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Thanks for ladling us into your bowls,
Alayna & ML

Veggie Soup for the Meat-Eating Soul

That's not soup, foo, that's rhubarb crisp! Okay. So Alayna and I have been discussing this and as we note time and time again we're both Virgos, so we're anal about details. That and we've been doing this blog for almost a year and a half and we also have this other neglected blog, Friday's Dinners, which I like in theory but as we have since realized we should just have a one-stop shop with all our recipes. Also, as Alayna and I expand our cooking reach into the delicious far corners of the kitchen (I made strawberry chili preserves this weekend what what!) we want to include those recipes here. More than soup yes, but the theme is to highlight that we shouldn't be afraid of soup OR cooking. And all our recipes fall into that theme.

So what to do? Basically for some dumb reason we decided to create this blog on blogger, which I think is far inferior to wordpress. I want to transfer platforms but I'm not sure how to do that easily without hand plucking all this content. Dos Mios! Does anyone have tips? I need to re-structure this monster so it's more easily searchable. I need seperete pages. I need so many things. But what don't I need? Soup. This soup is wonderful, as always. So make it, then tell me how to re-do this blog.

Thanks for coming to soup Lindsey!

Veggie Soup for the Meat-Eating Soul

• In a separate pan, heat olive oil and cook six boneless skinless chicken thighs (or breasts) cut into bite-sized pieces until done and turn off, reserving juices
• while chicken is cooking, use a clean cutting board and knife to chop up six cloves of garlic and saute with two sprigs of fresh rosemary and some generous shakes of red pepper flakes in your soup pot
  
• when the garlic is fragrant/opaque, add in a chopped whole yellow onion
• when onions are translucent, add on bunch of broccoli rabe, also chopped, including everything except the very bottom of the stems and cook covered
  
• next add two yellow squashes, cut into slices then quartered, and one bunch of swiss chard torn into bite-sized pieces, covering back up
• when squash is mostly done, add two cans of drained black-eyed peas to the pot, along with the chicken in it's juice and cover the rest with broth
• bring to a simmer and serve with mary's delicious carrot bread!

Rhubarb Crisp

• Take about one pound of rhubarb and strip the stringy parts of off the rib of the rhubarb by pulling them off with a paring knife (if you were a really particular child, you may remember doing something like this with really stringy celery, but i promise it's easier than that was). When you're done, the ribs will look like naked rhubarb and kind of green.
  
• Cut into bite-sized pieces and put into a bowl
• Add one pound of strawberries, halved or quartered and one can of drained cherries (or more rhubarb or more strawberries... I just had a can of cherries)
• Squeeze about a tablespoon of orange juice onto the fruit, grate some zest onto the mix and then stir in half a cup of white sugar, then place into a buttered square brownie type dish
• in a food processor or with a hand mixer, take six tablespoons of cold butter, add some cinnamon and salt, then half a cup of brown sugar, half a cup of flour, half a cup of rolled oats and half a cup of almonds or pecan, and pulse or mix until there are pea-like sized balls. it's important to use cold butter so it doesn't just melt!
• put the topping onto the fruit in chunks and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes until the top of the crumble is browned
• enjoy!

Dark & Stormy Mushroom Soup

Sometimes Alayna and I surprise ourselves. I feel like here, bathing in soup bowl #64, we are still making some pretty awesome soups with unique and rich flavors. The thing that's particularly wild about that is that they are all so simple. We were discussing how we've never incorporated tools beyond a blender, oven and stove. This attests to both our zen and lazy personalities.

Further, with each passing soup bowl ladled and served I feel more like ... I'm feeling heady so excuse me ... but soup as a way of life. (WWYSBD = What Would Your Soup Bowl Do? ... well, probably just sit there.) I have been making a point to utilize local farmer markets more and more and make and use our own broth-- the idea of knowing exactly what I'm putting in my bowl (the bowl that Alayna made in pottery) and that it's good and simple is quite the rarity in these fast, strange New York City times.

So as I sit back at my desk at work, sipping a Diet Coke, a product I have no clue what it actually is, where it came from, or how long it can last, though I have a feeling an awfully long time-- the fact that I am totally aware of the stuff in my soup bowl is a delight.

To think Alayna never saw a purple potato before!

• cut up about a handful and a half of baby potatoes into bite-sized pieces (we used multicolor ones) and put into a separate pot to boil
• fill a medium sized bowl with water and about two ounces of dried porcini mushrooms and microwave for five minutes, letting the mushroom steep until needed
  
• saute 6 cloves of chopped garlic in olive oil with one sprig of fresh rosemary and a few sprigs of fresh thyme, adding half a yellow onion when they begin to be fragrant
• when the onion is translucent, add six chopped carrots (the skinny kind or two of the fat kind) to the pot and cook covered
• wipe off 3 portobella mushrooms and chop into bite-sized pieces, adding to the pot and stirring
• cook until the portabella mushrooms are done all the way through, then add the porcini juice (straining out the mushrooms) and potatoes (strained), topping off with bouillon cubes and water
• when broth is heated, add a bunch of chopped chard and cook five more minutes until done
• serve with Gouda and/or Swiss cheese

Asparagus and Pea Soup

Yup, that there is a bowl of spring if I ever did see one. This Monday Alayna and I had a soup party. Friends as far as Vermont came for a bowl of blended vegetables and artichoke leaves, or rather, another vehicle to melted butter. "People ask me, what's my favorite food? And I always say lobster of course," Alayna tells the group. "But I really just mean butter."

P.J. might have said it best- "Peas are so hot right now." Peas ARE hot right now. Do you guys utilize a pack of frozen peas as often as you should? Those things are like popcorn. I love when they are still a little bit frozen in the center so they sort of burst in your mouth like a veggie-gusher. I swear, that tastes good.

If you live in NYC, which you probably don't because my Google Analytics say you're more likely to live in Canada or Dubai, you'd know it's been a hot week. Probably not as hot as Dubai right far flung soupettes? This is a great soup warm but I can imagine would be wonderful cold with a dollop of yogurt. Okay friends, enjoy!

Asparagus and Pea Soup

• in a medium saucepan, put 4 chopped medium red potatoes in water to boil and take a bag of peas out to thaw. you don't really have to thaw them if it's warm enough outside that they'll melt (they also make a delicious cooling snack in the meantime)
  
• chop and saute one large yellow in olive oil on medium low heat
  
• add 3-4 leeks, white part only, also chopped and half a bag of baby carrots (or 2-3 large carrots)
• cook covered until onions are translucent
• add two bunches of asparagus, also chopped, bring heat up some and cook covered
  
• when asparagus is bright green, add the thawed peas, and min
• when asparagus is easy to poke through with a fork (about five minutes) add potatoes in their water, a handful of parsley and top off with as much more as you need, adding vegan bouillon
• voila! vegan soup

Delicious artichokes

• cut the stems off your artichokes
• cover with cold water and bring to a low boil
• boil for 35-45 minutes.. when they are done, you should be able to easily poke through the bottom with a fork and pull leaves out of the center
• drain and serve with melted garlic butter (microwaved or stove melted butter with two cloves of chopped garlic)
• TO EAT: pull the leaves off, dip them in butter and scrape them with your teeth to get the meaty part, discarding the rest. the further in you go, the more tender the leaves will be. when you get to the tiny leaves, grab a spoon and scrape the babies leaves and the thistles (which you do NOT want to eat b/c they hurt when you swallow them, so clean thoroughly) to get to the HEART, which you can just cut into bite-sized pieces of butter dipped heaven and eat