Eating Normal Recipes

Tangy Potato Soup Recipe

2/4/2023

It was super cold the first week of February in Northeast Wisconsin, and all I wanted was a good bowl of soup. I had plenty of individual servings in my freezer, but I had potato soup on my mind. This recipe utilizes one of the hacks I learned from a pinterest recipe ages ago on the stovetop instead of the crock pot: save money and skip the cartons of whole milk and heavy cream by buying a block of cream cheese instead!

The mirepoix that went through the food processor brings additional flavor and fiber to the soup without adding too much cost. Feel free to substitute water for chicken stock. Buying all of the ingredients aside from pantry staples such as olive oil, you can make this soup for less than 10 dollars and have veggies for more uses afterward!

I used bouillon cubes to create my stock, but homemade stock will always be better.

Spiced Spinach & Artichoke Dip Recipe

11/30/2022

Football season is halfway through, and that means that we’re going to need appetizers for the folks getting together to root for the Packers in this trying time. I’ve put together a spiced Spinach and Artichoke Dip that requires minimal effort on the part of the host. Mix, toss it in the oven, and profit!

This recipe can be doubled or even tripled depending on the football party you’re throwing, and we are working on other recipes to utilize leftovers if you over prepare. Have no fear, this dip can go places. If you make too much for the party, you can twist it into a variety of different dishes. Stay tuned to our instagram and tiktok to see what we do with it!

Sage and Turkey Gravy

11/23/2022

The last Christmas I shared with my ex-husband’s family, I took charge of making dinner for us. His sister had missed out on Thanksgiving due to catching COVID, so Christmas dinner was a Thanksgiving dinner. This turkey and Sage gravy was born from that day and a happy accident of adding more sage than I thought I needed to the gravy itself.

The key ingredient to this gravy is rubbed sage, which is in fact different than a traditional dried herb. The process to make it creates a fluffier texture in the herb itself, and some of that property seemed to transfer to the gravy itself. The best version of this recipe utilizes the drippings from your turkey, but if straining off the liquid from the bottom of your pan sounds like a chore, box stock will work just fine.

Notes:

Most commercial turkeys come with the neck inside the carcass. You can use this to make a small pot of stock on the back burner while you work on the rest of dinner. This can supplement your gravy if the drippings are not bountiful enough for a gravy. You can also use boxed stock. Most grocery stores are carrying turkey stock specifically during this season.
This gravy comes together quickly at the end of the meal. I recommend waiting as long as you can to make it.

Vegetable Soup Recipe

10/20/2022

If, like me, you’re alone in your home right now, this recipe freezes well. Use a souper cube to freeze leftovers or allow the soup to cool before scooping into quart sized bags. Squeeze out the air, seal, and freeze. I often find I can eat a quart of the frozen soup in a day on my own, and by doing that with this recipe, I enjoyed over six meals with it by myself.

This recipe is a base for using whatever you have in your fridge that simply needs to go. Greens like spinach or kale can also be added to make sure it gets a second chance as well. No white beans? Kidney beans or black beans will be fine. No fresh tomato? A can of diced tomatoes will render a similar amount of liquid as the large fresh diced tomato.

I also keep bouillon on hand to make some chicken broth for whenever I don’t have any homemade stock around. In these first few weeks alone, it’s been especially useful. I don’t eat enough meat to have the bones around for a good stock as often as I used to when feeding two people instead of one.

How do you make your vegetable soup? Share your own tips and tricks below!

Fried Cheese Curds

10/16/2022

It's football season-- and keeping with the promise of new content, we're going to aim for one game time recipe each week until football season is over. To ring in the new segment, here is our first quick snack: Fried Cheese Curds!

Serve alongside a cup of ranch and a cold beer to pray for a better Packers game next week.

Budget Red Sauce

7/21/2022

Meat is expensive. A pound of ground beef for a good meat sauce can be hard to justify in the current economy, especially if you’re cooking alone. Worry not– the Eating Normal Budget Sauce is here. The Italian Sausage cuts out the need for additional herbs, allowing you to focus your budget on core ingredients. Serve with long or short pasta.

What sauce you don’t use will freeze well for up to 2 months. We recommend freezing in individual portions. The sauce costs about 10 bucks to feed 4-6 people.

Lion's Mane Mock Crab Cakes

5/9/2022

A common substitution in restaurant crab cakes looking to serve vegan and vegetarian options is the Lion’s Mane Mushroom. We received one in our random box delivery from Produce with Purpose and decided to develop our own recipe to restart our market meals segment ahead of the Farmer’s Market Season. All fresh products in this recipe are from our friends over at PwP, but that is going to start to change as we have more access to local growers.

We will diligently record which vendors help us make these meals then– but until then, consider making these delicious Mock Crab Cakes with locally grown mushrooms!

The texture of the shredded Lion's Mane combined with panko breadcrumbs and egg matches exactly that of some of the best crab cakes I had while living in Delaware, and it will inevitably much cheaper than trying to source high quality lump crab from the Upper Midwest. Several Green Bay mushroom vendors during market season supply Lion's Mane Mushrooms if you're curious to try it for yourself once market season starts, or you can order from our friends at Produce with Purpose.

Just look at that mix. You'd never know!

Breakfast Potato Pancakes

4/15/2022

Looking for a recipe to start your day? Look no farther than these Breakfast Potato Pancakes that can be made with ingredients you likely already have at home. These potato pancakes are based on a common latke preparation, and they make for a hearty meal!

I'm not going to waste your time with a bunch of forward nonsense. Expand to see the printable recipe card!

Mushroom and Kale Soup

1/24/2022

Welcome to this week’s market meal: Mushroom and Kale soup. Our primary vendor is again Produce with Purpose out of the Revolution Market. This will be the case through most of the winter. I haven’t had a chance to make it to any of the other winter markets in the area yet. The only ingredient I did not purchase through this vendor is my dried shiitake mushrooms, which can be ordered through amazon or found at the grocery store.

This is served in the picture with a small piece of Publican Bread Co. 's ciabatta, which I toasted in some garlic and herb butter from Nordic Creamery to dip in the soup. The crust picks up the broth beautifully.

Prep Time: 10 Minutes | Cook Time: 1 hour | Serves: 6

Ingredients:

1/2 lbs mixed fresh mushrooms
20g dried shiitake mushrooms
250g water
7 Strips of Cherrywood Smoked Bacon
50g butter
½ large onion, diced
4 medium russet potatoes, peeled and chopped
2 tbs AP flour
4 cups chicken stock
1 cup whole milk
5 large leaves of dinosaur kale, stripped and chopped

Start by soaking your dried shiitake mushrooms in 250 grams of boiling water. Allow this to work while you prepare the rest of your ingredients.
Preheat a large dutch oven at medium heat and chop your bacon into your preferred bacon bit size. This is going to look like a lot of bacon. It probably will be. If you don’t use it all as garnish, save it for other uses. Render it out as much as you can. If the bottom of your part stars to gather a lot of fond, move your bacon to another pan. The bacon can take as much as twenty minutes to render, stirring frequently. Use the downtime to prep veggies.
Dice your onion, and prep your mushrooms while your bacon renders. To prepare the mushrooms, cut them in half before slicing thinly. The shiitakes should now be rehydrated. These can be chopped up and combined with the other mushrooms. Save the leftover stock.
Once the bacon is removed,add your diced onion to the pan with 50g butter. Allow to soften for about five minutes before adding your chopped mushrooms to the pan to render and cook.
Cook your mushrooms until they begin to darken and release their water. Add potatoes and 2 tbs flour. Mix and cook for about 3 minutes to allow the raw flour taste to cook out. Season with salt at this step.
Add your mushroom stock and chicken stock to the pot. Allow to boil for about twenty minutes. Once your potatoes have softened, ladle about 2 to 3 cups of your mixture into a high sided container. Using an immersion blender (or a normal blender), blend the mixture until smooth. This will help thicken the soup.
Return to the pot. At the same time, add your whole milk. Stir to combine. Allow to warm through while you prepare your kale. This is also a good time to adjust the seasoning before adding the kale. Once the kale is chopped, drop it into the soup and allow to simmer for about 3 minutes.
Serve with your bacon bits, mozzarella, and desired crunchy thing to taste.

Tips:

You can substitute the chicken stock for a store bought veggie stock to make the recipe fully vegetarian.
If you want to bulk it up a little more, we recommend fresh corn kernels added at the same time as the kale, or even beans! Play around and let us know what you come up with on your own.
Store in the refrigerator for three days or freeze for as much as six months.

Wisconsin Apple Cider - Recipe

1/14/2022

Some of our local markets, such as The Revolution Market in Green Bay, still have local apples available. As the weather grows colder, a delicious way to warm up is a hot glass of cider. If you’re like me, maybe you’ll drink it with a splash of whiskey. This treat will take some time to produce, but you can give it away as a late gift or bring it into the office for your coworkers if you don’t want to fill your fridge up.

The apples are sourced through Produce With Purpose, and the singular orange is through their connection in California. The rest is from the pantry. Sourcing local spices can be hard, but we’re making something tasty with local fruit.

The cider should hold in the refrigerator for about two weeks.

Ingredients:

8-10 apples, quartered
2 star anise, whole
4 sticks of cinnamon, whole
1 tsp cloves
1 tsp whole black pepper
1 tsp ground nutmeg
½ cup dark brown sugar
10 cups of water
1 navel orange, quartered

Quarter your fruits and measure out your ingredients. Add them all to a large pot, mix well, and bring to boil. Lower to a simmer and allow to cook, covered, for two hours.
Remove orange quarters after the first two hours have elapsed. Using a potato masher or a wooden spoon, break up the apples. Continue to cook for one more hour, uncovered.
Strain through a fine mesh strainer. Use your wooden spoon to mash extra liquid out of your apple solids. Do this in batches if you have a smaller strainer. Serve warm. Add 2 oz. whiskey or bourbon for a hot toddy.