Hot & Sour Soup

In interest of changing things up around here during Fall & Winter. I tried my hand at a Hot & Sour Soup. I can tell you it surprised me how well it turned out. We made it just spicy enough, next time we're going to do two batches one normal spice and one with extra heat for those who want it. The kids loved the way this one turned out, so I'll leave the recipe as is. I would consider this a 2-3 on the spice level, not burn your lips spicy but a nice warmth in the stomach. 

 Hot & Sour Soup

3 cups bone broth (or veg. I used chicken)

3 cups water

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup vinegar (rice, apple cider or white) 

1 whole head of garlic sliced in half (leaving skin on)

1 finger of ginger (about 1 inch long, sliced, skin on)

1 tsp Taekyung red pepper powder (or 1 Tbsp Sriracha to taste for spice)

Salt & Pepper to taste

2 eggs well beaten

Sliced green onions

1) In Instant pot place water, bone broth, soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, ginger and Taekyung red pepper or Sriracha. Close and turn to "soup" cook for high for 20 minutes.

2) When done, strain and place broth back into IP. Taste and season as necessary 

3) Turn IP to Saute, when nice and hot pour in beaten eggs stirring constantly. 

4) Serve with green onions on top

Mangia!

Pozole Verde Beef Stew----Instant Pot

I usually can tell from just reading a recipe a) if we'll like it and b) the tweaks I'll make to the recipe to ensure it's exactly what I want the end result to be. I love trying new soups, and I really love trying new recipes  that have ingredients that I don't typically use. I absolutely love how this recipe turned out, it was perfect on a nice cold night.

Pozole Verde Beef Stew
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt & pepper
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 onion, chopped
1 lb beef stew meat
1 25 oz can hominy, drained and rinsed
1 jar green salsa (I use Trader Joes brand)
1 1/2 cup bone broth
Avocado
Cilantro
Lime
Green onion
That's it!

Cut stew meat into 1 inch pieces.
In mixing bowl, mix cumin, garlic powder, salt, pepper and add stew meat. Mix well.
Place everything in the Instant Pot, except avocado, cilantro, lime and green onion.
Stir well.
Close Instant Pot and cook on high pressure for 22 minutes.
Quick release pressure.
Serve with avocado, cilantro, lime and green onion
Enjoy!!!!
Hint: If you haven't bought Hominy before you can find at most grocery stores near the canned corn.

Albondigas Soup

I use this blog as my own recipe book. I can go back to the blog and look through recipes we like that maybe we haven't had in a while. I love being able to flip through the recipes and change up our weekly menu. I menu plan every week and make a list off of that menu, and I try to keep variety. Every week we typically have some Italian dish, Mexican, Chinese, Indian...etc. When I make a great recipe I always make sure to write down how I made it so that I can make it again. This week this Albondigas soup turned out better than I've ever made it so I need to write this down. I made this in my dutch oven because I felt the urge to cook. But this could easily be done in the Instant Pot. See below for IP instructions.

Albondigas Soup
Meatballs:
1 cup rice (I use white)
1 lb ground turkey
1/2 an onion chopped
4 tbsp. chopped cilantro (or parsley if you don't like cilantro)
2 tsp cumin
1 tbsp. oregano
1 egg beaten
4 cloves of garlic minced
For the Soup:
3 cups bone broth (I use chicken because that's typically what I have on hand but beef would work just as well)
3 cups water
4 cloves garlic minced
6 large carrots chopped
4 potatoes chopped
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 can chopped tomatoes  (14.5 oz can)
1/2 lemon juiced
salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in bottom of stock pot. Add onions and garlic and cook until translucent.
Add chopped carrots and potatoes and cook until a nice caramelization, about 5-7 minutes.

Add broth, water and tomatoes.
Bring to boil and turn down heat to simmer for about 5 minutes.
Mix meatballs and form into small balls
Slowly add meatballs to pot one at a time. Stir carefully.
Cover and let cook over low to medium heat for another 30-45 minutes.
Add lemon juice and fresh cilantro or parsley to taste.

Enjoy!

Instant Pot----Albondigas Soup
Recipe is same.
Set IP to sauté add onions and  garlic. Add chopped carrots and potatoes and cook until carmelization.
Add broth, water and tomatoes.
Mix meatballs and form into small balls
Add meatballs to pot one at a time. Stir carefully.
Close IP, and set to Soup mode timer on IP set to 20 minutes.
Manually release steam.

Add lemon juice and fresh cilantro or parsley to taste.
Enjoy!

Zuppa Toscana ---- Instant Pot

Need something cozy to eat before cuddling in front of the fire this Fall and Winter. I have a great recipe for you. I've made this many times before in my crock pot and love it, but seeing that I have the Instant Pot I figured I'd attempt it in there. I love it even more in the Instant Pot because you take out the extra step of using a different pan on the stove...and I'm all for using one dish when cooking.

Zuppa Toscana --- Instant Pot
1 lb Italian Sausage
1/2 lb bacon chopped
3 cups chopped potatoes
2 cups chicken broth
4 cups water
4 green onions, chopped
2 tsp garlic, minced
1 cup kale or spinach
1 cup heavy whipping cream

Chop sausage and bacon into bite sized pieces
Turn Instant Pot onto saute on the hottest setting.
Add tbsp of oil or butter
Add garlic
Stir in bacon and sausage, brown completely.
Cancel the Instant Pot, drain the grease off bacon and sausage.
Add potatoes, broth, water, green onions and bacon and sausage.
Close Instant Pot and set to "Soup" mode.
Change time to 25 minutes.
Once done, release pressure and open Instant Pot.
Add whipping cream and spinach/kale.
Close Instant Pot and set for manual 7 minutes.
Release pressure and Enjoy!!!!

Instant Pot----Creamy Cauliflower & Fennel Soup

It's the first day of September which means Fall is coming, when I think of Fall I think of cozy sweaters and scarves. Now I don't really live in a place that gets "really cold" but I can't help but love pulling on a sweater, wrapping a scarf around my neck and throwing on my boots. And of course when the weather is scarf worthy what is better than a nice warm soup for dinner. When I saw this recipe I knew we'd like it, and as always I tweak it to make it mine, to add flavors I know my family would enjoy. This soup really hit the spot, so creamy and flavorful, and easy.
Creamy Cauliflower & Fennel Soup
1 lb cauliflower
2 medium sized fennel bulbs, fronds removed
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 white onion, chopped
6 cloves of garlic peeled, left whole
1 cup coconut milk
3 cups bone broth
2 tsp salt
1 lb cooked chicken (I used my Instant Pot and cooked my chicken first, then picked it off the bone and kept the bones for bone broth and used the chicken in the soup)

Turn Instant Pot onto saute on high
Add coconut oil, onion and garlic cook for 2-3 minutes
Add cauliflower and Fennel and cook for 5 minutes, make sure to stir them up a bit
Pour in the coconut milk, bone broth, and salt
Cook on soup setting for at least 5 minutes
Once done release pressure, and remove the lid
Use a hand blender to blend until creamy and smooth.
Once smooth pour into a bowl and add chicken to the top and serve.
Enjoy!

Artichoke Barigoule

This recipe may seem intimidating but it really makes an amazing soup, especially if you like artichokes. If you've never prepared an artichoke you'll quickly learn once you have done one artichoke the others are easy. 

Artichoke Barigoule

2 cups water

2 cups dry white wine

4 cups chicken stock

1 cup olive oil

6 artichokes (small artichokes are best)

2 lemons (halved)

1 cup chopped carrots

1 cup chopped fennel

2 cups chopped onion

3 tbsp minced shallots

2 tbsp minced garlic

3/4 tsp salt

bouquet garni: parsley, thyme, bay leaf tied up in cheesecloth

1 salt packed anchovy filet (optional)

In large bowl put aside water, wine, stock & 1/2 cup olive oil

Prepare artichokes: Peel the outer leaves from artichokes, peel stem to remove outer fibrous layer. Cut off spiny tips from leaves, cut artichokes lengthwise and remove chokes (the hairy part you see inside the heart of the artichoke).
Immediately put in water with a squeeze of lemon juice.

In a large stock pot, heat 1/2 cup olive oil with carrots for 2-2 1/2 minutes then add fennel, cook another 2-2 1/2 minutes

Add onion, shallots & garlic cook 4 additional minutes

Add artichokes (heart down)

Sprinkle with salt cover and cook for 10 minutes

Add bouquet garni & bowl of water, wine, chicken stock & olive oil

Cook on a low simmer for 15 minutes

Chop anchovy and add to soup

Cook another 15 minutes or until there is no resistance to artichoke heart

Butternut Squash, Sausage & Kale Soup

In my effort to experiment with more and more Fall produce I searched out a recipe to utilize a butternut squash, we typically eat the butternut in a pureed soup (I posted the recipe last Fall if you want to try that one as well). Originally this recipe called for sweet potatoes but I opted for butternut squash knowing the flavors would work.

Here it is...

Butternut Squash, Sausage & Kale Soup

2 tbsp oil

1 lb sausage

1 lg onion, diced

4 garlic cloves, minced

4 cups chicken broth (we use our homemade bone broth)

2 cups butternut squash, diced into squares 

1 (28oz) can diced tomatoes     

1 cup dried pasta (loved it with Orecchiette)

1 cup roughly chopped kale

salt & pepper to taste

Parmesan for garnish

Heat oil in large stockpot over medium-high heat 

Add onion and sausage, cook for 5-7 minutes, until onion is translucent and sausage is slightly brown

Add garlic and cook 1-2 minutes

Add chicken broth, butternut squash and tomatoes, stir to combine

Bring to boil, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer for 5 minutes

Cook pasta on side until al dente and add to soup (you could cook the pasta in the soup but we are very particular about how al dente we like our pasta so we always choose to cook separately)

Stir in kale and season with salt & pepper

Serve with Parmesan

Enjoy!

Butternut Squash Soup

Last Fall my little family took a trip to the apple orchard and did some apple picking, the next day we ventured to the Pumpkin patch. Came home from the pumpkin patch with not only pumpkins but our first ever Butternut Squash. Not knowing exactly what we wanted to cook with it, my husband started pulling things out of the pantry and cupboards. He then created one of the most delicious soups I think I've ever had, it was even more delicious seeing that he added apples that we had picked the day before. Here's the recipe!!!

Butternut Squash Soup
1 Butternut Squash
2 cups chicken broth
1 red onion chopped
2 cloves of garlic chopped
2 apples chopped (we used Gala)
sprig of rosemary
1-2 cups white wine
3-4 pieces of ginger
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt

Cut squash in half length wise and drizzle with olive oil and salt, bake @ 450 for 10 minutes, then put under broiler on low until the top of the squash is browned (ours was about 15 minutes.
The baking and broiling should make the squash easier to peel, if it's still tough put back in the oven and bake a few more minutes.
Once squash is easy to fork it's done.
In stock pot heat oil, add onion, garlic, apples, rosemary & ginger.
Cook down until apples are soft, onions are translucent and things are browned.
Remove rosemary and pieces of ginger.
Add wine and reduce
Scoop squash out of peel and add to pot
Add chicken broth to pot and let cook until squash is soft.
Puree soup in food processor/blender and return to pot to keep warm