fantastic potato soup. She taught me how to make it, and for some reason I thought she said to put chopped celery in. When I made some and gave her a taste, she noticed there was celery in it and said that she’d never tried that before. She said it was better than hers, and made hers with celery from then on.
I realized that all my homemade soups were better with celery in it.
Oh, and Buffalo wings! I love Buffalo wings dearly, and I realized why they are always served with celery. For some reason, celery and Buffalo wings go fantastic together! Okay, I’ll stop shouting!
So I finally apologized to celery for the things I used to say about it. It’s actually a wonderfully nutritious and taste-enhancing vegetable, which now has an honored place in my health-smoothies, soups, stir fries, and relish dishes.
Long live celery!
The Best Potato Soup Recipe
5 or 6 red potatoes, cleaned and cubed
Salt
1 medium onion, chopped
3 large stalks celery, chopped
½ lb bacon, chopped while raw
1 tbsp chopped garlic
3 cups chicken broth
4 cups milk
½ cup flour
2 beaten eggs
Put cubed potatoes in a Dutch oven and pour enough water in to just cover them. Add salt to the water. Cook on high until the water boils, then reduce heat and boil gently for about 20 minutes. Drain the water out.
While the potatoes are boiling, put the bacon, onions, celery, and garlic in a frying pan over medium heat. Sauté until the onions are translucent. Add the contents of the frying pan to the potatoes in the Dutch oven. Pour in the chicken broth.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about a half hour. Add milk and continue simmering.
Put the flour in a wide, flat bowl and add a tiny bit of the beaten egg. With a fork, beat the part where the egg is very quickly until it forms little lumps. Add a bit more egg and repeat the process until you have a bunch of little lumps or what my mother-in-law used to call “krinkles”.
Turn the heat up under the soup and watch carefully until it looks like it’s just about to boil. Quickly turn the heat back down, and add the little egg/flour lumps. Stir them in slowly. (They are like little dumplings.)
Let the soup simmer for another 20 minutes or so, and serve.
This is wonderful with fresh bread and butter!
