I have a very dear friend that I have known for almost 20 years.  We worked together for about half of that time, so we had the luxury of seeing other daily and eating lunch together.  However, in the spring I decided to change careers, which has been great, but I don’t get to see my friend as frequently.

With two busy schedules, it can be difficult to find an evening to sit and chat.  Last week, luckily, we found a couple evening hours free of meetings, parenting responsibilities, etc.  As my new career is home-based, I offered to make a soup and bring it to her house.  I figured if dinner were ready, we could focus on conversation for two hours.  Plus, eating at a house meant no interruptions from waitstaff.

I wanted to bring a soup that was unique, but as I do have to accomplish work at home, I needed a soup that would be quick to prepare.  Having eaten many meals with my friend, I knew that she liked vegetables, which made this soup an obvious choice.

Arriving at her house with a pot full of warm soup and leftover Cheddar Cheese Biscuit Crackers, we immediately sat at her counter and began sharing stories.  Unfortunately, the time flew, and before we knew it, life’s commitments dictated that our evening together was done.  However, we did have a wonderful time, enjoying good food and each other’s company.  It was a terrific, albeit short, evening.

Butternut and Broccoli Soup

1-1/2 Tb. canola oil

1 medium onion, diced

1 Tb. soy sauce

1 tomato, diced

4 cups chicken broth

1 butternut squash, cooked*

1 Tb. maple syrup

salt and pepper

2 bunches broccoli florets

1/4 cup whole milk, warmed

Heat the oil in a medium stock pot over medium heat.  Add onion and saute until tender.  Add soy sauce and tomato, and cook until all juice has evaporated, about 5 minutes.  Reduce heat to low, and add broth, squash, maple syrup, salt, and pepper.  Mix well, and allow to simmer, stirring occasionally.

While soup is simmering, cook broccoli to crisp-tender, either by steaming or boiling.  Using a whisk or immersion blender (depending on how chunky or not you like your soup), blend soup.  When soup has reached the desired consistency, add broccoli.  Add milk, and stir well.  Allow to cook for another 5 minutes without boiling.

*Butternut squash

Preheat oven to 350.  Cut squash in half lengthwise, and place each half cut side down in a 13×9 baking pan.  Add 1/2 inch water, and cover tightly with foil.  Allow to bake for 1 hour or until very tender when pierced with a fork.  Let squash cool, then remove and discard seeds and peel.  Squash can be mashed in a bowl or added to the soup as is.

As the cold weather has arrived, and is staying, soup night has returned to our house.  So, each week, one person in the house gets to choose the soup du jour.  This week was our twelve year old son’s turn to choose.

JP is the biggest foodie of our four kids, so you never know what he might request.  This week he kept his choice simple and asked for corn chowder.  However, he did have a request.  He asked that I make the soup like my grandmother and add bacon to it.

I honored his request, though I did it with a twist.  The bacon was offered as a garnish, so it could be added or not and in the amount that each person desired.  Also, although he requested my grandmother’s version, I used skim milk, keeping the soup lighter.

As a fun addition to this meal, we tried our hands at homemade crackers.  For our first attempt, they were pretty good.  I’ll be posting that recipe tomorrow.

Hot soup, homemade crackers, good company.  What more could anyone want on a cold fall night?

Grandma’s Corn Chowder

1 Tb. canola oil

1 small onion, diced

1 potato, peeled and diced

2 cups hot water

2 chicken bouillon cubes

3 cups frozen corn

1-1/2 Tb. flour

1-1/2 cups skim milk

salt and pepper

cooked bacon

Put oil in medium-sized stockpot over medium heat.  Add onions, and saute until tender.  Add potato, and stir for 1 minute.  While potato is cooking, combine hot water and bouillon, stirring to dissolve.  Add chicken bouillon to pot, and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, and allow to simmer for 10 minutes or until potatoes are tender.  Add corn, and stir occasionally for 5 minutes, allowing corn to heat through.  Combine milk and flour by whisking, and add immediately to soup.  Stir continuously while soup comes to a boil.  Stir for a minute while soup thickens.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Garnish soup with crumbled bacon, if desired.

Makes 4 servings.

With the arrival of September in New Hampshire, the feel of fall is omnipresent.  Although the days can be warm, the nights are cold, with temperatures dipping into the 40s.  Thus, our menu begins its transformation from salads and fresh produce to soups and homemade bread.

Earlier in the week, the sky was overcast, rain showers were predicted for the majority of the day, and the temperature hovered in the low 60s.  With weather such as this, it seemed like the perfect day to allow a pot of soup to simmer on the stove for the day.

While a chicken broth-based soup sounded perfect, I didn’t want to make traditional chicken noodle soup.  Knowing that I had ground turkey in the freezer, turkey meatballs seemed like a great ingredient for the soup.  With such a hearty element to this soup, I decided not to add pasta or rice.  Instead, a few vegetables added to the soup would give it a variety of colors, flavors, and textures.

When the kids arrived home from school, they could smell the soup and excitedly asked how long it was until dinner.  Sadly, dinner was 3 hours away, but happily they were looking forward to that night’s meal!  To help pass the time until dinner, the kids helped by making homemade breadsticks to accompany the soup.

There were rave reviews about the soup, though our ten year old did question the presence of spinach in her soup.  However, with a sprinkling of freshly grated Parmesan cheese on the soup, the meal was enjoyed by all.

Turkey Meatball Soup

8 - 10 cups chicken broth

1 medium yellow onion, diced

1-1/2 cups baby carrots, diced

30 turkey meatballs*

1 Tb. Italian seasoning

freshly ground black pepper

6 - 10 oz. baby spinach, chopped

Combine broth, onion, carrots, meatballs, Italian seasoning, and black pepper in a large stock pot.  Bring to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer.  (The soup can simmer for hours at this point.  Check every hour, adding more broth, if needed.)

Thirty minutes before serving add spinach.  Stir occasionally.

*Turkey Meatballs

1 pound 93% lean ground turkey

1/3 cup egg whites

1 Tb. water

3/4 cup breadcrumbs

1 Tb. dried parsley

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, preferably freshly grated

2 cloves garlic, minced

salt and pepper, to taste

Heat oven to 375.  Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix well.  Form mixture into small meatballs, approximately 3/4 inch in diameter.  Place on baking sheet and bake for 12 - 15 minutes.

With an unexpected snow day on Friday, our scheduled events for the evening were cancelled. So, when the snow stopped early in the afternoon, I decided to make a trek to the grocery store.

With all 4 kids at home and a quiet evening on tap, there was no need to make a quick dinner. However, as the roads weren’t great for driving until mid-afternoon, a slow-cooking meal also wasn’t an option. A request for chili was made, and it seemed like an excellent plan. If we served chili with honey cornbread as a side dish, all 4 kids would eat the chili.

Typically, I make chili with ground beef or turkey, unless I make it vegetarian style. I wanted to give this chili a slightly different flavor, so I opted to use ground beef and pork. To offer some taste and texture diversity, I added two kinds of beans.

As dinner was being served, the lure of cornbread seemed to be the only reason 3 of the 4 kids would eat the chili. However, by the time the bowls were half-empty, they all had become chili converts, with one of the picky eaters even requesting seconds! It seems that this dish should become a requested dinner in our home.

Two-Meat, Two-Bean Chili

1 Tb. extra virgin olive oil                     2 Tb. chipotle chili powder

1 medium yellow onion, diced               2 tsp. oregano

4 cloves garlic                                          salt and pepper to taste

1 green pepper, chopped                       2-16 oz. cans tomato sauce

1 pound ground beef                              1-16 oz. can diced tomatoes

1 pound ground pork                             2-16 oz. cans kidney beans, drained and rinsed

2 Tb. chili powder                                  1-16 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed

Heat a stock pot over medium heat, and coat bottom with olive oil. Place onion and garlic in pan and saute for a few minutes. Add pepper and cook a minute or two longer. Add beef and pork, cooking until no longer pink, seasoning with chili powders, oregano, salt, and pepper. Drain grease from pan, and return to heat. Add tomato sauce and diced tomatoes, and bring to boiling. Reduce heat to low, and add beans. Partially cover with a lid, and allow to simmer. After 30 minutes, taste chili, adding additional spices, if needed. Simmer for another 30 minutes.

Serve with shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, and hot sauce. Click here for Honey Cornbread recipe, if desired.

The holidays have ended, and the real world has beckoned. This means getting dinners together for the family. Unfortunately, time is of a premium these days, so the planning, cooking, and shopping for meals are difficult.

In the midst of getting the car fixed and a trip to the bank, I made a quick stop to the local grocery store. As I entered the store, I had no plan of what I was going to make, and just started walking up and down the aisles. After a quick perusal of the meat section and seeing that stew beef was on sale, I decided to make a soup/stew.

Just Put It Together Stew
1.5 lbs. beef stew meat2 medium onions, chopped Pinch of Salt 3 carrots, chopped 3 stalks of celery, chopped 1 habanero pepper, chopped	1 large can of beef broth (64 oz) 1 cup of flour 1 T . of dried oregano .5 Tb. of cayenne pepper 1 tsp of sage black pepper to taste
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Brown the stew meat in a frying pan. Cooking it to about medium (pink in the middle).Combine the browned meat and all of the other ingredients in a crock pot. Set the crock pot on high and allow it to simmer at least 4 hours.Serve piping hot! Serves 4.

Last week on the way home from the dentist where I had Invisalign braces put on my teeth, we decidedto start a new tradition.

A new tradition has been started. With the arrival of chilly nights, there is a once a week soup night. One of the fun parts of this new dinner plan is that each week the soup is chosen by a different family member. The choices have allowed us to experiment with ingredients and new tastes.

Recently, the soup was chosen by our oldest. He wanted chowder, which for me is a fast soup. No need to simmer all day, it is made in 30 minutes. Besides being a last minute meal, it is also quite tasty and can be made more or less healthy depending on your preference.

So, on a recent night a pot of corn chowder was prepared and a store-bought loaf of crusty bread was sliced for our dinner. This meal was wonderful: simple, filling, warm, tasty. What more could I ask for on a cold winter’s night?

Quick Corn Chowder
2 Tb. canola oil1 yellow onion3 potatoes, peeled 1 16 oz. bag frozer corn 1 15 oz. can chicken broth	3 - 4 cups whole milk2 Tb. flour2 chicken bouillon cubes salt & pepper, to taste 4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
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Dice onion. Peel and cut potato into small cubes. Heat canola oil in large saucepot over medium heat. Add onions, and saute for 2 minutes. Add potatoes, and saute for an additional 2 minutes. Add corn and chicken broth. Raise heat to high, and bring to a boil. Cover pot, reduce heat to a simmer for 8 - 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. When potatoes are tender, add 2-1/2 cups milk. Combine flour and 1/2 cup milk, and add to soup. (The additional cup of milk can be added to make a less dense soup.) Add bouillon cubes, salt, and pepper. Raise heat to medium and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. When soup reaches boiling, reduce heat to a simmer and add bacon. Taste and adjust seasoning, if needed. Serve hot.*This recipe can be made with less fat by using skim milk and omitting the bacon.

Saturday was cold and rainy. After a busy morning wrangling 4 kids into smiling for photos, it was a good afternoon to stay home. The kids were content to run around, play video classic games, and attack each other with foam dart guns. Therefore, except for being needed as an occasional referee, I had time to make a slower meal.

Soup seemed like a good choice, seeing that I had a lot of cooked chicken on hand. The kids were excited to have hot dogs and chips for dinner (an exciting Saturday meal for those under the age of 11). So, I decided that our soup could have more exotic ingredients that would tempt the palates of the adults in our home.

Browsing the produce section of the grocery store, my soup began to take shape. I found some scallions that would give a nice crunch and flavor to the soup. Carrots seemed like a good vegetable to add substance. Finally, I found dried shittake mushrooms to add an Asian flair to the soup. Instead of regular noodles, I purchased Chinese egg noodles. It was time to head home, start the soup’s simmering, and fill our house with the warmth and aromas of soup.

Asian Chicken Noodle Soup
4 cups chicken broth3/4 pound baby carrots 1 bunch scallions 4 ounces dried shittake mushrooms 1 1/2 pounds cooked chicken breasts 3 cloves garlic, minced	2 Tb. dried parsley1 Tb. sesame oil 4 Tb. soy sauce salt and pepper Chinese egg noodles
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Put chicken broth in large pot. Cut carrots into 1/2 inch disks. Chop scallions. Dice mushrooms into bite-sized pieces. Add all vegetables to pot. Also cut chicken into bite-sized pieces, and add to soup. Bring to boiling. Turn heat to low, and cover. Add garlic, parsley, sesame oil, soy sauce, salt, and pepper. Allow to simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Add noodles and return heat to high. Boil, following package directions. Serve hot.Serves 6.

After a weekend away, we returned hoping for a sunny Columbus Day. We had visions of hiking, choosing a pumpkin amid the fields, or going to the beach for a walk and cooking lobster. However, we awoke to the sounds of pouring rain, thunder, and lightning. After reading a forecast of continual rain and temperatures in the 60s, our previous plans were canceled.  A new schedule of puzzle games for the girls and shooting games for the boys was created.

After conferring with family members, a dinner of beef stew was decided upon. To meet the tastes of all diners, green beans were served on the side as an optional add-in for the stew. Also, seeing that dinner wasn’t chosen nor ingredients bought until after lunch, this meal needed to made on the stove top.

A comfy afternoon of dinner simmering while children played and adults completed projects sounded perfect. When dinnertime arrived, the house was filled with the wonderful smells and warmth of our stew. Plus, a pan of homemade corn bread was taken out of the oven to be served piping hot with butter melting atop each slice. Though our outdoor plans were canceled, this made for a delicious end to our 3-day weekend.

Rainy Day Beef Stew
2 Tb. vegetable oil3 pounds stew beef, fat trimmed1/2 cup flour3 Tb. Kitchen Bouquet 3 cans beef broth 3 bay leaves	4 cloves garlic2 onions, sliced1/2 pound baby carrots1 bunch celery hearts salt and pepper 4 - 5 potatoes frozen green beans or peas
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Heat vegetable oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add beef to pot, season with salt and pepper, and cook until browned. Drain most of the grease from the pot. Add flour, Kitchen Bouquet, beef broth, bay leaves, garlic, and onion. Bring to boiling and allow to simmer for 2 hours, stirring frequently.At the end of 2 hours chop the carrots and celery into 1/2 inch chunks. Add to stew and continue to simmer for 30 minutes. In a medium-sized pot, bring water to a boil. Peel and dice potatoes with a Potato Peeler into 1/2 inch chunks. Place in boiling water and cook until tender but not mushy*.To serve, place a large scoop of potatoes in each diner’s bowl. Add stew to bowl. If desired, add green beans or peas to each dish. Serves 6-8.

*I find that the potatoes cook best separately. When cooked in the stew they tend to become overcooked.

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With the first real heatwave of the season upon us and having just read an article about cold soups, I felt inspired to try one.  Using one of the recipes that I had read as a base, I made some modifications and created my own version.  Being a no cook soup, all that was required was a few minutes of dicing.

After a busy day with four kids, it was nice to sit down for a dinner that was already prepared.  In fact, I had made the soup the day prior, so it had had 24 hours for the flavors to blend.  The soup was accompanied by a crusty, yet chewy-centered, boule.  A very relaxing meal for us and our favorite friends whom we invited to join us.

The soup had the perfect amount of sweetness to accent the savory tastes of onion and garlic.  I added a few extra drops of mango hot sauce to my portion to give it a little more zip and a wider range of flavor.

If you want to try something that tastes like a tropical beach dinner on a hot summer night, this is the recipe for you.  A simple way to cool yourself from the inside out.

Beach Gazpacho

1 20-oz. can pineapple chunks in juice

1 medium mango, peeled

1 tomato, cored

1 medium cucumber, peeled

1 red, orange, or yellow sweet pepper, cored and seeded

1/2 sweet onion

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. mango hot sauce

juice of 4 limes

2-1/2 cups tomato juice

Drain pineapple, reserving juice.  Dice pineapple, mango, tomato, cucumber, pepper, and onion into 1/4 inch pieces.  Place all diced fruits and vegetables in a glass bowl.  Add garlic, salt, hot pepper sauce, and lime juice.  Let mixture stand for 10 minutes or just until fruits and vegetables begin to release their juices.

Stir in pineapple and tomato juices.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, though 24 hours allows the flavors to combine more.

Serves 4.  Additional mango hot sauce (or other varities) can be offered for individual seasoning.