Martha Stewart’s Chicken Posole

Now that I am a mother of two, I have several more reasons to love soup. One is that it can be made in steps depending on when you get windows of opportunity throughout the day. So if, for example, one child wakes up and needs to be nursed right after you put the chicken stock and the frozen chicken breasts in the crockpot, you’re set for a couple of hours. And then if the other child (hypothetically) wakes up cranky and clingy from his nap, you just have to throw a few more ingredients in the pot and you’re covered.

The other reason I love soup is that you can make a huge batch and be set for lunch for the rest of the week. This works especially well if your toddler likes the soup and will happily eat it every day for lunch. And soup re-heats beautifully for those times when you, the mom, don’t have the chance to sit down and eat a full meal at once (it is a drawback of soup that it’s difficult to eat while holding an infant without dripping on said infant).

This soup meets both of those criteria. (Of course, you don’t have to be the mom of two under two in order to enjoy both of these benefits of soup.)

Chicken Posole

serves 8

(or, two adults and one toddler for dinner and one adult and one toddler for three lunches, plus a quart to freeze for later)

1 Tablespoon olive oil (I used butter because I’ve been learning that olive oil isn’t great for cooking at high heats) 2 medium onions, chopped 8 cloves garlic 1/3 cup tomato paste 3 Tablespoons chili powder (based on reviews, I started with 2 Tablespoons, and that was plenty. If you can’t handle any heat, I’d say start with only 1 T, but 2 T gave it some flavor while not being too hot for the 2 year old) 1 teaspoon dried oregano 4 cans chicken broth or stock (I didn’t measure the stock because I was using some I’d made earlier from a chicken carcass, but I think I had at least that much) 4 cans white hominy, drained. (I didn’t have enough hominy and I also wanted to make it healthier, so I used 1 can hominy and 1 can great northern beans.) 6 3/4 cups shredded, cooked chicken or cooked turkey meat (I used about 2 cups from the freezer, plus two giant chicken breasts) Assorted garnishes such as sliced avocado, thinly sliced radishes and crumbled tortilla chips (all optional)

Martha’s Directions:

1. Heat oil in a 5-quart saucepan over medium heat. Add onions; cook until translucent, 3 to 5 minutes. Add garlic, tomato paste, chili powder, and oregano; cook, stirring constantly, until evenly distributed.

2. Add 4 cups water, broth, and hominy. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to a simmer, and cook until fragrant, about 30 minutes.

3. Stir in chicken; season with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Cook until heated through. (When freezing, cool completely before transferring to airtight containers.)

4. To serve, divide among bowls, and garnish as desired.

My changes:

I threw the chicken stock and frozen chicken breasts in the crockpot and simmered on low for about 4 hours. Then I removed the chicken and shredded it with two forks and added it back to the stock with the other chicken I’d pulled from my freezer. Then I sauteed the onion in butter, added the spices and heated til fragrant (a minute or two) and dumped that pan plus everything else into the crockpot. I wouldn’t have been opposed to throwing everything into the crockpot to cook, but I ran out of time and needed to cook the onions more quickly. As I noted, I used 1 can of hominy and 1 can great northern beans, and I didn’t add the extra 4 cups of water that she calls for. I heated everything in the crockpot for about another hour and served it with tortilla chips.

For the little guy, when we have broth-based soups, I like to stir some brown rice cereal into his bowl. This thickens it up enough that he can easily get a spoonful into his mouth without dribbling broth everywhere. He also loves to scoop food with chips, so this way he’s able to get a decent bite of soup on a chip. Just a fun little tip.

#chicken #posole #crockpot #mexican #brothbased #crockpot

Pumpkin Soup with Sage and Bacon

I’m not a pumpkin person. I can eat maybe one or two pumpkin items per year, and then I’ve had my quota (this is a 2x increase over the number of pumpkin products I used to eat each pumpkin season).

So bear with me even if you’re not a pumpkin person wither; this soups taps into the “squash” side of the pumpkin’s personality, rather than the “spice” part. If you like a good butternut squash soup, consider giving this a try. The reason the recipe caught my eye was for the “sage” and “bacon” part. You can never go wrong with sage and bacon, right? (I have been having a several-year love affair with sage, ever since I discovered it in a butternut squash and goat cheese ravioli recipe.)

I made this more or less according to the recipe and all of our dinner guests (who had been forewarned that it was an experimental meal) approved. So, it’s certainly good in its current form. In retrospect, I would like to highlight the pumpkin flavor a bit more, which means using less potatoes – I think they sort of overpowered the pumpkin in both flavor and texture.

Pumpkin Soup with Sage and Bacon

adapted from 5th and State, via Pinterest

2-4 slices bacon (I used 4 slices for a double recipe and that seemed like enough, but can you ever have too much bacon?)

2 T butter

1 onion, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

1 1/2 t dried, rubbed sage

2 1/4 c pumpkin flesh (I’d guess this is about half of a small/medium-ish pumpkin)

2 small white potatoes, peeled and diced

2 c vegetable or chicken stock

1 c half-n-half

1/2 t powdered ginger (or 2 t freshly grated ginger)

1/2 t lemon juice

pinch grated nutmeg

salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions

Chop the bacon into small pieces and fry in the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat until crisp. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon to a paper-towel lined plate and add the onion to the pan. Saute the onion until soft, then add the garlic and sage and cook for another minute or two. Add the vegetable or chicken broth/stock, ginger, the potatoes and the pumpkin (cut into chunks).

*Note: I had a heck of a time cutting into my pumpkin as the skin was really thick and tough. I have a healthy respect for my knives, so I just popped the whole pumpkin into the oven at 350 for about 30 minutes so soften it up. It probably could have used a bit longer, but at least I was able to hack into it without losing a limb. I cut the pumpkin into wedges and put it back into the oven for another 30+ minutes (this can be super flexible; you can get some nice caramelization on it, but just be sure not to burn it), and then I scooped all the flesh into the pot with the potatoes and stock. I don’t think this changed the flavor much, but it was a whole lot easier for me and saved a lot of hassle cutting the pumpkin off the super tough skin.

Simmer the potatoes and pumpkin in the stock for 30 minutes or so until tender, and then blend using a blender (in small batches as hot liquid can explode easily from a blender) or an immersion blender. Add the cream, nutmeg and lemon juice and simmer until heated through.

Garnish with bacon and a drizzle of cream.

(I garnished with bacon and the pumpkin seeds that I had roasted with olive oil, salt, sage and cayenne … the seeds tasted great, but they got awfully chewy after a few minutes in the soup, so I wouldn’t do that again.)

We enjoyed the soup with a nice loaf of bread and a spinach-chicken salad.  A great healthy-but-filling autumn meal … finished with a peanut butter cream pie, because you don’t want to be TOO healthy on a Saturday night!

#bacon #pumpkin #creambased #vegetable

Spiced Lentil Soup

I’ve made two soups lately … one was pretty good and the other was really good. This one was the “really good.” I’ll post “pretty good” later, since it’s still worth sharing, especially with a few tweaks that I would recommend.

Lentils are such a great ingredient. They are amazingly good for you, they are cheap, they cook quickly, you can always have them in your cupboard since they don’t go bad, and they work well with a variety of flavors. I haven’t been able to get enough coconut curry lately (our local restaurant Taste of Asia has a great red curry coconut soup that has just enough heat to clear out this sick lady’s sinuses).

This recipe comes from a blog that’s new to me, Sprouted Kitchen; I think it will be a regular visit for me, as a lot of the recipes look intriguing to me (we’re trying to eat a little lighter this holiday season so we can indulge at the right times).

A few notes about this recipe: I thought it was great as-is. I forgot the nutmeg, didn’t use any garnish and used lemongrass from a squeezey-tube. JR thought it was missing something, namely meat. This would be great served over shredded chicken in addition to the brown rice that we had with it. I also had a brain fart (common when you are sleep-deprived) and thought as I was about to serve the meal, “There are no veggies in this meal,” so I quickly steamed a carrot/broccoli/cauliflower mix that I had. IMO, cauliflower and curry are a great combo. I totally forgot about the pile of chopped spinach that I had sitting next to the stove to add to the pot at the last minute. So we got lots of veggies with this, but I think I might also add some carrots or cauliflower to this next time for a little more “interest.” That said, use whatever you have on hand; the spices and the coconut make a great base.

Spiced Lentil Soup

from Sprouted Kitchen

1 1/2 cup lentils, rinsed (green suggested)

4 cups low sodium vegetable broth

1 1/2 tsp. tumeric OR curry powder

2 tsp. dried thyme or 1 Tbsp fresh thyme leaves

1 Tbsp. coconut oil

1 large yellow onion, diced

2 stalks lemongrass, outer layer removed, lower portion finely minced

1 tsp. sea salt, plus more to taste

1/2 tsp. cardamom (I didn’t have any grated cardamom, so I popped 4 pods into the broth while the lentils cooked; just be sure to warn people not to eat them)

1/2 tsp. cinnamon (I am always skeptical of cinnamon flavor in savory foods, so I used a scant 1/2 tsp)

pinch of red pepper flakes to taste

pinch of fresh grated nutmeg

1 1/4 cup coconut milk (full fat)

3 Tbsp. lemon, lime or orange juice

a few handfuls of swiss chard, spinach or kale

1 cup flake coconut, toasted (optional)

chopped cilantro, for garnish (optional)

Add the rinsed lentils, broth, thyme and tumeric or curry powder to a large pot. Bring to a boil, turn down to a simmer and cook for about 20 minutes.

While the lentils cook, heat the coconut oil in a pan. Add the onion and saute until just browned (I got mine pretty brown to add more depth of flavor). Add the lemongrass, salt, cardamom, cinnamon, pinch of red pepper flakes and some fresh ground nutmeg and saute another minute. Add the onion mixture to the lentils and stir, keeping the heat on a low simmer.

Add the coconut milk and greens and simmer another five minutes, stirring occasionally until just wilted. Taste for salt and spice and add as you prefer. Finish with the citrus juice and serve warm with toasted coconut flakes and cilantro on top.

#curry #lentils #vegetarian #quickandeasy #vegetable #spicy