Potato-Kale-Zucchini-Carrot Soup

This soup turned out pretty good.  I won’t say I invented it, because there are probably a billion similar soups out there, but I kind of made it by feel and not using a recipe.  One tip: don’t over-cheese it: too much cheese in hot soup gets stuck all over the inside of your mouth.

Ingredients:

• 2 Russet potatoes, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 3 Small zucchinis, cut into 1-inch coins
• 4 Carrots, cut into 1/2-inch coins
• 2 Tomatoes, diced
• 2 Cups of chopped kale
• 1/4 Cup of chopped fresh parsley
• 1 White or yellow onion, diced
• 1 Shallot, diced
• 2-3 Cups vegetable broth
• 1 Cup shredded cheddar cheese
• Olive oil (used at your discretion)
• Spices (sage, thyme, and/or any kind of Italian seasoning)
• Salt and Peppper

Sautee the shallot, onion and spices in some olive oil.  When translucent, add the carrots and zucchini. Meanwhile, heat the vegetable broth in a large pot and add the potatoes.  Bring to a boil and cook until the potatoes are tender. Add the sauteed mixture and bring back to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Add the kale and tomatoes and simmer until the soup reaches the desired texture.

Makes enough for about 8 bowls. Serve with the shredded cheese and chopped parsley.

Cheap Eats: Sweet Potato Coconut Squash Soup

I went to Trader Joe’s this week craving sweet potatoes. I’d planned to make a sweet potato side dish, and I may still do that, but last night, because of the chill, I ended up throwing a soup together. As always, my cooking is experimental and my measurements are far from exact, so please keep that in mind if you attempt to try this.

Sweet potato coconut squash soup

Ingredients:

• About 2 and a half cups of cubed butternut squash.  I’m lazy as hell and hate cutting up unwieldy squash, so I use 2 packages of the pre-cut squash from Trader Joe’s.
• 2 sweet potatoes, cubed
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 1 tablespoon of green curry paste (or any kind of curry), plus a teaspoon of garam masala and whatever other Indian spices that you have laying around
• Olive oil
• Pinch of salt
• 1 can of light coconut milk, or half a can of regular coconut milk

Put the cubed squash and sweet potato in a stock pot and cover with water.  Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 10 minutes, or until the cubes are tender.  Drain off excess water until it covers about half of the squash and sweet potatoes.  In a sautée pan, add a generous dash of olive oil, the onion, curry paste and spices, and sautée until onion is transparent.  Add this onion/spice mixture and the can of coconut milk to the stock pot, and bring to a simmer.  Purée with a wand blender if you like, or leave it as it is if you like it chunky (and you know I do).

I served it with brussel sprouts sauteed in butter and olive pugliese from Trader Joe’s.  OMG so good!! Total cost: about $11 for 2-4 meals, depending on what kind of eater you are.

Soup for an Economic Crisis

So, luckily my husband and I still have our jobs and are renters for the long haul, so we’re okay for now. But we did however just postpone a camping trip because we realized it would cost us something like $120 in gas to get there and back. (Ouch – even a hobo’s idea of vacation is too posh for us). Instead, we stayed home this weekend, running (me), cleaning, reading and internetting (both of us), fantasy footballing (him) and cooking. I had suggested going out for Thai on Saturday night, but our bank accounts insisted that we dine chez us. Our laziness and brokeness compounded, we decided to use ingredients we already had in our kitchen.

Lentil soup is great because I usually have the ingredients on hand, and yet it feels a lot less desperate than mac and cheese, frozen pizza, or any other kind of no-money-to-spend-let’s-see-what’s-in-the-house dinner. Here’s what I put in mine:

• 2 cups lentils (the brown kind)
• 1 shallot
• 2 small onions
• 10 or so small potatoes
• garam masala
• curry or any combo of Indian spices on hand
• bay leaves
• butter or olive oil
• coconut milk (1/2 – 1 full can)
• salt

I proceed to haphazardly throw these ingredients together – usually boiling potatoes, lentils, and bay leaves in a stock pot, sauteing shallots, onions, and spices with butter or olive oil, then combining the two for a slow boil. I add coconut milk and salt to my liking, then blend the mixture (with a wand blender) to give it that dal-like texture. Serve with bread and butter.

It looks like shit (literally):

See?

But it tastes good and is cheap cheap cheap! I made this last night and we got a good ten bowls out of it. Next up: my favorite gruel recipe.