Category — Soups

It’s been two months since my surgery, and I’m slowly coming back to myself. [Read more →]

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Hi Sweeties! Coming up for air here to check in with you and to share my cooking exploits of this morning. Feeling very domestic. One of the “benefits” of impending surgery and subsequent rehab is you have the ultimate incentive to get ducks in a row. So I’ve been madly filing, tidying, organizing, prepping . . . and as of this a.m., that extends to food.

Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t intend to (and really can’t) put up all the meals we’ll need for almost 8 weeks post-surgery (for that, I’m relying on the kindness of friends and family), but I can do little things – things with more of an eye toward when I’m cleared for activity and can cook again. Because then it’ll be late-fall and I will be mourning the end of the summer bounty from my CSA.

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It’s been cold here in the Boston area – a couple of days last week barely squeeked out of the 40′s, and it was drizzly and gray to boot. So, still soup weather, my friends! [Read more →]

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Oh. My. Goodness.  This was so tasty, and wait, guess what?  You make it in the CROCKPOT!  Yes!  All you’ve gotta do is open a few containers and chop an onion.  Super delicious and a dump-n-go preparation?  Too good to be true?  No, folks, trust me, it’s not.  Read on for the deets!

Slow Cooker Taco Soup

Put the raw chicken breast, tomatoes, enchilada sauce, onion, chiles and garlic into the slow cooker.  Pour in chicken broth and season with cumin, chili powder, salt and bay leaf.  Stir in the corn.  Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours or on high for 3 to 4 hours.  Shortly before serving, shred the chicken and return it to the cooker to mix with the soup.  Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.  Remove the bay leaf and serve topped with your fixings – crushed corn tortilla chips, sour cream, cheese, etc.!

Serves 4.

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I’ve decided we need to eat more lentils. They’re a terrific source of protein, they cook up quickly and they’re versatile. Think of them as the boneless, skinless chicken breast of the vegetarian world . . . .  So to that end, this week I tried out this new recipe and it’s going to be a regular (to the extent we have those) at our house.  It’s zingy (more or less, depending on your taste for cayenne) and flavorful and warming.  And quick and easy too.

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Did you eat Spaghetti-O’s as a kid? I did, once in a while. My parents weren’t keen on “junk food” like that, but every now and then my mother would indulge my needling and get a can or two. And I particularly liked the one with “meatballs.” Now I look at them and think they’re kinda gross – I mean, just look at the ingredients list for regular Spaghetti Os:

Water, Tomato purée (Water, Tomato Paste), Enriched Macaroni Product (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Ferrous Sulfate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), High Fructose Corn Syrup, Contains Less than 2 % of: Salt, Enzyme Modified Cheddar Cheese (Cheddar Cheese [Milk, Cheese Culture, Salt, Enzymes], Water, Disodium phosphate), Vegetable Oil (Corn, Cottonseed, Canola and/or Soybean), Enzyme Modified Butter, Oleoresin Paprika, Spice Extract, Citric Acid and Nonfat Dry Milk.

Not to mention that the cans are lined w/BPA.  Wouldn’t it be nice to recreate the fun of the Spaghetti-O sans BPA, “enzyme Modified Cheddar Cheese” “Oleoresin paprika” and high-fructose corn syrup?

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Let’s preface today’s recipe by saying that I love beans.  I love their subtle flavor, their versatility, their healthfulness (ooooh, all that fiber and protein in a little vegetarian package) and I love that they’re cheap.  My love affair is long:  Beans kept me well-nourished and on a budget through 2 graduate programs.  And today, they allow us to eat meatless meals while still feeling satisfied.  But in the interests of full-disclosure, let’s also say that D. is not so much of a fan of the bean, and so he was not a huge fan of this recipe.  He is in the “beans are OK if they’re an accompaniment to other stuff” camp.  He turns up his nose at a side of black beans, or at refried beans in Mexican food.  You get the idea.

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We received our first snowfall of the season in Boston – just in time for the first day of winter . . . and how best to welcome the official start of winter but with soup.

As many of you know, I am a big CSA fan – this is the second winter we’ve participated in the Shared Harvest CSA, and it hasn’t disappointed yet.  The produce is abundant and beautiful, the pickups are seamless, and the communication is excellent.  Two enthusiastic thumbs up!  But back to that abundant produce thing – this past weekend I was faced with 6 big butternut squash – accumulated over time, but clearly I needed to get cracking on those bad-boys.  I’ve never made butternut squash soup, and when I polled the Semi-Sweet Facebook fans, they voted for me to whip up a batch.  I was lucky enough to have local onions, squash and apples, thanks to Shared Harvest.

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