"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!

Quick Sugar-Free Pan-Fried Carrots

There are a lot of recipes that I make that are made on the fly and thus I don't share them here; mostly because I don't measure anything.  This is a bit like that but I feel it's flexible enough that you (or I) can reasonably recreate it with the following "notes."  Also, this is truly sugar-free...it doesn't have a fake sugar or a white sugar substitute like honey or such.  I have a hard time when folks call something sugar-free and then use honey or splenda, etc.  I know, that's my personal beef, but still.

I cooked down some really ripe apricots we got this summer so I'm calling it apricot butter.  I've had a few store bought things that are basically just fruit without any sugar and they would work great in this recipe as well!

Quick Sugar-free Pan-fried Carrots

one bunch small carrots or about 1lb carrots cut up
coconut oil
cumin
salt
apricot butter (or possibly another mild flavored fruit butter)

Cook the carrots in a covered-dish until almost soft in the microwave.  Heat coconut oil in a pan until pretty hot.  Toss in carrots.  Sprinkle with salt and a few pinches of cumin.  Stir frequently and make sure the carrots are coated with oil and spices.  Add a few spoonfuls of the fruit butter, stir around and let caramelize.  Enjoy!