Cream of Spinach Soup

Does anybody else feel like they’re being tossed around in a storm at sea when they read information on the Internet about what to eat and what not to eat? I read a great satirical post a few weeks ago about that phenomenon – check it out here if you’ve ever been like, “I eat pretty healthy” and then discovered that everything you supposedly thought was healthy is actually eventually going to kill you. Or if you have friends who are telling you that.

So anyway, I thought of that post when I read this post the other day questioning the healthy-quotient of the super-popular green smoothies. I will admit to sneaking spinach into some of my son’s food – smoothies (he thinks it’s super cool to get to have milkshakes for breakfast sometimes!) and even into his pancakes when I’m mixing them up in the blender. But the mention that the French have it right when they pair veggies with dairy fat (butter! heavy cream!) made me think about having some creamy spinach soup for lunch.

Mark Bittman is always a pretty safe bet when it comes to recipes, so when I came up with this recipe when I googled “Cream of Spinach Soup,” I knew this was the one to try. Plus, I liked the  simplicity of the recipe, the fact that it used fresh spinach and all “whole” ingredients. I altered the recipe a bit, mostly to fit the ingredients that I had on hand, and the fact that I was hoping to make just enough for myself and the hubby to have for lunch.

Cream of Spinach Soup based on Mark Bittman’s recipe

1/2 lb (or so) fresh spinach, roughly chopped 1/8 yellow onion, chopped 1 T butter (and maybe some bacon fat if you’re like me and happen to keep a little ceramic tub of it next to the stove) 2 c chicken stock 1/2 c half-and-half 1 to 3 t. flour (I used around 2 t. brown rice flour) 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg (to taste) salt and pepper to taste

In a medium-sized pot, saute the onion in butter. Add chicken stock, spinach and nutmeg and cook until spinach is wilted. Puree with an immersion blender (be careful – it will splatter since there’s not much in the pot) or in a regular blender (being careful because hot liquids will splatter in a blender). Return to the pot. Whisk together the flour (adjust flour amounts depending on how thick you want the soup) and half-and-half; add to the soup and heat through. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.

We ate this with some smoked gouda and crackers, making for a light, wholesome lunch.

#creambased #spinach #vegetable

Slow-Cooker Chili

Serving slow-cooker chili to guests (along with chips and salsa and margaritas — what a perfect meal for a 0-degree day!) almost seems like cheating. You throw everything in the pot and, viola! dinner is ready when the guests show up. Just be sure you have cheese and tequila on hand.

Chili is also great for two other reasons. One is that you can make it with ingredients that you almost always have on hand. Cans of beans and tomatoes? Ground meat in the freezer? Dried spices? Onion? You’re pretty much good to go — and it’s a healthy meal to boot. The other benefit is that chili is pretty forgiving – if you don’t have, say, kidney beans, you can throw in the leftover pinto or black beans in your fridge. If you have half of a sweet potato in your fridge that you want to use up, well, toss that in and see how it works. That’s what I did today. I’m convinced that it’s pretty hard to go wrong with chili; and if you do, you have time to fix it since you’re cooking it for hour after hour.

This recipe makes enough for you to have it with friends on a cold Friday night and to bring the leftovers to your in-laws for dinner on Sunday night. Hypothetically speaking.

Slow-Cooker Chili

1 lb Italian sausage 1 lb ground beef 28 oz can tomatoes, undrained 15 oz can tomato sauce 1/2 cup chopped onion (I usually just use a whole onion; today I reserved enough onion for a half-batch of my favorite salsa) 1 tsp sugar 1-2 tsp chili powder 1 to 1 1/2 tsp cumin 1 tsp oregano 15 oz can chili beans, undrained (I often just use kidney beans and add extra chili powder) 15 oz can garbanzo beans, drained

The official instructions are: Brown meat and put in crockpot. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer on low for 8 hours.  If you’re lazy like me, partially thaw the meat in the microwave for a few minutes (I use deer Italian sausage and ground elk, since I always have that in my freezer), then throw it in the crockpot with all the other ingredients. Stir the meat every hour or so so you don’t get any unusually large chunks.

Eat however you like your chili.

#chili #slowcooker #SweetPotato #crockpot #sausage

Creamy Chipotle Sweet Potato Soup

You can make anything in the slow-cooker if you’re lazy enough.

This soup is probably supposed to be “quick and easy,” but sometimes even quick and easy isn’t enough because dinner time happens to be precisely when everything else in this house goes to, um, well, when everything deteriorates and it’s impossible to do much more than keep myself alive and  keep from strangling the small one. Not the smallest one; put her in a swing and she’s good. It’s the next one up.

Just keepin’ it real here.

Anyway, I crockpot-ized this soup, AND I’m blogging about it while it’s still cooking (so sue me). I’ve made it before, so I’m pretty sure it’s going to turn out okay.

This is a Martha Stewart recipe. Besides the crockpot, I’ve changed it by a) not measuring the amount of stock I used (because I’m using homemade stock), b) using less chipotle because the last time I made it, even one chipotle was almost too hot for me and I want my son to eat it, and c) adding some cream cheese to cut some of the heat and to amp up the creaminess. I love the creamy-spicy combo.

We’re on a wheat-light experimental month to see if it impacts how we feel, so we’ll be eating this with tortilla chips and black bean burgers (for protein).

Creamy Chipotle Sweet Potato Soup adapted from Martha Stewart serves a lot (8-10?)

Ingredients

1. 2 tablespoons olive oil

2. 1 medium white onion, chopped

3. Coarse salt and ground pepper

4. 2 teaspoons ground cumin

5. 2 garlic cloves, minced

6. 4 medium sweet potatoes (2 pounds total), peeled and cut

7. 1/2 to 1 chipotle chile in adobo, chopped

8. 7 cups low-sodium chicken broth

9. 1/2 cup cream cheese or heavy cream

10. Sour cream, for serving

11. Toasted flour tortilla wedges, for serving (optional)

Her Directions:

1. In a large Dutch oven or heavy pot, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high. Add onion, season with salt and pepper, and cook until beginning to brown around edges, about 7 minutes. Add cumin and garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in sweet potatoes, chile, and broth. Bring to a boil; reduce to a rapid simmer, partially cover, and cook until sweet potatoes can be mashed easily with a spoon, 20 to 25 minutes.

2. Let soup cool slightly. Working in batches, transfer soup to a blender and puree until smooth (use caution when blending hot liquids). Return pureed soup to pot over low heat and season with salt and pepper. Top soup with sour cream and serve with tortilla wedges, if desired.

My Directions:

Dump everything except the oil and cream cheese into the crockpot and let simmer on low for 5 hours, or until the onions and sweet potatoes are tender. Add the cream cheese and puree with an immersion blender. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve.

#chipotle #SweetPotato #quickandeasy #spicy #vegetable #crockpot