Move over Martha, there's a new girl in the kitchen!

As we attempt to go greener in the kitchen, I've been trying to use up all of the wayward items in our cupboards. We're slowly diminishing the number of (BPA lined) canned food, and boxes of random side dishes. I have to say, much like purging belongings you no longer love, or clothes that no longer fit, it feels just as good to get rid of some of the pre-made, prepackaged, who-knows-what's-in-it food that doesn't quite fit in your life anymore.

As the only veggie eater in the house, I've been guilty of eating half of something, then allowing it to die a slow death in the fridge. I love squash and zucchini, but a girl can only eat so much of it in one week before it goes to mush. As I've said before, I'm not really the master chef, so I don't automatically think of other things to do with it. I know how to cook it one way, and that's pretty much what I stick to.

Well that was the old me!

Mr. Greenhab brought home a few bunches of asparagus last week when they were on sale at the grocery store. They (conveniently) didn't have tags on them when they arrived home, but I'm assuming they were not locally grown. He can be quite sneaky sometimes.

We ate one bunch steamed with kosher salt and lemon pepper, as we always do. But who wants that twice in one week? So I channeled my inner Martha, grabbed Oskar (that's him on the right) and actually made my very first no-recipe-make-it-up-as-you-go dinner!

On hand I had some local potatoes and onion, a bit of leftover squash and zucchini, and the asparagus. Mr Greenhab doesn't really love squash and zucchini, and Grandma Greenhab just likes the potatoes, so I had some disguising to do. Here's basically how it went:

Creamy Potato Asparagus Soup Surprise

1 bunch of asparagus
1/2 onion
6 small potatoes
whatever other leftover veggies you want to sneak in
4 cups water
chicken bouillon
1 cup milk
1/2 cup flour
4 tbsp butter
salt & pepper

• Clean, peal & cut potatoes. Boil them in the 4 cups of water in a large pot. I added 3 chicken bouillon cubes as well. Once they were tender, but not mushy, I turned the heat down to low.
• Steam the asparagus for a few minutes, then run it through the food processor until smooth. Add to potatoes.
• I put the onion, squash & zucchini in the food processor together and processed until it was chopped fine enough to be indistinguishable. Add to the potatoes and asparagus.
• Cook all on low for 15 - 20 minutes. (I added the butter in here at some point, but I'm thinking you could leave it out?)
• Mix flour & milk together, bring soup back up to a low boil, and slowly pour in flour/milk while stirring.
• Turn back to low and allow to thicken for a few minutes.
• Season with salt & pepper as needed.

I served this with shredded cheese and homemade croutons on top. Although I made the entire meal with food already in our house, I would say it cost about $6.00 to make, all included, and fed 4 adults and a child, plus enough leftovers for 2 lunches. Not bad!

And did I mention they even commented on how good it was!? Leftover Surprise Dessert didn't go over as well...but we won't talk about that. I'll revel in my dinner success a little while longer.

This post is my submission for Thrift Green Thursday. Visit their website for more thrifty green ideas!