Chickpea & Red Bell Pepper Soup

I'm trying to get a little more protein because I'm recovering from a muscle/tendon injury. Then I learned from Google that a cup of chickpeas has 39 GRAMS (!!!) of protein and so...

Ingredients:

1 cup water
Bullion cube (I use Knorr's vegetarian vegetable)
1 can of chickpeas
Quarter of a vidalia onion
1-2 cloves garlic
Butter
1 small red bell pepper
5 sundried tomatoes
Paprika, Garlic Powder, Turmeric, Cumin, Salt, Nutmeg (to taste)
Splash of lemon juice.
Potato flakes to thicken as desired

Chop up a few cloves of garlic and your onion and start them off in some butter. Chop up red pepper (doesn't have too be too small) and add that too. Add your spices. After they are a bit more cooked, add  your can of chickpeas (don't drain it).

Let these things simmer a bit and then use a slotted spoon to transfer your chickpeas and red pepper into a blender.
Keep the heat on and add half a cup of water, and your bullion cube, to the pot. Dice up sundried tomatoes pretty finely and add them too. Cover.
Now, add the other half cup of water to the blender and blend until it is a thick liquid. Add back to pot.

If you like it a little thicker (which I do) you can add a couple of spoonfuls of potato flakes which are my preferred soup thickener because they're hassle free and a bit more nutritious than plain white flour. Or you can whisk in some flour if you're good at that (I'm not!)

Stir. Add a splash of lemon juice. Stir more. Simmer for a few more minutes and serve!

Lemon-Spinach Stuffed Shells (Vegan!)

This is one of those "random stuff in my fridge and cabinets" creations that worked out well.

Ingredients:
10 large shell pasta pieces
Half a large container of fresh spinach
Half a lemon
Olive oil
A few cloves of garlic
Salt, coarse ground pepper
Other spices according to your whim (I throw in a pinch of turmeric and cayenne to almost everything these days)

You can obviously up-size this dish if you're cooking for a crowd. Just bear in mind that fresh spinach shrinks a LOT. Next time I do this dish I might even do more spinach; there's room.

Boil water and add shells. They need 10 minutes or so to cook (or just make them according to the package directions or your own preference).

While they are cooking, chop up garlic finely & start it off in a generous splash of olive oil. Heat should be medium-low. Chop your lemon into a few pieces--squirt as much as you can and then toss the lemon pieces into the pan to continue to add flavor.

Once the garlic is browned, add the spinach. Be careful not to overcook--spinach should be a bright dark green when ready so it does not loose its flavor and nutrients. Remove from heat as soon as it looks close to done (it will keep cooking for a little bit off the burner).

Drain shells & spread on a plate. Scoop spinach into shells bit by bit. I did 2 rounds of this so I didn't end up with very uneven filling amounts.

Then, carefully place each shell back into your pan (add a little oil if you need to for non-stickiness) and let it simmer on low for a few minutes to cook the delicious lemon-garlic flavor right into the pasta.

Sprinkle with salt and coarse ground pepper and serve!

Accidental Necco Wafer Iced Tea

So my sister works for a tea importer and as a consequence, I end up taking home delicious and extremely fancy teas every time I visit.  Not coincidentally, I have developed a tradition of making a new fancy iced tea blend every weekend.

Today I sipped my new iced tea for the first time and was surprised to learn I had created something that had a flavor/scent somewhere between that of a Necco Wafer, and that of a Choward's Violet mint.

I'm not sure how I feel about this... uncanny... development.  My taste buds are still getting over the bizarre circumstances but I seem to be enjoying it.

Ingredients

-A bunch of ice

-Hot water

-1 bag Tazo Sweet Cinnamon Spice tea

-1/2 tsp loose Moroccan Mint

-1 tsp loose Buccaneer tea from Serendipitea

-1 tsp loose darjeeling tea

-like 1/4 tsp of Dark ChocolateTea also from Serendipitea (I was finishing off a container)

Put a bunch of ice (I usually use 2 regular ice trays' worth) into a large pitcher.

Steep tea in 4 cups hot water. (I usually just throw it all in loose, and then pour through a strainer once steeped.) Don't steep longer than 5 minutes - that will make it more bitter, not more flavorful.

Pour hot tea into the pitcher with ice and stick immediately in your fridge. It's usually cold enough to drink within a few hours.

This is unsweetened and I don't find it to need sweetener. But if are a sweet tea fan, dissolve sugar in the hot tea (before you pour it over the ice), to your taste. I find that the result is a little better if I steep tea first, and then add sugar.

Potato Garlic Halftime Soup

If, like me, you are ever watching a football game and then see a commercial for some sort of delicious creamy soup and you're like OH NO how can I eat something like that right now...
This soup is for you. Easy to prepare during halftime/commercial breaks.

Ingredients:
3-5 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons whipped butter
1/2 sprig of rosemary if available*
a few shakes of dried thyme
1 cup broth
1 cup milk
1 cup potato flakes (this makes it pretty thick, use less or more depending on desired thickness)
2 oz grated cheddar cheese
1 tsp lemon juice

*dried stuff is OK too; a sprig is just nicer because then you can pull it out after and not be left with branchy stuff in your soup.

Serves 1-2 people.

Chop garlic and start it simmering in butter with the rosemary sprig on very low heat. This way you can leave it until the next commercial.
On the next commercial, add your broth (or bullion and water if that's your fancy.)
On the following commercial, add flakes and then milk. Stir well. Adjust your thickness here with your flake to milk ratio if desired. Then add the grated cheese.
Let simmer, partially covered, until the next commercial break.
Add lemon juice & stir well/quickly so it doesn't interact badly with the milk.
Serve!

Vegetarian Sausuage and Peppers Soup

This is really hearty, really filling, really good for you.

Serves two, or double it for more. I only had a little fake sausage left and so made a small amount.

Ingredients:

Gimme Lean Ground Sausage - 1/4 tube

2 Green Peppers, roasted

1 roma tomato

1/3 of a large spanish onion, diced

1 teaspoon olive oil

.5 tablespoon whipped butter

5 cloves garlic

Knorr Vegetarian Vegetable Bouillon

1-2 cups water

Cayenne pepper (optional)

First you will roast your peppers. Poke some holes/slits in with a knife so there is no risk of explodey peppers. Stick them in the oven on about 425 on a baking sheet or foil. Turn them every 10 minutes or so. When they are mostly black and splotchy (and/or start to look dangerously collapsey) take them out, and put them in a bowl covered with Saran wrap for 10 minutes or so. This lets the skin detach a little better. When cool enough you can peel them and remove the stem.

One of these peppers is going into the blender. The other one, chop up into small pieces.

Start off some garlic in your butter and oil in a medium pot. Add in small pieces of the ground sausage bit by bit. Then add your diced onions. When your sausage starts to brown and the onion looks a little translucent, add your chopped roasted green pepper too. If you want this a little spicey add some cayenne pepper here, too.  Cover, let simmer. Keep this on low and stir occasionally so nothing gets burnt or sticky. 

Chop your tomato into big pieces and stick that in the blender with your first roasted pepper. Add a little water. Blend until soupy, a few chunks are OK.

Add your blended veggies, one cube of bullion, and the rest of your water to the pot. Let this simmer for 10-20 minutes (longer is fine) so the bullion cube dissolves and the flavors get all nice and mixy. 

Serve!

Friggin amazing on its own or with added mozzarella, romano cheese, croutons or garlic bread.  

Broccoli Cheese Soup

I have long had a love affair with broccoli cheese soup and interestingly never made it.

Years ago, a friend's dad earned my cook-y respect in a major way by serving me his homemade broccoli soup that he made in a crock pot with cream cheese, frozen broccoli and cream (or milk? I can't remember).

More recently I had to break up with Panera's broccoli cheese soup when I learned it was not vegetarian. (Yeah, I guess the fact that there was no little "V" should have tipped me off earlier but what can I say... I was a woman in love.)  It was a rough breakup.

Anyway, here's my recipe from the other night. It came out really tasty. I didn't have any onions in the house, but if I had I would have added those too.

Ingredients:

3 cloves garlic, sliced

1-2 tablespoons butter

1 cup water 

1 extra large knorr vegetarian vegetable bullion cube

1 cup milk

2 oz shredded cheddar.

8 oz whipped cream cheese

2 fresh broccoli heads, chopped up into very small pieces. You can get a little stem in there too.

Start off your garlic with your butter simmering in the pan. You want the garlic to get a little brown but not burnt. When that's accomplished, add your water and your bullion cube and stir. You can raise the heat. Add your broccoli too. Let your bullion do its bullion thing.

Now you're going to add your dairy stuff.

First add the cream cheese and STIR LIKE THE DICKENS. You want it to melt in. Stir a lot, keep the heat on the low side because if it boils it can separate (which doesn't really affect the flavor but looks pretty ugly).  When the cream cheese is incorporated fully into the soup, add your shredded cheddar and again, stir like the dickens until it is fully melted in. Add your cup of milk, still stirring.

When your milk, cheese and broth are well mixed and soup is hot enough to eat, it's done!

Serves 3-4.

SOUP-A-THON 2012: Cheesy Spinach & Tomato Soup

This took me under 30 minutes to make and tastes friggin' awesome.

Ingrdients:
1/2 a pound of fresh spinach
1 tomato, diced
2 cups of bullion (I used Knorr's Vegetarian Vegetable)
1/4 of a red onion, diced
3 oz finely shredded cheddar
1 cup finely shredded mozzarella
1/2 cup of fat free milk
Garlic, pepper, thyme
1-3 tablespoons of lemon juice (to taste)

Get your broth/bullion in a medium pot, on medium-low on a burner so it will be ready to go.
Wash and chop your spinach into smallish pieces. Also dice your onion.
Add spinach and onion to pot.
Add cheese to pot, stirring quite a bit so it doesn't glob up.
Add lemon juice to pot.
Add spices.
Add milk to pot, again stirring quite a bit.

Let simmer until cheese is all melted in. Your broth should be a nice buttery yellow color.

Add your diced tomato at the end.  Mix in.

Serve!

Makes about 4 servings and each serving is 195 calories. Booyah!