Prune Danish? with Orange Cream

I had to bring a dessert for the same aforementioned book club
so I made this simple prune danish type thing, but you could make
this with any dried fruit you like

I took a puff pastry out to thaw...and yes, I used a premade
frozen variety.

I put some prunes into a sauce pan with a sprinkling of sugar
and orange juice. I reduced it down to a spreadable fruit filling.
Then I filled half of the pastry, folded it over, sealed it, egg
washed it and baked it to a golden brown.

I topped it with a orange cream mixture which is so yummy that people
will be begging you to bring it to every event. Just don't tell
them how easy it is, and you will be the reigning champ for years
to come. I've made this in several flavors; chocolate, lime, lemon,
orange....and I'm sure you can come up with more. It is great on
pastries of all kinds , in between cake layers, as a fruit dip...
and just to eat plain.

Take some room temp cream cheese, nufschatel or marscapone and beat
until smooth. Add your flavoring(zest, nesquick, liquor) and a little
sugar and beat some more. Also, beat some heavy whipping cream
in a cold bowl till it is fluffy. Fold it all together. Yummy!!
You adjust the sugar accordingly-

Have fun at all your summer cookouts with the special cream and a danish
or two!

Luxurious Leek Soup

Sorry it has been so long since my last post, but you know
how it is...Life gets in the way-

Here is a great recipe that my sis used for book club last
weekend. She had to have a written out recipe....for a lot
of leeks. So as I was looking something up for her, I saw a
7 onion baked soup....of course I changed it around and this
is what we got! Yummy! Everyone raved!

We rinsed and sliced lots of leaks. Cooked them down in butter
until soft. Added flour to coat. Sprinkled with salt and a generous
amount of pepper. By this time the flour was starting to stick a
little to the bottom of my soup pot, so why not throw in some
chardonay? Reduced it down to almost nothing....then we added
generous amounts of thyme a huge bay leaf and chicken stock.
Brought it to a boil, reduced the heat and cooked it for about 30 min.
Then we added cream...till it looked wonderfully creamy. I think
I added a little more pepper, then hit it with my immersion blender
till smooth ( you could also do this in a processor).

We served it with crispy bacon crumbles, grated parmesan
and chopped chives.

Could have been served at a 5 star spa in Nevada!