Split Pea Soup with Baby Kale

What a perfect cloudy day for a hot bowl of split pea soup and a crusty piece of bread! I don't think I need anything more from life at this moment. Just finished reading a book called Practicing Mind by Thomas M. Sterner. Extraordinary book that talks about living in present moment and enjoy all the small and big joy that each moment brings to us. Decide your goal, keep the focus on it, but don't think that achieving the goal would be the only thing that make you happy, rather enjoy the process of reaching toward the goal while living in every moment on the path. A must read you all!

I always have great time updating and posting my recipes here on my space, but more than that I enjoy taking pictures and adding them to my post. Here is one of such pics.

Here is how they look before jumping into pot!

As promised yesterday (my FB followers would know) here is a post while we all await for the election results!

This is a kind of recipe that you can work on while you watch CNN/ MSNBC or any of your fav news channel today. 

Here is what you will need-:

• 1/2 cup organic split peas( it would be great if you can soak them for a couple of hours. If you don't have time you can use them as is.)
• 2 cups of organic vegetable broth
• 2 cups of organic Baby kale
• 1/2 medium onion - chopped
• Garlic- 2-3 cloves
• Extra Virgin Olive oil- 1 tbsp
• All spice- 1 tsp
• Bay Leaf- 1
• Jalapeno- 1 cut into small pieces
• Turmeric- 1 tsp
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• Paprika- 1-2 tsp
• Herbamare- to taste ( use it instead of salt. If you have never used it before, you should give it a try. It's a sea salt with a nice blend of organic herbs and vegetables)
• Vegetables of your choice- carrots, mushrooms, bok choy etc.
• Water as needed.

Method-:

• In a large pan, put Extra virgin olive oil. After it gets heat up add chopped onion and saute it for a minute and then add the garlic and bay leaf.
• In a minute add turmeric and jalapeno. Then add veggies and saute for about a minute. Add washed soaked split peas. If you haven't soaked them already, take it into account that you might have to cook them longer than if you would have soaked them.
• Add vegetable broth and some water if needed. Bring everything to a boil, lower down the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes until the peas get cooked. 
• Add in the super food- baby kale and mix well. Also add all spice, herbamare to taste and some more water or vegetable broth if it is too thick for a soupy consistency.
• Give a nice mix and let everything come together for 2-3 more minutes.
• If you want you can use a hand blender to puree the soup. Pour a few ladles aside and then puree the remaining soup and mix both together to get a nice consistency. For me I love the heartiness of the soup and like it as is.
• Ladle into a bowl and serve with a crusty bread...YUMM!!!

While the discussion/ polls heat up, ladle yourself a nice hearty bowl of this soup and a bread to go along! Having said that let me go back to the news and hope for the best next 4 years ahead as last 4..:) Fingers crossed!!!

Asparagus Soup- A slow cooker/crock-pot wonder

This is the first time I used slow cooker for making this healthful soup. And now that I have used it once I am kind of addicted to use it over and over. Slow cooker is such a convenient invention, that it gives you ease of preparing your food while you are away the whole day/ sleeping the whole night. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Preparing the soup is such a simple task, all you have to do is gather the ingredients.

chop them.

and throw them in to the slow cooker, with vegetable stock/vegetable broth. I used vegetable stock. Also add salt and pepper to taste. Keep in mind that the vegetable stock also contains salt.

Set the cooker to low for about 7-9 hours, or high for about 5-6 hours. I set it on high for 5 hours, just until the potatoes are tender.

Let the mixture cool for an hour and then use the blender/mixer to blend it in to a soup like consistency.

Return the mixture to the slow cooker add the milk or half an half. Using milk or half and half is totally optional. As per my experience, using it is a wise decision, as it will make the soup creamy and thick. Set on a low for about 45 minutes, and then set the cooker on warm until you are ready to eat.

Ladle the soup in to a bowl. I garnished the soup with a dollop of cream cheese, shaved red pepper and asparagus spears that I kept aside.

Enjoy!!!

Coming up: Baked pasta with roasted vegetables

An entry to No croutons required.

Hello everyone, here is a small request to all of you out there. If you like my Spinach Soup recipe, then please vote for my recipe at Tinned Tomatoes. The winner will receive a plaque to display on their blog.

I would love to win my first plaque, so if you like my recipe and it's presentation and if you feel it's worth winning the plaque, then please visit Tinned Tomatoes and vote for my recipe. The last day to vote is coming Sunday.

I would appreciate your effort.

Thank you.

After completion of one year of blogging here comes my first entry to the next year's. Well this was posted last year, but the theme of the event is matching to my post, so I am sending the entry to one of my favourites " NO CROUTONS REQUIRED"!!!

This is a monthly food blogging event. This time it is hosted my Lisa's Kitchen. They are looking for a soup or a salad that feature leaves.

I decided to send my spinach soup recipe.

So here you go:

I wanted to serve something in a cute little white bowl that I recently bought. The first thing came to my mind was a colorful spinach soup which is full of nutritional value as well as rich flavor. Every time I make this soup I use different recipe, the reason is I don't remember the recipe I used last time. It's funny, because I make this soup all the time, at least once a month or so...:)

So this time I am documenting it down so that I won't forget it. Although I kind of like the newness of this recipe every time. So I guess I might document it today in my blog, but I don't think I would be using it next time......lols!!!

Whatever, here is how I made my favorite soup-:

1. Heat some unsalted butter in the pan, add chopped onions fry for a minute
2. Add 1 chopped potato to it.
3. Add half a cup of vegetable stock and and half a cup of 2% reduced fat milk( I used 2 % , you can certainly use whatever you have on hand.) Bring it to a boil. Allow to cook for about 10 minutes on a lowered heat.
4. Add cut spinach leaves, keeping aside few leaves to add later when you blend the mixture.
5. Add 2 cups of stock to it. Bring it to boil. Allow to simmer for 10 more minutes with a lid on it.
6. Allow the mixture to cool down, before you blend that in a mixture.
7. When you blend the mixture, make sure you add remaining spinach leaves. This will give your soup nice green color.
8. Return the mixture to the pan heated with little more butter. Heat the mixture, add some salt, sometimes I add crushed cumin seeds that gives nice fresh taste to the soup. But you can skip that. Do not allow the soup to boil. Serve in a nice plate garnished with spinach leaves and some Parmesan shaves or any grated cheese you like.

This is a perfect soup for cold winter weather. Spinach has tons of nutrients, it's a very good source of iron as well. So make a bowl for you and savour the warmth in the cold winter or on a gloomy rainy day.

Enjoy......:)

Sweet corn soup!!

A really healthy and delicious version of corn soup.

This is my mothers recipe, very simple to make.

All you will need is-:

1. Frozen Corn kernels-( thawed )
2. Vegetable stock/ you can use just plain water. I have used water this time.
3. Milk 1/4 cup - any milk is fine, half and half/2%/or whole.
4. Pepper powder 1/2 tbsp or you can just eyeball it...add less or more as per your taste.
5. Green onion chopped.
6. Salt to taste.

Sometimes I add some vegetables in my soup, like green beans, carrots, green onions. each of the vegetable has it's unique flavour. I love them all. This time I am going to add green onion.

Step 1:

Drop thawed corn kernels in to the grinder and make a paste out of it.

Step 2:

Heat a pan, add the paste to the heated pan, NO OIL/GHEE NEEDED.

Keep stirring the paste continuously.

Note: If you want to add the vegetables, cut them nice and thin add them at this point so that they will cook throughout the end. I actually like a little crunch to my vegetables in my soup, The crunch acts as croutons for me, but if you like to eat cooked veggies, you should cut them in big chunks and cook them first in boiling water and then add them at a later stage.

Step 3:

Now add the water to the paste, and let it be on a medium to high flame.

Step 4:

Add Salt and freshly ground black pepper and add green onion.

Serve with soy sauce, green chili sauce, as per your taste.

Enjoy!!!

Dumplings in the hot tub!!

Winter is here in California!! Although it never snows in California, (at least around my area) it's chilly enough to enjoy a hot tub of tomato soup with couple of dumplings....:))

Today is the thanksgiving night, everybody must be enjoying with their families and friends. I decided to enjoy a nice hearty bowl of soup with my hubby. I wanted to make it a little fancy. That's when an idea of dumplings came to my mind. I used Nasoya's round wheat wraps I bought from pavilions last week. 

Also I had a can of Campbell's tomato soup. I was lazy enough to use canned soup to make my dinner in just 20 minutes. I love Campbell's, especially their healthy request series with less sodium and less fat....:)) and good part of it is you don't have to sacrifice the test...:))  I love it...:)

I guess no need to write the recipe for soup here, so here goes the dumplings....

For filling:-

You can throw anything in to the wrap as long as the filling doesn't become soggy or watery. The wrap should hold the mixture after boiling or frying. 

Here is the filling I made today-:

1 scallion chopped

5-6 baby carrots shredded

pinto beans (I used canned) slightly mashed with spoon.

1 tsp soy sauce

1 tsp hot sauce

salt to taste.

You can boil, the veggies before placing the filling in to the wrap, if you want. I used, baby carrots, canned beans which are not very raw. I like kind of a crunch to my dumplings. But if you feel, you can certainly go ahead and boil those in a water for a couple of minutes, drain the water and then add them.

Toss all the ingredients together in a bowl. Add a spoonful of filling in the middle of the wrap. Brush the ends with a drop of water so that, they will stick to each other. Fold the sides by keeping the filling in the center of the wrap. Make sure that the ends get sealed nicely. To give them a nice shape, you can pinch the ends with your fingers. 

Boil the dumplings in the water for about 5 minutes or until they float in the water. Other option is you can fry those. I haven't tried that yet. 

Here is how they look after they come out-:

Let the dumplings float in the hot tub . Garnish them with chopped scallions, and shredded Parmesan. 

 Enjoy your dinner on a chilly night in winter.

Spinach Soup

I wanted to serve something in a cute little white bowl that I recently bought. The first thing came to my mind was a colorful spinach soup which is full of nutritional value as well as rich flavor. Every time I make this soup I use different recipe, the reason is I don't remember the recipe I used last time. It's funny, because I make this soup all the time, at least once a month or so...:)

So this time I am documenting it down so that I won't forget it. Although I kind of like the newness of this recipe every time. So I guess I might document it today in my blog, but I don't think I would be using it next time.

Whatever, here is how I made my favorite soup-:

Heat some unsalted butter in the pan, add chopped onions fry for a minute and add 1 chopped potato to it, add half a cup of vegetable stock and and half a cup of 2% reduced fat milk( I used 2 % , you can certainly use whatever you have on hand.) Bring it to a boil. Allow to cook for about 10 minutes on a lowered heat.
Add cut spinach leaves, keeping aside few leaves to add later when you blend the mixture.
Add 2 cups of stock to it. Bring it to boil. Allow to simmer for 10 more minutes with a lid on it.
Allow the mixture to cool down, before you blend that in a mixture.
When you blend the mixture, make sure you add remaining spinach leaves. This will give your soup nice green color.
Return the mixture to the pan heated with little more butter. Heat the mixture, add some salt, sometimes I add crushed cumin seeds that gives nice fresh taste to the soup. But you can skip that. Do not allow the soup to boil. Serve in a nice plate garnished with spinach leaves and some Parmesan shaves or any grated cheese.
Enjoy......:)

Coming Up: Black and White Cookies

Zucchini Soup

One of my dreams is to have my own garden sometime in the future, where I can relax and breath fresh air. Recently we had been to my friend Geeta's house in Pasadena. She has a beautiful house and even more beautiful garden. It was really a treat to see her hard work and passion for plants. I could find Mint, zucchini, tomato, corn, strawberries, green chillies, and many more everyday fruits and vegetables in her garden. I was really inspired by all this and was more happy to know that I will be preparing zucchini soup produced from her garden. :)

Long time back I bought some really interesting recipe books from borders. They were on sale, super cheap, $2.99 each and are super useful, for soup lover like me. So this recipe is from one of those books called soups and stews.

So here it goes-:

2 Zucchini sliced I used 1 from Geeta's garden and other I bought from the store.
half onion chopped
2 tablespoon of butter
1 tablespoon of all purpose flour.
2 cups of chicken stock
1 and half cups of milk
dried/ fresh thyme
half a cup of cream
Parmesan cheese.

It can make 5-6 servings.

Start with buttering a pan on low- medium heat. Add onion and cook for 2-3 minutes. Don't allow onion to be brown. Then add sliced zucchini. Cover it and continue for 5 minutes. Add all purpose flour and cook for one more minute. Now it's time to add chicken stock and milk stirring it after every addition. Add the thyme and crank up the heat to bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Allow the mixture to cool. Puree the mixture in batches until smooth. Reheat gently and add cream and Parmesan. Add salt to taste. Garnish it with fresh thyme leaves and shaved Parmesan cheese. Do not allow the soup to boil.



You can store this soup in the refrigerator for about 1 day without adding cream and cheese.

Serve it with garlic bread. I will save the recipe of garlic bread for some time later.

Thanks to Geeta for her home grown zucchini.

Enjoy!!!