Fall is not only here, but some parts of the country have had their first snow. Can you believe it? (Seriously Utah and South Dakota — snow already?) It feels like just a couple weeks ago that the Eco Women were writing back-to-school posts for this blog and now they’re planning for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
One of Recycla’s many favorite things about this time of year is eating soups and stews. To her, there’s nothing more comforting than making a flavorful vegetable soup or a thick, hearty beef stew on a chilly blustery day and having the good smells waft through her house.
When Recycla says soup, you do know she means homemade soup, don’t you? Recycla does not eat canned soup. Canned soups do not taste as good as homemade, plus canned soups contain more sodium, more fat, and less flavor than homemade soups do.
You might be thinking to yourself, “But Recycla, I work all day and don’t have time to make soup when I get home.” On the contrary, soup is NOT time consuming. If you keep your kitchen stocked with a few basic ingredients, you will always be able to whip up a good soup in less than thirty minutes.
For example, if you have vegetable broth, frozen veggies, some carrots in your fridge, and some potatoes in your pantry, you could have vegetable soup in no time at all. Add some cheese and crackers and you have a meal that would put a smile on anyone’s face.
In another example, chicken noodle soup also takes almost no time at all. Recycla simply defrosts chicken broth that she usually has in her freezer and adds cooked chicken, diced carrots, pasta, and various herbs and spices. The entire meal takes anywhere from 30-60 minutes to prepare, depending on if she has cooked chicken in her freezer or if she needs to cook some first.
Some meals do take longer, such as beef stew, but beef stew is oh so easy: Brown the stew meat in a dutch oven, then add four cups of beef broth and whatever herbs and spices make your taste buds happy. Cover and put in an oven set at 325F for a couple or few hours. Add chopped carrots and whole mushrooms and cook for another hour. During that last hour, put on a pot of potatoes to boil and, when ready, turn the potatoes into mashed potatoes. When the stew is ready, serve over a bed of mashed potatoes. Yum.
Financially speaking, soups are a great way to feed yourself and your family. Depending on the recipe, a pot of soup should only cost a few dollars to make. It’s easy to make a large batch and freeze it in smaller containers — easy to defrost when you’re short on time.
Recycla normally doesn’t use recipes when she makes soups. She just tosses ingredients into her soup pot and then sees what happens. Luckily, things usually work out well. If you’re interested in finding soup recipes that are good for you and also taste good, she suggests that you go to Cooking Light magazine’s website and search their soup recipes.
If you want to make your soup completely and totally from scratch, then you could also make your own broth instead of buying it at the store. This is one of those super easy things that will vastly improve your soups, as well as save you money. Recycla usually makes her broths while she’s working on other things in the kitchen.
Recycla realizes that making soup is not going to save Planet Earth. But she does believe that having a stronger, more direct connection with one’s food is important and will ultimately make a difference.
The Eco Women want to know: What is your favorite kind of soup?
I suppose it should be noted that using canned vegetables for your homemade soup defeats the purpose as far as lowering salt content is concerned. As far as fresh vegetables in concerned, they all have a different cook rate. For example, carrots take 10 minutes more than potatoes to cook to soft while broccoli florets and peas take less time. I think this is important because you want your vegetables cooked to taste but would not want the potatoes to become pasty blobs, for example. So I do not put all the vegetables in at the same time. I rarely use onion because I think it overpowers all the flavors of the other ingredients, but if I do I cook separately before adding to the pot. I sauté in butter with a little sugar to caramelize than add as opposed to having mere “in the pot” boiled onions. If making a broth of beef or chicken I let the liquid set so the animal fat will gel and the white wax textured coagulant can be scooped out and discarded for making a much healthier soup. Swanson and Progresso make broths in box that are very delicious but are high in salt too. However, just adding one cup to the pot enhances the flavor enough for effect and you can refrain from adding any more salt because that is all you will need. Sometimes I add 1/2 cup of milk to mashed potatoes and once the bottle slipped out of my hand and mashed potatoes became potato soup in just an accidental flash.
Souuuuup. I’m terrible at making it, but I love it when other people make a great bowl. My mother in law makes an amazing turkey vegetable soup from scratch after Thanksgiving every year.
My favorite formula for soup is a good broth (usually homemade), all the leftover vegetables in the house (well, 1/2 cup of each), a couple of chicken breasts, a little onion and/or garlic…. and let the whole thing simmer all day in the slow cooker. I come home to a house that smells heavenly and a meal ready to eat.