Easy Soup for the Holidays

I recently read Julie Powell's book, Julia and Julia. Such a great read that inspired me to cook! For those of you less interested in reading, it is also a movie! I have always loved the movie - what's not to love Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, and delicious food! The book is about Julie Powell, a woman living in New York in the early 2000's who is nearing the big 3-0 and has a job that doesn't really fulfill her. She decides to start a nearly impossible project; completing all 524 recipes in Julia Child's cookbook, Masting the Art of French Cooking in 365 days.  She wrote a blog about it, which lead to a book deal, and then a movie. I guess you can say that she was one of the first "big" bloggers and the movie was the first movie ever based on a blog.

The book really inspired me to make some of the recipes from Mastering the Art Of French Cooking. The first I took on is the first recipe in the entire cookbook, and the first recipe that Julie makes - Potato Leek Soup.

This was seriously so easy and inexpensive, perfect for a night during the busy holiday season!

Ashley takes on Julia Child's Potato Leek Soup

Ingredients: 

2 large potatoes, pealed and cut, about 2 cups 

2 leeks, sliced thin, about a cup and a half
4 cups of water 

1 teaspoon of salt

3 tablespoons of butter

Chopped parsley

First simmer the potatoes, leeks, and salt in the water for 40-50 mins until veggies are tender

Next, without removing from heat, mash up the veggies

Remove from heat and stir in the butter. Serve with a sprinkle of parsley.

Seriously that's it and it's fantastic!

Happy Cooking!

-A