Succotash Chowder

I am beginning the chowder section of the book. This week it was Succotash! For those of you that don't know, succotash is corn and lima beans together. Sufferin' succotash! First the recipe called for fresh limas. I used frozen. Really just as good as fresh and so much easier. As always, a little more onion was used than the recipe called for. And I also used skim milk. This recipe is virtually fat free. I may try to use Almond milk for the next one to make it vegan...though I am going to be on bed-rest this week and it might be a good idea to make life easier and use skim milk again because I know that works. I definitely don't want to ruin my weeks of lunches when someone else will be taking care of me.

Here you can see the onion and celery cooking together. This is usually the point when Chip wanders into the kitchen and asks what I am cooking because it smells so good!

After you add the limas and corn to the onion mixture, it is recommended that you put half into a food processor to make a thicker soup. I did this, then added the milk and was not happy with the thickness SO.........I pulled out my hand submersion blender (Thank you Janet Parish!) and thickened it up. I did not blend it to the point of smoothness as this should be a chunky soup, but because no cream is used, I wanted to give it a more chowdery texture.

The soup was delicious. Huge success! I am looking forward to this up coming week's vegetable chowder! Enjoy!

Minestrone Soup

This was, by far, the best minestrone soup I have ever eaten! It has an amazing rich flavor and a great variety of vegetables. First some alterations from the original recipe.

I always go a little over with the onions. The recipe called for two cups, I probably added about 1/4 to 1/2 cup more. I used zucchini, though the recipe says you can use eggplant instead or in addition. I do like eggplant but just didn't have any in the house. This is a great recipe to go overboard with the seasonings. Sometimes, as I found out with the cream of celery soup, it is not a good idea. In this case, it worked! A little extra of all the herbs made this soup very rich and delicious. Mine was also a little thicker and more of a stew due to the tomato puree. I used two 14 ounce cans.

The recipe also calls for parsley to be used as a garnish. Parsley is a great herb full of antioxidants and so I chose to add a couple large handfuls in the soup as it cooked so I can fully reap all the benefits parsley has to offer....and it was a perfect addition! I ate this soup all week long and never got sick of it. Towards the end of the week, I noticed some fresh mozzarella in the fridge and tried putting a couple chunks on the soup before reheating it in the microwave. This was a great idea! Not only did it taste amazing but mozzarella cheese is naturally low in fat so it added calcium without making it unhealthy. Bon Appetit!

Light Cream of Celery Soup

I always start my prep work by chopping everything at the beginning. I used to chop as I went along and it ends up being too stressful trying to time everything. Notice there are two separate (and differently chopped) piles of celery.

This is a "before" shot...before used my submersion blender (greatest invention in the world by the way!)

I sauteed the onions and other celery while I was busy "submersion" blending the soup base. As a result, the bottom layer of onions got a little burnt...but not too bad. Be sure to keep an eye on them. They are very finely chopped and don't take long to cook.

The Light Cream of Celery Soup was a very pleasant suprise. First of all, it is less than a hundred calories a serving. I use skim milk so this helps a lot. I would like to try almond milk next time to make it vegan! The potatoes I used were a little larger than the recipe recommends. I did this because the prospect of Cream of Celery made me nervous and the potato is an old, comforting friend. I also substituted light Country Crock for butter as I normally do. Even butter fanatics probably can't tell the difference. It is only used for cooking the onions and once it gets all put together, the other flavors take over any butter or margarine flavor that was once a part of the vegetables. Word to the wise. Be careful with the white pepper. I tend to add more herbs and spices than the recipes in this book call for. This does not bode well for the Cream of Celery. It ended up OK but has a little more kick than it is suppose to. The recipe calls for sour cream. I did not add this to the soup as recommended and had I not overdone it with the pepper, it would not have needed it. However, I scoop just a little on my bowl of soup when I serve it to cut the kick. The color, I know, is not appealing, but it ended up being a great discovery of soup and I know I will be making it again.