Cream of Mushroom Soup

…with Truffle Oil.

Yes.

 

This was better than I expected it to be. Like really, really good actually. Rich and comforting Saturday night grub. I cleaned the house and took down the Christmas stuff yesterday so I deserved it! I served this soup with a 3 ounce filet for myself (a larger one for Travis) and some cooked cabbage on the side. Then I watched 2 movies and went to sleep! The end.

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 2 shallots, finely diced
• 3 large cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 packages white button mushrooms, sliced thinly
• 2 teaspoons sherry vinegar
• 2 heaping tablespoons flour
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup cream
• 1 teaspoon of white truffle oil (per bowl) for serving (optional…but HELLO)
• sliced green onions or chives (optional)

Method

• Melt butter in a pot over medium heat and add shallots and garlic. Cook for a couple of minutes until they start to get tender and add the mushrooms. Add kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. Stir around every 30-45 seconds until they are tender and then add vinegar. Let the vinegar evaporate a little and add the flour by sprinkling it over the mushrooms and stirring at the same time, let cook for about 2 minutes while continuing to stir. Add stock and bring to boil. Lower the heat a bit and stir in milk and cream. Once that came to a simmer I turned the soup down to low. Serve with a teaspoon of white truffle oil and maybe some thinly sliced green onion.

Easy Chicken Pot Pie Soup

Today was raining and drizzling ALL day. Totally called for some comforting soup. This soup totally feels like eating a pot pie…well yes…minus the yummy crust. If a soup could be creamy and healthy all at the same time this is it. Next time I’m making biscuits.

Check out this crazy carrot. It looks like it has little legs!

Chicken Pot Pie Soup

• 1 rotisserie chicken, torn into pieces
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 whole leeks, washed and thinly sliced
• 1 cup sliced baby carrots (and more for munching)
• 3 ribs celery, diced
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
• 2 tbsp all purpose flour
• 1 cup half and half
• 4 cups of chicken stock
• 1 cup of frozen corn
• 1 cup of frozen peas
• Additional salt and pepper to taste

Method

Add the olive oil to a large stock pot, then toss in your leek, carrot, celery and garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Stir, and cook for about 5 minutes. Add in the rosemary and thyme, stir and cook for about a minute. Add the flour, and stir again, making sure to get all of the vegetables coated in the flour. Cook for a couple of minutes, then add in the half and half. Cook for about 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to thicken. Add in the chicken stock, corn and peas and season with a pinch or two of salt and cracked black pepper. Bring to a simmer and cook for about 10 minutes. At this point the soup is ready! To make it a little more decadent serve with cornbread or biscuits!!

Weekly Eats

The latest installment of my week in food:

Sunday

Breakfast: smoothie with almond milk, cherries, banana, cinnamon, nutmeg and almond butter

Lunch: salad with spinach and mixed greens, cucumber, goat cheese, leftover chicken thighs and balsamic vinaigrette.

Dinner: Seared salmon, zucchini “noodles” and a little side of kimchi.

Monday

Breakfast: smoothie with almond milk, cherries, strawberries, banana, cinnamon, flax seeds and almond butter

Lunch: Leftover zucchini “noodles” topped with black beans, a fried egg and served with salsa, cheese and sour cream

Dinner: Pasture – I had the seafood stew

Tuesday

Breakfast: smoothie with almond milk, raspberries, blueberries, banana, flax seeds and almond butter

Lunch: a big bowl of pho at Haiku 

Dinner: Chicken-tortilla-soup aka my favorite soup ever-ever. 

Wednesday

Breakfast: smoothie with almond milk, banana, blueberries, cinnamon, chia seeds and almond butter

Lunch: Leftover soup

Dinner: shrimp and quinoa “salad” and steamed fresh green beans…”steamed” by me…not the “steam fresh” brand…whatever

Thursday

Breakfast: granola bowls with plain greek yogurt, strawberries, blackberries and granola

Lunch: chicken salad and marinated cucumbers from

Dinner: Edo’s Squid – seared tuna (rare) and garlic noodles

Friday

Breakfast: granola bowls with Noosa “tart cherry” yogurt, strawberries, blackberries and granola

Lunch: odds and ends from the salad bar at Whole Food

Dinner: Grilled london broil (Travis picked it up and it was not very good to me…he liked it though) and roasted cauliflower. I also ate some pita chips and edamame hummus while waiting for the charcoal.

Saturday

Breakfast: smoothie with almond milk, blueberries, banana, cinnamon and peanut butter

Lunch: Leftover soup

Dinner: Stuzzi pizza – I had the vegetariana

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Chicken and chips and veggies all whirled(is that a word?) together means yummy soupy-goodness. I have seriously made this so many times that I realized not sharing it here was like I was lying to you somehow. I think my spoon goes into my bowl so fast that I just don’t think about you. Sorry. I think.

It easily doubles to feed your 2 brothers, 2 sisters, their husbands and kids…ummm…a big crowd…

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 white/yellow onion, roughly chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 3 ribs celery, chopped
• 1 large zucchini, chopped
• (you can add a diced red pepper here…I didn’t have one)
• kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 28-ounce can fire roasted tomatoes
• 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
• pepper-jack cheese
• 5-6 cups chicken stock
• 1/2-1 cup crushed tortilla chips
• 3/4 cup Mont Jack cheese with jalapeno peppers
• 1-2 roasted chicken breasts or meat from one small rotisserie chicken, pulled
• 1 cup frozen corn

Toppings:

• Mont Jack cheese
• Sour cream
• Limes
• Avocado
• Cilantro
• more crushed tortilla chips

Method

• Heat oil in dutch oven or large soup pot over medium heat and add vegetables (next 6 ingredients). Season with salt & pepper. Saute until tender or about 15 minutes.
• Add the diced tomatoes, seasonings, fresh cilantro and chicken stock.  Bring to a simmer and let cook down for 20 minutes on medium heat.
• Add the crushed tortillas and simmer for 10 more minutes or until soft.
• Remove the pot from the heat and using an immersion blender, blend until smooth. Blend it! Trust me. It somehow tastes better when the soup is smooth!
• Add the shredded, roasted chicken, corn and the cheese and stir around to incorporate.
• Spoon into bowls and finish with your favorite toppings.

Roasted Tomato Basil Soup

Before I talk about tomato soup let me show off another glorious bowl of overnight oats. Same basic recipe as before but I stirred in thawed frozen blueberries and added some sliced almonds on top. I could eat these everyday but Travis’ reaction to his second bowl in a week was, “Porridge again? I like my smoothie action.”

I love being able to use of TONS of what’s growing in my garden all at the same time! I think I overdid it planting cherry tomatoes because I have them coming out of my ears. In the past 2 weeks I have made gazpacho, a large version of a caprese salad with halved cherry tomatoes, basil and mozzarella all tossed in a homemade balsamic vinaigrette (that we shared with 8 friends) and we have eaten plenty of tomatoes sliced in sandwiches. My son and I picked another couple pounds of tomatoes yesterday and I was pretty excited to try a cooked version of my tomatoes.

Here are the tomatoes before going in the oven…

This soup is so flavorful! I made it with tons of halved cherry tomatoes with a few larger tomatoes…all from my garden. In the early afternoon I prepared the tomatoes, roasted them and then let them cool completely.

Then I blended all of them with my Vitamix. Because the recipe doesn’t tell you how to slice or dice the basil after I transferred the tomato mixture into the soup pot I blended the basil with some of the chicken stock and then added that to the soup. After the soup was done I used my immersion blender to puree the onions to make it completely smooth. I didn’t strain it as instructed.

Roasted tomato basil soup with some basil to garnish!

After we each had a good sized bowl with dinner there  was still enough leftover to fill an eight cup container!

• 3 pounds tomatoes (I used cherry and roma varieties)
• EVOO
• 1 large vidalia onion, chopped
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 – 28 ounce can diced tomatoes
• 4 cups fresh basil leaves
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, chopped
• 1 quart chicken stock
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Method

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Toss together the tomatoes, drizzle extra virgin olive oil over and salt & pepper. Spread the tomatoes in 1 layer on a baking sheet and roast for 45 minutes.
• In an 8-quart stockpot over medium heat, saute the onions and garlic with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, a little salt and red pepper flakes for 10 minutes, until the onions start to brown. Add the canned tomatoes, thyme, salt and pepper. Add the oven-roasted tomatoes, including the liquid on the baking sheet to a Vitamix or high speed blender and blend until smooth. Add mixture to soup pot. In the same blender container add basil and about a cup of the stock and blend until mostly smooth. Add to soup along with the remaining stock. Bring to a boil and simmer uncovered for 40 minutes.  Serve hot or cold.

Slightly adapted from Ina Garten

Chicken and Dumplings

Perfect comfort food for the night before a big exam!

Check out The Pioneer Woman’s blog for the recipe. The only change I made was to roast the chicken whole and then pick the meat off of the bones before adding it  to the soup. Yes, I even added the apple cider. There are a lot of negative comments on her blog about how corn meal in the dumplings would make them “grainy” and that Bisquick mix is the best….blah, blah, blah. Ignore those people. These dumplings are sinfully good! Don’t rely on processed ingredients for your cooking 🙂

“One pot meals make my skirt fly up.” – The Pioneer Woman

Mexican Chicken Chili

After a couple of lunches and 2 dinners of Christmas leftovers I decided to change it up and make chili. I had plenty of homemade stock from the turkey and of course leftover turkey meat so I substituted those for the typical shredded chicken and chicken stock. Results? Very tasty!! Homemade stock is always better than the boxed stuff (though I do love that too)

This recipe is a variation of the recipe that my sister Zandria used to make. I have tried to make it a bit healthier and to all organic ingredients. It was called White Chicken Chili but I decided since it wasn’t very “white” that it needed a new name 🙂

• 1 rotisserie chicken, meat shredded
• 3 (15 oz.) cans organic great northern beans, drained and rinsed
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 1 (4.5 oz.) can green chiles
• 1 (10 oz.) bag frozen organic white corn
• 1 tablespoon (heaping) homemade taco seasoning
• 1 container organic cream of celery soup
• 1/2 cup light organic sour cream
• Toppings: chopped green onion, chopped cilantro, shredded monterey jack cheese

Method

• Place all ingredients in a crock pot and cook on low for 2 1/2 or 3 hours stirring occasionally. You can also cook this in a dutch oven or soup pot. Bring it to a simmer and turn it down low and cook for about 45 minutes.
• Add toppings to individual bowls for serving.

Whatever You Have Beef Stew

This week has been a blur. Devin started school on the 20th. Classes at VCU started for me last week on the 23rd so this was my first full week of classes. We’re both getting used to getting up early. He took a 3+ hour nap when he got home from school one day! It’s Labor Day weekend though, so with no school on Monday for both of us I can write on my blog, clean the house, do some homework and enjoy our last weekend at the pool for the summer!

The stew I made today is inspired by the rainy day and the bits and pieces of veggies from my cooking this past week that were left in my fridge. In the crisper drawer I had a quarter of a package of baby carrots, a bag of celery with only 2 stalks left, a yellow pepper and half of a large onion. My mom’s fresh canned tomatoes had been opened a few days ago for use in another recipe and I knew the rest of them needed to be used up soon. In the pantry I had a few tiny red potatoes. Making this stew was meant to be!

We served it with cornbread muffins:

Travis took some leftovers to his 95 year-old grandfather and he called me the next day to tell me how much he enjoyed it. He said that, “he wasn’t sure it was beef stew but whatever is was it was really, really good”! How great is that?? Thanks Grandpa!

• 1 pound ground beef (93% lean)
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 stalks celery, thinly sliced
• handful baby carrots, sliced
• 1/2 of a large yellow onion, diced
• 1 yellow pepper, sliced into strips and diced small
• 3 zucchini, quartered and sliced
• 1 – 16 ounce bag frozen, chopped spinach
• 12 tiny red potatoes, sliced
•  1/2 quart fresh canned tomatoes (a 28 ounce can would work great)
• 2 cups beef broth
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4-1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Method

• In a medium skillet cook ground beef and the minced garlic along with a little salt and pepper until the ground beef is cooked through.
• Meanwhile chop veggies and add them along with the rest of the ingredients (including the cooked ground beef) to the crockpot.
• Cook 3-4 hours on high.

White Chicken Chili

When I asked Devin what he would like for his last-day-of-the-9th-grade-eve dinner he thought White Chicken Chili would be good. He also informed me that it better taste like his Aunt Zan’s. He went to visit her in Washington, DC for a few days last summer right before school started and she made this for him… he has been talking about it ever since. This recipe is very similar to the one she makes but the recipe she shared with me called for a can of cream of chicken soup and an envelope of prepared taco seasoning. Zandria has cut out gluten and a lot of sugars and processed foods from her diet since last making the version she sent me so I’m sure she would like to know about this latest, greatest recipe I found.

I cooked everything in my dutch oven.

Devin announced that the chili was very, very good and gave it a thumbs up.

Adapted from Fearless Homemaker

Ingredients

• 2 cans cannellini beans, drained
• 1 can hominy, drained and rinsed
• 1 large white onion, chopped
• 4 chicken breasts
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth (I doubled the broth that her recipe called for because I like a soupier chili)
• 2 cups half and half
• 1 teaspoon hot sauce
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste (her recipe called for white pepper but I didn’t have any)
• 2 – 4 ounce cans of chopped, mild green chilies
• 1 1/2 cups Monterey Jack cheese, grated
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• sour cream, for serving

Method

• Start by dicing up the raw chicken breasts into the size chunks that you prefer. Heat a dutch oven to a medium heat and add the oil. When heated, add the chicken breasts chunks and salt and pepper to taste. Cook, stirring occasionally until done. Remove chicken and place in a medium bowl.
• Add onions and garlic. Cook for about 8 minutes until soft. Add the butter and when it is melted sprinkle the flour over everything and stir constantly for 3-4 minutes. Slowly add in the chicken stock, then the half and half. Turn heat down to medium-low. Bring mixture to a simmer (watch the heat and stir frequently so that the pan doesn’t scorch). Add chicken, beans, chilies and spices. Cook for about 30 minutes with the lid on stirring occasionally. Right before serving stir in the shredded cheese. Serve with a dallop of sour cream if desired. Devin ate his with some crushed tortilla chips.