Chicken and egg and garlic soup/broth

This is my favorite. It's easy, three ingredients, and delicious and filling and doesn't involve any chewing. Ideally, the egg would be all mixed in but I rushed it a bit and there are little pieces at the bottom but let's ignore that and pretend I made this correctly. I usually do but this is the batch I happened to take pictures of.

Chicken and egg and garlic soup/broth


2 c chicken broth
2 cloves garlic (or more), peeled and smashed
2 eggs
salt and pepper to taste

Heat up your chicken broth, and toss in the garlic. Let it simmer for 10 minutes or so. Beat the eggs well in a large bowl. Remove the garlic and discard. Scoop out a little bit of broth, and whisk into the eggs. Repeat with all the broth, stirring in slowly so you don't curdle the eggs. Delicious.

French lentil soup

I love French lentils. I like to put them in ragu, but since we're not really eating a lot of meat right now (healthy/diet) so I did something else. I made soup! Alex is a super soup fan (say that five times fast) and wasn't feeling the best the other day. This helped. It's fast, easy, and full of things you'll probably have in your kitchen. 

French Lentil Soup
Adapted from Epicurious


1 T olive oil
2 large onions, chopped
1 c carrots, chopped
1 chili pepper, minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/4 c French lentils
1 can diced tomatoes
4 c stock
salt and pepper to taste


Heat the olive oil in a small soup pot. Toss in the onions, carrots, chili pepper, and garlic and cook for about 15 minutes. Add the lentils, tomatoes, and stock. Cover and simmer for 30 to 45 mins, until the lentils are cooked. Puree half in the blender and stir back in, add salt and pepper to taste, and serve to your sad sick husband. 

Egg drop soup

Since it's a new year, Alex and I have decided we are going to eat healthier. A girl can dream, right? Anyway, so we cooked a whole delicious healthy Asian dinner, and this was one of the parts. Alex made it, and it was so good. I know this isn't super healthy, but it's not bad for you either. Baby steps.

Egg drop soup
Adapted by Alex from Tyler Florence 


4 c chicken stock
1 t grated ginger
1 t garlic
1 T gf soy sauce
a pinch of hot pepper flakes
2 T cornstarch
2 to 3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 scallions, chopped

Bring stock, ginger, garlic, soy sauce and hot pepper flakes to a boil. Make a slurry of the cornstarch and a little water, then stir in slowly to the boiling soup. Reduce heat to a simmer, stir, and add the eggs slowly while stirring. Turn off the heat, add the green onions, and serve.

Cabbage roll soup

It's snowing again. Of course it is. We're having the snowiest winter in the history of the universe of Philadelphia, so I don't think the snow will let up/melt anytime soon. When it snows, I don't really leave the house unless it's an emergency, so I had to cook dinner with things we had in the fridge/freezer, which led to this soup. It's delicious, hearty, easy, and delicious. This soup has all the ingredients of Hungarian stuffed cabbages, which are delicious but a little time consuming. Here is a good, quick alternative.

Cabbage roll soup

3/4 pound ground beef

salt and pepper

1 T paprika

1 onion, diced

2 carrots, cut into half moons

2 stalks of celery, diced

4 cloves of garlic, minced

1 can diced tomatoes (or of tomato sauce, I didn't have any but that's what I wanted to use)

1 quart chicken or beef broth

1/2 head of cabbage, core removed and the rest sliced into thin strips

1/2 c rice

Salt and pepper the beef, add the paprika, and mush in. Brown the beef in a small amount of olive oil, then remove to a bowl. Cook the onion, carrots, celery and garlic until starting to soften, then add the tomatoes, broth, and cabbage. Add the beef back in, and enough water to cover. Cook 15 minutes, then add the rice. Cook another 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the rice is done and the cabbage is cooked to your liking. Add salt and pepper if necessary. Serves 4.

Buffalo chicken soup

It's soup season. Have you noticed? We've got a ton of snow. Like, a TON. Now is the right time to eat a hot, spicy, creamy soup. This is it.

Buffalo chicken soup

1 lb chicken thighs, cut into cubes

2 T rice flour

salt and pepper

1 T butter

1 onion

2 carrots

2 stalks of celery

4 c chicken broth

1/2 to 1 c hot wing sauce (Franks brand is gf)

1 c gf noodles (I used Tinkyada fusilli)

3/4 c blue cheese, crumbled

Dredge the chicken cubes in rice flour, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Melt the butter in an appropriate soup making pot, and brown the chicken on all sides. Once browned, remove the chicken from the pot and stir in the vegetables. Cook the vegetables 15 minute over medium-low heat until softened. Add the chicken and any juices that have oozed out, then stir in the chicken broth, hot wing sauce and noodles. Watch out, the soup will be much spicier once it cooks for a few minutes than it will when you start! Bring to a simmer and cook about fifteen minutes, until noodles are tender. Stir in the blue cheese, and serve with extra blue cheese just in case.

Chicken and dumplings from Cook's Illustrated

I get free magazines from work. It's pretty cool, I love magazines. It takes me forever to get through them all, though. I just finished last months Cook's Illustrated and decided to make this for dinner, and Alex was soooo happy. He loves soups and I love dumplings, we're a good pair.

Chicken and Dumplings

From Cook's Illustrated, kind of.

6 bone-in, skin on chicken thighs

salt and pepper

2 t olive oil

2 small onions, diced

3 carrots, peeled and chopped

3 ribs celery, chopped

1/2 bulb fennel, chopped

3-4 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped

1 c quartered mushrooms

1/2 c white wine

1 t thyme

6 c chicken broth

1 pound chicken wings

Sprinkle the chicken thighs with the salt and pepper. Heat up the oil in a Dutch oven until it shimmers, then sear the chicken on both sides to brown. Remove the chicken, pour out all but a tablespoon of the oil, and stir in all the veggies. Cook slowly until they start to caramelize, then stir in the wine and thyme, scraping the brown bits off the bottom. Add the thighs back to the pan, along with the broth and chicken wings. Cover and simmer 45-55 minutes, until the chicken is almost falling off the bones. Remove the meat from the pan and let cool. Skim the fat off the top, and shred the chicken back into the pot. Bring to a slow simmer while you make the dumplings.

Dumplings:

2 c rice flour mix

1/2 t baking soda

1/4 t xanthan gum

1 t sugar

1 t salt

3/4 c buttermilk (or 1/2 c milk and 1/4 c sour cream or yogurt)

4 T butter, melted and cooled

1 egg white

Whisk the dry ingredients together. Stir the butter into the buttermilk, then stir in the egg white. Pour into the flour mixture, and stir slowly until just incorporated. Don't over mix! Drop by large teaspoonfuls into the simmering broth. Cover with a dish towel and then a lid, and cook for about 15 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean and the dumplings have doubled in size.

Daring Cooks! Vietnamese Pho

Oops! Better late than never. This month we made pho, which I love. Pho is a Vietnamese dish of broth with rice noodles and meat, and you get to customize it to your taste. Served alongside is usually a plate of sprouts, lime, chilis, basil, and maybe a few other things. I added scallions, cilantro, and onion as well.

The October 2009 Daring Cooks' challenge was brought to us by Jaden of the blog Steamy Kitchen. The recipes are from her new cookbook, The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook.

Vietnamese Pho

Green means my addition

For the broth:

2 T whole coriander

4 whole cloves

2 whole star anise

2 cardamom pods

1 T fennel seeds

8 c chicken broth

1/2 onion

1 3-inch hunk of ginger, peeled and chopped

1-2 T sugar

1-2 T fish sauce

Heat a pan over high heat. Add the spices and toast, shaking the pan so the spices don't burn. When you can start to smell them, they're done. Remove them from the pan, then combine all the ingredients (including the spices) in a pot and cook for 20-30 minutes. Strain the broth, then keep it on a low simmer while you get everything else ready.

For the soup/assembly:

1 lb rice stick noodles

1/2 lb thinly sliced beef

2 c bean sprouts

a handful fresh cilantro

a handful Thai basil

1/2 shaved red onion

1/2 lime, cut into wedges

sliced fresh chilis

3 sliced scallions

Cook the noodles according to your package directions.

Arrange the bean sprouts, cilantro, basil, onion, lime, chilis and scallions on a plate. Divide the noodles between bowls, top with sliced meat, then pour the hot broth over. The broth will help cook the beef. Add whatever additions you'd like, and enjoy!

We were supposed to make a dessert wonton, but I didn't have time and also, us gluten-free people can't use wonton wrappers. I wasn't up to that challenge today.

Special birthday soup for Alex

When we were in Slovakia visiting Alexs parents, his mom made something called 'Sunday soup' that they have every Sunday. It was one big pot of chicken soup, served in two courses. First you had a bowl of broth, and at the table was a bowl of pasta to put into the soup. After that the dumplings and meat from the soup were served. Alexs mom made a big effort to make everything she cooked gluten free, including these wonderful dumplings. These are very similar to matzo balls, but they have liver mixed in, which gives them a wonderful flavor. Yesterday was Alexs birthday (happy birthday baby!) so I made these, and served them in chicken broth with a little bit of leftover meat in it. I will absolutely be making this again. When I buy chickens I will stick all the livers in a bag and keep it in the freezer, and then thaw them out overnight in the fridge for the dumplings. Yum. 

Liver soup dumplings

1/2 onion, diced very small

2 T chicken fat or butter

2-3 T chopped parsley (or 1-2 t dried)

1-3 chicken livers

2 eggs, beaten

salt and pepper

1/4 t baking soda

1 T flour mix

5 T gf breadcrumbs

Heat the chicken fat or butter in a small pan. Cook the onion with the parsley until the onion is softened, then dump into a bowl and set aside. Smash the chicken livers with a knife, pulling the meat away from the casing. Mash one more time with a knife and then stir into cooling onions. Mix in eggs, and season with salt and pepper. Whisk together baking soda, flour, and breadcrumbs, then stir into the egg mixture. Let the dough sit for half an hour on the counter (cover with a plate or plastic wrap if you have inquisitive animals that sneak onto the counter). 

Bring a pot of broth or water to boil, then turn down to a gentle simmer. With wet hands, roll the dough into balls a little smaller than a ping pong ball. Carefully slide the balls into the simmering liquid, cover most of the way, then let simmer for 15-20 minutes, until all the balls are floating. Cut one in half and taste if you aren't sure. Serve in chicken broth. 

Scallion and mushroom soup with scallion cheddar biscuits

Today it was 75 degrees, which doesn't make any sense. A few days ago our pipes froze because it was so cold, and we had 6 inches of snow. I've been thinking about this soup for a few days, and then found this recipe for something called 'butter dips', which are biscuits cooked in a whole mess of butter, then dropped into soup. This sounded like a genius idea. Biscuits? Soup? Butter? I'm there! I know it isn't the best day for soup (although I hear it's a bit chilly out on the west coast), but this is one of my favorites. I've been meaning to write about it forever. This is one of those soups that doesn't cost much to make. A bunch of scallions shouldn't cost you more than 99 cents (and in fact, I got three bunches for that much yesterday at the Asian grocery store), you need a little knob of butter, and a handful of mushrooms. You could stir in some cream, but I don't think its totally necessary. 

Oh and don't forget to comment to win a copy of the Gluten-free Girl book!

Scallion and mushroom soup

From the Joy of Cooking, switched up a bit.

1 T butter (you can use olive oil to make this vegan)

1 bunch scallions, washed and sliced very thin

salt and pepper

1 c sliced mushrooms

3 c chicken (or vegetable) broth

Melt the butter in a small soup pot. Add the scallions, salt and pepper, and then cover and turn heat to low. Cook for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, cook the mushrooms in a small saute pan with a tiny bit of olive oil until they start to brown. Add the broth to the scallions in the pot, and cook 10 more minutes. Take the soup off the heat, and strain into a large bowl. Puree the scallion pieces and half of the mushrooms, then add back to the pot with the broth and the rest of the mushrooms. Heat through, and serve. 

Scallion cheddar biscuits for soup

Inspiration from here, but I used my own biscuit recipe, halved, with additions. These are super good, crunchy and cheesey. I will absolutely be making them again, and maybe even without soup!

You can double the recipe. To make these vegan, use Earth Balance or your vegan butter of choice, omit the cheese, and use soymilk or your non-dairy milk of choice. 

1 c rice flour mix (plus a Tablespoon or two)

1/4 t xanthan gum

2 t baking powder

1/4 t baking soda

1/4 t salt

1 T butter, cut into small pieces

3 scallions, washed and sliced thin

1/2 c shredded cheddar

1/2 c milk

3-4 T butter

Preheat oven to 400. Mix together rice flour mix, xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Rub in 1 T butter with your fingers, then add the scallions and cheddar. Pour in the milk, and work it in with your hands. If it's too sticky, add flour mix by the tablespoon until dough is still a bit sticky, but stiff enough to work with. With floured hands, roll dough into balls a little smaller than a golf ball. You should have about a dozen. Put a loaf pan in the oven with 3-4 T butter and let it melt. When the butter is melted, roll the dough balls in the butter, then arrange them evenly around the pan. It's ok if they're touching. Bake 25-30 minutes. It will be ok if they are very brown on the bottom, just don't burn them! Serve with soup, such as the scallion mushroom soup above, or maybe tomato soup or anything. Yum. 

Sausage, kale and potato soup

You may have noticed I am trying to eat healthier. You also might have noticed, if you live in the midwest or on the east coast, that it's gotten cold again. And there is a TON of snow outside. Here in Philly we almost never get snow. If we do, it doesn't stick. Right now there is snow that's stuck, which is so exciting for me. I'm a New England girl, I love the snow and the change of seasons and the cold because I know that somewhere out there, spring is plotting its return. What I'm trying to say is that it's soup weather. This is a good one. It's healthy, to balance out all the butterscotch brownies I've been eating. Kale is super good for you. You can add a can of white beans if you want, I've been meaning to but keep just making this soup as it is. It's so good. And cheap. I know you guys all want to eat cheap things. 

1 T olive oil

1 onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 lb sausage, casings removed (I used a mix of sweet and hot Italian, 3 links)

1 t paprika (smokey or hot are extra good)

1 t chili powder (optional)

2 large potatoes, peeled and sliced into thin rounds

6-8 c water

1 t powdered soup seasoning (I used Vegeta) or 1 bouillon cube

1 bunch kale, stemmed and roughly chopped

Heat olive oil in a deep soup pot. Cook onion until starting to soften, then add garlic. Cook a minute, and add sausage, crumbling it into the pot. Cook until sausage is starting to brown, then add paprika and chili powder. Dissolve soup seasoning in water, then add to the soup pot. Stir to get the brown bits off the bottom, then bring to a boil. Add kale, cover, and cook half an hour or so. Taste for salt, you shouldnt need any because the soup seasoning is salty enough. Serve with a sprinkle of pepper, and Parmesan cheese is good on top too. 

Dumplings and soup

Hi. Did you watch Top Chef tonight? Yes? Good, don't tell me who wins. I was busy watching Lost (which I continue to watch even though it's so frustrating) and I didn't remember it was on until it was too late. 

The good news is that I decided to make some dumplings for soup, ones that are easy, and can be whipped up two minutes before you decide you want to put them in the soup you are making. Of course, I will give you a soup recipe, but you can use your own. These dumplings are like matzo balls, the heavy kind, which I love. I suppose you could lighten them by beating the egg whites until stiff and folding them in, but that's time consuming. 

Dumplings and soup

Dumplings first

2 eggs

big pinch of salt

a good bit of pepper

3/4 t garlic powder

3/4 t dried dill (or fresh)

1 T olive oil (or melted butter)

1/3 c flour mix

2 heaping T instant potatoes (I love these, gross I know)

Beat the eggs, then whisk in the salt, pepper, garlic powder, dill, and olive oil. Fold in the flour and potatoes and stir to combine. Drop by small teaspoonfuls (the smaller the better) into boiling water or soup. Cook about 5 minutes, until the dumplings float to the top. Taste one to see if it's done. 

Soup

1 T olive oil or butter

1 onion, diced

2 carrots, cut into slices

2 ribs celery, sliced

4 cloves garlic, minced

a handful of mushrooms, sliced

a handful of frozen corn

salt and pepper

1 t dried thyme

1-3 t dried dill (I love dill)

4 c chicken stock

1 c water

1/2 c rice or quinoa

a handful of chopped spinach 

Heat olive oil in a small soup pot. Add onions, carrots, celery, and garlic and cook a few minutes until starting to soften. Add mushrooms and corn and cook another minute or two. Add salt and pepper, thyme and dill, stir, then add chicken stock. Add the rice or quinoa. Cover and let simmer 15-20 minutes, then cook dumplings in the soup. Stir in the spinach right before serving. 

French onion soup

I bought some great little soup bowls recently that are oven safe. For the longest time I hadn't had anything soup-sized that is oven safe, so when making things like French onion soup, I would have to bake the whole thing in a larger bowl, and then serve it from there. That wasn't ideal for a soup like this, which needs to have the maximum amount of cheesey goodness. According to the Kitchn.com, French onion soup is the sexiest of soups. Valentine's day seemed like a good time to test out the new bowls. I made exactly enough for the two of us (not on purpose, but I'm glad it worked out like that) and used some bread I made when making pretzels the other day. I used a mini loaf pan about half full of the same dough as the pretzels, and baked the loaf about half an hour until dark and crusy. Toasted, it was a perfect vehicle for the cheese. 

French onion soup for two

1 T butter

1 T olive oil

2 onions, cut in half and then into thin slices

1 t thyme

a few grinds of pepper

3 c beef broth (or chicken, or vegetable)

salt

4 thin slices of gluten-free bread

1 c grated gruyere cheese

Melt the butter with the olive oil over medium heat in a small soup pot. Add the onions and reduce the heat a little, then add thyme and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are lightly browned and caramelized. Add beef broth and stir, scraping anything up from the bottom. Cook 10-15 minutes, then taste for salt. Toast your thin slices of gf bread on each side. Preheat the broiler, and divide the soup between two oven-safe bowls. Top with two slices of bread each, then top with cheese. Place bowls under the broiler and cook until cheese is bubbling and starting to brown. Serve immediately. 

Kettle Cuisine soups

When I first got to my moms house, I got an email from a woman over at Kettle Cuisine, a company that makes frozen soups. Kettle Cuisine sells regular, all natural frozen soups and have a whole bunch that are gluten free. She was wondering if I'd be interested in tasting some. Sure, I said, and had her send them here, to my moms house. The soups arrived a week or so later. 

The portion sizes seem kind of small, but upon testing them, they're  the perfect size for lunch. The flavors I sampled were chicken soup with noodles, Angus beef chili with beans, and chicken chili with white beans. 

How were they? Delicious. The beef chili is thick and tomatoey, a little bit spicy, with nice sized hunks of meat and beans. My mom thought it should have been a bit spicier, but I liked it how it was. The chicken chili came next. I liked it better than the beef chili, surprisingly. It was spicy, but not overly so, and full of delicious stuff that I don't remember but it was so delicious. Today we ate the chicken noodle soup for lunch. Neither my mom or I were expecting much from the chicken noodle soup, but were impressed. This soup had big chunks of chicken, vegetables, and nice thick noodles. 

Overall verdict? Awesome. I wish they were sold in stores in Pennsylvania, but my lucky mom can pick them up at her local Wholefoods. We actually bought her some today to eat while I'm gone, some of the other flavors we didn't try. She is going to let me know what she thinks. Look for them in the freezer section of your grocery store (Wholefoods, Wegmans, check out the website for locations). 

Black bean soup

My mom has been going through her recipe box, thinking about throwing away some of them (which I won't hear of). I'm not sure if she found this while going through her recipes or if she had been looking for it, but she made this black bean soup last night. We didn't eat it last night, because I made fried chicken and stuffed potatoes and we ate too much of those things. This soup became lunch today, and might be dinner, too. It is spicy, creamy, and delicious. 

Black Bean Soup

From, maybe, the East Coast Grill

3 c dried black beans, soaked overnight (mom says not to use canned, however see the notes at the end for an alternate to soaking overnight)

1/4 c olive oil

2 onions, diced

6-12 cloves garlic, crushed or minced

1 1/2 t oregano

1 T cumin

1 1/2 t chili flakes

6 c chicken or vegetable stock

1 bay leaf

salt

sour cream, chives, scallions, or cilantro for topping

Drain and rinse the black beans. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat, then add the onions and cook until softened. Add the garlic, oregano, cumin, and chili flakes, cook one minute. Add the beans and stir, then add stock, bay leaf, and a big pinch of salt. Bring to a simmer and cook, covered, for about 50 minutes, until the beans are soft. Remove the bay leaf, and puree 5 cups (or more) of the soup in the blender then add back to the soup. Serve topped with sour cream, chives, scallions and/or cilantro. 

This makes a big pot of soup, I bet you could freeze portion sizes to eat for lunch! 

Note: You can cook the beans instead of soaking them - place them in a pot and cover with water, bring to a boil, turn off the heat, cover and let stand for an hour. Drain and use as if you've soaked them overnight. 

If you really want to use canned beans, reduce the cooking time to about 20 minutes. 

Layered Clam Chowder

I got this great book for Christmas called American Food Writing: An Anthology: With Classic Recipes. I've only read a bit of it, but it's a collection of short stories and excerpts and recipes by various authors, ranging from Thomas Jefferson to MFK Fisher to John Steinbeck to Alice Waters. While reading it today I came upon a recipe for chowder, which I was planning on making for dinner (I was planning on clam, this recipe was for fish). This recipe, more a method, is from 1830 and by a Lydia Marie Child (no relation that I can tell to Julia). While I didn't follow the recipe ingredients (I used what I had), I was intrigued with Ms. Childs process. Instead of adding ingredients individually, she layers them, covers the pot, and lets the soup cook until done. Interesting! No process of cooking and stirring and adding, just layers like a casserole and then some cooking time, and voila! Chowder! I tried it and while there was a bit stuck to the bottom of the pan (I cooked it on high accidentally for a while), it was delicious. And easy. And fairly quick. Next time I might add some bacon (cooked first and left in the bottom of the pan) and onions (I was out), but maybe not! It was perfect as it was. 

Another idea would be to assemble everything, then drop biscuits on top (see yesterdays chicken and biscuits) and bake until biscuits are done...

Easy Layered Clam Chowder

1 container chopped clams (sold frozen, thaw yours out, keep the juice!)

2-3 potatoes, slices as thin as you can slice them

4-5 cloves garlic, minced

1 to 1 1/2 c milk

4 T instant mashed potatoes

4 T fine GF breadcrumbs (I use crappy grocery store GF bread, whizzed in the food processor)

Pepper and salt

In a soup pot, put a bit of clam juice, and then spread a layer of potatoes. Sprinkle with a handful of clams, some minced garlic, and a bit of pepper. Next spread some instant potatoes, followed by breadcrumbs, then repeat until you've used up all the clams. Finish with a layer of potatoes, sprinkle a bit of pepper on top, then pour on all your clam juice and fill to the top of the last layer of potatoes with milk. Heat slowly to a simmer, then cover and go wash some dishes or watch tv for half an hour. Come back, taste for salt, and your chowder should be done! It will be peppery and creamy and delicious. 

Quick lunch soup

It is cold, if you live in the Northern half of the world you might have noticed. Inspired by this post at the Kitchn today, I whipped up some soup. I had been envisioning something delicious with rice noodles and eggs, but I forgot to use eggs, and there weren't any rice noodles at my dads house. There was, however, leftover white rice. This took maybe 10 minutes start to finish, and filled me up quick, and I bet Alex will be jealous when he sees this. Sorry, baby.
Vegetable and Shrimp Soup
Obviously this will take longer if you don't have leftover rice, but if I were you, and you have rice noodles, I'd just use those instead. Boil some water and pour it over the noodles, then let sit for 3-5 minutes until they're soft. Toss with some sesame oil to keep from sticking.
Makes 2 servings, half or double as you wish.

4-6 raw frozen shrimp, thawed
1 chunk of broccoli
1-2 cloves of garlic
1 t minced ginger
1 zucchini, chopped up
1 chopped jalapeno (or sub 1/2 t chili flakes)
seasoned salt
pepper
1 T soy sauce
1 t rice vinegar
3/4 c cooked rice
1 1/2 c water

Chop up your shrimp, and cut the broccoli into small florets. Heat up a little bit of oil in a small pan, and add the broccoli, garlic, ginger, zucchini, jalapeno or chili flakes, salt and pepper. Cook 3-5 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are cooked. Add the shrimp, and cook another minute or two until pink. Add the soy sauce and rice vinegar, rice, and water. Stir everything together, bring to a boil, and taste to see if it needs salt. I might stir in a bit of miso next time, and some peas.

Hungarian bean soup

Alex cooked this, and the recipe is probably his moms, so I can't take credit. I assisted, during commercials. This is a good and filling and warm comforting soup, that you start out on the stove and go do other things for a while, come back and add something and give it a stir, then leave it alone for another tv shows worth of time, then you finish it. You don't have to spend long hours sweating over the stove. This soup is a good combination of hearty beans and smokey meats, with the tang of tomato and a little bit of sour cream. Plus, I'm pretty sure the whole pot cost something like $4 for 6-8 servings. 

Hungarian Soup

2 onions, diced

1 T oil or butter

2-3 bay leaves

salt and pepper

1-2 t paprika (we used spicy Hungarian, but use what kind you like)

1 pound smoked meat parts, like ham hocks or pork neck bones (or use turkey if you don't eat pork)

2 cans of beans, drained and rinsed (whatever kind of beans you like)

1 1/2 c tomato puree

4 T butter

4 T sorghum flour (can use rice flour)

3/4 c sour cream

In a large pot, melt the butter or heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until softened, then add salt and pepper (to taste, I used about 1 1/2 t salt and 1/2 t pepper), bay leaves, paprika, smoked meats, and beans. Add enough water to cover completely, and then another inch or two. Bring to a simmer, then reduce heat and let cook an hour and a half. Pull the meat out of the soup and let cool, and stir in the tomato puree. 

Once the meat has cooled, pull the meat off the bones, discarding the bones and fat, and add the meat back into the pot. Let cook another half an hour. In a small pan, melt the butter, then whisk in the sorghum flour. Cook a minute, then whisk in a few ladlefuls of the broth. Bring back to a simmer, let thicken for a minute, then stir into the soup pot. Bring that back to a simmer, then shut off and stir in the sour cream. Makes a big pot of soup that, unless Alex is in your family, will serve 6-8. Don't have 6-8 people? Stick some in the freezer in portion sized containers, and reheat for a quick lunch!

"Things I find in the refrigerator" soup

As I've said before, Alex loves it when I make soup. The other night when it was raining and crappy and miserable out, I made soup to go with the sweet corn pudding I made. When I make soup, I follow this process, instead of following recipes, because usually when I make soup I make it with a tub of stock fron the freezer plus things I find in the fridge, like leftover meat, veggies that needed to be eaten yesterday, and other stuff I find. Things-from-the-fridge soup always turns out delicious, and often can be a whole meal - you have plenty of veggies, a meat, and often a starch, maybe even some dairy. 

Things from the fridge soup

This is not a recipe but a process. Use whatever you have left in your fridge!

1. First things first. If you are using frozen stock, microwave it or thaw it in a pan on the stove. 

2. Chop all your vegetables. I always use onion and garlic, this time I added carrots, celery, a parsnip, and Chinese broccoli. If your vegetables have leafy greens, like bok choy or Chinese broccoli, slice the stems and use them now. Set aside the leafy greens to be added in at the end. 

3. If you are using raw meat, cook it now, then remove from the pan and set aside. 

4. Heat a bit of butter or olive oil in your soup pot. Add your chopped veggies, and cook 5-10 minutes until softened and starting to brown. I know all these vegetables cook for different amounts of time, but they're going to keep cooking in the soup so it will be ok. 

5. Once vegetables are soft, add tomato if you are using tomatoes. 

6. Add some salt and pepper, and if you want to add some spices do it now. I often use cumin and coriander, or curry powder, and paprika and chili powder if you want a kick. Cook the spices for a minute, stirring. 

7. Add the stock (and some water if it's strong, or if you don't have a lot of stock) and stir to get anything stuck on the bottom of the pan into the liquid. Bring to a simmer. 

8. Add whatever starch you are using (unless you're using pasta). I usually use rice, but buckwheat is great, and quinoa is too. Simmer, stirring, for 15 minutes. 

9. Add cooked meat back to the pot. If using pasta, add it now. Cook about 5 minutes, until meat is hot and has taken in some of the soup juices. (You can add the meat earlier, of course, and let it cook further with the vegetables.) If you're using tofu instead of meat, add it now. 

10. Dump in all your greens, if using. Cook just until wilted. 

11. At this point, you are done. However, there are other optional things you can do, like crack in some eggs, stir in some cream or cheese or yogurt, add a sliced avocado and some tortilla chips, or stir in some miso (make sure it's gf!).