Ina's Italian Wedding Soup

I did it!  I made it through the week without eating a cheeseburger!  Or a bagel every morning!  There was some cookie dough last night... but remember how we talked about balance?  Also, you guys, I have had this blog for a very long time.  That was a weird transition, but just hear me out.  Carson and I were watching the Food Network the other night - "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" if you must know (cause it's either that or HGTV in this house) - and he saw some soup and said, you should make that.  And I was all, I have made that, don't you remember?  And he's like, nope.  And I was like, ugh, what is WRONG with you (we're in the honeymoon phase).  Then I searched my blog and realized I made it SIX YEARS AGO.  Check it out here, along with my teeny, tiny photos.

So I made it again!  The dish is Italian Wedding Soup, and it's delicious.  A healthy blend of veggies, greens (I used escarole) and turkey meatballs (I skipped the sausage as well as the pasta in Ina's recipe).  We ate it along with grilled cheeses (balance) and it was a wonderful dinner!        

Read More

Crockpot Italian Chicken and Broccoli Rabe Chili

It's hard to write about how delicious this chili was when I've been dealing with my son's stomach virus all night/day.  So just trust me, this was delicious.  One of those easy crock pot recipes that are comforting, healthy and can feed an army.  I used boneless, skinless chicken thighs and when it came time to shred them, they just fell apart.  This isn't your ordinary, same old chili... it's uniquely different with loads of broccoli rabe, sliced red peppers, cannellini beans and parmesan cheese.  

You can find the recipe here.  Now if you'll excuse me, back to Lysol'ing my entire house.

Read More

Beef Stew in a Pumpkin

I was at a friend's house for dinner last weekend, and she made a beef stew that she prepared IN A PUMPKIN!!  Yeah, my friend's name is Ina Martha Garten Stewart, by the way.  (Just kidding, her real name is Mo.  Ina Martha Garten Stewart is my imaginary friend.)  Anyways, I didn't get the exact recipe from her but if you're interested, I found a few recipes you could try here, here and here.  What a perfect dish to prepare for friends and family on Halloween night!  Do it!!

Read More

Creamy Chicken Tortilla Soup

If you're like me, then you frequently buy roasted chickens at the grocery store because you can't handle how good they smell when you walk past them.  If it weren't taboo (or illegal) I would stop what I was doing, open the plastic lid, and eat a drumstick with my bare hands right there in the market.  Instead, I put the chicken in my cart like a law-abiding citizen, purchase it, and take it home with all sorts of plans in my head.  A pre-roasted chicken is really the best shortcut when it comes to making salads, sandwiches or soups.  Like this light and creamy tortilla soup, which would be perfect for Cinco de Mayo, by the way.  With only a couple of tablespoons of cream, you don't have to feel guilty eating bowlfuls of this... and you will eat bowlfuls, it's very delicious.  We topped ours with avocado, queso fresco and crispy leeks.  Go forth, and steal- buy, buy a chicken!   

Creamy Chicken Tortilla Soup
(Serves 6-8)
Printable Recipe

2 T olive oil
1 large carrot, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
1 small onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 T fresh cilantro, chopped
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 T all-purpose flour
1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
2 T half and half (or heavy cream, or milk)
4 cups chicken stock
3 cups shredded roasted chicken
1 cup frozen corn kernels

Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large pot.  Add carrots, celery, onions and garlic.  Saute for a few minutes.  Add cilantro, ground seasonings and salt and pepper.  Saute for a few minutes more.  Add flour, and sauté for one more minute.  Then add tomatoes, and bring to a simmer.  Add cream and stir until combined.  Add chicken stock, and bring to a boil.  *Remove from heat, and with a handheld immersion blender, puree until desired consistency is reached (I like mine still somewhat chunky).  Return pot to a low simmer (medium or medium-low), and stir in chicken and corn.  Simmer slowly for 15 minutes.  Serve with toppings of choice!

*You can skip this step if you don't want a creamy soup.  And if you don't have an immersion blender, you can transfer soup to a blender to puree, working in batches.  

Read More

Buffalo Chicken Chili

I've never been a huge football fan, or I guess I should say, I just don't understand the sport.  I've had a countless number of guys (and a girl) try to explain the rules to me and they go in one ear and out the other.  I'm the fairest of fair weather fans, flip flopping all over the place between my home state team (Vikings), my college state team (Green Bay), my current state's team (Jets) or my man's team (Raider's).  However, I love hearing and seeing it on the TV, because it goes very well with a cozy fire, a dark beer and a bowl of chili.  Like this chili!  This ridiculously tasty and HEALTHY chili.  

Joy Bauer, the Nutrition and Health Expert for the Today Show, is quickly becoming my favorite source for quick, easy and healthy dinners (she was also the genius behind these).  I am a HUGE fan of anything buffalo, which usually translates into mucho calories.  However, Joy was able to take the flavor of everyone's favorite buffalo wings and transform it into a savory bowl of chili.  It's ground chicken, veggies (I added some onions along with the carrots and celery) with a broth of vegetable juice, mixed together with spices and your favorite hot sauce and topped with a creamy whipped mixture of greek yogurt and blue cheese.  SO GOOD!  You can make the whole thing in 30 minutes, however I chose to throw everything in the crock pot and let it simmer for 4 hours on high.         

Make this!  Perfect for that big football game next week.  Recipe here.

*We also added Terra Stix for a crunchy topping.

Read More

Short Rib Chili + Creamy Polenta

If I'm ever in the mood to order something rich and decadent at a restaurant, it's short ribs.  Usually accompanied by pasta, mashed potatoes or risotto.  You know, the type of meal that sticks to your bones.  I would have done really well as a king in the olden days when gluttony was a sign of success and people walked around with turkey drumsticks hanging out of their mouthes.  (That happened, right?)  This chili is definitely THAT kind of comfort food.  Pull-apart short ribs slowly cooked in a decadent sauce served on top of creamy polenta!  It was intense, but perfect for a winter weekend.  I ended up adding a 28 oz. jar of crushed tomatoes to the pot, and cut down slightly on the chilies for spice reasons.  I think my favorite part of this recipe was learning to make polenta after all of these years!  For some reason it had intimidated me in the past (anything that requires constant stirring is bananas), but it was extremely easy and I will definitely make it more often. 

Recipe here.  

These pictures are blurry, sorry about that.  I definitely had a week where having 3 kids caught up with me.  Almost every day I had a moment in which I thought, oh my god I have 3 kids!  But if I find the time today, I'm going to attempt something ridiculous.  Tune in next week to find out what!

Read More

Creamy Potato Soup

I'm sitting here, staring at the crescent moon-shaped shadow in that bowl of soup, listening to my toddler talk to her stuffed animals through the baby monitor when she should be napping, in an other wise quiet house, feeling stuffed to the brim from the Shake Shack I just devoured, and wondering where on earth I'm going with this post... I'm tired.  And guess what?  Twice this week my 7-week old slept through the night!  But both times another kid woke up instead, because it's illegal for moms to have uninterrupted sleep.  There are things on my to-do list.  THERE ARE SO MANY THINGS ON MY TO-DO LIST.  But all I want to do is drink beer and organize my sons legos in the Container Store bins I just purchased.  I want to color-coordinate them and group them by size and shape and that's just absolutely absurd, Siri.  Instead, I will tell you about this potato soup that you should make, because it was creamy and delicious, especially when topped with bacon, cheddar cheese and chives.      

Click here for the recipe, and enjoy your weekends!

Read More

Company Pot Roast

Now that it's officially fall, with October looming around the corner (already put up Halloween decorations, yup, can't be stopped), I have been cooking more hearty meals.  After all, it's time we start thickening up our bear fur for the long winter!  Am I right, my fellow lumberjacks?  My fellow woodsmen?  Sarah Palin?  I'll stop.  Anyway, a Pot Roast is one of my favorite cooler weather meals.  And who is the queen of PERFECT comfort food?  Ina Garten, of course.

  

I love the title of this recipe.  It sounds so proper.  So Ina.  I imagine her saying to her husband, Jeffrey, "Jeffrey darling, I'm going to whip up some Pot Roast for our company, go get some good wine" and then effortlessly throwing this together in her black button-up shirt.  Well, I recently had company (my sister Hannah) so naturally I had to make this.  It was delicious, for real, I can't count the number of times Carson said, "this is good, this is really good."

  

A few notes: instead of removing half of the sauce and blending it, I used my handheld immersion blender and lightly blended everything right in the pot, making sure to leave some of the carrots in tact.  The sauce is the best part about this meal... extremely flavorful and the perfect consistency.  I made buttery egg noodles and also roasted some vegetables on the side (butternut squash, brussel sprouts and mushrooms) and served them alongside the pot roast and on top of the noodles.          

And while this meal was prepared in a Dutch oven verses a crock pot, here are some of my favorite slow cover recipes for your weekend enjoyment...

starting top left, going clockwise...

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork Stew

Slow Cooker Squash Stew

Crock Pot Ribs

Slow Cooker Short Rib Ragu

Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

Read More

Cheesy Vegetable Soup

I have to share a recipe from one of my favorite blogs, because perhaps like me as soon as you see it you will decide to make it this very day.  Especially today, when most of the country is COLD?  Covered in SNOW?  Poor Easter Bunny, whom, by the way, I've had to answer many questions about lately.  Is the bunny a boy or a girl?  Big or little?  An actual rabbit, or some sort of magical creature? My answer has been, "I don't know!  No human has ever seen it!"  Good, yes?

Back to the recipe, Cheesy Vegetable Soup.  A soup you can make with any vegetable you have in your fridge.  I was prepared to freeze the leftovers but both Carson and I had seconds it was so good, leaving nothing to freeze.  Here is the recipe.  Now go make it, and mourn your Spring flowers.

      

Read More

Beef Stew in Red Wine Sauce

Have you ever moved?  Like, REALLY moved... far, far away?  Did you find yourself taking naps on piles and piles of packing paper in between unpacking box after box?  So my friends, we just moved straight across the country from California to New York.  Here is my new kitchen window view...  

Brrr.  I spent a lot of my childhood in Connecticut and then MINNESOTA.  My college years were spent in Wisconsin.  Therefore, I should be used to cold weather, yes?  Nope.  Ten years spent in California were enough to turn me into a HUGE baby.  But I'm still enjoying the view of the fluffy white stuff, and I'm ready to savor every budding moment of spring with the rest of the townsfolk who have been enduring this crazy winter for months.  Am I allowed to do that?  I'm going to.  

We were supposed to get yet another big snow storm on Monday and I was excited.  I bought stuff to bake cookies, I bought stuff to make stew, I was going to listen to music and stare at my kids out that window as they built snowmen.  Aaaand, we barely got a dusting.  Oh well!  I still made stew!  And it was delicious.  I like really hearty, rich sauces to accompany my beef, and this red wine sauce did not disappoint!  I skipped the whole pancetta/lardon step because it freaked me out and I didn't miss it.  (I know, I didn't miss bacon).  Can I eat leftovers for breakfast?  WHAT, it's cold??!

Recipe here.

*Sorry for the iPhone photos, but I can't locate the box that has my camera in it.  Or my car phone charger.  Or that one hoodie that I really want to wear.  Or...

Read More

Spicy Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese Croutons

It rained in LA yesterday, and on such a rare occasion, everyone gets on board.  Girls plan their entire outfit around Hunter boots, meteorologists pull out their STORM WATCH TWENTY THIRTEEN! voices, Barnes and Nobles sells umbrellas (for real), drivers slow down a good 15 mph and... I make soup.  Coincidentally, I had just come across this recipe for a tomato soup with... grilled cheese croutons???  I would eat dirt if you topped it with grilled cheese croutons.  And these did not disappoint.  I made a few changes to the recipe - omitting the red pepper flakes so my son would eat it (also I called it "red ninja soup" - yeah), using vegetable broth instead of water, adding some minced garlic with the onions, and swapping basil with thyme (which I threw in with the onions and garlic).  It was bright, and delicious, and did I already talk about the GRILLED CHEESE CROUTONS??  

Now it's a beautiful sunny day and I'm sad : (      

Read More

Broccoli and Spinach Soup

I've been making a lot of soups lately, and yes, not typically a spring-type food.  But they're very light, packed full of veggies and perfect for "what-do-you-mean-I-have-to-wear-a-swimsuit-soon" weather.  Listen, this is as green as I get people.  You're never going to see me put spinach and fruit in a blender and drink it.  There are other sites for that kind of stuff (like oh my god this one - please click on that link if you're not afraid of bad words).  But I will throw down some green soup, I will throw it down into my belly.  Get in there, green soup, get in my belly for good (don't know what I'm saying, baby stopped sleeping again).

I'm too lazy to write up a recipe but what I did was very simple.  I followed the directions for this Asparagus Soup, only instead of adding asparagus I added 3 cups chopped broccoli florets and 10 oz. of thawed, frozen spinach.  Everything else remained the same.  Easy peasy WHY DO YOU LET ME SAY THAT.       

Read More

Asparagus Soup

Spring has sprung, my little bluebirds, and so I've decided to talk like I'm Amy Adams in some half-cartoon, half-real people movie.  I will grin a happy grin, I will use a sing-songy voice, and I will feed the squirrels tiny nuts from the palm of my hand because, nope, never mind can't do it, squirrels are gross and vicious.  How about I just cook with spring vegetables instead?  I bought two pounds of asparagus the other day after Carson found a recipe in the LA Times that sounded awesome.  Creamy vegetable soup yet healthy, using only 1/2 cup of 2% evaporated milk (vs. cream).  I adapted it slightly by using leeks (spring!) and adding homemade croutons on top.  You should put homemade croutons on top of everything, by the way, including your head.  

(I just reread that linked crouton post and got embarrassed for myself all over again).    

More spring inspiration here.

Asparagus Soup
(Serves 4)
Printable Recipe

2 lb. asparagus
3 T olive oil
1 leek, cleaned and chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 shallot, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 cup water
1/2 cup evaporated 2% milk
1 tsp lemon juice
Salt and pepper

Trim ends of asparagus.  Cut remaining asparagus into 1/2-inch pieces, reserving the tips of 8 or so.  In a large saucepan, heat olive oil over low heat.  Add leeks, celery, shallot and carrot.  Season with salt and pepper and cook for 5 minutes.  Add garlic and cook another minute.  Add chopped asparagus, season again with salt and pepper and cook for 5 more minutes.  Add chicken broth and water, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.  (In the meantime, make your homemade croutons.  Once those were cooked, I used the same pan - with an extra splash of olive oil - to crisp up the reserved asparagus tips.) Puree soup in batches using a blender, or all at once in pot using an immersion blender.  Return to pot if you used a blender, and add milk and lemon juice.  Warm through (don't let simmer).  Pour into bowls and top with asparagus spears and croutons.

Read More