Embracing Him

Winter is here and it’s the perfect time to make soup. Though vegetable soups and chicken noodle soups are delicious, your soup repertoire doesn’t have to be limited to old favorites.

This bean soup is a family favorite. It’s thick, hearty, and filling. Once you add a side of cornbread and a green salad, you’ve got a fabulous meal that’s good for you and satisfying.

Hearty Bean Soup
1 (16 oz) package of dried navy beans
1/4 cup baking soda
7 cups chicken broth
1 smoked turkey wing or ham bone
1/4 cup onion, diced or 1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon black pepper
3 bay leaves
1 teaspoon garlic powder

Prepare the beans using the following method. Place beans in a large pot, cover with cold water, and bring to a solid boil for 10 minutes. Remove pot from the heat (do not drain) and set in the sink. Add baking soda and stir until the foam completely disappears. (Do not worry if the foam is green.) Drain the beans and rinse well with cold water to remove the flavor of the baking soda.

Place beans back in the pot. Add chicken broth, turkey wing, onion, pepper, garlic powder, and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until beans are soft.  If soup is becoming too thick, you may thin it by adding extra chicken broth. Be sure to remove the bay leaves before serving.

Photo: Courtesy of Roger Smith (Flickr)

The cooties came calling at the Thorpe house last week, so I decided to make a comforting batch of soup. I was in the mood for a thick and hearty soup, so I opted not to make the traditional chicken soup.

Instead, I made my first batch of Baked Potato Soup and it was absolutely delicious! I will definitely be making this soup all winter long.

Many potato soup recipes instruct cooks to fry bacon and use those drippings in the soup. I wanted a more healthful recipe, so I omitted the frying of bacon and sauteed the minced garlic and onion in olive oil. The soup was very flavorful even without the additional fat. You can still satisfy your bacon craving by garnishing the soup with canned bacon bits or crumbled turkey bacon. However, if you’re a purist, feel free to fry up that bacon!

My potato cubes were large, so I smoothed them out and thickened the soup using my immersion blender (a handy kitchen gadget!). This made the soup more creamy, but still allowed a few potatoes to remain intact for texture.

JT felt the soup was a bit too peppery but I thought the proportion of pepper was the perfect. To make sure the soup isn’t too spicy consider starting with a 1/4 teaspoon pepper and add more to taste if necessary.

Baked Potato Soup
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 teaspoons minced garlic
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3 cups chicken broth
2 large baked potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 cup half-and-half (can use low fat or fat free)
bacon bits (for garnish)
shredded Cheddar cheese (for garnish)
2 green onions, diced (for garnish)

Saute onion and garlic in olive oil until tender. Whisk in flour, salt, basil and pepper; mix well. Gradually add broth.

Bring to boil; boil and stir for 2 minutes. Add the potatoes and half and half. Heat through but do not boil. Serve hot and garnish with bacon, cheese, and green onions.

If you’d like to see more fabulous recipes, visit Tuesdays at the Table and stop by Tempt My Tummy over at Blessed With Grace.

Photo: Courtesy of greg.turner (Flickr)

I’m in the process of revising the meals I prepare for my family to ensure we’re not consuming too much saturated fat. In addition to revamping our favorite recipes, I’ve purchased two lowfat cookbooks from the American Heart Association and found some promising lowfat recipes online.

The newest recipe I’ve discovered is for a wonderful lemon rice. We’re big fans of rice, so I made this dish last week. This simple recipe was fresh and fragrant and JT and I both enjoyed it. The lemon zest and fresh parsley brighten the dish and heighten the flavor.

To make sure the recipe was healthy, I used low fat, low sodium chicken broth. Since I didn’t have any fresh garlic bulbs, I used jarred minced garlic which worked just fine. I plan to serve this rice again next week along side Orange Chicken, but I plan to use jasmine rice and add chopped broccolini for additional flavor complexity.

Fragrant Lemon Rice
2 cups chicken stock
1 cup long grain white rice
2 teaspoons fresh crushed garlic
3 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced
zest of one lemon

Bring stock to a boil in a saucepan over high heat. Stir in rice and immediately reduce heat to low. Cover pan and simmer 20 minutes or until rice is tender and liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat and let stand 5 minutes, covered. Add the remaining ingredients and fluff with a fork before serving.

Photo: Courtesy of Laundry Broad (Flickr)