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Quick and Easy Steak Sandwich

February 5, 2012 by aVUonFood

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Sometimes Chris and I just crave red meat. And these days I’m always looking for a quick meal that’s not too sinful.. So as requested by the husband we had steak sandwiches two weeks in a row. It’s not exactly THE healthiest meal but it’s definitely fast. This can easily be changed from a steak sandwich to a warm steak salad though!

A couple of pointers that can make this sandwich that much better..

* Bread – Ciabatta makes for a great crispy and light sandwich. It also has more surface space and thus can fit more meat. Lightly toast the bread before filling it also.
* Meat – Of course the better the quality the better the taste. But don’t worry too much as meat can get very expensive. I used casserole steaks. Just be sure to slice it as thin as possible.

RECIPE FOR TWO

~300g steaks
~1 tsp Garlic salt
Black pepper
Drizzle plain oil to coat
~0.5 tsp thyme
Few dashes Worcestershire sauce
Pinch cayenne pepper or chilli powder

1 large pepper
1 medium red onion
Large handful mushrooms
Garlic salt
Black pepper
Thyme
Ciabatta or baguette
Large handful grated cheese (cheddar is fine)
~2-3 tbsp mayonnaise
~1 tsp horseradish sauce
~1 tsp English mustard

1. Slice the steaks as thin as possible. Trim off any chewy sinew pieces. Put in a mixing bowl and add the following seasoning. Set aside to let the flavors mingle.
2. Shred the cheese. Then in a small bowl combine the mayo, horseradish and mustard. Adjust the quantities as desired. A punch of salt would be great too.
3. Slice your peppers, onions and mushrooms into about 1/2 cm thick slices. While heating a frying pan, slice the bread in half lengthways and then in half. Lightly toast at ~200C and leave the oven on. Add plain oil to your hot pan and add the peppers first. When they start to soften after a couple min, add the onions. Sprinkle some garlic salt (use plain if you need to) and black pepper. Cook until soft for another couple min. Set aside. Add a bit more oil and add the mushrooms. Sprinkle salt, pepper and pinch of thyme and cook until soft. Set aside with peppers.
4. Ensure there are no juices left in the pan and add a splash of oil. When the oil moves easily in the pan you know it’s warm. Add the steak and cook until it’s colored on each side. It’s okay if there are some red bits left because you’ll be putting it in the oven. Set aside with the veg as soon as its done.
5. Spread the mayo on the bread. Start piling on the steak with a fork as there will be a lot of juice. Then pile mushrooms, then onions and peppers. Sprinkle the cheese on and place the sandwiches (open face) onto a baking tray. Cook in the oven until the cheese is melted and eat!

It you’re going the healthy route, you could still melt the cheese by layering the meat directly onto a baking tray. Or you can skip that and layer the meat and veg onto spinach leaves and top with the a spicy horseradish dressing. Just use the above mayo mixture and add a splash of water and/or vinegar to thin it out. Hope you enjoy!

Posted in American Cuisine | Tagged , | Leave a Comment »

The Perfect Fried Egg

February 4, 2012 by aVUonFood

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This morning I made my hubby and I a goodie but an oldie – Vietnamese style fried rice and perfectly fried runny eggs. I’ve posted about fried rice before (here and here).. This dish will never get old for us. And this morning he was particularly happy with just how runny his eggs were..

It made me remember living in Vietnam in the summer of 2006.. The eggs you’d have for breakfast with fresh mini baguettes were always perfectly crispy around the edges with perfectly runny yolks. I’m not 100% certain how they get this crispy edge.. It might be because they almost deep fry it as they put quite a bit of oil in a frying pan.. Or it may be they use cast iron pans that are kept on high heats during service.. Or maybe it’s all about having the perfectly sized frying pan so the edges are up against the sides of the pan..

But in my humble kitchen in our 2-bedroom flat, my method seems to work every time.. At the moment I’m stuck with an electric stove but either way it’s key to have a hot stove but not smoking. Use a small frying pan and add a knob of butter and splash of plain oil. The butter should melt but not burn right away. Crack the eggs in and sprinkle some black pepper. Put a lid on and keep an eye on it. As soon as the tops turn white they’re done! If you don’t like your eggs too runny, I use the very technical “wobble” method. Aka gently shake the pan and let the eggs cook until they wobble a little less! We don’t add any salt because we like to drizzle a little bit of Maggi (lite almost sweet soy sauce) or regular soy sauce. Serve over fried rice, warm white rice or dip some freshly toasted buttered baguette!

Hope you have a lovely weekend!

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The Trick to Great Fried Rice

January 28, 2012 by aVUonFood

After watching Ken Hom on BBC’s Saturday Kitchen, I had to chuckle a little.. He was showing James Martin his trick to making perfect rice and egg fried rice. Both tips were ones my mother taught me growing up!

The best way to make fluffy white rice is to put the rice in a pot or rice cooker and fill the water above the rice up to the first line on your index finger. Fill the water and sift it a bit to flatten it. Then put your finger into the middle and touch the rice. The water should come up to the first line. If using a pot, bring it to a boil and reduce the heat to a very low simmer (covered) for about 15 minutes. Take it off the heat, fluff the rice and leave it covered. If using a rice cooker, fluff it when the cook light changes to warm. Then put the lid back on and it’s done when it has stopped steaming.

So the trick that Ken Hom said was exactly what my mom has always taught me – use cold rice to make the best fried rice. (here’s a link to my fried rice post) His rice was a bit simpler than I normally make.. But what I prefer to do is soften chopped onion or shallot in butter and a bit of oil. Then add the rice in straight from the fridge or freezer. Add a knob of butter and heat the rice through. When it starts to warm up, add a few dashes of soy sauce and black pepper. If you want egg in it, I prefer to make a little well in the middle of the pan and add the lightly scrambled egg (seasoned s&p). Gently push the egg until it sets a little then mix it into the rice. OR you can serve it with a perfectly fried runny egg with some Maggi sauce!

Hope you find fried rice as easy as I do :-) I’m happy to answer any questions any time!

Posted in Asian Cuisine, Chinese Cuisine, Vietnamese Cuisine | Tagged , | 1 Comment »

My First Professional Experience

January 21, 2012 by aVUonFood

Hi Everyone! Hope you’ve been enjoying the first couple weeks of the new year. As I mentioned previously, I’ve taken up a new role back in finance. So with commuting and working, it’s been tough to find time to sit down and blog. So nearly a month later, I finally found a Saturday afternoon to share a few pictures of my very first professional experience.

Just one town over in Amersham, the Seasons Catering team were gracious enough to give me the opportunity to cook with them one evening at a private party. It’s a bit of a story how it came about, but needless to say I’m a big fan of the Seasons group which includes Seasons Cafe in old Amersham, another at the Rowan Garden Centre and their traditional Sweets shop also in old Amersham. Chris and I are frequent customers of the Cafe in old Amersham where we have brunch on the weekends. We love sitting up at the counter, reading the paper and having our huevos rancheros or super fluffy scrambled eggs on corn toast. It’s a really cosy place with a deli too – selling all sorts of treats, bread, pies, sandwiches and more.

Chef/Co-Owner Claire and I

So for my catering experience, I arrived a private home in Amersham to meet Claire and the team. It was so impressive how much equipment they brought with them! For about 60 guests, the team provided a pop-up bar and staff who served up a few different canapes and ‘small-bowl’ food. You are probably asking what I did – what is small bowl food?? It is apparently a new trend in the catering world. Rather than having a buffet, catered events are now offering small bowls of food served by wait-staff. As you’ll see in the pictures below, they are literally small bowls. The portion size is a few bites and is similar in size to Spanish tapas or Chinese dim sum. The staff serve them on trays and then pick up the empty bowls afterwards.. Got the concept? It’s brilliant isn’t it?! All the guests were well fed and were able to socialize and mingle about.

Right, the most important party – the food! The first canape we did was Coconut Crusted Prawns with sweet chilli dip. As you’ll see below, Claire is amazing at presentation. She had a collection of gorgeous platters and add a fresh touch of orchids, lemon grass and chillis.

Coconut Crusted Fried Shrimp

While these look simple, they were incredible. The coconut added such a great, unique flavor with the shrimp. I’ve only ever seen a coconut crust once before with chicken at a Caribbean place in L.A. If you ever order from Seasons, I highly recommend these! There were a few other canapes served that evening including Fresh Scallops Wrapped in Bacon and Lobster Bisque with Paprika Crositini. But I was too busy prepping to take more photos. But here are some of the small bowl foods we prepared that night..

Small Bowls of Bangers & Mash with Caramelised Onion Gravy

Small Bowls of Thai Green Chicken Curry with rice

Small Bowls of Tandoori Lamb, Pilau Rice, Mint Raita and fresh Poppadoms

There was one more dish that night that I didn’t get a chance to take a photo of.. And what a shame because I think it was my favorite! It was Duck a l’orange with Dauphinoise Potatoes. So all in all, you can see why I was so blown away by my first catering experience. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the chance to help out with all the prep. Claire took care of all that and brought a lot of the food prepared. I just helped out with prepping and serving the dishes. But it was such a great experience. The team worked so well together! There was so much going on – from getting the timings right to ensuring all the dishes were being served hot and being cleared for more. The team even bring all glass, crockery and cutlery and even take it with them to wash up. So the customer’s experience is completely stress free!

To the Catering Team at Seasons, thank you so much for the experience and I hope to work for you again some time soon! In the mean time, I’ll see you around in the Cafe :-)

Posted in Asian Cuisine, British Cuisine | Tagged , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Happy New Year!

January 10, 2012 by aVUonFood

Happy New Year everyone! Hope you all had a lovely holiday season. I’ve been crazy busy the past month with a new role, Christmas and even my very first professional experience! While I didn’t intend on it – my new year’s resolution has become to plan as many of our weekday dinners as possible. So here’s a sneak peek of what I’ve been cooking.. Recipes to follow!

* Sweet Potato, Caramelised Onion, Goats Cheese Quiche
* Moroccan Meatballs
* Huevos Rancheros
* Slow Roasted Pulled Pork Sandwich with Cole Slaw
* Creamy Chicken Tarragon Pasta

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Posted in American Cuisine, Reducing Waste, Sandwiches, Vegetarian | Tagged , , , | Leave a Comment »

My Husband The Budding Chef!

December 11, 2011 by aVUonFood

So despite my love of food and cooking, there are times when I am delighted to sit back and let my hubby do all the hard work. Although I don’t let him into the kitchen often, when he does cook he does a darn good job! He’s a master at rack of lamb and toad in the hole, but not long ago he was so sweet and made his American wife a British Thanksgiving dinner. It was all last minute and he managed to find a turkey crown from a local butcher that morning. Now I must say my apologies to my Dad, my Mom and my aunts because I have to admit that Chris’s turkey was THE best turkey I have ever had! It was the most flavorful and moist turkey and that was without a brine.

Roast Turkey Crown

After very thorough research he tried a new (and very successful) method of cooking the turkey. He rubbed it all with a seasoned butter (just salt and pepper) and then painted olive oil on top to seal the butter in. He also used little pigs in a blanket (British versions are cocktail sausages wrapped in bacon) and tucked them into the edges with toothpicks/cocktail sticks. Simple and straightforward but with great results. After cooking it at 160C for awhile, he checked the temperature and it was about 140F (it should be 165F). So he removed the cocktail sausages and raised the temperature to 200C/400F for another 20 minutes or so until it reached 165F. While it rested under a foil tent, he got on with all the trimmings : duck fat roast potatoes, sauteed green beans, sage and onion stuffing, carrot and parsnip puree and super crispy Yorkshire pudding! I do have to note that the carrot and parsnip puree was sooooo yummy. He used one part carrot, two parts parsnip and just added a splash of milk and butter.

It was all so good and helped me miss home a little less. The only thing missing was a Honey Baked Ham which is a tradition with my family. And I haven’t seen any ham in the UK come close to the succulent juicy ham from the Honey Baked Ham store with a crispy sweet crust… Mmm.. But I can’t complain really as for the first time my Thanksgiving dinner was made all by my hubby :-)

Thanksgiving - British Style!

So you might be thinking – okay – roast meat and trimmings.. Sure that’s nice.. But he really impressed me this past weekend when he made us Thai Fish Cakes! Not only did he make it all by himself but he used a couple different recipes to make his own version! Here are two recipes that he referenced – one from the BBC and another from Good Food.

Thai fish cakes is one of my favorite Thai dishes and something that always felt very daunting. We had some leftover frozen fish that we wanted to use and this turned out to be a great use for it! You just add the fish, egg, lemongrass, garlic, spring onion, chilli, coriander/cilantro, ginger (if you have it), some oil, fish sauce and lime zest into a food processor and blitz. Add it to a bowl and mix in some chopped green beans. The mixture was a little wet, so he added a couple tsp of plain flour to help bind it.

Heat about half an inch of plain oil (vegetable or sunflower) in a large frying pan. Don’t put it on your highest heat but just below it. Make a small patty at first to test the seasoning and oil temperature.

While Chris made the patties, I was flipping and frying them. My method here was to use a large round metal spatula with holes in it and a fork. The oil temperature was hot but not so much so that the oil was splashing out. Basically it was safe and I could stand close to it. After forming the patty, place it onto the spatula and slide it gently into the oil. If it won’t slide, flip it into the oil but use the fork to catch it with your other hand. Let it fry until you can see it browning up on the sides. Then turn it over. You will need to cook these until just before they look burnt. They’ll be a nice dark brown. Keep flipping them if you need to even the coloring. Let cool on kitchen towel before eating with sweet chilli sauce and some salad greens. Enjoy!!

Thai Fish Cakes

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Easier Than You Think – Homemade Crackers!

December 4, 2011 by aVUonFood

As you’ve seen, I’ve been baking a lot recently.. There’s something satisfying about rolling up your sleeves, putting on an apron and getting your hands dirty. While baking carrot cake or blueberry muffins is fun, it’s not quite as satisfying as rolling out dough or making meatballs. Sometimes it’s all about getting your hands into it!

Thyme & Parmesan Crackers

So a couple of weeks ago I finally made this recipe I’ve been meaning to try – Ina Garten’s Thyme and Parmesan Crackers. I’ve seen her make it on Food Network before, but when I googled her recipe I found a fellow blogger’s version – The Baker Chick’s Parmesan Rosemary Crackers. The key change that she made was to use cream to bring the dough together. She also used a food processor instead of a mixer like Ina did. Since I don’t have a mixer, I thought I’d use the cream method. It made a huge difference and the crackers turned out great!

In the end I used the Baker Chick’s measurements but used thyme instead of rosemary. The first batch I used a good couple tbsp of thyme and the 1/4 tsp salt in the recipe. My husband (and his co-workers) thought these were great on their own. In the second batch I didn’t have as much thyme left and chose to go less on the salt. They were still nice but not as full of flavor. I think the second batch would probably be better served with a dip or with a cheese platter. And be sure to poke good holes with a fork, otherwise they’ll puff and create an air bubble in the center. Also, to avoid any sticking I rolled out the dough on greaseproof paper which worked out perfectly. And as you can see in the photo below, I lined my baking trays with the paper as well. I also added an additional sprinkling of freshly ground black pepper before baking. Keep an eye on these guys while they bake as they’ll go brown very fast! Check them at 10 minutes and again after 1 minute.

To go with the crackers I wanted a reasonably healthy and easy to make dip. I’ve seen and read lots of recipes for a white bean dip and when I googled it, this was the first to come up – Giada’s White Bean Dip. Normally when I cook from a recipe, I adjust it to my taste but this recipe was perfect! It had loads of flavor and it felt incredibly healthy. The thyme and parmesan crackers go really well with it too. If you don’t want too much garlic flavor you could use roasted garlic instead or maybe garlic powder. Thanks Giada!

White Bean Dip with Thyme Parmesan Crackers

WHITE BEAN DIP

  • 1 (15-ounce) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
  • 2 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 1/3 cup olive oil, plus 4 tablespoons
  • 1/4 cup (loosely packed) fresh Italian parsley leaves
  • Salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper

Add all the ingredients to a food processor and blend. Serve with homemade crackers or heated pita chips!


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Thankful for Pumpkin Muffins!

November 24, 2011 by aVUonFood

In honor of Thanksgiving, I thought I’d finally post about the pumpkin muffins I’ve made recently. I saw Chef James Tanner make them on iTV’s Lorraine show. They’re super easy and I even made them once with my 3-year old nieces. They’re also incredibly festive and go very well with a nice cup of tea!

Spiced Pumpkin Muffins

I’ve provided his recipe for you below but here’s the link as well.

INGREDIENTS

250g plain flour

2tsp baking powder

1tsp baking soda

1tsp ground ginger

2tsp all spice

Pinch of salt

160g soft brown sugar

60ml milk or buttermilk

200g of pumpkin puree

2 eggs

30g apple sauce

120g melted butter

Few drops of vanilla extract

Optional pumpkin seeds for garnish

** For the maple cream cheese frosting

100g icing sugar (may need more)

100g cream cheese

45g butter

1tbsp maple syrup

DIRECTIONS

  1. Preheat oven to 200C/400F.
  2. Make the pumpkin puree. Start peeling a small pumpkin (2kg will do). Scrape out as much flesh as you can and chop the rest into cubes. Simmer with a bit of water in a pot until soft. It will take about 15-20 minutes. Drain and blitz into a puree. Weigh out 200g. You can freeze the leftovers for more muffins or use it for a soup. If you want to use the pumpkin seeds, toast them first in the oven and set aside. Take the cream cheese and butter for the frosting out at this point to bring to room temperature.
  3. Sieve the flour, baking powder, baking soda, ginger and all spice into a bowl, add salt and sugar and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the milk or buttermilk, pumpkin puree, eggs, apple sauce, melted butter and vanilla extract. Gradually mix the dry ingredients into the wet to create a smooth batter.
  4. Line your muffin tin with baking cases. Fill each almost to the top of the case and pop them in the oven.
  5. The recipe says to cook for 20-25 minutes but mine were much quicker than that. Check the muffins at 10 minutes and again 5 minutes later. Using a cocktail stick, check the center of the muffin. If it comes out clean then they’re done. Leave to cool on a wire baking rack. Serve plain for a savory muffin or top with the frosting for something sweet.
  6. For the frosting, blend all the ingredients together. If you are mixing by hand, this will be much easier to do if the ingredients are soft and at room temperature. If you want your icing to be a bit more stiff, add more icing sugar as needed. Then serve!

Cook’s Notes

  • The pumpkin seeds are pretty on top but if you’re going to have frosting they just get in the way and end up chewy.
  • I got my pumpkin at Sainsbury’s.. it looked pretty small but it weighed about 2kg and it gave me enough pumpkin puree for just over two portions of this recipe.
  • I used homemade apple sauce and added a bit extra for more moisture.
  • Careful on the cooking time. Don’t go by color and be sure to check after 10 minutes. If the cocktail stick comes out with a bit of crumb on it, it’s done. What you don’t want to see is batter.

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Some Vegetarian Delights

November 23, 2011 by aVUonFood

As you know I am a major meat lover. However, every once in awhile I try to do a Meatless Monday for my husband and I. It’s usually planned with the intention of being healthy but somehow there’s always Lots of cheese involved! Here’s a mix of different vegetarian dishes I’ve made recently. Enjoy!

First up something I’ve raved about before – Farro. Farro is an “ancient wheat” that is very similar to spelt or bulgar wheat. It’s nutty, chewy in texture and very hearty. The great thing about it is that it soaks up liquid really well, so it goes well with a vinaigrette. Sadly it’s not the easiest item to find. Your best bet may be an Italian delicatessen or health food store. Crazily enough, I bought my small bag in an Italian shop in New Orleans where they’re famous for their Muffaletta sandwich. I brought it back to Arizona and then all the way to London with me! Using seasonal butternut squash, I made a Farro Salad with Roasted Butternut Squash and Goats Cheese in a Sherry Vinaigrette.

Warm Farro Salad with Butternut Squash and Goats Cheese

Next up was a simple started of Fried Halloumi with a Red Onion, Caper, Coriander Vinaigrette. Halloumi is this delicious, salty white cheese from Cyprus. It can be made from either cow’s, goat’s or sheep’s milk and has a semi-hard, chewy texture. I find it’s nice crumbled in a salad, hot off the grill as a kebab or coated in flour and pan fried. I did the latter and it was incredibly easy.

It comes in a block about 4 or 5 inches long, about 3 inches wide and 3 inches high. Slice into pieces as thin as you can get it (maybe half a cm). Since it comes with a bit of water in its package (much like mozzarella), just dip it in flour and it will coat easily. Then fry in a bit of oil in a pan. Serve with a simple white wine vinaigrette with finely chopped red onion or shallots, chopped capers and chopped coriander/cilantro. If you have some lime, add the juice from half. You don’t need to add salt to this dressing as the capers and cheese will be salty. Enjoy!

Fried Halloumi with Red Onion, Caper, Coriander Vinaigrette

Next up is a Vietnamese Carrot Salad. This dish isn’t entirely vegetarian as it uses fish sauce, but this can be substituted for salt. But this salad isn’t meant to be served as an appetizer/starter. It’s more of a side dish. While it’s not

Traditional Goi Tom Vietnamese Shrimp Salad

entirely ‘traditional’, even the BBC has a similar version with cabbage. This is really a quick easy version of the actual traditional salad Goi Tom which has shrimp, daikon and cucumber. My mom makes this salad all the time. It’s really refreshing and she does a great presentation. She’ll mound the salad on a plate, slice the shrimp in half length wise and place them all over the salad ‘dome’. It looks gorgeous. She’ll also use green papaya at times. Check out this recipe for Goi Tom or this recipe for green papaya salad.

This quick and easy use of carrots is great with some grilled or pan roasted prawns/shrimp and some rice noodles. Or with some grilled Vietnamese style pork (lemongrass) and steamed rice.

Peel and then julienne or grate your carrots. Finely chop some red onion or shallots. Cut some mint in chiffonade (thinly slice) or chop some coriander if you don’t have mint. Add some chopped chilli if you have it. Gently toast your peanuts in a pan if possible, otherwise just crush and toss in. Make enough dressing (nuoc mam cham) with this ratio (2 parts water, 1 part sugar, 1 part fish sauce, 1 part lemon or lime juice, 1 clove garlic, chilli pepper). Go easy when adding the sauce to the salad though. It’s very strong! But just toss it all together and serve!

Vietnamese Carrot Salad

Last but not least is a quick and easy Beet and Apple Salad with Blue Cheese. I’ve done a similar salad before (click here for recipe) with avocado as well. But this one was even easier. In the UK, you can buy cooked whole beets in water in the salad section but in the States canned beets are just fine. Some people find this salad a bit too sweet but you can offset that by adding the blue cheese, lemon juice or some rocket/arugula leaves.

Slice the beets into matchsticks. Similarly slice the apples (skin on). Toast some walnuts and crush. Make a simple lemon dressing (lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper) with finely chopped shallots if you’d like. I like to toss the beets and apples in the dressing separately so that you can maintain the color contrast. Serve with a few knobs of blue cheese (I like Gorgonzola for this) and sprinkle the walnuts on top!

Beet, Apple and Blue Cheese Salad with Walnuts

Posted in Italian Cuisine, Vegetarian, Vietnamese Cuisine | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

When It’s Cold Outside.. Soups Galore!

November 16, 2011 by aVUonFood

As the autumn season kicks into full swing, there’s nothing better than a bowl of warm, hearty soup! My husband and I have also been really conscious that the holidays are not far off and that cozy, hearty MEALS are going to be in abundance. So not only are soups comfy, they’re (relatively) healthy! What really elevates a soup from bland to brilliant is a good stock and good seasoning. It also helps to use in season vegetables, so that they’re bursting with flavor. I found a really cool website that tells you what’s at their best and in season from vegetables to meat and seafood (for the UK) : eat the seasons (dot) com. And at their best right now are butternut squash, parsnip and leeks (to name a few). Try them as a soup or even as a veggie pasta bake (or lasagna if you have the sheets).

Soups are so incredibly easy to make and a great way to get a non-vegetable lover to get their veggies in. To make them even easier, I highly recommend investing in a hand blender. It is SO handy for soups, pasta sauces, mashed potatoes, potato or parsnip puree, sauces, etc. I use a Philips Hand Blender like this one you can buy on Amazon.co.uk. They’ve been using this exact one on Masterchef The Professionals this week (for those unfamiliar with this UK show, they’ve brought it to the States with Gordan Ramsey.. check it out!). Lots of sauces and bisques being made with it!

I make all my soups with chicken stock, but they can easily be substituted for vegetable stock. I also try to use homemade chicken stock whenever possible. Click on the SOUP link below for a recipe. I usually separate my stock into medium sized plastic containers and freeze for perfect soup-for-two portions. They can keep for a couple months in the freezer but only a couple days in the fridge.

So without further ado, here’s my week’s worth of soups! I started it off with a chicken chowder which helped me make enough stock to use all week! Click here for all the SOUP recipes.

  1. Chicken, Corn and Ham Chowder
  2. Roasted (Bell) Pepper, Tomato and Feta Soup with mint coulis garnish
  3. Classic Cream of Broccoli
  4. Classic Cream of Mushroom
  5. Roasted Butternut Squash, Fennel and Carrot Soup with coriander/cilantro garnish
  6. Roasted Parsnip, Carrot, Coriander/cilantro and Curry Soup with bacon garnish

Making some 'chowda' !

Hearty chicken, corn and ham chowder

When roasting changes everything..

Roasted Pepper, Tomato & Feta Soup

Classic Cream of Broccoli Soup

Classic Cream of Mushroom Soup with Garlic Parmesan Toast

Roasted butternut squash, fennel & carrot soup

Carrot, Parsnip, Coriander/Cilantro, Curry Soup with Bacon Garnish

Posted in Healthy Foods, Vegetarian | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

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