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Lentil and Collard Soup

October 10, 2012 in soup

Can we talk about how excited I am for cold weather? Now, I am not good in cold weather. If I have to stand outside in the cold? I’m done. I will whine and complain and probably steal your jacket. But when I’m inside and only have to go outside to check the mail? I love it. And that’s exactly how it was this past weekend. I only opened the door to let the dog out and the cold was fantastic for those 30 seconds.

Having a good soup on the stove really helps with the cold enjoyment too. I made this because I had some collards that needed to be used and didn’t plan on blogging it, but I ended up loving it so much that I had to share.

This is my favorite kind of soup. I love pea/bean soups that get thick and creamy just from the peas/beans breaking down. This one is especially good because it has a ton of cumin, which is my favorite spice, and a bit of cinnamon, which was unexpected but really worked. Right before serving, you stir in some fresh lemon juice and that just takes it over the top.

I typically hate leftovers but I ate this 4 times and could’ve kept going if I didn’t run out of soup!

One year ago: Pumpkin Monkey Bread with Maple Glaze
Two years ago: Brie & Brisket Quesadilla

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Lentil and Collard Soup

about 4 servings

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup dry red lentils, rinsed and picked over
6 cups water
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 bunch collard greens, rinsed, stemmed, and roughly chopped
1 tablespoon cumin
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup lemon juice

Instructions

  1. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat, stir in onion, garlic and salt; cook, stirring often, until softened and translucent, about 4 minutes. Stir in lentils, and cook for 1 minute. Pour in water, then bring to a boil over high heat; lower heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the lentils are tender, about 15 minutes.
  2. Meanwhile, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add collard greens, and cook until wilted, about 10 minutes. When the lentils are tender, stir in the collard greens and season with cumin, cinnamon, and garlic; simmer 10 more minutes. Stir in lemon juice before serving.
http://fakeginger.com/2012/10/10/lentil-and-collard-soup/

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BOO BLVD

October 8, 2012 in soup

Halloween is probably my most favorite holiday for decorations. I love the bright colors, I love the skulls, and y’all know I loooove the pumpkins! This year, though, I had some real problems.

When my husband deployed and his buddies deployed, we turned one of our closets into somewhat of a storage unit for our single soldier friends who were getting kicked out of their barracks. And my Halloween decorations are buried under all that stuff! Ahhh! I really considered not decorating this year but in the end I couldn’t do it. I just love it too much.

So I started over completely and I tried not to spend too much money. I DIY’d a few things, hit up the dollar store, and filled in the rest at inexpensive “big box” stores.

One of my kids favorite decorations that I have up is that orange plastic bucket filled with plastic spider rings. It’s doing double duty – the spiders will go in our trick-or-treat goodies on Halloween night! Both the bucket and the spiders came from the dollar store so it was really inexpensive and still a great way to bring bright colors to my kitchen.

I also love using candy corn because nothing says HALLOWEEN quite like a big tub of candy corn. I used a really cute glass pumpkin jar which was less than $6 at Target. I also picked up the black and orange garland at Target for a couple bucks. I usually do lights on the rails for the stairs that lead to our house but like I said, those are buried in the closet. This garland will do the trick this year! It’s cute and sparkly which is pretty much all I ask for in a Halloween decoration.

The kids and I DIY’d these ghost lights. They were so simple and I’m willing to bet you already have most of the supplies! We took regular ol’ mason jars and put 2 coats of white acrylic paint. Once that was dry we used black acrylic paint to make ghost faces. I used some of those fake tealights to put in them and they’re actually really cool because they flicker just like a real candle but I won’t have to worry about trick-or-treaters knocking them over.

The whole project only cost me a few dollars because I already had the jars and the tealights!

My mom sent me this idea and I just had to do it! Admittedly, it didn’t turn out as cute as I’d hoped but the imperfections are what make it uniquely ours.

For this one I used a black canvas (you should be able to find it at any craft store) and the same white paint I used for the ghost lights. The just painted the kids feet (one at a time) and had them make a footprint. As you can see, they were really squirmy and apparently have more than 5 toes each! Once the footprints were dry I used a sharpie to do the ghost faces (you could use paint) and a white paint pen to to write on it. I attached a cute black ribbon to hang it and voila, it was done. It took no time and all and my kids are in love with it!

I even use the dog as decoration! bahaha!

Just remember: your decorations don’t have to cost a ton, they don’t have to be complicated, and they don’t have to be perfect. Just do what you love whether that’s sparkles and glitter and pink pumpkins or scary ghouls and goblins. Just go for it!

GIVEAWAY TIME!!

And to get your trick-or-treat candy jar started, I’ve got 20 bags of HERSHEY’S candy to give away (1 bag for 20 people)! Leave a comment to enter! Give me your best decorating tip!

 I am participating in the HERSHEY’S BOO BLVD. campaign via Mom Bloggers Club. This post was sponsored by HERSHEY’S. All opinions expressed are 100% mine.

 

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Cheddar Ale Soup in Soft Pretzel Bowls

December 6, 2011 in breads, soup

You guys.

I made pretzels again! Only this time I made bowls out of them and stuffed them full of the things pretzels go best with: cheese and beer! Yeah I did.

Let’s talk pretzels first.

Soft pretzels are actually really easy. If you can knead bread dough, you can make pretzels. Or if you have a stand mixer or bread machine that will do the work for you, even better! The only difference is that the dough is boiled with some baking soda before it goes in the oven. The baking soda is what causes the browned crust and makes it a pretzel instead of just regular bread.

The soup. Oh my goodness, the soup. Is there anything better than a cheese soup?! And this one starts with bacon which makes it that much better! And uhh, beer. The beer is not super noticeable in the final product but make sure you use a beer that you’d enjoy drinking and not the Natural Light that your husband’s friends left in your fridge 3 months ago.

The two put together were incredible! The cheesy soup seeped down into the pretzel and eating the bowl once I was done was the highlight of my day.

One year ago: Brie Stuffed Apples & Holiday Morning Strata
Two years ago: Oatmeal, Cranberry, White Chocolate Cookies
Three years ago: Herbed Focaccia

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Cheddar Ale Soup in Soft Pretzel Bowls

soup adapted from Williams Sonoma

Ingredients

For the soft pretzel bowls:
2¾ cups bread flour
1 envelope quick-rising yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (about) hot water (125F to 130F)
Cornmeal
8 cups water
¼ cup baking soda
2 tablespoons sugar
1 egg white, beaten to blend (glaze)
Coarse salt
For the soup:
4 thick-cut bacon slices, cut into 3-inch strips
1 large onion, diced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
2 celery stalks, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
⅓ cup all-purpose flour
1 cup pale ale
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 cups milk
2 cups chicken broth
4 cups (about 1 pound) sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
salt and pepper, to taste
extra crumbled bacon, for garnish

Instructions

    To make the pretzel bowls:
  1. Combine bread flour, 1 envelope yeast, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon sugar, and water in large bowl (or stand mixer) and stir until dough comes together in a ball. Put on floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes or until the dough is elastic and smooth. Grease medium bowl. Add dough to bowl, turning to coat. Cover bowl with plastic wrap, then towel; let dough rise in warm draft-free area until doubled in volume, about 35 minutes.
  2. Flour baking sheet. Punch dough down and knead on lightly floured surface until smooth. Divide into 2 pieces. Form each dough piece into ball. Place dough balls on prepared sheet; cover with towel and let dough balls rise until almost doubled in volume, about 20 minutes.
  3. Preheat oven to 375F. Grease another baking sheet and sprinkle with cornmeal. Bring 8 cups water to boil in large saucepan. Add baking soda and 2 tablespoons sugar (water will foam up). Add 1 bowl and cook 30 seconds before flipping over and cooking for another 30 seconds. Using slotted spoon, transfer bowl to prepared sheet. Repeat with remaining bowl.
  4. Brush bowl with egg white glaze. Sprinkle rolls generously with coarse salt. Bake rolls until brown, about 25-30 minutes. Transfer to racks and cool until you can handle them. Use a sharp serrated knife to remove the tops of the bowls and hollow them out.
    5. To make the soup:
  5. In a 4½-quart Dutch oven over medium-high heat, cook the bacon until crisp, about 8 minutes.
  6. Discard all but 2 tablespoons of the fat in the pot. Reduce the heat to medium. Add the onion, carrots and celery, cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are softened, about 20 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the flour and cook, stirring occasionally, for 3 to 4 minutes. Add the ale and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the Worcestershire, milk and broth, increase the heat to medium-high and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and puree the soup with an immersion blender until smooth (or use a regular blender and do it in batches).
  7. Set the pot over medium-low heat and add the cheese by the handful, stirring constantly; do not allow the soup to boil. Taste to see if you need salt and pepper – remember that your pretzel bowls are heavily salted so go light on the salt in the soup. Ladle into pretzel bowls and top with extra bacon, if desired.
http://fakeginger.com/2011/12/06/cheddar-ale-soup-in-soft-pretzel-bowls/

 

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Chicken Gnocchi Soup

November 28, 2011 in chicken, soup

I’m digging the soups lately. Have you noticed?

I really love potato soups but I don’t like how they kind of turn into mashed potatoes once they sit overnight in the fridge. This soup, which uses gnocchi, solves that problem! The soup stays soupy but you still get the potato-ness that you love. It’s so tasty and comforting! Perfect with a slice of crusty bread.

I plan on making this a lot over the next few months but I’ll probably leave out the chicken from now on. The chicken was nice to make it feel like a “real” meal but I think the soup itself is heavy enough to not need it. To make it completely veggie, use vegetable broth in place of the chicken broth.

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Chicken Gnocchi Soup

Ingredients

4 teaspoons olive oil, divided
1 onion, diced
2 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
3 tablespoons flour
1 cup half and half
2½ cups milk (lowfat or skim is fine)
1½ cups chicken broth
2 boneless chicken breasts, cooked & diced
1 pound gnocchi
1 very large handful spinach, coarsley chopped
¼ teaspoon cayenne
salt and pepper, to taste
Parmesan and green onions, for servings

Instructions

  1. Heat 2 teaspoons of the olive oil over medium heat in a large stock pot. Add onion and saute until the onion just begins to become translucent, about 2 minutes. Add carrots, saute the mixture for another 2 – 3 minutes until both are tender. Add garlic and Italian seasoning. Cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
  2. Add the remaining 2 teaspoons of olive oil and the flour. Stir to make sure all veggies are coated and continue to stir while the flour cooks. Slowly stir in half and half, milk, and chicken broth. Raise the heat to high and allow to bubble. The mixture will thicken slowly.
  3. Once it’s thickened, add chicken and gnocchi. The gnocchi only requires about 3 minutes of cooking and will float to the top when it’s done. Once it floats, add the spinach – it will wilt almost immediately. Season with cayenne, salt, and pepper.
  4. Serve piping hot with Parmesan and green onions on top.
http://fakeginger.com/2011/11/28/chicken-gnocchi-soup/

 

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Butternut Squash and Crab Bisque

November 25, 2011 in soup

I have to tell you guys that I’m pretty excited to move on from Thanksgiving related recipes.  I had planned on one more post highlighting an idea or 2 for leftover turkey but… uhhh, there is no leftover turkey. You guys have that problem too? My husband is a turkey fiend which works out nicely because when it comes to leftovers, he takes care of the turkey and leaves all the yummy sides for me!

So because I have no turkey left, I made you some soup!

I wandered into Whole Foods last week because Pam had told me that her Whole Foods has butternut squash breakfast sausage. I bee-lined it to the butcher and asked about the sausage and, of course, our store doesn’t sell it but the butcher pointed me in the direction of their butternut squash and crab bisque. Being the polite girl that I am, I snagged a sample even though I don’t like butternut squash or crab. And omg, it was the best soup ever.

I was googling recipes on my phone at every stoplight on the way home, and within days I had all the ingredients in my fridge. It turned out just like the Whole Foods version – kind of sweet from the squash but just the right amount of “meatiness” from the crab. And the ingredients are so simple and wholesome. It is seriously delicious!

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Butternut Squash and Crab Bisque

Ingredients

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1½ to 2 pounds butternut squash, peeled and cubed
1 large yellow onion, diced
1 cup fresh carrots, diced
1 quart chicken broth
4 large cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon fresh sage leaves, finely chopped
1 cup heavy cream
8 ounces crab claw meat
Salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

  1. In a large (at least 5 quart) soup pot over medium heat, add the butter and olive oil. Once butter is melted, add squash, onions, carrots, and garlic. Saute 5 minutes.
  2. Add 3 cups of broth, reserving the rest.
  3. Cover pot and simmer until squash is very tender (about one hour).
  4. Add the cream and puree the mixture with a stick blender until very smooth (or blend in batches in blender and return to pan).
  5. Thin with remaining broth if needed.
  6. Fold in the crab meat and sage. Season with salt and pepper and serve.
http://fakeginger.com/2011/11/25/butternut-squash-and-crab-bisque/

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