spicy leek and potato soup
As you know one of my favorite things in the world is soup. One of my newest faves is an easy spin on leek and potato soup. I’m working on adding more veggies to my diet and having meatless meals more often, and this soup does both with making me feel deprived. It’s not really low calorie, but any broth based soup that fills you up is going to be lower calorie than most meaty meals anyway.
This one is super easy, and it’s a great way to use up leftover mashed potatoes. If you don’t want to make mashed potatoes just for this, you can use a small package of instant. Keep in mind I’m not so perfect with the measurements. More or less any of these ingredients won’t make much difference. Sweat your onions, not the small stuff.
- 3 medium leeks, cleaned and julienned
- 1 medium onion, finely diced
- about 1 cup mashed potatoes, or use equivalent instant
- 36-48 oz can chicken broth (less if you use real mashed potatoes, more if you use instant)
- 2 tbsp butter or olive oil
- Salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper to taste
- 1/4 cup any cream (optional)
I like my onions pretty well cooked (crunchy onions in soup = ewww!) so start sweating your onions in the butter or olive oil first. Don’t brown them, just make them translucent.
While those cook you can prep your leeks. I like to split them down the middle and finely julienne them so I have fairly small pieces. Then I put them in a big pot of water to soak. The leeks will float and the dirt that is always caught in them will fall to the bottom. Once they are clean just skim the leeks right off the surface of the water and put them in with your onions to cook down.
When the leeks and onions are both translucent you can add your broth, potatoes, and spices. If you like your soup a little creamier you can add some half and half or whatever you have on hand. Simmer for a few minutes, and it’s ready.
Note: I like my soup pretty spicy so I add about 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne, but you can skip that if you don’t want it hot.
Let me know if you try it! I’m going to have my leftovers right now…
apple picking
When I was growing up my family had a mini apple orchard in our backyard. I was spoiled with homemade apple crisp and applesauce throughout every fall. I’m not so lucky to have apple trees in my own yard now, or even enough sunlight to support them if I tried, but we do have lots of orchards in our area.
We went apple picking this morning, and it was a perfect day for it, cool, but sunny. When we got there, we decided to go check out one of the fields a little further away, assuming the close by trees would be fairly well picked over. It was a great decision! I’ve never in my life seen such huge gorgeous apples, nor trees so full of them.
Seriously, every single branch looked just like this one.
The woman working there said it was a bumper crop. Not only did the apples love the rainy weather we had in July, but the owners had brought in extra bees to help pollinate and boy did they ever pollinate! (Did you know there’s been a bee shortage in New England for the last few years?)
Btw, they taste as good as they look too. Those apples were truly glorious.
The scent of fresh cinnamon applesauce is permeating everything in my house right now. I bet if you scratch your screen you can sniff it. ;) I’m definitely making apple crisp later this week. Who’s coming over with the vanilla ice cream?
Filed Under blogging, food, life Tagged apples, cooking, food, life
simple egg drop soup
Some days I crave Chinese food in the worst way, especially the soups. Oh, how do I love hot and sour soup and egg drop soup. This is one of those days!
Instead of ordering out I make a simple, quick, and low calorie egg drop soup that is just as satisfying, and better for me, than the restaurant version.
Simple Egg Drop Soup
One cup of water.
One bouillon cube (Preferably low sodium because holy cow do you know one regular bouillon cube is almost half of your daily sodium allowance??!)
1/2 cup to 1 cup fresh bite size spinach - I use baby spinach so I can throw in the stems and all and I don’t have to tear it up.
1 large egg
Microwave the water and bouillon in a large mug 1-2 minutes until it’s boiling and bouillon has dissolved.
Beat one egg with a fork in a separate bowl.
Slowly slide the egg into the water (or equivalent broth) and stir gently. Add in the spinach.
The hot water will cook the egg and wilt the spinach perfectly!
Now enjoy your 84 calorie lunch!
By the way, you can replace the spinach with anything you prefer: diced scallions, julienned Chinese peapods, bean sprouts, cooked carrots, water chestnuts, kale, etc. I just happen to like spinach in my soups and generally have it on hand.
soup obsessed
I think I spent the whole day in the kitchen today. I bought some great pork ribs cheap yesterday along with a 4 lb chicken for 3 bucks!
I had the ribs in the oven by 9 this morning (3 hours on 250 = perfect ribs no matter what sauce you like on them) so we had our “big” meal of the day for lunch. I like to do that as much as possible, although it’s hard to do on weekdays. I just think we all feel better if we have our smaller meal at night.
I also roasted the chicken to make soup with. I used my new Pampered Chef dish that my friend Nicole gave me for Christmas - I seriously love it. An hour and a quarter on 400, (covered) and the chicken comes out gorgeous.
We’ve been on a soup kick around here lately. Partly because it’s been so cold and snowy (another 7 inches last night!!) that it’s nice to have a soup cooking all the time, and partly because we’re (always) trying to eat healthier. We seem to eat a lot more veggies, and much less meat when we have soup. I’ve been skipping the pastas more now and going for brown rice, barley, black beans, and quinoa in our soups. It’s a good way to get more whole grains and fiber in our diet without really noticing it.
I have a hard time digesting whole grains when they aren’t cooked well so I can’t really have most of the whole grain breads on the market. If you can see the seeds I can’t eat it. Same goes for pasta. The whole grain versions are really hard on me. The only one I can eat is Ronzoni’s Smart Taste, which is basically a white pasta with added fiber (6 grams per serving). I just wish they would make a frozen ravioli or tortellini out of it! We love cheese filled pastas but they are all seem to be made out of white flour so we don’t have them very often.
I find myself obsessively reading ingredient labels for fiber, protein and sugar content lately and I’ve noticed some interesting things. Since we cut white rice out of our diet I just bought whatever brown rice was on the shelf. Last weekend I had three different brown rice brands to choose from. A well-known brand that was the highest price, a never-heard-of-before brand that was the lowest price, and an organic brand that was mid range.
Automatically I chose that lowest price, because, of course, rice is rice is rice. Right? Wrong. The no-name was only 1 gram of fiber per serving. I just happened to glance at it and that really surprised me - I thought it would be more! So I looked at the top name brand - same serving size but it was 2 grams of fiber. Huh? Okay, so what was the organic? 3 grams! Weird isn’t it? I suppose that means the organic is less processed so more of the rice germ remains?
Apparently I need to learn more about buying organic, and I need to pay even more attention than I am. If that’s really possible.
Btw, I bought barley on the same trip and wouldn’t you know, it has 5 grams per serving! It’s slightly more expensive than rice but I guess it’s worth it.
Bored yet? I know I’m analyzing my food way too much. Hopefully I’m not the only one!
Anyway, I have my rice, barley, and veggies cooking right now, just waiting for me to throw in the chicken. That means I have to go tear apart that darn carcass. That’s the only bad thing about making soup!
So what are you having for dinner?
ps. Got a good soup recipe for me? Make sure you leave me a link in comments, I’m always looking for new soup recipes to try out. (As long as it’s not beef!)
Filed Under cooking, food Tagged cooking, food, groceries, shopping, soup
comfort food
It seems I’m not the only sick chick online. It truly seems everyone I know has a touch of something. At least bloggy friends can’t catch it from each other! I have enough potential germs flying at me from the schoolyard, I don’t need any more. ;)
So yesterday was one of those weird days where I didn’t need to cook for anyone else, but being hungry myself drove me to the kitchen. Sick boy just wanted frozen pizza, and sick husband just wanted to be left alone. Easy enough. So what to make for myself? What is the ultimate comfort food?
I used to think it was chicken noodle soup. Until I discovered risotto. Now when I have a cold I either crave hot & sour soup from the local Chinese place, or a big bowl of creamy garlicky risotto. Well, I just had hot & sour soup a couple days ago and all I could think about was that I had half and half in the fridge that I needed to use up and that I had all the other ingredients on hand. (Arborio rice, chicken broth, onions, garlic, butter, cream, parmesan cheese.)
When I went to bed last night, I could smell the garlic coming out of my own pores. That’s pretty bad. But oh, so very good.
What’s your ultimate sick day comfort food? I may need to cook something else today and I need ideas. That is, if someone will come clean my kitchen first.
it’s all about the pie
So this past Saturday I had committed to working at a bake sale for a local charity that I’m involved with. Well you can’t go work a bake sale and not bring something baked to sell! I knew others were bringing cookies so that was out. What’s even easier than cookies? Pie. Pumpkin pie is way easier than cookies! Apparently other people don’t think so though.
I brought six pies and I got a number of comments about how ambitious that was. More ambitious than dozens of cookies? No way!
Cookies have to be portioned out evenly on the pans so they all look the same. They have to be watched carefully as they cook or they’re likely to burn. They have to be baked in batches because there’s never enough room in the oven. You have to wash the cookie sheets in between batches since you never have enough of them. You never ever get to leave the kitchen when you make cookies.
Six pies? That’s just six pre-made crusts spread over six tin foil pans. A few ingredients all mixed together in the biggest bowl you have. All can be baked at once. All come out at the same time. Plus or minus a minute or two of cooking time won’t ruin them, and they take long enough to bake that you can go sit on the couch for a while! Easy peasy!
At least I thought so, until I got an email from someone who bought one, loved it, and asked if I would make more for her. Huh? She thought I did if for a living. Huh? It occurred to me that not everyone realizes how easy it is to make a pumpkin pie. Have they always just had the crappy ones from the grocery store and don’t know the difference? Seriously?
Have any of you never made a pumpkin pie?
If you haven’t you really should try it. Don’t worry about the crust. No one cares about the bottom crust anyway, just use the Pillsbury ones that you unroll out on to the pie plate. (Now pies with a top crust are different. You really need to make homemade crust for that. Sorry!) Pumpkin pie is all about the filling.
So here’s my recipe for easy pumpkin pie, adapted my way from the back of a can of pumpkin.
1 - 15oz can of pumpkin (do not use the One-Pie brand, only use plain canned pumpkin)
1 - 12oz can of evaporated milk
2 eggs
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tsp. vanilla (I use just a little extra - and I do use homemade vanilla so that makes a slight difference in taste.)
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
pinch ground nutmeg
dash ground cloves
Mix well with whisk. Pour into pie shell.
Bake at 450 for ten minutes then turn oven down to 350 for another 30 minutes. At this point it’s good to cover the crust with a little tin foil (or a crust cover if you have one) to keep them from over browning. I hate burnt crust! Keep baking for another 10-20 minutes - until you stick a fork in and it comes out clean, and it doesn’t jiggle. Really scientific!
Oh, and no, I didn’t bake more pies for her. I have to work on my real job so I sent her this recipe instead!
Filed Under cooking, recipes Tagged cooking, food, holidays, pie, recipes
tortilla soup
I haven’t posted a recipe in ages. I was typing up this soup recipe I created over the weekend and I thought it would be great for today’s post - it’s chilly and overcast out and a warm hearty soup is perfect.
This soup was good enough that DH wants to eat it a third night in a row tonight! I figured if we like it that might you might too.
Quick and Hearty Tortilla soup
1 package ground chicken or turkey
1 large (48 oz) box chicken broth
2 cups tomato juice
1 ½ cups cooked rice
2 tablespoons dry quinoa
1 package taco seasoning
1 can black beans, rinsed
1 can corn, drained, or use frozen
1 medium onion, chopped fine
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup diced celery
5 or 6 pepperoncinis, chopped fine, or other equivalent hot peppers
1 tablespoon minced garlic
chili powder
cumin
black pepper
lightly crushed tortillas
In soup pot, cook down carrots, celery and onion with a splash of olive oil. Add a tiny bit of broth as needed if it starts to stick.
In a separate pan, cook ground chicken or turkey with the taco seasoning, cumin, chili powder, and black pepper to taste.
As the veggies have cooked a bit, add corn, garlic, peppers, and black beans. When everything is hot through, add chicken/turkey mixture, tomato juice and chicken broth.
Bring to bowl, add quinoa and rice, and lower heat to a simmer for 20 minutes or until quinoa is cooked. Taste test for seasonings. Serve with crushed tortillas on top.
Btw, if you’ve never cooked with quinoa, you should really try it - it’s considered a super food and it’s a great way to bulk up a soup with extra fiber and nutrients.
Filed Under cooking, food, recipes Tagged cooking, quinoa, recipes, soup
suppertime, suppertime…
Over the weekend my partner in crime/friend Nicole gave us, yes, gave us (thank you, you crazy girl!), a barely worn patio set that we are quite in love with. For dinner last night I boiled up some fresh local corn on the cob and DH perfectly grilled some boneless pork chops, with our favorite bbq sauce. Sometimes the simplest dinners are the best, especially when they’re al fresco.
The boy certainly thinks so:
And George only wishes he was people too:
You should have seen him dart out of the woods when he caught wind of this. Poor George, his little sniffer was working overtime and I felt bad for him, right up until the boy “accidentally dropped” two pieces of pork on the ground. George is kinda happy now. So are we.
Bonus cooking tip: All you need to perfectly marinate your meat for the grill is some white vinegar. I put all the pork in a gallon size baggie with about a cup or less of vinegar and stashed it in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. You can still baste with your bbq sauce during the cooking process, but marinating in it ahead of time just wastes it. White vinegar is super cheap but will make your chicken or pork very tasty!
Filed Under cooking, family, food, the boy, the cat Tagged cooking, corn, food, pork, the boy, the cat
cooking, just for fun
You all know I like to cook, but when it comes to making meals day in and day out, it gets a little tiring. With no little one around this week relying on me for sustenance, I resolved to only cook what I felt like, when I felt like. That’s just what I did today.
I had two things in the pantry that I wanted to use up. A bag of hot dog rolls. Not yucky, but just a little dry and past their prime. Eh, If hot dog rolls really have a prime that is. I also had a can of condensed milk that was nearing it’s sell by date. Do those two things together inspire you? Make you think of anything?
How about bread pudding?
Specifically, caramel bread pudding:
Oh. My. God.
I sort of threw this all together, and it came out perfectly. Not one measurement was done in the making of this lovely concoction.
But I can make it up for it you if you really want me to.
- A bag of stale bread
- one can condensed milk
- about a cup or so skim or 1% milk
- about 1/3 cup cream
- about 2/3 cup brown sugar
- about 1/4 cup caramel (I used caramel ice cream topping)
Mix everything all together, put it in a 9×12 baking pan, and stick it in the oven for about 40 minutes at 350. You will not regret it.
Moving on. Do you remember the many pounds of strawberries I picked, cleaned, and froze?
Mmmmmmmmmmmm.
Did I ever mention we have a little Cuisinart ice cream maker? It’s pretty sweet. Heh.
We hadn’t used it in awhile, but knowing we had all those strawberries made us pull it out and get it going.
Can you say fresh, homemade, strawberry ice cream?
The recipe is straight from the Cuisinart recipe booklet.
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 cup milk
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 pint strawberries (I run them through my food processor - I don’t like huge frozen chunks.)
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
DH wants you to know the pudding and the ice cream were best together, although I preferred mine separate! I’m picky that way. He also thinks the pudding would be even better with chopped apples and some raisins. I hate raisins, but I agree that the apples would be fantastic.
No, we didn’t have a real meal today. Just dessert. And popcorn at the movie theater. Indy’s still hot, baby! I might need to go cool off with some more ice cream.
Filed Under cooking, food, recipes Tagged bread pudding, cooking, food, ice cream, recipes
Mmmmm, Guacamole
Since I’m still slammed with work this week (penguins are cute but they all start to look alike after awhile and I still have a long way to go) and I bet you are too, I thought I would post the absolute easiest recipe in my repertoire. This is the dish I always bring to parties.
Easy Guacamole
- 2 ripe avocados
- 1/4 cup sour cream (light or fat free work fine)
- 1/2 package of taco seasoning (I use Old El Paso 40% less sodium)
- 1/4 cup finely diced tomatoes (can also use equal amount of salsa from a jar)
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped onion or scallions (skip if using salsa)
- dash of lemon juice
- dash of hot sauce
Mash avocados very smooth. Add all other ingredients and mix well. Cover with saran wrap so it is touching the top of the guacamole (so it will not brown before serving.) Chill until ready to use. Stir again just before serving.
Now I’m craving some guac and chips! I hope you like it as much as I do!