Diane's Vintage Zest!: soup

Showing posts with label soup. Show all posts

Healthy Minestrone Soup

Happy Monday!

I feel like I am getting started off on the right foot this week after posting my fitness & nutrition plans last week. Woo hoo!

Today, I wanted to share a quick, easy recipe for minestrone soup that I make a ton. I did not do my usual step-by-step pictures, and truth-be-told, I usually do not use a recipe for this soup. I alter it depending on what looks good at the store that night. However, this is my favorite version of the soup, if I have access to fresh ingredients. Enjoy!

Healthy Minestrone Soup
A Vintage Zest original

Roasted Tomato Soup

Shame on me for not posting this earlier, especially since it is nearly the end of tomato plant season! I first made this soup around the time that my mother's tomato plant was ridiculously productive. Since then, I made a couple of tweaks to the original recipe and I totally love it now! It is much chunkier since I use less stock, and by using basil, I don't need to head to the store for fresh herbs. It is almost an adequate substitute for my favorite tomato soup from The Winding Stair in Dublin!

Make sure to whip up some focaccia along with it for a wonderful accompaniment!

P.S. - Yours truly is a soup fanatic (remember this recipe, this recipe and this post?), so my stamp of approval is even more important. Right?

Roasted Tomato Soup
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients
3 lbs. plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise
2 Tbsp. olive oil
6 cloves garlic, unpeeled
2 Tbsp. coarsely chopped fresh basil leaves or 1/4 teaspoon dried
1/4 tsp. dried crushed red pepper
1 1/2 cups chicken stock or vegetable broth
Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

Homemade Vegetable Broth Tips

I promise, this is the last in my mini-series of soup-related recipes! It started off with an easy chicken noodle soup recipe and then continued with how to make a wonderful chicken stock. Basically, I've been in rewind for the last two posts and now I'm finally getting to the first recipe of the bunch!

Making your own vegetable stock is easy and budget-friendly, while making your dishes tasting even more delicious and homemade. It's great for people who need to control what is in their diet, especially for those with sodium intake concerns. As for me, now that I've started making my own, I won't buy storebought again. :)

Since there is no exact recipe for the vegetable broth that I make, I'm going to show you my method and share some tips. Ready everybody? Let's go!

Equipment

Stockpot
Strainer
Large bowl or pot to transfer broth
Ingredients (discussed below)
*A few hours to spare*

Gather up that equipment, and you're ready to make some broth!

Ingredients

Easy Homemade Chicken Stock

Last week, I shared a recipe for Easy & Healthy Chicken Noodle Soup, which is super simple and a favorite here at my house. One of the reasons why it is so wonderful is the homemade chicken stock that I make!

For years, I was buying both vegetable and chicken broths/stocks. As a side note, apparently some people use the words "broth" and "stock" interchangeably. However, while I was doing research on this topic, I found out that a broth is made by using meat, while a stock uses bones (or a combination of meat and bones). Because of the gelatin released from the bones during the cooking process, it is naturally thicker and more flavorful. Yum!

Without further ado, here is my super easy recipe for delicious homemade chicken stock!

Homemade Chicken Stock

Ingredients

2 - 3 chickens, or chicken parts (equalling about 10 lbs. total)

Homemade Vegetable Broth (recipe here)
OR
Storebought Vegetable Broth
OR
Any combination of onions, celery, carrots, garlic, and herbs (such as parsley, oregano, thyme, bay leaves, etc.)

Kosher salt, to taste
Whole black peppercorns, 1 - 2 tsp.

Easy & Healthy Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

At this point, I really shouldn't be amazed at how many of Andie's recipes have catapulted to my favorites list. Every recipe so far has been flavorful, looked beautiful, and been relatively foolproof (at least for this kitchen klutz).

My guy pointed out that I have a major blog crush, and he's totally right! Although I first popped over to her blog for an incredible dessert, the healthy recipes have been the ones that kept me around. I mean, the girl lost over a hundred pounds, so it can't be all brownies and whoopie pies. :)

This recipe is so easy, healthy, and delicious that it's now on heavy rotation here at Casa de Vintage Zest. It's the trifecta of what I look for in a recipe!

Easy & Healthy Chicken Noodle Soup
Adapted from Can You Stay for Dinner

Ingredients

2 quarts chicken broth, preferably homemade using this recipe

1 whole chicken, 4-5 lbs, shredded (you can use rotisserie, or use this easy recipe)

6 large carrots, roughly chopped
8 stalks celery, roughly chopped
1 1/2 medium onion, chopped

2 bay leaves
3 sprigs fresh thyme
2 sprigs parsley
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

2 cups small pasta noodles of your choice

Directions

Curried Red Lentil Soup

A few weeks back, Tessa from Handle the Heat posted a soup recipe that I was super excited try out. You know that I love my soup, and have a bowl almost every day, even during the summer! I had some difficulty locating the red lentils, but after I found them at a Middle Eastern grocery store, I whipped this up!

It's totally warm and comforting, perfect for cold weather. While it's simmering on the stove, it smells absolutely heavenly throughout the house. :)

Side note: I'm not sure how the red lentils completely lost their color, but the curry powder made the whole dish turn yellow!

I only made a few changes to the recipe below, but only out of necessity. First of all, instead of a jalapeño, I used a few spicy peppers from the backyard. Apparently I should have checked to see how spicy they were, because ironically my guy couldn't handle the heat! Oops, more for me. :)

Also, I did not use the mango chutney or yogurt to garnish, but the results were fantastic!

Curried Red Lentil Soup
From Eating Well via Handle the Heat

Soup's On!

I have a huge appetite.

When I say huge, I don't mean huge for a girl my size (5'0"). I mean huge for anyone. I went to a Street Food Festival last summer with my dad, my significant other, my sister and my sister's significant other. Now, it wasn't a contest to see how much we could eat, but with so many things to try, it was hard not to stop and eat everything! It was held at the Rose Bowl, and there were tons of restaurants and food trucks serving up goodies. See below!

I can't remember how long we were there for, but my sister dropped out first, then my guy, and then my dad. My sister's significant other who is over 6 feet tall and a well-built guy was the only one who hung in there with me. Now, I'm not sure who would have won, but the rest of my family made us go home to soothe their aching bellies.

Now the only way to keep my monster appetite from pushing me into roly-poly territory is to have a strategy to my meals. In a perfect world this is how I would eat every day, but at least I have a semi-plan. I like to start my meals with a big salad and a bowl of homemade soup. That way I've at least filled up somewhat before I get to the main event. So every week I like to make a big pot of soup chock full of veggies.