Soups for a Saturday: Crock Pot Turkey White Bean Pumpkin Chili

Earlier I expounded upon how food bloggers are particularly obsessed with pumpkin around this time of year.

After I tried this chili from Gina at Skinnytaste - I think I'm beginning to understand why.

There are no words to explain this chili.  Only that I Facebooked the link on my ShelleyBakes page and that I emailed no more than four people about this particular chili.  And since I used dried beans instead of canned, I actually started eating this soup when the beans were still a little crunchy.

I speaketh much truth ... this chili?  Wow.

My alterations ... like I said - I used dried beans.  No I'm not some dried bean purist who will tell you that there is some mythical difference between canned and dried beans that will result in unicorns prancing upon this earth.

There's a big difference ... there's a difference in time and convenience.  And I do think there's a difference in taste ... I prefer canned chickpeas to ones I've cooked myself, likely because of whatever funky bean liquid they've been bathing in. 

Having said that - I do think that dried beans take up less cupboard real estate in my cupboards than canned beans.  Plus, there's less waste overall (I buy beans from the bulk bins - reducing packaging/carbon footprint/whatever.).

For this recipe, I soaked my beans overnight and picked through them to get rid of any rogue pieces of whatever comes out of bean fields.  I then put in just shy of four cups worth of beans.

Since I put in soaked, but uncooked beans, I upped my chicken broth to four cups instead of two cups.

I also used ground turkey - the hot Italian sausage style, so I omitted the oregano.

Finally - I did not have chopped green chiles, but I did have a can of Rotel (10 oz.).  So I dumped that in, liquid and all.

I served with some cornbread ... and it was goooood.

Soup Saturday: Easy Tortellini Soup

I was making another soup recipe lately and I jotted in the margins of the page "soup is circumstantial."  And although I don't exactly remember what I was getting at with that recipe (which is still getting tweaked ...), I know what it means when it comes to this soup.  This one originally called for mushrooms, which I forgot to buy - so I substituted celery.  It also called for frozen spinach.  Though I recognize that frozen spinach can be really cool, I'm not that into it, so I used fresh.  Don't like carrots?  Don't use them.  The sky's the limit with this very basic soup.

This tortellini soup (it's from Better Recipes.com and is called Tortellini, Mushroom and Meatball Soup) was brought to a work potluck by my coworker Pat. It's easy and utilizes convenient ingredients, and is a nice change of pace from some of the other soups that I make during winter.

Easy Tortellini Soup
adapted from Better Recipes.com

2 quarts chicken broth
1 sprig fresh rosemary
1 sprig fresh thyme (**note on these, I just threw them in the pot as my soup was simmering and then removed the stems when the soup was done cooking.)
1 bay leaf
14-16 frozen prepared meatballs
1 3/4 c. chopped carrots
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 small onion, diced
2 handfuls of fresh baby spinach
9 oz. frozen or refrigerated, prepared three-cheese tortellini

**Note on the herbs, the original recipe called for 1 tsp. of dried Italian seasoning.  I did not have, so I substituted the rosemary, thyme and bay leaf.

Swirl a tablespoon or two of olive oil in the bottom of a large pan over medium high heat.  Saute the carrots, celery and onion in the hot oil until the onion is translucent.  (Add a little bit of salt, which will help the process).  Add the broth, the herbs and the meatballs.  Simmer for five minutes.  Add tortellini and cook until the pasta is just tender.  Wilt spinach into soup, heat through and serve.

As it seems with all soups - this is "meh" the night you serve it, but gets better as the days go on. 

Soup Saturday: Hungarian Hot Sausage and Lentil Soup

My obsession with everything Hungarian has everything to do with this book ...

At this point, I have lost count of how many times that I've read this book.  I have given away copies of this book (sending one to Russia, I might add) and if ANYONE asks me for a book recommendation, 9 times out of ten I will recommend this book.  It is the literary equivalent of mashed potatoes in my mind - totally satisfying and comforting ... even if the subject matter is Dracula.

So when I was trolling Food Network's site the other night, I stumbled across this Rachael Ray recipe and although it seems like the only thing Hungarian about this is the paprika that I used to season it, this is a very decent dish.

A couple of headnotes ... I ended up tweaking this recipe because when I originally made it, it seemed like a grocery store exploded into my mouth.  Italian Sausage!  Lentils!  Portabella mushrooms!  Potatoes!  Too many really good things were crowded into one meager bowl and this soup seemed like it would work better if flavors weren't crowding to get my attention.  So I swaped the 'bella mushrooms for white button mushrooms (portabellas are meaty ... they are used in vegetarian burgers, for Pete's sake!  It was stealing the spotlight from the Italian sausage ... ).  I was happy with this substitution, since it also makes this dish easier on my pocket book.  I omitted the potato all together ... this dish has enough starchiness in it with the lentils.

 
Hungarian Hot Sausage and Lentil Soup
original recipe by Rachael Ray

    * 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
    * 12 oz. bulk hot Italian sausage (**can substitute mild)
    * 3 cloves garlic, chopped
    * 1 medium onion, chopped
    * 8 oz. white button mushrooms, chopped
    * 3 carrots, chopped
    * 1 cup lentils
    * Salt and pepper
    * 1 bay leaf, fresh or dried
    * 2 teaspoons smoked paprika (or substitute a mix of 2 teaspoons cumin, 1 teaspoon sweet paprika and 2 pinches cayenne pepper ... I actually use Hungarian hot paprika ... love it!)
    * 3 sprigs fresh rosemary, intact on stems
    * 1 (14-ounce) can diced tomatoes
    * 6 cups vegetable stock
    * 4 cups baby spinach
  
Heat a medium soup pot over medium high heat. Add extra-virgin olive oil, then add sausage to pot and brown and crumble it, then add garlic, onions and mushrooms. Cook a few minutes, then add carrots, lentils, , salt and pepper, bay leaf, paprika or substitute mixture and rosemary (leaves will fall from stems as soup cooks). Add tomatoes and broth and cover pot then raise heat to high and bring to a boil. Uncover pot and place heat back a bit but keep soup at a good rolling boil. Cook 15 minutes until lentils and carrots are tender. Wilt in greens in small bunches, remove rosemary stems and turn off heat. Let stand 5 minutes. 

#GreatHallowTweet: Grandma's Beef Soup

In last year's GreatHallowTweet, I got all nostalgic for my great-grandmas and their unlikely Halloween traditions.  This year, I'm all nostalgic again, but this time it's for my grandma Boots.

I grew up in a very small town in Northeast Iowa and while that town was small (literally one stoplight, my friends), I actually grew up 10 miles from that town on my folks' farm.  Needless to say, there's not a lot of opportunity to trick-or-treat in the country.  Sure, there were a couple houses that we would hit up, but we were literally the only kids that would go to those houses and that was because they were neighbors.  The serious trick or treating was done in Waukon.  My older brother and I would go with our cousins Ryan and Tracy and our moms and hit a handful of houses before we'd retreat back to my grandparents' house.  And every year, my grandma would serve this soup.

What's funny about this recipe is that I have the barest inkling of what went in it (except for the rutabagas - and that's because my old friend and classmate Aaron would supply them to my grandma).  Here's the email that I sent my mom:  "I know that I've asked you this before … but how did grandma boots make her Halloween veggie soup?  I'm doing a Halloween week at ShelleyBakes and was going to feature that recipe."

Here's my mom's response ... "She boiled soup bones (beef) and then put in some leftover roast beef  in the broth.  It's pretty much the same as hamburger soup otherwise, but no tomatoes or sugar and when Aaron brought her rutabagas she'd add some of them cut up like the potatoes.  Simmer it in lots of broth  (add canned if you need to) with potatoes, carrots, onions, and add peas or corn if you want ... sometimes she just added a bag of frozen mixed veggies...as you can tell it was never the same twice!  ...  P.S. To save time she'd do the beef stuff and bones in the crockpot with water over it."

Sigh ... that's the thing with family recipes - sometimes they aren't really written down and you have to recreate them from memory.  Even if it's a memory from about 20 years ago ... So this is my best guess.

Grandma Boots' Beef Soup

I made the soup for Sunday dinner, but it took a little bit of advanced planning.  So Saturday, I made a batch of beef stock.   I used about 8 cups of stock to make the broth for this soup and ended up using a couple tablespoons of dried au jus mix (and some Worchester sauce) to give the stock a little more color and flavor. (My stock is going to be a work in process ... it wasn't quite right this first time at bat.)



Olive Oil
1 lb. stew meat
1 medium onion, halved and sliced

4 lg. carrots, large chunks 
2 medium potatoes, large dice
1 medium rutabaga, large dice
8 c. beef stock
2 T. dried au jus (I used the LeGout au jus base)
2 bay leaves
Salt and pepper

Take whatever pan you make your soup in and put in 1 to 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high heat.  Brown your stew meat in batches.  After the meat is browned, deglaze the pan with a little bit of beef stock to get the browned bits off of the bottom.  In this, saute onions until tender.  Add remaining vegetables, the browned beef, stock (with au jus mixed in) and bay leaves and bring to a simmer.  Remain uncovered and cook until the vegetables are tender (about 45 minutes to an hour).  Serve hot in bowls and salt and pepper to taste.

Obviously, this soup - like any others - tastes better the next day.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*


So how did reality stack up to nostalgia?  Well, the soup was good, but it definitely wasn't my grandma's.  I also know that this soup would have really done well had it featured more herbs (Thyme?  Oh most definitely.).  But I was really focusing on trying to recreate a dish that I remembered from childhood and although many years have passed, I don't ever recall my grandma having fresh herbs in her kitchen. When I make this again (because the chunks of vegetables made want to swoon), I will definitely put more of a Shelley twist on things.  


Thanks for indulging me in a little nostalgia. In case you're wondering ... here's a picture of my grandma. She was a pretty stylin' lady.

#GreatHallowTweet: Slime Soup

Oh, my lovelies ... it's that time of year again when everything gets a little more eerie around here.  The recipes are influenced by the season and I start sticking plastic spiders into my soup.

Oh yes - this is the second year of the #GreatHallowTweet.  This year, 18 cooks (including yours truly) are participating in this blog hop that features a week's worth of Halloween-themed recipes.  Hugs to my friend Renee for continuing the tradition.  You may also visit the other lovely hosts by clicking on the "GreatHallowTweet" sidebar.

Without further ado, here's my first offering for this year's GHT.  Nigella Lawson's Slime Soup.  Oh yes, the domestic goddess herself must like Halloween, because this was featured on a show of hers called "Fun Food."

This tastes just like you'd expect pureed peas to taste like.  The spiders are crawling in for a closer look.

Slime Soup
by Nigella Lawson

4 cups frozen peas
1 green onion
3 cups boiling water
Chicken or vegetable stock concentrate or a stock cube
1 ball mozzarella, diced (approximately 10 ounces)

Cook the frozen peas and scallion in the boiling water with the stock concentrate, to taste, or stock cube until tender and cooked through. Drain and discard the scallion, and put the peas into a blender.*

Add the diced mozzarella to the peas in the blender. Liquidize the soup until smooth.

*When blending hot liquids: Remove liquid from the heat and allow to cool for at least 5 minutes. Transfer liquid to a blender or food processor and fill it no more than halfway. If using a blender, release one corner of the lid. This prevents the vacuum effect that creates heat explosions. Place a towel over the top of the machine, pulse a few times then process on high speed until smooth.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

My thoughts on this?  Well, first off - the picture above does not do justice on how ... green ... this soup is.  I think I finally figured out what they must have used as the base for the slime they used to sling on "You Can't Do That on Television."  Secondly, you don't realize how much a whole bag of frozen peas makes until you're faced with a blender full of this soup.  If I was making this again (which I probably wouldn't, unless I wanted to seek some sort of revenge on my nephews or my future children), I would probably halve this recipe.

Finally - this tastes precisely what you would think some pureed peas would taste like.  So yes - it's a cute novelty, but likely not a dish to make a repeat appearance in my kitchen.

Rosemary White Bean Soup

Ryan and I had a rare weekend at home recently and after cleaning up my kitchen, I proceeded to trash it by baking scones, cupcakes and this soup from Ina Garten.

The bread is from Daube's Bakery in Rochester, Minnesota.  This is their Onion Vienna bread.  To die for ... 

Just a note ... this soup is one that takes a little bit of advanced planning to let the beans soak long enough.  I started soaking the beans on Sunday morning so we could have this soup for dinner.  Another option would be to soak them overnight.


Rosemary White Bean Soup
from "The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook"

Ingredients

    * 1 pound dried white cannellini beans
    * 4 cups sliced yellow onions (3 onions)
    * 1/4 cup good olive oil
    * 2 garlic cloves, minced
    * 1 large branch fresh rosemary (6 to 7 inches)
    * 2 quarts chicken stock
    * 1 bay leaf
    * 2 teaspoons kosher salt
    * 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions

In a medium bowl, cover the beans with water by at least 1-inch and leave them in the refrigerator for 6 hours or overnight. Drain.

In a large stockpot over low to medium heat, saute the onions with the olive oil until the onions are translucent, 10 to 15 minutes. Add the garlic and cook over low heat for 3 more minutes. Add the drained white beans, rosemary, chicken stock, and bay leaf. Cover, bring to a boil, and simmer for 30 to 40 minutes, until the beans are very soft. Remove the rosemary branch and the bay leaf. Pass the soup through the coarsest blade of a food mill, or place in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse until coarsely pureed. Return the soup to the pot to reheat and add salt and pepper, to taste. Serve hot.

Spicy Lentil Soup

I really don't know what's with me these days - it's been topping out in the 90s here in Minnesota, but I get all excited when I see a new soup recipe that I want to try.  I guess that this proclivity makes me thankful for central air conditioning.

When I first tried this recipe - found in the most recent issue of the Food Network magazine - I was imagining all the changes that I could do to make it better - maybe a mirepoix to start out with of carrots and garlic.  A little bit of chicken broth, perhaps?  But when I finally sat down to try my latest creation, I decided that it was damn good as is.

Spicy Lentil Soup
from Food Network Magazine, September 2010

2 c. red lentils
1 serrano chile pepper, chopped (if you want less heat - remove the seeds. If you are brave or maybe suffering from a head cold and need spices to knock you back into normality, go ahead and leave them in.)
1 large tomato, rough chop
1 1 1/2 piece of ginger, peeled and grated
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/3 tsp. ground tumeric
Kosher salt
1/4 c. fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
1/4 c. plain yogurt

Combine the lentils and 7 cups of water in a pot, bring to a boil.  Add the chile pepper, tomato, ginger, garlic and tumeric.  Simmer over medium heat for 18-20 minutes, until the mixture is thickened slightly.  Stir in the cilantro.  Season with salt.  (Trust me - it will need salt.)

Mix the yogurt with 2 T. of water in a small bowl.  Ladle the soup into bowls and top with some of the yogurt.

Morrocan Meatball Stew

Because I want to fit into this really cute top that I recently bought and eventually spawn with my husband, I joined Weight Watchers last month.  As anyone who has been on this program will tell you, it's nice because you can eat anything that you want as long as you follow the alloted points assigned to you and for someone like me, it really helps me with portion control.

Thie recipe comes from a Weight Watchers cookbook that I acquired awhile ago from my favorite thrift store.  Boldly flavored, it's the kind of dish that makes you think "what diet?"

Morrocan Meatball Stew
Adapted from Weight Watchers

1 lb. lean ground beef
2 T. cilantro, chopped
2 tsp. ground cumin
2 tsp. paprika (I used hot Hungarian paprika - yeow!  Good stuff!)
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
2 T. olive oil
1 large tomato, seeded and chopped
3 oz. tomato paste (that's half a can)
3/4 c. water

Take the ground beef and add 1 T. of the cilantro, 1 tsp. of cumin and 1 tsp. paprika.  Throw some pepper in there for good measure and salt if you so desire.  Mix this up and make little meatballs that you'll set aside.  (The recipe said it would make 24 mini-meatballs, I got 16.)

Next up, chop the onion and the garlic.  Saute this in a large covered skillet with about 2 T. of olive oil for 3-5 minutes, until tender.  Add the additional cumin, cilantro and paprika, as well as the tomato, water and tomato paste, stirring well to incorporate.  Bring to a boil.  Add the meatballs and cover the skillet, keeping at a simmer and stirring occassionally for 30-35 minutes, until the meatballs are done and the sauce thickens.  (To get the sauce to thicken, I uncovered the dish for the last 10 minutes of cooking.)

During the last minutes of cooking, make yourself some couscous to pour the stew over.

One cup of couscous and one cup of the stew is 8 Weight Watchers points.  Woo hoo!

Spicy Lentils

Digging in my formerly dormant garden.  Trying to make healthier food choices.   Starting a new job.  Spending time with family.  Quitting a part-time job.  Embracing change.  Re-reading Tolkien's books.  Re-watching the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.  Letting emails pile up.  Letting dishes pile up.  Enjoying the sunshine on my face.  Planning camping trips.  Thinking of flowers to plant.

These are all the things I've been doing other than cooking and blogging.  But I'm back and while I love you all, I've also been in love with simple dishes and eating simple meals in the garden.  (Incidentally, I don't really have a garden - it's a huge work in progress, so we eat outside in the driveway looking at what will someday be a garden. :) )  But this lentil dish wasn't overly complicated and kept me from having to make a trip to the grocery store.  As for the cornbread muffins, I just used the recipe that's on the side of the Quaker cornmeal container.

Spicy Lentils

Adapted from Recipezaar.com

2 cups green lentils
2 carrot, sliced
3-4 garlic cloves, minced
1 bay leaf
1 beef bouillon cube (used a chicken boullion cube)
6 whole cloves
6 peppercorns
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1-2 hot chili peppers (I used ancho chilis)
3 cups water (used chicken broth)
1 tablespoon oil

In a large pot warm the oil under medium heat, then add the sliced carrot and minced garlic, fry for about 5 minutes just until the garlic has cooked. Then add the bay leaf, peppercorns, whole cloves and chilies (leave out for a non-spicy version), you'll fry these for about 2 minutes, this brings out or release the flavors and scents of the spices.  Next add the paprika, salt, bouillon and lentils. Stir to distribute all the spices and lentils. Now add water to the pot. (Note for every cup of lentils you add one and half cups of water.)

Bring the lentils to boil over medium heat, then lower the heat and continue cooking until the lentils are soft. It depends on your taste if you want the lentils to have more of a soupy texture than you'll need to add more water. Check on them often to make sure they don't get too dry.

Mushroom Soup

Mushrooms were on sale the other day at Hyvee.  Since I've been on a healthy living kick lately, I was so psyched to use them.  I had major plans for them - they would be sauteed in a light drizzle of heart healthy olive oil and noshed on as a side dish for some wonderfully prepared breast 'o chicken.  Maybe they would be roasted whole with a bit of kosher salt (new favorite condiment, folks ...) and again with a driz of the heart healthy EVOO.

But reality kicked in and kicked me in the ass.  I had a shitty week at work and decided that life would be better lived with some leftover Chinese takeout and copious amounts of Sprite mixed with Seagrams Seven.  By the time I got out of my funk, my brave little mushrooms were about to look funky.  But since I'm convinced that the Pioneer Woman knows my moods, she came in and saved the day with this recipe from her side project, Tasty Kitchen.

Despite some of my blatant failures with this dish (substituted 2% for heavy cream ... FAIL!  Made a slurry out of flour and water instead of using cornstarch ... FAIL!), it was pretty damn passable.  And it included cooked carrots.  I love cooked carrots - this soup is damn near perfection.  You may find the recipe here.

And it gave me an excuse to use my buddy Paul's homemade hooch ... gotta love someone who makes their own wine.  And then shares it with me.

Beef, Beer and Bacon Stew

I love beef.  I love beer and I really love bacon.  My husband really loved me after I made this stew - that's why Not Quite Nigella calls this stew the "Marriage Maker."

Click here for NQN's recipe.  The only real part that I diverted from in my recipe is that instead of making the cheese dumplings as specified by NQN, I used a Bisquick recipe to make some dumplings.  A cheat, but a delicious cheat.

Another comment - this was really good, but it's more of a weekend dish than something you would want to make during the week ... leftovers are also very good.

Rachael Ray's Sausage, Potato and Cabbage Stew

I do love cabbage, but one of my bastardly tendencies is to use half of a head and leave the rest moldering in the crisper drawer of my fridge.  A few weeks ago, I made a big pot of Mama Soup and had some leftover cabbage.  Luckily for me, I had spotted this recipe from Rachael Ray's magazine and decided that nothing sounded better than a combination of mustard, kielbasa, potatoes and yes - cabbage.

My only complaint about this soup is that it didn't make nearly enough ... I could have ate the leftovers for days.

File this under:  Looks questionable, tastes amazing

Rachael Ray's Sausage, Potato and Cabbage Stew
adapted from Rachael Ray 

    * 2/3 pound kielbasa, sliced (I used turkey kielbasa)
    * 1/2 red onion, chopped
    * 2 tablespoons spicy brown mustard
    * 1 1/2 tablespoons white wine vinegar (Don't have - I subbed champagne vinegar ... weird, I know)
    * 4 cups chicken broth
    * 1 1/2 pounds red potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (again - didn't have, so I used Yukon Gold)
    * 2 1/2 c. shredded cabbage
    * 3 large carrots, grated or chopped finely **
    * Salt and pepper

**For the cabbage and carrot portion of this soup, Rachael used bagged coleslaw mix.  Great idea, but I had cabbage and carrots on hand and wanted to use them up before they turned into a science experiment.   

Directions:  In a large pot, cook the kielbasa and onion over medium heat until the onion is tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in the mustard and vinegar, then add the chicken broth, potatoes and coleslaw mix; season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer until the potatoes are tender, 15 to 20 minutes.

PW's Beef Stew with Mushrooms

Have you ever seen a recipe on a website or a food blog that you could. not. wait. to make that very day for supper, second breakfast, lunch - whatever?  That was the case a couple weeks ago when I was on The Pioneer Woman's website and saw her recipe for Beef Stew with Mushrooms.  For once in my life, I actually had beef in the house - I had found some amazing steaks at Target when my husband and I were doing some post-rush Black Friday shopping - they were close to the expiration date, so they were reduced to $1.00 a lb and were a welcome addition to the freezer bags full of turkey stock that I had in the freezer. (Mi casa cannot live on turkey stock alone ...)  All I needed was beef consomme the mushrooms and voila!  This was one of the most amazing meals I've made in awhile.

The Pioneer Woman's Beef Stew with Mushrooms
Very loosely adapted from Ree Drummond

1 lb. beef stew meat (sirloin - cut into cubes - again, I just used a steak I happened to have in my freezer)

1 T. Flour
2 T. Butter
1 T. Olive Oil
1 shallot, minced
1 sm. onion, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
8 oz. cremini or white button mushrooms
½ c. red wine
1 can Beef Consomme
Salt And Pepper (to Taste)
Pasta - Cooked And Drained
2 sprigs Fresh Rosemary
2 T. Flour

Preparation Instructions:  Sprinkle flour over meat. Toss to coat.  Melt butter with olive oil in heavy pot. Sear meat over high heat in batches; remove to a plate when brown.  Add shallots, onion and garlic to pan (without cleaning); saute for 2 minutes over medium-low heat.  Add mushrooms and cook for 2 minutes. Pour in wine and consomme. Add salt and pepper to taste, and stir.  Bring to a boil, then add browned meat. Reduce heat to low. Add rosemary sprigs to pot.

Cover and simmer for 30 to 45 minutes. After that time, mix 2 tablespoons flour with a little water and pour into the stew. Allow to cook and thicken for ten more minutes.  Turn off heat and allow stew to sit for 15 to 20 minutes before serving.

Ree notes that this dish is also good over mashed potatoes.  I am fearful of trying this, because I think that I would make this dish for every day in a week to eat it over potatoes.  So yeah - pasta was a good start for this.  Rice would also be good ...

*~*~*~*~*~

Anyone who has spent a modicum of time talking cooking with me realizes that I pretty much adore Ree Drummond.  I am now grappling with whether or not I want to be Ree when I grow up or if I should be Tina Fey or Ina Garten. 

But since I am still me, I have a confession to make.  As much as I love Ree, I missed an opportunity to meet with her when she visited Minneapolis before Thanksgiving to sign copies of her cookbook "The Pioneer Woman Cooks."  Or I should amend that statement - I actually went up to the Mall of America for her book signing, but silly me didn't realize that the rest of the people in love with Ree would start showing up at 7 a.m.!  So when I arrived 15 minutes after the 1 p.m. book signing began, the line was already two hours long.  So as much as I adore the Pioneer Woman, I am not known for patience and I had a 4 p.m. date with my friend Deb.  We needed to see Taylor Lautner shirtless.  Sorry Ree!

Bastardized Bean Soup in the Crockpot

I gotta say - when I first saw this recipe on the Cooking Light website - it looked so damn cosmopolitan.  You know that recipe - the kind with the sexy title that just begs for you to invite over company so they can revel in your culinary prowess, but also a wee bit intimidating ... a recipe with such a great title MUST be complicated to pull off, right?  Right?

Um ... yeah.  After putting off and putting off this recipe because I was a bit daunted by the title (apparently I hadn't read the actual TEXT of what had seduced me ...), I realized something.  This was basically a version of my mom's bad-ass bean soup, but with stuff she wouldn't even IMAGINE crossing her palate (i.e. - smoked turkey sausage ... the woman has an unnatural hatred for turkey ... love you ma!)


So after reading the recipe and realizing that the only thing that was daunting me was the process of browning the sausage (unnecessary step, by the way) and the garlic and shallots, I made the next ultimate mistake of putting this soup in overnight in my crockpot.  And sometime after reassuring myself that the house wouldn't spontaneously combust in the middle of the night (I have that irrational fear when I leave the crockpot on for extended periods of time, which truly negates the use of a slow cooker), my sleep was plagued by dreams of baking and I was literally tormented by the smells of awesome bean soup goodness that leeched into my subconscious.


I woke myself up when I heard myself talking and when I accidentally hit my husband in the head because I was gesturing some point in my dream.  So despite the unintentional injuries and the fact that I basically had to quarantine myself from society after consuming bean soup for breakfast, lunch AND dinner in the span of one day (I never said my love for bean soup was reasonable), I hereby present my version of Cooking Light's "Tiny French Beans with Smoked Sausage" otherwise known to my husband as "that damn soup that my wife made in the middle of the night and assaulted me over at 2 a.m."

I am a bowl of pooty goodness

Bastardized Crockpot Bean Soup with Smoked Sausage
adapted from Cooking Light

Ingredients

* 1 lb. smoked turkey sausage, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
* 1 T olive oil
* 1/3 cup minced shallots
* 3 garlic cloves, minced
* 2 C dried flageolets or other dried white beans, (about 1 pound - I used lima beans, apparently Hyvee doesn't carry flageolets? What the hell are flageolets?)
* 2 C water
* 1/4 C minced fresh or 1 tablespoon dried thyme (**I used rosemary ... it's what was in my kitchen)
* 1 teaspoon celery seeds (**don't have it - omitted)
* 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
* 2 (14 1/2-ounce) cans fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth

Preparation

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add sausage; sauté 5 minutes or until browned. Remove from pan, and place in an electric slow cooker. Heat the oil in pan over medium heat. Add shallots and garlic; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly.

Sort and wash beans. Add beans, shallot mixture, water, and the remaining ingredients to slow cooker. Cover and cook on high 8 hours or until beans are tender.

WARNING ... cooking times are approximate.  After accidentally nailing hubby in the head and checking the soup at 2 a.m. (I had been in bed since 10 - four hours), the liquid had cooked down substantially and I ended up using an entire box (32 oz.) of chicken broth.

Would I make this again?  Most definitely - I'd also add a Shelley twist and chuck a few chopped carrots into the mix.  But if I make it again, I will not consume bean soup for an entire day's worth of meals and I'll make it on weekend when I won't obsessively dream over my culinary concoctions.

#GreatHallowTweet: El Dia de los Muertos Party

Once upon a time, a not-so-technologically-inclined girl named @ShelleyBakes joined a wee Internet phenomenon called Twitter.  After meeting some great folks like Renee at Flamingo Musings, Elle at Elle's (now Helle's - get it?) New England Kitchen, Paula at Dragon's Kitchen, Heather at Bodacious Girl, er ... Ghoul, Michelle at Big Black Dog, Jeff at Culinary Disasters and Deeba at Passionate About Baking, I can now confidently say that I am pretty damn hooked on Twitter. (By the way - these are just a handful - not even all of the culinary talents that are participating in this project - see my sidebar on the left-hand side to visit their blogs and others.)

So when Renee decided to host a #GreatHallowTweet bloghop that would celebrate a week of ghoulish recipes to kick of Halloween, I excited jumped at the chance to get all ghouly with my Tweeps.  And the #GHT seemed like a good of reason as any to throw a party.  On a chance afternoon when the Cat and I were watching Food Network, Rachael Ray happened to be cooking Tex-Mex and that episode (which I can't, for the life of me, find on the FN webpage ... FAIL!) inspired this particular party menu, which I mentally referred to as the El Dia de los Muertos party, in honor of the Mexican holiday that celebrates the Day of the Dead.  (Incidentally, this occurs on Nov. 1, but hey ... I jumped the gun.)  I turned to Rachael Ray for Beef and Bean Burrito Sliders, found a spicy chili recipe (perfect for the four inches of snow that got dumped in Rochester that afternoon), Mexican hot chocolate cookies, a Tex-Mex inspired salad featuring a avocado-lemon dressing, lots of Corona and some sangria that was contributed by my friend Carey.  (As well as a butternut squash lasagna from my resident vegetarian friend ...)


Beef and Bean Burrito Burgers/Sliders
from Rachael Ray

This is my friend Erin, doing his Vanna White impression with the sliders

I'm still not entirely certain that this is the recipe that I saw that fateful day when Cat and I were watching some Food Network.  And while these burgers were very tasty, they had a huge "pain in the ass" quotient caused by the fact that without mashing the black beans a little bit before you incorporate them in the ground meat?  Yeah - my sliders were extraordinarily fragile little burgers that left half of their rice and beans like fallen comrades on my hot griddle.

Mexican Salad with Tomatoes, Red Onions and Avocado Dressing
Again ... by Rachael Ray

Alas ... I never got as far as eating the actual GREENS associated with this salad, but I highly recommend RR's dressing - it made a perfect topping for the sliders.

Crockpot Turkey Chili
from About.com

These little "Soup Kettles" are straight out of my childhood - the same bowls that my grandma used to ladle her Halloween soup into.  I love tradition ...

What I thought was going to be a fail ended up being one of the best items on the menu.  I used this "lightened" version of chili as a base.  When I realized that the recipe as-is only fed four people (and I was set to have six adults and three kids over for the party), I panicked and hurled in a can of light red kidney beans, more salsa, more canned tomatoes and finally ... leftover bloody Mary mix from the fridge to get this to the zippy soup I served my guests.  I even had leftovers.


Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies
adapted from Joy of Baking

One of the features that makes Mexican hot chocolate different from its other North American brethren is the inclusion of cinnamon.  When I first made these cookies in preparation of my party (it was a kind of test drive that was almost immediately consumed by Hubby and I), I just really wanted to make cookies and decorate them with frosting so they resembled cobwebs (and truly - to show my mad decorating skills.  That's sarcasm - really.)  So after the first round of cookies was decimated and I went to make another batch, I added a heaping teaspoon of cinnamon to the rich batter to give it a bit of a spicier kick.  To be honest - the next time I make these, I'd even add more.  Plus I'd add a hint of cinnamon in the frosting as well ...

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup white granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder (**I used Penzey's)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 heaping teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy (2-3 minutes).  Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat until incorporated.  First sift together the cocoa powder, flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt and then add to the butter and egg mixture.  Mix just until incorporated.

Using a small ice cream scoop or two spoons, place about 1 1/2 tablespoons of batter on the prepared baking sheet, spacing about 2 inches (5 cm) apart.

Bake for approximately 8 minutes or until the the cookies are still soft in the center but are firm around the edges.  Remove from oven and let cookies cool on baking sheet for about 5 minutes before removing the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes about 24 - 3 inch round cookies.

These may also be made in advance and kept in the freezer until they are ready to be baked.  For this, I measured out the scoops onto parchment lined cookies sheets and froze the cookies overnight (well - it doesn't take that long, I just whipped together the dough before I went to bed).  You can then remove the frozen nuggets of joy and store them in freezer bags until they are ready to be baked.  I upped the cooking time to about 10 minutes.

Giada's Quick & Spicy Tomato Soup

I happened across this particular episode of Giada DeLaurentiis one day when I was being a bad ass and went home for my lunch break. There's no reason that I can't eat with the rest of my co-workers, but faced with the idea of sitting with my co-workers and not escaping my office versus going home, nuking whatever leftovers are in my fridge and cuddling up to my Cat, the Cat wins hands down. Especially since he likes Food Network as much as I do.

Quick and Spicy Tomato Soup
from Giada DeLaurentiis

Ingredients

* 3 tablespoons olive oil
* 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
* 1 small onion, chopped
* 1 clove garlic, minced
* 1 (26-ounce) jar marinara sauce (recommended: San Marzano brand)
* 2 (14-ounce) cans chicken broth
* 1 (15-ounce) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
* 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
* 1/2 cup pastina pasta (or any small pasta)
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Warm the olive oil in a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add the carrots, onion, and garlic and saute until soft, about 2 minutes. Add the jar of marinara sauce, chicken broth, cannellini beans, red pepper flakes, pasta, salt and pepper. Simmer for 10 minutes. Ladle into bowls and serve.

Italian Wedding Soup

I made this for my birthday dinner. I couldn't figure out what would be better than ringing in my 31st birthday with food from Ina Garten. :) This soup is delicate, yet hearty - makes excellent leftovers and would be good for a regular dinner or for company.


Italian Wedding Soup
adapted from Ina Garten

For the meatballs (just a note **I used ground turkey and turkey sausage ...):
3/4 pound ground chicken
1/2 pound chicken sausage, casings removed
2/3 cup fresh white bread crumbs
2 teaspoons minced garlic (2 cloves)
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
1/4 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan, plus extra for serving
3 tablespoons milk
1 extra-large egg, lightly beaten
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the soup:
2 T good olive oil
1 cup minced yellow onion
1 cup diced carrots (3 carrots), cut into 1/4 inch pieces
3/4 cup diced celery (2 stalks), cut into 1/4 inch pieces
10 cups homemade chicken stock
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 cup small pasta (**I used acini de pepe)
1/4 cup minced fresh dill
12 ounces baby spinach, washed and trimmed

Directions Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. For the meatballs, place the ground meat, sausage, bread crumbs, garlic, parsley, Pecorino, Parmesan, milk, egg, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in a bowl and combine gently with a fork. With a teaspoon, drop 1 to 1 1/4-inch meatballs onto a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. (You should have about 40 meatballs. They don't have to be perfectly round.) Bake for 30 minutes, until cooked through and lightly browned. Set aside.

In the meantime, for the soup, heat the olive oil over medium-low heat in a large heavy-bottomed soup pot. Add the onion, carrots, and celery and saute until softened, 5 to 6 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the chicken stock and wine and bring to a boil. Add the pasta to the simmering broth and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, until the pasta is tender. Add the fresh dill and then the meatballs to the soup and simmer for 1 minute. Taste for salt and pepper. Stir in the fresh spinach and cook for 1 minute, until the spinach is just wilted. Ladle into soup bowls and sprinkle each serving with extra grated Parmesan.

A note - at first, I wasn't too thrilled with the dill in the soup. The second day, I thought the taste had mellowed and it was good. Third day, I still wasn't thrilled with the dill. So I'm going to omit that in the future.

Vegetable Stock

I am notorious for letting celery linger in my refrigerator until it is past its prime. And as part of my "no-spend/clean out the pantry" month, I decided to whip up some vegetable stock and use up some of the vegetables I had lingering in my fridge - including some very limp celery.

This article on Making Vegetable Stock may be found at AllRecipes.com and includes some pretty useful photos.

But here's how it was done:

Easy Vegetable Stock
adapted from AllRecipes.com

1 onion, rough chop (**I was watching Bobby Flay the other day and it said that if you threw in a whole onion without peeling it, it would give your stock a lovely golden hue. Just a thought. I peeled and chopped mine.)
4 carrots, peeled and rough chop
3 stalks celery, cleaned and rough chop
1 bulb garlic, broken up and peeled
10 peppercorns
2 bay leaves

Assemble all ingredients in a stock pot, add water (enough to cover vegetables) and bring to a quick simmer. Simmer the vegetables for about an hour (you don't want the veg to get too mushy), let the stock cool and strain after about an hour after you've taken it off the heat. Keep it in the fridge until you're ready to use it. You can also freeze it.

What do you use vegetable stock for? I used mine for a crockpot lentil dish, but it can be used to cook rice, make soup, etc.

Curried Lentil Stew

I still have some leftover spinach from the wedding that I'm trying to use before it goes bad. This recipe has a lot of items that are typically in my pantry. And it's very good.

Curried Lentil Stew
adapted from Eat Real

Olive oil
4 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
3 ribs celery, finely chopped
1 medium onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons curry powder
7 cups water
1 pound dried lentils, rinsed and picked over
1 big glug of red wine
1 (14.5-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
8 ounces frozen cut-leaf spinach (no need to thaw) (**I used fresh and gave it a rough chop)

This is the mirepoix after I added the curry powder. Yes, it smells as good as it looks.

Kosher salt and coarsely ground black pepper to taste

Drizzle a few tablespoons of olive oil into a dutch oven or stockpot and heat over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, add chopped carrots, celery, and onion. Saute until the vegetables are just beginning to get tender. Add garlic and sprinkle the curry powder over the vegetables. Continue to saute, stirring, for another 2 to 3 minutes.

Add one cup of water to the pot to deglaze, scraping up the browned bits at the bottom. Then stir in the remaining water, the lentils, and the bouillon. Place a cover on the pot at an angle so that steam can escape, and bring to a boil. Once the stew comes to a boil, stir, reduce heat, and simmer for about thirty minutes, stirring occasionally.

Check the lentils for tenderness at about 30 minutes. When they are fairly tender, stir in the tomato puree and the spinach. Let simmer until the desired texture and consistency are reached. Taste for seasoning and adjust salt and pepper as necessary.

A couple of notes: I used French green lentils and they were good, but next time I'd use typical brown lentils or red ones.

Also Eat Real's recipe called for 3 tsp. of beef or vegetable bullion. I didn't have either, but I had red wine. What's a girl to do?

Crockpot Chicken Stock

OK - so for once this photo isn't blurry, but damn is it an ugly representation of the goodness known as this easy crockpot chicken stock.

I was trolling through the blogosphere when I came across this recipe and since I had a frozen chicken carcass in the freezer, needed to make room for about five years worth of cheesy potatoes and have been looking for a better recipe than my half-assed attempt that I've cobbled together, I was intrigued.

I got this from Vintage Victuals who adapted this from "The Joy of Cooking."

Basic Chicken Stock
adapted from The Joy of Cooking

1 chicken carcass
4 quarts of water
10 pepper corns
6 whole cloves
1 bay leaf
2 teaspoons parsley (**did not have)
1 teaspoon thyme
1 medium onion, peeled and roughly chopped
3 medium carrot, peeled and diced
3 ribs of celery, roughly chopped

Place the chicken carcass in your crock pot. Pour the water over it and add the rest of the ingredients. Cover and cook on low 6-8 hours; on high 3-5 hours. I left this batch on low overnight.

Strain well. Refrigerate or freeze until you are ready to use your stock!