I am going to attempt a blog post in under 10 minutes. That's the story of my life. I never seem to be able to stay in one place for very long. I always have to be somewhere doing something other than what I would really like to be doing, which would be sitting on the couch like a vegetable ... or a potato... but I digress. I am going to write this recipe for seriously good vegetable soup (or so Ali called it today) so I can remember it again. Try it!
Seriously Good Vegetable Soup
1 lb. ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
4-5 med. carrots, sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 lb. fresh green beans, cut in 1-2 inch pieces
2 handfuls of baby spinach/arugala mix
1 can cannellini beans
1 can kidney beans
1 can garbanzo beans
2 cans fire-roasted tomatoes
4 cups beef broth
1 t. salt
1/2 t. black pepper
In a large pot, brown the ground beef until no longer pink. Add in the onions, carrots and garlic and saute until the onion is tender. Add in the green beans, tomatoes, beef broth and 2 tomato cans of water (about 3-4 cups), salt and pepper and cook until the carrots are tender. Add the beans and the greens and cook until everything is heated through. I cooked some ditalini pasta and served the soup over the pasta, so it was like minestrone.
Trust me, it's good. 8 minutes down, I gotta run!
Until next time, stay cool/warm, well-fed and loved, my friends!
Showing posts with label soup. Show all posts
Showing posts with label soup. Show all posts
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Southwestern Black Bean Soup - It's a Cheerleading Competition Kinda Day!
It's been a busy week. I wish I had time during this last week to post a few recipes, but it was not meant to be. I think last night was the first night that I was home all week. I feel like I wake up in the morning and hit the ground running, barely having time to grab a cup of coffee before I have to head out the door. Kami's birthday was on Monday and she turned 14. I remember being pregnant with her - it feels like it was just the other day. It is hard to believe that God has blessed us so tremendously with her. For those of you who don't know her story, here are a few highlights:
In early June of 1996 I found out I was pregnant for the 3rd time. It was a bit of a surprise - ask David. he didn't want to even talk about it for almost 2 months. At the same time I had been experiencing some stomach pains. We went on a family vacation and while we were gone I had a horrible attack of abdominal pain. When we got home I went to the doctor. They did tests, blood work, ultra-sound... all showed nothing. He said it "sounded like" gallstones, but they saw nothing. He advised me to go on a fat-free diet and rest as much as possible. If it WAS gallstones, they wanted to wait until after I had the baby to do any kind of surgical procedure. On July 3 I was in the emergency room and headed for surgery. There were 15 stones in my gallbladder and I had already passed 13 that were lodged in my bile duct. I spent 2 weeks in the hospital at which time they thought I may be miscarrying... but that did not happen, thankfully.
I have horrible morning sickness issues. Both of my other pregnancies landed me either in the hospital (Ali) or sent me to an outpatient clinic a couple of times for IV fluids because of severe dehydration. This one was no different and I begged for fluids at home instead, which the doctor allowed. David learned how to change the fluid bags and a home health nurse came in frequently to help. I was pretty sick... it went on for about 8 weeks (nothing to eat or drink) and I developed a pseudo-cyst on my pancreas - think pancreatitis pain and throwing up all the time - so NOT fun! Back to the hospital I went. I had not eaten for 8 weeks, so needless to say my body was depleted of all nutrients. It took 2 weeks of a variety of fluids as well as 2 or 3 blood transfusions before they would even consider surgery... still pregnant and about to hit my 2nd trimester. I spent another month in the hospital after the surgery before I begged to go home. They did. The doctors said that because of all the radiation I had, the baby would have developmental delays, possible learning disabilities, etc. What do they know?? :) Kami was born 4 weeks early, walked at 7 1/2 months, is brilliant, an incredibly talented cheerleader/tumbler and so full of energy and spunk, you would never know she had gone through so much before she breathed her first breath. Thank you God for blessing us so richly!!
So... today we are off to the World Spirit Association's competition at David Lipscomb University. Kami's squad is competing for the 5th time this year. Please let them win it!! Soup will be waiting in the crockpot when we get home! YUM!
BLACK BEAN SOUP
1 lb. dry black beans, soaked over night
1 med. onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 c. diced carrots
1 can fire-roasted tomatoes
1 can whole kernel corn
5-6 cups chicken broth (homemade from the freezer!)
1 t. cumin
1 T. chili powder
1 t. salt
1/2 t. black pepper
Soak the beans overnight or bring to a boil, boil 2 min. then turn off heat, cover and let sit for an hour. Add to crockpot with all remaining ingredients. Cook on low for 8-10 hours. Enjoy :)
That was quick, but yet again, I have to hit the ground running! If I had celery, I would have put that in too. Until next time, stay warm and loved, my friends!
Go STARS!!
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Kale Soup - The Portuguese Way
Yesterday I posted a Portuguese recipe for cabbage rolls. That is just one of the Brasells family traditional recipes, with a few little additions of my own (I can't help it). My sister-in-law, Beth, knows all about the history of the Brasells family... how they came over from the Azores, where they had migrated from Portugal to escape the Spanish Inquisition, how they changed the original spelling of their last name from Barcellos to Brasells, which family members came, who got mad at whom and never spoke to them again (I almost imagine those grandmothers of old spitting and casting an old Portuguese curse, lol)... I just have a couple of recipes. I hope those continue on in the Brasells family. Nate is the only boy of the only boy of the only boy of his great grandfather, so he is the one to carry on the family name in this particular line. He can cook - I hope he passes this one on to his children... and has a couple of boys, instead of just one :)
PORTUGUESE KALE SOUP
1 med. onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 beef soup bone, shank or other
2 t. salt
2 cans kidney beans
2 bunches Kale, cleaned well and chopped
6 potatoes, peeled and diced
1 head cabbage, shredded
1 lb. linguica, sliced
1 lb. elbow macaroni, cooked
In stock pot, place onion, garlic, soup bone and water to cover. Bring to a boil and simmer until meat on the bone is cooked through. Add kale and cabbage, and return to a boil. Simmer until kale and cabbage is about half cooked, then add linguica, potatoes and kidney beans, cook an additional 30 minutes until potatoes are tender. Serve over elbow macaroni.
David likes to cook the macaroni in the soup, but for me, I do it separate. When you eat the leftovers, and there WILL be leftovers, the macaroni tends to absorb all the broth and get too mushy for my liking, so I keep them separate. Do it either way you like it. Also, I prefer to eat it up as opposed to putting this on in the freezer since freezing cooked potatoes is not a good idea either - they get all grainy.
Today is Pepperoncini Pulled Pork in the crockpot :) Doesn't that sound yummy!!
Big snow heading to the Midwest - missing us, thankfully!!
Until next time, stay warm and loved, my friends!!
PORTUGUESE KALE SOUP
1 med. onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 beef soup bone, shank or other
2 t. salt
2 cans kidney beans
2 bunches Kale, cleaned well and chopped
6 potatoes, peeled and diced
1 head cabbage, shredded
1 lb. linguica, sliced
1 lb. elbow macaroni, cooked
In stock pot, place onion, garlic, soup bone and water to cover. Bring to a boil and simmer until meat on the bone is cooked through. Add kale and cabbage, and return to a boil. Simmer until kale and cabbage is about half cooked, then add linguica, potatoes and kidney beans, cook an additional 30 minutes until potatoes are tender. Serve over elbow macaroni.
David likes to cook the macaroni in the soup, but for me, I do it separate. When you eat the leftovers, and there WILL be leftovers, the macaroni tends to absorb all the broth and get too mushy for my liking, so I keep them separate. Do it either way you like it. Also, I prefer to eat it up as opposed to putting this on in the freezer since freezing cooked potatoes is not a good idea either - they get all grainy.
Today is Pepperoncini Pulled Pork in the crockpot :) Doesn't that sound yummy!!
Big snow heading to the Midwest - missing us, thankfully!!
Until next time, stay warm and loved, my friends!!
Monday, January 31, 2011
Mexican Chicken Stew
Yesterday was one of those fairly relaxing Sundays. Ali was home and her friend Jessica stayed the night. They went to the cheer competition with us and then they took Kami and Nate up to see Tangled. The movie didn't start until 9:45, which happens to be about my bedtime, so I decided I would stay home. After church we had a quiet afternoon. David and Nate painted the ramps to the newly refurbished trailer that David has been working on, Kami took a nap and Ali and Jessica looked online at apartments and Westmoorland terriers. Oy! I decided to get dinner going early since I had to take the two younger ones to youth choir at 4 and needed it pretty much done so David just had to add the finishing touches before we got home to eat.
This is one of those happy disasters. I had every intention of making the Chicken Stew recipe from Christy Jordan's Southern Plate cookbook. Even got the chicken going in the pot. Then I realized that my bag of potatoes only held 2 small red potatoes - that wasn't going to cut it. Oh, and Zippy has been enjoying the daily carrot treat, so my bag of carrots was down to two, too... (haha! not sure if I have ever done that before - used all three spellings of that word in succession) So, I had to switch gears and got out another starch, a box of Quick Barley that I had bought because I wanted to try something new... and had yet to try it out. So last night was the night. I remember cans of Campbell's Beef and Barley soup when I was a child. I liked it then, so why not now. Barley is kind of like rice - a starchy grain that gets a bit puffy when it is cooked. When I started adjusting the stew recipe, I decided I would go in the "Mexican" direction with the seasonings and added beans and ended up with a very delicious stew. When I use whole tomatoes I usually take the lid off of the can and then use a serrated steak knife and stab all of the tomatoes several times so they don't squirt their juices everywhere. Then run my knife through the inside of the can to try and cut up the tomatoes a bit while they are still in the can. If I am going to cook something for a couple of hours, they will continue to break down, this just gets them started. If I leave them whole, they will just stay that way. It is a keeper recipe, for sure. I hope you enjoy it!
MEXICAN CHICKEN STEW
1 3-4lb whole chicken
2 med. onions
2 T. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 28oz can whole tomatoes
1 14 oz. can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
1 can small red beans (or black if you like)
1 1/2 c. frozen corn kernels
1 c. quick barley
1 T. cumin
1 T. chili powder
2 t. salt
1/2 t. black pepper
In a large pot place the chicken and enough water to cover it on high heat. Bring the water to a boil and then reduce the heat to medium, cover the pan and allow to cook on a low boil for 45 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. You know it is cooked all the way when you grab the leg and it basically falls off the chicken (grab it with tongs...boiling water is a bit rough on the hands). Remove the chicken from the pot and set aside until it is cool enough to handle and then remove the chicken from the bones (I like big pieces, as you see from the picture) and set meat aside for later. Skim as much of the fat off the top of the broth and reserve 6 cups of the broth (I put the remainder into a plastic container and freeze for future use in soups, rice, potatoes... lots of things). In the same pot heat the oil and saute the onion until translucent. Add the garlic and saute just another minute - be careful not to burn the garlic or it will be bitter and ruin the entire dish. Add in the broth, tomatoes and seasonings. Test the broth at this point to be sure it tastes good. You may need to adjust the salt and may have to add more later especially after the beans cook later. Bring this all to a simmer and cover. Allow this to simmer for about an hour then stir in the corn, beans, chicken and barley. Check the seasonings. This will need to simmer for another 30-45 minutes until the barley is soft.
I put some garlic bread under the broiler and we had a tasty stew for dinner. Plus I have some broth for something else later this week or month. With the exception of the barley, it is all ingredients that you either have or probably normally buy. I would encourage you to give it a try.
Today is an essay-grading kinda day. The couch and my red pen are both calling me. Until next time, stay warm and loved, my friends!
This is one of those happy disasters. I had every intention of making the Chicken Stew recipe from Christy Jordan's Southern Plate cookbook. Even got the chicken going in the pot. Then I realized that my bag of potatoes only held 2 small red potatoes - that wasn't going to cut it. Oh, and Zippy has been enjoying the daily carrot treat, so my bag of carrots was down to two, too... (haha! not sure if I have ever done that before - used all three spellings of that word in succession) So, I had to switch gears and got out another starch, a box of Quick Barley that I had bought because I wanted to try something new... and had yet to try it out. So last night was the night. I remember cans of Campbell's Beef and Barley soup when I was a child. I liked it then, so why not now. Barley is kind of like rice - a starchy grain that gets a bit puffy when it is cooked. When I started adjusting the stew recipe, I decided I would go in the "Mexican" direction with the seasonings and added beans and ended up with a very delicious stew. When I use whole tomatoes I usually take the lid off of the can and then use a serrated steak knife and stab all of the tomatoes several times so they don't squirt their juices everywhere. Then run my knife through the inside of the can to try and cut up the tomatoes a bit while they are still in the can. If I am going to cook something for a couple of hours, they will continue to break down, this just gets them started. If I leave them whole, they will just stay that way. It is a keeper recipe, for sure. I hope you enjoy it!
MEXICAN CHICKEN STEW
1 3-4lb whole chicken
2 med. onions
2 T. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 28oz can whole tomatoes
1 14 oz. can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
1 can small red beans (or black if you like)
1 1/2 c. frozen corn kernels
1 c. quick barley
1 T. cumin
1 T. chili powder
2 t. salt
1/2 t. black pepper
In a large pot place the chicken and enough water to cover it on high heat. Bring the water to a boil and then reduce the heat to medium, cover the pan and allow to cook on a low boil for 45 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. You know it is cooked all the way when you grab the leg and it basically falls off the chicken (grab it with tongs...boiling water is a bit rough on the hands). Remove the chicken from the pot and set aside until it is cool enough to handle and then remove the chicken from the bones (I like big pieces, as you see from the picture) and set meat aside for later. Skim as much of the fat off the top of the broth and reserve 6 cups of the broth (I put the remainder into a plastic container and freeze for future use in soups, rice, potatoes... lots of things). In the same pot heat the oil and saute the onion until translucent. Add the garlic and saute just another minute - be careful not to burn the garlic or it will be bitter and ruin the entire dish. Add in the broth, tomatoes and seasonings. Test the broth at this point to be sure it tastes good. You may need to adjust the salt and may have to add more later especially after the beans cook later. Bring this all to a simmer and cover. Allow this to simmer for about an hour then stir in the corn, beans, chicken and barley. Check the seasonings. This will need to simmer for another 30-45 minutes until the barley is soft.
I put some garlic bread under the broiler and we had a tasty stew for dinner. Plus I have some broth for something else later this week or month. With the exception of the barley, it is all ingredients that you either have or probably normally buy. I would encourage you to give it a try.
Today is an essay-grading kinda day. The couch and my red pen are both calling me. Until next time, stay warm and loved, my friends!
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
BLT Soup
January 5, 2011
A BLT has to be one of the all-time favorite sandwiches, next to PB&J. Is it because it is a sandwich titled by initials? I doubt that - it has to be the bacon!! Everyone knows that everthing is better with a little bacon thrown in! This soup started out as a recipe for tomato soup that I think I found either on a V-8 bottle or Knorr Vegetable Soup box... maybe... But I have been making it so long from memory, and adjusting it to the family's tastes that it is not the original, so I claim it as my own. With the additions that I have made, you will see that it is simply a BLT in soup form. The lettuce has been replaced with chopped spinach (use fresh if you want) because cooking lettuce in a soup is just gross in my book, and the mayo has become some heavy cream. Grill up the cheese and enjoy it this winter! Variations follow.
BLT SOUP
1/2 lb. bacon, diced
1 lg. onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 c. V-8 juice
1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
1 14 oz. can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
3-4 c. chicken or vegetable broth (depending on how thin you want the soup)
1 10 oz. box frozen chopped spinach, thawed
1/2 - 1 c. heavy cream
salt/pepper, to taste
seasoned croutons (optional)
parmesan cheese (optional)
In large stockpot, saute bacon until crispy and remove from pot, leaving the drippings behind (about 2 T). In the remaining bacon drippings, saute the onion until translucent and then toss in the garlic for 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes, juice, broth and spinach, simmering until everything is hot. Add salt and pepper to your taste. Just before serving stir in the cream and the reserved bacon. Do not allow to boil after adding the cream. Top with croutons and parmesan, if desired.
Variations:
Tomato Soup: leave out the bacon and spinach. Adding the cream will make it creamy tomato soup.
Vegetable-Beef (or Turkey) Soup: Brown a pound of ground beef (or turkey) in place of the bacon. Saute 2 diced carrots and 2 stalk celery with the onion. Add a bag of frozen mixed vegetables (or can of Veg-all) or any frozen/canned vegetables that you like with the spinach and simmer until heated through. Add in the browned beef and leave out the cream.
ps. I sent the BLT soup recipe to Rachael Ray a couple of years ago and she ignored it :( Her loss - although it better not show up on one of her shows or in one of her books as HERS!! :)
A BLT has to be one of the all-time favorite sandwiches, next to PB&J. Is it because it is a sandwich titled by initials? I doubt that - it has to be the bacon!! Everyone knows that everthing is better with a little bacon thrown in! This soup started out as a recipe for tomato soup that I think I found either on a V-8 bottle or Knorr Vegetable Soup box... maybe... But I have been making it so long from memory, and adjusting it to the family's tastes that it is not the original, so I claim it as my own. With the additions that I have made, you will see that it is simply a BLT in soup form. The lettuce has been replaced with chopped spinach (use fresh if you want) because cooking lettuce in a soup is just gross in my book, and the mayo has become some heavy cream. Grill up the cheese and enjoy it this winter! Variations follow.
BLT SOUP
1/2 lb. bacon, diced
1 lg. onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 c. V-8 juice
1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
1 14 oz. can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
3-4 c. chicken or vegetable broth (depending on how thin you want the soup)
1 10 oz. box frozen chopped spinach, thawed
1/2 - 1 c. heavy cream
salt/pepper, to taste
seasoned croutons (optional)
parmesan cheese (optional)
In large stockpot, saute bacon until crispy and remove from pot, leaving the drippings behind (about 2 T). In the remaining bacon drippings, saute the onion until translucent and then toss in the garlic for 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes, juice, broth and spinach, simmering until everything is hot. Add salt and pepper to your taste. Just before serving stir in the cream and the reserved bacon. Do not allow to boil after adding the cream. Top with croutons and parmesan, if desired.
Variations:
Tomato Soup: leave out the bacon and spinach. Adding the cream will make it creamy tomato soup.
Vegetable-Beef (or Turkey) Soup: Brown a pound of ground beef (or turkey) in place of the bacon. Saute 2 diced carrots and 2 stalk celery with the onion. Add a bag of frozen mixed vegetables (or can of Veg-all) or any frozen/canned vegetables that you like with the spinach and simmer until heated through. Add in the browned beef and leave out the cream.
ps. I sent the BLT soup recipe to Rachael Ray a couple of years ago and she ignored it :( Her loss - although it better not show up on one of her shows or in one of her books as HERS!! :)
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