kattitudes

Usually I try not to include too many mixes that require additional contributions as I want to keep it as simple as possible for all involved. However, this particular mix makes a wonderful layered flavor combination that hits just right. The resulting soup is a hot dreamy wonderland of Italian goodness. Definitely a great gift idea for those that like Italian foods.

Ingredients:

2 cups penne pasta
1 cup sun-dried tomatoes
1/2 cup dried shiitake mushrooms
1/4 cup onion flakes
1/4 cup parsley flakes
1 tablespoon dried minced garlic
1 1/2 teaspoon dried crushed thyme
1 1/2 teaspoon dried minced basil
1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper

Combine all ingredients in large jar.

Attach a tag with the following instructions:

1 jar mix
8 cups vegetable broth
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced Roma tomatoes
1 (15 ounce) can cannelloni beans
salt and pepper

Combine all except beans in large pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover & simmer until pasta & veggies are tender.

Add in beans and simmer for approximately more 15 minutes (until beans are heated through).

Ingredients:

1 medium pumpkin, poached & peeled (or one large can of pumpkin puree)
1/4 pound butter (1 stick) cut into small pieces
1 large onion, diced
1 cup celery, diced
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup sherry
2 quarts chicken stock
3 cups cream
salt & pepper to taste

Poach & peel pumpkin and reserve. Add butter to a soup pan & melt. Add onion and sauté until translucent. Add celery and sauté. Add flour & form roux. Add sherry & de-glaze pan. Add chicken stock; bring to a boil while mixing. Drop to a simmer. Add pumpkin, maple syrup, salt & pepper and blend. Add cream, stir & serve.

When I lived in London, I really got spoiled by the good quality lamb I could find at the grocers. We had a lot of lamb. Wonderful lamb. And theoretically, lamb is very easy to digest, so if your tummy is upset, you might find that a lamb meal is easier to down than others (if, of course, you eat meat).

If you do partake of meat meals, definitely try this fantastic lamb stew. The house will smell amazing and it tastes wonderful. The spices are a little different than the usual fare, and add a certain zip to the lamb that is unexpected.

The neat thing about stews is that once you know how to make one, the same general formula is followed for all of them. If you feel comfortable making one, this recipe will seem like old hat.

So many recipes recommend that you serve over rice or potatoes or some type of carbohydrate along those lines, but honestly, I like my stews and soups plain. My Mister likes the rice and potatoes and usually asks me to provide if I’m doing the cooking. As for me, I like a plain nekked hot bowl of stew.

INGREDIENTS:

* 1 1/2 to 2 pounds boneless lamb shoulder or stewing lamb
* salt and pepper
* 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
* 1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
* 2 cloves garlic, minced
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
* 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* dash coarsely ground black pepper
* 1 medium carrot, diced
* 1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes with juice
* 1 cup chicken broth
* juice of 1/2 lemon

PREPARATION:
Trim fat from lamb; cut into bite-size pieces. Sprinkle with salt and pepper then toss with the flour.

In a Dutch oven or large saucepan, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add the floured lamb pieces and the chopped onion; cook until lamb is browned on all sides, stirring frequently.

Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for about 1 hour, until lamb is tender.

By this point, most everyone knows what gyoza are (little dumplings or potstickers), but if you are not familiar with them, they are in the freezer section of the grocery store. Personally, we love the little blessings. Steamed please, no sauce to interrupt their complex tastiness. And when we are under the weather as we are now, this soup hits the spot just right. Enough broth to help, although we always add extra ginger when we are sick to help with the clogged bronchial passages and digestive issues. Plus the heat from the chilies (not too much though) seems to do some good. All in all, it is a great soup to have in your repertoire.

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive or peanut oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger, about 1 inch
16 ounces package frozen oriental vegetables
8 cups of chicken or vegetable broth
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
2 tablespoons roasted sesame chili oil
16 ounces package of frozen potstickers, (shrimp, chicken or vegetable)
2 green onions, thinly sliced
2 serrano or Thai chilies, thinly sliced (optional garnish)

Heat large soup pot over medium heat until hot. Add olive or peanut oil and swirl to coat bottom, then add garlic and ginger. Stir until very fragrant and starting to soften, no more than 2 minutes. Then add frozen vegetables, stirring occasionally until almost defrosted, 3 minutes. Add stock or broth and turn heat to high.

Once soup begins to boil, add the soy sauce, rice vinegar and roasted sesame chili oil. Lower heat to medium and then carefully slide potstickers off large cooking spoon into the soup a couple at a time. Simmer on medium for 4 to 5 minutes until potstickers are done. Remove soup from heat immediately, stir in sliced green onions and serve. Garnish each serving with hot peppers as desired, serving soy sauce on the side to taste.

This is the first official entry into our dinner under a dollar category. Dry legumes are so inexpensive and they really should be a regular stock item in your pantry. I have so many bags in my pantry that I have to keep a box in there to keep them organized. Dried legumes can be added to very little leftovers and water to make healthy and homemade soups, stews and casseroles and really stretch your grocery dollars and get every last penny out of your meals.

If, for example, you know you are going to have ham in your menu, plan ahead to keep that bone after you cut all the meat away from it. Rather than throwing that bone away, toss it in your stock pot, fill it with water and get your family another meal (or more…depending on just how much soup/stew you make!). We love soups and stews around my house, so my freezer is usually full of quickly rotating soup leftovers.

It seems basic, but sometimes we forget how easy it is to use all the pieces of what we purchase. While you may not hear people use the idiom “waste not want not” much any more, the truth of it still holds.

Also, if you are purchasing with an eye to cooking at home, you are in the habit of buying to stock your pantry pretty regularly. This means that you probably have a bag of onions and carrots somewhere in your kitchen right now. Am I right? So review: the ham bone, you are using from the last ham dinner, so cost is negligible. Onions and carrots you have on hand already. Dried peas about a dollar a bag. Water.

Notice that there is not a bunch of spices in there? Oh there are some spices that really taste wonderful in split pea soup, but you should experiment to see what you like. Also we all know that spices are good once you know what you are doing, but can really be overdone. So let us go back to basics, and just focus on one or two flavors. Make just the soup with the peas, carrots and the salt from the ham. If you are vegetarian, you probably want to add salt to get the most flavor from the peas and carrots.

If you are nervous about cooking, this is an utterly fantastic recipe to practice. Even if everything goes really horribly wrong, the results usually come out pretty tasty anyway. The flavor combination is wonderful and the recipe takes on different aspects (and names) with different legumes and different consistencies, so do not be worried about wrecking this dish! If you are timid in the kitchen, I really encourage you to try this. It is a great confidence builder. After you have made it enough times to feel comfortable, start adding spices like garlic and even curry. But keep it simple for as long as you like it that way!

Ingredients:

* 1 chopped onion
* 1 large carrot, chopped
* 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
* 1 (16 ounce) package dry split green peas
* 1 ham bone or 2 cups chopped ham
* Water, salt and pepper to taste

In a medium stockpot, sauté onions in oil. Remove from heat and add split peas, chopped carrot, ham bone or chopped ham. Add enough water to cover ingredients, and season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook until there are no beans left, just a green liquid (this will take a couple of hours). Keep in mind that the ham is going to be salty so be careful not to over salt your soup.

While soup is cooking, check to see if water has evaporated. You may need to add more water as the soup continues to cook.

Once the soup is a green liquid, remove from heat and let stand. The soup will thicken as it cools. Once thickened, you may need to heat through to serve. Water can be added at any time if you find the soup too thick.

This recipe makes a thick but relatively smooth split green pea soup, with small pieces of carrot and ham. This is not a chunky consistency, but very smooth and soothing. Cooking time can be reduced according to your palate preference.

My Mister is in the kitchen now, making his typical Sunday dinner. I am feeling a little meh today, so the Mister has decided it is a chicken soup day. Authentic chicken soup is probably the first recipe I taught the Mister to make when we were first married, and since then, he has been the soupmeister ever since.

I can hear him in the kitchen chopping the onion and celery, waiting for the bacon at the bottom of the stock pot to brown, and I am instantly transported back to Seattle, early summer mornings, up before Grandpa left for work, watching Mom and Grandma wrestle for hob space, and smelling the bacon fumes that covered the whole house. Later on, we would sneak back upstairs to our bedroom area the finished attic, and inhale the trapped warm air, still redolent with bacon. The same smell would wake me up in the loft of their beach house, wafting into our dreams until the sizzle of the cooking, the clinking of the dishes and the smell of Grandpa’s coffee filtered through enough to wake everyone. Even a touch under the weather, it is amazing how fast that smell can dissipate thirty years.

Chicken soup is one of those basic dishes that can be transformed into a plethora of meals. The basics of soup are pretty much the same: start with moisture, add root veggies and spice, add more liquid and then put in your feature. It is a template for so much.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup sliced celery
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon poultry seasoning
6 cups low-salt chicken broth
4 cups diced peeled baking potato
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups diced roasted chicken
1 cup evaporated skim milk
2 cups uncooked wide egg noodles

Heat olive oil in a dutch oven over medium heat. Add chopped onion, carrots, celery and garlic clove; sauté five minutes.

Sprinkle flour, oregano, thyme and poultry seasoning over vegetables and cook one minute. Stir in broth, potato and salt. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, partially covered 25 minutes or until potato is tender.

Add roasted chicken, milk, and noodles and cook 10 minutes or until noodles are tender. Garnish with fresh thyme, if desired.

This is a fantastic basic soup recipe. Once you are comfortable making it, start experimenting. Add cream instead of milk. Use the bones of the roasted chicken along with celery, onions, and bouquet garni to make your own chicken stock.