Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Not Quite Spring; Soups Make Me Sing!

It's trying hard to be Spring here but it isn't quite coming together yet. Every other day it is raining heavily, alternating with days that are very gray and then windy and sunny.  I see some of the trees are blossoming. That means the weather has warmed up quite a bit though at night it is still quite chilly.


The best thing for me when the weather is so unsettled is to have home baked bread and made from scratch soups.  This week I've had more home made soups than usual.

Sunday I made hamburger (minced meat) soup.  I usually make it like my mom used to make it but from time to time, I like to mix it up.  For the first time I made it with eggplant, butternut squash and chickpeas all added to the usual base of cooked hamburger pieces, celery, onion, carrots and seasonings. It was quite yummy.

Monday I skipped the soup making because I went to my cooking session where we made sushi with celery, avocado and mango. It was quite good but I confess I will need a lot more practise with the rolling aspect. We also had Teriyaki Drumsticks which were quite tasty.

Tuesday I made potato leek soup. I've made this before in case you'd like the recipe.  Yesterday I decided I wanted to eat it with all the vegetables intact, rather than all blended together. Perfect for an overcast day.


Today is Wednesday and we've had all kinds of interesting weather.  When I awoke there was blanket of cloud over the whole sky.  Then the wind came up and blew away the cloud cover. I was able to see that there is fresh snow (again) on the mountain tops.  Right now there is still some blue sky but it is quite windy.

Bubbling away on the stove top right now is some fresh tomato soup. It is my first time making it. It smells delicious and I plan to have it with some home made bread.

Here is a quick recipe for the soup.

Fresh out of the blender and piping hot!


Tomato Soup

Ingredients

- 1 large onion, chopped
- 2 celery sticks, choppped
- 2 carrots, peeled and diced
- 2 or 3 cloves of garlic to taste
- 6-8 large tomatos
- 6 cups of chicken stock (or use buillion cubes with appropriate amount of water).
- a bit of oil

Method:

Saute the onions, celery, carrot and garlic together in a bit of oil in a large saucepan.
Once these are a bit softened (10 minutes or so) add the tomatoes and cook until the tomatos start to break down. Add the chicken stock.  Bring to a boil and then simmer together another 10-15 minutes.

If you want to eat the soup without blending it smooth, take care to chop your vegetables up nicely and uniformly. I'm blending my soup today.

As always, when you blend the soup in a blender be very careful to place a tea towel over the blender top and hold it down so it doesn't splash out and burn you once you turn the blender on.

Before serving garnish with some fresh cilantro. Makes 2 gigantic servings or 4 med-large servings.

Eat and enjoy.

Frugal Notes:  Some people make tomato soup with a combination of canned tomatos and fresh tomatoes.  I do use canned tomatos but given they are quite expensive now I save them for things like chili or soups I make with hamburger.  In order to save money on making vegetable soups, I purchase the vegetables at a store where they only sell produce. The prices are usually much cheaper than the supermarket.  I often buy bags of vegetables that are starting to go bad. I get them at a produce store down the street. The nice thing about it is even if there is one vegetable that has gone bad, the rest are usually good. Also the store peels them and cuts out the bad parts before they put them in a bag for $1.00.  These are great for making soups but you have to use them up right away,

13 comments:

Joanne Noragon said...

I think soup and bread is on the menu the majority of nights here. Unless it's bread and soup.

Joyful said...

Bread isn't always on the menu at my home due to blood sugar concerns. Soup is on the menu a little more often but not as often as your house. It is nice and filling though, isn't it?

Denise said...

Such lovely pictures. The soup sounds yummy, made me hungry.

Joyful said...

Hi Denise, thanks! It was good. I put mine in the blender this time to make it smooth but I think next time would leave the vegetables intact.

Joy said...

Gosh you have made me hungry for soup Joyful, how mouthwatering they all sound. I agree that sometimes it is nice to leave the vegetables as is after cooking, rather than 'mushing' them all down, and sometimes I just partly mush them. Yum, yum, thank you! We have a soup-type day here with rain and cool wind, so I think I may get busy! Cheers, Joy xo

Joyful said...

Hi Joy, it sounds like a perfect day for soup! Enjoy :-)

Anonymous said...

I do love a nice veggie soup. Lovely shots too!

Joyful said...

Thanks Lady Fi!

Unknown said...

Looks really good. I like the simplicity.

Joyful said...

Great! Thanks so much for stopping by!

Ceil said...

Hi Joyful! How fun that you are taking a cooking class! I am so unadventurous with food...I am a little jealous of your open-mindedness. I had sushi once. It wasn't bad, but the texture kind of put me off. Good for you for making it! I'm sure the rolling will come with practice.

I love homemade soups. Well, I love soup! My favorite is split pea but no one else likes it here at my house. I don't make it very often. Your tomato soup looks gorgeous, and I'm sure it tastes great too!
Happy Weekend! Come on Spring :)
Ceil

J C said...

Oh yum, my fav food is home made soup. Now you have made me hungry! :)

Heidrun Khokhar, KleinsteMotte said...

I love to make little meatballs and add them into a broth of veggies and either a bit of barley or some egg noodles. We have dropped eating much bread since it seems to aggravate any inflamations we have at our age.

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