Zuppa Toscana

A post...at last!

Wow, I just downloaded a batch of food blog pictures going all the way back to last February! I'm not sure I can remember what all went into those recipes, but I do hope to get a few new recipes up this year (rather than the one per year I've been averaging lately :/). This recipe comes from Budget Bytes, a food blog I like that posts easy, cheap, generally healthy recipes. I have modified the steps a bit, and the amounts, as I find that blogger tends to make her recipes on the smaller side, and we generally like to have left-overs. This soup is SO flavorful; this is quickly becoming one of my favorite cold night soups. This made enough for 5-6 hearty servings.

Ingredients
(Makes 5-6 large servings)
-4 hot Italian sausage links, casings removed (I definitely recommend getting "hot" or "spicy" for the flavor. The cream will help cool the spiciness down)
-6-7 red potatoes, washed and cut into bite size pieces
-one bunch of kale; wash, rip spines out (thanks to Amy for showing me this trick!), and tear into bite size pieces
-2 C cream or half and half
-one onion, diced
-4 cloves garlic, finely diced
-1 (15 oz.) can Great Northern beans, drained and rinsed
-½ tsp smoked paprika
-4 cups chicken broth

-salt and pepper to taste

Steps

1. Remove casings from sausages. Add a little EVOO to a large pot or dutch oven over medium heat. Add sausages and cook, breaking into small pieces as they cook.

2. Once sausages are mostly cooked, add in your onion and garlic. 

3.  Add the beans, smoked paprika, chicken broth, and half and half to the pot. Place a lid on the pot and let it come up to a simmer over medium heat.

4. Add your potatoes (cut up into bite sized pieces). Let the pot simmer over medium heat for about 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender.

5. Finally, add your kale and let cook under desired level of wiltiness. I cooked mine for about 5 more minutes.

6. Season with salt and pepper.

Hot & Sour Soup with Cilantro Noodles

I can't believe it's been 3 months since my last post! Fall semester was...crazy...but crazy in a good, busy way. Although I haven't been posting, we've still been cooking, and we have hit upon a couple awesome new recipes, so I'll try to get those up in the next coming weeks.

To start out the new year right, though, I wanted to post this recipe. It has quickly become my husband's and my favorite soup recipe. The broth is incredibly complex and flavorful and packs just the right amount of heat. This is the type of soup that will totally warm you up on a cold winter night. There are several ingredients, but because we cook a lot of Asian inspired food, we tend to have many of these on hand. But besides some chopping, this recipe is actually surprisingly easy, and with two people cooking it comes together in about 30 minutes.

(makes about 5 servings)
Ingredients
-8 C chicken broth (sub vegetable broth if making vegetarian/vegan)
-2 T brown sugar
-2 inches of ginger (~3 T), grated
-4 cloves garlic, minced
-1 T Sriracha
-4 C shredded green cabbage (about 1 whole small head)
-1 package sliced shiitake mushrooms
-1 package extra-firm tofu, diced
-1 red bell pepper, diced
-1 serrano chile, sliced
-1/4 C rice vinegar
-juice of one lime
-1 T cornstarch

Noodles
-3-4 package ramen noodles
-2 T minced shallots
-1/2 C fresh cilantro
-1 T sesame oil
-1 T canola or vegetable oil
-2 T soy sauce

Steps

1. Combine broth, brown sugar, ginger, soy sauce, garlic, and Sriracha, serrano in a large pot. Bring mixture to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer.
2. Bring another medium to large sized pot to boil with water, and cook ramen noodles for 3 minutes. Drain noodles and rinse with cold water.
3a. Add cabbage, mushrooms, tofu to soup and simmer for about 5 minutes.

3b. While the soup is simmering, add sesame and canola oil to the pot you boiled the noodles in. Get the oil hot, then add your diced shallots and saute for about 2 minutes. Then, deglaze the pot with the soy sauce, and add the noodles, tossing to combine. Once the noodles are done, add the cilantro, turn the heat off, and put a lid on the pot and set aside.

4. After the soup has simmered for 5 or so minutes, whisk together the rice vinegar, lime, and cornstarch. Add this to the soup to thicken it a bit. Boil the soup for another 1-2 minutes.
5. Serve soup with cilantro noodles and garnish with diced red bell pepper (my picture of the big soup pot shows the red pepper already added, but we've learned adding it in last keeps it nice and crunchy).

Tomatillo and Sweet Potato Soup

I had never cooked with tomatillos before, and then a friend made us some amazing enchiladas with a homemade tomatillo sauce. Soon after, I found and tried a store bought version of this soup that was so good I decided to try to recreate it at home. The end product was I think even tastier than the store bought version.

Ingredients
-10-12 tomatillos, husked and halved
-8 large cloves garlic
-6 large cherry tomatoes, halved
-1 red onion, chopped

-2 large or 3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into 1" cubes (I recommend using Japanese sweet potatoes, which are sweeter than regular ones, if you can find them)
-4 C vegetable broth

~3 T EVOO

- 1-2 C water (depending on how thick you want soup)
- salt & pepper (to taste)
-1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped 

-creme fraiche (optional, leave out if making it vegan)

-homemade cheesy croutons (optional, leave out if making it vegan)

Cheesy croutons

-Toss 4 slices of bread, roughly torn into bite size pieces, with 1 T EVOO. Toss again with shredded cheese and garlic powder. Toast at 350 until golden brown, stirring periodically.

Steps

1. In a large roasting pan, combine the tomatillos, garlic, and tomatoes and drizzle with about 2 T of EVOO. Then roast in the oven at 450° for about 35-45 minutes. 

2. While those are roasting, peel and chop up the sweet potatoes. Put the 4C broth in a large pot, and then boil the sweet potatoes in the broth for about 45 minutes. 

3. As your sweet potatoes and tomatillos are cooking, sauté onion in a little bit of EVOO for about 5 minutes or until golden. 

5. Once the tomatillos, garlic, and tomatoes are done, quickly blend in a blender or food processor. 

6. Add the blended tomatillo mixture and the sautéd onion into the pot with the sweet potatoes, and and season with salt and pepper. Let mixture simmer for about ten minutes, then mash up the sweet potato in the pot with a potato masher. At this point you can add more water if you'd like a thinner consistency. Additionally, if you'd like a smoother consistency you can blend everything with an immersion blender or transfer everything to a regular blender. I used an immersion blender. 

7. Serve with a dollop of creme fraiche and top with cilantro and cheesy croutons. 

The ODB Grilled Cheese

Little known fact: I used to be a big Wu-Tang fan---in fact, my 21st birthday was spent at a Wu-Tang Clan concert---hence the inspiration for the name of this sandwich. However, in the case of this sandwich, ODB stands for Onion-Dill-Bacon. This sandwich was incredibly flavorful, thanks to the caramelized onions (cooked in bacon grease :), and it was great paired with a bow of tomato soup.

Ingredients (makes 3 sandwiches)
-6 slices good bread (I recommend oatmeal)
-15 slices Dill Havarti cheese (5 per sandwich)
-6 slices bacon
-1 red onion
-Tomato soup (optional)
-3 T butter
-3 T mozzarella

Steps
1. Cook your bacon until crispy. Remove bacon slices and set aside, reserving bacon grease.

2. Thinly slice your red onion. Using your bacon pan with reserved bacon grease, saute the red onion for about 6 minutes on medium. Once the slices start to brown, turn down the heat to low-medium and cook onion slices for about 20 minutes or until caramelized. You'll want to watch them and stir them about every 30 seconds.

3. Butter the outsides of your bread. Layer the sandwich with the dill Havarti, bacon, caramelized onions, and 1 T mozzarella.

 4. Grill in a panini press, George Foreman, or large skillet until golden brown.

5. Enjoy with a bowl of tomato soup.

Lemon Dill Vegan Chicken Noodle Soup

I've always liked the idea of chicken noodle soup, but I hate overcooked celery and carrots. Given these two mushy culprits generally prominently feature in chicken noodle soup I typically stay away from it. However, a friend was under the weather, and I do think there is something comforting about chicken noodle soup, so I decided to reinvent it with ingredients I like (leeks, shiitakes, and dill). The lemons and dill really brightened the flavors and resulted in one of the most flavorful (and celery free!) chicken noodle soups I've ever had. Blog win!

Ingredients (makes 8-10 servings)
-1.5 package meatless "chicken" tenders, such as Quorn 
-8-10 C vegetable broth (I used a mixture of vegetable broth and water + vegetarian bullion cubes to save $)
-1 red onion, diced
-1 sweet yellow onion, diced
-2 leeks, chopped into thin rounds up to the light green part of the leek
-4 cloves garlic, minced
-1 package (about 4 oz) fresh shiitake mushrooms, diced
-1 head of fresh dill, finely diced
-juice of two lemons
~8 oz of noodles (I like rotini)
-1 C chopped carrots (optional)
-2 T EVOO

-1/4 C white wine (optional)
-2 bay leaves
-salt and pepper

Steps
1. In a large pot or dutch oven, saute your red onion with EVOO for about 3 minutes. Then add your garlic and saute for another 30 seconds.
2. Add your leeks and saute another few minutes.
3. If you have some white wine, you can add about 1/4 C to deglaze the pan.
4. Add the shiitakes, and saute a couple more minutes. If you're using carrots you can add them in here.

5. Slowly add in 8 C of water and 8 bullion cubes. Add in your bay leaves (don't forget to take them out at the end).
6. Add in your meatless chicken and bring pot to a boil.
7. Add in noodles and cook for about 8 minutes or until al dente.
8. Add in lots of dill (I put in over 1 C), the juice from your two lemons, and salt and pepper to taste.

9. Let simmer for a few more minutes, tasting and adjusting spices as you go.
10. Enjoy (this is great with some crusty, buttered bread)!

Note 1: This will make a lot of leftovers, but the soup seems to get better the next day. However, the noodles will soak up most of the broth so you will probably have to add some water when you reheat. If you want extra flavor you can add in another bullion cube when reheating.

Note 2: My eyes have become increasingly sensitive to raw onion the older I've gotten. I've found that wearing swimming goggles while chopping onions is not only a style statement ;-), but also an eye-saver. 

Hearty Veggie Stew

This was a really great, fresh soup; I called it a stew, though, because of how hearty it was. Perfect for a chilly night.

Ingredients
-2 T EVOO
-1 yellow onion
-1/2 bag of kale
-4 cloves garlic, minced
-2 tsp thyme
-1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
-1 (15 oz) can kidney beans
-1 (15 oz) can white beans
-4 large roma tomatoes, diced
-1 (15 oz) can tomato sauce
-2 handfuls fresh green beans, chopped into bite size pieces
-3 C veggie broth or chicken broth
~8 oz shell shaped pasta
-salt and pepper to taste
-shredded cheese, optional

Steps
1. Saute garlic and onion with EVOO in large pot or dutch oven over medium for 3-5 minutes.
2. Pour in the beans, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, green beans, thyme, and red pepper. Stir everything together and bring it up to a simmer.

3. Add 3 C chicken/veggie broth. Stir in dry pasta and bring soup to a simmer. Put the lid on the pot and simmer for ~10 mins or until the pasta is cooked. Stir the pot occasionally so that pasta doesn't stick to pot.
4. Stir in kale until in wilts down. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Serve with cheese and good bread.

Soy-Easy Chili

Okay, pardon the lame pun, but this super easy chili has got me excited! This was really flavorful, and I wish I could take the credit, but the soyrizo did all the work. I had only used soyrizo once before in a breakfast strata (see link for recipe), but thought it would be really good as a chili base, and it was. You basically don't need any other spices because the soyrizo itself is so flavorful.

Ingredients (makes about 4-5 servings)
-1 package of soyrizo, such as Trader Joe's
-1 yellow onion, diced
-2-3 cloves garlic, minced
-1 can red kidney beans
-1 can white beans
-1 can diced tomatoes
~6 oz reduced fat shredded Mexican blend cheese
-1/2 can of water
-1 T EVOO
-5 green onions, diced down through most of the green part
-tortilla chips, optional

Steps
1. In a large skillet, pot, or dutch oven, saute your onions over medium for about 4 minutes.

2. Add in the garlic, stir for one minute.
3. Add in soyrizo, beans, tomatoes, water, and stir. Cover and reduce heat to low medium.
4. Cook for about 15 more minutes (or until ingredients are well heated), stirring once or twice.
5. Stir in cheese and top with green onion.

Turkey Bean Chili

This was a nice twist on regular chili. The broth was lighter and the lime juice added some tanginess.

Ingredients (Note: this made about 8 servings)
-3 cans white Northern beans
-4 cups chicken/vegetable broth
~1 lb ground turkey
-2 medium yellow onions, diced
-4 cloves of garlic, diced
-3 plum tomatoes, diced
-2 T chili powder
-1.5 tsp cumin or taco seasoning
-2 limes
-fresh cilantro
-salt and pepper (to taste)
-2 T oregano (optional)
~2 T EVOO
-dash of cayenne pepper (optional)

Steps
1. Heat EVOO in a dutch oven or large stock pot. Add onions and saute for about 4 minutes.
2. Add turkey and brown, breaking up into small pieces with a wooden spoon.
3. Add garlic, chili powder, cumin, oregano and saute until turkey is browned.

4. Add beans and chicken stock, bring to a boil, then simmer for 25 minutes.
5. After soup has been simmering for about 10 minutes, taste soup and add cayenne, salt, and pepper to taste. Add diced tomatoes.

6. After 25 minutes, take a potato masher and mash up beans in the pot.
7. After 25 minutes, add the juice of two limes to soup. Serve soup and top with cilantro.

Slow Cooker Corn Chowder

I'm back to more regular posting after getting...married!

This was so yummy and creamy--perfect for a chilly day. Also, it's super easy to make.

Ingredients
-1.5 lbs red potatoes
~2 1/2 C chicken broth (could sub vegetable broth)
-3 cans of corn (we used two 11oz cans and one 15oz can)
-1 red onion, diced
-salt, pepper, dash of cayenne (all to taste)
-3 cloves of garlic, diced
-1/2 stick of butter
~2/3 C half-and-half
-4 slices turkey bacon (optional)

Steps
1. Add first six ingredients to a crock pot and cook on low for about 6-8 hours.
2. Add about half the soup to a blender and process very quickly (you can do it more if you like your chowder smooth [I like mine chunky]), mash up the rest of the ingredients in the crock pot with a potato masher.
3. Add cream and butter. Taste soup to see if you should add more salt and pepper. Cook on low for another 20 minutes.
4. Cook bacon.
5. Serve soup and top with bacon and chives, if desired.

Taco Soup

Big thanks to Lauren and Dylan for passing on this amazing recipe. It's so simple but so super tasty. Perfect for the colder weather. We've done both ways of preparing and both were great.

Ingredients:
-1 lb. ground beef (we used Morning Star Veggie crumbles)
-4 links Andoullie sausage (optional, but adds a lot of flavor)
-2 cans kidney beans, not drained
-2 cans stewed tomatoes, not drained
-2 (4 oz.) cans chopped mild green chilies, not drained
-1 (29 oz.) can tomato sauce
-2 cups frozen corn (or 2 cans of corn, drained)
-2 pkgs. taco seasoning mix
-1 onion, diced (optional)

Optional toppings: tortilla chips, sour cream, shredded cheese, cilantro

Preparation #1
1. Put all ingredients in a large crock pot and cook on low for about 6 hours. Add onion 30 mins before you serve.

Preparation #2
2. Brown onion and meat (or faux meat) in a large pot. Add remaining ingredients, bring to a boil, then simmer for 45 minutes, stirring occaisionally.

Happy Homemade Gazpacho

This recipe is SO easy, and the end result is SO tasty. To me, gazpacho is the perfect summer soup. I have a huge blender, so I could fit all the ingredients at once...I think if you're using a regular sized blender you'd need to half the ingredients or do it in two batches.

Ingredients:
-3 medium tomatoes, quartered
-1 small cucumber, cut into chunks
-1 green bell pepper, seeds removed and cut into strips
-1 small onion, cut into sixths
-3 cups tomato juice (I used spicy V8)
-salt and pepper to taste

Steps:
1. Combine the above ingredients in a blender, and mix to your desired consistency. Serve chilled. (See, it is really easy!)

Tuscan Bean and Sundried Tomato Soup

A friend of mine recently posted something on Facebook about having a belly full of homemade bean soup and for some reason that just struck me as being exactly what I wanted--a belly full of homemade bean soup. So I searched the Internets and compiled some recipes and came up with this, which ended up being really tasty and hearty, and made my belly quite happy :)

Ingredients (makes 4 generous servings):
-2 cups of small pasta shells
-1 white onion, chopped
-6 cloves garlic, sliced
~2 tsp fresh rosemary
~1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
-1 cup julienned sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained
-2 carrots, chopped
-1 can kidney beans
-1 can navy beans
~1 T EVOO
-salt and pepper to taste
-2 C water

Steps:
1. Cook pasta al dente.
2. While pasta is cooking, in a LARGE pot or wok, saute EVOO with onion, garlic, rosemary, and red pepper flakes for about 5 minutes.
3. Add 2 cups of water, sun-dried tomatoes, carrots, and beans.
4. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

5. Puree 2/3 of vegetable mixture in a blender or food processor.
6. Add pureed soup to the remaining soup mixture in large pan. Stir in pasta. (Add some more water if soup is too thick.)

7. Garnish if you like...we garnished ours with chives and some mozzarella.

Chicken Sausage and Gnocchi Soup

This was really flavorful and came together SUPER fast (i.e., under 15 minutes). This is a great recipe for a night when you don't have much time to cook. Also, the original recipe (which I modified, but is from Cooking Light) called for turkey sausage, but at least at my grocery store the chicken sausage generally has a lot less fat, so that's what I use.

Ingredients:
-3 links chicken sausage, removed from casings (I recommend Hot Italian flavor, if you can find it)
-16 oz vacuum packed gnocchi
-2 cups H20
-1 can beef broth
-2 cans of diced Italian tomatoes
-1/2 diced onion
-1.5 tsp minced garlic
-salt and pepper to taste
-shredded Parmesan (optional)
-cooking spray

Steps:
1. Spray some Pam in a in a large dutch oven (or a big soup pot) and saute the onion and chicken sausage for about 9 minutes (or until sausage is browned), breaking up the chicken sausage with the back of a wooden spoon as you go.

2. Add 2 cups water, beef broth, tomatoes, and gnocchi, and garlic. Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 4-5 minutes or until gnocchi float to the stop.

3. Season with salt and pepper, and top with shredded Parm.

Hearty Vegan Veggie Soup

(Note: Bear with me on the pictures. Until I get a new camera, I'm having to use the camera on my cell phone.)

I got this recipe from my good friend Katie. Using V8 as the broth gives it a kick and also adds to the ease of the recipe. Also, I really like the addition of sweet potatoes.

Ingredients
-1 large bottle of V8 (I recommend the spicy kind)
-1 potato, diced into bite size pieces
-1 sweet potato, diced into bite size pieces
-1 19oz can of white cannelli beans (or whatever you prefer)
-2 handfuls of green beans, diced into bite size pieces
-3 carrots, diced into bite size pieces
-1 onion, diced into bite size pieces
-pepper, to taste
-2 tsp chopped garlic
-other spices, to taste (I threw in some oregano, thyme, and 2 bay leaves)

Steps
1. Put all of the above in a big pot (except maybe carrots and green beans), bring to a boil, let simmer for about 1 hour-1.5 hours (until potatoes are cooked). I put the green beans and carrots in after about 30 minutes so they're still a little crispy.

 Note: This makes A LOT, but it freezes well (thaw before reheating).