Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups skim milk
• 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 4 medium leeks, halved lengthwise

• Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease a 9x12 inch baking pan.
  2. Melt butter over low heat. Stir in flour until smooth. Gradually stir in milk and cheese until cheese is melted. Season with garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Remove from heat. Arrange the leeks in a single layer in the prepared pan and cover with the cheese sauce.
  3. Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until leeks are tender and sauce is bubbly.

Ingredients

• 4 large red beets, trimmed
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoons chopped leek
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 5 bay leaves, broken in half
• 1 pinch ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/8 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 pinch ground cinnamon
• 1 pinch ground cumin
• 1 pinch dried tarragon

• Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Wrap beets in foil.
  2. Bake the beets until tender, about 1 hour; allow to cool, then peel the beets. Cut them into bite-size chunks.
  3. Heat the olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat, and cook the red onion, leek, and garlic until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Pour in the vegetable broth, and mix in the beets, bay leaves, cinnamon, salt, black pepper, oregano, basil, cinnamon, cumin, and tarragon. Bring the soup to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer, and cook until the flavors of the bay leaves and spices are blended, 20 to 25 minutes. Pick out bay leaves.
  4. Ladle about 1/4 of the beets into a blender, and add soup liquid as needed to fill the blender about 1/4 full. Hold down the lid of the blender with a folded kitchen towel, and carefully start the blender, using a few quick pulses to get the beets and broth moving before leaving it on to puree. Puree the beets until smooth, and pour back into the soup.

1 1/2 pounds fresh asparagus, trimmed and cut into 2 1/2 in pieces

1 leek, sliced

6 cups water

1 tbs. olive oil

1 tbs. unsalted butter

1 onion, chopped

2 1/2 tbs. long grain white rice

Salt and pepper taste

1/2 tbs. lemon juice

Directions

1. In a large stockpot, combine the water or stock, asparagus ends and separated leek greens. Heat over low heat and allow to simmer while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
2. In a medium saute pan, heat the butter and oil. Add the leek ‘whites’, onion and rice and cook until the onion begins to color (about 8 minutes). Add 1 cup of the warm stock and cook 10 more minutes.
3. Strain the stock of the asparagus and leek ends and return to the stockpot. Add the contents of the saute pan to the strained stock along with the asparagus middles and partially cover the pot. Cook 12 more minutes.
4. Transfer soup to a food processor and puree. Strain this back into the stockpot. Season and add salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste. Meanwhile, drop the asparagus tips into boiling salted water and cook until tender (about 4 minutes). Serve the soup with a few asparagus tips on top for garnish.

(Source: allrecipes.com)

Ingredients:

4 leeks

2 tbs. unsalted butter

2 cups, washed, dried and chopped mustard greens

2 tbs. vegetable broth, or as needed

Salt and pepper, to taste

2 tbs. grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Trim leeks so that about 1 1/2 inches of green leaves remain, and slice the leeks in half lengthwise. Separate leaves and pull the leeks apart to rinse away any dirt and sand in the layers, then chop leeks into 1 1/2-inch pieces.
2. Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat, and cook and stir the leeks until they begin to separate and soften, about 5 minutes. Stir in mustard greens, and pour in enough chicken broth to just cover the bottom of the pan and prevent leeks from browning. Cook the leeks and mustard greens until the greens turn bright green and start to soften, another 2 to 3 minutes. Season to taste with salt andblack pepper, and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.