easy ravioli minestrone soup

Jose came down with a pretty bad cold this weekend: fever, cough, sneezing, and all those other nasty symptoms associated with this common but vicious virus that strikes us all, at one point or another. I wanted to make him something that would make him feel better. We still had some chicken left-overs, but I thought a soup would be much better for someone fighting a bad cold on a fairly cool (thank God! I have been waiting for this cold front's arrival!) Autumn evening. So, after work, I stopped by the grocery store and picked up a couple of items to make a very quick minestrone soup. It was already pretty late at night, so I couldn't exactly dedicate hours to cooking, the way I could in the past. This soup was perfect because even though it quickly came together, it was still very healthy and really cheap to make. Those are two things I definitely like any meal to be, whether I make it myself or purchase it at a restaurant.

Since I keep talking about how little time it took to make this soup, I should mention the actual amount...about 20 minutes! Even if you're tired and cold (and I mean really tired from driving around far too long, lost in some obscure part of the Texas Hill Country for a good 40 minutes because you were really trying avoid traffic on the congested highways...hmm, that sounds way too familiar!), it's still no trouble to make because the soup basically makes itself, you just have to throw a few things into a pot and wait for it to cook.

Though I used primarily frozen veggies to make this soup, I did add a few extras for more color/flavor, like:

green bell pepper
corn
a few chopped carrots
green onion

The spices I added amounted to about
a pinch or two of black pepper
about 1/2 tsp garlic salt 1 tsp parsley
1-1/2 salt free garlic & herb spice
and also a few others that would match this soup, like basil

This soup is so flexible, you can pretty much add whatever you like and it'll taste good. The main components of the soup were a small can of tomato sauce and 16 oz of chicken broth (basically the amount that comes in the little carton). I also added 1/2 a bag (about 1 1/2 cups) of a Mediterranean frozen veggie blend, along with 1 10 oz bag of 4 cheese ravioli. I guess this was a vegetarian meal, but it was still very filling and hearty-the colors were very Christmasy too :).

Simple Goodness: Healthy Chicken and Dumpling Soup

Ever since I had my gallbladder removed a few months ago, I've had to improvise my way of cooking , especially on those days my intestines just can't handle all that new bile (a very common post-operative symptom). This is why I tend to cook with a lot less butter and try to focus on how to make things healthy, but still flavorful and preservative-free. Anyway, this chicken soup is easy on the tummy, but still pleasing to the taste buds. The spices I use are great flavor-enhancers and the soup itself is loaded with vegetables and chicken breast, what could possibly be healthier? Ok, maybe it would be healthier without the chicken, but I don't get full without meat...this is why I'm not a vegetarian. It's pretty easy to make, and the secret is probably the timing, how long everything cooks, especially the veggies. Nothing ruins a soup more than over-cooked vegetables and a watery broth for a base...oh yeah, and the spices, there needs to be just enough, but not so much that you can't taste the natural taste of all the other ingredients. So here's what I did:

I measured! Yay! And...

Measured 7 cups of water to boil in a good sized pot. Then I added all the tasty stuff: 3 TBSP Chicken Bouillon Powder (I've used the boxed organic chicken broths, and they work great, but I ran out :). Here are the spices that I threw in the pot of brothy water:

3/4 TSP black pepper
1 tsp Onion powder
1/2 TBSP Basil
1 TBSP Fine herbs (basically, a bled of parsley, green onion, cheruil, and tarragon)
1/2 TBSP Herb de Provence

Then I added 1 1/2 TBSP flour; it might seem like an odd ingredient, but I really don't care much for a watery broth in my soups, this helps to give it more texture without making the soup thick like gravy, because that's not good either.

I let all these spices cook in the broth over a medium flame for about 5 minutes, just to bring out their individual flavors, then I added 1 pound of cut-up boneless skinless chicken breast. (If you are a vegetarian, you could add 1 can of plain tomato sauce instead of chicken and veggie instead of chicken broth for a light vegetable soup.)

While I let the chicken cook over a medium flame for about 15 minutes, with a cover, I diced up all my veggies which amounted to: 1 1/2 cups carrots, 1 cup celery, 1 whole squash, 1 whole zucchini (both medium-sized). Then I added JUST the carrots and celery to the soup, cooking it on a medium-low flame for another 15 minutes. When they were almost done cooking, I added the zucchini and squash, along with the dumplings--making sure the flame was at the second to last lowest setting possible, because it's very easy to over-cook those last veggies. Oh, and here's the recipe for the dumplings:

1 Cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/3 Cup nonfat milk
1 1/2 TBSP canola oil
1/4 tsp salt-free garlic and herb spice

Most dumpling recipes call for butter or even shortening, but those are very heavy, definitely not easy to digest. Canola oil is much lighter AND healthier, and you honestly can't tell the difference.

P.S. Isn't the bowl in the picture so cute? I bought it at a store called Marukai when I visited my family in Los Angeles this past winter break, it's one of my favorite stores.

P.S.S. When I had a break during my little kitchen session, I decided to pay my guinea pigs a visit, so I headed to the back room and fed them each some carrots and celery. The guinea in this picture is Yoshi, the baby of the family. He's a little camera shy and you can definitely see it here :):

Meatball Soup

This recipe was taken from my grandma's version of meatball soup. I improvised, mainly because I seriously don't remember what, exactly, went into the actual "soup" part. I've made this multiple times, and to be honest, I usually tend to overcook the little pastas and zucchinis. That didn't happen this last time, though!

I usually purchase ground meat (turkey in my case) 1lb at a time, but when I use it to make something other than meatloaf or hamburgers, I find that 1lb tends to be too much meat when it comes to dishes that call for more than just a slab of ground meat (things like meatball soup). So that's why I actually used the same meat from the previous recipe (I seasoned it the same way, so refer to yesterday's entry for the meat when preparing the meatballs). I cooked both dishes on the same day. My initial plan was to just make the meatball soup, then I realized I wanted to make something new with the "leftover" meat, hence the chilaquiles recipe I posted yesterday.

Anyway, here's what I added to the meatball soup this time around, usually I change up the recipe each time I make it. It's nothing major, really, just different veggies depending on what's in the fridge (my grandma adds spinach and I was going to until I realized the only spinach we had was canned, and that stuff is gross, in case you haven't figured it out for yourself!)

Meatball Soup (this makes enough for about 4-5 hearty servings)

Meatballs: (see previous entry for the "meat" recipe, but this time, roll the meat into 1/2-1 in. meatballs)

The soup (these ingredients will be added to a large pot that should be able to hold more than 1qt):
3/4 of the 32 oz Pacific Natural Foods beef broth quart (the rest can be used to make gravy...)
1 cup water
1.5 TBSP salt-free garlic and herb seasoning
1/2 TBSP Italian seasoning
2 tsp salt (I'm guessing here, basically, whatever amount tastes good to you)
2 fresh bay leaves
1 tsp black pepper
1/2-3/4 of 1 large green bell pepper, finely chopped
1/4 bag of baby carrots, cut long-ways or 2 large carrots, diced
1 large zucchini or 2 medium, also diced
1 large corn on the cob, remove kernels with knife and add to soup pot
1.5 oz sliced black olives
1 can stewed tomatoes*
1/3 of a 16oz bag of garden rotini pasta
*the stewed tomatoes add a lot of acid; the soup can be made without it and it'll still taste good, tomato just adds another dimension of flavor. If you do want to go ahead and add it, you can add a little baking soda to lessen the acidity.

Instructions:
Bring beef broth and water to a boil once the spices and stewed tomatoes are added. Next, lower the flame to a medium setting and add the meatballs until they are no longer pink. Once the meatballs are cooked, add the carrots...once they are tender, add corn. Lower the flame even more, to a "low/simmer" setting, then add the zucchini. Cook the zucchini for only about 5-7 minutes, then add the pasta and olives. The pasta is the last thing to cook, turn off the flame when the pasta is less than al dente; the heat from the soup will continue to cook the pasta until it's just right. Once the pasta is cooked (again, while the flame is off!), the soup can be served, since it will be cool enough to eat at this point.