Broccoli Cheese Soup

* We linked this post at Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade  and Monday Mania at the Healthy Home Economist *

Earlier this month I posted a broccoli soup that I liked, but it  lacked the cheesy creaminess that you might expect when ordering broccoli soup at a restaurant.  The common household method (and probably at most restaurants too) of making a broccoli cheese soup is to use a block of Velveeta-- a far cry from "real" cheese.  This recipe, uses all real ingredients, and resulted in a wonderfully smooth and cheesy goodness that even a toddler should have a hard time turning down.  In this recipe you also get to learrn fancy terms like roux, bechamel, and mornay. 

Smothered Pork Roast with Blackened Tapenade Potatoes

* We linked this post at Simple Lives Thursday at GNOWFGLINS and at Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade *

I woke up this morning to a great blanket of fog covering the pasture. There's nothing like a foggy morning to make you want to slow down and enjoy life a little more, and this dish is perfect for that.  The pot roast cooked for nearly eight hours, until it was fall-apart tender and covered in a thick, oniony gravy packed with flavor.  I made the potatoes on a whim, because we've managed to deplete our stock of greens.  They came out really good, I'd definitely recommend trying this one!