Lemony White Bean Soup With Turkey and Greens

Image source: The New York Times

I love it when a new recipe is a keeper! This Lemony White Bean Soup With Turkey and Greens is hearty, healthy and tasty. It’s great cold-weather warm-up, and it’s a whole meal unto itself. Add bread on the side and dinner (or lunch) is served. According to Melissa Clark for The New York Times, this recipe is also adaptable.

Like chili, this soup is supremely adaptable. You can use whatever ground meat, beans and greens you have. You can even mix and match, adding a can of white beans and a can of chickpeas if that’s what’s on the shelf. You can use ground chicken, pork, beef or vegan meat instead of turkey. And any greens, from tender spinach to sturdy collards, will find a happy place in the pot.

Cooking, The New York Times

Happy cooking, hon.

Ingredients:

• 3 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 large carrot, diced
• 1 bunch sturdy greens, such as kale, broccoli rabe, mustard greens or collard greens
• 1 Tablespoon tomato paste
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cumin, plus more to taste
• 1/8 teaspoon red-pepper flakes, plus more to taste
• 1/2 lb ground turkey
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 Tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
• 1 quart chicken stock
• 2 (15-ounce) cans white beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 cup chopped fresh, soft herbs, such as parsley, mint, dill, basil, tarragon, chives or a combination
• Fresh lemon juice, to taste

Directions:

1. Heat a large pot over medium-high for a minute or so to warm it up. Add the oil and heat until it thins out, about 30 seconds. Add onion and carrot, and sauté until very soft and brown at the edges, 7 to 10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, rinse the greens and pull the leaves off the stems. Tear or chop into bite-size pieces and set aside.
3. When the onion is golden, add tomato paste, ¾ teaspoon cumin and ⅛ teaspoon red-pepper flakes to the pot, and sauté until paste darkens, about 1 minute. Add turkey, garlic, ginger and 1 teaspoon salt, and sauté, breaking up the meat with your spoon, until turkey is browned in spots, 4 to 7 minutes.
4. Add stock and beans, and bring to a simmer. Let simmer until the soup is thick and flavorful, adding more salt if needed, 15 to 25 minutes. If you like a thicker broth, you can smash some of the beans with the back of the spoon to release their starch. Or leave the beans whole for a brothier soup.
5. Add the greens to the pot and simmer until they are very soft. This will take 5 to 10 minutes for most greens, but tough collard greens might take 15 minutes. (Add a little water if the broth gets too reduced.)
6. Stir herbs and lemon juice into the pot, taste and add more salt, cumin and lemon until the broth is lively and bright-tasting. Serve topped with a drizzle of olive oil and more red-pepper flakes, if desired.

Yield: 4 servings

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Healthy & Hearty Minestrone Soup

Image source: Love & Lemons.

Rainy Days Mean Soup!

On a cold, rainy day last week, I was in the mood for soup. When I found this easy, healthy, hearty, vegetarian recipe for Minestrone Soup on Love & Lemons and realized I had most of the ingredients on hand, I had to try it. This is the kind of recipe that’s easy to alter. I didn’t have white beans or kidney beans, so I used black beans instead. I didn’t have diced tomatoes, but I had can of tomato soup to add to the veggie broth. And I wanted to use the zucchini sitting in my vegetable crisper.

One of the best things about this Minestrone Soup recipe is that the onions, carrots, and celery are sautéed in the same pot in which the soup simmers. Less pots to clean. Hubby and I agreed it was so delicious, I have to make it again.

This recipe is best right after it’s made, as the pasta absorbs the broth as it sits in the leftover soup. If you want to make it ahead of time, I recommend cooking the pasta separately and stirring it into the soup as you’re ready to eat. Alternatively, you can skip the pasta and add an extra cup of beans to the soup. Prepared this way, the soup will keep well for up to four days in the fridge.

When you’re ready to eat, top each bowl with a sprinkle of parsley, red pepper flakes, and freshly grated Parmesan cheese. If you’re vegan, feel free to skip the cheese, or garnish your bowl with a scoop of vegan pesto instead. (Non-vegans take note: regular pesto is also a great topping for minestrone soup!).

Serve the soup with good crusty bread and call it a day, or round out the meal with a side salad. Enjoy!

Love & Lemons

Happy cooking, hon!

Easy, Healthy, Hearty, Vegetarian Minestrone Soup

Minestrone Soup

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 2 medium carrots, chopped
• 2 celery ribs, thinly sliced
• 1 teaspoon sea salt, plus more to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 3 garlic cloves, grated
• 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1 1/2 cups white beans or kidney beans, cooked, drained, and rinsed
• 1 cup chopped green beans
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 3/4 cup small pasta, elbows, shells, orecchiette
• ½ cup chopped fresh parsley
• Pinches of red pepper flakes
• Grated Parmesan cheese, optional, for serving

Directions:

1. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, celery, salt, and several grinds of black pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 8 minutes, until the vegetables begin to soften.
2. Add the garlic, tomatoes, beans, green beans, broth, bay leaves, oregano, and thyme. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
3. Stir in the pasta and cook, uncovered, for 10 more minutes, until the pasta is cooked through.
4. Season to taste and serve with parsley, red pepper flakes, and parmesan, if desired.

Servings: 4-6

Ginger & Turmeric Carrot Soup c/o Simply Quinoa

Image source: simplyquinoa.com

Autumn puts me in the mood for soup!

Preferably vegetable, creamy and hearty.Velvety Vegetable Soup has been my go-to, but I wanted to try something different this year. I found this recipe for Ginger & Turmeric Carrot Soup that also calls for butternut squash on Simply Quinoa, where Alyssa says, “This creamy ginger & turmeric carrot soup is anti-inflammatory and perfect for a chilly night. It’s packed with nutrients, has a velvety smooth texture and tastes delicious!” Thanks, Alyssa–all credit for top photo and recipe to you!

To make enough for Thanksgiving and extra to give away and to freeze, I multiplied the recipe by 6! (Would that be called “sextupling?”) With two huge soup pots simmering on the stove, the house smelled delicious. I taste-tested this new recipe, and it may be the first time, but won’t be the last, I make this healthy, vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, kosher, parve Ginger & Turmeric Carrot Soup.

Happy cooking, hon!

Single Serving Tip: Did I share my single-serving tip? Pour soup into either a disposable coffee-to-go-cup or a small container, leaving room at the top for liquid to expand as it solidifies, and freeze. Freezing soup in ice trays is another tip. Pop out as many cubes as needed to make whatever size bowl is desired.

Ginger & Turmeric Carrot Soup

Ginger & Turmeric Carrot Soup

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 leek , cleaned and sliced
• 1 cup chopped fennel (1 small head)
• 3 cups chopped carrots
• 1 cup chopped butternut squash (or more carrots)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon grated ginger (about 2″ piece)
• 1 tablespoon turmeric powder
• Salt & pepper to taste
• 3 cups low sodium vegetable broth
• 1 (14.5 oz) can lite coconut milk

Directions

1. Heat the olive oil in a large dutch oven or saucepan. Add the fennel, leeks, carrots, and squash. Saute for 3 – 5 minutes until the veggies start to soften. Add the garlic, ginger, turmeric, salt, and pepper, and saute for a few more minutes.
2. Add the broth and coconut milk. Bring the mixture to a boil, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
3. Once the soup is cooked, add it to a blender and blend until creamy. You could also use an immersion blender. Taste and adjust seasonings to your taste.
4. Serve immediately with a dollop of coconut yogurt and enjoy!

Servings: 4

Thanksgiving Menu–Velvety Vegetable Soup

Liquid Gold

“Liquid Gold is what I call this hearty, healthy soup. I tripled the recipe in order to have enough for fifteen people plus leftovers. (You gotta have leftovers!) Since it’s packed with veggies, I forgo serving salad at Thanksgiving dinner. We have the soup course and then it’s straight to the main event.

Happy cooking, hon!

VELVETY VEGETABLE SOUP

Ingredients:

2 onions, sliced

2 stalks celery, cut up

2 Tablespoons margarine

4 cups chicken or vegetable stock

2 medium potatoes, sliced

2 carrots, sliced

1 zucchini, sliced

salt and pepper to taste

4 sprigs parsley or dried parsley

sugar to taste (optional)

Directions:

Saute the onions and celery in melted margarine.  In a soup pot combine sauteed vegetables with remaining ingredients except sugar, if using.  Cook gently on low heat until vegetables are soft.  Either pour soup into a blender * (in two or three batches) and blend until smooth–OR–use a hand blender to blend veggies right in soup pot.  (I prefer using the hand blender because it’s not as messy.) Taste to correct seasonings.  This is when I sprinkle a little sugar in and mix.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings

*Blender tips:  Let soup cool a little first before pouring into blender and don’t fill blender the whole way.  When done blending, pour soup back into soup pot.

Freezing Tip:  Freeze, defrost, and re-blended with hand blender. Heat and serve.

 

Crockpot Chicken and Wild Rice

Crockpot Chicken and Wild Rice

Cure for the Cold Weather

If you like chicken pot pie or risotto, then this easy chicken dish is for you. I was looking for a new crock pot recipe and found this “creamy stew” by Eileen Goltz . Her recipe calls for kosher breakfast beef but, since I have no idea what that is, I took it out! (Maybe it’s fake bacon or “F-acon?” Lol!) This yummy recipe not only made the house smell great, it warmed us up on another night in the “Arctic Zone” aka New Jersey!

Happy cooking, hon!

Gather ingredients.

Cook chicken for a few minutes, and then add onion and carrots to the skillet.

Cook chicken, onion, carrots and broth in crockpot.

Crockpot Chicken and Wild Rice

Ingredients:

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast cut into 1-inch pieces (used 6 chicken breasts)

1 chopped onion

2 chopped carrots

4 1/2 cups chicken broth

1/4 teaspoon dried marjoram leaves

1 1/2 cups wild rice

1/2 cup parve sour cream (I used Tofutti sour cream. I assume you can use regular sour cream if you want.)

Directions:

1. In a large skillet, cook chicken for 3-4 minutes. Stir in onion and carrots for just a minute and then place mixture in the crockpot.
2. In a medium bowl, combine the broth and parve sour cream and mix until smooth. Add marjoram to broth.
3. Pour the broth over the chicken in the crockpot. Add the wild rice. Cover crockpot and cook on HIGH for 30 minutes. Reduce crockpot setting to LOW and cook for 6 hours until chicken is thoroughly cooked and rice is tender.

Yield: 6 servings.

Related Posts:

Crockpot Pepper Steak

Still Chilly Chili

Warm From the Inside Bean and Vegetable Soup

Red Lentil and Barley Soup

Red Lentil and Barley Soup

In addition to Vegetarian Chili, Red Lentil and Barley Soup was ready and waiting for company the day after Thanksgiving. It was tame to chili’s spice. I made it ahead to time, froze it, defrosted it at room temperature a day early, and simmered it on a low flame for a few hours. I also froze individual servings to have at a later date. Think snowed in!

Happy cooking, hon.

Red Lentil and Barley Soup

Ingredients:

• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 cup chopped carrot
• ¹⁄₂  cup chopped celery
• 4 garlic, gloves crushed
• 6 ¹⁄₂ cups vegetable stock
• 1 cup red lentil, uncooked
• ¹⁄₂ cup barley, uncooked
• 1 tablespoon dried basil
• 1 tablespoon dill weed
• ¹⁄₄  teaspoon dried thyme
• 2 bay leaves

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.
2. Add onion, carrots, celery, and garlic.
3. Cook, stirring frequently, 5 minutes.
4. Add remaining ingredients to saucepan. Bring mixture to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook 1 hour.
5. Remove and discard bay leaves before serving.

Tip: Add dashes of other spices, such as sage, rosemary, turmeric, etc, as desired.

Cooking Time: 1 hour 25 minutes.

Yield: 6

Source: http://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/red-lentil-and-barley-soup-428528

Hearty Tomato Soup

Hearty Tomato Soup.

Gather ingredients.

Puree in blender.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hearty Tomato Soup

I love a hearty, healthy soup and this delicious recipe is both. A food processor will make easy work of the chopping and grating, although you can certainly prep by hand. At first I used a hand-held blender but, when I didn’t get the right consistency, pureed it in a blender. This soup has body and texture, which is what makes it hearty.

Happy cooking, hon!

Ingredients:

1 small onion. finely chopped

1 small carrot, grated or chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 stalks celery, chopped

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes with juice

1 teaspoons chicken soup powder (I used chicken-flavored, parve soup powder.)

1 bay leaf

4 leaves fresh basil

2 Tablespoons lemon juice

Dried Thyme and Oregano, Salt and Pepper

Directions:

1. In a soup pot, saute onion, carrot, garlic and celery in olive oil until translucent.
2. Add tomatoes with juice, soup powder, bay leaf, basil, thyme and oregano. Bring to a boil and simmer 30-45 minutes.
3. Puree in blender until smooth and season with salt and pepper and lemon juice.

Yield:  8-10 servings

Source: Kosher Chic, www.kosherchiccookbook.com

 

London Broil

London broil, roasted potatoes and gingery sauteed carrots.

London Broil

My son was coming home for the weekend. What to make for dinner? Something hearty, of course! First I picked up London broil from the butcher, then I searched for a recipe. I found this Paula Deen recipe on the Food Network website.  Controversy over Paula Deen aside, this was an easy-to-follow, not-too-time-consuming, delicious recipe.

Happy cooking, hon!

Approx. 3 pound London broil.

Prep the meat with salt and pepper.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Reducing glaze.

Slather meat with reduced glaze.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Use a meat thermometer while broiling to determine desired doneness.

Let London broil rest for about 10 minutes before carving.

Dinner’s served!

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Ingredients:

1 (3-pound) London broil

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

1/3 cup balsamic vinegar

1 Tablespoon packed brown sugar

1 garlic clove, smashed and peeled

1 bay leaf

Directions:

Preheat broiler and line a rimmed baking sheet with foil. Season meat with salt and pepper.

In a large skillet over a low heat, combine  vinegar, brown sugar, garlic and bay leaf.  Simmer until liquid has reduced by half and is syrupy in consistency, about 5 minutes. Discard garlic and bay leaf.

Put meat on baking sheet and slather with glaze.

Broil meat 4 inches from the heat until it reaches desired level of doneness*, about 4 to 5 minutes per side. When using the broiler, crack oven door open so meat doesn’t burn.

Remove from broiler to cutting board and let about 10 minutes** before cutting.  Thinly slice against the grain.

*Desired level of doneness means how well done do you like your beef?  Using a meat thermometer, take the London broil out of the oven when it reaches the desired temperature.  The meat will still cook for a few minutes when it’s out of the oven.

Chart of Meat Temperatures and Doneness

**Let the London broil rest before cutting it.  If you carve it right away, the juices will run out and the meat will be dry.  Let it rest, and the juices get reabsorbed.

Recipes for roasted potatoes and gingery sauteed carrots coming soon…

Thanksgiving Dinner–Velvety Vegetable Soup

In the mood for soup?  Hon, trust me when I say everyone loves my Velvety Vegetable soup! It’s hearty, tasty and healthy, and the number one recipe people ask me to share. I serve it instead of salad on Thanksgiving. Since a lot of prep work is required, I make large batches a couple of times a year, then portion and freeze for future meals.  If you want to freeze, fill container about two thirds full (it expands when frozen) and defrost a day or two before serving.  When defrosted, re-blend the soup with a hand held blender if necessary.

VELVETY VEGETABLE SOUP

2 onions, sliced

2 stalks celery, cut up

2 Tablespoons margarine

4 cups chicken or vegetable stock

2 medium potatoes, sliced

2 carrots, sliced

1 zucchini, sliced

salt and pepper to taste

4 sprigs parsley or dried parsley

sugar to taste (optional)

Saute the onions and celery in melted margarine.  In a soup pot combine sauteed vegetables with remaining ingredients except sugar, if using.  Cook gently on low heat until vegetables are soft.  Either pour soup into a blender * (in two or three batches) and blend until smooth–OR–use a hand blender to blend veggies right in soup pot.  (I prefer using the hand blender because it’s not as messy.) Taste to correct seasonings.  This is when I sprinkle a little sugar in and mix.

*Blender tips:  Let soup cool a little first before pouring into blender and don’t fill blender the whole way.  When done blending, pour soup back into soup pot.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings