Healthy and Heavenly Sausage and Shrimp Gumbo

Gumbo defines Cajun cuisine. Gumbo is soulful, rich, and so satisfying. It is hearty, comforting. Gumbo transcends seasons, and my family enjoys eating it any time I make it. Traditionally gumbo is a welcomed Holy Thursday meal, a feast to enjoy before the Good Friday fast. While often seafood-based, recipes are as varied as the ingredients you have on hand, and every family (and chef) has its version. Google "gumbo recipe," and you'll get over 1,050,000 hits. But a few must-haves include a nutty roux that provides gumbo's thickness and distinct color and the holy trinity of onion, celery, and bell peppers, similar to the French mirepoix. But arguments abound if okra is essential (absolutely! Gumbo translates to okra), if tomatoes are a no-no (I use them because I use okra and I like the hint of sweetness they add to offset the slight spice of the dish), is filé necessary (sometimes I use it as a condiment sprinkled on at the end, but okra sufficiently thickens it), and is andouille a necessity (if I’ve planned ahead and have it in the ‘frig, it’s my sausage of choice)?

Unfortunately gumbo is not the healthiest of fare, full of fat from the preparation of the roux and often sodium-laden depending on your selection of sausage. But we love this stuff, and I didn’t want to think we had to give up one of our favorite meals in the name of healthy eating. Some years ago, I came across a recipe in Cooking Light that provides a great base for a really healthy gumbo. It is every bit as tasty as a traditional recipe thanks to an ingenious method of preparing the roux. No oil. No butter. No fat! But as it browns, it still has that very distinct, sharp, almost earthy roux aroma that fills your whole house. Do pay attention. You need to stir like crazy and don’t let it burn because then you must start over. This gumbo has a healthy dose of vegetables, and you can vary the proteins to your liking, using shrimp, a firm white fish such as red snapper, crayfish, chicken, or sausage. This recipe below reflects the changes I made to the original, using additional spices, just shrimp and chicken andouille sausage. Enjoy!

Sausage and Shrimp Gumbo

8 – 1 cup gumbo and 1/2 cup rice

1 cup all-purpose flour (I've successfully used white whole wheat flour)

2 teaspoons olive oil

2 cups chopped onion

1 cup chopped bell pepper – green is traditional, but any color works

1/2 cup chopped celery

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 cup sliced okra

1 cup chopped tomato

1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning (Penzey’s Spices has a nice one)

1 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon cayenne

A few shakes Worcestershire sauce

5 cups fish or chicken stock

2 bay leaves

3/4 pound sliced chicken andouille sausage

1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions

3/4 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

Tabasco or other hot sauce to taste

4 cups hot cooked long-grain rice

Place flour in a 9-inch cast-iron skillet; cook over medium heat 20 minutes or until browned, stirring constantly with a whisk. (If flour browns too fast, remove it from heat, and stir until it cools down.) Remove from heat; set aside.

Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Sauté sausage, breaking up clumps with the back of a spoon, until cooked through. Remove from the pan and drain on paper towels.

Wipe out the pan. Heat the remaining teaspoon of oil and add the onion, bell pepper, celery, and garlic; sauté 8 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

Add okra and tomato; cover and cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add Cajun seasoning, spices, Worcestershire sauce, stock, and bay leaves, and bring to a boil.

(Be sure to cut the okra smaller than what I did above.)

Gradually add browned flour, stirring with a whisk. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add green onions and shrimp; cook 10 minutes or until shrimp is done. Add in the sausage and cook until heated through. Stir in hot sauce; discard bay leaves. Serve gumbo over rice.

Print recipe here

Sadly, the Last of this Season's Cauliflower

The heat in St. Louis has done in all remaining cool weather crops. So long greens, broccoli, and cauliflower, which had a much too short growing season.

Like its cruciferous cousins Brussels sprouts, cabbage, and turnips, cauliflower is wholly unappreciated. When prepared properly, it is such a versatile vegetable. It can be served raw, steamed, pureed, stir-fried, roasted, broiled, boiled, braised, and transforms lovely into a silky soup sans cream, cut into and grilled as “steaks,” and makes scrumptious faux low-carb “mashed potatoes.” Almost all cultures with the exception of the US embrace it in many dishes (when was the last time you were served cauliflower at a nice dinner party or in a fancy restaurant?). The classic Indian dish Aloo Gobi, potatoes, cauliflower, and turmeric, comes to mind or an Italian salad, cauliflower roasted with olive oil, garlic, capers, and red chili flakes. Delish.

And this humble veggie is a nutritional power house. One cup fulfills almost your entire daily Vitamin C requirement and provides protein, thiamine, riboflavin, phosphorus, potassium, fiber, Vitamin K, Vitamin B6, folate, manganese, and develops phenethyl isothiocyanate when cut, a key cancer inhibitor.  

With so many choices, what did I make with our last head of cauliflower? A French-inspired creamy (but dairyless) soup that is as delicious served cold as it is warm. It gets is texture simply from pureeing it with an immersion blender. You can increase the vegetable content to whatever you have to use up in your frig, but I kept it pretty simple and this is a cinch to prepare. While entirely unnecessary, but really nice additions, I topped the soup with a crumble of bacon and homemade garlic croutons. And now, a drum roll please….

Creamy Cauliflower Soup

Serves four to six, depending on the size of the head of cauliflower

1 – 2 t olive oil

1 large clove garlic, minced

1 large shallot or 1 medium onion (about 1/2 cup), chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

1 T fresh thyme, finely minced

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1 T butter

1 T all purpose flour

1 head cauliflower, coarsely chopped

4 cups fat free vegetable or chicken broth

In a medium pan over medium heat, warm olive oil and add garlic. Cook one minute. Add shallot or onion, celery, thyme, and season with salt and pepper. Sauté until vegetables have softened. Remove from the pan.

In the same pan over low heat, melt the butter. Add flour and stir about two minutes. Add broth, cauliflower, and cooked vegetables, and return heat to medium. Cover and simmer until cauliflower is tender, about 20 minutes.

Remove from the heat and carefully puree with an immersion blender until smooth.

Print recipe.

Our Super Bowl Food - MUSSELS!

We certainly didn’t have traditional game day food for Sunday’s Super Bowl, but I’ll take mussels steamed in white wine over chicken wings (yuck!) or potato skins in a heart beat. Mussels are one of my favorite foods from childhood. They were only eaten in a restaurant, Diablo-style, where their unique taste was often lost in the spicy tomato sauce. Fast forward 30 years to my own kitchen, a refined palate, and an appreciation for the light, sweet, meatiness of good mussels. These black beauties are not fishy in the least, but they do have an ocean essence and are ever-so-slightly chewy but nothing like clams. If you haven’t prepared mussels before or think you don’t care for them, give this recipe for Mediterranean Mussels with Farro and White Wine a try. It’s easy enough to make for a weeknight supper, but pretty and sophisticated to serve to company. Farro is an ancient grain, popular in Europe, particularly Italy, and is now becoming more fashionable in the U.S. Being a whole grain, it has a nutty, earthy flavor that is a nutritional powerhouse and works well with mussels. Loaded with vegetables, the dish is exceptionally healthy.

It seems I’ve been posting a lot recently from cookbooks and about cookbooks. Admittedly, I am a cookbook cook. While I rarely prepare a recipe as written in a cookbook, I seldom just throw something together without a recipe as a guide. With that introduction, this recipe is from Ancient Grains for Modern Meals: Mediterranean Whole Grain Recipes for Barley, Farro, Kamut, Polenta, Wheat Berries & More, a 2011 NY Times Notable Cookbook, by Maria Speck. It has recipes highlighting grains for all courses, breakfast through dessert. The photos are lovely, recipes clearly written, easy to follow, and none are complicated. I’m trying to cook more Mediterranean so it’s a nice addition to my collection. Be sure I’ll post more recipes from this five-star cookbook. The recipe below reflects the changes I made, namely the addition of fennel, which I think is a natural in a Mediterranean stews, and I used chicken broth in lieu of water. As Anne Cori from the Kitchen Conservatory wisely teaches, water has no flavor. Why cook with it in something like this?

A note:  if you have Wholes Foods near you, buy mussels there. Their mussels are farmed raised and ready to cook, with those nasty beards removed and cleaned of sand and residue. Best of all, no waste. I have never had a mussel from Whole Foods not open, which just doesn’t happen if purchased elsewhere.

Mediterranean Mussels with Farro and White Wine

Original recipe from Ancient Grains for Modern Meals: Mediterranean Whole Grain Recipes for Barley, Farro, Kamut, Polenta, Wheat Berries & More

Serves 3 to 4 as a main course or 4 to 6 as a starter

For the Farro
1 1/2 cups water
3/4 cup farro
1 small bay leaf
2 whole peppercorns
Pinch of fine sea salt

For the Stew
2 pounds fresh mussels in their shells
2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup finely chopped yellow onion (about 1 small)
1 cup thinly sliced carrots (about 2 small)
1 cup thinly sliced celery stalks (1 to 2 pieces)
1 small fennel bulb, thinly sliced

2 to 3 cloves garlic, lightly crushed
2 tsp. minced dried rosemary
2 bay leaves
1 tsp. red chili flakes, or to taste
1/2 tsp. fine sea salt
1 1/2 cups dry white wine
1 1/2 cups chopped fresh or diced canned tomatoes with their juices, (one 14-ounce can)
1 1/2 cups low sodium chicken stock, preferably homemade
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp. sugar 
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, plus lemon wedges to serve
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

To prepare the farro, bring the water, farro, bay leaf, peppercorns, and salt to a boil in a 2-quart saucepan. Decrease the heat to maintain a simmer, cover, and cook until the grain is tender but still slightly chewy, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove the bay leaf, drain any remaining liquid, and set aside.

While the farro simmers, rinse the mussels under cold running water, brushing to remove sand and residue on the shells. Remove the beards (hairy clumps around the shell) with tweezers or a sharp knife. Discard chipped mussels. Tap any open mussels and discard if they don’t close. Set the cleaned mussels aside.

To make the stew, heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat until shimmering. Add the onion, carrots, celery, fennel, garlic, 1 teaspoon of the rosemary, the bay leaves, chili flakes, and 1/4 teaspoon of the salt. Cook, stirring frequently, until the vegetables soften, 3 to 5 minutes. Increase the heat to medium-high, add 1/4 cup of the white wine, and cook until syrupy and the liquid is almost gone, about 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes, the stock, the remaining 11/4 cups white wine, the pepper, and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt; bring to a boil. Cook, uncovered, at a lively simmer until the carrots are crisp-tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the sugar.

Add the mussels and the farro together with the remaining 1 teaspoon rosemary to the pot and bring to a boil. Cover and steam over medium to medium-high heat, shaking the pot once or twice in between, until the mussels open, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from the heat, and discard any unopened mussels.

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My FAVE Soup When I Was a Kid – Cream of Celery

I was not your typical tomato soup kid. Maybe it’s because I remember eating cream of celery soup for lunch in kindergarten (I went to a Montessori-like school) so it evokes a sense of nostalgia. Celery’s flavor is mild and pretty humble, certainly not trendy or sexy like kale, broccolini, asparagus, and Brussels sprouts. Celery is clean-tasting and so versatile, essential in soups, stews, salads, or simply braised. In this straightforward preparation, it results in a creamy, light, highly satisfying soup and can easily be adapted to any vegetables you have in the frig. Using an immersion blender, no cream is needed (skim milk actually) so it’s easy on the waist line too. A splash of sherry just before serving adds elegance and updates it from the red and white can you remember from childhood.

Cream of Celery Soup

Serves 2 generous bowls

1 small onion, diced

5 - 6 large celery stalks with leaves, chopped (depends on the size of your stalks)

1 carrot, chopped

1 cup mushrooms, coarsely chopped

1 - 2 cups low-sodium chicken stock, preferably homemade, divided

1 heaping tablespoon all-purpose flour

Salt and freshly ground black pepper (white pepper for a more elegant presentation)

1 cup milk (skim is fine)

Dry sherry

Croutons for garnish

In a medium pan, add a good swirl of olive oil and sauté onions over medium-low heat about five minutes. Add celery, carrots, and mushrooms and continue cooking until softened.

Whisk together flour, salt, pepper, and add to the pan. Add one cup of the chicken stock and the milk. Simmer until thickened. Add more stock as needed to desired consistency. 

Using an immersion or conventional blender, puree until smooth. Add a splash of sherry, garnish with croutons, and serve immediately. **Bacon would also be a wonderful garnish.

Printable Recipe

A Celebration of Soup

With sadness, one of my favorite holidays is almost over. January is National Soup Month, and we still can sneak in a tasty bowl or two and celebrate National Soup Day on February 4th. If you are going to partake in soup merriment, a reminder of two things not to do:  do not touch the can-opener (eee-gads, think of allllll that sodium, the preservatives, and nasties you cannot pronounce). Do not go near Whole Foods take-out counter either (soup should not consume your entire next paycheck). Every culture – and most families – have their soup traditions, and next to bread, it’s one of the oldest forms of food. It can be highly nutritious, versatile, cheap, easy, and quick to make, one of the first fast foods, too. Soup gives the dishwasher a break, often requiring not much more than a Dutch oven, a cutting board, and a knife. It can be humble with lentils or rich with lobster. Soup’s on, c’mon and get it!

Soup is also very “green”, and I don’t mean made of spinach, although that makes a fine soup. It can be the tasty, economical, reuse/recycle catch-all for cleaning out your refrigerator, which is what I did soup last night. This is loosely based on a baked potato soup I found at Savour the Senses, but I had leftover cauliflower, which is a perfect low-carb companion to potatoes, as well as roasted broccoli that needed to be used. It turned out decadently creamy and rich – without one drop of cream – and very filling. It’s a great way to sneak a lot of veggies into a meal, and I don’t think Connor detected the mashed cauliflower. You could make it vegetarian by omitting the bacon, but none of us can resist the stuff and a little goes a long way.

Loaded Baked Potato and Veggie Soup

Makes 6 servings

2 yukon gold potatoes and cauliflower to measure 3 pounds in total, cut into chunks

A good drizzle of olive oil

1 medium onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, finely minced

2 carrots, peeled and diced

2 stalks celery, diced

2/3 C all-purpose flour

6 C 1% milk

1 C sharp cheddar cheese, divided (Cabots lowfat cheddar is good)

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1 C low-fat sour cream

Cooked and crumbled bacon to taste (about six slices)

Diced green onions for garnish

Boil the potatoes and cauliflower in a large pot of salted water until soft, about 20 minutes, or if you have a vegetable setting on your microwave, place in a microwave safe bowl and steam until softened. Allow to cool slightly and mash with a potato masher. Set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium head and add the onions, cooking until tender. Add the garlic and cook about 30 seconds. Add the carrots and celery and sauté until softened. Remove from the pan and wipe the pan clean.

Heat the flour in the Dutch oven over medium heat. Slowly add the milk, whisking until well-blended. Continue to cook, stirring frequently until the milk has thickened and has bubbles around the edges of the pan, about 8-10 minutes.

Add the potato-cauliflower mash, the cooked vegetables, 3/4 cup cheese, and salt and pepper to taste, and stir until the cheese is completely melted. **Feel free to add any other vegetables at this point. I finely diced leftover roasted broccoli that complements potatoes nicely.**

Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the sour cream. If the soup is too thick, add additional milk to get the desired consistency. Return the pan over medium heat and cook until warmed, about 10 minutes, but do not let the soup boil. Taste and add more salt if needed.

Top each bowl with bacon, green onions, and additional cheese and serve.

Printable Recipe

Secret Recipe Club - Amazing Chicken, Corn, and Potato Chowder

For this month’s Secret Recipe Club, I was paired up with Aimee from Shugary Sweets, a mother of four active kids who loves to cook but especially bake. In her About Me section she suggests grabbing a cup of coffee and staying for a while, and that’s exactly what I did. I found it a very enjoyable way to spend a blustering fall afternoon. Aimee does have a lot of tempting sweet treats that I bookmarked, and her large assortment of donut recipes (“The Donut Shop”) is truly impressive. Glad I don’t have the right equipment to make these as it would be dangerous for our waistlines.

I debated between the Italian beef and giardiniera recipe, which Chicago boy Craig would adore, crockpot barbacoa and cilantro lime rice – cilantro and chipotle – what’s not to love?, but I finally settled for something a little lighter, chicken, corn, and potato chowder. Originally a slow cooker recipe, I made it on the cook top, and the recipe below reflects my changes, including a few slices of bacon, diced bell peppers, regular (frozen) corn instead of creamed corn (I added some milk and spooned out and pureed some of the cooked potatoes and corn to add creaminess). I also had some green beans from our CSA that needed to be used so I threw those in too, and I forgot to add the cream cheese, but we never missed it. The salsa verde adds a distinct brightness so don’t omit it. Sadly, I defrosted the last of the tomatillo salsa I froze last summer. With the high temps this summer I only got two tomatillos from the garden so we have none to get us through the winter. This comes together quickly and is very flavorful on a chilly evening.

Chicken, Corn and Potato Chowder Recipe

2-3 slices bacon, diced

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced

1 red onion, roughly chopped

2 large carrots, peeled and chopped

1 colored bell pepper, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 jalapeno, seeded and diced

3 baking potatoes, washed and cubed

2 C chicken broth

1 C milk

2 C frozen corn

1/2 C salsa verde

2 t cumin

2 t Southwest seasoning (I used Penzey’s Arizona mix)

1/3 c sour cream

1/2 C cheddar cheese, shredded

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

In a Dutch oven, sauté the bacon until crispy. Remove to a paper towel and set aside. Drain all but one tablespoon of the bacon fat from the pan and add the chicken, cooking until no longer pink. Remove and set aside.

Add the onions, carrots, bell pepper, garlic, and jalapeno and sauté until vegetables are soft, adding olive oil by the teaspoon if needed. Add the chicken broth, milk, potatoes, corn, salsa, cumin, and Southwest seasoning. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and cook until the potatoes are soft. Spoon out some of the potatoes and corn and puree in a blender or with a stick blender. Return to the pan along with the chicken and cook until heated through, about 15 to 20 minutes. Stir in cheese, salt and pepper, stirring to melt cheese.

When serving, top with bacon.

Slow Cooker Version:

In the slow cooker, add vegetables, chicken breasts, broth, corn, salsa and seasonings. Heat on low for 6-8 hours. Remove chicken, dice or shred, and return to slow cooker. In last half hour before serving, add sour cream and cheddar cheese.

Stir thoroughly before serving.

Super Foods Soup

We had Super Foods soup for dinner tonight. This one knocked it out of the park with nutritional powerhouses – green foods (kale), sweet potatoes, nuts (peanut butter), alliums (garlic and onions), hot peppers, and (cannellini) beans. It was like a magical and delicious elixir to good health. Vitamins, fiber, disease-fighting nutrients, antioxidants, readily available and seasonal ingredients, and super easy (and cheap) to prepare. Even the ever-carnivorous Craig commented that if you are a vegetarian you'd love it and I'm sure with sausage he would agree with that.

We were very excited to attend the book signing party for Stone Soup Cottage's cookbook, and I wanted something light but warming we could simply re-heat when we got home. It finally feels like fall here in St. Louis, yippee! Our larder is overflowing with freshly dug “uncured” sweet potatoes from the CSA box, and we’d picked up gorgeous kale at the Clayton Farmers’ Market. And – soup is usually a tolerable vegetarian meal, so I knew what I was making.  

The potatoes and beans impart a bit of sweetness as a foil to the kale’s bitterness and mashing the cannellinis adds creaminess and thickens it to a stew consistency. I threw in a few tablespoons of chunky peanut butter as a last minute addition for crunch, and I love how PB compliments sweet potatoes (as you’d find in an African dish). Nice play of sweet and spicy, too, thanks to red pepper flakes and a roasted jalapeno I had in the freezer.

I’ve read some researchers attribute these kinds of super foods to slowing the aging process and preventing diabetes, obesity, wrinkles, and a host of degenerative diseases. Bring it on. This one goes into our regular rotation of winter soups.

Super Foods Soup

Generously serves 4

1 T olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 t salt, divided

Freshly ground black pepper

1/2 t crushed red pepper

3 garlic cloves, minced

Three medium sweet potatoes, washed but unpeeled, coarsely chopped peeled sweet potato (about a pound or so)

1 jalapeno, minced (seeded for less-spice tolerant palates)

4 C fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth or more as needed for desired consistency

A few handfuls kale, stem removed or 1 package kale, torn into bite-sized

1 can cannellini beans or other white beans, rinsed, drained, and mashed

2 -3 T chunky peanut butter

Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion; sauté 5 minutes. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt, peppers, and garlic; sauté for a few minutes. Add potato, jalapeno, and broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer about 10 minutes. Gradually add kale; cook 10 minutes or until tender. Stir in remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and mashed beans; cook about 5 minutes. Add peanut butter and stir until dissolved and soup is thoroughly heated.

Hunger Challenge Day One – and Craig’s first ever solely meatless day

Day one and all is well. Our bellies are full, and we’ve eaten healthy today. It’s probably the first day in Craig’s entire life that he has gone 100% without meat, and he survived. Perhaps Meatless Mondays may become an occasional reality as a result of our experiment.

Breakfast was similar to what Craig eats every day, but with one big exception. While grocery shopping, we cut English muffins from our list. One package of six muffins costs twice what a loaf of 100% whole wheat bread (16 slices of bread, enough for eight servings of toast) costs. Spread two tablespoons of peanut butter on the toast, a serving size that is actually quite generous, a banana, and coffee, and you’re off to a great start to the day. I can live without wine, but I couldn’t work with a caffeine headache, so we agreed we HAD to budget coffee into our total. We didn’t finish the pot, and it seemed like SUCH a treat – and pick me up – iced this afternoon.

LESSON:  if you prefer one food over another, too bad. You eat what’s cheapest.

LESSON: “Real” plates, glassware, and flatware make food taste better as I experienced drinking my iced coffee in a glass (versus the old, plastic Kreiger cup I had been drinking water from up until then today). This is one of the reasons Food Outreach’s Monday hot lunch program is so vital. It allows clients to experience a three-course, restaurant-style meal. The kind of thing most of us take for granted, but not folks living on SNAP.

Lunch was really tasty and very filling, but frankly repetitious, due to a few errors on my part. Because I forgot to soak and cook the dried black beans, I couldn’t make chili yesterday, and I ended up making lentil-sweet potato soup for Monday’s lunch. The problem is I made this last week, and we finished the leftovers for Saturday lunch. This means we’ll have eaten the same thing four out of the last five days if I don’t make chili tonight for lunch tomorrow, in addition to what we’re having for dinner (vegetarian broccoli and rice casserole). And there was another problem. I forgot to cook rice that we were going to eat with the soup, and we ended up eating plain soup. While it was reheating, Craig mused that most days he snacks while we’re getting lunch ready, and we almost always have cheese and crackers with a glass of wine while we make dinner. Not today because we have nothing easy to snack on (we did get real popcorn but that takes too much time to pop for quick snacking). I missed my after lunch, fun size Peppermint Patty, something I consider a not-too-bad-indulgence – dark chocolate and low fat/calories, right?

LESSONS:  eating cheap requires planning and time, things someone battling HIV/AIDS or cancer has in short supply. And snacking and simple indulgences are never considerations. Typically I would never think of spices (such as a good curry powder that is excellent in this super simple soup) a luxury, but they are on a budget.

Lentil- Sweet Potato Soup

4 generous servings

1 1/3 C lentils (I used red because that’s what I had)
1 pound sweet potatoes, scrubbed and diced (I left the skins on because they came in last week’s CSA box, and being freshly harvested they have a very thin skin)
1/2 C diced onion
2 cloves garlic, finely minced

2 stalks celery, sliced
2 large carrots, sliced
4 C chicken broth
2 C water
1 T olive oil*
1 t salt*
2 t freshly ground black pepper*

2 – 3 large handfuls of spinach

Sauté onions and garlic in oil until soft. Add all other ingredients except for the spinach. Bring to a boil and simmer for 45 minutes or until vegetables are soft. (This can be made ahead, refrigerated, and reheated at this pont.) Add the spinach, and cook until it wilts. Serve piping hot.

If you using red lentils, they will disintegrate with this long cooking time and lend a very creamy texture to the soup. Spices such as curry powder, thyme, or basil add wonderful flavor to the soup.

* We are counting salt, pepper, and olive oil as “free” on our challenge. To make up for the absence of any other spices in this soup, I used a LOT of black pepper.

The Best Lentil Soup. Ever. May be THE Best Soup Ever.

I make a lot of soups and have amassed quite a collection of really tasty recipes. Last week I made curried lentil soup from December’s Bon Appétit that has to be one of THE best soups I’ve made. Ever. It’s a pretty simple soup that starts with aromatics (and I added celery) and lots of freshly ground black pepper, which I think is essential in lentil soup. But what sets it apart is the lemony-garlic pureed chick pea mixture that gives the soup a luxurious texture similar to what you find with cream-based soup. The curry fragrance is divine. Long story, but I ate the whole pot of soup myself (over a few days), but Craig and Connor did comment that it smelled really good. It's on the menu next week for veg night.

The recipe below reflects my riffs, namely red lentils instead of French green lentils, chicken broth instead of water, and I omitted the butter. It’s so smooth and flavorful, you’ll never miss it. Red lentils cook quicker than other lentils, so adjust cooking time accordingly (longer).

Curried Lentil Soup
Serves 6

3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium carrot, finely chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
2 large garlic cloves, chopped, divided
2 tablespoons (or more) curry powder
1 cup red lentils
3 1/4 cups (or more) water, divided
1 15- to 16-ounce can chickpeas, drained, rinsed
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 green onions, thinly sliced
1 lemon, cut into 6 wedges

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in heavy large pot over medium heat. Add onion, carrot, and celery; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook until onion is translucent, stirring occasionally, about 4 minutes. Add half of chopped garlic; stir until vegetables are soft but not brown, about 4 minutes longer. Add 2 tablespoons curry powder; stir until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Add lentils and 4 cups water. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Increase heat and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium; simmer until lentils are tender, about 12 to 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, puree chickpeas, lemon juice, 1/4 cup water, remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil, and remaining garlic in processor.

Add chickpea puree to lentil soup. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and additional curry powder, if desired. Add water by 1/4 cupfuls to thin to desired consistency.

Divide soup among bowls. Sprinkle with thinly sliced green onions and serve with lemon wedges.

Vegetarian Brunswick Stew ("please-don't-make-this-again")

In my never-ending quest for “meat and potatoes” vegetarian meals, an amusingly titled book at the library grabbed my attention:  The Vegetarian Meat & Potatoes Cookbook by Robin Robertson. Lots of homey, hearty meat-free main dishes, “American” food as well as interesting ethnic recipes – spicy African sweet potato stew, Indian spiced sweet potato pot pie, Asian-stuffed kabocha squash. Even “steaks,” using mushrooms, eggplants, and seitan “wheat meat," something I’ve always wanted to try.

The only concern I had was the number of recipes that used “fake” meat such as vegetarian sausage links and soy crumbles. I’ve always poo-poo’d these. If you want to eat stuff like this, eat real meat. But I assumed these would make vegetarian meals more meat-friendly for Craig and Connor. I bought a box of Morningstar sausage links, the primary ingredient of which is TVP – textured vegetable protein. While the sodium level is high (300g ram / 13% of the recommended daily allowance), these "fakausages" are much lower in calories and fat than pork sausage (80 calories, 3 grams fat) with 2 grams fiber and 9 grams protein for two links.

Doesn't this look like real sausage?

Let’s give it a try, and I selected the Vegetarian Brunswick Stew. I’ve prepared this traditional Southern stew before and made a few changes to give it a more authentic taste, adding ketchup, okra, creamed corn, and vinegar, but I omitted the standard lima beans. To keep the sodium level in check, I tried to eliminate as much added salt as possible, using no salt tomatoes (actually, some we canned this summer), no salt creamed corn, and low sodium vegetarian broth. The traditional texture of Brunswick stew is said not to be done “until the paddle stands up in the middle.” Using less broth than the original recipe specifies, it fits the bill as hardy and satisfying. As the author notes, the Liquid Smoke imparts a pleasant hickory-smoked nuance to the stew. I made whole wheat cheddar chive biscuits to serve with it.

Those with a discerning eye may notice two items in the photo not listed in the ingredient list below. In the frig I had the “bulb” of a roasted butternut squash that needed used (about 1 cup, diced) as well as a cup or so of cooked farro and added these with the broth, vegetables, and spices. The squash instilled a sweet contrast to the tang of the Worcestershire and vinegar.

BLOGGER’S NOTE: I composed this post before we ate dinner. I really liked it, albeit I may have overcooked the fakausages, which turned a little mushie. Craig said this is not a keeper.

Vegetarian Brunswick Stew

Serves 3 generously

2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
6 vegetarian sausage links, cut into ½”- pieces
1/2 sweet onion, diced
1 stalk of celery, diced
1 clove of garlic, minced
2 1/2 cups vegetarian broth

1/4 cup ketchup

1 large carrot, diced

8 ounces canned no-salt diced tomatoes

1 can no-salt added creamed corn
1 scant cup frozen green beans
1 scant cup frozen okra
1 heaping tablespoon Worcestershire sauce – vegetarian, made without anchovies, if you’re a true vegetarian
½ teaspoon Tabasco sauce

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon yellow mustard

1/4 teaspoon allspice

Freshly ground black pepper
Few dashes of liquid smoke

Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the sausage and cook until browned on all sides, about 5 minutes. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Add the onion, celery, and garlic and cook until the onion is slightly translucent and celery begins to soften. Add the broth and next 12 ingredients (carrot through freshly ground pepper) and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 45 minutes to an hour, or until vegetables are tender.

During the last 10 minutes, add the reserved sausage and liquid smoke.

Vegetarian Posole Stew that's OK for Carnivores

I am on a mission this year to get us to eat more vegetables (and fruit) and going meatless one dinner a week helps the cause. The challenge is that I cook for two carnivores. I mean meat lovers extraordinaire. So, I am on task to find things they LIKE versus tolerate because it’s what mom cooked. The criteria includes that it cannot be not too beany (for them), not too carb and cheese heavy (for me), and tastes delicious (all of us).

Last night I had success. A while back I went to a class Kevin Nashan of Sidney Street Cafe taught at Kitchen Conservatory, and he made a posole with dried hominy. He told us once you taste the real stuff reconstituted, you can never go back to canned. Kevin is the kind of chef that you should always follow his culinary advice. He’s right. The texture and taste are far superior. The canned tastes waxy; the dried comes out creamier. That sounds funny, but it is true. It has a nice depth and even complex flavor. And it is so easy to reconstitute hominy.

For newbies, hominy is corn that’s been nixtamalizated. Cool word, huh? It means the corn has been mixed with an alkaline until the hulls come off, which makes it considerably healthier. The niacin in the corn is easier to digest, and it's a good source of fiber, zinc, B vitamins, polyphenols, and has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. Hominy is quite versatile and acts as a flavorful background and thickens soups, stews, makes great side dishes. Think TexMex mixed with rice, jalapenos, cumin, and onions, or Southern with bacon and onions. It being dried, it lasts forever.

To satisfy my meat lovers, I wanted the consistency of this to be quite thick so I did not use nearly as much broth as the original recipe from Vegetarian Times indicated (perhaps a cup, but add more if there’s not enough to cook the veggies), and I cut it in half to make 3-4 servings. I was lazy and omitted the dried chiles, using about a 1/3 cup or so of pretty potent (SPICY) homemade salsa. I also used a few cups of home-canned tomatoes and their juice. Lastly, I threw in zucchini I sliced, blanched, and froze this summer and added to heat just before serving. This is the kind of recipe that you can use what you have in the pantry and is very flexible. Just the way I like to cook during the week.

Vegetarian Posole Stew

Serves 6-8

2 cups dried posole, or 4 cups canned

water

1 T olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 large carrot, minced

2 large celery stalks, diced

2 zucchini, cut in half lengthwise and into thin slices crosswise

2 yellow squash, cut in half length-wise and into thin slices crosswise

4 tomatoes, diced

4 dried New Mexico red chile pods, seeded, stemmed and torn into 12 pieces

2 bay leaves

4 cups vegetable broth

1 t. cumin

1 t. dried oregano

1/2 t. dried thyme

1 1/2 t. salt

Soak dried posole overnight in 1 quart water. Next day, drain posole, and discard soaking water. Place posole in large pot of water to cover by 3 inches. Bring posole to a boil over high heat, and reduce heat to low, cooking, uncovered, about 11/2 hours, or until kernels burst and are puffy and tender. Add water during cooking, if needed. Drain posole, and set aside.

Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat, and sauté onion until clear, about 7 minutes. Add garlic, carrots, and celery, and sauté until almost soft. Add zucchini, yellow squash, and tomatoes, and sauté 3 minutes more.

Add posole, red chile pods, bay leaves, vegetable broth, cumin, oregano, and thyme. Bring to a boil, and reduce heat to low, cooking 30 minutes. Add salt, and continue cooking 30 minutes more, adding more water if needed. Serve hot in large soup bowls with warm bread.

Not Your Mother’s Ham and Bean Soup but OH-SO Tasty

I learned recently that one of Craig’s favorite things from childhood was his mother’s ham and bean soup. Perfect for a winter evening. I decided this was the ideal dish to start with for my non-recipe cooking. I attended a class a few months ago at Kitchen Conservatory where we had no recipes, and while initially intimating, it is a great way to cook. Whatever you have, whatever you’re in the mood to eat. Food & Wine recently featured an article about intuitive cooking with Thomas Keller. And soup lends itself to spontaneity quite nicely.

So here goes. While this is not what Craig recalled his mom made, he loved it. Surprisingly layered flavors, slightly warm, and really good. As I was cooking, I attempted to jot down what I did, so be forewarned:  this is not a professionally written recipe and goes more to cooking from your gut. But do try it. Very tasty.

Spicy Bean Soup with Ham, Tomatoes, and Cilantro

Serves 4

1 tbsp. cooking oil
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 large onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 large carrots, chopped

1 can diced green chiles

2 t. cumin

1 packet Goya ham-flavored concentrate

Freshly ground black pepper

1 16 oz. can diced tomatoes (I used about half a jar of tomatoes we canned this summer)

4 cups chicken stock, homemade, or low fat, low sodium
2 cans red beans, drained, rinsed
1 chipotle in adobe, finely diced

1 T. adobe sauce
2 cups diced ham

1/2 cup chopped cilantro – more to taste

Thinly sliced green onions, for garnish

In a Dutch oven, heat oil, then add garlic, onion, celery, and carrots and cook until soft. Add green chiles, cumin, ham concentrate, and black pepper. Cook a few minutes until well-blended.

Add tomatoes, stock, red beans, chipotle, and adobe. Bring to a boil, and then simmer at least 30 minutes. Using a stick blender, puree until semi-smooth but some beans/vegetables remain (or blend about 2 cups beans in a blender). Return to pot, add ham, and heat until heated thoroughly. Stir in chopped cilantro.

Serve hot, garnished with thinly sliced green onions.

A Fallish Cream of Tomato Soup with the Last of Summer’s Tomatoes

Gazpacho = Summer. But it didn’t feel right making gazpacho this late in September since we are days away from Fall. However, our garden doesn’t know that, and we’re still getting great heirloom tomatoes. Lots of them, basil too. I love cream of tomato soup. It’s classic comfort food and reminds me of kindergarten lunches. Campbell’s Soup was fine back then, but being a grown-up food snob, no thank you to all those preservatives, sodium, and – ick – the taste.

We’ve made this revamped Cooking Light recipe for years. Its ease of preparation is a plus and tastes so rich despite no cream. Boursin cheese adds another layer of light herb flavor, but low fat cream cheese works too.

Cream of Tomato and Basil Soup

8 one-cup servings

2 large cloves of garlic, finely minced

Olive oil

4 cups chopped tomatoes (about 4 large)

4 cups low-sodium tomato juice – I use low sodium V8 juice

1/3 cup fresh basil leaves

1 cup 2% milk

1/4 teaspoon salt

Freshly cracked black pepper

4 ounces herb and garlic Boursin cheese or 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened and cubed

Basil leaves, thinly sliced

Sauté the garlic in olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat until golden but not browned. Add the tomatoes and juice and bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, 30 minutes.

Add the basil to the pan and process with an immersion blender until smooth, taking care since the soup is quite hot. It may also be processed in a blender or food processor and return it to the pan.

Season with salt and lots of freshly ground balck pepper and stir in the milk. Add the cheese, stirring well with a whisk, and cook over medium heat until thickened, about 5 minutes. Ladle soup into individual bowls; garnish with sliced basil.

This keeps well refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 1 week or can be frozen for "fresh" tomato soup in the middle of winter.

Ugly Tomatoes, Scrumptious Soup

Craig is convinced that the uglier the tomato looks the more delicious it tastes. We learned this last summer when we canned 75 pounds of quite nasty-looking heirloom tomatoes that gave us summer-fresh taste all winter. We picked up a few of the season’s first local heirloom tomatoes this past Saturday at the Kirkwoods Farmer's Market and used them in a gazpacho.

Typically, you think of red tomato-based gazpacho, but in Spain green and white gazpachos are quite popular. The original recipe calls for Green Zebra, but I think we ended up with Black Sea Men tomatoes. The avocado gives the soup creaminess while the garlic, jalapeno, and cilantro balance with the right amount of kick - and even more if you don't seed the jalapeno like we did. The mint just jumps out as summer fresh and the lime juice, instead of the traditional vinegar, can be as piquant or as subtle as you like. Be forewarned, the soup’s color is not as visually appealing as a traditional red tomato gazpacho. But this is a keeper – and repeater.

Green Tomato Gazpacho
2 lbs. Green Zebra tomatoes, cored and coarsely chopped, plus 1 Green Zebra tomato cut into small wedges for garnish OR 2 lbs. unripe red tomatoes OR 2 lbs. tomatillos
1 cucumber unpeeled and coarsely chopped, plus finely diced unpeeled cucumber for garnish
1 medium sweet onion, coarsely chopped
1 avocado - halved, pitted and peeled
1 small jalapeño, stemmed – remove seeds if you are heat-adverse
2 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
1 cup cold water
2 tablespoons mint leaves, plus more for garnish
2 tablespoons cilantro leaves
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
Salt and freshly ground pepper

In a blender, combine half each of the coarsely chopped green tomatoes, cucumber and onion with the avocado, jalapeño, garlic, lime juice and water and puree until smooth. Transfer the puree to a large bowl.

Add the remaining coarsely chopped green tomatoes, cucumber and onion to the blender along with the 2 tablespoons of mint, the cilantro and 1/4 cup of olive oil and pulse to a chunky puree. Add the puree to the bowl and stir well. Refrigerate the soup until well chilled, about 1 hour. ***Next time I will allow it to chill longer.*** Season the gazpacho with salt and pepper and ladle it into chilled bowls. Garnish the cold soup with the tomato wedges, diced cucumber, mint leaves and a drizzle of olive oil and serve. This can be stored in an airtight container and refrigerated overnight.

The original recipe indicated it makes 8-10 appetizer servings, so I cut it to about a third of the recipe and we each had nice sized servings.

Cheddar Chicken Chowder (and Craig's all-time favorite soup)

We made dinner to take my awesome yoga instructor when she had ACL surgery on Friday, and Craig suggested Cheddar Chicken Chowder, a modified Cooking Light recipe we've made for years. It is so flavorful, total comfort, creamy, hearty, lots of veggies, with a smidge of heat from Tabasco. It's easy to prepare and can be made ahead and reheated. Try it. You'll like it. Alot.

Cheddar Chicken Chowder

Serves 7

2 bacon slices
Cooking spray
1 pound skinned, boned chicken breast, cut into bite-size pieces
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup diced red bell pepper
2 stalks celery, diced
2 carrots, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 cups fat-free chicken broth
1 3/4 cups diced red and/or Yukon gold potatoes – do not peel
Tabasco – few shakes depending on your heat tolerance
2 1/4 cups frozen whole-kernel corn
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups 2% low-fat milk – more if it seems too thick
3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Diced green onions
Minced cilantro

Cook bacon in a Dutch oven coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan. Crumble; set aside.

Add chicken to bacon fat in pan and cook until no longer pink. Remove from pan. Add onion, bell pepper, celery, carrots, and garlic to pan and sauté 5 minutes (add olive oil to sauté if need). Add broth, potatoes, and Tabasco; bring to boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Add corn; stir well.

Place flour in a bowl. Gradually add milk, stirring with a whisk until blended; add to soup. Cook over medium heat 15 minutes or until thick, stirring frequently. Stir in cheese, salt, and pepper.

Top with crumbled bacon, green onions, and cilantro.