What Did You Eat?

Vegetable Love: Red Onion And Red Wine Soup With Tomatoes, Thyme And Heart Shaped Croutons

Susan at Fat Free Vegan had an interesting idea--prepare a low fat, vegan dish that would capture the romance of Valentine's Day.  I thought about this and had many ideas. But, I kept remembering how many of my friends always order French onion soup when they're on a date or out with their husbands for a fancy dinner.  You would think that the gooey, stringy cheese, and the impact of all those onions on one's breath would make this dish one to avoid in a romantic situation. But, that doesn't seem to be the case for many people. 

One thing some people would like to avoid is the amount of calories in a bowl of French onion soup, on average between 700-1,000 calories per bowl.   With that in mind, I offer this alternative from Deborah Madison:  Red Onion and Red Wine Soup, With Tomatoes, Thyme and Heart Shaped Croutons.  This is a lovely soup, slightly sweet, with a touch of sophistication from the wine.  The red hue seems very much a Valentine color, to reflect how passion makes the blood run hot and heavy.  Not everyone will think that the heart shaped crouton is an adequate substitute for mounds of runny cheese.  But maybe the calorie reduction, which brings a bowl of soup in at under 200 calories, will soften the blow?  I enjoyed the taste of this soup very much.  Sometimes less is more.

WHB: Hearty Vegetable Soup (Thyme)

Glenna at A Fridge Full of Food But Nothing To Eat posted yesterday on how she enjoys using Cook's Illustrated The New Best Recipe Cookbook.  I received a copy of another of their cookbooks, The Best Of America's Test Kitchen, a few months ago and have made several recipes from it already, including meat loaf.  On Monday, I made a vegetable soup recipe from the cookbook.  It was fairly simple to make, which was a good thing, as my eyes were still quite inflamed from the conjunctivitis. Both Bob and I enjoyed the soup, which was very filling and served as our main meal.  The broth has a nice creamy texture, due to pureeing part of the vegetables in the soup along with two slices of bread.  It also benefits from thyme, rosemary and bay leaf, which makes it an ideal dish for Weekend Herb Blogging, the brainchild of Kalyn, of Kalyn's Kitchen, but hosted this week by Ed at Tomato.  Head over to his site and check out the herby happenings. 

Cheese Dumplings In Chicken Broth

First it was Bob's bread pudding that I mangled last Friday.  Then today, I tried to make passatelli soup, and that didn't work out.  Passatelli soup contains wonderful, delicate noodles made from parmesan cheese, bread crumbs and eggs.  It's mixed into a dough and then pressed through a food mill, a ricer, or a special passatelli press.  Though I've never made it before, I've enjoyed it in restaurants.  I had all the ingredients, and a ricer, so why not make it?  Plus, I bought turkey necks yesterday, which meant I could make broth for the soup. Since passatelli soup is so simple, the broth is crucial and I did manage to make a good one. But, my attempt at making the little passatelli noodles was a total failure. After several attempts I gave up and made little dumplings with the dough.  They were like little cheesy clouds, so delicate they almost melted in my mouth.  I'm a passatelli failure, but at least it wasn't a replay of the odious bread pudding.

WHB: Spanish Cod Soup, With Spinach, Chick-Peas, And Parsley

I grew up eating a lot of seafood, but combining chick-peas with fish is a very recent thing for me.  It all started with Nigella Lawson's recipe for red snapper with chick-peas.  I fell in love with the combination and try to serve them together as often as possible.  There's something about the soft fish and creamy chick-peas that's very comforting to me.  This weekend  I made fish stock with the intent of using it to prepare soup. There were many possibilities, but once I remembered this Spanish cod soup with spinach, chick-peas, and parsley, I couldn't get it out of my mind.  For one, there's the fish and chick-pea combination, but it also has a vibrant color and taste from fresh spinach, garlic, chopped tomatoes, and toasted almonds.   And it contains that culinary workhorse, parsley, which makes it perfect for Weekend Herb Blogging, which was created by the lovely Kalyn, of Kalyn's Kitchen.  This week WHB is being hosted by the equally lovely Coffeepot of Coffee and Cornbread fame.

Fish Stock

When I was a kid, my mom would go to the grocery store and ask the butcher for soup bones and he would gladly give her a big bundle of them for free. Likewise, she could get fish heads and fish frames from the fish monger, gratis.  She used them to make outstanding meat or fish stock. Times have sure changed.  I'm amazed at how much some grocery stores charge for a few beef bones.  I haven't made beef stock in years, I must admit.  Sometimes I make chicken stock, but mostly I rely on low sodium, store bought products. But try as I might, I've never found decent fish stock in a store. I'd rather use water than bad stock or clam juice.   Luckily, I don't have to do that very much because my grocery store sells fish frames and heads from the fish they clean and cut each day.  It still feels strange to pay $2 for two pounds of fish scraps. But there you have it.  Either I take up fishing, or I must pay the price for great tasting stock. 

WHB: Mexican Black Bean Soup With Sausage

Not the greatest looking picture--but the soup is very nice.  This is a fast and easy recipe that I made for the first time today.  It took less than 30 minutes, but tasted like much more labor was spent making it.  The rich, smokey taste comes from chipotles and smoked kielbasa sausage.  It also contains  Penzeys Mexican oregano, so that makes it a good candidate for Weekend Herb Blogging, the brainchild of Kalyn, of Kalyn's Kitchen.  And this week, WHB returns home to be hosted by Kalyn!

Mexican oregano comes from a different family than European oregano and has a slightly sweet, stronger taste that's ideal for dishes containing chilies.  It contains high amounts of antioxidants and is prized for it's medicinal properties in some cultures.

Quinoa Chowder With Feta, Spinach, And Scallions

The weather has changed so much here. We've had several days of rain, and It looks like we'll have more soon.  That's not always the case here.  Sometimes, I almost forget what it's like living in the Midwest and South, where rain is a fairly regular occurrence. We never know out here in the West.   I remember years where it didn't rain at all for almost a year (well, it seemed like that). 

This cold, damp weather is just the thing for soup.  And last week I made a soup that may seem odd at first glance. It's Deborah Madison's quinoa chowder with spinach, feta cheese and scallions.  I wanted to make this soup for some time, to see how the ingredients worked together.  Actually, I knew it would taste great because I've NEVER had a bad meal made from a Deborah Madison recipe.  It's uncanny.  But, this soup recipe is different.  Madison herself wondered how it would taste when she first saw a version in another cookbook. Well, it tastes wonderful--fresh and tangy and creamy.  And the quinoa holds up well in the liquid, not becoming soggy like rice or pasta does after being reheated.  This is one of my favorite soups now.  My husband had two big bowls and announced enthusiastically, "That was good soup!"  When he says that, it means the recipe is a winner.  I noticed that Bunnyfoot also cooked a vegan version of this recipe.  Hers includes corn and carrots and is very pretty.  Finally, this is a quick and easy recipe that can serve as a complete meal, something I always appreciate.

Fall Feast-ival: Butternut Squash Soup

It's Fall Feast-ival all this month at Fit Fare.  When I saw the beautiful butternut squash at the grocery store, I knew I had to make soup with it.  This recipe tastes very good and may be one of the healthiest soups I've ever eaten.  It starts off as a nearly fat free, pureed butternut squash base.  Then, collard greens, bell pepper, corn and carrots are added to make a great tasting soup low in calories but high in fiber, vitamins A and C, and antioxidants.   It was also quite filling, due to the fiber, I suspect.

Chicken Soup To The Rescue

When I was a child, one of my earliest memories is being sick with bronchitis. All the time.  Even my relatives have mentioned to me how I seemed to catch any bug circulating and it would turn into bronchitis.  My lungs are susceptible. So, even a simple virus like Clyde can become a big production.  Bob brought Clyde into our home, but he was mildly sick for maybe 3 days. That's his way.  He rarely gets sick and when he does, it lasts for a very short time.  I don't want him to be sick. I don't want him to suffer.  Really--I don't. But, it's a little annoying when I'm limping along with chest congestion, runny nose, barking cough, headache, and he barely gets a sniffle.  May I add that when he does get seriously sick (flu is the only thing that levels him) he winds up in bed, curled in the fetal position pitiously asking for orange juice .   As for me--I make soup.  And I finally made my chicken noodle soup. And it was good. 

It was also good to receive so many get-well messages.  Thanks so much to all of you, I was pretty lax in answering the comments  this week.  But, they did mean a lot to me.

WHB: Asian Salmon And Rice Soup

It's here, the first anniversary for Weekend Herb Blogging, which was created by the lovely Kalyn one year ago.  What a success this event has been!  And with it comes the chance to vote for my favorite herb.  It wasn't hard to come up with my choice.  I need only look at  the herb I buy the most at the grocery store: Cilantro.  I do grow some herbs--oregano, thyme, tarragon, and basil. But, cilantro has always been hard for me to grow here in the hot Central Valley weather.  It bolts very quickly.  So, every week I buy several bunches of cilantro (or coriander to some people).   There's something so satisfying about picking up a bunch of cilantro, feeling the silky leaves, then putting them under my nose to inhale the unmistakable odor.   

While I knew I would feature cilantro as my favorite herb, I was very conflicted about which recipe to use.  I thought of making cilantro pesto or salsa. But, then I got sick and decided to make something soothing, healing and delicious.  And this Asian styled soup with salmon and rice fit my requirements.  I love the taste of cilantro paired with soy or fish sauce.  This soup also contains ginger root which always makes me feel much better. Cilantro is a good source of folic acid and has a reputation for helping restore good health. To me, just eating a dish flavored with it makes me feel happy. And that's beneficial in itself.