One Word Wednesday

(It's still Wednesday, isn't it?)

Freezing!

Souper Tuesday: Mexican Chicken Tortilla Soup

First, let me assure you that this has not turned into a soup blog, or even a food blog. Far from it (just look at my photos, ugh! Clearly I will never be a food photographer!). It's just that I have been on this soup kick, and at the same time, I've been really busy and writing my usual posts takes much longer than writing a post on how to make soup. Tomorrow I will bring back One Word Wednesdays, and I have other posts in the works that are more related to baby and kid stuff specifically. So have no fear!

Today's soup was born out of a lack of recipes online for Chicken Tortilla Soup that were to my liking, much like the Beef Barley Soup experience. I wanted a slightly spicy soup, and I had some chicken to use up, so Mexican Chicken Tortilla Soup seemed great. A lot of the soups online involved me making tortillas by hand and cutting them into thin strips and frying them, all things I have just no interest in doing. So I just used tortilla chips instead. Just as good, I tell you! This soup had lots of flavor and of course you control the spiciness, so you can make it mild for your kids or extra spicy for yourself!

Mexican Chicken Tortilla Soup (makes 4 large bowls)

Ingredients:

• 1 box (I think it's a quart?) chicken broth (I used low sodium)


• 2 cups water


• 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast, cooked and shredded


• 1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil


• 1 can yellow corn


• 1 can petite diced tomatoes


• 1 small yellow onion, finely chopped


• 1 can black beans


• 1 tsp. minced garlic


• 2 chicken bouillon cubes


• salt


• chili powder


• fresh lime


• tortilla chips


• mexican blend finely shredded cheese (optional)

Directions:

1. In a dutch oven, saute garlic in olive oil until just fragrant.

2. Add chopped onions and saute until onions are transparent.

3. Add tomatoes, corn and black beans and stir until warmed through. (You can see from the photo that I forgot the black beans; what can I say, taking a 2 and 3 year old to the store you're bound to forget something! The soup was still good without the beans, but would have been better if I had remembered them.)

4. Pour in your box o' chicken broth and your 2 cups of water and stir. Heat for about 5 minutes on medium, then add chicken bouillon cubes. These are optional and some people don't like to use them; totally up to you.

5. Add shredded chicken to the soup. I like to broil mine (just because it is fastest) and then I shred them with 2 forks.

6. Stir well and heat through, then add salt if needed and chili powder. Start small and add more as the soup cooks if needed. I was surprised to find myself adding a pretty decent amount of chili powder two more times during the cooking process... I usually don't like things too spicy, but that extra kick worked great in this soup.

7. Turn the heat up and bring to a boil, then turn down to low, cover and simmer for at least 30-45 minutes. Mine went about an hour and 15 minutes total.

8. Taste often and adjust seasoning as needed.

9. Serve with tortilla chips. You can add shredded cheese on top right before serving -- it kind of melts into the soup which added a nice additional texture. I also highly recommend a generous squeeze of lime (I used two wedges) but wait until the very end to add it!

This soup was definitely a winner and would go great with a Negro Modelo! My husband only eats soup when it is really cold out, but I think this soup would be good in the summer, too. Let me know if you try this one! It's delicious!

Souper Tuesday: Tuscan Sausage and Bean Soup

I have been really proud of myself lately, and I owe it all to Pinterest. See, I have been trying to cook more, especially from scratch. I have that bad habit of being kind of an all-or-nothing person; I either can say I cook from scratch or I can't. But I have come to realize that this type of thinking is really kind of damaging and promotes a rather unhealthy desire for perfection. I am a mom of a two and a three year old. There is no such thing as perfection.

Something about Pinterest makes it easy to set goals. Instead of trying to revamp our whole diet and scouring the internet for recipes, I can look at my Pinterest recipe board and say, "ok, make one new thing from this each week." This has worked out nicely with my weekly soup challenge!

This week's soup was a Tuscan Sausage and Bean Soup, the inspiration for which I found on Pinterest. Feast on the Cheap came up with a simple and somewhat rustic soup that I thought my husband would like, and when the Italian Sweet Sausage went on killer sale, I figured there was no time like the present! I made a few minor tweaks to the recipe and got cookin'!

Tuscan Sausage and Bean Soup (makes 4 large bowls)

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. Sweet Italian Sausage (obv. I only used part of what is pictured!)


• 1 large carrot, peeled and chopped


• 1 small yellow onion, diced


• 1 tsp. minced garlic


• 1 qt. chicken broth


• 1 c. water


• 6-8 grape tomatoes, finely chopped


• 1 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed (read more about this below)


• 1/2 tbsp. dried basil


• 8 oz. (half a box) shell pasta, uncooked


• 4 oz. spinach leaves


• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Remove sausage from casings and brown in the almighty enameled cast iron dutch oven.

2. Add your onions, carrots and garlic.

3. Saute until onions are translucent. mmmmmmm

4. Add the chicken broth, water, tomatoes, basil, salt and pepper. Remember with the S&P to start small; you can always add more later, but you can't take away!

5. Bring to a boil, then turn to low and let simmer, covered, for a minimum 30 minutes, longer if you have time. Stir and taste occasionally.

6. 15 minutes before serving, add beans and pasta, stir, and recover. Let simmer for 10 minutes or until pasta is tender.

7. A couple minutes before serving, stir in the spinach until just wilted.

8. Let cool off a bit (soup is best served very very warm but not scalding hot) and serve!

This soup turned out great and we will be making it again. You can see from the ingredients picture that I subbed Great Northern Beans for cannellini -- I think this turned out fine, but don't add them too soon or they get a little mealy. The cannellinis might be better for this soup. This soup also makes yummy leftovers!

Souper Tuesday: Beef Barley Soup

I have decided I will start a quick Tuesday series all about soup. That's right, soup.

My husband has class this semester on Mondays and Wednesdays, which presents a dinner dilemma. What to make that will keep just fine until he gets home at 7:30? Soup has been the answer most weeks, and I have found some winners over the past few weeks, starting with beef barley.

I was recalling THE BEST beef barley soup I have ever had, which exists at the Eire Pub in Dorchester, Massachusetts. The Eire Pub is one of my favorite places in Boston, having a well stocked bar with friendly bartenders, affordable and very tasty food and a storied and rather legendary existence. It was even highlighted on Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations somewhat recently. One time, my husband (then my boyfriend) and I went there and I got a Guinness and a bowl of Beef Barley Soup, and I was so full afterward I could barely walk. It was a filling combination. But the soup... goodness gracious. It was delicious.

So remembering this soup made me want to try my hand at it. I looked up a few recipes online but each one had something I wasn't crazy about... too much water, too much bouillon, not enough vegetables, etc. I was really trying to recreate that deep, dark Eire Pub flavor. I can't say I totally accomplished that, but I came damn near it. This soup uses a dutch oven, a low and slow approach, and most of a bottle of a nice, dark beer. The remainder of which you can finish off as you cook, which is a bonus.

Beef Barley Soup (makes 4 large bowls)

I used:

• 1 lb. stew beef


• 1 huge carrot, or 2 medium carrots, chopped


• 1 large stalk of celery, chopped


• 1 roma tomato, finely chopped


• 1 small yellow onion, finely chopped


• 1 tsp. minced garlic


• 1 box of beef broth (I think it's a quart?)


• 1 can of beef broth (15 oz. or so) 


• 1 cup pearled barley


• 1 can or bottle dark beer (I used Sam Adams Holiday Porter)


• extra virgin olive oil for sauteing


• worcestershire sauce


• salt


• pepper


• thyme


• 1 large bay leaf, or two smalls

(note: the onion is not pictured. I forgot to buy it, so in the photo you can see I used onion powder to replace it. I would recommend a real onion and for this recipe, I am going to pretend I used one!)

Directions:

1. In dutch oven, heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil and toss in garlic. Saute for a minute or so until fragrant.


2. Add finely chopped onions and saute until onions are mostly translucent and softened.

    3. Move onions to the side, add beef and saute until browned evenly.

  

4. Add your beer. You can use most of the bottle or the whole thing. I used about 2/3 so I could drink some! mmmmmmmmmmmbeeeer

5. Add your beef broth. You could use any combination of broth and water, but I would not recommend less than 1 box of broth. I used a box + a can of broth and then another can of water, and that was the perfect amount of liquid.

6.Now you add your vegetables (carrots, celery, tomato) and seasonings. I add worcestershire sauce to just about every dish that I use either tomatoes or beef in. I swear by that. Add your herbs and salt and pepper to taste, but start small - the flavor will intensify as it cooks, and you should taste it every half hour or so and adjust accordingly. You can always add more salt but you're not going to be able to take it away!

7. Bring to a boil, then reduce and simmer, covered, for at least a couple hours. Low and slow, just like BBQ! Taste it often and adjust!

8. About 35 minutes before serving, stir in a cup of pearled barley. It will take just about every minute of that time to cook, so don't rush it. Turn it off and let the soup stand for a few minutes before serving. Not many recipes talk about this, but food wasn't meant to be served super hot. Too hot and you can't really taste the flavors. So let it cool down just a bit before serving.

Serve with a yummy homemade bread, or be cheap like me and serve with saltines. My husband loved the saltines, so don't judge!

I am telling you, I can't claim victory (or even a tie) with the Eire Pub, but this soup was soooo good and perfect for winter. It had tons of flavor and depth and I was really happy with my version, especially with it being my first attempt!

Valentine's Heart Resist Painting

Looking for a cute Valentine's painting project for your preschooler? I saw this project originally at Hands On As We Grow and thought it was perfect for our kids. So while I certainly can't claim originality for this idea, I did try to expand on it as part of our homeschool preschool curriculum.

Now lest anyone frown at me for using a technique like resist painting with preschoolers (some say it inhibits creativity), let me say that I am a process over product person. The main point was to explore painting with different non-brush materials and helping my girls get over their fears of getting dirty! At the same time, we had talked about making some decorations for the upcoming Valentine's Day holiday, so when I saw this project, I figured it could kill two birds with one stone. This project underscored the idea of heart shapes and the colors pink, red, purple and white being representative of Valentine's Day, which we had previously discussed. We also discussed the difference in paper orientation (Josie chose landscape and Caroline chose portrait), and we talked briefly about the term "negative space" and that white is the absence of color. Those were pretty much above their heads but I wasn't worried about mastery, just exposure. So although some people think the resist technique gives too many parameters for a creative preschooler, I happen to think it is a fun project on its own merits and can be a great part of a well rounded art curriculum! The basic questions I ask myself about preschool art projects are:

1) does it encourage creative thinking or practice?

2) does it teach a skill or concept?

3) does it expose the child to a new material or technique?

4) is it challenging, yet not frustration-creating?

5) is it tactile?

6) is it FUN?

If you can answer yes to most of those, it is probably a green light!

Anyway, here are the materials we used. Just use whatever you have on hand. I didn't have fancy rollers or rods but I did have a paper towel roll waiting to be recycled, so I cut that in two and used it. I also added Q-Tips, cotton balls, a skewer broken in half and an old rag as vehicles for the paint. We used painter's tape for the resist portion.

Obviously I did the hearts. There is no way the kids could have done this without becoming completely frustrated, which defeats the purpose. They used the leftover bits of tape to stick around the paper where they wanted.

The rag proved to be the most effective in covering the paper in paint.

Using the skewer to scratch the paint before it dried

The finished painting, before removing the tape...

... and after. We "framed" the paintings on their choice of colored contruction paper. They both chose black. :|

Now that they have gotten some exposure to the resist painting, I think I'll remove the parameters and have them do it again, letting them rip the tape and create their own design one hundred percent. Then they can choose their own colors... I am excited about how those will turn out! In the meantime, the girls are very proud to have their paintings be part of our Valentine's Day decoration!