Chicken Chili

One of the things I miss, being on the hCG diet, is big cooking projects.  Things that take at least a few hours to get really good, and fill the house with amazing cooking smells.  Cooking small quantities of things doesn't take much time at all, and there's not always time to develop the big, bold flavors that you find in things like chili or pot roast or stew.  But that's one of the things I've been working on, and here's my latest: a diet friendly chicken chili with plenty of heat and rich flavor.

Recipe:
1 tomato, chopped
1/2 jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced
2 cloves garlic, diced
1 cup chicken broth
2 teaspoons chili or taco seasoning (I used chicken taco from Penzey's)
1 teaspoon regular chili powder (I like chili 9000 from Penzey's)
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
3 oz. chicken, chopped

Heat a skillet or shallow pan over medium heat.  Chop tomato and add to pan.  Stir in jalapeno and garlic, cook for about 3 minutes.  Stir in chicken broth, vinegar, and seasoning and cook for 5 minutes.

Add chicken.  Simmer, stirring occasionally for 10-15 minutes.  Serve.

I used leftover pulled chicken in this batch, which added some nice barbecue smokiness to the chili.

This came out really well - it has a rich flavor, a fair amount of heat, and it really felt like a hearty chili.

Beef and Onion Soup

I'm a big soup fan.  I could eat soup everyday, even in the summer.  It's been cold and grey, which always puts me in the mood for nice, warming comfort food.  Like soup.

Recipe:

1 cup beef broth (Pacific makes an organic beef broth that has no fat)
2 cloves garlic, chopped
3 oz. onions, sliced thin
3 oz. beef, cut into small cubes (use a good cut, like sirloin)
Sea salt, pepper, thyme

Place a saucepan over medium heat, when the pan is hot, add sliced onion and 2 tablespoons of water.  Cook 3-5 minutes, stirring frequently.
Add garlic and beef broth.  Bring to a boil, add seasoning, then simmer for about 5 minutes.  Add beef.  Simmer 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Mmm...nice and comfort food-y.

I've started another round of the hCG Diet, so coming up with good wintery comfort food takes a little creativity, but this really did the trick.  It has a good meaty flavor and really felt like a hearty soup.

Fish Soup

So this is a retry of this subpar fish soup and it is, of course, vastly better.  The recipe is mostly the same, but I used really good fish, and I'm now of phase 3 of the hCG Diet, which means I can mix vegetables and eat a small amount of good fat (cheese, avocado, olive oil, etc.)


Recipe:
1 Tomato, peeled and seeded (or 1 can of diced tomatoes)
2 cups Water
6-8 oz. Halibut
3 oz. Cabbage, shredded
Sea salt and seasoning


In a medium saucepan, bring water and tomato to a boil.  Using a blender (immersion or otherwise) puree the tomato and water.  Return to heat and season to taste.

Place the fish in the broth and simmer for a few minutes.  Remove fish from soup and flake it apart.  Return fish to broth, add cabbage, simmer 8-10 minutes and serve.

I used leftover fish from a night or two ago, so for seasoning I used what I initially used on the fish (which was Greek).  I also added a little pepper and smoked paprika.


This totally looks like food from the Old Country.  It's delicious and comfort food-y.

Pulled Chicken Soup

So I made last night's pulled chicken into soup tonight.  It's almost a chicken chili, but with more of a smoky barbecue flavor.

Recipe:
1 cup Chicken Broth
1 Tomato, peeled and seeded
1 teaspoon Barbecue Seasoning (same as used on the chicken)
2-3 teaspoons Cilantro or Parsley
3 oz. Pulled Chicken

Heat the chicken broth over medium heat.  Chop the peeled tomato and add it to the chicken broth.  Add seasoning.  Cook 5-7 minutes.  Puree with immersion blender.

Add chicken and simmer for 8-10 minutes.  Serve.

Like I said, it's kind of a chicken barbecue chili.  Very flavorful and spicy, perfect on a cold and rainy day like today.

Fish Chowder

I recently made the mistake of buying some frozen cod fillets.  Now, I love fish.  I love all kinds of fish and I love fish prepared all kinds of ways.  I even like cod, which isn't the most flavorful or interesting of fish.  But these were just...subpar to say the least.

Instead of being flaky, tender, and flavorful these came out tough, dry, and bland.  There were 3 of these things and they always came out bad, no matter what I did to them.  So with the final one I made soup, and it's actually not bad and I'd like to try it again with higher quality fish.

Recipe:

1 Tomato (or 1 can of diced tomatoes, do not drain)
1 cup Chicken Broth (omit if using canned tomatoes)
1 fillet of Cod (or other white fish)
Sea salt and seasoning

In a medium saucepan, bring chicken broth (or canned tomatoes) to a boil.  (If using a fresh tomato) Peel and seed tomato, chop roughly, and add to hot chicken broth.

Using a blender (immersion or otherwise) puree the tomato and chicken broth.  Return to heat and season to taste.

Place the fish in the broth and simmer for a few minutes.  Remove fish from soup and flake it apart.  Return fish to broth, simmer 5 minutes and serve.

Considering the poor quality of the fish I had to use, this was actually pretty good.  The cod gave a good flavor to the broth, and the fish itself didn't really detract from the soup, although there were a couple of larger pieces and those were tough and dry (in soup even!).

Again, this was good in general, and I'll try it again when I get some better fish.  And I'm sticking to fresh.

Carrot Ginger Soup

So finally, it's starting to feel like fall!  Fall is my favorite season - I love the cooler weather, the changing colors, the smells...and of course the food.  So here's one of my favorite cold weather soups to kick off the season!

Recipe:
1 large Onion, chopped
6-8 large Carrots, cut into large slices
Garlic, to taste
2 handfuls Cashews
1-2 inch piece of fresh Ginger, chopped
Sea Salt
Butter
Water

Melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a large pan.  Add chopped onions and cook until transparent.  Add carrots, garlic, and ginger, cover with water and cook until the carrots are tender.

In a small fry pan, melt 1 tablespoon of butter and add cashews.  Cook, stirring frequently until lightly toasted.  Add to carrot mixture.

Puree soup, adding water as needed, until smooth.  Return it to the pot and add salt to taste.

Serve with sour cream or plain yogurt (I prefer Greek yogurt).

Here I sprinkled some chopped fresh cilantro into it and that was pretty good.  This is a nice spicy soup, it's not an immediate hot-and-spicy, but the ginger packs some heat that kind of builds up slowly.  The spicy ginger and the sweet carrots are great together and the cashews add a nice earthiness.

This soup also gets surprisingly creamy, even if you don't add sour cream or yogurt to it.

Like I said, this is a great cool weather soup - it's warming, easy to make, and look at how cheerful that color is!

Beef Stroganoff Soup

This is my first attempt at making something like the amazing beef stroganoff soup at Uncle Cheetah's Soup Shop.  It's not perfect, but it's still pretty tasty.  And soon I'll be on my own again and I won't be able to just pop down to the soup shop and get delicious foodies.

Recipe:
Olive Oil, Water
1/2 pound Stew Beef or Ground Beef
3-4 cloves Garlic, chopped
1 cup Guinness or other dark beer
1/2 pound Crimini or Portobella Mushrooms, chopped
Salt, Pepper, Seasoning
1/2 cup Half & Half
Noodles

Heat about 2 tablespoons of olive oil, add garlic and cook about 5 minutes on medium heat. Add beef, add salt and pepper to taste, and cook until brown.  Add beer and desired herbs or seasonings (I used fresh sage, basil, and a Bavarian herb blend from Penzey's).  Add enough water to just cover the meat, bring to a simmer and cook 15 minutes.  Add mushrooms and cook another 15-20 minutes, stirring frequently.
Meanwhile, cook the noodles of your choice.  Something a little heavier such as egg noodles or bow ties are better.
Reduce heat to low and slowly add about 1/2 cup of half and half.  Simmer until soup is somewhat thickened.
Serve over noodles.

I'm pretty happy with how this came out, I think it's be better with a little sour cream stirred in, but I didn't have that on hand.  But it's still delicious!  Nice and earthy and herby.  Very comfort food-y.

Beet Soup

I love beets!  I think they have a great flavor, and they're versatile.  They're good raw, roasted, fried, baked, steamed...any way you cook a vegetable is a good way to cook a beet.  This is one of my favorite ways to cook beets, and it's from Nourishing Traditions, which is an amazing book.

Recipe:

4-5 Beets
1/2 cup (1 stick) Butter
Salt, Pepper
Water

Melt butter in large saucepan.  Peel and roughly chop beets, add to butter and stir to coat.  Add about 1 cup of water and cook beets until tender, 20-30 minutes.  Add enough water to just cover the beets and bring to a boil.
Remove from heat and puree soup with an immersion blender (or regular blender).  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Serve with sour cream or plain yogurt.

This is great, it really showcases the flavor of the beets, and look how awesome that color is!

I just season this with a little bit of salt and pepper, sometimes some Penzey's Krakow Nights (Polish style seasoning), but mostly I like the beets to speak for themselves.  Any seasoning should just enhance the natural, amazing beet flavor, not cover or compete with it.

Burrito Soup

This started with a recipe that I found online, but then when I actually started cooking I totally ignored that recipe.  This is really a versatile soup now, basically whatever you like in or on Mexican food can go in or on this.

Recipe:
Olive oil
1 Onion, chopped
Garlic (to taste)
2-3 stalks Celery, chopped
2 cans Black Beans, drained and rinsed
Broth (vegetable or chicken)
1-2 cups Salsa
Chili powder

Heat 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large saucepan.  Add onions, garlic and celery and cook until onions are transparent.  Add black beans, salsa, and enough broth to cover them, bring to boil.  Remove from heat and puree with an immersion blender (or regular blender). Return to heat, add more salsa and season to taste.

You can also add browned ground beef to the soup (after it's pureed). It's good topped with sour cream or cheese, and I love it with Fritos.  And Guinness.

Winter Veggie Soup

I like to stick to fruits and vegetables that are in season as much as possible, which can be tricky when a) it's the dead of winter and b) you can get just about any kind of produce at the store.  But here's a great soup made from winter root vegetables.

Recipe:
4 tablespoons butter
2 onions, peeled and chopped
5 carrots
2 parsnips
1 rutabaga
2 potatoes
1 quart chicken or vegetable stock
Garlic
Salt, pepper, spices

In a large stockpot, melt butter and cook onions until translucent.  Meanwhile, peel and chop all vegetables and add to the pot.  Add about a cup of water, cover and cook for 25-30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add stock, garlic, salt, pepper, and spices (I like thyme and sage).  Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer and cook until vegetables are tender.  Remove from heat and puree using either a regular blender or an immersion blender.  Add more stock or water if soup is too thick.  Season to taste and serve.

This soup was great!  Very mild and earthy, perfect for a cold, blustery day.

Spinach Soup

This is a new recipe for me.  I had a big ol' tub of baby spinach in the fridge and keep thinking of things to do with it.  I thought a pureed spinach soup would be good, but couldn't really find a recipe that sounded like what I was imagining, so I took this recipe, and modified it.

Recipe:
3 cups Stock (Chicken or Vegetable)
3 stalks Celery
1 small Onion
Fresh Spinach (I'm not exactly sure how much I used, I filled up a big colander and used about half of the container of spinach)
Salt, Pepper

Bring stock to a boil, roughly chop the celery and onion and add to the stock, cook 15-20 minutes.
Remove the biggest stems from the spinach and rinse.  When the celery is tender, add the spinach to the soup.  Cook for 5-10 minutes, remove from heat.
Puree the soup, using either an immersion blender or regular blender.  Return to medium heat, add salt and pepper to taste.  (I also added a bunch of basil and lemon juice)
If desired, stir in 1 cup of cream, half and half, or milk.

I threw some little spinach and cheese ravioli in mine, which was delicious.

This soup, with it's fresh green spinachy goodness, tastes like summer and sunshine, which is perfect for this time of year.

P.S. This doesn't keep well, so don't let it sit around for more than a couple of days.

Quick and Easy Pea Soup

This recipe for pea soup comes from my favorite cook book: Nourishing Traditions.  It's an amazing book, with great recipes, and loads of great food and nutritions information.

Now, split pea soup usually takes awhile, with the soaking and the cooking and everything.  This is quick and dirty, it's done in less than twenty minutes and it's super tasty.

Recipe:
2 small Onions, peeled and chopped
4 tablespoons Butter
2 pounds Peas, fresh or frozen
1 1/2 quarts Chicken or Vegetable stock
Salt and Pepper to taste

Saute onions in butter until tender.  Add peas and stock, bring to a boil.  Simmer 10 - 15 minutes, remove from heat.
Puree with an immersion blender (if you don't have an immersion blender, puree in batches in a regular blender).  Add salt and pepper to taste.

This has a delicious fresh, green flavor, and pureeing gives a it a great creamy texture.  Last time I made it, I diced some ham and added that after pureeing. It's also good served with a touch of sour cream.

Like I said, this soup takes about twenty minutes to make, and since it works perfectly with frozen peas, it's pretty economical.