I Love Soup – Healthy, Easy Food

Soup is one of my favorite foods.  It’s healthy.  It’s easy.  It’s warming.  It’s delicious.  I can make a big batch, freeze in individual containers and have lunch weeks (or months) later.  I just counted and there are fourteen different types in my freezer, all ready for a quick meal.  This is my type of organization.

Plus, I really like soup all year round.  I know some people only look forward to it on cool days or during the cold winter months but I actually like it for a quick, healthy lunch any time of year.

Italian Wedding Soup – Kind of – I guess – maybe?

This recipe is my version of Italian Wedding Soup.  That said, please don’t send me negative comments about my lack of knowledge regarding this recipe.  No, I’m not Italian.  No, I have no idea about why it’s called Italian Wedding.  No, it’s not authentic.

I had a similar verson at my local soup house.  She said it was Italian Wedding Soup.  In truth, I have only a vague recollection of eating it at a small Italian restaurant near where I worked over two decades ago.  I truly have no knowledge base here.

What I did have was some interesting leftovers that I could make into an easy meal that was healthy.  The closest similarity was Italian Wedding Soup.  Probably if I was going to serve this, I would call it something like minestrone meatball soup or clean out the refrigerator soup (although that doesn’t sound too appetizing).

All I wanted to note is that this isn’t any traditional soup and I wasn’t trying for that.  Sometimes it’s best to relax and enjoy the food, no matter what you call it . . .

hope you enjoy it!

Perfection Not Required

This soup definitely does not require precision with the meatballs.  Use a teaspoon and drop “balls” into 1 to 1 1/4 inch balls.  They don’t need to be perfectly round.

The pasta is the same way – use whatever you can find.  Don’t worry about the size or style.

Same with the greens – use what’s available . . . spinach, kale, Swiss chard; it doesn’t matter.

The taste will change a little but the meal will still be healthy and wonderful.  This is about healthy and easy, NOT perfection!

I recommend homemade stock – here’s how – but you can always purchase premade if your in a hurry.  Or spend a weekend making a big batch of stock and save it for later.  I’m working on a fish stock recipe now . . . watch for it soon!

Ingredients

          Meatballs

• ¾ pound grass fed ground beef
• ½ pound pasture grassed ground chicken sausage
• 2/3 cup gluten-free panko
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 Tablespoons fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
• ¼ cup Pecorino Roman, grated
• ¼ cup Asiago, grated
• ¼ cup Parmesan, grated, plus extra for serving
• 3 Tablespoons coconut milk
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
• ½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

Soup

• 2 Tablespoons ghee
• 1 cup yellow onion, minced
• 3 carrots, diced
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 10 cups homemade chicken stock
• ½ cup dry white wine
• 1 cup small gluten free pasta (penne, fusilli, farfelle, fregula, cavatappi, etc)
• ¼ cup fresh dill, minced
• 12 ounces spinach or kale, coarsely chopped
• Sea salt and white pepper to taste

Directions

1. Mince garlic and onions and allow to rest for 5-10 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
3. Meatballs: line a baking sheet with parchment paper; combine all ingredients thoroughly; form into 1-1¼ inch meatballs (approx. 40); bake for 30 minutes or until cooked through and lightly browned; set aside.
4. Soup: while the meatballs cook, heat the ghee in a large pot. Add the onion, carrots and celery sautéing until softened 5-6 minutes.  Add the chicken stock and wine; bring to a boil.  Add the pasta and cook for 6-8 minutes until tender but not soft.  If the meatballs are still warm add them, the dill and the greens, cook for one minute.  If the meatballs are cold, add them and cook for a minute, then add the dill and greens cooking for an additional.  (the greens should be wilted but not cooked through).
5. Serve with extra grated Parmesan.

Here’s a few more recipes and there’s many more throughout the website:

Root Vegetables

Split Pea

Red Pepper Artichoke

 

 

Cleaning Out the Freezer Recipes

Spring means it’s time to clean out the freezers.  I’m always amazed what “gems” I find in the back.  Sometimes there’s items I can’t even identify.  Sometimes there’s items that have so much freezer burn on them it could be some sort of fancy ice crystal castle.

When I was growing up my mother always called freezer burn “flavor crystals”.  It wasn’t until I was much, much older that I realized the lie.  But, what I have learned over the years is that many of these freezer burn items do really well in recipes that are slow cooked with great seasoning.

Freezer Burn

Freezer burn can be caused by the food being exposed to air which doesn’t necessarily mean the food is bad even though it may not look appetizing.  When food is frozen, water molecules in the food turn into ice crystals which means you may be looking at that fancy ice crystal castle after all.

Yes, some of these items may need to be discarded but other times you can make soups.  I found six different single packets of salmon in the back of the freezer.  No, I have no idea why we saved one salmon fillet here and a different salmon fillet there.  Like I said – always some interesting “gems”.

All in all, the six salmon fillets weighed in at about 1.5 pounds.  They were all pretty ice crystally and definitely wouldn’t look good on a plate.  Enter salmon chowder!

Salmon Chowder Recipe

Chowder Ingredients:

• 1 ½ lbs frozen salmon
• ½ lb red potatoes
• 2 medium leeks
• 3 cloves garlic
• ½ lb bacon
• 2 T butter
• Pinch of sea salt
• 1 cup frozen corn
• ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
• ½ teaspoon dried thyme or 3 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
• ¼ cup dry vermouth or white wine
• 2 cups fish stock
• 1 cup water
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• ½ teaspoon white pepper
• 2 cup coconut milk
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Directions:

1. Thaw salmon and cut into 1 ½ inch pieces.  Cut potatoes into ½ inch cubes
2. Press garlic and thin slice white and light green parts of leeks.  All to rest for 5-10 minutes.
3. Cook bacon.  Allow to cool and then crumble.  Reserve 2 Tablespoons bacon fat.
4. Add butter to bacon fat.  Cook leeks with pinch of sea salt, corn, paprika, thyme, bay leaf, and pepper flakes for approximately 4 minutes.
5. Add garlic and cook another minute.
6. Add vermouth and simmer until almost completely evaporated, about 2 minutes.
7. Stir in stock, water, potatoes, salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil.  Decrease heat, cover and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 25 minutes.
8. Add milk, bring to a light boil then decrease heat again.
9. Add salmon and bacon.  Cook until salmon is cooked through, 5-8 minutes.  Using a fork, flake the salmon into large pieces.
10. Stir in lemon juice.  Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.
11. Discard bay leaf and fresh thyme springs if using.  Serve

Serves 6

Quick Dinner Ideas

We got home late the other day from my son’s tae kwon do practice and had less than an hour until we had to get back to his school for a fundraiser.  Normally this is the time when every busy parent just runs through the drive thru but without a change of clothes for my son we had to head home and the clock was ticking.

Less than 30 minutes and no idea what to do.  Yes, I know I preach meal planning and teach it frequently so you can be assured that I was supposed to have an easy recipe in the slow cooker . . . but, I had forgotten.  Yep, that happens to the best of us.

Here’s how it all came together in this easy recipe.

Start with Leftovers

In a pinch, I always start with what are the leftovers in the refrigerator.  There was a bunch of mashed potato leftovers and some slaw.  I found some frozen fish in the freezer.  I put the fish fillets in a bowl with cold water running over them while I heated up the oven, minced some green onions and mixed together the leftovers into a “crust”.  Quickly I added some panko crumbs to melted ghee to make a layer of texture crunch to the dinner ideas.  Threw it all in the oven in time to make sure my son had changed clothes and my husband had gathered the items were donating to the fundraiser.

In less than 30 minutes the fish cooked and I added the slaw leftovers to plates.  This is definitely going in my easy recipes file for dinner ideas.  In the rush I forgot to stage a pretty picture and just snapped this easy recipes photo while still on the parchment paper, so don’t judge the picture too much.  It was a quick easy recipe and now I have another idea to use mashed potato leftovers.

 

Easy Recipes – Baked Fish in Mashed Potatoes

 

Ingredients:

• 1 lemon
• 2 cup mashed potatoes
• 4 green onions
• 2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon sea salt, divided
• 1 teaspoon white pepper, divided
• 4 white fish fillets, 5-6 oz each
• 4 teaspoons ghee
• 1 cup panko crumbs

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Arrange fish fillets on sheet.
2. Mince green onions and allow to rest for 5-10 minutes.
3. Grate the lemon peel to measure 2 teaspoons.
4. Crumble dried thyme into a bowl.  Mix in potatoes, green onions, lemon peel, ½ tsp. salt and ½ tsp. pepper until well blended.
5. Squeeze lemon juice over fish fillets.  Season with remaining ½ tsp. salt and ½ tsp. pepper.
6. Spread ¼ of the potato mixture over each fillet.  Make sure to cover completely.
7. Melt ghee in a skillet.  Add panko crumbs and toss until evenly coated.
8. Spoon ¼ crumbs mixture over potato mixture on each fillet pressing crumbs into potato mixture to adhere.
9. Bake fish until cooked through and crust is beginning to brown.  Time depends on type and thickness of fish fillets, usually about 15-20 minutes.

Serves 4

Simple Healthy Meal

I know . . . the rise of pumpkin occurred a few months ago when there was pumpkin everything!

But, 1. we still had pumpkins left over from the holidays and 2. I needed warming comfort food because of the dank cold weather.

So, I started playing with one of my favorite foods, Thai and the leftover pumpkin.  I wanted a healthy meal I could make fast.

Healthy Make Ahead (or use leftovers!)

At first glance this pumpkin curry recipe doesn’t look so simple but it’s really all about making ahead or using leftovers.

First, roast the pumpkin on a stay-at-home day, portion and freeze.  It’ll make your space smell wonderful and you’ll have the ingredients when you need them.

Second, bake the chicken ahead to really speed up this pumpkin curry recipe.

Third, steam the rice ahead and have it ready to go in the refrigerator.  If you choose this method just add another tablespoon of oil and the rice to the wok for a quick reheat.

Pumpkin Curry Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 small pumpkin
• 2 shallots
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 red pepper
• 1 Tablespoon red curry paste
• 1 can unsweetened coconut milk
• 2 Tablespoons fish sauce
• Juice of one lime
• 3-6 drops stevia or 2 teaspoons honey
• 3 Tablespoons coconut oil
• 1 pound chicken thighs, cubed
• 2 Tablespoons fresh basil (garnish)
• Steamed rice or vegetables

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F to cook pumpkin.
2. Cut pumpkin in quarters.  Remove seeds and fibers.  Place pumpkin in ungreased baking dish.  Add amount ¼-inch of water.  Cover and bake until almost tender, about 30 minutes.
3. Cool pumpkin to touch and remove skins. Chop into cubes.
4. Chop shallots, garlic, red pepper and basil.  Allow to sit for 5-10 minutes.
5. In a blender or food processor combine shallots, garlic, curry paste and 2 Tablespoons water.  Process until smooth.
6. Heat a large fry pan or wok over medium heat.  Add 2 Tablespoons oil and chicken cubes.  Sauté until light brown on all sides, approximately 5-7 minutes.  Transfer to a plate.
7. Add remaining tablespoon of oil.  Add curry mixture and cook until fragrant, less than 30 seconds.
8. Stir in the coconut milk, fish sauce, lime juice and sweetener.  Bring to a boil.
9. Add the chicken, pumpkin and red pepper.  Reduce heat to low and simmer until pumpkin is tender when pierced with a fork and chicken is fully cooked, about 5 minutes.
10.  Serve over steamed rice or vegetables.  Top with basil.

Serves 4