Creamy Spinach and Goat Cheese Soup

Tags

food, goat cheese, recipes, secret recipe club, soup, spinach, vegetables, vegetarian

Today is the day after Christmas. You probably don’t want any more sweets. You were probably sick of eating cookies and candy well before Christmas Day even rolled around (especially, if like myself, you went to several cookie swaps before Christmas!)

So when I was assigned Laura’s blog, A Healthy Jalapeno, for this month’s Secret Recipe Club, I wanted to find something light and healthy for the day after Christmas. I had a hard time deciding which recipe to go with, (she does have healthy in her blog title after all.

But then.

Then.

I saw the word “goat cheese” in the title of her Spinach and Goat Cheese Bisque.

My heart stopped.

Well maybe it just skipped a beat.

And if hearts could drool, it most certainly did.

Goat cheese and I have a long (quite happy) history: i.e. Artichoke Pizza with Goat Cheese and Olives, Artichoke and Goat Cheese Strata, Goat Cheese and Couscous Stuffed Eggplant, Roasted Onions stuffed with Goat Cheese and Sun-dried Tomatoes, Tomatoes Stuffed with Couscous, Goat Cheese, and Zucchini.

Clearly, this list needs a soup on it.

And this recipe is loaded with spinach, which is an amazing leafy green—packing in antioxidants (which can help eyesight—great pro for the near blind like me), and it’s a great source of vitamins C and E (keep that immune system strong!) Plus, great source of fiber—all while having almost zero calories.

Plus, did I mention there was goat cheese?

Creamy Spinach and Goat Cheese Soup (Adapted from A Healthy Jalapeno)

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp plus 1 tsp olive oil
• 2 large yellow onions, chopped (about 4 cups)
• 1/2 tsp salt, divided
• 2 tbsp plus 2 cups water, divided
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 large russet potato, peeled and diced
• 2 tbsp Marsala
• 1 (32 oz) package low-sodium vegetable broth (4 cups)
• 2 (11 oz) packages of baby spinach (24 cups, or 1 1/4 lbs)
• Pinch of cayenne pepper
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 4 oz crumbled goat cheese
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add onions and 1/4 tsp salt; cook, stirring constantly until the onions are soft and slightly brown, about 5 minutes. (Stir constantly to prevent burning.)
2. Reduce the heat to low; add 2 tbsp of water and the thyme. Cook, stirring frequently until the pan cools down a bit, then cover the pan and let onions cook, stirring occasionally, until they have a deep caramel color, about 25 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, combine the remaining 2 cups of water and 1/4 tsp of salt in a large Dutch oven. Add the potato and bring the water to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium, maintaining a simmer, and cook the potatoes until they are fork-tender, about 15 minutes.
4. When the onions are done cooking, stir in the Marsala. Then add them and the vegetable broth to the Dutch oven. Return mixture to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and stir in the spinach (this will have to be done in two batches. Wilt the first batch, then add the second.) Cook the spinach for just a few minutes (3-5)–just enough so it wilts, but not too long so that it keeps its vibrant green color. Add in the nutmeg and cayenne pepper.
5. Turn off the heat and stir in the goat cheese until it melts. Stir in the lemon juice.
6. Blend the soup in 3 batches (or use an immersion blender). Return to pot, heat on low, and adjust seasonings to your taste. Serve immediately with a nice dollop of goat cheese and extra lemon juice if desired.

My Two Cents: Ah, love.

There were so many wonderful things about this soup. First, I almost never make soup with cream of half and half in them. So when I find a soup that’s packed with flavor and the feeling like it is filled with rich cream, but it’s not, is so rewarding.

The caramelized onions bumped this soup up from just “good” to “outstanding”. It added an extra depth of flavor that actually intensified the next day. I believe Laura said the soup was a little nutty, and she’s right. The goat cheese combined with the nutmeg and onions gave it a tiny hint of nutty.

Let’s not forget about the color. I’ve never eaten something such a vibrant shade of green. In fact, I’m a little sorry the reveal day for this SRC is the day after Christmas. Imagine serving this as your first course for Christmas dinner!

I have no doubts in my mind you will truly love this soup. And check out A Healthy Jalapeno—she’s got some stellar stuff on there!

Click the link below to see ALL the recipes from today’s Secret Recipe Club Swap.

Curried Pumpkin Apple Soup

Tags

cooking, curry, food, pumpkin, recipes, soup, vegetarian

This soup sort of just happened. It wasn’t planned at all. I went to a Healthy Living lecture at work the other day (on how to not overeat during the holidays—some words of wisdom that are always good to hear at this time of year, and all year round for me, especially at food events). Since it was all about healthy eating, there were tons of fruits up for grabs, so I grabbed four apples.

I always take free stuff. Especially food. (Let’s not discuss the fact that at a work conference yesterday they were giving out boxes of Luna bars, something I don’t eat, and I took 12. Yup. 12.) I don’t like seeing things go to waste.

Anyway, so out of my work bag the other night came four apples when I got home. My sweet tooth is a bit worn out right now. So soup sounded good. Pumpkin also sounded  good. Oh and how about some curry.

Let’s Google that.

Google never fails me (though it can and often does scare me — “why have I had a headache for 4 hours”, for example, turns into “brain tumor”). But sure enough, some wonderful soul had already concocted a soup full of apples and pumpkin for all of us to love and enjoy.

Curried Pumpkin Apple Soup (Adapted from AllRecipes)

Serves 8

Ingredients:

• 4 Macintosh apples, peeled, cored, and chopped (about 4 cups)
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp curry
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 (15 oz) can pumpkin
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup water

Directions:

1. Melt butter in large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion, curry, and cumin; saute, stirring often, until onion is soft and fragrant. Add garlic and cook, stirring constantly for 30 seconds.
2. Stir in apples, pumpkin, broth, and water. Bring to a boil. Cover, and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 25-30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Puree soup in blender (about 3 batches). Return to pot and reheat on low. Serve immediately.

My Two Cents: First and foremost, I put in just under a tbsp of curry and just under a tsp of cumin. Many of the reviews of this recipe stated that those exact amounts packed a serious punch. So I mellowed it just a smidge, but I think those measurements would also work just fine.

For a completely vegetarian/vegan option–use vegetable broth and oil instead of the butter.

I was totally in love with this soup, though. Curry might be my favorite spice. Actually, it is my favorite spice. Most of my favorite dishes have curry in them, especially the soups. How can you not love that sweet scent and taste, yet with a little zingy kick to it?

And don’t worry, I still have about 5 cans of pumpkin left.

My pumpkin craze is not over yet

Like the looks of this recipe? Check out Creamy Pumpkin Curry Soup for another similar alternative.

Creamy Leek-Potato Soup

Tags

america's test kithen, cook's illustrated, cooking, food, leeks, potato, recipe, recipes, soup, soups

If you haven’t made any Cook’s Illustrated (from America’s Test Kitchen) recipes, you are missing out on a lot in life.

I was so happy when I got a copy of the new Cook’s Illustrated cookbook at the Boston Brunchers’ birthday celebration. I already have the America’s Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook (and love that one), so to have another bible-like cookbook from America’s Test Kitchen on my cookbook shelf gives me great joy.

Great, great joy.

Why do I love their recipes so much? Because they test, and test, and test, and test recipes until they get them just right. So no matter what recipe you choose to make, you must understand that it is going to be the best one out there—if, and only if—you follow the recipe word for word, teaspoon for teaspoon.

I’m going to share with you their Leek-Potato Soup today. I was in a soup mood this week, and wanted something creamy and comforting. I’ve had some good leek-potato soup in my day, but I’d never made it myself. This one looked simple enough. And delicious. So I gave it a shot.

Creamy Leek-Potato Soup (From the Cook’s Illustrated Cookbook)

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

• 4 medium leeks, white and green parts halved lengthwise, sliced thin (about 4 cups), and washed thoroughly; dark green parts halved, cut into 2-inch pieces, and washed thoroughly.
• 1 (15 oz) can low-sodium chicken broth (2 cups)
• 2 cups water
• 4 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 small russet potato (about 6 oz), peeled, halved lengthwise, and sliced thin
• 1 sprig fresh thyme
• 1 bay leaf (optional)
• 1 thick slice white sandwich bread, lightly toasted and torn into 1/2 inch pieces

Directions:

1. Bring dark green leek pieces, broth, and water to a boil in a large saucepan or Dutch oven over high heat. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes. Strain the broth through a fine mesh strainer into a medium bowl, pressing down on the greens to get any excess broth into the bowl. Discard solid greens and set bowl aside.
2. Melt the butter into the now empty saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir in sliced leeks, onion, and a dash of salt (about 1 tsp). Reduce heat to low, and cook, stirring frequently until the onions and leeks are soft, about 10 minutes.
3. Increase the heat to high, stir in reserved broth, potato, thyme, and bay leaf and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer until potato is tender, about 10 minutes. Add toasted bread and simmer until bread is completely saturated and starts to break down, 3-5 minutes.
4. Remove and discard thyme and bay leaf (if using). Transfer half of soup to blender and blend until the soup is of creamy consistency, about 2-3 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl and repeat with the remaining soup. (Blend in 3 batches if necessary—do not overfill the blender.) Return to pot on low heat until heated through. Season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately with some crusty bread or as the start to a big meal.

My Two Cents: These instructions are quite detailed, but this recipe is really simple to make. And it’s not super unhealthy and filled with mountains of cream. It’s a creamy soup that contains no cream at all — my favorite

If you don’t usually cook with leeks, here’s a tip: You must wash them thoroughly. Leeks have a lot of dirt in them, and simply putting the leeks under running water doesn’t get rid of the gritty dirt hidden in all the little crevices. What I do is chop up the leeks as the recipe states, then submerge them in a bowl of water for 5 minutes, swishing them around once in a while. For this recipe, I washed the dark greens and the light green and white parts separately.

Follow this recipe to a T, and you will get perfect results!

Enjoy

Simple Vegetable Soup

Tags

cooking, food, recipe, recipes, soup, vegetable soup, vegetarian

I overeat sometimes.

It comes with the territory of being a food blogger. And it usually happens when I go to food events. How can you possibly resist the multiple (delicious looking) courses laid out before you? You can’t. And I don’t. And then I go home and sometimes regret the amount of food I’m able to fit into my small, small, small stomach. And after I think I couldn’t possibly eat again, I get hungry. So I try to conjure up a detox meal.

And after I over-indulged at a Boston Brunchers event last week at Local 149 (more on that later!), I decided to detox with this super simple, super healthy vegetable soup.

Simple Vegetable Soup (Adapted from The Good Housekeeping Cookbook)

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 cups water
• 3 medium zucchini and/or yellow squashes, coarsely chopped
• 2 red peppers, chopped
• 1 (28 oz) can whole peeled tomatoes, drained
• 1 large tomato, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• fresh basil, for garnish

Directions:

1. In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook until tender and lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Add water, zucchini and yellow squash, peppers, canned tomatoes, tomato, garlic, salt, and pepper. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat to medium and cook, uncovered, until vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes.

2. Blend soup in batches. Return to pot and heat on low. Serve hot with fresh basil sprinkled on top. The soup can also be chilled and served cold the next day.

My Two Cents: This soup is so simple to make compared to most. Chop, simmer, puree, garnish, eat. Best part? No chicken or vegetable stock included in this recipe. And you know what? I didn’t miss it. The veggies gave off plenty of flavor by themselves.

The basil adds the perfect zing to this dish. So if you have it lying around or have some extra you want to use up, sprinkle a hearty helping of it onto your soup.

This makes a great lunch or first course to dinner. And no regrets! Eat as much as you want–it’s just veggies!

Carrot and Cauliflower Soup

Tags

appetizers, carrot soup, carrots, cauliflower, cooking, food, recipes, sides, soup, vegetables, vegetarian

Have you ever gotten soup all over your kitchen counters, floor, food processor, and yourself?

I decided to make a huge batch of soup the other night so I could bring some to work for the week. And I didn’t want to blend it in 5 batches, so thinking I was the biggest genius in town, decided to whip out my 15 cup food processor, Glinda, to get the job done. Two batches, I thought. This will be done faster than you can say “pie”.

The first batch of blending went well. Poured that into my big Crate and Barrel bowl with no problem. Then as I was filling up the processor for one more batch, I noticed it was getting pretty full, but there was only just a few more ladles left in the soup pot. So I filled it. High. I turned on the processor. Didn’t explode. Phewf. Just a few little drips coming out of the side…so I kept it on low. No big deal.

But then I took the base off the processor. It being filled to the brim, started leaking profusely out of the bottom. My Crate and Barrel bowl was only a few inches away, but alas, the soup made a fast dash escape and spewed all of me, the counter, and the floor.

I couldn’t do much else but laugh and clean up the orange mess before it stained. Lesson learned my friends. Lesson learned.

In the midst of my orange splattered kitchen, I poured a ladle full of soup into a mug and sipped on it–happy and satisfied that the soup at least tasted great in the end

Carrot and Cauliflower Soup (Adapted from Bon Apetit)

Serves 8

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp butter (I used salted)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 medium onions, chopped (about 3 1/2 – 4 cups)
• 2 pounds carrots, cut into 1 inch pieces (about 5 cups–I used baby carrots)
• 1 large cauliflower head, cut into florets
• 7 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper
• sour cream for serving

Directions:

1. Melt butter with oil in heavy large pot (or Dutch oven) over medium heat. Add onions; saute until soft and translucent, about 10 minutes. Add carrots and cauliflower; saute 5 minutes. Add 7 1/2 cups broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until vegetables are very tender, about 45 minutes. Cool slightly. Stir in cayenne pepper.

2. Puree the soup in batches in a blender or food processor (but please do not overfill…) Transfer to another large bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with a dollop of sour cream and chopped green onions if desired.

My Two Cents: This is a simple and very basic soup that you can spice up however you like. The original recipe had this elaborate garnish with red onions, green onions, lemon, mint, and sour cream. It also had the addition of buttermilk to make it creamier. But I wanted to keep it to the basics. I like having courser soup–I like that texture. But if you want it smooth and creamier, add 3/4 – 1 cup of buttermilk after the soup is pureed. I personally don’t think it’s necessary.

Original recipe also called for this soup to be chilled, but I prefer it hot. It makes the cayenne stand out more. And I didn’t add additional salt at the end. I’m almost afraid to know how much sodium this soup has in it, even with the low-sodium broth!

To make this a vegetarian soup, simply replace the chicken broth with vegetable broth.

Also, as a fun fact, those are going to be the wedding colors. A deep blue for the dresses paired with blue hydrangeas and orange flowers—maybe tiger lilies? You like?

Those colors make me happy

Creamy Corn and Chicken Soup

Tags

chicken, chicken soup, cooking, corn, dinner, food, leeks, recipe, recipes, soup, spring

I’ve seen a lot of people make excuses for making soup this Spring, but you’ll find none of them here. If I can find an excuse to simmer something for an hour or two, I don’t turn it down. Especially after a long day, the scent of chicken broth melding with other ingredients is both intoxicating and comforting.

So soup is a staple here. You’ll probably see me posting soups in July; should I care they’re not seasonal?

This soup is delicious. It’s made with chicken thighs, not breasts, so it’s meatier and fattier, giving it more body than a lot of soups that I’ve made here before. It was just what I needed after a long Monday back from the office last night.

Creamy Corn and Chicken Soup (Adapted from The Recipe Scrapbook)

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 lb chicken thigh fillets, trimmed of fat and cut into bite-sized pieces
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 leek, chopped
• 1 celery stalk, chopped
• 1/4 tsp dried thyme
• 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 2 cups water
• 3 tbsp sherry
• 1 can corn kernels, drained
• 1 large russet or Idaho potato, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
• 1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt

Directions:

1. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan or Dutch oven on medium-high heat. Cook the chicken in 2-3 batches for 3-4 minutes until cooked through. Place in a bowl and put in the fridge while you prepare the rest of the soup.

2. Reduce the heat to medium and stir in the garlic, leek, celery, and thyme. Cook for 2-3 minutes or until the leek softens. Add the stock, sherry, and water and stir. Add the corn and potato and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

3. Puree the soup in two batches in a blender (or use an immersion blender). Return the soup to the pot and stir in the Greek yogurt and chicken. Heat on medium-low heat for 2-3 minutes until the chicken is warm. Season with salt and pepper if desired and garnish with chives and/or extra yogurt.

My Two Cents: I have a confession! This was the first time I ever cooked leeks. How is this possible? I’m not sure, but I love trying things I haven’t tried before. I would describe leeks as a mix between onions and garlic. Less tear-jerking than onions and milder than garlic, so they pair well with the pungent flavor of garlic here.

The corn wasn’t overly powerful in this soup–if you want a more corny (I’m sorry, that’s not really a word in this context…) flavor, then I suggest adding an extra half a can of corn.

Like I said above, you could use chicken breasts here if you want to skimp on flavor and texture (and be healthier), but I wouldn’t. Chicken thighs are meatier and add more depth to this soup. Without it, it would be dull.

Also, if you want an even richer soup, you can substitute heavy cream for the yogurt, or half and half. But I really enjoyed the light tangy zing Greek yogurt gave to this soup.

So are you hopping on the soup-in-Spring boat with me? Come on, you won’t regret it…

P.S. Have you liked me on Facebook yet? You won’t miss a post if you do!

P.P.S. Have you heard about Bloggers Bake for Hope? Dozens of bloggers are baking up a storm in their kitchens this week! From May 4th-May 6th go here and bid on your favorite item(s) (who says it has to be just one?) to gnaw on after a fabulous blogger bakes them and delivers them to you! All proceeds to go to Susan G. Komen for the cure. I’m baking some chocolate chocolate chip cookies for the bake sale–I would be honored if you bid on my loot!