Divine Mushroom Marrow Vegie Gluten-Free Soup

This is a beautiful soup! I changed it up a little, but I got the basic recipe from a very generous and talented Venezulan woman who has a blog called "Mommy's Home Cooking." Oriana is amazing! Check her out!

As you know, recipes are a passion for me. I am always experimenting, looking for new things, changing them up, comparing them with other recipes, looking at healthy ingredients, and having something of a mad scientist in the kitchen approach! But also, for me, taste is paramount! My willing husband is my most favorite test subject. Some nights, he really deserves a medal. But, honestly, it is so much fun to study his expressions as he dives into my new concoctions!

I have made this soup twice now, my own way both times. And had so much fun learning about new things, like bone marrow!

But please prepare yourself. This, although not difficult, takes a few stages to make.

 Ready, Set, Go!

Ingedients:

-3 cloves roasted garlic 

-1-3 carrots, peeled slightly

-2 medium/large red potatoes, skins on

-1 lb. beef marrow bones

-3-4 T. unsalted butter

-3 packages mushrooms, thinly sliced (about six cups or more when sliced) (about six small mushrooms thinly sliced should be reserved raw for garnish)

-3 large zucchinis thinly sliced

-4 cups chicken "broth" (I go with the regular as unsalted leaves me wanting for flavor)

-1 cup whole milk

-1 cup heavy cream

-1 T. Worcestershire sauce

-1/4-1/2 t. dried thyme 

-salt and pepper to taste

-fresh parsley for garnish

-fresh cracked pepper for garnish

-bread to accompany  if you choose (I didn't - doesn't need it)

~~

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425

Place marrow bones (this was–and still is–new to me, using marrow bones!) set on end (up) on parchment paper on a baking rack, drizzle with a little oil (I use grapeseed oil, which I love because it is so HEALTHY, and also so light, and can take the heat, but olive oil is fine) and pepper, rub it in a bit.

On a separate, smaller oven tray or pan, place your carrots, drizzle with grapeseed or olive oil and salt and pepper and toss to coat.

Put them both in the oven for 25 minutes. Check the carrots, if they're bigger, they could take another ten minutes, and may need to be turned. You want them to slightly caramelize.

After 25 minutes take the marrow bones out, set on stove top and let cool. When carrots are ready, take them out and set aside as well.

Put a slice through each of the red potatoes, set in a little water in a (glass) bowl and pop in the microwave for 10-12 minutes.

Time to chop chop chop and thinly slice your mushrooms and zucchini, into separate piles. Remember to separate out the ones for garnish use later.

Regarding garlic: my take is to buy it pre-roasted. It doesn't last that long (never keep too long, look at the sell by dates), but it is less intense in the house for me this way and works beautifully.

Heat about 1 T. unsalted butter in a large Dutch Oven to medium and add in your 3 cloves of garlic (even the pre-roasted type). Depending on whether or not they are getting roasted for the first time or having a second round (about 3 minutes or so), roast until slightly browned and sizzling. Remove and set aside to later put through your garlic press.

Add another T. of unsalted butter to your pan, saute the mushrooms until browned. Remove to a plate or bowl, separating out about 2 cups.

Add the sliced zucchini into the pan, saute until soft and thoroughly cooked.

If you have enough unsalted butter, you don't have to use more, but I go with the 2 T. (above) for the garlic and the mushrooms and then add–in small increments– up to 2 more T. unsalted butter if the mushrooms or zucchinis require more.

When the zucchinis are cooked nicely, set aside about about 1/2 cup in a separate bowl for later, and put the rest on a plate.

Cut up your cooked red potatoes and toss them in the pan to give them a little brown in the remaining butter. Remove.

Okay, now you have to wait (or mess with putting your extra large portions of vegetables in ice water) for the vegetables to cool because it is DANGEROUS to put hot stuff in your food processor.

In the meantime, scoop out the marrow from the cooled bones into a bowl and set the bones aside separately. I know, lots of plates and bowls. But wait til you get to the results. (I do the dishes as they become free and it's all good.)

Chop one of the carrots into itty bitty pieces. Set aside.

Have a glass of wine now. Give your husband one of the other carrots as an appetizer and you have one too. You guys are getting hungry! But it won't spoil your appetite. Just a little tease.

When the vegetables (the larger portions only) are cool, add them together: the potato pieces (with the skin on), the mushrooms, and the zucchinis and mix with 1 or 2 cups of the chicken broth and then run (in batches if necessary) through the food processor until smooth (or relatively smooth), then put back into the Dutch oven.

Once that's all done, add the rest (4 cups total) of the chicken broth into the Dutch oven. Add 1 cup of whole milk, press the garlic in, stir in the bone marrow, add in 1/4 t. (or a tad more) dried thyme, and salt and pepper. Stir, then, when combined, add in the marrow bones.

Bring to a low boil, (while waiting, stir occasionally and I take this time to also load the rest of the  empty dishes into the dishwasher), then turn down and simmer uncovered for 20-35 minutes to combine, while you go back out and finish that glass of wine or whatever beverage you might be relaxing with.

When the timer goes off (and it's okay to let it keep simmering a little longer if you want so long as you keep your eye on it...about ten more minutes), stirring occasionally, then remove the marrow bones, add in the set aside 2 cups of sauteed mushrooms, the set aside 1/2 cup sauteed zucchini, 1 cup of heavy cream, 1 T Worcestershire sauce, the caramelized carrot bits, (for a bit of natural sweet!), and more salt and pepper to taste. Stir and then let it simmer another 3 or 5 minutes.

Serve in generous bowls, adding a few pieces of the raw mushroom slices and fresh parsley and cracked black pepper over the top of each serving.

You will NOT regret all this effort. Like I said: This is a beautiful soup!

It is thickened with vegetables, not flour, so it is gluten-free, and full of such flavor that culinary dreams are made of.

By the way, in case you don't have a LOT of people to feed, the reason I had you make the whole big batch of this is because you want your efforts to pay back. I separate my leftover soup, when it's cooled into three freezer bags, labeled and dated, for future soup that's already ready and waiting for when you desire it next! And you can always saute a few mushrooms and add them into the defrosted portions, in case you ate all the separated sliced ones because they were so good you couldn't help yourself!

It's very rich soup, but oh so healthy and oh so delicious!

Bon Appetit!

bbffair

 

Chicken Pho Fabulous! Hot and SPICY Vietnamese Soup!

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thai_peppers.jpg
By Daniel Risacher (Own work) [GFDL
(http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)
or CC-BY-SA-2.5-2.0-1.0
 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5-2.0-1.0)],
via Wikimedia Commons

Beautiful Thai Pepper Bush! 
Wouldn't you agree?!

(And, BTW, after just a few days of R+R, my stomach is feeling better and way ready to resume a spicier diet! Yea! And, FYI, believe it or not, in spite of a lot of disbelief in this, a lot of chili peppers really are kinder to your digestion that you might have guessed.)









Chicken Pho Fabulous! Hot and SPICY Vietnamese Soup!

I am not a big fan of commercially pre-made soup base or soup starter. But I do believe in great chicken or vegetable stock and Pacific is a great brand and food producers are getting savvier. So, when I saw this:

www.pacificfoods.com

 "

Organic Chicken Pho Soup Base

"Inspired by the traditional Vietnamese Pho (pronounced ‘fuh’), our delicious Organic Chicken Pho Base makes it simple to prepare authentic Pho at home.

INGREDIENTS

• Organic Chicken Broth (Water, Organic Chicken, Organic Spices, Organic Garlic Powder, Organic Onion Powder)
• Organic Cane Sugar
• Sea Salt
• Organic Lemon Juice
• Organic Spice Extracts
• Organic Lime Oil
• Organic Rosemary Extract

SUITABLE FOR THESE SPECIAL DIETS

1. Low Fat
2. Gluten Free
3. Dairy Free
4. Corn Free
5. Soy Free
6. Wheat Free
7. Yeast Free                "

in my local grocery store's health food section, I thought, why not give it a whirl. I've rarely had a Vietnamese soup and I'm always up for a healthy culinary adventure!

But, as I cannot help myself, I did go wild with the ingredients. I followed some of the suggested directions and most (Okay, ALL of them except for onions) of the ingredients plus a few of my own and all I can say is:  WOW!!!  WOW!!! WOW!!!!

So here's the Ingredients I used:

1 box (4 cups) of Pacific Chicken Pho soup base.

I bought a 6.75 oz. package of Dynasty Maifun Rice Sticks (thin rice noodles). (Now this is important because some rice noodles taste like cooked cardboard (like the last ones I bought for my husband to use, that had a name I couldn't read in Chinese, and that ruined my husband's triple batch of Thai crab cakes). Others are awesome delicate and beautiful to behold. But I am still getting used to which ingredients work for my recipes and which ones don't, so I like to mention them.)

I cut up a package of three fresh full size boneless, skinless chicken breasts. (I am very fussy about my chicken. It has to be organic, fresh, no hormones or antibiotics, and it has to look good. I split my pieces in three piles: The gristle that I'll cook later with some rice for the dogs that I add, now and then, to their dog food, about 2-21/2 cups of quarter size pieces for the soup, and about 2 cups of medallions that I'll use in another dish later this week. I double bagged the two piles for later and put them away in the fridge.)

6 Tablespoons of hot chili sauce. I use Sriraja Panich Chili Sauce. VERY awesome.
(And note: in my experience,  hot chili sauces can vary widely. A wrong one can overpower or underwhelm or even ruin a good recipe, whereas a great one, like Sriraja Panich, can make your dish beautiful! Sriraja Panich has this lovely way of adding spicy and heat and dimension by blending with smokey undertones and doesn't stand out. I have tested about a dozen different hot chili sauces so far and thrown many of them out. The right ones, like this one, can make a huge difference to the success of so many of my Asian and Thai dishes that I have made a point of knowing where to buy this one locally, how it is shelved -which can be in a different location that other hot chili or "Sriraja" sauces in some stores- or how to get it online.)

3 Tablespoons of  House of Tsang Hoisin Sauce (Note; it has a little wheat in it,  so if that's out for you, I also have in my cupboard a gluten free brand, Sun Luck, but I confess I haven't used it yet and a little bit of wheat doesn't throw me off these days.)

3 to 5 cups of fresh bean sprouts

1-1/2 to 2 organic limes

Fresh Basil

Fresh Cilantro

Black Pepper to Taste (about a teaspoon)

1 Hot Red fresh Thai Chili Pepper with the seeds (cut up into tiny pieces with a scissors, I am getting cleverer, but still wear cooking gloves. Warning: chili peppers are hot!)

1-1/2 - 2 Fresh Red Fresno Peppers (These are about 2 inches long.) Note that on these chili peppers: Don't use the seeds or inside meat. These I cut with a knife into strips and then into pieces. These peppers look like this:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fresno_pepper_7.jpg
By Nadiatalent (Own work)
[CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)],
via Wikimedia Commons

And here's how I made it:  i.e., The Directions:


1. I boiled about 3 quarts of water while I cut up the chicken. After it came to a full boil, I turned it off and let it sit a few minutes.

2. The rice sticks come in three bundles. I took two or 2/3's of the package and put them in a metal bowl and poured the hot water over them, covered them and let them sit for 10 minutes.

3. I drained the noodles in a colander. Then I cut them up with a scissors and put them back in the metal bowl.

4. I rinsed the beansprouts in the colander and cut those with a scissors and left them there.

5. I scissor cut my Thai chili pepper including the seeds into pieces and knife cut 1-1/2 of my (cleaned of inner skin and seeded) Frenso chili peppers all on the same plate.

6. I poured the whole 4 cup box of Pacific Chicken Pho soup starter into the deep soup pan I boiled my water in. At first I didn't like the smell of the soup so much, but if that happens to you, just wait until the soup is brought to completion.

7.  When the soup starter mix came to a full boil, I threw in the 2-1/2 cups of cut up chicken, covered and turned the heat down to medium low. The chicken was cooked thoroughly in about 2-4 minutes.

7. Then I threw in my rice noodles, about 3 cups of my beansprouts, the chopped peppers and scissor cut a few fresh basil leaves, zested about 1/2 of a lime and squeezed 1-1/2 lime juice into it. I added 3 Tbsp. of Hoisin sauce, 6 Tbsp. of the Chili Sauce and black pepper to taste. Swished it around on simmer for about 1-2 minutes and served with fresh cilantro.

Yummmmm!

Now for the calorie countdown:

If you cook it like I just described above, 1/4th of the whole batch (a pretty big serving amounting to about two cups worth between the broth, the vegetables, the ingredients, and rice noodles) is about 194 calories. (1/8th is abut 97 calories.)

If you add in the extra two cups of beansprouts,  1/4 of the whole batch (a pretty big serving) is about 211 calories. (1/8th is about 106 calories.)

If you cook it using the above recipe, but use only 1/3 the package of rice sticks, then 1/4th of the whole batch is about 136 calories. Again a pretty big serving. (1/8th is about 68 calories.)

If you cook it with the extra two cups of beansprouts and don't use the rice sticks, a 1/4th serving then amounts to 93 calories. (1/8th is about 46 calories.)

If you use the gluten-free hoisin sauce, add 15 calories to 1/4th serving (or 8 calories to 1/8th).

You CAN have your rice and awesome taste and keep your diet too!

I can't wait to test drive this soup on my husband when he comes home tonight!

Bon Appétit!

And Kindest Regards from,

bbffair 

Note: 
This recipe is good for about eight servings, which can be perfect for a guest party first course. However, if you're not going to serve it on the first and second day, I'd recommend going with 1/2 of the above recipe as a better choice, because (due to the delicacy of both the bean sprouts and the rice sticks) it has a shorter refrigerator life than other soups.

Soup To Sooth A Delicate Tummy

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AIll-3-victoria.jpg

For The Delicate Stomach

Ever have some of those unhappy tummy days or nights?

They can be brought on by stress, too much acidic food or drink, and any number of things that might upset the balance we need to live well and happy lives.

Well, I have been having just so much of this the last month that I've looked into what I might do to sooth my tummy ache.


Here is what I've come up with. I am foregoing many of my favorite (and if you've read my posts, you know I love it spicy!) foods. Not forever, but just until I get my digestion and my stomach (and its distress) back in balance.

I am limiting my intake of acidic foods, spicy foods, dairy, gassy foods, heavy foods, gluten, wheat, sugar, and, (sigh), wine, and, (shaking my head), coffee. Just for a while.  I am upping my intake of probiotics to daily, along with my good fish oil, vitamin D, and other good vitamins and supplements that my health provider likes me to take.

And today, I needed a very digestible chicken-type soup and I came up with two very soothing, actually nicely satisfying soup recipes that can be made together. (I did anyway).  Easy to make, easy to digest, nourishing, and low in calories (so a good diet or detox soup too). (Always yea for that!).

Ingredients To Make Both Soups:

1-1/2 boxes of Pacific Organic Chicken Stock or Broth

2 cups of water

2 stalks of lemon grass

2 Tbsps of fresh grated ginger

1 handful of sliced  shiitake mushrooms

1 fresh zucchini

1 fresh yellow squash

pepper


 Soup #1:   Chicken Ginger Lemongrass Shiitake Soup

Preparation:

Peel the two lemon grass stalks by peeling and tossing out the outer layers to reveal the soft inside layer. Cut the buttery inside pieces from the base or root of the stalk upward into little, thin pieces. When you hear the "crunch," stop cutting. Throw the thin soft cut slices into a Magic Bullet and give it a few chops there. Add a half cup of water, shake it all up and set aside.

Cut the crunchy tops of the two peeled lemongrass stalks into thirds and bend.

Cut about two-three inches off a piece of fresh ginger. Peel by scraping the entire piece with the edge of a spoon until all the skin is removed. Then, over a bowl, grate the piece so that the stringy pieces stay on your side of the grater (that you will throw away) and the soft edible juice and pieces go into the bowl. You should have about 2 Tbsps.

Cut the stalks off the shiitake mushrooms and slice thin.

Cut up the zucchini and the yellow squash. Add pepper. Add about a cup of water and a cup of chicken stock and mix together in blender until it's all a thick liquid. Add a bit more chicken broth if it it resists blending.

Cooking Directions:

Bring one box (4 cups) of Organic Pacific Chicken Stock to a boil

Add in the big lemongrass pieces that you bent. (If you have one, use a Chinese strainer underneath.)  Boil for 4 minutes. Then Remove. (These pieces are too crunchy to be edible but add flavor.)

Add in the cut pieces and juice from your Magic Bullet. Boil another 4 minutes. You can add up to a cup of water and another cup of the chicken stock as it boils down.

Add in the grated ginger, medium boil another four minutes.

Add in the shiitake mushromms and simmer about 4 minutes on low.

Cover and keep on low.



(Time to start the second soup.)


Soup #2:   Soothing Squash Soup

You've already prepped so this will be very simple.

Cooking Directions:

Pour the zucchini and squash mixture into its own sauce pan.

Using a strainer and a soup ladle (that is typically a half cup in size), pour 2 cups (or four ladles) of the first soup into the squash soup.   Return the strained pieces and mushrooms to the first soup.

Mix the broth in. Bring to a boil, then immediately return to simmer and cover. Set the timer for 10-15 minutes.

Voila!


Now you have two extremely soothing soups that are both gentle and nourishing as well as tasty.

The mushroom soup has about 60 calories in the whole batch or 15 calories a cup.

The squash soup has 40-60 calories in the whole batch or about 10-15 calories a cup.

You can sip it or have several bowls of this throughout the day and keep your stomach happy, coated, nourished, and thus also more able to repair a tummy distress.

I added a cup of unsweetened almond milk to my afternoon for a little, gentle protein boost (1 gram) and 30 more calories and felt greatly healed.

Enjoy and here's hoping this makes even the most delicate stomach feel loved.

Kindest Regards,

bbffair

Sweet Summer Seared Sea Scallops - Dinner!

Seared Sea Scallops! And so many ways to enjoy them!


I love this combo because it offers such a variety of taste sensations. It is tasty, light, and fast.






From the grocery list:

-Pacific Natural Foods All Natural Thai Sweet Potato Soup (Small box - 2 servings a box.) (Note: This soup is divine!)

- fresh big sea scallops (1/4 pound a person is good about 3-5 each)

-fresh limes
-fresh cucumber
-fresh radishes
-fresh avocado
-fresh baby spinach


-fresh ground pepper


-Pam Olive Oil
-Soy Free Earth Balance or Sweet Fresh Butter (from grass fed cows)
-Korean Sweet and Spicy Sauce (*There are a number of brands. I'm still experimenting. One has 100 calories and another 45 per serving. I like the spicy, less sugary variety and, so far, nothing beats the kitchen-made sauce that our local Thai restaurant puts together. Grin!)

~~

Heat the soup up on the back burner.

Cut up limes for the table and put out small saucers by each plate with about 2 TBSPs each of the Korean Sweet and Spicy Sauce.

Cut up thick wedges of avocado.
Cut up slices of cucumber and radishes.

Arrange on each plate a small pile of baby spinach, about 1/4 avocado wedges, and the cucumbers and radishes slices to be eaten raw or dipped in the Korean Sweet and Spicy Sauce.

Spray Pam Olive Oil in a frying pan and add 1 TBSP of Butter or Soy Free Earth Balance. Heat up nicely, about medium high. Throw in the rinsed fresh scallops. Pepper to taste. Let sear, cooking until brown on one side then turn and brown the other.

Put on the opposite side of the plate of the vegies with lime squeeze garnish and serve the soup at the same time on the side.

All of these tastes together are wonderful. And it's so quick! I can make this during a commercial break while watching a television show. Total calorie count = about 475 delicious calories

Please let me know how you liked this one!

-bbffair

[photo courtesy of liveruralnl.com]

South of the Border Sunday

Meet my dogs! Who (as you will learn) approved this dinner, though not for the obvious reasons of their getting the leftovers.

On Sunday, my husband picked up some freshwater shrimp, which are wonderful. We get them with the shells cracked-open and they broil up like little lobster tails and the meat easily pulls out of the shell. (Cook the same way as I described for grilled shrimp, except these you don't have to flip.) He had the dip in mind too, but forgot to buy the buttermilk.

But it was Sunday and he didn't feel like another trip to the store, so we did a little survey. Sometimes you look in the fridge and you need to eat one of those meals working with what you've got before your next shop.

So I pulled out that box of Cuban Black Bean Soup with 2 cups still in it (Note: You really have to cut the box open at this point, the soup is so thick!), threw in the leftover half-can of the stewed tomatoes and chopped up two white mushrooms and put it on the stove. I grilled the freshwater shrimp just the way I like (above link), then chopped the meat up after taking it out of the shell (These guys are big!) and put the pieces in two bowls and poured the soup mix over the shrimp. Then I dolloped out 2 TBSPs of salsa and 1 tsp (it really does go a long way - you could use even less, but why?) of sour cream in each bowl, and on the side of the plate, I tossed the last of my leftover fresh baby spinach, lime wedges and pieces from 1/2 an avocado (1/4th on each plate) (all of which we ended up tossing into the soup too). :-D

It was wonderful with a nice glass of red wine. A very hearty meal with a lot of zest in a few inspired moments. Healthy and about 445 calories (or a little more with a glass of red). Then, instead of an extra trip to the store, we threw the Frisbee with the sheepdogs.

-bbffair

Black Bean Soup

-Imagine Bistro Organic Cuban Black Bean Bisque

You have to taste this soup. It is my opinion that this soup can do no wrong. It is thick as mud and smooth and beautiful to behold and heavenly to the taste buds.

I've been perusing recipes and there are many to choose from.

Today, I made my husband a bowl with two tablespoons of salsa and a teaspoon of sour cream.

For myself,
I chopped up two big fresh white mushrooms,
2 ounces of the Boarshead low-sodium turkey I like, (I like a good protein boost)
cilantro (:-D),
and a half-can of DelMonte stewed tomatoes.

I cut it all up and mixed it and poured my hot black bean soup over it.

Now, let me say a word or two about soups and sauces.
They are divine.
They are not evil.
You can look up their calorie content and decide which and what amount to go with.

(My husband's soup was 170 calories soup + 10 calories salsa + 50 calories sour cream = total calories of 230. Not a full lunch for him, but he just stopped in the house and had to have some!)

(My soup had a BIG protein boost. It included 170 calories soup + 120 calories turkey + 70 calories stewed tomatoes + 10 calories mushrooms = total calories of 370 all good for me and now I am good to go all afternoon.)

You can also make adjustments in some recipes without loosing any flavor.
Sauces and dips and things do not have to be loaded with fat or flour or evil preservatives or sugar.

AND...
Eating right should be delicious!

-bbffair

Monday – and a Tasty, Calorie-Light, Healthy Recipe - Sweet Potato Carrot Parsnip Almond Sliver Soup – Yumm!

Okay, at last. After I've cleaned up my mess; it's on to lunch:

Sweet Potato Carrot Parsnip Almond Sliver Soup

I love soups with garnishes. To be more succinct, I love a LOT of garnish with a little soup.

Heat one cup (110 calories) of the Imagine Sweet Potato Soup (there are 4 cups in a box) from the grocery list.
While it warms up, spoon 3 or 4 big soup spoons of the carrot-parsnip grainy mix into a bowl.
Measure out 1/6 of a cup of slivered almonds. (I like to take my 1/3 cup and fill it half-way and then add another pinch.) (1/3 cup of slivered almonds on my package says it's 200 calories, so my measurement–1/6 cup + a pinch–equals about 125 calories.)
Mix the almonds and the carrot-parsnip mixture, then pour the 1 cup of hot sweet potato soup over it, add ground and cracked pepper.

I seriously think this is Food!

Afterwards, finish with a small orange.

Your lunch was healthy, easy, and delicious. And only about 350 calories including the orange and it included protein (something I have to have at every meal in some fashion), vegetables, fresh ingredients, and a fruit finish!

Please let me know if you tried it and liked it. I'd love to know!

Bon Appetite!

-bbffair