Recipe Friday - Black Bean and Veggie Soup

Yesterday was one of those days where I NEEDED to go grocery shopping so bad, but didn't have time to go. Dinner time came and I had no clue what to make. I opened the fridge and noticed a few left over veggies, so I decided to make some soup. I also found a can of black beans and decided to add them to the soup for some added flavor, texture, and fibre. It turned out better than expected and both kids really enjoyed it, especially Joseph. The best part is, it was FAST.

Ingredients (this is what I had on hand, I'm sure other veggies would be great too)

1/2 head of cauliflower, chopped
1 zucchini, chopped
1 very large carrot, peeled and chopped
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
4 cups chicken stock
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon each salt and pepper
1/2 tablespoon cumin
1 teaspoon parsley
1 teaspoon Mrs. Dash Original Seasoning
splash Extra Virgin Olive oil

Method

In a large sauce pan heath olive oil on medium heat. Add all veggies and spices. Cook for 5 minutes on medium heat, stirring often. Add chicken stock, black beans and soy sauce. Bring the soup to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until veggies are tender, maybe 20 minutes. Puree soup until smooth.

ENJOY!

Recipe Friday - Chicken Noodle Soup

If you haven't already heard, I've been pretty sick for the last TWO FREAK'N WEEKS!! I have no idea what's going on with me. My symptoms just keep on changing. I went from sneezing, to mega runny nose, to coughing so hard I was throwing up, to sinus infection, and now, I think I may have pink eye (So crapy! That's what I get for rubbing my eye while I'm at the park with my kids) and I just started sneezing AGAIN! The worst part is that I'm still nursing my little guy a few times a day, so I can't take any medicine to fix me because everything says "do not take while breastfeeding". I guess I'll just have to stick to trying all those crazy home remedies people keep on telling me about on facebook. The most hilarious one, but I think she might have been serious, was to rub Vicks on my feet and wear red sock. She said they had to be red or it wouldn't work. Haa haa, I sure hope she was joking about that suggestion.

Aside from all the witch craft jibber jabber, one thing that does help me feel better when I'm sick, is a warm bowl of home made chicken soup. I so wish someone would have just made it for me, but as we all know, when everyone is sick, Mom takes care of them. But when Mom is sick, Mom takes care of herself. So, I grabbed a pot, and made myself some yummy chicken soup. Of course, Dave was super excited because he rates my chicken soup in his top five favorite meals.

Chicken Noodle Soup

2-4 bone in, skinless chicken breast
2 cups of diced carrots
2 cups of diced celery (you're basically going to use an entire bunch of celery)
2 medium onions, diced
12 cloves of garlic peeled
2 cartons of organic chicken broth (900 mL each)
2 litres of water
1 tablespoon of each, rosemary, sage, and thyme
1 tablespoon of Mrs. Dash Original Seasoning
salt and pepper
3/4 cup small shaped pasta

Method

1. In a large pot add all ingredients except pasta.
2. Cook on med to high heat for about 25 minutes or until garlic cloves are soft and easy to mush
3. Fish out all garlic cloves and mush up, then return them to the pot
4. Fish out chicken breasts and cut up the chicken in bite size pieces. Return to pot
5. Bring pot of soup to a boil and add pasta. Cook for an additional 10 minutes (add more water if needed)

Serve with home made scones! ENJOY!

Recipe Friday - Carrot and Red Lentil Soup

If you haven't noticed already, I love to make soups. This is one of the first soup recipes I made as a newlywed, and I was afraid Dave wouldn't like it because it's so healthy. Thankfully he loves it and anyone else who's tried it, loves it too. It's so simple to make that I've honestly made it with a baby under one arm. It doesn't matter how you cut the vegetables because the soup is pureed anyway.

Carrot and Red Lentil Soup

1 red bell pepper, chopped
3-4 large carrots, chopped (or you can throw in 2 cups of baby carrots to save time)
1 med onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 tablespoon ginger
7 cups veg stock (or chicken stock if you aren't totally strict on being vegetarian - I use chicken stock)
1 cup RED lentils (MUST be red or it won't turn out very well)
splash of olive oil
salt and pepper

In a large pot, heat olive oil, chopped red pepper, chopped carrots, chopped onion, chopped garlic, ginger, salt and pepper for 5 minutes on med heat.

Add stock and lentils and bring to a boil. Then cook for 25 minutes until carrots are tender.

Blend soup in a blender until smooth and ENJOY!

Recipe Friday - Veggie Power Soup

My friend's husband, Scott, is a vegetarian and gave me this delicious soup recipe (I know, another vegetarian one - I eat meat I swear). It's an excellent recipe for anyone suffering with inflammation because it contains turmeric and ginger. This soup is also alkalizing to the body. Many times, inflammation sufferers eat too much acid forming foods. The best part is that the soup is full of veggies, but it's pureed so your kids won't complain.

Veggie Power Soup

1 onion, chopped
1 head broccoli, chopped
1 head cauliflower, chopped
2 cups chopped celery
2 cups chopped carrots
1 small butternut squash, peeled and chopped
1 zucchini, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic chopped
1 tablespoon chopped ginger
2 tablespoons sea salt
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 cups cooked chickpeas
1 teaspoon thyme
1 tablespoon turmeric
1 cup chopped parsley
3 cups plain soy milk

Place vegetables and seasonings into large stock pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and simmer until vegetables are tender (about 40 minutes). Remove from heat. Puree in a blender until smooth. Stir in soy milk. Enjoy!!

Recipe Friday Ukrainian Chervony Borscht

If you know my husband, you know that he lived in Ukraine for two years. He was there serving a mission for our church. While there he learned how to speak Russian and Ukrainian, strong work ethic, teaching skills, how to quickly adapt to changes in location and roommates, and a host of other things. Among those things he also learned how to make one of the most delicious soup I have ever tasted. I was hesitant at first when I saw the list of ingredients, but one taste and I was addicted. Today, my husband is happy to share this recipe with you. He says it's a combination of all the BEST borscht recipes made into one delicious pot of goodness.

A word of caution, this soup is a lot of work so you might want to recruit a helper or two, but it's so worth all the hard work.

Ingredients:

2.5 litres of water

2 large beets (or 3 smaller ones)

2 cups of shredded cabbage

6-8 potatoes

2 large carrots

2 onions

6 diced cloves of garlic

3 Tbsp. tomato paste or sauce

2 heaping Tbsp. of chicken stock OR 2 chicken bouillon cubes

Parsley and/or dill to taste

Directions:

1. Peel the beets and grate them into frying pan. Cook them over low to medium heat in butter and oil, add a little water, cover and let simmer for approx. 10 minutes. Careful not to let beets burn – stir them up a bit if necessary.
2. Peel and grate carrots and add to beets. Cook both together for another 10 minutes.
3. As beets and carrots are cooking, peel and dice potatoes and add to a large pot of 2.5 L boiling water. Boil for 5-10 minutes. Once the carrot-beet mixture is finished, add them to the potatoes and the 2.5 L of boiling water.
4. Add tomato sauce/paste and chicken stock.
5. Dice onion, fry until soft and add to mixture in pot.
6. Add two cups of shredded cabbage to mixture. Let all vegetables cook until tender.
7. As mixture cooks, add parsley and/or dill and garlic. If the mixture is too thick add appropriate amount of water.
8. Serve with smetana (sour cream) and rye bread and enjoy!

Note, usually borscht tastes better once it has sat for a few hours. I don’t know why. It just does!