Pots & Plots

It is crock pot central in my kitchen today.  It’s Sunday, and I’m trying to get some batch cooking done so that I have something healthy to eat for lunch the next couple of weeks.  The name of the game is veggie type soups.  I’ve already got a batch of my Crock Pot Tomato Soup going in my 3 quart crock pot (which freezes beautifully, I’ll have you know).  Now I’m going to try an experiment to see if I can make good French Onion Soup in a crock pot, caramelized onions and all.  French Onion Soup is a big favorite of mine (though my onionphobic husband won’t touch it).  There’s nothing better on a chill winter day than a piping hot bowl of it with some nice crusty cheese toast floating on top.  Delish.  Now, this isn’t as Fix It And Forget It as most of my crock pot recipes, but the end results are worth it.  So without further ado…

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 Tbsp butter (or in my case, Smart Balance Omega Light, extra virgin olive oil flavor)
• 6 medium onions, sliced thin
• 1 Tbsp granulated white sugar
• 1 clove minced garlic
• 1 Tbsp tomato paste (if you have it–you can make it without, but it’s better with)
• 3 cups of beef broth
• 1/2 cup wine (dry red or a white–I actually used Nick Faldo’s Sauvignon Blanc as it’s what I had on hand–it’s kind of a sweet wine)
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme

Directions:

1. Go ahead and turn your slow cooker to high.  Add in the olive oil and butter and allow to melt while you’re slicing onions.  This process can be sped up by melting the butter ahead of time and pouring it in.
2. Are you weeping yet?  I’ve read tips about a zillion different ways to keep from crying over the smell of onions.  Stick a slice of bread up to the hilt of your knife.  Refrigerate the onions.  Wear swim goggles (I have actually done that).  So far, I haven’t come up with a way to stop the tears.   BUT for getting the onion smell off your hands when you’re finished, wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water and then rub them all over stainless steel (in my house that’s the faucet or the sink…you could use a stainless spoon or something).  I have no idea why this works, but somehow it neutralizes the onion odor.
3. When fats are melted, add sliced onions and stir to coat.
4. Sprinkle the sugar over the onions and put the top back on.  Cook on high for 1-2 hours (until slightly brown), stirring occasionally.
5. Once the onions are caramelized, add in the remaining ingredients.
6. Allow to simmer on high for another three hours.

This freezes really well.  If you want to serve immediately, make up some crustini with gruyere or swiss melted on top.  Or you could make nice cheesy croutons to float in it.  It’s all good.  I usually freeze this in individual portions.  You can also take a portion and dump it in the crock pot over a roast.  Makes a fabulous gravy.

From a nutrition standpoint, the soup alone is only 96 calories and 4.75 grams of fat per serving (the batch makes 4 servings), so really not bad at all.

The soup/stew (stoup as Rachael Ray would call it) was absolutely one of those inventive products of necessity.  About four years ago, my husband was down with pneumonia and his little brother was in town visiting.  This boy loves vegetables more than anybody I have ever seen.  Not wanting to leave D.H. for long, I was trying to come up with something to feed little bro with that I could make from what we had, which was a little bit of a whole lot of stuff.  I wound up dumping in some of virtually every vegetable in the house, some chicken, a can of cream of chicken soup, and creole seasoning.  Literally, everything but the kitchen sink.  The soup was a hit and this is now requested every time little bro comes to town. 

(Picture is coming)

Ingredients:

• chicken (dark meat is best)
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 2 red potatoes, diced
• 1 whole onion, diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 can of green beans, undrained
• 1 can of corn, undrained
• 1 palmful of lentils
• 1 palmful of white beans
• 1 palmful of black beans
• 2 carrots, peeled and diced
• 1/2 cup of frozen peas
• 1/2 cup of lima beans
• 1/4 cup creole seasoning
• kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Cook’s note: This is a very forgiving recipe and the idea is to use up those last bits of bags of frozen veggies or cans of random stuff or whatever leftover vegetables you have.  So don’t feel constrained by this list of ingredients. 

Directions:

1. Toss it all in a crock pot.
2. Add enough water to cover ingredients and give it a good stir.
3. Cook on low for about 6 hours.   
4. Serve with a crusty bread.

I’ve been getting into the crock pot lately. That whole fix it and forget it quality is a wonderful thing. As fall is finally arriving, I’m starting to get in the mood for soup, so I devised this simple tomato soup.

Ingredients:

• 2 28 oz cans of whole tomatoes in juice
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 3 Tbsps granulated white sugar
• 4 Tbsp beef stock (or in my case, leftover drippings from the pot roast I made last night, also in the crock pot)
• 4 oz. fat free cream cheese, cut into 1/2 ” chunks

Directions:

1. Add both cans of tomatoes, the onion, stock, and sugar to crock pot. Cook on low for 6 hours.
2. Using an immersion blender, carefully break up whatever is left of the tomatoes and blend until smooth.
3. Add the cream cheese and repeat blending process until creamy.
4. Garnish with fresh basil or thyme and a sprinkle of fresh grated parmesean cheese.
5. Fabulous with grilled cheese sandwiches or on it’s own.

The entire pot (which makes about 6 cups of soup, I think) is 705 calories and half a gram of fat. I think it works out to around 117.5 calories per 1 cup serving.

This is actually an adaptation of this recipe for cream of zucchini soup, but me being me, I had to try to lighten it up a bit and make it my own. The original recipe called for butter–I used extra virgin olive oil. It also called for 4 oz Monterey jack, which was delish, but I thought I might be able to obtain a creamier consistency (without using cream) by switching out to FF cream cheese and FF half an half in lieu of the milk. And as far as I’m concerned, garlic is onion’s right hand man, so I added that in.

Ingredients:

• 2 medium zucchini, finely grated
• 2 medium carrots, finely grated
• 1 medium to large onion, finely diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 Tbsp flour
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 4 oz. fat free cream cheese
• 1/2-1 cup fat free half and half (depending on how thick or thin you like your chowder/soup)
• salt and pepper to taste
• olive oil

Directions:

1. Finely grate the zucchini, sprinkle with salt, and let drain in a colander for approximately half an hour.
2. Meanwhile, grate the carrots, dice the onion, and mince the garlic.
3. In a medium to large skillet (approximately 12″), coat the bottom with extra virgin olive oil and heat to medium high.
4. Add onion, carrots, zucchini, and garlic.
5. Sautee until veggies are slightly limp.
6. Sprinkle flour over the top and reduce heat to medium, stirring and mashing (it forms a sort of paste) as you cook for approximately 4-5 minutes.
7. Slowly add chicken stock a little at a time and stir to incorporate.
8. Reduce heat to medium low and add cubes of cream cheese. Stir until melted.
9. Slowly add half and half until desired thickness is reached. I happen to like really thick consistencies, so this turned out more as a chowder than a cream of zucchini soup.
10. Salt and pepper to taste.

Great served with a good crusty bread for dipping or also good alone.

Guess I’ve got chicken on the brain. I’ve also got the infamous Crud (that sort of ubiquitous allergy/sinus/cold thing everyone here has this time of year), so I decided to make up a batch of my famous homemade chicken noodle soup for myself. Normally this is reserved for taking to sick friends and family but after having a can of Campbell’s the other day and being massively disappointed, I decided I was worth making my soup for.

Ingredients:

• whole chicken or 3-4 chicken breasts and/or thighs, bone-in (to make stock–homemade is best, but store bought is acceptable–approximately 2 quarts, in which case you can just use boneless breasts and thighs to make it in a hurry)
• olive oil
• 2 medium onions, diced
• 3 ribs of celery, diced
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1 cup of diced carrots (I usually just buy the crinkle cut ones in the freezer section)
• parsley (fresh or dried)
• thyme (1/8th tsp)
• kosher salt
• fresh ground pepper
• paprika
• cayenne pepper (the secret ingredient…the little bit of heat helps to decongest)
• 2 cups dry noodles of your choice (I prefer whole wheat rotini or No Yolks dumplins)

Instructions:

1. Boil chicken to make stock. Remove chicken to cool. Once cool, debone and dice or shred with a pair of forks.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil over medium high heat.
3. Add diced vegetables and garlic and cook over medium heat until onions and celery are translucent and carrots are starting to soften.
4. At this point you can continue on the stovetop or transfer to a crock pot.
5. To the vegetable mixture, add stock (approx. 2 quarts). Add the chicken.
6. Add herbs and spices and cover. If cooking on stovetop, simmer on low for 1 hour. If cooking in a crockpot, cook on low for 4 hours.
7. Add noodles and cook until al dente. Do not add until just before you’re ready to serve or they get mushy and fall apart in the soup.

I’ve always gotten rave reviews when I take this soup to sick friends and family, and I’ve turned quite a few of them into chicken soup snobs–once they had my soup they couldn’t go back to the canned stuff (though I’m sure a lot of that is that homemade soup in general is just a lot better than the canned stuff rather than any superior skill on my part). Bon appetite!

As the weather cools down (yes, even in Mississippi), I always crave Mexican style dishes. One of my family’s all time favorites is taco soup, which is actually a year round staple meal. This is one of those recipes that’s great for crock pot cooking or can be made in about half an hour on the stove. Freezes and reheats well, but there’s usually no leftovers!

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground beef or turkey, browned and drained
• 1 can condensed tomato soup (I like the Campbell’s Healthy Request)
• 1 can Rotel tomatoes, undrained
• 1 can corn, undrained (or you can use frozen corn–about a cup and a half)
• 1 can black beans, undrained (or you can use black beans that you batch cooked yourself–also about a cup and a half to two cups)
• 1 can petite diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 packet of taco seasoning (I prefer Old El Paso)
• 1 tsp chipoltle chili powder if you can find it, but it’s fine without

Combine ingredients in slow cooker or on stovetop. Add about 1 can’s worth of water if using stovetop or cooking for only half day in crock pot. Add more water if you’re going to leave it all day on low. Serve with sour cream, scallions, and shredded cheddar and/or Monterey jack cheese. Also good with corn chips if you’re not watching your waistline.

The weather has FINALLY started to cool down and that has me craving soups, stews, and chowders. This is one I created last winter that is a good warm you up meal for a cold day.

Ingredients:

• 1 can creamed corn (no sugar added if you can find it)
• 1 can whole kernel corn (no sugar added), drained
• 1 can Rotel tomatoes and peppers, drained)
• ½ cup diced onion
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 3/4ths a can of evaporated skimmed milk
• 4 oz. fat free cream cheese in cubes
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• Fresh ground pepper, to taste
• 1/8 tsp. paprika
• 1/8 tsp. cumin

Directions:

1. Melt cubes of cream cheese in the stock over medium heat.
2. Add onion, tomatoes and peppers, corn, and creamed corn. Stir.
3. Add garlic powder, paprika, cumin, and pepper. Stir well.
4. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer uncovered for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Remove from heat and stir in 3/4ths a can of evaporated skimmed milk, slowly.

Serve with a slice of dense bread, like sourdough for a light lunch, or add a spinach salad for a full meal. Serves 4.