The kitchen demolition is going swimmingly … well, sort of. Certain people who shall go unnamed cut through a water line. Thank heavens the garage is the only thing under the kitchen. To top it all off Jan is coming down with a cold. I’m sure it is made worse by all the dust he and Mike are creating.

Last night we got our first freeze of the season. I did get out yesterday to get the last of the vegetables picked in the garden. There were quite a few ripe tomatoes and several green ones I picked them all. Oh, how I am going to miss those fresh picked tomatoes. I thought for dinner tonight I would make a bread and tomato salad with our Willamette Valley Mustards Balsamic and Basil Vinaigrette for a dressing along with a beer cheese soup in which I use our Henry Weinhards’s Pub Beer Mustard. I think the soup will taste really good to Jan with his cold. Mike is bringing his three boys Luke, Ian and Ben over and cheese soup is a wonderful way to get them to eat vegetables.

Bread and Tomato

4 cups ciabatta or Italian bread cut into 1 inch cups4 cups tomatoes roughly chopped or cherry tomatoes halved olive oil to drizzle over bread

1/3 cup basil cut strips (stack and roll the leaves before cutting the strips)

Approx. 1/2 bottle of Willamette Valley Mustards Balsamic and Basil Vinaigrette

1/4 crumbled feta cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Put bread cubes on a rimmed baking sheet drizzle with olive oil and toss. Spread into one layer and bake stirring occasionally until the bread is golden and crisp. This will take about 6 to 8 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside to cool. Toss all of the ingredients except feta together using enough vinaigrette to moisten.

Sprinkle the top of the salad with the feta.

Serve

Beer Cheese Soup

1/2 stick butter (1/4 cup)

1 medium onion cut into a small dice

2 medium carrots cut into a small dice

1 clove garlic minced

1/3 cup flour

2 cups milk

2 cups chicken broth

1 12 ounce bottle pale ale (prefer Mirror Pond Pale Ale by Deschutes Brewery in Bend, OR)

1 tablespoon Henry Weinhards’s Pub Beer Mustard

1 pound extra sharp cheddar cheese (I prefer Tillamook) grated Salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter in a 4-quart saucepan over medium heat. Place onion and carrots in pan. Cooking until soft stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic. Reduce heat to medium low and sprinkle flour over vegetables and stir until incorporated. Cook stirring occasionally for 3 minutes. Whisk in the milk. With a hand held blender puree the milk vegetable mixture until smooth. Whisk in the chicken stock and beer. Bring to a simmer whisking occasionally. Simmer 5 minutes and continue to whisk once and a while. Stir in the mustard, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir in the cheese a handful at time allowing to melt between handfuls. Stir constantly during this process and don’t allow the soup to boil or it will curdle.

That’s experience speaking!

Extra croutons not used in the bread salad are really good on this soup and or crumbled bacon.