Potato Leek Soup - Quick Version

I adapted this recipe from one in The Dysphagia Cookbook by Elayne Achilles. The original recipe included half and half, so I omitted that, and it was still fabulous.   I think it was the white wine that made it so tasty. Besides the great taste, the ease of making this soup won me over immediately. Simply put all of the ingredients in a pot and let it cook.   I had posted a recipe for Potato Leek Soup in November, 2012, and it was also delicious, but was much more complicated to make.  This recipe is the kind I love - easy and full of Pzazz!  


Ingredients:

2 pounds Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and quartered

2 leeks, cut into 1-inch pieces (use all of white and half of green part)

3 1/2 cups vegetable or chicken broth

1/2 cup dry white wine (I used Pinot Grigio)

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

2 bay leaves 

Possible garnishes:  yogurt, finely minced scallions, parsley, or celery leaves.







Preparation:
In a 5-quart pot, cook the potatoes, leeks, broth, wine, pepper and bay leaves until the vegetables are quite tender, about 25 minutes. Cool slightly and remove the bay leaves. Puree to desired consistency. My immersion blender stick worked great for this soup.   Savor on a cold winter day!

Nutrition per serving:
Servings per recipe: 6
Serving Size: 1 cup
Calories: 150
Total Fat: 0 g
Cholesterol:  3 mg
Sodium: 567 mg
Total Carbs: 32 g
Dietary Fiber: 3 g
Protein: 4 g

Corn Chowder

I realized recently when looking through my recipes how many of them use Mid-East or East Indian spices, simply because I love those ethnic cuisines.  But it occurred to me that many of you may not share my love for those spices.  So I was looking for more traditional/MidWest American cuisine and found this one at Food and Wine.  It used milk and fresh corn cut from the cob, as well as butter. And the whole soup was not pureed. So I made the necessary modifications for me and it turned out exquisite!!  My husband, Tom, and our daughter-in-law also loved it.  Pzazz!  

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons coconut oil
4 scallions, white bulbs only, chopped
1 medium red bell pepper, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 lb. (about 3) Yukon gold potatoes, peeled,  and cut into "1/2" cubes
1 bay leaf
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
4 cups frozen corn kernels

Preparation:
1. In a large saucepan, melt the oil over moderately low heat. Add the scallion bulbs, bell pepper, and celery, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables start to soften, about 10 minutes. Stir in the potatoes, the bay leaf, broth and salt. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes. Add the frozen corn kernels and cook until tender, about 10 - 15 minutes longer. (The Food and Wine recipe stated that since the corn is already cooked, it might get tough if it is added earlier. It also suggested adding a pinch of sugar, too, to keep it tender.) 

3. Remove the bay leaf. Cool slightly.  Then puree to desired consistency. The VitaMix was a great tool for this soup because corn can be very fibrous, but the VitaMix turned it into a velvety texture without any corn kernel residue. 

4.  Potential garnishes:  chopped scallion greens and red peppers (they make such an appealing garnish, but if you can't eat them, just remove them prior to eating), yogurt, Greek yogurt, sour cream and/or finely minced celery leaf.   

Nutrition:
Servings per recipe: 6
Serving Size: Scant 1 cup                    
Calories: 206
Total Fat: 6 g
Cholesterol: 0 mg
Sodium:  422 mg
Total Carbs: 35 g
Dietary Fiber: 3 g
Protein: 7 g

Syrian Spinach Soup

With the sub-zero weather we are now enduring in Duluth, the thought of a cold smoothie or juice with healthy greens just doesn't work for my brain or body. So bring on a nourishing soup!! Pzazz on a cold day!

This soup was inspired by a recipe that I found at the New York Times food section for Pureed Spinach Soup with Middle Eastern Spices. The original recipe had rice cooked in it, but I omitted that and opted instead to add cooked rice to the soup when I served it if I chose to do so. It also used a bouquet garni of a bay leaf, fresh thyme, and fresh parsley, but I improvised with what I had available and simply used a bay leaf and ground thyme.  This is what I love about cooking as opposed to baking. Improvisation based on what I have in the kitchen keeps the process intriguing and creative and, many times, more budget-friendly.  

I also used the last of the onions we had from the garden. We had kept them in a bowl in a cool room and only a couple of them had sprouted, as you'll see in the photo below.  

Last of garden onions

I made several other adaptions to the recipe, including substitution of coconut oil for the olive oil, and I used goat yogurt instead of Greek Fage yogurt. Pairing yogurt with spinach is typical of Mid-Eastern cuisine and in this soup the yogurt contributes a mild tart flavor. The original recipe also used crushed walnuts as a garnish, which I omitted.  I chose to garnish mine with crushed beet vegetable chips.  

The mixture of spices creates a distinctly Mid-Eastern flavor, but in a delicate sort of way.  If you aren't familiar with toasting cumin seed, it is definitely worth the minimal time it requires.  Simply put them in a dry pan on low-heat and toast them for 2 - 5 minutes, just until they are fragrant. Then crush them with a mortar and pestle.

Toasting cumin seed

Don't have cumin seed?  Just throw in about 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin and you'll be fine, with a bit less robust flavor.   

Ingredients:

Fresh Spinach

1 tablespoon coconut oil 

1 medium onion, chopped

1/3 cup finely diced celery

Salt to taste (I didn't add any and it was delicious without it) 

2 garlic cloves, minced

6 cups low-sodium vegetable stock

1 bay leaf                                         

1/4 teaspoon ground thyme


1 1/2 pounds fresh spinach, stemmed and washed thoroughly in 2 changes of water

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

1/8 teaspoon ground clove

1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (I used ground nutmeg) 

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 scant teaspoon coriander seeds, lightly toasted and ground (or use about 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander if you don't have coriander seeds available)

Freshly ground pepper

1 teaspoon cornstarch

1 cup yogurt  ( I used goat yogurt, but Greek yogurt was used in the original recipe.)

Preparation:

1. Heat the oil over medium heat in a large, heavy soup pot or Dutch oven, and add the onion and celery. Cook, stirring, until tender about 5 minutes. Add a pinch of salt and the garlic and cook, stirring, until the garlic smells fragrant, 30 seconds to 1 minute.

Spices added to the soup

2. Add the stock, bay leaf, and thyme and salt to taste, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer 30 minutes. Remove the bay leaf. Stir in the spinach and spices, cover and simmer 5 minutes, stirring once or twice. The spinach should wilt but should maintain its bright color.

3. Using an immersion stick hand blender, or in batches in a regular blender, purée the soup. Return to the pot and heat through, stirring.Whisk the cornstarch into the yogurt. If you want a pungent, garlicky yogurt, mash a garlic clove to a paste with a pinch of salt in a mortar and pestle and stir it into the yogurt.  Stir the yogurt into the soup. Alternatively, you can use the yogurt as a garnish and swirl into each soup bowl when you serve it.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

4.  Serve the soup, garnishing each bowl with a sprinkling of crushed vegetable chips or croutons.  Add cooked rice, if desired.  (Rice is not included in the nutritional analysis.)




Nutrition per serving:       
Servings per recipe: 6
Serving Size: 1 cup
Calories: 82
Total Fat: 2 g
Cholesterol: 7 mg
Sodium: 254 mg
Total Carbs: 11 g
Dietary Fiber: 4 g        
Protein: 5 g

Greet the New Year with Ease

Maybe this year, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives not looking for flaws, but looking for potential.

Ellen Goodman

For daily inspiration, I generally start my day by viewing Jules of Nature, a stunning tumblr site created by my dear friend.  She pairs a quote with one of her photos each day. You will not find more magnificent photography anywhere. I encourage you to visit her site for inspiration.   

The quote above wasn't on her site, but it is certainly a perspective she has helped me embrace. As a college student and then as a young professional, and later as a wife and young mother, I made New Year's resolutions with determination to see what I might accomplish or change about myself in the coming year.  But my perspective has changed, and the quote above is one I embrace now, and think it creates much more peace and ease in my life.  Hopefully, each of you will find ease and potential in your life this year.  

Larsmont 2012

Caring for Carcinoid Foundation

As 2013 concludes, I want to share this opportunity to donate to the Caring for Carcinoid Foundation and have your funds matched. This is the only foundation that is dedicated to raising research funds for pancreatic neuroendocrine cancer (my type of cancer) and other neuroendocrine cancers. The Foundation also provides support for individuals diagnosed with these rare types of cancer.  Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors are diagnosed in 0.3 - 0.4 out of every 100,000 people each year. (Lucky me!!) Because they are so rare, there are minimal research funds available, so foundations such as this one are critical to making strides in diagnosis and treatment. There are many needs in this world, and if this one doesn't fit your giving priorities, then I'm confident you will find other ways to "live and give".  

We are so grateful for your support.  If you have already made your year end gift, please accept our sincere thank you.  If you have not yet made your gift to the Caring for Carcinoid Foundation, there is still time!  Donate now, while there is still time, and take advantage of the $1 million dollar challenge.  Your support, matched by the challenge will continue to fuel progress in 2014.  Remember the December 31st tax deadline. Donations made to the Caring for Carcinoid Foundation  before midnight on December 31st are deductible on your 2013 federal income taxes.  Thank you!   With the help of our $1 million grant from the Goldhirsh-Yellin Foundation,  every increased gift to our year end appeal will be matched dollar for dollar, and every gift increased by 50% or more will be matched two to one - doubling and tripling the impact of support.

Deck the Halls with Green

This morning on the Today show, one of the guests  (don't ask me who -- I have no memory for celebrity names)  brought their "green drink" to show the viewing world. That's all it took to motivate me to make one for my breakfast.  I generally don't like cold drinks during the winter, but it looked so tasty that I quickly overcame my aversion to anything cold.  So I looked at what I had available in the fridge and put it into my Magic Bullet. Ah...just right for taste.  It was a small amount and fit perfectly in the glass that our son got at the All Pints North Brew Fest. I was just about to start taking the photos for this post,  when I spilled it on the table. So, I decked the halls and the table with green.  I quickly snapped the photos anyway so you could witness the start of my day.  Then I scraped it back into the glass and enjoyed every sip!!  Wow....I have missed my green juices and vow to have them regularly, cold weather or not. Besides, it is a glistening, relatively warm (25 degrees) Pzazz of a day here in Duluth. 

Ingredients:
1 cup fresh spinach
1 stalk celery, cut into 3 -4 pieces
1/2 Braeburn or Granny Smith Apple        
1 Tablespoon lemon juice (appoximate)
4 Tablespoons fresh parsley  (approximate)
enough water to make it puree in the Magic Bullet (about 1/4 cup)

Preparation:
Put all ingredients in a Magic Bullet or similar device and watch the Magic of healthy, delectable Green Juice appear!


Nutrition:
Servings per recipe: 1
Serving Size: 1 cup              
Calories: 67
Total Fat: 0 g
Cholesterol: 0 mg
Sodium: 63 mg
Total Carbs: 17 g
Dietary Fiber: 4 g
Protein: 2 g

Savory Mashed Sweet Potatoes

I made these for Thanksgiving last month and they were a big hit with everyone! So I made a double batch of them Friday to bring to a family Christmas celebration yesterday.  Again, several people requested the recipe, surprised at how much they liked savory sweet potatoes. These are definitely a much healthier alternative to the usual fare of candied sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top, like the ones I ate growing up.  If you like garlic, use the full 4 cloves listed in the ingredients, but if not, feel free to reduce the amount to whatever fits your "Pzazz-ometer". This recipe is an adaptation of one from the blog of Our Savory Life.  


Ingredients:
4 medium-sized sweet potatoes
(choose ones that are all about the same size)
coconut oil for coating the potatoes
Additional 1 Tablespoon coconut oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
2-3 Tablespoons minced fresh thyme
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
dash of freshly ground black pepper

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Pierce the potatoes several times with a fork, then lightly coat them with coconut oil,and place on a foil-lined baking sheet. (One time I coated them first and then tried to pierce them....slippery and dangerous. Yikes!) Bake for 45 minutes or until juice from the potatoes are oozing. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

While the sweet potatoes are baking, saute the minced garlic cloves in the coconut oil over medium heat until fragrant and turning light brown (about 3 - 5 minutes).  Add the minced fresh thyme and continue cooking for about 3 - 4 more minutes.

Just a note about fresh thyme. Thyme is a very tiny herb and it is time consuming to strip it from the stem and then mince it. To get 2 - 3 Tablespoons of it for this recipe, I used about 10 sprigs. However, if time and energy are at a premium, use the dried ground form --- maybe about 1 -2 teaspoons.  The fresh thyme imparts such an incredibly good flavor, though, that if you can manage it, it is definitely worth the time and effort.


Remove the skin from the sweet potatoes and mash the pulp to desired consistency.  Add salt, pepper, and thyme/garlic oil mixture. Mix until well combined. These refrigerate well so they are a great dish to make a day before your holiday event. Simply warm them up in the microwave. Then be prepared to share the recipe!








Nutrition per serving:  
Servings per recipe: 4            
Serving Size: 1/2 cup
Calories: 138
Total Fat: 4 g
Cholesterol:  0 mg
Sodium:  332 mg
Total Carbs: 25 g
Dietary Fiber: 4 g
Protein: 3 g