Hearty Vegetable Soup

Today was the first official snowy day here in Frankfurt :)  It snowed a bit the other night when I was walking home which was so wonderful but it didn't end up sticking.  BUT it has been snowing nonstop since about 7am this morning and it looks like a beautiful winter wonderland outside.  Thankfully, I could just admire it from inside my toasty apartment with my fat little christmas tree lol.  

I felt like something warm and hearty today so I made this delicious soup.  It has so many wonderful things in it, including fresh ginger and turmeric, so it has many anti-inflammatory properties as well.  I'm a bit obsessed with turmeric lately, there is a turmeric hot chocolate recipe coming soon too. SO GOOD.  Here goes the soup...

Hearty Vegetable Soup

1/2 small head of cauliflower

1 large white onion

2 large carrots

3 cloves of garlic

1  15 ounce can cooked lentils

1 can on cannellini beans

2 jars of vegetable stock

1 tsp grated fresh turmeic

1 tbsp grated fresh ginger

2 tbsp of olive oil

2 tbsp on butter

salt and pepper to season

This soup is incredibly simple.  Just chop the onion, carrots, and garlic and sautée in the pot in the olive oil and butter.  Once these veggies get going, throw in the cauliflower and let this sautée and get soft.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Next, pour in the stock and grate in the ginger and turmeric.  When the vegetables are almost cooked through throw in the two kinds of beans since they are already cooked, they just need to be warmed through.  It was so easy, and so delicious.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did :)

Butternut Squash Soup

So fall is finally here in Frankfurt.  It's been a very hectic and busy few months since moving here. I felt like I needed some comfort food as well as some nutrition the other day, since I've pretty much been living on pommes with my busy schedule, so I made this super simple butternut squash soup.  It is by far one of the easiest soups you will every make, but tastes like you spent hours slaving over the stove. On a side note, how beautiful is my new city in the Fall!!!!

Alright, back to the recipe :)

Butternut Squash Soup

1 small Butternut squash

2 large carrots

2 small apples

2 cloves of garlic

1 medium onion

stock (vegetable or chicken)

salt and pepper

Optional: bacon and chives

Ok, so to start, peel and cut all of your veggies and apples into about 1 inch cubes and throw them into a pot with a little salt and pepper.  Pour in just enough stock to cover all of the vegetables in your pot by about a half and inch or so, and bring to a boil.  I used vegetable stock this time but it will taste just as good with chicken stock. Once it comes to a boil, turn it down to a simmer and leave covered for at least 30 minutes.  Check to see if you veggies are fork tender and if they are you are ready to blend.  I scooped batches into my blender until I had all of the soup pureed.  A food processor would be perfectly fine also. Taste and adjust your salt and pepper, if need be, and then top with a bit of cooked bacon and chives and you're good to go!

It's such a satisfying soup with its savory flavor and a hint of sweetness from the apples.  You could definitely go with the sweet factor even more by leaving out the garlic, using a sweeter onion and adding an extra apple and some cinnamon.  This is also super delicious :)  Up to you and your tastebuds on the day :)

More fall favorites to come :) 

Lemon Chicken Soup

This chicken soup hits the spot when its cold out or if you have a cold! The light lemon flavor mixed with the comforting familiar chicken soup flavor is such a great combination.  It kind of reminds me of having your bowl of soup and a cup of tea all at the same time.  I made my own chicken stock for this, but you can of course use store bought chicken broth.  Here's everything you'll need!

Lemon Chicken Soup

For the stock:

Chicken breasts on or off the bone

water

1 large or 2 small onions

a few stalks of celery

2 large carrots

3 gloves of garlic

For the soup:

The broth you made or store bought

the shredded chicken from the stock

carrots

onions

celery

salt and pepper

1/3 cup quinoa

Juice of a lemon

lemon slices for garnish

chopped chives for garnish

This soup is incredibly simple.  Just throw everything into a pot and let it bowl for the stock.  You don't have to peel your veggies either, you'll get the nutrients out of the skin into your broth that way.  Put your chicken and vegetable into a pot and fill it with just enough water that everything is covered.  boil the hell out of it until your chicken is cooked through.  Take the chicken out and let it cool.

Once your broth is cooled enough, strain it into another pot.  At this point you can salt and pepper the broth to taste. Put the broth on the stove to simmer and chop up the next batch of celery, carrots, and onion.  Toss these into the broth to soften up.  Next shred up your cooked chicken with your fingers or two forks, and toss that into the broth too!  Once your veggies start to soften up, toss in your rinsed quinoa.  Once the quinoa is cooked, your soup is pretty much done.  Before serving, squeeze in the juice of half a lemon into the pot to start, taste it, and if you can handle more lemon, squeeze the other half in too!  chop up some chives, and put a thin slice of lemon in your bowl for garnish and enjoy!!

Comfort food, chicken noodle soup and egg salad

So, it's a rainy day post Calisto and time for some comfort food and relaxation with my pretty show flowers.  The show went super well and I wish we had a few more performances, but alas! we do not.  So since my schedule was crazy busy with the show, I haven't had much time to food shop.  The fridge was pretty much empty except for some staple vegetables, left over chicken, eggs, chicken broth and pasta.  So, what did I come up with? chicken noodle soup and egg salad.

Chicken noodle soup

1 carton of chicken broth

carrots

onions

celery

garlic powder

chicken chopped

gluten free spaghetti broken up

salt and pepper

I didn't measure the ingredients in this soup.  I pretty much just eye balled everything and did everything to taste. Throw everything into a pot and let them boil until the veggies and noodles are soft. Then enjoy!

As for the egg salad, I threw 6 eggs into a small pot of water and brought them to a boil, let it boil for about 2 minutes, then turn the pot off and let the eggs sit in the hot water until they cool off for about 15 minutes.  I rinsed the eggs in cool water, peeled them, and chopped them into a bowl.  I also chopped a small amount of white onion, do this to taste, throw in about a 1/3 of a cup of mayo, and 1 tbs of mustard.  Salt and pepper to taste and mix it all together! Super simple and incredibly yummy on some gluten free toast.  

I love how it feels to have a couple of lazy days after weeks of non stop hard work and fun performing, and yummy comfort food just makes it that much better.