Chicken Soup

... I didn't actually meal prep this weekend.  We have 3 lunches leftover from last week because of various lunches provided at our workplaces, and we had enough leftovers from dinner last night for 3 more lunches.  And I only need 2 lunches for work this week because we get out at 10 on Wednesday.  So Coby can enjoy some Taco Bell a time or two, and I can make him sandwiches for any other days that he needs lunch since I won't be at work...

I made a giant pot of chicken soup on my snow day off from school last Monday, so I decided to post that this week in place of my normal meal prep post.  I used this recipe from Dishes and Dust bunnies for general guidance.

Chicken Noodle Soup.  Goes well with bacon.

Buy a whole chicken.  4-6 ish lbs is good, ours was 5.8 lbs.  Remove the packet of I-don't-want-to-know-what from the stomach cavity and toss it.  Rinse off the bird and place it in the bottom of a 12 qt stock pot.  Cover with water.  Bring to a boil, let boil for a few minutes, then turn the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 2 hours.  When the meat is starting to come off the bones, remove the chicken from the pot and pull the meat off the bones.  (Coby did this part for me while I was out losing my mind running the 1.1 mile figure 8 loop around our neighborhood for 8.5 miles because it was too snowy to run safely anywhere else.) Return all of the meat and the leg bones to the pot. 

Chop and add a few carrots, about 1/2 onion, a cabbage, a big handful of mushrooms, and a bunch of celery.  Add basil, garlic, and oregano, and salt to taste.  Bring to a boil for a few minutes, then turn back to low, cover, and cook for 2 more hours. 

I cooked up some egg noodles separately and have been adding them to a bowl and then pouring soup over them each time I've eaten the soup.  It also goes great with grilled cheese sandwiches. 

You will have enough soup for many, many meals.  Last time I made this, I froze a bunch of it.  And had enough broth leftover after eating all the substance out of the soup that I could use it to make a few batches of risotto.  This time...we might just eat it until it's gone.  We're about to go on week 2 of soup for dinner and it's so delicious we don't mind.

Corn-Tomato Chowder

I eat so few canned or processed foods anymore.  The only big exception is the canned tuna that has become a lunch-staple this year.  (I have recently started mixing boiled eggs into my tuna salad so that maybe I will give myself slightly less mercury poisoning...) But I still haven't moved away from cans when I'm making chowder. And I probably never will.  Besides, I don't really have anything against canned food, other than fresh is always better, especially taste-wise.  I do always compare labels before choosing my cans.  Generally whichever one has the lowest sodium content is the winner.  I don't care what everyone tells me about how I'm a runner and I need lots of sodium and it is impossible for me to consume too much.  I beg to disagree.  I drastically reduced my sodium intake a few years ago, and I have definitely felt better ever since.  But I digress.

I wanted to cook something different tonight. Yesterday was a snow day.  This morning the roads were too icy for school, so we lost another day. I really needed an extra day of weekend last weekend.  I don't particularly feel the need for 4 days stuck in the house this weekend, but oh well.  At least I'm getting out for a run every day.  Anyway, I just spent two days cooped up in the house and the most exciting thing I made was a gouda omelette.  Exciting, but not particularly time-consuming or blog-post-worthy.

Corn-Tomato Chowder

3 large carrots, chopped

1/2 head of garlic, minced

olive oil

ginger powder, turmeric powder, smoked paprika, oregano, sea salt

1 can yellow corn 

1 can creamed corn

1 can tomatoes (mine were basil/garlic/oregano)

1 can evaporated milk

Put the carrots, garlic, and a few tablespoons of olive oil into a dutch oven.  Cover on medium heat and let the contents steam for a few minutes.  When the carrots are no longer hard, remove the lid and add seasonings, to taste. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally until the mixture has thickened (oil has been absorbed, water from the steam has evaporated).  Add the corn and tomatoes.  Stir well, then let simmer for 5-10 minutes.  Add the evaporated milk, stir well, simmer for another 5-10 minutes.  

I added some quinoa, shrimp, and mushrooms to my bowl of soup for dinner this evening. 

And some avocado of course, but I forgot to add that til after I was done with the camera.

Pumpkin Soup

1 medium pumpkin

3 carrots

1/4 sweet onion

4 cloves garlic

1 inch ginger root

vegetable stock

heavy cream

1/2 stick butter

sea salt

sage powder

Remove seeds and gunk from inside of pumpkin.  Slice off the skin.  Cut flesh into chunks.  Chop the carrots into chunks.  Steam the carrot and pumpkin chunks with the butter and approximately 1/2 c of veggie stock.  When veggies are soft, add 1 1/2 or 2 cups of heavy cream, a bit more veggie stock, and sage.  Let simmer.  Chop the garlic and ginger and brown in some olive oil, then add to soup pot.  Do the same with the onion.  Use an immersion blender to blend the soup til smooth.  

Chop a parsnip and brown in olive oil to put on top of the soup if desired. 

Immersion Blender!

I just bought myself a new kitchen toy that has made soup-making sooooo much easier.  

I've been planning to make carrot-ginger soup for awhile now, but it's usually such a pain, I was dragging my feet about making it, even though I was craving it.  But then I ordered an immersion blender and it came yesterday.  So tonight I made my soup.  Cooked everything, threw it all in a pitcher, and blended it smooth.  So much quicker and easier than processing it cup by cup in my food processor.  Also, the immersion blender is so easy to clean!

Olive oil, 2 inches of ginger root, 1/2 yellow onion, garlic powder, mustard powder, splash of veggie stock.

9 carrots, steamed with 1/2 stick butter, a bit of water.

When the carrots were soft, I poured the entire contents of the pot into the larger pot with the onions, etc.  Then I added 1-2 cups of heavy cream and a bit more veggie stock. 

I let it cook for a few minutes, then I spooned it into a pitcher.

Then I put my new toy to work.

Yes, I made soup in a green drink pitcher.  

The instructions for the blender said tall and thin containers work best. 

I decided this was the best thing I had.

Deliciousness.

Carrot Tomato Soup

I had some leftover tomato paste from the chili I made on Thursday, and I have been wanting to make some variation of my Carrot-Ginger soup, so I decided to make a Carrot-Ginger-Tomato soup.  

Today was a good day for soup making.

1:00

 4:00

 view from my kitchen window:

INGREDIENTS

4-5 cloves garlic

large chunk of ginger root

1/2 sweet onion

10+ carrots

5 radishes

4 sticks of celery

tomato paste

1 can diced tomatoes

veggie stock

water

seasonings

DIRECTIONS

I minced the garlic and ginger, then browned them in olive oil.  While they were browning, I cleaned and chopped the carrots.  The carrots went into a soup pot with 1/2 stick of butter.  When the garlic/ginger was browned I added it to the soup pot.  Put the lid on the soup pot and turned the burner onto medium heat.  While that was steaming, I chopped the onion and put it in a skillet to brown in olive oil.  Meanwhile, I chopped the celery and radishes.  I added veggie stock to the soup pot as needed.  I added turmeric, mustard powder, tarragon, and oregano to the soup pot.  When the onions were browned, I added them to the soup pot, along with 1 cup of water.  I added 3 spoonfuls of tomato paste, some veggie stock, and 2 more cups of water.  I sauteed the celery and radishes in the skillet, then added them to the soup pot along with the can of diced tomatoes and some more veggie stock.  

lots of ginger!

I got squirted in the eye while I was peeling it...ouch!

deliciousness

Corn-Veggie Chowder

This is some kind of a hybrid between corn chowder and vegetable soup.  

And it's pretty delicious.  

Like everything else I make.

Peel 2-3 yukon gold potatoes and boil them.

Mince 5 cloves of garlic and a large chunk of ginger root.  Chop 1/4 of an onion.  Brown them in a dutch oven with a few tbsp of butter and some olive oil.  When they start to turn brown, add 4 chopped carrots, 1/4 c veggie stock, and 1/4 c water.  Chop a big bunch of brussels sprouts, add them as well.  Add seasonings to taste, more veggie stock, and more water.  Cook for a few minutes.  Add one 15 oz can of corn and one 12 oz can of evaporated milk.  Simmer for awhile.  

When  the potatoes are done, mash them with butter, milk, salt, oregano, and shredded cheese.  Add them to the soup.  Stir well. 

Eat. 

Enjoy.

Brussels Sprout Soup

I was perusing the produce section of Kroger yesterday morning and the brussels sprouts caught my eye.  I may or may not have ever gotten brave enough to try a brussels sprout before, but I know they're really good for you.  And I've heard recently that they are only nasty when you boil them, and that they are actually quite good if you bake them.  So, I said what the heck and bought a package of them.  I saved a few to bake later in the week, but most of them went into the soup I made today.  Which I just put away in the fridge even though I still haven't taste-tested it.

I didn't really measure most of the vegetables I used, but I'll make guesses for you...

Brussels Sprout Soup

1 stick of butter

4 c water

1 c veggie stock

3 c brussels sprouts, quartered

3 carrots, chopped

a bit of chopped onion

2 c chopped cabbage

garlic cloves to taste, minced

ginger root, grated

1/2 c quinoa

2 b/s chicken breasts, poached & shredded

seasonings to taste

steam the veggies and butter in a large soup pot

brown the garlic & ginger in some olive oil, then add to the soup pot

when the veggies are soft, add the water, veggie stock, and seasonings

add the quinoa, cook til done

add the chicken

Carrot-Pumpkin Soup

Snow Day today!  The forecast was so bad, school was called off before anything started falling from the sky.  But there was ice raining down by 10, and the snow started sometime after 1 and accumulated very, very fast.  I decided the weather called for a batch of soup.  

Carrot-Pumpkin Soup

8 medium carrots

1/4 small onion

1 inch ginger root

1/4 c pumpkin

5 small cloves garlic

vegetable stock

water

mustard powder

sage powder

3 tbsp butter

olive oil

Chop the carrots, grate the ginger, and put them in a large soup pot with the butter and a little bit of water.  Cover and steam.  Add some veggie stock when the carrots are almost done.  

Remove from heat when done.  

In a separate pan, saute the onion (chopped) and the garlic (minced) in olive oil.  

Put the carrots in a food processor and blend til smooth.  Set aside.  Put the onions/garlic into the large soup pot with c 2 cups of veggie stock and 1 1/2 c water.  Add the mustard powder, sage powder, and pumpkin.  Stir well.  When the soup is simmering, add the carrots.  Stir well, bring to a boil, let simmer for awhile. 

Goes well with Cider Rolls.  I added about 2 tsp of cinnamon to the recipe today.  

So delicious. 

Sopa Verde

The majority of my soups have a mashed vegetable of some sort in them.  This soup has mashed broccoli.

As a disclaimer...this is not the most attractive looking soup.  Nor is it the tastiest soup.  However, if you really, really, really, like green vegetables...you just might enjoy this soup.  

This soup was one of the many things I made during my cooking frenzy last week.  I didn't write down anything that I did and the details are kind of fuzzy now, so I'll just have to do my best to recreate it here.

Ingredients

(amounts approximate)

 2 cups chopped broccoli

1/2 cabbage, chopped

1 1/2 c chopped asparagus

3 stalks celery, chopped

1/4 sweet onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup cous cous

butter

bacon grease

veggie stock

water

seasoning to taste

(I don't remember what I used...thyme & sage maybe?

Cook the onions on low heat in bacon grease, stirring as necessary.  Add the garlic when the onions are browned.  Meanwhile, steam the broccoli in a soup pot with butter.  Add some veggie stock if the broccoli starts to stick. When it is soft, put it in a food processor until smooth, then set aside.  Put the asparagus, cabbage, and celery in the soup pot with some butter/bacon grease and steam.  Add veggie stock as needed.  Add the onions and mashed broccoli.  Season to taste.  Add water and veggie stock to achieve desired consistency.  Add slightly more water than you think you want.  When the soup is thoroughly blended/cooked, add the cous cous and cook til soft.  

To be perfectly honest, I did not particularly enjoy this first taste of the soup. 

It may or may not have anything to do with the fact that I don't particularly like broccoli or asparagus.

However, I made a big pot of this green goop, so I've been eating it.  I think it did taste better after the flavors had time to blend together in the fridge for a few days.  

Pumpkin-Carrot Soup

October 30th, 1st snow day of the '12-'13 school year.  It feels so wrong to have a snow day before Halloween and while the leaves are still colorful. 

Not that I'm really complaining about having a day off...but still.  It's weird.  

Of course I needed to play in the kitchen to kill some time today.  I have to work at the bakery at 3:30, but other than that my day was wide open.  

I decided to do some surgery on my jack-o-lantern and make pumpkin soup.  

Here you can see the difference between a section that had surgery and one that didn't.  I ended up cutting out 2 cups worth of pumpkin chunks.  Could have gotten a lot more but I didn't want to spend all day dissecting the pumpkin.  

PUMPKIN-CARROT SOUP

2 heaping cups of chopped pumpkin

3 large carrots, chopped

1/3 onion, chopped

3 large stalks of celery, chopped

4 radishes, chopped

1 tbsp bacon grease

olive oil

1 tbsp mustard powder

8 cloves garlic, minced

1 inch ginger root, minced

2 1/2 c water

1 c chicken broth

salt

1/2 c quinoa

Steam the pumpkin and carrots with the bacon grease, some olive oil, and a dash of salt.   When the pumpkin/carrots starts to cook down and stick to the pot, add the chicken broth, mustard powder, ginger, and garlic. When the veggies get really soft, mash them with a potato masher.  Cook some more, then remove from heat and put the mixture in a food processor, then return to the pot and heat.

Cook the onions in some olive oil in a separate pan. When the onions have browned nicely, add the celery and radishes to the pan with some more olive oil.  Let cook for awhile.  When the celery is soft, add to the pumpkin/carrot pot along with 1 c water.  Cook for awhile, add the rest of the water, and add the quinoa.  Cook til the quinoa is done.  

Tuna-Cucumber-Gouda Melt & Pumpkin-Carrot Soup