Ramen Noodle Bowls

Japanese style noodle bowls are all the rage right now in the food world.

Slow Cooker Black Bean Soup

This is a really flavorful soup with lots of goodies in it other than the black beans.

Celery, Cauliflower, and Leek Soup

We are getting a little breather from the heat and humidity around here, so I jumped at the chance to make soup!

Dal, Indian Spiced Lentils

 Dal (Dhal) is a super easy lentil stew full of flavor!

Cauliflower Soup With Bacon and Leek Topping

I am back in soup mode despite the fact that it is really warm around these parts still.

Thai Coconut Chicken Curry Soup

This was the perfect soup for this chilly day. Woke up to 10 below zero F (-23 Celsius). That's crazy cold even for the hardiest of Minnesotans.

Chicken Chili With Hominy

I love chili so much. It is one of my favorite things to eat during the cold weather season.

Pasta Soup With Lentils

Oh, how I love to make soup and eat soup! This one is fabulous! Super simple with staple vegetables and pasta but with the added goodness of lentils.

Broccoli Soup with Leeks and Thyme (GF)

 This is the broccoli soup I made to go with our baked potatoes. There are many recipes out there but this one stood out to me because of the addition of the leeks.

Split Pea Soup

Oh, the weather outside is frightful......  Actually it is not snowing, but the temperature is downright scary, -7 F (-21 C) this morning - brrrrrr.

Celery Root (Celeriac) Soup with Apples and Bacon (GF)

I am really jump starting soup season today with this smooth and delicious celery root soup.

Cream of Tomato Soup

Here in Minnesota it is cold. Really cold! The expected high for today is about 0 Fahrenheit (-18 Celsius).

Indian Chicken curry Soup with carrots, apple, ginger and Chili

Even though I have found little time for my blogging this year this recipe is just too good to not be shared with all of my friends. It comes from my favorite Norwegian food blogger Trine at www.trinesmatblogg.no She has reached somewhat of a celebrity status in the Norwegian cooking world, and for good reason.

Butternut Squash and Ham Soup

This is a great winter soup that I am confident your whole family will enjoy. My 10-year old daughter asked me if "I could make that really good soup with squash and ham", and I said "most definitely!" I love this soup, I just forgot about it for a while.

Rhubarb and Roasted Strawberry soup with cinnamon

This year I have had somewhat of a love affair with rhubarb. I just can't get enough of it. I have always liked it but never actually cooked with it before. There are so many different ways to use rhubarb see my raspberry rhubarb buckle for one, but I have also tried it in pancakes, in drinks, and in yogurt parfaits. But the most delicious dish so far this summer was this Rhubarb and Roasted Strawberry Soup.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Throughout this past winter one of my favorite foods to eat for lunch was Tortilla soup. A couple of my local grocery stores made it fresh and hot to go, and I would get a cup just about every week. Hot soup season is slooowly winding down, but since it has been so rainy and blustery around here lately, I thought this was an opportunity to make my own Tortilla soup.

Chicken and White Bean Soup

Soup season is not winding down here. Just before the weekend we had a typical spring blizzard here in Minnesota. Much of the snow that had melted has now been replenished. If this was in the beginning of December I would have thought it was beautiful, and cozy to stay inside, but at this point it was just depressing. I want spring! On the positive side it was the perfect weather for soup, and the Chicken and White Bean Soup featured in the latest issue of Cooking Light magazine looked very delicious and was the perfect comfort food while we wait for warmer days. I made a recipe and a half to accomodate for my family of six. That made for a slightly thicker soup and it was lighter in color than the picture in the magazine. But it was still a delicious soup that we all enjoyed, especially my husband who loves the darker meat of the chicken. I served Buttermilk cheddar biscuits along side (recipe to come).

Chicken and White Bean soup

2 smoked bacon slices, chopped
12 ounzes skinless, boneless chicken thighs,

trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 garlic clove, minced

1 cup chopped plum tomato

2 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

2 cups water

2 cups fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth

2/3 cup uncooked orzo (rice-shaped pasta)

1 (15-ounce) can white beans, rinsed and drained

2 tablespoonchopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1 tablespon white wine vinegar

1/4 teaspoon salt

Cook bacon in a large sauce pan over medium heat until crisp (8-10 minutes).Remove from pan, reserving drippings in pan; set bacon aside.
Add chicken to drippings in pan; saute 6 minutes. Remove chicken from pan. Add onion and garlic to pan; cook 4 minutes or until tender. Add tomato, oregano and pepper; cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Return bacon and chicken to pan. Stir in 2 cups water and broth, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Bring to a boil. Add orzo, and cook for 9 minutes or until al dente. Add beans; cook 2 minutes or until heated. Remove from heeat, stir in parsley, vinegar and salt.

Serves 4

Recipe from Cooking Light Magazine, April 2011

Fiesta chicken Chili Bianco

Tired of your usual chili recipe? Try this white version with chicken. This recipe was past on to me by a vendor that visited Cooks where I work. She had adapted it from it's original feature in one of our local newspapers, and I have made my own adaptation as well. More proof that a recipe certainly is a living thing. I used chicken in my version, but turkey (chunks or ground) works well too. I am always looking forward to making and eating this chili. I just know it is so good. In fact, my son asked me recently when I would be making it. So for him and all of you, here it is!

Ingredients:

Fiesta

1 1/2 T olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 medium carrot, diced

1 large onion, diced

2 stalks celery, diced

1 small orange or yellow bell pepper, chopped

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped

1 1/2 T cumin

1 t oregano

1/4 cup flour

20 oz. low sodium chicken broth

2 cups diced , cooked chicken breast

1 4oz. can chopped mild green chillies

1 large can (14oz) Great Northern beans, rinsed
1/4 t cayenne pepper (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 cup finely shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1/2 cup sour cream

Toppings:
Sliced green onions
Minced fresh cilantro

Preparation:
In a large Dutch oven over medium heat, saute first 7 ingredients until slightly browned and softened. Dust the flour over the vegetables, stir to incorporate completely.
Slowly add the chicken broth. Continue by adding the chicken and next 3 ingredients. Season to taste. Simmer for 10-15 minutes.
Add cheese and sour cream. Stir until cheese is melted and  chili is heated trough.
Garnish to taste.

I served this with black bean tortilla chips and guacamole on the side.

Taste of Scandinavia vegetable soup

I am really excited about this soup! It is a modified version of a classic Norwegian dish called "Lapskaus" (a vegetable stew with smoked meat and/or sausage). I can get the sausage, called "Middagspølse", at a Scandinavian shop in Minneapolis, but since it isn't readily available for most people in the US I decided to create a version using the exact same vegetables but substituting meatballs for the Norwegian sausage. I also

decided that Swedish meatballs would fit perfectly, but there is no reason you couldn't use Italian style meat balls as well. Most of the vegetables I used are common and available year round. However, some of you may not be all that familiar with the rutabaga. Rutabagas, also commonly referred to as Swede  (in Norwegian "Kålrabi") are not used too much in the US, but I love this rustic root vegetable. It looks like a large turnip with pale yellow flesh. It cooks up nice and sweet. Use any leftover cooked rutabaga mixed into your mashed potatoes. It is wonderful with any kind of meat or sausage. As with all vegetable soup made from scratch the most labor intensive part is the chopping, but most if not all of the vegetables in this soup, except the rutabaga, can be found pre-chopped in your grocers produce section. The rutabaga is especially hard, so make sure you have a solid knife. This is a great winter soup which reminds me of home. Enjoy!



Hearty vegetable soup with Swedish meatballs

6 cups lightly salted water

2 beef bouillon cubes

2 cups rutabaga, diced

4 carrots, sliced

5 potatoes, diced

4 stalks celery, sliced 

Salt and pepper to taste

1 t thyme

1/2 T butter or margarine

2 shallots, chopped small

1 medium leek sliced

1 12 oz. package frozen Swedish meat balls, thawed (cut in half if you prefer).



In a large dutch oven, over medium high heat, whisk the beef bouillon cubes into the water until dissolved. Add next 6 ingredients through thyme. Bring to a boil and cook, covered,  15-20 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender. Meanwhile, in a small skillet over medium heat, melt butter and saute shallots until just soft, 3-4 minutes. Add to vegetables. Reduce heat to lowest setting and add leeks and meat balls. Heat through.

 (This soup is even better on the second or third day when all the flavors have melded together and the soup has thickened sligthly. It freezes well too!)

Serves 6











Quick and easy and kid friendly too!

My kids love potatoes! We eat a lot of them, any shape and form. I am a big fan of potato leek soup myself, and have made several different varieties of such a soup throughout the years. The kids always complain about the "green stuff", so today I decided to leave the leeks out and make a plainer potato soup. My husband very accurately described it as "Clam Chowder without the clams". It is very rich and creamy, but a light version nonetheless. The original recipe was from Cooking Light Magazine, (October 2010), but I tweaked it quite a bit. For starters, I doubled the recipe to fit the size of my family. We had an extra child at the table (a common occurrence!), so we were 7 all together. Doubling the recipe was just enough for a nice healthy bowl for most of us, and a couple smaller portions for the kids. In addition, I added a clove of garlic to the sauteed onions and I put in a little red pepper (cayenne). This is a very versatile soup. I think it would be excellent with rosemary in it as well. You could even add some broccoli florets. Just experiment and let me know what you come up with.

Potato Chowder

7 large red potatoes

3 t olive oil

1 cup chopped onion

1 garlic clove, minced

3 cups fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth

6 T all-purpose flour

4 cups 1% low-fat milk, divided

1/2 cup reduced-fat sour cream

1 t salt

1/2 t freshly ground black pepper

1/4 t hot red pepper(Cayenne)

For topping:

8 bacon slices, cooked and crumbled

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions

Peel potatoes and pierce with a fork. Microwave on High for 13 minutes or until tender. Cut in half; cool slightly.
While potatoes cook, heat oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onions and garlic; saute 3 minutes. Add broth. Combine flour and 1 cup of milk to make a "slurry"; add to pan and add the rest of the milk. Bring to a boil; stirring often. Cook 1 minute. Remove from heat; stir in sour cream, salt, cayenne and black pepper. Add potatoes and mash to desired consistency (It should be lumpy). Serve with cheese, green onions and bacon.

We had fresh bread and fruit with this meal. Very satisfying!