Cream of Celery Soup

It was an interesting Thanksgiving around here.  My daughter had started out the week with a stomach bug.  And several people came down with it throughout the week.  It was a bummer.  When you are hosting Thanksgiving and having people stay at your house- the last thing you want is for everyone to get sick.

Then I tried the recipe of doing the turkey in parts.  It sucked.  I may try it again with a small turkey at some point because I really feel like it should have worked.  I wonder what I did wrong.  Really my brined turkey is MUCH better.  Maybe it was the fact that there was so much in the oven.  Maybe it totally messed up the cooking times, etc.  I kept taking the birds temp.  I had the white meat in one roasting pan and the dark in another. 

I did try my friends idea of making the mash potatoes early on in the cooking process and keeping them warm in a crockpot.  The only thing is- is that you can't keep them in there too long before dinner.  I would say an hour, max, because the moisture comes out and they begin to harden up.

All in all I feel like the only thing I loved about the dinner was my cranberry relish.

But I remain very grateful for all my blessings- family being the greatest of them!

So, while I don't have any rave reviews of my Thnaksgiving dinner- I will say this soup is pretty good.

Cream of Celery

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup flour
1 medium onion chopped
1 quart celery broth (see note)
6 stalks of celery
1/2 cup instant mashed potatoes (optional for thickening)
1/2 cup half and half

Melt butter in a stock pot.  Add flour once butter is melted.  Cook the butter for about two minutes.  You want it to be golden.  Add celery broth, whisking constantly to incorporate flour into liquid.  Add the chopped onions and celery.  Bring to a boil.  Cook for 30 minutes.  Add 1/2 cup of half and half. Heat until just before it boils.  Blend soup and strain.  Add instant mashed potatoes if a thicker soup is desired.

Note:  I used some hard celery ribs that had a very strong celery flavor.  I had bought some celery root and the stalks were still attached.  I boiled them in water for about an hour with some celery. I ended up with about a quart of broth.

*This is a very delicate flavored soup.  I might try adding some celery seed the next time I make it.  I would put it in tea bag or coffee filter - tied up so I could pull it out when I was done with the cooking process.