Quinoa Soup

This Quinoa soup is very fast and simple to make and very delicious for a cold winter day! There is no meat but it is very hearty. Chicken could easily be added, though.  

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup Quinoa, rinsed

4 cups Broth (vegetable or chicken)

2 Carrots

2 Celery Stalks

1 cup Kale

1/2 cup diced Onion

2 cloves Garlic

2 tsp Salt

3 TBS Olive Oil

1 small Butternut or Acorn Squash

Directions

Peel squash. Dice into cubes and roast with olive oil at 375 degrees for about 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, saute onion, celery, carrot, and garlic in a large soup pot. Cook until slightly soft.

Add broth and bring to a simmer. Add rinsed quinoa seeds and continue to simmer. 

Add fresh kale and butternut squash at the end before you serve. Add salt to taste.

 All photos by Mary Banducci Photography. Recipe by Alisa's Garden

Red Lentil Soup

This is a great lunch soup and cooks up in just a few minutes!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups red lentils

1/2 large sweet onion, chopped

1 large clove of garlic, minced

5 cups water or vegetable stock

2 tsp turmeric

1 tsp chili powder

2tsp salt

dash of cinnamon

1 bay leaf

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

a few slices of lime

Directions:

Saute onions, garlic, and spices. Add red lentils and broth and bring to a boil. Let the soup simmer for about 30-40 mins until the lentils are soft and have absorbed all of the broth. At this point you can remove the bay leaf. You can puree with a hand blender or leave the soup chunky. 

Garnish with cilantro and lime. Enjoy!

Spring Minestrone | Waiting on Baby

Last weekend I went to the first Kootenai County Farmer's Market. I think it's one of the best markets around. It runs May through October on Saturdays in Hayden and Wednesdays on Sherman Ave.

Since I am sadly not planting a garden this year, I helped Jessica pick out some seedlings to start her garden. We found some of the healthiest looking starts at the market and some delicious fresh baked bread. It was a rainy day (of course) so I went home to make some soup to accompany my bread.

We sold our house a few weeks ago! (Remodel pics to come) and are moving out soon after Baby Girl arrives. I am SO sad not to be able to plant a garden this year. Kyle did buy me a few tomato starts for Mother's Day. At least I will have fresh tomatoes this summer.

 38 weeks

We are moving back to Idaho which I am very excited about! And the home we'll be living in is just down the street from the Farmer's Market!

Springtime Minestrone

Ingredients

1/2 yellow onion

3-4 carrots

3-4 stalks of celery

2 cloves of garlic

1 cup peas

1/2 bundle asparagus

1-2 parsnips

1 zucchini

1 yellow squash

1/2 cup sundried tomatoes

2 TBS olive oil

1 tsp dried thyme

1 tsp dried oregano

4 cups organic chicken or vegetable stock

fresh basil

freshly grated parmesan cheese

 (any veggies you have around or that are in season are good to throw in the soup)

Directions

Saute onions, carrots, celery, parsnips, and garlic in olive oil until softened. Add zucchini, yellow squash, sundried tomatoes, and dried herbs. Add vegetable or chicken stock. Bring to a simmer. Add aparagus pieces and peas. Simmer for 5-10 mins. Serve with fresh basil and parmesan cheese.

Maryangelo's Potato Asparagus Soup

Maryangelo has been cooking up a storm this week!

Take a peek at her "Week of Love" posts at here.

Cold Weather Soups

It's been cold here in the northwest and soup sounds delicious! I've been looking through a few of my past soup recipes!

Here are a few to browse through! Follow the links to the actual recipe. Enjoy your soup making! Let me know your favorites!

Garlicky White Bean & Greens Soup

Chicken Soup

Potato Soup

French Onion Soup with Gruyere Croutons

Butternut Squash Soup

Minestrone Soup

Butternut Squash Soup | A Delightful Fall Meal

Butternut Squash Soup

This is one of our favorite soups! It is light but still filling! It is very easy to make and it tastes so buttery and melt-in-your-mouth!

Ingredients

1 large Butternut Squash
2 cloves Garlic
3 TBS Olive Oil

2 tsp Salt

2 tsp Pepper

1 tsp Paprika
4-5 cups Water

1 tsp Siracha Chili Paste (optional for added spiciness)

3/4 cup Cream or Half & Half (optional)

Peel the squash with a vegetable peeler. Cut it in half. Remove the seeds. Dice into small cubes. Toss with Olive Oil, Garlic (crushed), salt, and pepper.

Place on a roasting pan or cookie sheet at bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Test the squash with a fork to see if it is tender.

 Place the cooked squash into a stock pot. Add the water and/or cream or half & half and blend with a hand immersion blender until velvety and smooth. Add the siracha chili paste at this time for added heat.

If you don't have an immersion blender you could place the squash and water and/or half & half into a food processor or blender to blend.

 Serve with a sprinkle of Paprika and extra salt & pepper if desired.



Chicken Soup from the Garden

All the ingredients for this soup (besides the chicken) came from the garden! It's so satisfying to make almost a complete meal from vegetables we grew entirely by ourselves! It turned out delicious! Instead of pasta we used potatoes from the garden to add starchiness and more heartiness.

Ingredients

1 whole organic chicken

2 quarts chicken stock

1 large onion or 3 small onions

3 large carrots

4-5 stalks of celery

1-1 1/2 lbs of Red Potatoes

2 cloves garlic

2 TBS Olive Oil

Directions

Boil the chicken in your dutch oven or stock pot for about 1 hour or until cooked through. Remove the chicken to cool and place broth into a bowl to cool so you can remove the fat later.

Prepare you veggies by dicing everything about the same size.

 Saute the veggies in olive oil in the dutch oven or large pot until soft and translucent.

Add the chicken stock from your chicken back in and more stock if desired for the right consistency.

Boil until the veggies are tender. About 25-30 minutes.

Then shred the chicken meat from the bone and add it to the soup!

Potato Soup

This potato soup is lovely on a crisp fall day. It's hearty enough to fill you up with out adding meat but of course, my husband requested his with sausage. It was still delicious!

Ingredients

2-3lbs Red Potatoes with skins on if you like

3 medium carrots

3 stalks celery

1 large onion

3-4 cups of milk

4-5 cups of water

2 TBS Butter

1 cup shredded Cheddar

Chopped Scallions

Salt & Pepper

1 lb Sausage (if desired)

Directions

There are two ways to make this soup: a quick way and a little bit longer way. Both are delicious.

Quick Method

Place diced potatoes, carrots, onions, celery in a dutch oven or large pot. Fill with water just to the top of the veggies not above the veggies. Let the veggies simmer in the water until most of the water is evaporated. Then use a masher to mash some of the veggies but still leave some whole for texture.

Add the milk, salt, and pepper.

Garnish with shredded cheddar and scallions.

Longer Method

Saute the onions and celery in a saute pan with butter until soft.

Boil Carrots and Potatoes in just enough water to cover the veggies. Boil until the water is almost gone.

Add the sauteed onions and celery. Mash with a masher but leave some veggies whole.

(If you like a more blended soup, you can use an immersion blender to puree the soup or a food processor.)

Add the milk, salt, and pepper.

Saute sausage in a saute pan. Add to the soup if desired.

Garnish with cheese and fresh scallions or chives.

French Onion Soup with Gruyere Croutons

We had lunch with some friends, Buck & Amy Pennington, the other day and they sent us home with a beautiful slice of Gruyere cheese! I thought it would be perfect melted to perfection atop a crusty crouton of homemade peasant bread dipped into a steaming pot of French Onion Soup. I had only made French Onion soup once before and it was a "quick" recipe. The end result was too tangy and sour for my taste.  As it bubbled away, we made plans for our upcoming La Lune events.

Here is the recipe straight from Cook's Illustrated. We followed it to a "T" and it turned out with a wonderfully deep, rich flavor! Totally worth the time it took to dig up onions from the garden, clean them, chop them to pieces as we wiped away our onion tears! It's even better after it sits for a day or two. The flavor deepens even more!

Note: You must have a dutch oven to make this recipe or an oven safe pot.

Ingredients

Soup

3 tablespoons unsalted butter , cut into 3 pieces

6 large yellow onions (about 4 pounds), halved and cut pole to pole into 1/4-inch-thick slices

(see illustration below)

Table salt

2 cups water , plus extra for deglazing

1/2 cup dry sherry

4 cups low-sodium chicken broth (see note)

2 cups beef broth (see note)

6 sprigs fresh thyme , tied with kitchen twine

1 bay leaf

Ground black pepper

Cheese Croutons

1 small baguette , cut into 1/2-inch slices
8 ounces shredded Gruyère cheese (about 2 1/2 cups)

Instructions

1. 1. For the soup: Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Generously spray inside of heavy-bottomed large (at least 7-quart) Dutch oven with nonstick cooking spray. Place butter in pot and add onions and 1 teaspoon salt. Cook, covered, 1 hour (onions will be moist and slightly reduced in volume). Remove pot from oven and stir onions, scraping bottom and sides of pot. Return pot to oven with lid slightly ajar and continue to cook until onions are very soft and golden brown, 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours longer, stirring onions and scraping bottom and sides of pot after 1 hour.

2. 2. Carefully remove pot from oven and place over medium-high heat. Using oven mitts to handle pot, cook onions, stirring frequently and scraping bottom and sides of pot, until liquid evaporates and onions brown, 15 to 20 minutes, reducing heat to medium if onions are browning too quickly. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until pot bottom is coated with dark crust, 6 to 8 minutes, adjusting heat as necessary. (Scrape any fond that collects on spoon back into onions.) Stir in 1/4 cup water, scraping pot bottom to loosen crust, and cook until water evaporates and pot bottom has formed another dark crust, 6 to 8 minutes. Repeat process of deglazing 2 or 3 more times, until onions are very dark brown. Stir in sherry and cook, stirring frequently, until sherry evaporates, about 5 minutes.

3. 3. Stir in broths, 2 cups water, thyme, bay leaf, and 1/2 teaspoon salt, scraping up any final bits of browned crust on bottom and sides of pot. Increase heat to high and bring to simmer. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 30 minutes. Remove and discard herbs, then season with salt and pepper.

4. For the croutons: While soup simmers, arrange baguette slices in single layer on baking sheet and bake in 400-degree oven until bread is dry, crisp, and golden at edges, about 10 minutes. Set aside.

5.To serve: Adjust oven rack 6 inches from broiler element and heat broiler. Set individual broiler-safe crocks on baking sheet and fill each with about 1 3/4 cups soup. Top each bowl with 1 or 2 baguette slices (do not overlap slices) and sprinkle evenly with Gruyère. Broil until cheese is melted and bubbly around edges, 3 to 5 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes before serving.

This recipe is from Cook's Illustrated.

Published January 1, 2008.   From Cook's Illustrated.