Egg Drop Soup - Fast!

So last Wednesday... No, let me back up. Last Sunday, we attended a birthday party at Peter Piper Pizza, which is just a place you take your kids so they can run around while you get a headache. But there's also skee ball so it's got that going for it. Anyways, Alex had fun and we got to see friends, so that was fine and dandy.

Then, the Wednesday after, Todd came down with an absolutely horrendous cold. Thanks Peter Piper! Now, let me tell you, when this man gets sick, he is KO'd for approximately 48 hours and then he's fine. Just... Fine. He gets the aches and pains, the sore throat, the coughing. He gets to skip congestion because I guess he's God's gift to man, but I digress. This time, though... THIS TIME, man, he's been knocked over for, what, 9 days? Judging by his snoring this morning, I'm just going to go ahead and round that up to 10. A 10 day cold, AKA the flu.

He hasn't been this sick since the end of our honeymoon, when he got sick from smoking a cigar in our hotel room in Rome, head hanging out the window in the wintery evening, people gazing and just generally looking like a tourist on their last day in Rome. I DON'T WANT TO MISS A THING. The next day we were at Ostia Antica IN THE RAIN and he's running around like a puppy on chuck wagon day, hiding in old caves where cults gathered and checking out ancient public toilets with running water. Then the next day we're on a 10 hour flight and his sinuses just like, oh I don't know, explode or something. I'll never forget the angry red streaks down his face and throat, where he had tried in vain to rub the pressure out. Oh, that flight ran out of drinking water halfway through. GOOD TIMES.

SO ANYWAYS. That cold/flu was bad and this one has proved to be just as formidable. I pronounce that word en francais in my head whenever I use it. FOR-MI-DAHBL. I thought I was in the clear, too. He came down with it last Wednesday, and I didn't get the oh shit feeling until we woke up at 3:40am THIS Wednesday morning to Alex having a pee accident and I realized my throat was on fire and my limbs were filling with the pin-prickly aches of doom. Oh good. It's heee-eeere!

I was absolutely out on Wednesday, which also happened to be my mumblethirtyfourthmumble birthday. And, good mother that I am, since Todd had to do some work, I just set Alex up to watch Curious George all morning while I burrowed into a nest of blankets and pillows on the living room sofa marathoning episodes of Arrow which is good and bad and awesome and stupid and EVERYONE keeps landing in the hospital, it's great.

I sucked down ibuprofin and bowls of broth brought to you by Better Than Bouillon and that night, after Alexandra threw up three times and finally got put to bed after she was in the all clear zone, Todd made me my birthday dinner which was linguine with crab in spicy white wine sauce which was as delicious as it sounds, especially when you pair it with ginger ale. Then I writhed around in agony on his lap while he watched episodes of Breaking Bad.

Later at midnight Alex woke up with a 102 degree fever so we gave her medicine and all piled into bed so we could all writhe around in agony together because we are family. Thursday morning, I piled her into a nest of pillows and blankets to marathon Curious George which is good and bad and awesome and stupid and EVERYONE keeps trusting this goddamn monkey with shit like TRIPS TO THE GODDAMN MOON, it's great.

I wanted protein that morning (Alex had toast and apples, because hey vomit), but also knew that chicken broth was my best bet at recovery. So I did a lightning quick google search and found one of the simplest yet tastiest soup recipes in my life. And I wanted to share it with you! And also share my agony. My misery. My child's pain and suffering. Todd's servitude to his sick girls. But mostly, and I'm being completely honest here, my agony. My misery.

Here was my countercurse for yesterday's agony. Yesterday's misery.

Egg Drop Soup

serves two

4 cups chicken broth (I used Better Than Bouillon)

salt and pepper to taste

sesame oil (optional but you should do it)

2 eggs, lightly beaten

fresh scallions, sliced (I used chives)

soy sauce (optional but you should do it)

So just boil your broth. Once it's boiling, add the salt, pepper and few drops of sesame oil. Let boil another minute or so. Next, sloooowly pour in your eggs, stirring rapidly in a clockwise motion. Once they're in, ladle your soup into bowls and garnish with the scallions or chives. Add a few drops of soy sauce to deepen the flavor, and you're in like Flynn.

The recipe I found online suggested you could add a slurry of cornstartch to the broth before adding your eggs in order to thicken it. I contemplated doing so but ultimately did the original as is, and I'm glad I did. There's something refreshing about enjoying a soup with so few ingredients. And, hey there, if you use Better Than Bouillon, there's the added benefit of knowing that 8 oz of this soup has only 50 calories, give or take.

So, there's the reward for listening to me bitch about illness. SOUP.

French Onion Soup Gratinee



We finally, FINALLY, had weather to match the time of year this past weekend, so naturally my friends and I had a soup party and then the next day I made French onion soup. Yesterday I had some for lunch and Todd was like, MY GOD MAN, NO MORE SOUP and I was like, tough toodles, buddy, we're having another kind of soup on Tuesday.

Look, it's been over 90 degrees for about seven years here, so when it dipped into the fifties, my Dutch oven came out in all its glory, okay?

Anyways. I got this recipe off of All Recipes so I want to link you there in order to give credit where it's due, and to not seem like a lying, thieving asshole. But I will also lay out the ingredients and steps here for those who are like, MY GOD MAN, NO MORE LINKS

French Onion Soup Gratinee

serves four

4 tbsp butter

1 tsp salt

2 large red onions, halved and sliced thin

2 large yellow onions, halved and sliced thin

48 ounces chicken broth

14 ounces beef broth

1/2 cup red wine

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

2 sprigs fresh parsley

1 sprig fresh thyme

1 bay leaf

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

4 thick slices French baguette

8 slices Gruyere or Swiss

1/2 cup shredded Parmesan

4 pinches paprika (I did not do this)

The woman on All Recipes was to the point so here are her directions that I followed to a T (aside from the paprika), and I rarely follow something to a T:

Melt butter in a large pot over medium-high heat. Stir in salt, red onions and sweet onions. Cook 35 minutes, stirring frequently, until onions are caramelized and almost syrupy.

Mix chicken broth, beef broth, red wine and Worcestershire sauce into pot. Bundle the parsley, thyme, and bay leaf with twine and place in pot. Simmer over medium heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove and discard the herbs. Reduce the heat to low, mix in vinegar and season with salt and pepper. Cover and keep over low heat to stay hot while you prepare the bread.

Preheat oven broiler. Arrange bread slices on a baking sheet and broil 3 minutes, turning once, until well toasted on both sides. Remove from heat; do not turn off broiler.

Arrange 4 large oven safe bowls or crocks on a rimmed baking sheet. Fill each bowl 2/3 full with hot soup. Top each bowl with 1 slice toasted bread, 2 slice Gruyere cheese and 1/4 of the Asiago or mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle a little bit of paprika over the top of each one.

Broil 5 minutes, or until bubbly and golden brown. As it softens, the cheese will cascade over the sides of the crock and form a beautifully melted crusty seal. Serve immediately!

Obligatory line from my favorite movie Clue: "And oh my, this soup's delicious, isn't it?"

German Beer Stew with Sausage, Cabbage & Onion

Um, sooo yeah. This stew was so freaking good I could not stop going back to the pot for bites. I got it off Pinterest (GO FIGURE) and it was originally posted on The Cozy Apron in this here post: Oktoberfest Lager Stew. I want to post you to this place because this is where this here photo comes from and I want to offer credit where it's due.

I don't call mine Oktoberfest stew because I didn't use that type of beer. So actually I guess this should be called Fat Tire Stew. But gross! That doesn't appeal to me in any way and I know how delicious that beer tastes. Hey girl. Come over here. Here. Eat this stew. It's called Fat Tire. Hey girl, where you going? I didn't mean it would make you into a fat tire! Stop crying! Oh my God, are you calling your mom? No, I don't want to talk to her! I didn't do anything wrong.



Uh, let's get to the soup.

German Beer Stew with Sausage, Cabbage and Onion

serves four

1 tbsp olive oil

4 links smoked beef sausage, cut into bite size pieces

1 onion, cut in half and sliced thin

1/2 head cabbage, halved again, cored and cut into thin slices

1/2 tsp fresh black pepper

1/4 tsp ground caraway seeds (I didn't have this, so I used cumin with dill)

salt to taste

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup German style beer (I used Fat Tire upon Todd's recommendation and he knows beer)

2 russet potatoes, peeled and diced into small bite size pieces

2.5 cups hot chicken stock (I used salt free boullion powder)

1.5 tbsp apple cider vinegar

3 tbsp snipped fresh parsley

Oh my God, oh my God this was so good. OKAY. So, heat your olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium high heat. Once it's hot, add your sausage and cook until browned, about five minutes.

Add your onions and let those carmelize a bit (another few minutes) before adding the cabbage. Toss to combine and let THAT mix cook down about for ANOTHER four or five minutes.

Now, add your pepper, caraway (or cumin/dill mix) and salt, give it a stir and toss in the garlic. Once it's fragrant, add the beer, potatoes and stock.

Bring it to a boil and then reduce heat, partly cover (to allow steam to escape) and simmer for 40 minutes. Stir in your vinegar and parsley and TRY not to kill the other people eating it so you can have it all to yourself. My God, man. It was full of stars.

Ginger Beef Soup w/Ramen Noodles

BOOM it's a food post. That hasn't happened in about four years.

I didn't take any pictures though. Considering how crappy the photos come out, I don't imagine a lot of you are crying about it though. I did, however, find a photo online from Cook's Country that was used on the recipe card. I hope I don't get arrested for posting it here.

Ginger Beef and Ramen Noodle Soup
serves 4

1 1lb flank steak
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp olive oil
8 cups chicken broth
3 (2" long) strips of lime zest plus 1 tbsp lime juice reserved
1 2" long chunk of fresh ginger (I used 2 tsp of my Penzeys ginger chunks)
4 packs of ramen noodles, spice packets discarded
5 scallions, sliced thin
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves, chopped


Pat the flank steak dry and season with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a skillet on medium high heat and when it's juuuust smoking, toss in your steak. Cook 6 - 8 minutes, flipping once, until done. Cook's wants you to wait til it's 125 degrees inside, but whatever bro, I live life on the wild side. Plus the hot soup will totally finish the cooking process for you.

Remove skillet from heat and the steak from the skillet. Let your meat rest for 5 minutes under tented foil, then cut in half and cut into thin strips against the grain. Meanwhile! Put the broth, lime zest and ginger in a Dutch oven and allow it to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for ten minutes.

Remove the ginger and zest (unless you're using ginger chunks like I did; they were a treat to bite into while devouring the soup) and add your noodles, lime juice and soy sauce to the broth. Cook about three minutes (God I have missed ramen) or until soft. Divide your broth and noodles evenly among the bowls and top with the steak and cilantro. Chomp and slurp your way to serenity and peace.

We had this last night and my goodness, it was so good. And easy! I wrote this post absolutely from memory because Cook's Country won't share recipes online unless you agree to a 14 day trial, credit card and all, to view their site. I wrote a bunch of bitterness but deleted it because this post is about FOOD and not RAGE.

<3

New Recipes!

I had a draft of a post all ready to be published, all about how Pinterest mystifies, confuses and intimidates me, but considering the fact that the day after writing it, I went on Pinterest and printed out three recipes which I proceeded to make this week, I think I can safely delete that draft.

I will still admit that while I'm surfing the web, I'm never inspired to pin something to one of my boards, mainly because while online I'm usually either at Oh No They Didn't or Words With Friends and I never think to re-pin Paris Hilton's latest crotch shot or my latest 100-point word score.

Anyways, I really want to share these recipes because they were just SO GOOD. I guess one recipe counts as two: Spicy Pulled Pork and Pork Chili Verde soup.

I would have taken photos of the cooking process but since I followed the recipes to a T and because I wasn't actually sure how they'd turn out, I decided against it. So today I will have links and I won't talk shit. Click the recipe names to go to the original web sites. All photos here were borrowed from the original sites in order to tantalize. And hey, I'm bringing these mofos more traffic so they should be pleased.

Bobby's Lighter Tastes Like Lasagna Soup
A.K.A. Lasagna Soup



What I love about this recipe is that it's by Bobby Deen, Paula Deen's son. And thanks to him and his fabulosity, he shaves over 400 CALORIES off the original Paula Deen soup, so each one cup serving is just 225 calories. Even if you double it up, that's only 450 calories for a delicious, rich, hearty and FILLING soup. I never ever ever never leave any food on my plate but when I made this on Monday, I couldn't finish it. I even left bread behind! What the fuck!

Chicken and Mushrooms in White Wine Sauce



This recipe was originally posted on Skinny Taste, and my goodness was there a lot of taste to this! What I love about cooking, or maybe what I hate about cooking is that once you master something, you sort of forget about it. Like using wine to deglaze a pan. Instant sauce! So it's nice to browse around the internet or a cookbook and allow a recipe to jog your memory. That's what was nice about this one. It's so simple, and so easy. Even Todd, who has had countless dishes of mine that use white wine, was blown away by the flavors and richness in a calorically moderate dish. We had it with a side of parboiled green beans sauteed in butter with parsley.

Spicy Pulled Pork

Heather Cristo's site has beautiful photography but who cares when the food is this good?! I have never in my life cooked pork shoulder, or shredded my own meat, but this was easy and delicious and filled my house with tantalizing aromas for hours. I made it Wednesday afternoon so I could use it for Thursday's chili verde, and it was nearly impossible to stay away from it. This, despite the fact that we had steak on Wednesday! Excellent steak too, but I kept thinking about that pork...

Pork Chili Verde

Upon looking at this photo I realized that last night, I totally forgot to top our soup with cilantro and scallions, which not only means we missed out on a dimension of flavor but now I have to figure out what else to use those two things in so I don't waste them. Hmm. I DO have half a pork shoulder left, so maybe I should just make this again! By the way, that's all I did differently to this recipe: I halved it. My dutch oven simply isn't large enough to house a 6.71lb pork shoulder which was the smallest that Fry's had to offer. So I cut the recipe in half, which was easy to do. Oh, and even though we skipped the cilantro and scallions, this soup was unbelievable! AND it wasn't too spicy, even with the jalepeno in it. Todd went back for seconds but, much like the lasagna soup, I was simply too stuffed after one bowl.


I hope you all enjoy these! They were all easy and fun to make, and there really isn't anything better than that for a weeknight supper.

Split Pea Soup with Pork Tenderloin

Note: this recipe actually calls for ham hocks, and while I do include ham hocks in the first hour of cooking, this time instead of removing the meat (read: mostly fat) and adding it back to the pot to cook another 30 minutes, I removed the ham hocks after the first hour, cut up the pork tenderloin and added it to the pot. It was a lot tastier and a lot leaner, with loads more actual meat than rendered from the hocks. but I will say that the ham hocks by themselves make a very thrifty meal. We had half a pork tenderloin in the freezer so I took advantage of that little boon.

Split Pea Soup with Pork Tenderloin

serves 4 (or Todd and Jil)

3 cups water

2 cups chicken broth

1 bag split peas

1 package meaty ham hocks (or a meaty ham bone)

1/4 tsp marjoram

1 bay leaf

Pepper, to taste

2 stalks celery, chopped

10 - 12 baby carrots, sliced

1 medium yellow onion, diced

12 oz - 1lb pork tenderloin, diced

The players:

Put the first seven ingredients into your pot:

While that comes to a boil, chop up the next three ingredients.

Perfect timing! Now that it's boiling, reduce the heat, cover and simmer for an hour, stirring occasionally.

After about 40 minutes, I like to turn the ham hocks over. Your soup will look like this, at that stage:



At the one hour mark, remove your ham hocks. Now if you're skipping the tenderloin, this is when you wait for the hocks to cool a bit, then you cut the meat off and return it to the soup. However, this bowl was the end of the road for my ham hocks:

Add your veggies to the soup:

Now let's deal with the tenderloin. Men, you might want to... um... avert your eyes for the next two photos. First slice down the length of the pork:

Then dice it up:

Add the pork to the soup, stir it up, bring to a boil. Then reduce heat, cover once more and simmer for 30 minutes.

After a cocktail and a piping hot bath (in that order), this is what I was greeted with:

Perfection! This soup was just absolutely delicious and is ideal for cold winter nights. We each had a buttered piece of marble rye toast with it. Todd was raving about it and we both sneaked into the kitchen several times for more bites. I think there's probably only a single serving left, if that. We hoovered it!

Mushroom Soup

This recipe is one that I do from memory and constantly change, improvise and add to, and that always scares me. I was really almost nervous about blogging about it but I persevered and I'm glad I did. One thing though, I seem always to forget that mushrooms and onions render a lot of moisture. Even when I think I've added more than enough flour for my roux, I always end up needing to add cornstarch towards the end. But then again, it means that I always add extra port, and that can never be a bad thing for such a rich and savory soup. 

Long story short (too late), if you want to avoid using cornstarch, I'd add an extra two heaping tbsp of flour. If you don't mind using cornstarch, follow in my footsteps!

Mushroom Soup with Roast Beef

serves 8

Butter

Olive oil

6 - 8oz roast beef luncheon meat

1 large onion, chopped

3 heaping tbsp flour

8oz white mushrooms, thinly sliced

8oz white mushrooms, finely chopped

1 8oz package sliced baby portabella mushrooms

8 cups reduced sodium beef broth

1/2 cup port

2 - 3tbsp Worcestershire sauce

2 tbsp cornstarch

3 tbsp port

1/2 cup shredded Parmesan

Salt and pepper to taste

Baguette slices

Okay! So to prep your mushrooms, whip out your Cuisinart. If you don't have one, do it by hand. Before Todd and I got married (and were gifted with my kitchen mistress, the Cuisinart), I had to do it by hand. I'll be honest, it took SO LONG. Thank God the recipe called for alcohol, sipping it helps alleviate the tedium of finely chopping half a pound of mushrooms.

ANYWAYS. Chop chop:

After you finish your chopping, mincing, dicing and slicing, here's what you'll have:

(Note my adorable recipe card box that I maniacally collaged. I am a Party Puff Girl). Now that your mushrooms are prepared, it's time to start cooking. Heat up your butter and olive oil and once the pot is hot, add the roast beef to sear it, and also to lend its flavor to the soup:

Now, you will want to avoid what I did so make sure you add that olive oil, or your butter will burn and leave you with an ungodly mess. Luckily, after I took out the beef, I added some water and was able to loosen up and dump out the burned crap. But I did leave some in, because it actually smelled pretty good:

Very professional, I know. On to the onion! Chop that puppy up, wipe away the tears and add to the pot along with some more butter, those 3tbsp mentioned in the ingredient list. Did I ever tell you that my family is French? J'adore le beurre!

As that cooks, finely chop the roast beef and set aside.

Once the butter melts and the onions soften and turn golden, it's time to add the flour (remember, add more if you want to avoid cornstarch later). It will be super clumpy, but just keep whisking it:

Add the sliced mushrooms, both types, and stir it up. Now I have Bob Marley in my head. "Stir it up, little darling"

Add enough of the broth until the clumps of flour loosen and it smooths out. Let that simmer and bubble for about 5 minutes. Pardon my steam:

Now it's time to add the rest of the broth and the chopped mushrooms. So pretty!

Bring that BAMF* to a boil:

Reduce heat and simmer for an hour. Stir in your roast beef, Worcestershire and port At this point, if you did what I did, you will discover it's still too thin:

In steps my hero, cornstarch mixed with port. Yay, more port!:

Add that to the soup and then add 1/2 cup Parmesan. This is an example of how this recipe constantly changes, I never did this before. Actually, I used steak in the past, never roast beef. But anyways, toss in that cheese:

Stir it up, rasta man:

Ah, perfection at last!

Finally! A good texture, not too thin, not too thick, very full-bodied and rich. Salt and pepper go in, and out comes the finished soup, into a bowl and topped with a sprinkling of cheese and a nice toasted slice of baguette.

Delicious! We each had two servings and still had enough left over for like four more bowls. Excellent!

*www.urbandictionary.com

Lentil Soup with Sausage.

I made this soup on a weekend a couple of weeks ago and neglected to take photos of the process, even though I had wanted to blog about it. So, just like a carpet-bagging entrepreneur, when my lovely mother in law needed some pre-made meals after her knee replacement surgery, I grabbed my camera, my trusty lentil soup recipe, and I got down to some multi-tasking.

Lentil Soup with Sausage

Serves 6

-2 carrots, chopped

-1 onion, chopped

-2 stalks celery, chopped

-olive oil

-4 cloves garlic, minced

-2 tsp oregano (I was out and used coriander instead)

-2 tsp basil

-2 bay leaves

-1 14.5oz can crushed tomatoes

-2 cups lentils

-8 cups chicken broth (I used sodium free bouillon powder)

-2 cups packed spinach, chopped

-1 big link of turkey sausage

-balsamic vinegar

-salt and pepper

I wanted to show you the carrots I used, since I only had baby ones. This was the amount I used:

Ah, the triumvirate of soup:

Heat up your olive oil in your pot. I have one of those lovely cast iron ones, and it makes me so happy. Coq au vin, cassoulet, soups galore, all cook so wonderfully in it:

While that heated up, I took a moment to snap a photo of some of the other players. I love that sodium free bouillon. Todd's got high blood pressure and I puff up like a blowfish when I have too much salt. Plus even the reduced sodium broths still have a substantial amount. Anyways:

Ahh, now that is some warmed olive oil. A hot little oil bath for our veggies:

Stir them in and wait for them to soften, for the onion to go a little golden:

In the meantime, while those cook up (or down), let's measure and chop some spinach. I used a lot because I had so much spinach left over and I didn't want to waste it:

I decided to show you how I chop spinach and I haven't the faintest idea why:

Ok, so the natural light thing I talked about in the bridal shower post part une? Look at how PRETTY:

I love capturing steam on camera! I think we're ready to add more friends to this, don't you think?

In go the spices, bay leaf and garlic:

After giving those a stir, add your lentils, tomatoes and broth:

Now, bring the soup to a boil. Oh, and it smells amahzing. I keep saying amahzing, because of that hilarious show Happy Endings, where Penny and the chick played by Elisha Cuthbert start getting influenced by some bitchy high school girls who pronounce words funny and one of them is amahzing. It's so much fun. Say it with me folks: a-mah-zing.

Ok, so it's time to lower the heat and simmer. You've got a lot of time to kill so first, let's prep our sausage. Using turkey sausage instead of regular sausage will save you 70 calories a serving and almost all of the fat, I want to say it goes from 15g fat to 3g. And in a soup, no one can tell it's not pork sausage and if they can, perhaps it's time to step away from the sausage anyhow.

Ok, thanks to the magic of television the internet, it's been an hour. Add your spinach and sausage:

BEAUTIFUL. DELICIOUS. AMAHZING:

Stir it all together, adding the balsamic, salt and pepper until you're satisfied with the flavor. Step back and marvel at your creation:

If you're making this ahead, now is a great time to turn off the heat. If you're going to eat this, I'd let it stay on a low setting, just to let the sausage and spinach impart their flavors to the soup. Enjoy!