Minestrone

Yes, we have been eating. No, we haven't been writing about it. At least not here. But, devoted readers, we're back to report on our latest culinary triumph: minestrone soup--it's shockingly easy and really good. Chop up some onions and red peppers and brown them with garlic (we recommend fresh garlic from the gobs of garlic you've recently acquired from friends, of course)--three cloves in this case. Then add 2-3 cups of vegetable broth, a can of tomatoes (not drained), a can of kidney beans (drained and rinsed), a can of green beans (drained--fresh or frozen would also work, but we had canned from a long time ago), some chopped carrots (we used 3 small ones), basil, oregano, salt, fresh cracked pepper, and Cholula hot sauce. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat, and simmer for about 25 minutes. Add some pasta (we used small seashells), cover again, and simmer for another 10 minutes or so until the pasta is done.

We really liked this. I think I liked it better than Olive Garden's minestrone, but I can't really remember since I've only had Olive Garden's minestrone once in the last 4 years or so. It would have been especially good with some fresh French bread.

Taco Soup

In a flurry of activity informing the world of our eating, we would also like to report on the main dish we had with the corn bread (and for the next few days). Ryan made a roast in the crock pot earlier this week (it had onions and green peppers with it, but I have no idea what else he did). It was about 3 pounds, so there was a lot of meat. Some of the meat we put in burritos, some of it we used for taco soup (which is what I'm trying to post about, if I could just get around to talking about it), and some remains in a glass container in our refrigerator, waiting for us to be inspired (anyone have any suggestions?). But about the taco soup...first, I browned/stir-fried/cooked green pepper and onion (I'm searching for the appropriate verb here, in case you can't tell--what I did was heated the pan and then threw in the vegetables)--about half of a large one each--with some garlic. Then I put in some of the roast meat (I'm such an exact cook--I don't even know what kind of measurement to use for this step, much less how much of that measurement--I was using the two-quart sauce pan and there were more vegetables in it than meat at this point) and added cumin, Mexican seasoning (as another side note, we cannot find McCormick Mexican seasoning in our grocery stores anymore--it's quite sad. We're also sad about the fact that we can't get Santa Barbara green salsa directly from the company with free shipping anymore--we are out of our secret ingredient!), Santa Barbara cantina salsa, and oregano. After that all looked heated nicely (when I got bored might be a more accurate time statement), I added half a can of corn (we had no frozen corn), a can of diced tomatoes with jalapeños, half a can (the larger size) of green chilies, a cup of beef broth, and some water and let it all boil until Ryan came home with the milk and the corn bread was ready. We, of course, ate the soup with sour cream and cheese as well as tortilla chips. I had very low expectations for this soup, so I was pleasantly surprised that I liked it. I liked it even more today (two days old) when we ate it out of my new Crayola thermos (a Christmas present from my sister and brother-in-law) right before we went cross-country skiing (the thermos worked beautifully, by the way--thanks Rachel and Doug...and Daru and Kina!).

Creamy Vegetable Soup

I was bored tonight, so I decided to experiment while Ryan was working. I looked through our old Kraft Food and Family magazines, as I usually do when looking for inspiration (though I find them much more inspiring for desserts than for anything else). The recipe for Cheddar Biscuits looked good (and it had amusing cheesy pictures of a mother and daughter making them), but then I had to decide what we should eat with said biscuits. Not feeling inclined toward meat, I decided to make vegetable soup based on our experience with chicken pot pie since I felt that the chicken was completely unnecessary in that recipe. So I made the biscuits, put them in the oven, and then pulled out most of the frozen vegetable that we had and some carrots and onion. I chopped about 1/2 cup of carrots and 1/4 cup of onions (both in pretty small pieces) and stir-fried them in Roasted Red Pepper with Parmesan dressing (which is what we used for the chicken pot pie) for about 2 minutes. Then I dumped in the frozen vegetables, which included red pepper, snow peas, corn, peas, and mixed vegetables (probably about 3 cups of vegetable overall--maybe more--I'm bad at estimating such things). I let those cook for a few minutes and stirred them some, added rosemary, thyme, and a bit of savory, and then poured in 2 cups of vegetable broth. After boiling for about 2 minutes with the lid on, I let it simmer on low for another 3-5 minutes, then added about 3 oz of cream cheese and 1 tablespoon half-and-half (only because we had it in the refrigerator from making scones and it needs to be used). After the cream cheese melted, I let everything simmer a few minutes longer and then decided that I wanted it to have thicker broth, so I stirred in some flour. I was a little lazy about that with the first 1/2 tablespoon of flour and just threw it into the pot and stirred. It looked like we were going to have miniature dumplings in the soup, so for the next tablespoon, I applied the method I learned in....a Christian romance novel (isn't that where everyone learns to cook?!): scoop some of the broth out, whisk the flour into that broth until there are no lumps, and then pour the mixture back into the soup and stir. I'm not sure the flour actually contributed anything to the thickness of the broth in this case, but I felt better. I let it cook for another 2 minutes or so and then we ate. It was surprisingly good, especially with the biscuits (we did not put cream cheese on our biscuits, by the way, despite what the recipe says). I was thinking it was also somewhat healthy, but having reviewed the nutrition facts on the biscuits alone, I'm no longer convinced (though I did use skim milk...that has to count for something...and Neufchâtel cheese, not cream cheese). It does contain a lot of vegetables, so I suppose that's good.

Tomato Flop

Ryan decided that he wanted grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch today, and then he asked if we happened to have any tomato soup (he likes Progresso Hearty Tomato; I hate tomato soup in general, so this question was clearly only in his own interest). I didn't really feel like doing any work at the time, so I ventured downstairs to see what the pantry held. No tomato soup, no diced tomatos (despite the plethora we had--about 6 cans worth--a month ago. I have no idea where they went!), but two cans of tomato sauce (not that I know what use we have for that!) and two cans of tomato paste (vital ingredient in chili). Feeling ambitious (though only toward cooking--not graph theory, or topology, or representation theory, or the theory of what we're going to do next year, etc.), I looked on the internet for tomato soup recipes. Almost every one I found required fresh tomatoes, which we did not have, or whole canned tomatoes, which we also did not have. However, I did find a vegan recipe that only required tomato sauce (and cornstarch for thickening, but I figured flour would work just as well, and rice milk, which we did not have, but I figured cow's milk was a perfectly acceptable substitute since I didn't care about the vegan-ness at all), so I asked Ryan if he would like me to make him tomato soup. He sadly replied, "We don't have any?"
"No, but we have tomato sauce...."
"Do think you can?" Ryan asked.
"What, you think I won't be successful?!" I answered.
Of course, he reassured me that was not his thought at all; he just didn't want me to go to all that work. I insisted, so we made the soup. Ryan added some "Old World Spices," and I added the milk and flour. Then Ryan said it tasted like dough, so he added the other can of tomato sauce, since we had only used one at first (he was reluctant to waste the tomato sauce, but, as I have previously mentioned, I have no idea what we would do with it otherwise). It still tasted like dough, apparently, so Ryan ate his grilled cheese sandwich without tomato soup, which I dumped down the drain. Clearly, I was not successful. Maybe next time. Maybe there will never be a next time.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

"Chicken Tortilla Soup" and its close (albeit weakling) cousin "wimpy-no-spicy" soup have becomes staples of our house. We made it again this week as the weather has once again turned cold in the mountains. The key ingredient that pushes this soup from tasty to down right scrump-"give me another serving"-tious is what we call the "crunchies".

Now to the crunch. As is implied in the name this is a soup with chicken and tortilla. There really is no replacement for a tortilla lovingly crafted by the artisan hands of a sweet Mexican lady over a mesquite charcoal flame in a stick and mud hut that was built a hundred years ago, but they don't have those in Montana so we use flower tortillas bought from Albertsons. No wait come back! I know that is an insulting substitute, I'm not finished though. We take the store bought "Tortilla Wraps" and cut them into slices and bake them on our handy baking stone. To bring them to the level of the aforementioned scrumptious (not the village made ambrosia, but the "give me another serving" kind) you must use the tomato basil flavored wraps.

For the soup itself it is best to use leftover grilled chicken, lightly blackened and marinated in a mesquite, lime, or something of that sort sauce. Tear the chicken into pieces and add to the soup. Oh yeah, the soup is chicken stock with cumin, chili powder, cayenne pepper, Santa Barbara brand Green Salsa (it's amazing), Ma Se Ca tortilla mix (we noticed that Wolfgang Puck adds this to his CTS), diced green chilies, Jalapeños if you got 'em, garlic, onion, green pepper, red pepper, and sometimes corn.

Top it off with sour cream and Cheddar or Pepper Jack cheese and the crunchies.

P.S. For the "Wimpy-no-spicy" version don't add anything that you would consider spicy (yeah, I know you are left with slightly spiced chicken broth).

Italian Chili or The Spaghetti Western's Long Lost Brother.

Tonight we took inventory of our pantry and found that we had about six cans of stewed, diced, or whole tomatoes, everyone different. Some how that inspired Rebekah to propose Italian Chili. We both think the best thing that Johnny Carino's has to offer is their Italian Chili soup so we were already sold on the idea. The recipe called for Italian sausage (out of it's casing), onions, and garlic (we added red peppers too) all sauteed until they were done. Next we added some leftover pasta sauce (roasted garlic) which Rebekah thought wasn't sweet enough so we added some sugar. While that warmed we added pasta (Fusilli Bucati, it would be better with something shorter though) and some beef broth. When the pasta was just about done we added zucchini (which is listed under "squash zucchini" in the Albertson's self checkout). Oh I almost forgot, basil and cayenne pepper. The results were exquisitely delicious!