Asparagus Soup

Asparagus Soup over Whole Wheat Pasta

We found about 2 pounds of organic asparagus on sale recently and I had no idea what to do with it until a friend posted the link to Raw Asparagus Soup: blendtec.com/recipes/raw_asparagus_soup

Unfortunately (or perhaps I should say fortunately) the original recipe has dill which I don't like, and lemon which I'm allergic to, so I decided to alter the recipe a bit. Also, I did not have raw cashews around, but I did have raw almonds. You can make this in a blender other than blendtec, but it may be thicker. The first time I made asparagus soup it came out more the texture of a green smoothie but the taste of a savory soup. I served it over   whole wheat pasta so that the pasta and almonds made a complete protein, and it was pretty good. It was good enough that we finished it even tho the texture was a bit odd. I wanted to try making it again, but this time get the texture right, and cook it because I prefer warm soups, so here is the recipe I ended up with:

Ingredients For My Version of Asparagus Soup

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Whole Wheat Pasta
1 pound Asparagus Spears
Juice and rind from 1 orange
1/2 cup soaked almonds
1/2 cup almond milk
2 cups filtered water
3 cloves garlic
1 onion
1 teaspoon parsley flakes
1/2 teaspoon celery salt
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

Instructions:
Place 1 cup of almonds in 1 cup of water and allow to soak for at least 2 hours, preferably over night. I chose to soak all my raw almonds and made the rest into almond milk. I will write a blog about that experience some other time.  Soaking them overnight had better results for the soup as well. It is amazing how much water they soaked up!.

Pick tender tops off of asparagus spears and place in a small bowl.  I placed them in a dip bowl. Squeeze the juice of one orange over the asparagus tips and allow to marinate for 30 minutes. While they are marinating, cut the woody part of the asparagus stems off. Tip: Hold each end of spear and bend until lower part snaps off. Cut the tops in half and place in blender with 1/2 cup almond milk, 1/2 cup soaked almonds, and 2 cups filtered water. Blend on high until soupy.

Slice onion and 3 cloves garlic, cook on medium in 1 tablespoon of olive oil with 1 teaspoon parsley flakes, 1/2 teaspoon celery salt, 1/2 teaspoon chili powder, 1/4 teaspoon sea salt, and the grated rind of 1 orange.

When onion becomes slightly browned, add to blender. Remove asparagus tips from the juice of 1 orange placing aside, and add juice to blender. Blend and then place in a soup pan and cook on simmer for 20 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve over whole wheat pasta with marinated asparagus tips on top. I added the whole wheat pasta because I am working on getting complete proteins into my meat free meals and I believe the combination of whole wheat and almonds creates a complete protein. I will run the various combos I came up with by my dietitian at our next appointment to clarify.

The 2nd bowl of soup came out much more the texture I was looking for, and was very tasty! I saved the leftovers for Patch to try and will have some for lunch tomorrow. The original bowl of "soup" came out looking a bit like green glop. It was tasty, but an odd smoothie like texture. I am glad I tried again! Let me know if you try my version of the asparagus soup recipe and how you like it.

Comfort Foods the Healthier Way - Savory Recipes

What do you think of when you think of comfort food? What do you tend to reach for? I lean towards carbs and creamy things. It's been a hard couple of days, and I've been doing really good about not over indulging in foods that will make me sick and keeping to delicious healthy yumness. I'm pretty proud of me in fact. And the last couple of days have been really challenging. But here's some of the comfort foods I made, so that I could have guilt free yumness:

Carlie's Turkey Chili

Walnut Deep Dark Chocolate Fudge 

Coconut Milk Chocolate Bars (no bake)

Peanut Butter Caramel Dip (really good with the fudge on top of the last of last week's mango sorbet)

Almond Cookie Dough Truffles (covered in chocolate and frozen, not baked)

Chocolate Cookie Dough Dip & Dark Chocolate Chunks (no baking required)

And this morning I made Pumpkin Coconut Curry Soup with Coconut Macadamia Crunchies. SO GOOD! 

So I know, you must be thinking none of that sounds healthy Sean-Michael! And you're right it doesn't SOUND healthy. But trust me, they are all much healthier than they sound. Actually you don't have to trust me, just check out the recipes. I'm working on variations, and a group of my brave friends will be trying them all out, so the recipes I'm about to post are tentative and probably not exactly what they'll be in the end. But we enjoyed them as they are. I'm just a perfectionist and I like to tinker and tweek my recipes until they're just right.  Plus, I'm seriously considering writing a cook book some day for people who want recipes that are delicious while being healthy. For now, I've decided to perfect a few recipes I can give to friends and family for the holidays, and maybe even trade barter and sell locally. Stay tuned for more on that. Today I'm going to focus on the savory recipes out of the bunch. Please feel free to make them yourself and see how they turn out, and if you have any suggestions, please let me know!

Carlie's Turkey Chili is a long time favorite of ours. She likes to make extra because we all love it so much. It has a decent amount of protein, low carbs, and turkey is a low fat meat. It's a nice mild chili which is great with melted cheese on top. I like to use a Monterey Jack and Chedder mix. I don't have any photos of this, will try to remember to take one next time we eat it. In the mean time, here's the recipe: http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=1345488 ENJOY! 

Sent some to a friend for taste testing

Pumpkin Coconut Curry Soup which happens to be vegan. I just created this recipe this morning because I had seen a recipe for a curry soup but didn't have the ingredients. If I were going to change any one thing about the recipe it would be that I'd add a bit of lemon or lime, but I'm allergic to those, so I may try adding a bit of citric acid and see if that gives it some acidity. But if you're wanting a warm, comforting, creamy soup, give this one a shot and let me know what you think. Although Patch is not a pumpkin fan, and hates Curry (she says it smells like stinky feet) she ate this and said "Wow, that's actually pretty good!!" and then polished off her bowl. Here you go, give it a try and please let me know what you think.  http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=2238145 oh and I made these crunchies to sprinkle over the top with some chopped mint: http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=2238095

More on the rest of these recipes soon.

Vegetable Tortellini Soup

Patch made this soup today. She doesn't cook from a recipe, but wrote this down for me and I translated. If you're vegan, obviously you won't want to use cheese tortellini but we really enjoyed it and so far today has been a vegetarian day for both of us. :) http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=2198591&ff=1

Simple Chicken or Turkey Broth and Gravy

Recently I've had a stomach bug and been required to be on a very simple diet of broth, rice, applesauce, toast and the like. They call it the BRAT diet. Unfortunately, I'm allergic to carrots which they usually put in chicken broth and the like. (don't believe me? Read the ingredients list)

Luckily for me, Carlie has made me a simple home made chicken broth! It's just the thing when I'm sick. Ate it all but I'm still not better, so tonight she's going to buy 2 turkey drumsticks to make some turkey broth for a change. She's made it in the past for me after I had my tonsils out, and it's delicious! Plus you can't find anything like Turkey Broth at the store, so I thought I'd go ahead and share the recipe with you. Add noodles for chicken noodle soup of course.

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken (excluding the guts but including the skin)
6 cups of water (approximately)

1 dash of salt (leaves the soup low sodium or to be salted by individuals to their liking)


1 Onion, roughly chopped
3 celery stalks, roughly chopped
2 green onions


Directions:
Chop the onion and 3 celery stalks
Remove giblets (guts) from the chicken (usually in a bag for easy removal)
Put chicken in large pot, put on low and brown it a bit to bring out the flavor
Fill pot with water until chicken is just covered

Add a dash of salt
Bring water to a boil

After water comes to a rolling boil (large bubbles)  reduce to a simmer (low flame)
Cook on low for 2 hours or until the broth has a nice golden color and smells like the soup is ready to eat

You can now serve up bowls of the soup to those who are healthy. For the sick person, allow the soup to cool, and strain out fat and ingredients. What remains is "stock" or broth. Which is useful in other recipes such as chicken gravy. (see below)

Ingredients:
1 cup Chicken, Beef or Turkey Stock (I used Chicken, as that is what we had on hand)
1 dash of sea salt
3 tablespoons flour (I use whole wheat flour but I suspect any flour will work)
1/2 cup water

Directions:
Put Chicken Stock in water
Add 1 dash of sea salt
Bring Chicken Stock to a boil
Add 3 tablespoons flour to 1/2 cup of water
Stir with a small whisk (the small whisk works best in a small container and allows for less lumps)
When Chicken Stock is at a rolling boil (large bubbles which rise to the surface and pop quickly)
SLOWLY add the 1/2 cup of water which you previously added flour to and whisked until smooth
Allow to return to a boil then turn the stove down to low
Allow the gravy to simmer, stirring gently until slightly thickened until just slightly more runny than you would normally want gravy

Tip:
As it cools, gravy will thicken on it's own
If it becomes too thick, you can add a bit of water
Be sure to add the smooth flour and water mixture slowly to the boiling broth as this avoids lumps as well
If there is a thicker bit at the bottom, stop before pouring that in or lumps may form
You may want to add another dash of salt and a dash of pepper if you are not on a bland diet like I am

Because my currently restricted diet is so bland, it becomes very boring and I am tempted to try other foods too soon, which causes my stomach to cramp and is very unpleasant. So instead, I am learning to stick within the bland diet but be creative within it (no meat, dairy, nuts, beans, or veggies) only soft breads (not 12 grain) and very little fruit (mild juice, apple sauce and jello) is allowed.  Making broth into gravy to put on potatoes is one way to do this. I may share other ideas in the future.

To shake things up a bit, we discovered that fresh and easy has unsweetened apricot applesauce and berry applesauce, both of which are pretty good actually, and help to mix up what I've been eating while still being within parameters. The broth is good with saltines or your favorite dipping bread when you have a cold, stomach bug, or just on a rainy day. The gravy is good on just about anything. As Patch says, "Gravy is a beverage!"

Red Tomato and Bell Pepper Soup

I used to like the occasional tomato soup, and I love bell peppers, so the recipe sounded good except of course it had some things I was allergic to in it, and it was meant as a cold soup. I am not big on cold soups with onion in them, so I altered the recipe slightly, and we tried cooking it. YUM! I actually like this with all the veggies blended and run through the strainer, cuz then you can drink it like a hot cup of soup should be drunk on a winter lay a bed morning. But if you're wanting something to chew, prep and cook this as stated:

Ingredients

3 medium plum tomatoes
2 yellow bell peppers
1 small red onion
2 cloves minced garlic
3 cups tomato juice (low sodium)
1 1/2 cups non fat plain yogurt (dannon)
3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper


Directions

Chop vegetables, blend 1/2 vegetables and strain through fine strainer. Cook in a soup pot on medium for 10 minutes. Add remaining chopped vegetables. Can be served cool or hot. Delicous with shrimp if you're a seafood eater.

Number of Servings: 6

This soup was great as is, but also great all blended together, and then run through a strainer, and at one point we cooked up some sea food to go in it and that was delicious too since I"m a flexitarian not a vegetarian LOL but for those who are into veggies only, never fear, this is yummy and has a healthy supply of vitamin C for ya!

Let me know what you think!

What Do I Do With Those Jack-o-Lanterns Now? Making the Most of Pumpkin Dollars Spent

I love summer squash, but apparently I'm allergic to it. My allergist gave me a list of foods to avoid, and among them were squash, summer squash, butternut squash, and all my favorite kinds of squash. However Pumpkin was not included. So I decided to use some of the leftover pumpkin from Halloween in the place of butternut squash and ended up with some delicious soup that friends are raving about. I still felt it needed something, but wasn't sure what until I realized adding black beans cooked in light salt did the trick. I will share the recipe here for those who are interested in something other than pumpkin pie to do with your leftover pumpkin this season. And by the way, I find mixing in some pumpkin puree from baking pumpkins really boosts the flavor when using fresh jack-o-lantern leftovers.

TIPS AND TRICKS:
Before I give you that recipe, I should share some tips and tricks I learned both from my mother, and the internet about making the most of your jack-o-lanterns. If you carve pumpkins, do so the day before, or the day of Halloween. When they are burning, keep an eye on your pumpkins making sure that they are properly ventilated and the candle isn't eating away at viable resources nor leaving a huge scorch mark on the outside of your masterpiece. Or, you can paint or draw on the skin with non toxic markers or paint. After all, you're going to cut away the skin before turning the leftovers into pumpkin puree anyway. And if you don't cut into the pumpkin for Halloween, it lasts longer. We did some of each.

PUMPKIN SEEDS:
Save your pumpkin seeds of course, they can be baked and saved for a healthy snack. We found soaking them in a large bowl 1/2 filled with water and a tablespoon of whatever flavoring was a great method. Thanks for the suggestion, Logan! I made 3 flavors and one plain since we had 4 jack-o-lanterns and a baking pumpkin giving up their seeds. I then baked them on a baking sheet covered in foil and sprayed with cooking oil at 325 degrees F for 10-12 minutes until golden brown. My favorite flavor is lightly salted with paprika, but sugar and cinnamon turned out good too, and we also made garlic and plain. Get creative!

PROCESSING PUMPKIN LEFTOVERS:
When you are done showing off your gorgeous pumpkin carvings, painted pumpkins, etc. you are ready to start cooking, freezing, composting, and generally using up the leftovers. You can use a potato peeler to peel the skin off the sides. I find cutting off the top and bottom and putting them in the compost bin (or trash if you don't compost) a great way to avoid wax and candle damage. You will want to do this the day after Halloween or put the thing in the fridge to make it last a couple days longer, but the sooner you cut it up, the more usable pumpkin you will have.  Using a sharp knife and remembering our knife safety, we cut the sides of the pumpkin in strips and cut away the inside which had been exposed to the air, the heat of the candle, flies, etc. We then cut the strips into cubes about 1 by 1 by 1 inch or so. Keeping the mass of the pumpkin pieces equivalent makes for more even cooking later.

FREEZING LEFTOVERS:
Once the pumpkin flesh is cubed, you can place it in freezer safe containers, baggies, or best yet, food saver packages so they are frozen in bags with all the air removed. This will make them last longest and avoid freezer burn. The liquid naturally found in the cells of the pumpkin will freeze breaking down the pumpkin flesh and making it turn into a smoother product when made into puree later. It also has the added advantage of intensifying the sweetness and flavor of the pumpkin.

PUMPKIN PUREE:
You can do this in a slow cooker, mine is working on some right now, or on the stove. Place enough water to cover the bottom of the container, place the pumpkin in the container, turn the heat up, cover and let steam. In a slow cooker on low, it will take about 4 to 6 hours but it varies depending if the pumpkin was fresh or frozen, how thick it was, how small you cut the pieces, etc. so keep an eye on it the first time until you sort out how long you need to steam it. I did forget my pumpkin was in the slow cooker one day and left it in 3 hours longer than necessary. Not a pleasant clean up job. If doing this on the stove, it will go faster. When the pumpkin is a darker orange and easily cut with a fork, it is ready. Remove from the heat and let cool. Do not drain, those juices are useful! You can place the container into the refrigerator to speed cooling if you're impatient after smelling all that pumpkin yumness emanating from the pot. When the pumpkin is cool, pour the steamed pumpkin chunks and juices into a blender. Blend on medium speed. You may find that you need to use a spatula or other tool to pres the pumpkin on the top down towards the blades. Now you can store the pumpkin puree in an air tight container. I kept mine in the refrigerator because I was not sure about proper pumpkin puree storage when it is home made. The store bought stuff can be kept in the cupboard, but since I wasn't canning mine, I thought it better to simply toss it in the fridge. Better safe than sorry right?!

Now for the piece de resistance...

SPICED PUMPKIN SOUP

1.5 cups fresh pumpkin 

1 medium sweet potato 

1.5 cups pumpkin puree 

2 cups organic, low sodium french onion soup 

1 cup water 

1/2 cup red onion 

2 cloves garlic 

1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 

1/2 tsp sage 

1/4 tsp cumin 

1/4 tsp curry powder 

1 tbsp lime juice 

1 cup almond milk

Mince (or finely chop) 2 cloves garlic and set aside for 10 to 15 minutes in order to best release the immune boosting properties of the garlic.Chop leftover pumpkin into 1/2 inch cubes, approximately 1.5 cups worth. Chop 1 medium sweet potato into 1/2 inch cubes as well and set aside with pumpkin. Chop 1/2 a red onion into small pieces and set aside.

In a medium or large sauce pan, put 2 cups organic, low sodium french onion soup and 1 cup of water on to boil. 

Heat a non stick frying pan to medium. Add onion and 1/2 a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil. Carmelize and add 2 cloves minced garlic, 1/2 tsp sage, 1/4 tsp cumin, 1/4 tsp curry powder and cook 30 more seconds. Then add the mixture to the boiling soup and turn down to low.

Add 1.5 cups pumpkin puree, fresh pumpkin, and 1 medium chopped sweet potato to soup, stir, and cover partially. Cook for 10 more minutes, or until the pumpkin and sweet potato are soft. 

Let soup cool and add 1/2 to blender. Blend till smooth, then pour back into soup pan through a fine sieve. Stir, and pour the rest into the blender. Blend thuroughly and pour back through sieve. You will need to use a spatula to help smooth the soup through the sieve. The herbs and pieces of onion which didn't blend will be left in the sieve.

Mix 1 cup almond milk and 1 tablespoon lime juice into mixture and serve! You can serve this soup cold or hot. I found it was a perfect lunch with black beans cooked in a light amount of salt, drained, and then added in just before serving.

Makes 7 servings about 1 cup each. 

Let me know how you like it, or if you try it with any substitutions please pass them along to me, I'm always looking for new ideas.

Tuberous Treats

Recently a friend of ours took us up on the offer to come over for a visit. She happens to be a vegan who is gluten intolerant with latex allergies. For those who don't know, latex allergies coexist with a slew of food allergies including peanuts, bananas, melon, mango, and more. I have never been able to cook a meal for her, because there are so many things she can't eat that she usually finds it safer to bring her own food with her. 

Still, I know there are many things she can eat, and I have felt deprived of being able to feed a loved one. So when she said she might be coming over, I became excited. Maybe this could be an opportunity to play with recipes from The Gluten-Free Vegan by Susan O'Brian. I ran off a list of ingredients in some meals i'd been thinking of trying, found out which things on the list were out, and adjusted the menu. I'm not vegan myself but several of my friends are so I've been doing research. Here's an article from Weight Watchers and getting proper nutrients as a vegetarian. If you're wanting a bit more protein tofu or seitan could easily be mixed in to Patch's Amazing Tubers.

I decided to make various Tuberous Treats* including Patch's Amazing Tubers, Corn Chowder, and maybe Stuffed Butternut Squash. Just sounds like a hearty, warm, meal of comfort food doesn't it? 

* Tubers are various types of modified plant structures that are enlarged to store nutrients. They are used by plants to survive the winter or dry months and provide energy and nutrients for regrowth during the next growing season and they are a means of asexual reproduction.^[1] Two different groups of tubers are: stem tubers, and root tubers. http://www.foodsubs.com/Tubers.html

Amazing Tuber  Recipe:
Ingredients:

olive oil

2 cloves garlic

sea salt 

pepper 

sage 

savory

6 carrots

2 red potatoes

2 purple potatoes

2 sweet potatoes or yams

1 parsnip

1 leek

1 white onion

1 red onion

1 zuchini

1 small butternut squash

1 sunchoke

1 celery root

Cut tubers and roots (except the onions and potatoes) into chunks, boil in lightly salted water for 5-10 minutes, until slightly soft and flavors have partially combined. 

Slice onions, mince garlic and caramelize with leek in 1 tablespoon olive oil 

In large mixing bowl, combine olive oil, sea salt, pepper and sage to taste. peal and cut potatoes and add to bowl. Strain tubers and add to large mixing bowl. Add 1/2 garlic onion and leek mixture, and stir all together till all is well coated with sage mixture. 


Spread the coated "Tuberous Treats" in a baking pan and bake at 425 for 35 minutes stirring 2 or 3 times to keep mixture coated. When all tubers are tender, mix in remaining garlic onions and serve warm. This is a great way to use up those locally grown CSA vegetables because you can put in whatever produce comes in  that week's share!


*note: Seitan, while delicious in vegetarian meals, is not gluten-free. Thanks Lynn for pointing that out :)