Soup-er! (Yes, I did go there.)

Soups to try:

• Lighter Italian Wedding Soup
• Asian Chicken & Watercress Soup 
• Veggie Split Pea Soup 
• Sweet Potato and Chipolte Soup
• Mushroom & Barley Soup
• Onion Soup with Cheese Toasts
• Chicken Posole
• Butternut Bisque
• Broccoli Rabe & White Bean Soup

I've started making a big pot of soup on either Sunday or Monday to get me through the week for lunch.  It’s quick, easy to heat up and Finn eats it, too, so it’s a good extra serving of vegetables for him.

The key to really good soup, I think, is homemade stock.  I obviously don’t sit around and make stock all day, because, really, who has that kind of time?  Actually, who am I kidding, some days I do have that kind of time because I stay at home.  But it is hands down the easiest, best thing in the world, albeit a little bit time-consuming.  Everyone makes stock different; I make mine the way my mom taught me – vegetables, slow simmering, and a whole chicken carcass.  I usually make chicken stock when we've had a whole, roasted chicken for dinner – and it can even be one of those rotisserie chickens from the grocery store.  I clean most of the remaining meat off, which I set aside to use for chicken salad sandwiches or, if I’m making chicken soup, I’ll add that later, after the broth is done.  Then I put the bones in a big ole soup pot, add chopped celery, onion, carrots and a couple of cloves of garlic and fill the stock pot with water.  Add some herbs – I use oregano, thyme, basil and a bay leaf and bring it all to a boil.  Then I turn the heat back, put a cover on it and let it simmer on low until the broth has reduced by about half.

Usually at this point I’ll turn the stock off and let it cool down to room temperature then stick it in the refrigerator over night.  The point is to let the fat from the chicken congeal on the top so that the next morning I can skim it off…you want a little bit of that fat as you’re simmering the broth because fat adds flavor, but you don’t need all of it and it can make for kind of a greasy broth if there is too much.  And we all know that at this point, the less fat, the better (my bum will thank me come beach season!).  Then I put that big pot back on the stove and bring it up to a low simmer for maybe about 20 minutes to a half an hour and then strain all of the chicken bones and vegetables out, leaving a really nice, intense broth.  And then I freeze it in 2 cup portions for use later.

The same theory applies if you get a soup bone from the grocery store for beef broth or a ham bone for ham broth.  I've never made fish stock, so I’m not entirely sure how that process would work (I’m sure Uriah can give me a tutorial on that some day when I'm less busy doing stay-at-home mom things.).  You can also use whatever veggies you happen to have in the house.  I've added red onion, leek, and green or red peppers to my broth before because they were in the fridge and needed to be used.  Don’t worry about saving the vegetables from your broth to use later in your soup; you've already leached all of their good flavor out and into the broth – which is also why you want to remove most of the chicken from the bones and add it in later.  Even if you’re making  vegetable soup or chicken noodle soup, you want to discard the simmered veggies and use fresh in your soup.

Sometimes, however, I don’t have the patience for all of that simmering and straining and cooling and skimming, so I just make my broth, strain out the veggies and bones and then use the broth to make my soup the same day.  It’s just as good and if I have leftover broth, I freeze it.

Today was technically my first day of Soup for Lunch, although last week for my lunches I ate the Ham & Pot Liquor Soup I made when my parents visited.  The ham soup is a little bit spicy, so Finn wasn't sold on it; today we had a fall vegetable soup that I made yesterday with some chicken broth I found in the freezer and some veggies I had in the refrigerator.  I deliberately left out any sort of barley or noodle filler in my soup this week – I wanted just a broth with vegetables soup to kick my healthy eating into gear.  I paired my big bowl of soup with some low-fat cottage cheese and a banana, over-all a relatively healthy, filling lunch.  I think tomorrow I’ll have a salad with it and maybe on Thursday I’ll add an open-faced ham sandwich with low-fat cheese and spicy mustard.  I realize that for some people, eating the same thing for lunch 5 days in a row can get a little bit boring (and I’m one of them) so the sides I put with my soup need to be different each day and a healthy supplement.

So that’s soup week one… I've added the Ham & Pot Liquor soup recipe below – it’s really good if you don’t mind a little heat; you can always cut back on the hot sauce for a less spicy soup.  The vegetable soup recipe is really easy and made my whole house smell amazing yesterday.  I’m planning to work my way through the list of soups between now and Thanksgiving and then add some more for the weeks after Thanksgiving.

Today I felt much better about my choices than I have in a while…and more in control of what I’m doing.  I logged everything I've eaten and pre-pointed out my dinner, so I know that I can afford a small snack this evening if I need it and if it’s before 8 pm.  I didn't work out hard, but I did walk a bunch this morning taking pictures of Sarah and Michael, so I feel pretty good about getting some movement into my day today.

One day at a time...

• 2 pounds kale*
• 1 (2 lb) ham steak
• 2 tablespoons hot sauce
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 medium onions, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 6 red potatoes, diced
• 3 (14-oz) cans chicken broth
• 2 (16-oz) cans black eyed peas**
• 2 cups water, use reserved kale cooking water from second boil***
• ½ cup vermouth
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon salt

Remove and discard stems and discolored spots from  kale; rinse with cold water.  Drain and tear into 1-inch pieces.  Cover kale with cold water and bring to a boil in a large Dutch oven.  Remove from heat; drain.  Cover again with water and bring to a boil.  Drain, reserving liquid.

Toss ham with hot sauce.  Cook in oil in Dutch oven over medium-high heat until browned.  Add onion and garlic and saute until tender.  Stir in kale, potatoes, and remaining ingredients; bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally  45 minutes.

*Original recipe called for collard greens - couldn't find them, so I substituted kale.  I've never had kale before, but it was really, really good.
**I used dried black-eyed peas because Uriah couldn't find them in the canned aisle (probably looking with his man eyes.).  Soaked the peas overnight and then added 2 cups to the broth to simmer and cook through.
***The original recipe doesn't say to use the cooking water from the collards/kale, but I think it gives a little bit of extra flavor to the soup; if you don't have 2 cups, add water to make the full amount.  You could just use 2 cups of water if you forget to reserve your cooking water, though!  Sometimes I like to get a little over-zealous...

8 servings
Adapted from Southern Living Christmas Cookbook, 2005

Fall Vegetable Soup

• 1 leek, white and most of the green part sliced
• 3 tablespoons butter
• ½ acorn squash, seeded, peeled and cubed
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 3 parsnips, chopped
• 1 cup fresh broccoli heads and stem pieces, chopped
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 3 cups water
• 1 teaspoon each, oregano and thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter in soup pot over medium heat, add leeks and saute until tender.  Add squash, carrot, parsnips and broccoli; stir to combine with leeks and saute 3 minutes.  Add broth, water and herbs.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until vegetables are tender.  Salt and pepper to taste.

4 servings