Soup's On!

Since embarking on my journey to embrace more soup (not literally, obviously…. hugging one’s soup leads to much pain and many burns) I have been surprisingly pleased. I have found that soup really is my friend and although I don’t think I’ll ever say something like, “Boy, could I go for a nice bowl of soup right about now!”, I do believe that I may come to a place where homemade soup becomes a regular occurrence in this house.

I’m not there yet, but I’m working on it.

It’s recipes like this one that really help move me onward towards that goal. Something hearty, with lots of deep flavor… that’s what is required in order for me to sit down to a bowl of soup. Chicken broth and some spindly noodles ain’t cutting it, folks.

Now… when I add to this equation the fact that it’s a crock pot meal… well, NOW you’ve got my attention! Not only do I not have to do a lot of work, but there is something to smelling your dinner cooking all day that makes you anticipate it. For someone who isn’t a soup lover, that’s a very good thing!

Best of all, you can change things up in this one. Rather than a regular can of diced tomatoes, try using the diced tomatoes with green chilies in it. Add diced jalapeno… or turkey instead of chicken… or whatever else floats your boat!

Most of all, have fun!

(Did I really just encourage to have fun with soup? I must be getting closer to my goal after all!)

Gluten Free Chicken Taco Soup

1 onion, chopped

1 (15 oz) can black beans

1 (15 oz) can creamed corn

1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce

1 ½ cups chicken stock

2 (10 oz) cans diced tomatoes (do not drain)

1 pouch taco seasoning of your choice

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Toppings of your choice (optional): shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, corn chips, etc…

Place the chopped onion, black beans, corn, chicken stock, tomato sauce and diced tomatoes in the slow cooker. Add the taco seasoning and stir to combine. Lay the chicken breasts on top of everything, press down slightly to submerge. Cook on low for 5 hours.

Remove the chicken breasts, shred and return to the slow cooker for another hour. Serve with toppings.

Serves 8.

Happiness in a Bowl

I have yet to find a recipe that is “too rich”. You know what I mean, right? When someone takes a bite of some deeply chocolate dessert or multi-layered pasta dish and says, “Goodness! I can’t eat this, it’s muhh-ch too rich!” Usually, you’ll find me staring at them with a completely blank countenance. I cannot fathom that idea.

But – we need to live a balanced life. Or so I’m told.

I do enjoy “lighter” fare. Perhaps a better description would be “guilt free”. It’s nice to sit down to a meal and know that it’s fair game… no gluten, low fat and full of flavor. I often try to “lighten” heavy dishes… not because they are “muhh-ch too rich”… but because they are WAY too fattening.

Today’s recipe is the cream of the crop. It is warm, it is comfort, it is low fat, it is gluten free and it is guilt free. You read that right.

I know. If you could reach through the screen and hug me, you would. I accept the gesture.

Whip up a big ol’ batch of this and freeze some. When you need a hearty meal that is free of all guilt, grab this little guy out of your freezer and enjoy.
It really is happiness in a bowl.

Gluten Free Quinoa Vegetable Soup

1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 ½ cups carrots, chopped

1 cup celery, chopped

1 cup onion, chopped

2/3 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained

Salt and pepper, to taste

4 cups chicken (or vegetable) stock

2 cups water

15 oz tomato sauce (be daring and use your favorite marinara sauce… amazing!)

1 ½ cups red skin potatoes, cut into bite-sized cubes with skin still on

2 garlic cloves, minced


In a large soup pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add carrots, celery, onion and quinoa. Season with salt and pepper. Saute for 5 minutes until onions start to become translucent. Add stock, water and tomato sauce. Bring to a boil. Add potatoes and garlic, stir to combine. Bring to a light boil. Cover and let cook until potatoes are soft. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper if needed.

Soup? Or a Cheeseburger? YES!

I have this strange quirk about me. You see, I love to make soup. It’s probably one of my most favorite things to cook. I love to chock my soups full of veggies and deep flavors. There’s only one problem.

I don’t really like soup. I endure soup, but it’s never really a culinary event for me. Know what I mean?

I know, I know. Quirky. What this phenomenon has done, though, is set me on a quest to find soups I really do like! So be prepared, there will most likely be a lot of soup recipes on this blog in the future. The ones already posted… Broccoli Cheese, Creamy Cauliflower… they are probably the top two out of three soups I like. What’s the third, you ask?

After covering the veggie-based soups, I wanted to find something really different. Not your everyday chicken noodle or even the beloved Italian Wedding Soup. Thus, I give you… Cheeseburger Soup.

This is one hearty soup. Save this recipe for a cold winter’s night when you’ve been out all day and are chilled to the core. This soup will thaw you right out. It begins deep within, slowly warming your chill. Don’t eat this at the table, though. Grab a bowl, spoon, blanket and your favorite movie and feast on it whilst curled up on the couch.

Now, you see? That, my friend, is a culinary event worth having.

Gluten Free Cheeseburger Soup

1 Tbsp butter

½ lb ground beef

¾ cup chopped onion

¾ cup shredded carrots

¾ cup chopped celery

3 cups chicken stock

4 cups cubed potatoes

¼ cup cornstarch

2 cups cubed cheddar cheese

1 ½ cups low-fat milk, divided

¼ cup light sour cream

2-3 tsp yellow mustard

1 Tbsp ketchup

In a large soup pot, melt 1 Tbsp butter over medium heat. Add ground beef and cook until browned. Add onion, carrots and celery and cook until slightly tender.

Add the chicken stock and potatoes. Bring to a boil and simmer until the potatoes are tender, 10-12 minutes.

Add 1 ¼ cups of milk, bring almost to a boil, stirring occasionally. In a small bowl, mix together remaining ¼ cup milk and the cornstarch. Add to the soup and stir until it becomes thickened. Lower heat and add cheese, mustard and ketchup (when cheese is almost completely incorporated, taste test to see if more mustard and/or ketchup is needed). When the cheese is melted, add the sour cream and heat through, but do not return to a boil. Serve immediately or refrigerate and reheat at a later time.

Serves 8.

Cauli-WHAT?

I don’t like cauliflower. I really, really want to like it, though. It’s pretty, it’s good for me… what’s not to like? I’ve tried it raw, cooked, covered in cheese, dripping in butter, mashed like potatoes… all with the same results. Gagging.

Until now.

Creamy Cauliflower Soup. I like creamy. I… sort of like soup, mostly when it’s creamy. So why not, right? One last hurrah before giving up on cauliflower.

This recipe is a 6 on the scale of 1 to 10 for labor intensive, mostly because it requires pureeing the cooked veggies to ensure maximum silky smoothness. There are two kinds of labor intensiveness, “Well THAT wasn’t really worth the effort” or “Yowzers, that’s yummy!” This definitely falls into the Yowzers Category, which is why I didn’t place this recipe higher than a 6. It’s completely worth the work involved.

Trying to get your kids to eat more veggies? Try this. It’s creamy (did I mention I like creamy?), it’s mild. IT’S COMFORT FOOD. It actually tastes a little like cream of broccoli soup.

But really, the biggest reason you should try this is because this girl, the one who has gagged her way through endless cauliflower dishes, LOVES THIS.

‘Nough said.

Gluten Free Creamy Cauliflower Soup

1 large head cauliflower, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cups water

2 Tbsp butter

2 ½ cups chicken stock, divided

2 Tbsp cornstarch

Salt and pepper, to taste

Dash of nutmeg

½ cup heavy cream (or heavy whipping cream)

In a large pot, place cauliflower, celery, onion and water. Cover. Bring water to a boil and cook veggies until tender. Puree veggies (with water) in batches in a blender until smooth.

In the same large pot (wiped clean), add butter and melt over medium heat. Add 2 cups of chicken stock and heat to just before boiling. In a small bowl, mix together remaining ½ cup chicken stock and cornstarch. Add to pot, stirring as you add. Continue to stir until the stock boils and thickens. Stir in pureed veggies, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Bring just to a slight boil. Remove from burner.

Add heavy cream and heat through (do not boil) on lower heat. Serve with a small sprinkle of grated cheese. Serves 8 (one cup servings).

Fuhgetaboutit!

There are certain things in my house that give me great joy… mostly because I can “set it and forget it”.

First, the dishwasher. I can remember, in one of our pre-kids apartments, mentioning to Tim that the sound of a dishwasher running in the evening was so relaxing, mostly because it was the sound of dishes being cleaned… without me doing them.

Second, the washer and dryer. When shopping, I purposely avoid buying any article of clothing with the wretched words “hand wash only” or “lay flat to dry” on the tag. I mean, really. The majority of women purchasing the clothing are most likely working full-time in the working world or working full-time in the home… or a happily retired lady who is way too busy with her social schedule. Either way, who has time to hand wash clothing? Any way you look at it, the washer and dryer are lovely things. You pop in your dirty stuff and an hour or so later you have clean, fresh clothing, towels and sheets!

Third, the slow cooker. Seriously now. 15 minutes or so of work in the morning and – voila! – a scrumptious, warm dinner waiting for you. One pot, no sweating over the stove or watching the oven to make sure you don’t burn dinner to a blackened crisp.

I usually utilize the slow cooker on those days when I know that dinner won’t even cross my mind until, at the earliest, Tim is walking in the door. Yesterday, I kept thinking about making a stew only to realize at 4:30pm that this particular recipe was an all-day slow cooker meal.

Note to self: CHECK THE RECIPE. EARLY.

So because of my goof, tonight’s dinner was Slow Cooker Beef Stew. Sure, it wasn’t one of those crazy days. Both Tim and I were home all day… but there was still great satisfaction in knowing that dinner was percolating away and I wasn’t doing a darn thing. At least not having to do with dinner.

Gluten Free Slow Cooker Beef Stew

1 ½ to 2 lbs cubed stew meat

¼ cup rice flour

1 tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

1 bay leaf

2 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced

4 medium red potatoes, cubed

2 stalks celery, thinly sliced

1 onion, chopped

2 cups beef stock

Place the stew meat in the bottom of the slow cooker. Sprinkle the rice flour, salt and pepper and toss to coat the meat. Add the bay leaf, carrots, celery, potatoes and onion. Toss everything completely. Pour beef stock over everything. Set slow cooker to low and cook for 8 hours. Remove bay leaf and serve. Serves 8.

Rain, Rain, Go Away...

It’s been raining here… a lot. 

People are posting things on Facebook like “there’s a river running through the store” and “gotta go round up two of every animal”. 

On days like these, I don’t want something elaborate for dinner. I also feel like anything remotely close to picnic fare would be completely inappropriate. It’s simply impossible to imagine oneself on a picnic when there is a deluge going on outside.

Rainy, dark days call for one thing. Soup. It’s usually a one pot meal, it’s comforting… and it doesn’t take a lot of effort to eat. Because, let’s face it. Rainy, dark days make a person rather groggy. (Or is that just me?)

So as I looked through the possibilities in my fridge today, I decided to pull out an ol’ stand-by for days like this. Broccoli Cheese Soup.

It’s warm, it’s creamy and it’s got your daily veggies, dairy and oil requirements covered for the day… and you’ll only dirty one pot. Not bad for a groggy girl.

What’s your rainy day meal? I’ll try yours if you’ll try mine!

Gluten Free Broccoli Cheese Soup

2 Tbsp butter

2 ½ cups fresh broccoli, cut into small pieces

¼ cup chopped onion

2 cups chicken stock

1 ¼ cup milk, divided

2 Tbsp cornstarch

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

¼ cup sour cream

In a big pot, melt butter over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté for 5 minutes. Add the broccoli and stir until bright green and crisp-tender, about 5 minutes. Add chicken stock and bring to a boil. Add 1 cup of milk and heat through. In a small bowl, mix together ¼ cup milk and cornstarch. Add to the soup and stir until thickened. Remove pot from heat and add the cheese, stirring until melted and completely combined. Add salt and pepper, if needed. Add sour cream and stir to combine. Serve immediately. Serves 4-5.