Straddling the Seasons: Tomato Zucchini Soup

Fall is finally in the air, there's a little bite to the air in the mornings and evenings and that's just the way I like it.  Even though sweet, crunchy apples and buttery, rich squashes are popping up in the farmer's markets around here, there are still plenty of late season zucchini and tomatoes to be enjoyed before they disappear.  I wanted to take advantage of the last of the summer veggies in a hearty soup to celebrate the turning of the cooler season.  I used this recipe and it did not disappoint, even my tomato and zucchini adverse husband liked it.  

Ingredients: 

3 Tbsp olive oil

1 cup celery, diced

1 cup carrots, diced

4 cups zucchini (I used three zucchinis)

1 large yellow onion, chopped

5 cloves of garlic, minced

3 Tbsp of thyme, removed from stems

2 bay leaves

salt and red pepper flakes (to taste)

4 cups (2 28 oz. cans) of crushed tomatoes, similarly you could use 4-5 ripe, chopped tomatoes

2 cups of chicken broth

2 cups of water

2 cups of whole milk

1) Heat a large soup pot with the olive oil over medium heat.  Add in diced celery, carrots, zucchini and onion.  Saute until tender and translucent, about 11-12 minutes.  Stir in the garlic, cook down for one more minute. 

2) Stir in thyme, bay leaves, salt and red pepper flakes.

3) Add in the tomatoes, chicken broth and water and stir to incorporate.  Bring the soup to a simmer and then leave uncovered and cook down for 30 minutes. Taste and add your salt if you need to.  

4) Remove soup from the heat and cool slightly.  Then blend in batches in a blender until your desired texture.  

5) Pour back into the soup pot and stir in the milk.  Note: the soup tastes delicious on its own so if you are a vegan, just omit the milk and enjoy as is.  

This soup is really quick to make but tastes like it has been slowly cooking all day.  It's chock full of summer goodness but in a hearty fall form.  I enjoyed mine with an arugula salad or chunk of chewy bread. If you have picky eaters, this soup is a very sneaky way to get kids (or husbands) to eat their vegetables, it would accompany a grilled cheese beautifully. 

Just Chili-n: A New Recipe

I hope everyone had wonderful weekends, mine was full of birthday laughs, walks along Lake Michigan, margaritas and lots of fantastic food.  Taking top honors was our dinner last night at Girl and the Goat.  The restaurants serves up phenomenal, flavorful, non-fussy vegetarian, seafood and meat plates for sharing.  

While this recipe is certainly not on par with Girl and the Goat, it does originate in Chicago and is both easy and delicious aka perfect for a lazy football Sunday.  Here's a Turkey Chili recipe that I tweaked last week when the air got temporarily cool around these parts. 

Cast of Characters:

- 1 16oz can of kidney beans

- 1 16oz can of black beans

- 1 bag of frozen corn

- 1/2 onion, diced

- 2 cans (14.5oz) of diced tomatoes with chilies (I used one with chilies and one with herbs)

- 1lb of ground turkey, or ground beef or ground soy crumbles (I used turkey)

- 1/2 packet of Taco seasoning (I used Hot/Spicy)

- 8-10 oz of tomato sauce

- 1 tbsp of ground cumin

- 1 tbsp of chili powder

- 1 tsp of nutmeg (use whole nutmeg if you have it)

- salt/pepper/garlic power to season the ground meat

1) Rinse your beans in a colander to remove that canned bean residue. 

2) Add beans, tomatoes, corn, onion and tomato sauce to the crock pot.  Add cumin, chili powder, taco seasoning and nutmeg to the vegetables.

3) Season your ground meat with salt, pepper and garlic powder on both sides and add to the crock pot.  You can break up the meat if you want, I put it in whole and broke it up as it cooked.  

4)  Cover the crock pot and cook chili on high for 6 hours or 10 hours on low.  I went the high and fast route, and it was just perfect.  I stirred my chili every 90 minutes to break up my ground turkey.  

Ladle into bowls and serve with scallions, shredded cheddar, a dollop of sour cream and our favorite chili condiment, Frito Scoops!   I have to say this chili is our house's new go-to chili recipe.  It's really hearty, really flavorful and the best part?  Really easy, cheap and healthy.  I love pots of soup/chili for busy weeks when cooking dinner after work is just not a possibility.  It's also great for game day.  What do you cook up for busy weeks or football Sundays?

Zipped Up Gazpacho

Every summer I anxiously await the first good tomatoes to come into the market so I can make gazpacho.  For someone who hated tomatoes for the majority of her life, I really love them now, especially in gazpacho.  It's refreshing, spicy, light and chock full of fresh vegetables; in essence, the perfect summer meal!  Since we're starting to see good tomatoes around these parts, I made my first batch this evening to take for lunch this week.  I started with Ina Garten's recipe found here and added some zip to it. 

Cast of Characters: 

- 4 ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped

- 1 large yellow bell pepper, roughly chopped

- 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and roughly chopped

- 1 onion, roughly chopped

- 3 cloves of garlic

- 1 cucumber, roughly chopped

- 3 cups of tomato juice

- 1/4 cup of white vinegar

- 1/4 cup of olive oil

- salt and pepper

- a dash or two of hot sauce

1) Roughly chop all of your vegetables. Place them in a food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped.  Add them to a large mixing bowl. 

2) Stir in the tomato juice, vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper.  I used low sodium tomato juice, but if you use regular tomato juice, be careful with the amount of salt you add.  

3) If you like spice, stir in some hot sauce. I like Crystal from Louisiana as it has a smoky taste. 

4) Chill for at least one hour before eating.  I prefer to let it sit overnight so the flavors can get real friendly with one another.  Serve with chopped cilantro, avocado slices, grilled shrimp or some toasted bread.

Delicious and nutritious! What do you look forward to eating every summer? 

Souper Salad

There are many benefits to marriage or co-habitation like having a constant cuddle buddy, someone to reach your Le Creuset on the tippy top shelf and spread cream cheese on your bagel after a long run. While the benefits certainly outweight the negatives, one of the things I miss about singledom is single gal food. You know, hummus, pita and veggies, a veggie burger, a garbage bowl salad; basic, quick, good-for-you food. When I said 'I do', those veggie-centric meals were replaced by pasta, large hunks of grilled beef, the occasional pepper and onion...and did I mention pasta?

So on Monday evenings when hubs plays basketball, I get to re-live my single days for a few short hours, not in the hanging from chandeliers sense, but in the eating green, crunchy things sense. After staring at my lone acorn squash for longer than I care to admit, I looked on Heidi Swanson's 101 Cookbooks for some gourd inspiration. Unsurprisingly, she has a simple recipe for "Thai Chili Pumpkin Soup" that involves five ingredients that I miraculously had on hand: squash, coconut milk, red curry paste, salt and water.

After sawing (read swiftly slicing) my squash in half, I buttered, salt and peppered my squash halves and set it to roasting for the next hour. In the meantime I made myself a garbage bowl salad filled with chopped green beans, english cukes, sweet red peppers, carrots, cherry tomatoes, mixed greens and herbed goat cheese. Add a splash of good balsamic vinegar and voila!



Post-roast, the soup came together quickly, especially if you have an immersion blender on hand. I kept the soup on the thicker side, and added some chili powder and crushed black pepper to add some extra pep. All in all a tasty low-cal meal for me, myself and I! Happy Monday!