Mexican Red Lentil Soup

Yummy!

Healthy!

Easy to make!

What else do you want?

This soup was easy and came together in under an hour.  We will definitely make this one again. We had dinner for two with this recipe, plus another 6-8 servings ready to go in the freezer, perfect for a lunch or a starter on a cold night.

A word about the canned tomatoes, you could easily used diced tomatoes with green chilies, or just regular diced. I only had an Italian spiced diced tomato, so I used that.  If you had people that don't like bigger chunks of tomatoes, used either crushed tomatoes or petite diced instead.

If you don't want it too spicy, you can omit the jalapenos and the hot sauce! I like everything kind of spicy though.

Makes about 8-12 servings (Freezes well)

Ingredients:

2 cup dry red lentils

4 cups water

1 T olive oil

3/4 cup onion, finely chopped

3/4 cup finely chopped celery

3/4 cup red bell pepper, finely chopped

1/4 cup jalapeno, finely chopped (optional)

1 1/2 T minced garlic

1/2 tsp. ground turmeric

2 tsp. ground cumin

2 tsp. chili powder

1 (14.5 oz.) can diced tomatoes

4 cups vegetable broth (or chicken if not doing a vegan soup)

1 T. hot sauce (optional)

salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

1/4 cup fresh squeezed lime juice

1/2 – 1 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Serve with additional lime wedges, sour cream and a sprinkling of cilantro

Put red lentils in a small pot, rinse and drain if needed, then add 2 cups water. Bring to a boil, turn off heat and cover. Let lentils sit in the hot water 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, finely chop onions and celery and mince garlic. Heat olive oil in heavy soup pot, add onion and celery and saute for 3-4 minutes, just long enough that vegetables are starting to soften. Add garlic and cook a few minutes more. Add ground turmeric, ground cumin, and chili powder, stir, and cook 1-2 minutes more.

Add diced canned tomatoes, vegetable broth, and hot sauce. Add lentils after they have soaked for 30 minutes.

Let soup simmer for 15-30 minutes (or until lentils are as soft as you’d like them, about 25 minutes.) When the lentils are softened as much as you’d like, stir in chopped cilantro and lime juice and cook 5 minutes more. If it seems too thick for your liking, add a bit of water and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.

Serve hot, with additional cut limes to squeeze into the soup. Can top with sour cream or vegan substitute if desired.

It was a great soup to enjoy on a very snowy day!

Manhattan Clam Chowder, Easy

 My picture isn't the greatest, so with my apologies for that, I wanted to share a very easy and delicious Manhattan Clam chowder.  I've never been a huge clam fan, but I do eat them on occasion. There's just something to the combination of clams with tomatoes that I love (check out my spaghetti with clam sauce here), while I really do not care for New England Clam chowder too much.  Too creamy, too thick, too much for me.

I made this on Christmas morning, and it was super easy to make.  I made a double batch and filled a 6 1/2 quart crockpot for my 18 guests to enjoy and serve themselves.  We served with spiral ham and a multitude of side dishes.   I did freeze one quart of the leftovers, but as it was in the crockpot most of the day, the potatoes were a bit too soft.  While you can freeze it, it might be best to cook and serve the same day.

Serves 6-8 

Ingredients

6-8 slices bacon chopped

1 cup onion, diced

1 cup carrots, peeled, quartered and sliced

1 cup celery sliced or diced

1 tsp garlic powder

1/4 cup tomato paste (half a small can)

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, or 4-5 fresh thyme stocks

1 bay leaf

1 pound yellow potatoes, unpeeled and diced into 1/2 inch cubes, about 4 cups

2 8 ounce bottles clam juice

4 cups chicken broth

15 ounce can crushed tomatoes (including liquid) OR 2 cups of marinara sauce (i used Rao's)

2 10 ounce can whole baby clams, do not drain, include liquid

salt and pepper to taste

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Heat a large pot over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook, stirring occasionally, remove and drain on paper towels.  

Leaving a bit of the bacon grease in the pan, use that to saute the onions, carrots and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 6-8 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

Place the tomato paste, garlic powder, thyme, bay leaf, clam juice, broth, crushed tomatoes (or marinara) and potatoes in the pot. Stir to combine. Bring to a simmer.

Cook for 10-15 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

Stir in the baby clams. Season the soup with salt and pepper to taste.

Simmer for 5 more minutes.  Top with parsley.  Serve with sourdough bread.

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Spicy Jambalaya Stew- Keto Friendly

Opportunity presents itself in different ways.
I found a pack of very spicy hot link sausages in the fridge. Where did these come from? LOL, I know my hubby cannot walk by a Hot Link at the grocery store when does the shopping (I love that about him), but he did complain that these were extra spicy. OK, challenge on... what to do with these?

I had a look in the freezer... chicken breasts, frozen cooked shrimp and mahi mahi.
OK everyone, dinner is in the house! I am now official inspired.

We were quite happy with the end result of this throw together meal. Brown the chicken, brown the fish, saute the onions/peppers, add the sausage and tomatoes. Add some seasoning and heat up.  Viola!  Dinner is served.
We're reducing carbs, so we ate it as a stew, but it would be wonderful over rice too.

Serves 4
Ingredients

2-3 Tbsp olive oil 1 chicken breast, cut into 1" cubes
1 8 oz mahi mahi, or other firm fish, cut into 1" cubes
1/2 onion, diced
1/2 bell pepper, diced

1 tsp garlic, chopped
8 oz prawns, cleaned (cooked or uncooked)
1 hot link, sliced
1 15 oz can of petite diced tomatoes 
1-2 tsp Italian seasoning
Salt & pepper to taste

Over medium high heat, add some olive oil and brown the chicken, removing it to another plate while you brown the fish. Remove the fish to the plate with the chicken. In the same pan, saute the onions, bell pepper and garlic. When they are starting to soften and just starting to brown on the edges, add the sliced hot link and continue to cook until the hot link gets a little color/crispness.  Add the petite diced tomatoes, reserved chicken and mahi mahi (plus accumulated juices), seasoning and the frozen or fresh cleaned prawns.  Bring gently to a boil, adjust seasoning with salt and pepper to taste and serve at once.

We ate this for lunch the following day and we were thrilled with how good it was after reheating.

Braised Pork Ginger Meatballs in Coconut Broth

Such weird times right now.
Everyone's home, everyone's self isolating... trying to get a handle on the Covid-19 pandemic. We're bored, we're stressed, we have to cook our own dinner...

The first time I made this was for our daughter and her boyfriend (now husband!). Everyone was instantly saying YUM!  Spicy, tangy, healthy and satisfying.  This hearty meatball soup is so comforting and warm... like a nice hug that you can't have right now.
This is a quick and easy recipe that comes together in under 30 minutes.

If you didn't have ground pork,  you could use ground chicken or turkey too.  I haven't tried it with beef, but heck, why not?

I was inspired by this recipe on Smitten Kitchen.

Serves 2-3 
Ingredients:

Meatballs:

1 pounds ground pork

1 large eggs

1 tablespoon finely chopped peeled fresh ginger

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 tablespoon fish sauce

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon kosher salt

Broth:

One 13 1/2-ounce can unsweetened coconut milk

3 cups chicken stock

1/4 cup thinly sliced peeled fresh ginger

2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

2 fresh red chiles or jalapeno, thinly sliced, plus extra for serving 

1 cup fresh mushrooms, quartered
1/2 red bell pepper, sliced 

Finely grated zest and juice of 1/2 lime

1 tablespoon fish sauce

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar (optional)
1-2 tsp of garlic red pepper paste (optional)

A handful of fresh cilantro sprigs

1 teaspoon kosher salt

A few handfuls of baby spinach

I mixed all the ingredients together for the meatballs and used a small cookie scoop to make meat balls... they look a bit like meat "splats", but I was in a hurry. You could definitely take the time to roll them into round balls.  Use a small scoop... these were a bit big when eating the soup and maybe half this size would have been better.  I think next time about 1" meatballs, bite size!

Cook meatballs at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes. Go ahead and start the broth while the meatballs cook.

I prepped all the veggies (below).  You can use a different selection of veggies.... if you don't like mushrooms, you could use asparagus, zucchini or more bell peppers. Use what you have.... Got it? Cook it!

While the meat balls are cooking, go ahead and combine all the ingredients for the broth.

Add the meatballs and bring to a quick boil. Serve at once with more lime, as desired.

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Chicken Piccata Soup

Yum!
This soup has some of my favorite flavor combinations- chicken, capers, lemon!
I also have to add this is a very simple and fast soup to make. 
I may have pulled some very lazy manuevers when making this....
But, you know, you need a soup like that, right?

I didn't have already cooked chicken so I threw a raw chicken breast in the chicken broth, cooked it gently for about 20 minutes, let it cool and then shredded it.  You could also used already cooked chicken, like from a rotisserie chicken too.

Ingredients
Serves 4

4 cups of chicken broth
2-3 Tbsp celery, minced
2-3 Tbsp carrots, minced
1/4 cup onions, minced
1 Tbsp lemon juice
2-3 Tbsp capers with brine
1 1/2 cups cooked chicken, shredded
1/2 cup dried spaghetti, broken into 1" pieces
2-3 Tbsp Italian parsley, chopped
Salt & pepper, to taste

Bring the broth to a boil, add the celery, carrots and onions. Cook for about 5-6 minutes on a low boil.  Add the lemon juice, the capers and the broken spaghetti noodles, and continue to boil until the noodles are done.  Add the chicken and parsley, bring back to temperature and serve! Taste for salt and pepper.

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Paige's French Onion Soup

My daughter's favorite soup.
This one takes a while to make, but it is worth the time.
It's a lighter color than many restaurants serve, but this one has chicken and beef stock, plus some white wine for added flavor.

NOTE:  Recently I made this soup using gluten free flour (instead of regular flour) as a thickener and it was really good, and I didn't taste any difference.  You could omit the flour, but it does give the soup a nice body and texture.  If you are serving this to a GF person, you will need to find GF bread for the croutes too.

Serves about 4-6 (Makes about 8-9 cups)

Ingredients

         

5 medium onions, halved lengthwise, then thinly sliced lengthwise

3 sprigs fresh thyme, or 1/2 tsp dried

1 bay leaf

3/4 teaspoon salt (and more to taste, as needed)

1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter

3 teaspoons all-purpose flour

1 cup dry white wine

4 cups chicken stock

4 cups beef stock(or 4 more chicken stock, with some added beef base concentrate)

1 1/2 cups water

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

6-12 (1/2-inch-thick) diagonal slices of baguette

6 slices of Swiss, Gruyère, Comte, or Emmental cheese

2 tablespoons finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Cook onions, thyme, bay leaves, and salt in butter in a 4- to 5-quart heavy pot over moderate heat, uncovered, stirring frequently, until onions are very soft and deep golden brown, about 45 minutes. The pan below was FULL of white raw onions, and reduced down to about 1/4 of the original size.

Add flour and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Stir in wine and cook, stirring, 2 minutes. Stir in broth, water, and pepper and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, 30 minutes. 

While soup simmers, put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F.

Arrange bread in 1 layer on a large baking sheet and toast, turning over once, until completely dry, about 15 minutes.

Remove croûtes from oven and preheat broiler. Put crocks in a shallow baking pan.

Discard bay leaves and thyme from soup and divide soup among crocks, then float a croûte in each. Slice enough Gruyère (about 6 ounces total) with cheese plane to cover tops of crocks, allowing ends of cheese to hang over rims of crocks, then sprinkle with Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Broil 4 to 5 inches from heat until cheese is melted and bubbly, 1 to 2 minutes.

Here's the hot soup, ready for the croûtes and cheese:

Ready to go in the oven, under the broiler for 2-3 minutes.  Watch it so it doesn't burn.
 

  
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Tangy Lentil & Chickpea Soup

This soup has so many great flavors and variety of textures that I don't think anyone will figure out that it is meatless! This one is nice and hearty, perfect for a Fall Day.

Serves 6

Ingredients

2 tsp olive oil

1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped carrots

2 medium yellow onions, chopped (about 1 cup)

2 cups, 5-6 small yellow potato, diced

1 tsp. mild curry powder

1 tsp. ground turmeric

1 can (28 ounces) diced plum tomatoes , with juice

4 cups of water 
4 cups vegetable broth

1 cup dried lentils (preferably red)

1 cans (15 ounces) chickpeas,  rinsed and drained

Salt to taste (might need 1-2 tsp)

Juice of lemon

1 Tbsp. white balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro 
1 cup fresh spinach, chopped

Place olive oil in large pot over medium heat; sauté celery, onions, and potatoes, along with curry powder, and turmeric, 5 to 8 minutes. Add canned tomatoes and 8 cups of broth/water and the lentils, chickpeas, and salt. 

Bring to a boil, then simmer, partially covered, for 45 minutes to 1 hour (check that there is enough liquid; add 1 extra cup of water if necessary).

Just before serving, add lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, and cilantro, if using.

Original recipe from Oprah Magazine

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Lazy Girl Creamy Enchilada Verde Soup

Need something easy on a lazy Saturday? Or after a hard day at work?
How about an almost instant soup?

The other day I made Chili Verde Turkey Meatloaf, but had about 2/3 of a large can of green enchilada sauce leftover in the fridge. If you ever have a partial can, you could also freeze the leftovers in a small plastic container, perfect for a recipe like this.


Grab a rotisserie chicken and a can of enchilada sauce, and dinner is almost made.
I must admit, I scrounged around the fridge for veggies that might be good in this soup.  What follows is what I had on hand... you might have other stuff.  Nothing wrong with canned tomatoes, or chopped carrots in this soup.  Use your imagination... 
 
Enchilada sauce has quite a bit of sodium, so you may not need much more in this recipe.  Be sure to completely finish the soup before tasting and adding any more salt.

You could throw all this in the crock pot and let in cook on low for 6 hours, but really, you can do it on  the stove top very quickly.  I used a Costco rotisserie chicken for my re-cooked chicken.  I love that chicken, I buy one almost every time I go there. It's my basic for my homemade easy chicken stock too.
 
Serves 4-6 
Ingredients 

1 1/2 cups Green enchilada sauce
3 cups chicken broth
2 cups diced chicken, cooked and shredded
1 cup onions
1/2 cup celery
1/2 cup red bell pepper
1 cup corn, fresh, frozen or roasted
1/2 cup cilantro
1 tsp cumin
Chili pepper flakes, optional


Saute the onions, celery and bell pepper, over medium heat, in the olive oil for about 5 minutes, until they start to soften.

Add the enchilada sauce and chicken broth, and increase heat to high.  Bring to a boil, then add the chicken, spices and corn.  Taste and adjust the seasonings to you liking.  Reduce to a simmer, and let cook for another 5-10 minutes.  It will thicken slightly as it reduces a bit.

Great on it's own, or you can add some topping suggestions:

• cheddar cheese
• sour cream
• chopped tomatoes
• green onions
• fresh cilantro
• olives
• minced jalapenos
• tortilla chips