Hot & Spicy!

Can you believe it is 2010? When I was a kid, I thought we’d have flying cars and be wearing silver colored suits by 2010. I suppose we do have iPhones and cool things like that, although I’d like a flying car! We rang in the New Year with some new friends at their lovely home. These people knew how to throw a party! The food was to die for and they had more alcohol than should have been legal. But that’s not a bad thing. One of the hosts, Bodo (from Germany) made an amazing goulash soup that I’ve been thinking about since. Now that we are smack dab in a week long cold spell, I felt the need for something hot and spicy… and I also decided to make some soup too. HA! I keeeel me.

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January 5, 2010 | Filed Under Beef, Soup

8 Critiques

Waste Not Want Not

What do you do when you find some sad looking, rubbery broccoli in the depths of your refrigerator? Me… I make soup. We’ve been eating out often lately due to our hectic schedule and I’ve been neglecting my crisper drawer in my fridge. Digging through, I found broccoli, zucchini, a little fresh basil and a few red peppers on the cusp of being inedible. So dinner was cream of broccoli and zucchini with roasted red pepper garnish. Contrary to popular belief, cream of broccoli need not be fat laden with tons of cheese. I finished the soup off with a little bit of half and half, but it was not really necessary. Too bad the parsley was well beyond salvage, because it would have made a nice fresh garnish… you can’t win ‘em all!

Warms Your Bones

Its cold down here. Well, if you live in Minnesota, its not cold. But… if you’re a Floridian, you have probably dusted off your boots, and pulled out your snowsuit, gloves and ear muffs. Right now, I think it’s the coldest it has gotten since I moved here in 2001. It got down to 34 degrees last night… brrrr! Thanks to the weather forecast, I was prepared and started my matzo ball soup a few days ago. So now that I’m armed with a huge pot of Matzo Ball soup… Bring on the cold weather!

Matzo ball is one of my favorite soups, and I seek out Jewish Delis for that reason. However, many of the delis that serve matzo ball soup clearly make their soup with a soup base or prepared stock. You can tell by the flavor and color. If it is very yellow in color, you can be sure there is something else in it other than chicken. I made my soup from scratch… chicken, veggies and water. No base, no stock.. no chemicals. It might have been the best Matzo Ball Soup I’ve ever eaten… if I must say so myself! I used the same recipe I use for chicken noodle soup and cooked the matzo balls separately. I prefer to make the stock the day before and refrigerate overnight to remove the fat. You’d be surprised how much fat comes from a chicken!
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February 5, 2009 | Filed Under Dinner, Soup

15 Critiques

The Easiest Potato Soup

The weather has been glorious here in South Florida… 50’s at night and 70’s during the day. This type of weather always makes me crave soup and other cold weather fare. This recipe is one of my absolutely favorite potato soups. Its different than the usual as the potatoes are not pureed and there is no cream. A generous squeeze of lemon and sour cream give it a wonderful tangy flavor, and grated carrot give it a lovely color. Last but not least… its very frugal, quick cooking and fairly healthy!
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November 20, 2008 | Filed Under Dinner, Soup

16 Critiques

Ease into Fennel

We are back from Germany, and after all that bread and sausage eating, its time for some low-fat food. This soup is the first thing I’ve cooked in over two weeks, and it is uber low-fat, and very flavorful. I googled carrot and fennel soup and came across quite a few, but decided on this one (with a few minor changes) from Orangette, a fabulous, fabulous food blog.

Most people don’t know what fennel is… I actually had someone stop me in the grocery store, asking me what this strange bulbous veggie in my shopping cart is. It seems people either love or hate fennel. It has a slight licorice flavor, and a wonderful crunch when eaten raw. Its fabulous thinly sliced in a salad. This soup has a combination of carrot and fennel, but the fennel definitely plays a supporting role in this soup, as the sweet carrot flavor really shines. Give fennel a chance!

I will warn you, however, this soup tastes (and is) very healthy. Although I liked the soup, Stephan didn’t care for it, and said it tasted like baby food! Gotta love brutal honesty!
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January 10, 2008 | Filed Under Soup, Vegetarian

7 Critiques

Dreary Days = Soup

I’ve been up in North Florida at St George Island with the family for the past few days, just relaxing and fishing. I just came home to rainy and dreary weather here in South Florida. Since it actually dipped below 80 degrees, I was in the mood for a bit o’ soup. One of my most favorite soups is Pasta Fagioli. It’s an incredibly easy and quick cooking soup, and is made from basic ingredients I usually have in my pantry. There are many, many different recipes for this soup, some adding marinara, some adding Italian meatballs… I don’t add either of those. I’ve been tweaking it a bit each time I make it, and this last time was just perfect. My secret (which is now no longer a secret) is to puree half of the white beans.
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