I Hate to Cook: Yummy Soup

Soup can be a whole meal if it’s rich and thick the way we like clam chowder. Add a side salad using pre-cut lettuce and you’ve got a good “I Hate to Cook” dinner. 

I’m going out on a limb today and listing amounts for the ingredients. I cook mostly by feel and taste. I’d say this will feed four people of normal appetites if you include a salad. You could serve warm bread or crackers with it, too. 

4 medium potatoes (white potatoes are my choice, unpeeled)

1 cup chopped celery

3 tbs butter

1 large onion

2 cans chopped clams

Milk

Half and half

Juice from canned clams 

Dice the potatoes into ½ to 1-inch pieces. Boil until soft but not mushy. Mash about half of them. You want chunks, and the mashed ones give the soup its thickness.

In a large kettle, spoon in about three tablespoons of butter. Real butter is best. And if you really like butter and richness, add more. Chop the onion then sauté with the celery in the butter.

Once the onions are translucent, mix all of the above together in the kettle and add enough half and half, milk and a bit of clam juice to the consistency you like. We like ours thick. I tend to use more half and half than milk. Rich, rich, rich. 

In the first book of my Wild Horse Peaks Series, The Art of Love and Murder, Lacy and Chance have dinner at the California inspired restaurant called the Brie in the small college town of Timberline, Arizona. They have seafood. I’ll leave you with this short restaurant scene. 

White linen, sleek recessed lighting, and candles on the table—not what Lacy expected in this rugged mountain city. The host of the Brie showed them to a table by the window overlooking the street and train station beyond. Although a working station, the outside of the building looked more like a gingerbread house. An obvious draw for tourists, the city had capitalized on the focal point of the main road through town.

Chance rested his forearms on the table, gazing across the candle. Sparks flickered in his eyes and highlighted the gold in the hair falling onto his forehead. Although he looked more suited to a granola café or lumberjack inn, the contrast left her breathless with his raw masculinity. He appeared perfectly relaxed.

She took a deep breath in an attempt to follow his example—and to calm the quivers he caused. “You’re showing me a whole new side of Timberline.”

He gave a cursory glance at the art on the walls. “I think it’s the California influence.”

“California?” She opened the menu.

“We’ve been discovered and have quite a few transplants.”

“Do you mind?”

“Not if the food’s as good as they say.” One corner of his mouth ticked up as he opened the menu. “Which appetizer would you like?”

“They all look good.”

He cocked a brow and tipped his chin down. “I know you’re starving, but I’d say we should stick to two.” 

THE ART OF LOVE AND MURDER, book one in the series

A woman searching for her past. A sheriff hiding in his present. Their future together threatened by murder. 

All of the Wild Horse Peaks books can be found here: 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BNC7LT9J