Autumn Minestrone Soup
I used to think that soup was this drawn out cooking event that took days, akin to the archetypal Thanksgiving turkey started at 4 o'clock in the morning. When learning how to cook in my teeny apartment in Bloomington, Indiana (thank you Mom and George Forman), chicken noodle soup was the first thing that made me feel like I was legit. That I could cook.
Raw chicken was scary enough, but a whole raw chicken, egads! I felt empowered and so accomplished after that. Now, that first batch of chicken noodle soup did take me about 4 hours, and I ate it for probably 19 meals straight, but I made it myself!
A little older and wiser, I've grown up (slightly), and realized that soup is impossibly easy and perfect for fall. Really, you can't mess it up, and clean up is ridiculously simple. A knife, a cutting board, a pot, and do yourself a favor and buy some stock from the grocery store. (wink)
After seeing Shona and her soup recipes, I've been inspired to make my own soup again, and more regularly. I found this recipe for Autumn Minestrone Soup on the Martha Stewart Website. It took 20-30 minutes total, including prep time. It was great, but makes a huge batch -- which was promptly shared with some neighbors!
The only things I did differently was add carrots (I love them), use half the amount of fennel (not a huge fan) and add sherry wine vinegar instead of red wine (I was out). I won't even get into scrounging for extra chicken stock while on the phone with Lisa and nearly having to add the extra Coca Cola in my fridge...
I'm looking for other good (and possibly healthy) recipes. Feel free to direct me somewhere if you're so inclined. And the drawing above, well...I just love making lists and drawing food. But I think you knew that if you're here in the first place. (wink)
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6 comments:
Well! This isn't really soup, but it's SO easy and I make it all the time and freeze it. It's Chorizo & Grits with Leeks or as it's known in my house That Good Chorizo Stuff. I always use fresh chorizo instead of cured. But there happens to be an awesome Mexican butcher on my block, so I'm spoiled.
http://food.realsimple.com/realsimple/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1661733
If only all my recipes could look that good!
This isn't exactly "healthy" (unless heavy cream is healthy?!), but SOOOOO YUMMY!!! I made this for the first time at Thanksgiving right before I was married (I think, was it that long ago?!) and I've been making it at t-g or whenever we have a butternut squash :) It's like a tradition now, and even Asher loves it. (well, he loves 99.9% of all food, but still, the soup is good)
oops, here's the link!
http://www.bbonline.com/fl/whiteorchid/recipe2.html
How stinkin' cute is your recipe card?!? And how adorable would a little homemade cook book full of your favorite recipes, done up with your lovely illustrations, be? File that one under "handmade gift ideas." 'Cause it would rock.
LOVE IT! I can replace the chicken broth w/ veggie "and you've got yourself a soup!"(I've ben hanging around my vegetarian + vegan friends who say it's OK to eat meat around them, but subconsciously give my food the evil eye).
One pot cooking is the best- I found a "Naked Chef" (false advertising I tell ya! he's a cutie) DVD at the library + all the shows were on one-pot cooking. Soup is way easy peezy, but I think the key is low temps for 4 (or so) hours. It lets all the flavors meet each other.
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