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

Garden Soup

If you're a regular Monday's Soups reader you'll know there is nothing Alayna and I like more than discovering a new vegetable or ingredient. To the point that after our first "meeting" we often refer to it with a surname and sort of suggest that we have just made a new friend. (Ernst the Eggplant, Mr. Kale, Ms. Swiss Chard, etc.) So today, gang, it's time to say hello to little Ms. Dandelion Green.

We have been saying we should use dandelion greens for some time, Alayna even went as far to say they're trendy. I mean, that seems lofty, but they are healthy. Did you see that counter picture I took? That's like vegetable porn. Oh my gosh, SOUP QUIZ! From left to right list the greens on the counter, the winner will get a jar of soup.

Alayna was a little late coming to my apartment so I started making the soup. Taking a sip of it I discovered it was essentially like drinking garden water. Alayna even casually mentioned maybe I ought to clean the vegetables better. Let me just say I did scrub those guys, it's just that I bought it all at the farmer's market and they really have that just-pulled-out-of-the-ground feel. So you know, sometimes I miss a pocket of dirt and you get a little crunch in your bite. Big deal. Anyways, Alayna worked her magic by adding salt, lemon and a bunch of cheese, and suddenly our garden water tasted a little more like dinner.

Okay, enjoy friends. With a post like that, how aren't ya'll salivating at your desk?


Hello cross-promotional plug. Book Club meets this Sunday!

Garden Soup

• Heat olive oil in your soup bowl
• Add 2 leeks chopped, let them simmer for 5 minutes on medium to low heat
• Add 4 to 6 big cloves are garlic, heat until fragrant, about one minute
• Add handful of finger potatoes chopped
• Add a bay leaf
  
• Add greens. You can really add any greens, these are the greens we added: 3 heads of Dandelion greens, 1 bunch of beet greens, 1 bunch of yellow chard greens
• Add six or so cups of chicken broth (mine was homemade, what! what!)
• Let cook on low for 20 or so minutes
• Add the following to taste: 2 generous pinches of sea salt, 3 sprigs of thyme, a sprig of rosemary, 3 generous squeezes of lemon and 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese
  

Persian Lentil Soup

I love when Mo is in town because it makes Monday's Soups feel like a whole lot less work (uhm, maybe just for me) and a whole lot more wine. Mo introduced us to the mung bean, explained how to make our own yogurt, and told us about how wonderful sour cherries are from her uncle's trees in Iran. That all sounds nice doesn't it?

It especially sounded nice on red wine bottle number 2.5. This soup might win for overall bulk. See picture below. Not even that time we used an entire Halloween pumpkin have we filled the soup pot so high. This soup took longer than normal to cook, because we had to soften all those beans, but that was fine by me. We ate Alayna's baba ghanoush, I realized I need to buy a small food processor, and we talked about how stupid the Atkins Diet is and my new obsession with potted herbs and how maybe putting them all on my bathroom windowsill isn't the smartest idea. A few hours later I walked home, all 30 blocks north, with the heaviest giant pickle jar of soup I've carried yet. So many lunches. So exciting.

• saute one large yellow onion in olive oil with a generous bit of turmeric until soft
• add three cups of mung beans and cover with water and bring to a low boil
• after the mung beans have been simmering for about ten minutes, add about two cups of green lentils, one cup of rice, and about 3/4 a stick of butter (butter is delicious), adding more water if necessary, and get back to a simmer for another 30-40 minutes until all parts are soft and mushy
• at this point you can also chop 2-4 carrots and throw them in (optional)
  
• chop up two bunches of chard (red or swiss) and put them in about the last ten minutes, as well as a generous handful of parsley
• adjust turmeric, salt and pepper flavoring as necessary
  
• serve with a dollop of plain yogurt or sour cream

Ham Hock Soup

Look at Toaster pretending she is a lion who is gnawing on a freshly slaughtered gazette.* 2 lb. Toaster cat actually pulled that ham bone out of the trash and carried it with her tiny teeth across the apartment. Alayna and I squealed in delight and immediately started snapping pictures like we were in Animal Kingdom.

Ham bone explanation, probably one month ago my mom bought a ham. I have been prying for this ham bone ever since. Finally I was able to snag it when I went home for a wedding last weekend. I texted Alayna excitedly that I had the bone. The big, big bone. And thus we were able to make our first ever HAM SOUP.

This is a southern comfort and while it simmers it basically smells (and tastes) like bacon soup. Mmmhmm. Go pigs. This was also the best soup ever because right when the soup was done Alayna found out she was accepted into Georgetown for grad school. I was so excited I called my parents before Alayna called her parents. My parents are really excited.

So we enjoyed this soup. Talked about Georgetown, talked about our future summer canning plans, I completed my census Alayna texted her friends with the good news, we realized we are very prude and awkwardly squirmed our way through Gossip Girl and then we split a tart. Great soup night, great ham bone. Enjoy, but keep away from cats and other wild beasts.

*This just in, allegedly gazettes aren't animals.

Ham Hock Soup!

• Pour 10-12 cups of water in pot, 1 lb. of pinto beans, ham bone, 3 bay leaves, black pepper, 3 big carrots, 5 stalks of celery (both chopped), 1 onion and extra cubed pieces of ham if not a lot of ham on the bone (2 cups)
• Allow water to boil, once boiling bring to a simmer and cover with lid. Let simmer for 1-1.5 hours.
  
• Add swiss chard, taste broth, add vegetable bullion if desired.
• Pull out ham bone, pull meat off the bone and throw back in soup. If the beans taste cooked, start eating!
  

Syrian Lentil and Chard Soup

Alayna: Swiss chard tastes like everything I love about the jungle when it rains (don't post that on the blog)

Soupsters, meet our new friend Mr. Swiss Chard. What's one of my favorite things about Monday's Soups you ask? It's getting to know new vegetables that I used to be scared of and would avoid in the market. And then getting to know them so well I start to call them by names (think Ernst the Eggplant).

Last week, somewhat impulsively, I was meandering around Whole Foods when I noticed they had big leafy bunches of swiss chard. Even though it was a Saturday (aka not Monday) I bought it and immediately texted Alayna. You see Alayna and I have been occasionally swapping in kale for chard because sometimes it's difficult to find chard. I think deep down inside we both knew we were sort of avoiding chard because we are both creatures who do not like change (not "change" as in living in a different cultures/meeting new people, but "change" as in not eating an apple at exactly 11am every morning. We're Virgos, it's a weakness.). Regardless, I should have tried chard earlier. I am hyper aware that it's so freaking healthy for you. So why on earth was I scared of a leafy vegetable that tastes like our natural habitat, it's way up my alley... I am proud to say that today my friends, we are no longer chard virgins.

Last night, as Alayna and I very happily enjoyed this WONDERFUL soup and said how much we love chard we mused how last time this year we met Ms. Kale. To think a year ago I didn't cook with kale. Ah. Mazing. How did I eat kale chips? What did I add to stews? I have no idea.

I sense Swiss (and Rainbow) chard will enter my life with the same sustainability and joy-- yes, joy-- as kale has. Man, do I love leaves.

Lastly, enjoy rainbow chard's red stems! I might have had a little freak when Alayna added them to the soup and I thought Red = Poison. But yeah, I'm a neurotic nutbag and we're both still ticking today.

Syrian Lentil and Chard Soup

*Little known fact, although I have measuring cups, I mostly just measure things in mugs. Not sure why, but it's true. Also: still don't have measuring spoons... don't find it impedes baking at all
** This soup apparently is supposed to be served cold, although it was delicious warm

• in a smaller pot, put two mugs of green lentils in with 2 mugs of water and one mug of chicken broth (or all water if your vegan/veg), cover and bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally and adding more broth or water as necessary to keep it pretty liquid
  
• after about twenty minutes of pot one cooking, chop up about 6 cloves of garlic and saute in olive oil, adding one chopped yellow onion and 4 chopped celery sticks when the garlic gets fragrant (about 5 minutes)
• tear two bunches of rainbow (or regular) swiss chard into pieces and chop up the stems, rinsing before you put them into the pot
• when the onion and celery are getting translucent, add the chard to the big pot and cook covered for about 5-7 minutes until wilted
• add in the lentils and stir in the juice of one lemon, salt and pepper to taste and more chicken broth or water to get it to a soupy consistency
  
• Let it all simmer together a few more minutes and enjoy!