Recipe of the Week: Cool Soups

We’re in for some warm days so I’m prompted  to think about the changes in food preferences as the weather changes. A first thought: when the weather is warm - soups should be cool. It’s a great alternative to a salad that also is a warm weather food.

For cool soups - the basic technique is to put the ingredients in a food processor, blend to desired consistency, and then let stand for the flavors to meld. It’s different than a smoothie in the sense that it doesn’t have to be all together smooth. Having some chunks in the soup is perfectly acceptable. I like to add a tablespoon of chia seeds per serving to ‘thicken’ the soup. After the chia seeds stand for about 15 minutes in liquid they form a gel; they are a ‘super food’ that have found a long list of uses in my everyday cooking over the past few months.

My favorite cool soups start with either cucumber or salsa. Or course - cucumber and salsa could be combined to make a soup but let’s start separately.

I like cucumber and citrus so the combinations

• Cucumber - lemon yogurt - orange zest or
• Cucumber - lemon flavoring - orange zest - chia seeds

Are my basics for the food processor. Spices or ingredients can be added depending on what you need to use up and the flavors you like to combine. Added grapes or apples make it sweeter.  The pulp of 1/4 lemon or orange make it more citrusy. Celery or lettuce or parsley gives it more bulk and all the benefits of leafy greens. A bit of vanilla and a packet of stevia can make it into a dessert soup. Mrs. Dash or a drop of hot sauce can make is into a spicy soup.

Starting with salsa - here are some combinations for the food processor to consider:

• Salsa - celery - lettuce - parsley
• Salsa - carrots or sweet potato - celery
• Salsa - V-8 - celery - green onions (this one you may be able to make without the food processer if you like the chunks of celery and green onions
• Salsa - bullion/broth (this could also be a hot or warm soup…but is good cold as well)

Additions to any of these could be sweet peas or broccoli chunks or cut corn from the freezer (partially thawed) or any fresh veggie that can be easily diced. 

So - as the days get warmer - consider cool soups either as a whole meal or as a side dish.

Recipe(s) of the Week: Yellow Veggies

There have been times in my life that I have been challenged to get enough yellow/orange veggies…but not recently. It seems so easy now. Here are my top 10 ways to get at least one serving of yellow veggies every single day: 

1. Pumpkin or sweet potato or carrot muffin (Great any time but my preference is breakfast or mid-morning snack)
2. Pumpkin custard (Skip the crust and just make the custard!)
3. A fall favorite: Select a small pumpkin and bake it in the oven for about 30 minutes. Cut off the top, scoop out the seeds and fibers from the center. Stuff with applesauce and cinnamon…or just dust with cinnamon…replace the top and bake until it is soft. Serve as wedges drizzled with the applesauce stuffing or butter.
4. Raw carrots (The small ones, already prepared, make a great snack or as an colorfu addition to a meal)
5. Cut up carrots into slivers and add to your favorite stir fry or salad
6. Add carrots to a homemade soup.
7. Baked sweet potato (Serve with butter or a drizzle with butter/pecans/maple syrup to turn it into dessert)
8. Baked sweet potato wedges (Peal sweet potato. Put wedges in a ziplock with olive oil and cinnamon to coat with spice…then bake about an hour at 350 degrees F.)
9. Cut an acorn squash in half. Bake cut side down for an hour. Serve with cinnamon and butter.
10. Shred a raw sweat potato in the food processor then use over the course of the next week
    • In stir fry
    • In sweet potato/raisin salad with orange marmalade and olive oil dressing
    • Baked in individual serving portions drizzled with honey and butter at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes
    • As a salad ingredient

Recipe of the Week: Winter Foods

What are your favorite cold weather foods? For many of us, it is ‘anything hot’ because we want to feel warmed from the inside out. Another criteria could be foods that preserve well into the winter or are seasonal in the winter. Here is the list I’ve created on a cold January day in Maryland:

• Soup. I did a blog post about homemade soup in early December…still is good in January. Today I enjoyed soup made by stir-frying mushrooms and celery with seasonings, adding some homemade spaghetti sauce with some water to make the broth, pouring it over freshly chopped cilantro, and topping it off with a few croutons. It was a great cold weather meal-in-a-bowl.

• Squash. The winter squashes (butternut or acorn) add a wonderful flavor as a side dish, a dessert, or pureed for a soup. I like their flavor and their color. The outdoors in winter time often seems less colorful than any other time of year so having food that has more color is very welcome. I tend to cook these squash whole in the oven so that they are soft by the time I cut them to scoop out the seeds. I like them with a dab of butter or sour cream as a side dish; with maple syrup and chopped pecans for dessert; with tomatoes and green chilies for a soup.  

Tea/Mulled Cider/Hot chocolate. I usually do not drink hot beverages in warm weather…but switch to them when the weather is cold outside. Teas and tisanes come in such a wide variety of flavors and scents; there is one to fit just about any mood. Sweetener may be required but I’ve found that drinking them without any additions allows me to appreciate the subtle flavor of the tea itself. Adding milk or cream brings back memories of childhood when my tea was as much milk as tea; it’s a pleasant trigger on a cold day indoors. Mulled cider or wassail (with citrus and cranberry) is very sweet; I love the smell too; it is very enjoyable in small amounts so I only make if for groups so that others will help drink it. I’ve tried the powdered versions and didn’t like it enough to buy the packets again. Hot chocolate comes in so many formulations; I enjoy the darker chocolate with less (or no) milk.

• Chili. Everyone should develop a favorite chili recipe. Mine is a Texas style with beef, beans, tomato sauce…and spices sometimes a little toward the hot side. We eat it like soup, in tortillas, as a casserole topped with cornbread, and over Fritos (how 60ish!). It is easy to make a lot at one time and then freeze half before we get tired of it; it will be a quick meal in a couple of weeks.

 What are your favorite foods this January?