Roasted Bell Pepper Soup

This was really tasty. I modified a recipe from the complementary Lunds & Byerly's Real Food magazine. This recipe is perfect for meatless Mondays! The acidity reminded me a lot of my favorite Tomato-Basil soup.

Ingredients:
1 T olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cups roasted red peppers (from jars)
1 cup vegetable broth
1 T honey
1/2 cup sour cream or crème fraiche (plus more for garnish)
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
dash of salt
1/2 cup fresh basil (roughly chopped or julienned)


Saute the onion with heated oil in a Dutch oven for five minutes. Toss in the peppers (drained) and vegetable broth. Cook for 10 minutes in a covered Dutch oven on medium low heat.

Next, blend in a food processor or blender. Once pureed, put the mixture back in the Dutch oven on low heat. Add in the honey and sour cream (or crème fraiche). Mix well with a spoon or whisk.

Serve warm with the fresh basil and a dollop of sour cream (or crème fraiche) in each bowl. The basil was really delicious in this soup.

Creamy Morel Mushroom Soup

The sauteed mushrooms were great, but I wanted to try making a soup with the freshly picked morels. Again, you'll want to really clean the mushrooms and soak them in salt water for about an hour.

I modified this morel soup recipe here.

Ingredients:
3 medium potatoes (or 2 large), peeled and halved
1 leek, cleaned and sliced (toss the dark leaves)
2 cups water
2 T butter
2 cups fresh, chopped morels
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup white wine
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup heavy cream


Start by adding the sliced leek, halved potatoes, and the water to a soup pot or Dutch oven. Boil for 25 minutes or until the veggies are tender.


While you wait, in a frying pan or cast iron skillet, heat your butter on medium heat. Then, add your chopped morels and salt. Keep mushrooms moist with dashes of wine. Keep stirring. Then, after 15-20 minutes, mix in the chicken stock.


No, go back to the leek and potatoes. Those can be blended in a blender or food processor. When smooth, return the mixture to the Dutch oven or soup pot. Then, toss in the morels and liquid. Simmer for 10 minutes, and then finally add heavy cream. Stir.


Season with salt and pepper. Serve!

Sweet Potato Soup

I found this delicious recipe on another food blog called Very, Very Good.

View the full recipe here --> Sweet Potato Soup with Nutmeg, Maple Syrup, & Bacon

I followed this recipe exactly- with the exception of using a Dutch oven instead of a stock pot. It was very sweet and yummy. Can you ever go wrong with BACON?

Spicy Shrimp Noodle Bowl

I'm SO excited to be going to Thailand in just a few short days here.  In fact, I haven't felt this amount of anticipation and excitement since the Christmas mornings of my youth.  Anyone else remember waking up at an ungodly hour (4:45 am) and laying there in bed waiting sosososo patiently for your parents to hurry up and get up?  There are PRESENTS to be had here people!  Get to gettin'.

Either way, my excitement lead me to prep a Thai shrimp noodle bowl from Cooking Light's October 2010 issue.

Spicy Shrimp Noodle Bowl as adapted

• 1 pd tail on shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 2 cups water
• 2.5 cups low sodium chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
• 1 8 ounce bottle of clam juice (if you can't find this, I just subbed in equal amounts chicken broth)
• 2 1/4 in slices peeled ginger
• Olive oil
• 1 sliced red bell pepper
• 1 small onion, diced
• 3/4 cup sugar snap peas
• 2.5 teaspoons chili garlic sauce
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3 ounces uncooked rice sticks
• cilantro
• lime wedges

The biggest pain in the neck on this recipe was the shrimp.  I had purchased what I thought was a stellar deal on shrimp from whole foods, but let me tell you, there's certain a price for convenience.  Ever time I use these shrimp, I have to spend a painstaking amount of time shelling them and then deveining them.  Total buzz kill.

Here we go!  Start with ripping all the tails of of your shrimp and chopping up a few medallions of ginger.  You dont' need alot - but both of these ingredients are going to add to the richness of the broth you are going to create.

And add in your broth, water and clam juice (if you found at the store).  Bring to a boil and them simmmmmeerrr on low for about 10 to 15 minutes. 

Once the broth is going, start slicing up all your veggies, if you haven't done so already.  Throw the onion and peppers into a sauce pan with a bit of heated EVOO and start sauteing.  Keep the heat low as you don't want your onions to burn, you just want to soften them.



Before Saute

After Saute

Once those are nicely sauted, add in the broth mixture (be sure to scoop out the tails and the ginger medallions first!), your shrimp, sugar snap peas and the rice noodles.  Allow to simmer until the shrimp are fully cooked and the noodles are soft.  When it's ready to serve, add in the chili garlic sauce (more if you like it HOT, HOT, HOT).   

Sprinkle with a bit of cilantro and give yourself a pat on the back.  This is incredibly low cal, fresh and filling.   

I hope every meal I eat in Thailand is 5 times better than this - but obviously, it's nice to be able to create at home!

Butternut Squash Spicy Bisque

This recipe is for people who can handle heat!

This recipe is modified from a recipe that I tore out of a magazine. It looks like the recipe was strangely part of a Kahlua ad.

Ingredients:
1 large or medium butternut squash
3 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 cup celery, chopped
3/4 cup carrots, chopped
1 medium white onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
6 cups chicken broth
3 heaping teaspoons of green chiles from a can of chopped green chiles
2 tablespoons of hot sauce
1/2 cup sour cream
Coarse salt
Black pepper

Start by preheating the oven to 400. Halve the butternut squash lengthwise. Be careful with your knife. I've had a few close calls when cutting squash. Remove the seeds, and set them aside for later. Remove the pulp and throw it in the garbage.

Grease a Dutch oven or baking dish with one tablespoon of olive oil. Flat side down, place the squash in your dish. Stab the skin of the squash just like you pierce a potato with a fork. To roast the squash, put it in the oven for 45 minutes.

Let the squash cool. Remove the flesh and set aside. Don't burn your fingers.

In your Dutch oven or other pot, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil on medium heat. Add in the celery, carrots, and onion. Tenderize these veggies. This will take 10-15 minutes. Now add the minced garlic. Saute for three minutes. Then, add flesh of the squash. Stir well and add chicken broth. Boil, and then reduce the heat to low until the vegetables are tender. This will take about 30 minutes.

While you wait, toast the squash seeds on medium-low heat in a small pan. Let the seeds toast for about 30 minutes. Salt the seeds.
Take the soup off the heat to cool, and use an immersion blender or food processor to blend the soup. After all of the soup is blended, add 2 teaspoons of the chopped green chiles and 2 tablespoons of hot sauce. Mix well.

In a separate bowl, mix 1 teaspoon of the chopped green chiles and sour cream. Season with salt and black pepper.

Serve the soup. Throw a dollop of the sour cream/chiles mixture into each bowl (mine sunk) and garnish with the toasted seeds.This was quite delicious in a spicy, flavorful way.

Crock Pot Wild Rice & Ham Soup

I'm sure you're not surprised to hear that I'm still obsessed with soups. :) This recipe is delicious and low in calories.

This recipe is modified from another Betty Crocker soup magazine.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups diced ham
3/4 cup wild rice
1 medium or large white onion, chopped
1 cup carrots, julienned
2 cups chicken broth
3 cups of water
1 can of cream of celery soup (about 10.75 oz)
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 cup half and half
1/2 cup cashews, halved
2 tablespoons sherry
1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped

Start by greasing your 4-quart slow cooker with oil or cooking spray. Toss in the ham, rice, carrot pieces, chicken broth, water, cream of celery soup, and pepper. Cook covered on low for 7-8 hours.

Mix in the half and half, cashews, sherry, and parsley. Turn up the heat to high, and let these ingredients blend for 15 more minutes.Serve!

I will definitely be making this again.

Chili Blanco

This is a really flavorful chicken chili recipe. It was perfect for a Sunday afternoon.

I found a recipe in a Betty Crocker soup magazine, and a slightly modified version is below.

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large white onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1 tablespoon ground cumin
2 cups of cubed chicken breast
1 can great northern beans (15 oz)
1 can cannellini beans (15 oz)
2 cups (16 oz) chicken broth
2 cans of chopped green chiles (4.5 oz cans)
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

This recipe gave me another opportunity to use my beautiful Dutch oven. First add oil to a dutch oven at medium heat. Toss in the chopped onions and garlic. Cook for 5 minutes, and when the onions are soft, add the salt, cayenne, cumin, and cubed chicken. Stir, and brown the chicken. The chicken doesn't have to be cooked through at this point. After about 7 minutes add in the beans, broth and green chiles.

Cover and let simmer on medium-low heat for 25 minutes. At that point, check to make sure that the chicken is cooked through. Add the cheese and cilantro, and serve!

Cuban Black Bean Soup

I bought a new soup magazine, and the recipes all look pretty awesome. I started by making the Cuban Black Bean Soup (p. 80). This recipe is low fat and does not have any meat. The recipe does call for beef-flavored broth OR vegetable broth. I used beef broth because that's what I had in my cupboards.

This recipe gave me the opportunity to to cook with dried beans. My friend Amanda & some friends on Twitter have given me a lot of advice on dried beans. There advice mostly consisted of "let them soak for a lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnggg time." This recipe also gave me the opportunity to use two new toys! My sister gave me an immersion blender for Christmas. It was a GREAT gift.

The other toy is a new Dutch oven. I splurged and bought it at an outlet mall. Isn't it pretty?
Remember how I said that I was told to soak the beans for a long time? Well, the recipe only called for 1 hour after boiling and 2 hour with some of the other ingredients. I was very skeptical of this. I let the beans soak overnight in the fridge, and I'm very glad that I did. On the flip side, oversoaking beans can lead to fermenting.

Ingredients:
2 2/3 cups dried black beans
2 T vegetable oil
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 onion, chopped
3 cups of beef broth
3 cups of water
1/4 cup dark rum
1 t liquid smoke
1 1/2 t ground cumin
1 1/2 t dried oregano
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 tomato, chopped

Rinse the beans. After soaking the beans for at least overnight, put the beans in a 4 or 5 quart Dutch oven. Cover the beans with water and boil, uncovered. Then, remove from heat, cover, and let stand for one hour. This is where I'm really glad that I purchased my Dutch oven. I used to try to do these things with a stock pot, and it just never worked out.

Drain the liquid and remove the beans. In the Dutch oven, now add oil on medium heat. Toss in the garlic and onions. Heat until tender.

Add the rest of the ingredients and the beans. Boil for two minutes. Cover and reduce the heat to low. Simmer for two hours. Then, make sure that the beans are tender. Dried beans take patience.

Now I used my fancy new immersion blender to smooth the mixture. You could use a blender or food processor. Once the soup is smooth, serve!

I really liked the unique taste of this soup. It was really different and almost peculiar. The liquid smoke added a lot of character. I recommend serving this soup with a grilled cheese.

Serenity in your kitchen means that you're okay when the magazine photo looks like this:...And your soup looks like this, but it still tastes delicious:

Lasagna Soup Deliciousness

I have tried a ton of awesome soup recipes, and this lasagna soup recipe was definitely one of my favorites. It also made for AWESOME frozen leftovers which I was cautious about. I'm going to make it again this weekend when we are in northern Wisconsin.

I slightly modified this Lasagna Soup Recipe from an awesome blog, A Good Appetite. Go check out that blog. It's also on our list of "What we are reading.." on the right menu.

It seems like a lot of ingredients, but it's actually a lot of stuff that you probably already have.

Ingredients:
1 lb hot Italian sausage (If you can handle it, otherwise wimp out and get the medium)
3 garlic cloves, chopped

1/2 cup onion, chopped

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried basil

2 teaspoons of kosher salt

pepper
1 tablespoon of tomato paste
2 cups of crushed or diced tomatoes (I used some that I had leftover in the freezer)
2 cup chicken stock

2 tablespoons sherry
1 cup milk
1/4 cup of grated Parmesan
1 cup ricotta

6 lasagna noodles

When I first made this recipe, I didn't have a Dutch oven. This week, I bought a Dutch oven, and I'm elated to use it in the future.

For this recipe, you certainly can use a Dutch oven, but you could also use a stockpot. Start by browning the sausage. After the sausage is browned, set it aside, but continue using the pot/Dutch oven for the next step. Toss in a little olive oil and tenderize the garlic and onions.

Then, add the oregano, basil, salt-n-peppa, and tomato paste. Cook these ingredients for a few minutes before adding the tomatoes. Simmer for 15 min.

In another big pot, start boiling water for the lasana noodles. Cool the noodles until your desired tenderness. I'm an al dente girl, but it's kind of irrelevant in a liquidy soup, especially when frozen. Drain the noodles.

Go back to the simmering mixture. Now, it's ready to be blended. My sister gave me an immersion blender for Christmas, and I can't wait to try it with this recipe! After this mixture is blended, put it back in a pot on low heat. Add in the chicken stock, sherry, and milk. Then, add the Parmesan and ricotta. This makes for an odd texture. At first I didn't like the texture, but I grew to love it. You'll want to melt these ingredients over the low heat, but they'll never total become smooth. The texture will always remain.

Finally, add the sausage and noodles.

Serve alone. I wouldn't add crackers or any garnishes to this soup. It's a meal in itself. Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Tomato Rotini Soup

Want to wake up, throw some ingredients in a pot and arrive home 8 to 9 hours later to a delicious home cooked meal?  Below is the simplest soup recipe... if you mess this up - I suggest you plan to live on take out for the rest of your life.

Slow Cooker Tomato Rotini Soup:

• 4 cups vegetable or chicken broth
• 4 cups tomato juice
• 1 tablespoon dried basil leaves
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 2 medium carrots, sliced (about 1 cup)
• 2 medium stalks of celery, chopped (about 1 cups)
• 1 medium onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
• 1 cup sliced mushrooms
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 can (28 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 1/2 cups rotini pasta (about 4.5 ounces)
• Shredded Parmesan cheese, optional.

Four Steps:
1 - Chop ingredients

2 - Throw in a crock pot, set for 8 to 9 hours on high

3 - come home from work, add pasta.
4 - Cook for 20 to 30 minutes on low and serve.

I forgot to take a picture of the finished product.  What I can tell you is that I added WAY too much pasta.  I did much closer to the whole box (okay, fine, I did the whole box) and the result is less soup like and more pasta like.  It's still soupy - like a minestrone in both flavor and consistency - but the pasta was overkill.  I should have stuck to the recipe.

Also - it makes about 1,000 servings.  My freezer is filled with tupperware of this soup and I've eaten it for lunch for three days in a row now.  It's very good - but next time I would half the recipe.  My freezer isn't that big!

Turkey soup for your turkey leftovers

I whipped up a soup with the Thanksgiving turkey leftovers. I did a quick inventory of the BF's fridge and came up with this concoction. It was very delicious and flavorful. The dill added a unique flavor twist.

Ingredients:
4 cups (32 oz) of chicken broth
About 1/2 cup of chopped green pepper
2 baby red potatoes, peeled and cubed
½ cup corn (frozen)
½ cup of chopped onions
Pepper
Salt
2 cups of turkey (roughly chopped)
1 tablespoon of dill

Start by bringing the broth to a boil in a big pot or Dutch oven. Next, I added about ½ cup of chopped green peppers. I used some that we had in the freezer from the BF’s aunt’s garden. (If you are a wimp about spices, I would wait to add the peppers toward the end of the recipe. I think that the recipe was quite spicy because I added the chopped peppers at such an early stage. ) Toss in the cubed potatoes, corn, and onions. Season with salt and pepper. Let it simmer for about 15 minutes.

Next, I added the turkey and dill. I let it simmer for about five minutes. Check the turkey to make sure that it’s warm, and serve!

French Onion and Mushroom Soup

From the looks of it, our lovely readers might think I only eat soups.  I swear, I do eat other things - but soup has just felt so right for my soul lately.  I'm not making Campbell's just add a can of water soups either.  These are hearty, filling, healthy soups.  Perfect for freezing.  Perfect for taking to work and eating at lunch.  Clearly a meal on it's own.  And unlike many of the canned soups, I know that my soups aren't filled with preservatives or sodium.

Many people focus on limiting fat and calories in their diets, but sodium is a surprising health concern as well.  That and it makes me bloated.  As I get older, I noticed my body react more and more to excess salt in my diet. The day after a salt filled meal?  Forget about form fitting.

French Onion and Mushroom Soup with Gruyere toasts:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 8 cups vertically sliced yellow onion (about 2 pounds)
• 5 cups sliced shiitake mushroom caps (about 10 ounces whole mushrooms)
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 thyme sprigs
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 (14-ounce) can fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
• 1 (14-ounce) can fat-free, less-sodium beef broth
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• Toasts:
• 12 (1/2-inch-thick) slices French bread baguette, toasted (about 6 ounces)
• 1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated Gruyère cheese
• 1/4 cup (1 ounce) crumbled Gorgonzola
• 1/2 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme

To begin, heat oil in a large a large pan and caramelize the onions.  The recipe from Cooking Light calls for the use of a Dutch Oven, but I don't have one of those, so I made due with, oh, only about three pans.  

It's an onion soup, so there are a LOT of onions to be caramelized.  Needless to say, I had to properly vent the kitchen so that my entire apartment didn't reek of onions.  Go ahead and caramelize these slowly.  It will take some time to get them to a nice golden brown.  Cook on high until tender, then reduce heat and slowly cook 40 minutes or so.

While these are browning up, chop up your mushrooms.  The recipe calls for Shiitake mushrooms, but I am on a budget, so I used regular old mushrooms.  Once your onions are set, throw in the mushrooms and saute until tender.  

Still in garlic and thyme and keep on saute-ing.... at this point, your kitchen probably smells amazing.  My entire studio did at this point... and it wouldn't be a bad thing, until I woke up at 3 am.  Let me tell you how those same smells are not as appetizing in the middle of the night.

After a few minutes of saute-ing, add the white wine.  I went cheap, cheap, cheap on the wine.  I didn't think there was a need for anything fancy.  Maybe there was.  Maybe this soup would have been even tastier with better wine and fancier mushrooms.... you let me know.

If you're using a frying pan, transfer to a saucepan and add in the broth.  I used more than the recipe called for because the broth didn't seem to be enough.  You could also add a cup of water if you only have just enough broth.  Simmer on medium low for about 30 minutes - be sure to stir frequently.

Shred up some Gruyère cheese and slice some French baguette.  The soup can be finished in two ways - either top the baguette with cheese and put in the oven to brown and melt the cheese.  Or you could toast the baguette in the toaster, top with cheese and melt in the microwave.  

Either way, ladle some soup into a bowl and top with baguette and cheese and serve.

Isn't the thyme a nice touch?

*Note - this is a light recipe, so while it's flavorful and delicious, it's not as rich as French Onion soups you might otherwise make.