Boo to Fall

Let's just be honest here: everyone who acts like fall is such a great season is really lying.  Who would rather have the weather be cool and foggy than warm and sunny?  Not me.  Fall is the time I have to go back to work!  And that is devastating in and of itself.  Fall is the time I have to put away my beloved flip flops.  Fall is the end of fresh tomatoes, and herbs picked from my garden.  But worst of all: fall means football.  And I really, really hate football.  I hate the men's voices on the TV (so gravel-y).  I hate the fact that it turns the majority of my house into monotonous conversationalists who can only discuss their fantasy teams ("my kicker is benched!").  And I hate that, due to said fantasy football teams, we have to watch every single football game.  Literally every single one.  And do you have any idea how many hours of TV time that is?!  Or how many boring discussions about "they're blitzing!" or "it's fourth down territory!" (As I type this, both of these scintillating sentences were shouted.)  So, yeah.  Cold weather, no more flip flops or tomatoes, and football: I hate fall.  And today was the start of the Patriots.  Sigh.

But let's look on the bright side (since I can ackowledge that was a bit of a rant).  It means no one will be bothering me in the kitchen while I make whatever I want, and they can all sit there hollering at the television.  It also means that people are more apt to want to snack on things, since that appears to be a prerequisite for football games.  So I took advantage of this today and escaped from the football talk to my kitchen.  Kenzie had been craving baked potato soup, so I found a recipe on my favorite blog, and then it hit me: why not make bread bowls too?  Because baked potato soup is amazing, but serving that soup in fresh, warm bread bowls would really up the amazing factor.  And thus an amazing idea was born.

before baking... note my bad job splitting them equally!

I started with the bread bowls.  I found the recipe on the web site that also has my favorite focaccia bread recipe, so this lady knows her breads (by the way, I used the top recipe, the one for the Italian bread bowls, rather than the artisan).  It was pretty quick and easy as far as breads go.  It had to rise twice, first for 45 minutes and then for 30 once it has been separated into individual balls of dough.  My balls are a bit uneven, so next time I do this I will be more careful so that one bowl doesn't end up double the size of another!  Anyway, then they are baked - and if you try this recipe, don't be alarmed when your bowls are not golden brown in the least after 18 minutes.  I think mine took more like 25 minutes to get done.  This was stressful mainly because Mark was roasting beef stew in the oven and claiming that I was "ruining it" by turning the oven up for a while for my bowls!  Luckily they came out of the oven looking delicious.  I wasn't so good cutting them at first, but then I realized that the trick is to cut a big cone out of the top, and not cut too far deep down.  Even so, I think the bowls ended up fitting about 1/2 cup soup in there.  I will confess to refilling my bowl while I ate.

Susie modeling my bread bowls along with her cool patched jeans

While the bread rose the second time, I made the soup.  I am still shocked at how easy this soup was.  It calls for baked potatoes, but seeing as Mark acted like my use of the oven was sabotage, I microwaved the potatoes.  It took 15 minutes rather than an hour, so it was a huge time saver.  You scoop out the potatoes and let them sit while you melt butter, stir in some flour, add milk, and then mix in the potatoes, cheddar cheese, sour cream and scallions.  And that's in! (besides salt and pepper of course).  I couldn't believe it was so quick and easy.  And the best part is that this soup is damn good.  Nick said "wow" and Kenzie told me she was in heaven.  Not to mention the fact that it was served in homemade bread bowls!  I may be the best football day hostess ever: I don't care to watch the game and I made bread bowls from scratch.  The other thing I liked about the soup is that I can fool myself into thinking that it is not too bad for you.  I was sure it would be full of cream, but it only had the 6 cups of milk, half stick of butter, 3/4 cup cheddar cheese, and 1/3 cup sour cream.  I ackowledge I probably could not call this healthy, but it still didn't feel so bad.  And it tasted oh so good!  I recommend serving the soup topped with cheddar cheese, bacon, and scallions.  Perfection!

So now it feels cold outside, and football is on the TV, and I have to go to work in the morning.  Sad things, all of them.  But, I will be positive, and remind myself that there are two bread bowls and plenty of soup left, so perhaps I will survive the autumn!


Recipes:
baked potato soup
bread bowls