Posted on

Matzo Ball Soup

adapted from Budget Bytes

INGREDIENTS
1 lb chicken, cut into strips or bite-sized pieces
4 carrots, cut into thin rounds
4 ribs celery, halved lengthwise and diced
1 yellow onion, diced small
2 cloves garlic, ready to press or minced
8 cups chicken broth
sprigs of dill
olive oil
salt & pepper

3/4 cup matzo meal
3 T oil
3 large eggs
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
pepper

DIRECTIONS
Prep all your ingredients then start your matzo ball mix.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together eggs and oil. Then add meal, salt & baking soda. Combine to create consistent dough. Refrigerate for 25 minutes.

In a large soup pot, heat olive oil and add carrots, celery, onion & pressed or minced garlic. Saute for 5 or so minutes until the onion is translucent and soft. Season with salt & pepper.

Add a couple sprigs of dill and the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

Once the 20 minutes are up, add your chicken strips to the soup and increase heat to medium. As the soup comes to temperature, make your matzo balls by rolling pinches of dough in your hands. They should be no larger than ping-pong ball sized. Keep in mind, they will expand as they cook! I like mine to be about 1.25 inches in diameter.

Once the soup is simmering, add in the matzo balls. Depending on their size, they will require about 15-20 minutes to cook which should give the chicken ample time to cook thoroughly as well without making it rubbery.

Add a sprig or two of dill to serve and ENJOY! Deeeeeelish.

Posted on

Coconut Curry Lobster Bisque


 2014-10-19 16.38.08
This is a recipe I’m posting at least half for my own record keeping as anything else. I still have some lingering questions about the recipe and I don’t have great photos, but I’ll share what I’ve got and try to update the next time we make it. But man, it’s too good to lose!

Backstory: Last week we went to Sweet Tomatoes as an atta-boy for Ben who had been struggling a bit with behavior at school and is now happily doing amazingly well, literally OFF-THE-CHARTS. Sweet Tomatoes (this is a salad, soup, pasta buffet with some baked goods and soft-serve ice cream thrown in) is a perennial favorite restaurant of the kids and Matt and I like it, but in a sort of we’ll put up with it for your sake kind of way. It’s generally not too innovative or interesting, but everyone can find something they like and it’s reasonably healthy if you’re careful with how much and what you pick.

So we got our salads and ate those and then Ben begged to go get mac ‘n’ cheese and I accompanied him, served his pasta for him and sent him back to the table. Then I wandered over to the soup bar where they had the usual array of 6 soups. They always have a bunch of the same ol’ but then have some seasonal offering … and this time, it was Lobster Curry Bisque. The seasonal soups are very largely hit or miss, but I almost always try them and this one was … OMG. Amazing. It was all I could do not to go back for seconds, thirds, fourths and bribe the people to send me home with the absurdly large vat of the stuff.

It was all the yummy stuff about regular lobster bisque but with coconut and curry flavors and just so so so good. It was kind of like a mixture between Tom Kha (a thai soup with a lovely coconut base) and regular ol’ lobster bisque. Awesome. I was already planning a return trip for this week when I realized that we were on the LAST DAY of the soup special. Disaster. Only if the soup is a huge hit do you ever see it again and even then, it could be easily a full year!

So I did what any sensible person would do. I googled. And I came up with the delightful recipe for Coconut Curry Lobster Bisque by a Ms. Natalie Paramore. I’d never been to her site before, but she showed a pretty good method and so I decided I’d give it a whirl. And just a couple of days later, I stuck it on the menu for Sunday night … along with another tried and tested soup (Beef Barley with Mushrooms) just in case.

Acquiring the ingredients was a bit more hassle than normal and included a trip to an Asian grocery store. But happily, an H-Mart has just cropped up on one of my more frequently traveled paths and Ben in tow, we were able to get lemon grass, lemon thyme, coconut milk and coconut cream powder (as well as some other Asian grocery store treats) while Tabby was testing for her orange belt on Saturday.

So Sunday was the regular crazy Nichols affair. We had a swim birthday party in the morning that we followed up with lunch with friends and then we met up with other friends back at our house shortly after that to do a little crafting (they wanted to make a CO pallet flag as well). They’d offered to bring dinner (after I’d already menu planned and done most of the shopping) but since I had something in the works, I said I’d just go ahead with that.

So while the wife was working with Matt on the pallet flag, I was in the kitchen cooking it up … and watching some football. I basically followed the original recipe with some modifications:

Ingredients

  • 4 Lobster tails (I forgot to see what weight I used, but they were small and I’m betting they totaled in the 3.5 lb range)
  • 6 cups water
  • kosher salt
  • 4 cups chicken stock
  • 2 stalks lemon grass
  • 2 sprigs lemon thyme
  • 1 T peppercorns
  • 3 teeny onions
  • 9 cloves garlic
  • 3 T red curry paste
  • 1 can coconut milk
  • 1/4 C coconut cream powder
  • 1 lime
  • cilantro for garnish

Directions 

As I said, this was all a bit on the experimental side. To my knowledge, I’d never even cooked lobster before, but what the heck! I’ll try anything.

So first step was to steam the lobster. I placed them in my soup pot with the water and about 2 tsp of kosher salt. Then, as the recipe directed, I brought them to a boil and covered to steam for 12 minutes. While that was in the works, as suggested, I chopped up the veggies. Lemon grass is no joke! It was crazy hard to cut and I ended up more or less sawing it with my serrated bread knife. Since the recipe said we’d be blending these things up, I just did the rough chop.

After the 12 minutes had elapsed, I removed the lobsters to a plate to let them cool. Once they were cool enough to handle, I dug out all the meat. I did this over the plate to capture the juices and dumped the juices and meat back into the soup pot. Then I added the chicken stock, lemon grass, lemon thyme, peppercorns, onions and garlic back to the pot and set it to boil for 45 minutes to make the stock.

Though this step was obviously not difficult, it is what would keep me from making this on a weeknight. In this case it worked out beautifully because I could prep everything for my other soup while the stock formed.

Once the stock was done, I strained it back into another pot as the recipe called for and here’s where it got a bit jinky. The author said to remove the whole ingredients and the lobster tail shells, but then it clearly showed those things being blended up and had referenced this fact before. Not wanting to lose out on any flavor, I opted to just remove the lobster tail shells and blend with my immersion blender. That technique works wonderfully on many of the soups I make, but the crazy lemon grass was really resistant and it was clear that ingredient would not blend nicely into soupiness. It just more or less ground it up. Therefore, I decided to run it back through the strainer once more. I was very happy with this move because it was clear that this fiborous stuff did not belong in there. I ended up squeezing it out to get all the liquid back out.

From there, the finish was easy. Stir in some curry paste (I just did a bit over half the jar, an estimated 3 T) and the can of coconut milk. The author had suggested that coconut cream was preferable but even at the Asian grocery store, there was none to be had. So I picked up the powder. The directions said to make it by putting the whole packet in a cup of water. But rather than do that, I stirred in about a 1/4 cup into the soup for just a little extra creamy. Next time I’d like to order the coconut cream off Amazon to see what difference it makes. Then I stirred in the lobster and squeezed lime over the whole thing and served it up!

 

All 10 of our guests (my dad and sister had joined us by this point) agreed – it was amazing. The kids all gamely tried it and ate at least half of their bowls. Any leftovers the adults were glad to bat clean-up on.

Work wise, this was honestly very manageable. I would guestimate that my hands-on time was around 1 hour and then add in the cook time around 1 hour. As I said, the only hard part was the uncertainty in straining the soup. I think I would be much quicker making it next time around, probably cutting my hands-on time to 30-40 min.

One might wonder though, how it compares to its Sweet Tomatoes inspiration. The answer is … quite a bit different, but possibly even better. The main difference was the texture. Sweet Tomatoes’ was much more thick creamy and this was definitely thinner, but still creamy. This had more the consistency of a thai coconut soup (Tom Kha). The flavors in this were a bit more subtle as well. You tasted everything, all at once, and nothing overpowered anything else. Lobster, coconut, curry, citrus.

To top it all off, the Broncos won, Payton captured the TD pass record, our friends have their very own CO pallet flag and we all had a very lovely evening.

 

Posted on

Chicken Minestrone

Well the month and our experiment with The Zone is almost up as is my whirlwind tour of Zone Meals in Seconds cookbook. It’s been … interesting. I’ve done well on The Zone, losing about 9 lbs, which for a month is pretty good (and technically, I still have ’til Friday for my four weeks to be up, and I’ll be Zoned until then). I can’t say it’s something I feel like I could live with permanently. I like a bit more wiggle room in my life … I like food, good food, way too much to be this restricted, but I think it put me back on track with what I know to be healthy and reinforced some good lessons. Lean meat, healthy vegetables, less starches, little sugar, good fats.

The cookbook itself was a meh. Let’s say a 4 out of 10. This book had two kinds of recipes … one was real recipes as we think of them, the other, just thrown together ingredients. They were both a mix of awesome and blech! with a few meh … thrown in there. My samplings:

  1. Tex Mex meatloaf – seriously tasty; I’ve recommended this to a few people and it was very well received
  2. Salmon Tagine – loved the spinach, but the Salmon was just so-so
  3. Apple Spice Oatmeal – protein powder completely screwed up the texture; edible, but not yummy
  4. Moroccan chicken stew – ICK. Way too much of the cream of soup.
  5. Zoned Apple Muffins – These were good, but not great. Not a ton of flavor/taste.
  6. Mexican chicken chili – not so much a recipe, just a list of things to throw together in a bowl; pretty tasty though
  7. Blueberry and banana creme freeze – pretty tasty, even liked the sour cream in here – may post this one later.
  8. Chicken Minestrone – quite good!

Anyhow, more about Chicken Minestrone. This is one of those recipe that I don’t even really consider to be a recipe because there’s just not much to it. Just a couple of raw ingredients, the rest from cans or the freezer section, but I know a lot of people struggle with even this and it could be a gateway recipe, so I will post it. It really is tasty and super healthy. This makes 4 4-block meals (a TON of soup)

Ingredients

  • 3 cups of cubed frozen chicken
  • 1 10 oz package cut green beans
  • 1 can of kidney beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 qt low sodium chicken broth/stock
  • 1 jar marinara sauce
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2-3 zucchini quartered and sliced
  • 3 T EVOO
  • dried oregano and basil

Directions

Heat the EVOO in a dutch oven. While the oil is heating, cook the green beans to about 75% done in the microwave. Add the chicken, garlic, zucchini, green beans and herbs to the dutch oven and cook until all are warmed through and fragrant. Add the kidney beans, broth and marinara. Stir to combine and bring to a boil and simmer for a few minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

 

I really enjoyed experimenting with this cookbook this month. It’s not one that I expect to turn to often but it gave me a couple good new recipes. Next month will be The Biggest Loser Family Cookbook.

Posted on

Cinnamon Lamb Stew

from: adapted from The Kitchn

Ingredients
2 pounds boneless lamb stew meat (such as as shoulder), cubed
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons olive oil
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, sliced thin
4 carrots, diced
4 celery stalks, diced
3 15 ounce cans chopped tomatoes
1 cup wine
couscous to serve

Directions
Place the lamb in a glass bowl or baking dish and toss with cinnamon, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Cover and place in refrigerator for up to 24 hours, or cook immediately.

In a heavy saucepan or Dutch oven, sauté the pieces of lamb in the oil over medium heat. You may have to work in batches. Meat should be browned on all sides. When all of the meat is browned, add the garlic, carrots, celery and onion, and cook for about five minutes, stirring, until vegetables start to soften . Add tomatoes and wine. When mixture begins to bubble, reduce heat to low and cover.

Cook for 2 hours, or until meat falls apart when squeezed. Serve over couscous.

Posted on

Baked Potato Soup

from: Cooking Light

Ingredients
4 baking potatoes (about 2 1/2 pounds)
2/3 cup all-purpose flour (about 3 ounces)
6 cups 2% reduced-fat milk
1 cup (4 ounces) reduced-fat shredded extrasharp cheddar cheese, divided
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup reduced-fat sour cream
3/4 cup chopped green onions, divided
6 bacon slices, cooked and crumbled
Cracked black pepper (optional)

Directions
Preheat oven to 400°.

Pierce potatoes with a fork; bake at 400° for 1 hour or until tender. Cool. Peel potatoes; coarsely mash.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Place flour in a large Dutch oven; gradually add milk, stirring with a whisk until blended. Cook over medium heat until thick and bubbly (about 8 minutes). Add mashed potatoes, 3/4 cup cheese, salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper, stirring until cheese melts. Remove from heat.

Stir in sour cream and 1/2 cup onions. Cook over low heat 10 minutes or until thoroughly heated (do not boil). Ladle 1 1/2 cups soup into each of 8 bowls. Sprinkle each serving with 1 1/2 teaspoons cheese, 1 1/2 teaspoons onions, and about 1 tablespoon bacon. Garnish with cracked pepper, if desired.

Nutritional Info (1.5 Cups Soup(
Calories:329 (30% from fat); Fat: 10.8g (sat 5.9g,mono 3.5g,poly 0.7g) ; Protein: 13.6g; Carbohydrate: 44.5g; Fiber: 2.8g; Cholesterol: 38mg; Iron: 1.1mg; Sodium: 587mg; Calcium: 407mg

Posted on

Lentil Soup

from: Ina Garten

Ingredients
1 pound French green lentils
1/4 cup olive oil, plus extra for serving
4 cups diced yellow onions (3 large)
4 cups chopped leeks, white and light green parts only (2 leeks)
1 tablespoon minced garlic (2 large cloves)
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme leaves
1 teaspoon ground cumin
3 cups medium diced celery (8 stalks)
3 cups medium diced carrots (4 to 6 carrots)
3 quarts Homemade Chicken Stock, recipe follows, or canned broth
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 pound kielbasa, cut in 1/2 lengthwise and sliced 1/3-inch thick
2 tablespoons dry red wine or red wine vinegar
Freshly grated Parmesan, for serving

Directions
In a large bowl, cover the lentils with boiling water and allow to sit for 15 minutes. Drain.

In a large stockpot over medium heat, heat the olive oil and saute the onions, leeks, garlic, salt, pepper, thyme, and cumin for 20 minutes, or until the vegetables are translucent and tender. Add the celery and carrots and saute for another 10 minutes. Add the chicken stock, tomato paste, and drained lentils, cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer uncovered for 1 hour, or until the lentils are cooked through and tender. Check the seasonings. Add the kielbasa and red wine and simmer until the kielbasa is hot. Serve drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with grated Parmesan.

Posted on

Panera’s Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Ingredients
1 tablespoon melted butter
1/2 medium chopped onion
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup flour
2 cups half-and-half cream
2 cups chicken stock
1/2 lb fresh broccoli
1 cup carrot, julienned
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
8 ounces grated sharp cheddar cheese
salt and pepper

Directions
Sauté onion in butter. Set aside. Cook melted butter and flour using a whisk over medium heat for 3-5 minutes. Stir constantly and add the half & half.

Add the chicken stock. Simmer for 20 minutes. Add the broccoli, carrots and onions. Cook over low heat 20-25 minutes. Add salt and pepper.

Can be puréed in a blender but I don’t. Return to heat and add cheese. Stir in nutmeg.

Posted on

Orange Soup

 

from: Parenting

Ingredients
12-oz package frozen cooked winter squash
1 Tbs olive oil
1/4 cup chopped onion (1 small onion)
1 Tbs flour
1 tsp salt, or to taste
3/4 cup half-and-half
1/4 cup low-fat milk
1 1/2 cups fat-free, reduced-sodium chicken broth

Directions
Thaw the squash in the microwave for 5 minutes. Remove and let cool.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large nonstick pan over medium heat. Add the onion, flour, and salt. Cook, stirring occasionally for about 3 minutes. Stir in the half-and-half and the milk. Add the broth and cook 2 minutes. Turn off the heat.

Add squash to the milk mixture and cook for about 2 minutes or until the squash is very soft.

Pour the soup carefully into a blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Serve hot.

Nutritional Info (1/6 recipe)
106 calories, 6 g fat (3 g saturated), 564 mg sodium, 12 mg sodium

Posted on

Fall Vegetable Soup

 

from: Parenting

Ingredients
1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
8 cups chicken or vegetable broth
2 carrots, sliced
2 small potatoes, diced
1 parsnip, peeled and sliced
1/2 cup raw rice
1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 16-ounce can whole tomatoes with juice
1 16-ounce can white beans, drained and rinsed
2 cups fresh kale or spinach, chopped
2 cups butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes, about 1 pound (1 small squash)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste, optional

Directions
In a large soup pot, saute the onion and garlic in the olive oil over medium heat until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the broth, carrots, potatoes, parsnip, rice, thyme, and salt.

Once soup boils, reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes. Add the tomatoes with juice, the white beans, kale, and squash; simmer about 20 minutes. Add salt and pepper if desired.

Nutritional Info (1 cup(
150 calories, 7 g protein, 3 g fat (0.5 g saturated), 25 g carbohydrate, 540 mg sodium, 0.5 mg cholesterol, 3 g fiber

Posted on

Creamy Artichoke Soup

 

from: Fitness Magazine June 2007

Ingredients
2 med potatoes, cut into 1.5 inch chunks
2 C broccoli florets (the nice part)
2 T EVOO
1 t kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper

Directions
Heat oven to 400. Toss the potatoes and broccoli with the oil; add salta and pepper. Spread the veggies on a baking sheet. Roast, tossing once halfway through, until paotoes are tender and golden, about 25 min.

from: Sunset Magazine March 2006

Ingredients
6 artichokes
2 T lemon juice
2 T olive oil
1 t salt
3 T butter
onion, chopped
6 C chicken broth
2 T all purpose flour
3 T whipping cream
salt and pepper
chervil to serve (optional)

Directions
Trim leaves, stems and fuzzy chokes from the artichokes. Drop the hearts into a bolw of ice water mxed with the lemon jice and olive oil. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add 1 T salt. Drain hearts and add to boiling water; cook until tender. Drain. In a pan over med-high heat, melt 3 T butter. Add onion and stir until golden. Stir in flour and cook, stirring often 3-5 minutes.

Add the chicken broth and artichoke hearts; stir until mixture boils and thickens, 15-20 min. Whirl mexture in a blender until smooth. Return to pan and heat through. Add the cream and season with S&P to taste.

Ladle into bowls and garnish with chervil if desired.