"Curry" Chicken Soup

Apparently, not everyone looks in the fridge in the fall/winter and thinks...I'm going to make a soup out of whatever is in there.  But, seriously, throwing together a soup doesn't have to be that hard!  With that in mind, the following recipe is a guideline.  Many of my recipes are guidelines.  I just don't take the time to measure things :)  

Remember, it's not worth it to take yourself or soup so seriously!

"Curry" Chicken Soup

2-4 T melted coconut oil

1 small head garlic

1/2-1 tsp cumin

1/2-1 tsp coriander seed ground to a powder in your dedicated spice grinder, i.e. coffee grinder dedicated to that type of stuff

1/2-1 tsp ginger

1/2-1 tsp chili pepper flakes

1/2-1 tsp fresh ground black pepper

1/2-1 tsp salt, or to taste

 half of a leftover roasted chicken, diced

1 c diced cooked squash

1 c diced carrot

1/2 c white Zinfandel or other white wine you have on hand for cooking with

1 can full-fat coconut milk; and 1-2 cans of chicken broth or water, rinsing all the yummy stuff out of the coconut can

1 c cooked squash, not necessary to be diced

1/2-1 tsp turmeric

1. Melt coconut oil in medium soup pot.  Add garlic put through garlic press or well diced along with the spices and saute a bit on low heat.

2. Add the chicken, carrot and squash as you dice it up.

3. Deglaze a bit with the wine.

4. While you're doing that, puree the second set of squash with the coconut oil and water.  Add to the pot and let simmer for 20-30 minutes or longer.  Add the turmeric and stir.

5. Enjoy with your 14-month old...oh wait, that's just at the Jones Cottage.  But do find someone to enjoy your dinner with!

6. I made this a second time and used the 1 tsp of all the spices.  It was a little spicy (with the 1 tsp pepper flakes) but we thought it tasted better!

Tomorrow, I'll post the flax seed bread recipe I made to go with this.  Kind of like a bran flat bread without the wheat.

For more interesting ideas check out Monday Mania , Pennywise Platter and Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays!

Roasted Eggplant Soup

We get a weekly box of produce from Minto Island Growers.  Good stuff.  With the box, they include an electronic newsletter with information about the farm and some recipes to give folks ideas.  I used to make Andrew use the eggplant as eggplant Parmesan but I'm not eating the carbs or cheese like that.  So, what is a girl to do?  And, we've had lots of eggplant!

This week's newsletter had a recipe adapted from Bon Appetit.  I adapted it further.  It was tasty!  And, nutritious.  Try it, even if you don't like eggplant you'll like this!

Roasted Eggplant Soup

3 medium tomatoes, cored and halved
3 medium sized eggplants, halved
6 cloves garlic
Olive oil
1 tsp or so chopped fresh thyme
4 c. chicken broth (make your own in your crockpot...if you don't know how contact me immediately!)
1/2 c. creamy part of canned coconut milk

Preheat oven to 400°F. 

Arrange tomatoes and eggplant in a  large baking pyrex, or two smaller ones if you like. Put the garlic in a separate dish with a lid (use the lid on the garlic to keep them from burning).  Drizzle all of the vegetables with olive oil (be generous!) then roast them for 20 minutes. Check the garlic, if they look like they are getting too done take them out (mine were fine).  Keep roasting  another 25 minutes, until the  vegetables are tender and brown in spots. Remove from oven and scoop eggplant from skin into a heavy, large saucepan or soup pot. Add the rest of the vegetables, the thyme and the chicken broth and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cook for about 20 minutes or so. Cool slightly.

Working in batches, puree soup in blender until it is as smooth as you'd like it to be. (Or, if you have an immersion blender, you can do this in the pot.) Put the soup back in the pot, add the coconut milk and season with salt and pepper.

Find more yummies at the Fat Tuesday Forager Festival! or Pennywise Platter Thursday!