Beef and Butternut Squash (or Kabocha Squash) Stew

Sunday afternoons typically involve meal prep for the week.  This afternoon of cooking is always fun for me while also being a great way to stay organized and on track with healthy and yummy meals for the week ahead.  Since I'm typically prepping a few different things, I usually enlist the help of my kitchen gadgets, such as my electric steamer, pressure cooker, and slow cooker, to make it a little easier.

This stew is a snap to put together, and you can simplify the prep by taking advantage of some finds at Trader Joe's (or likely your preferred market).  Trader Joe's has one pound bags of organic cubed kabocha squash in their frozen foods section, and they also have julienned sun-dried tomatoes.  If you don't like kabocha squash, you can use butternut squash, which is also available pre-cubed in Trader Joe's fresh produce section  I've also seen it at Whole Foods and at Costco.  Chopped stew meat is available in the Trader Joe's meat section, or you can also get this from your butcher at another market.

The usual beef-and-potato stews are bland, in my opinion.  This stew is dressed up with sun-dried tomatoes, fresh herbs, sweet and nutty squash, and some Marsala wine.  Before everything goes into the slow cooker, there's some sautéing to be done; searing the meat keeps it from turning mushy, and sautéing the onions, garlic, and herbs just pops their flavor.  After the sautéing is done, you add the Marsala wine to the pan, and this helps gets those brown bits that will add so much more richness to the stew.  Then, everything goes in the slow cooker, and voila - you've got one yummy meal!

Beef and Butternut Squash Stew / Beef and Kabocha Squash Stew
Yields 4 servings

Ingredients:
2 tbsp. oil of your choice
1 large onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tbsp. chopped fresh rosemary leaves
1 tbsp. chopped fresh thyme
2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. Kosher salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
2 lbs. stew beef, trimmed and cut into 2-inch cubes
1/2 cup Marsala wine
1 lb. butternut squash or kabocha squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1-inch cubes
1/3 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes (or one 3-oz. bag of Trader Joe's julienned sun-dried tomatoes)
3 cups beef or chicken broth
2 tbsp. chopped fresh flat-parsley leaves

Directions:
In a large mixing bowl, add the flour, salt, and pepper, and whisk to combine.  Then, add the beef cubes and toss gently to coat.  Set aside.

In a large saute pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat.  Add the onion, garlic, rosemary, and thyme, and cook for about 5 minutes until it becomes tender.  Add the beef cubes to the pan in batches and cook, turning occasionally, until the beef is browned on all sides (about 5 minutes).  As the beef cubes batch finish, transfer them to the slow cooker.  While the final batch of beef cubes cooks, add the Marsala wine and use a spatula to scrape up the browned bits from the pan.

Transfer the remaining beef cubes, onion, and pan juices to the slow cooker.  Add the squash cubes, sun-dried tomatoes, and broth, and stir to combine.  Cover and cook on high for 4 to 5 hours, or on low for 8 hours, until the beef and squash are tender.  Serve with a sprinkle of parsley.

Source: Giada De Laurentiis' Happy Cooking

Mexican Chicken Chowder

Happy Cinco De Mayo!  Today's recipe is one of my favorite work week lunches.  I'll make a batch of this soup on a Sunday and will enjoy it for lunch throughout the week.   It's a healthy soup with protein and veggies that is very filling, and it gets some spice from salsa.  Most chowders are traditionally thickened by cream, but this chowder is thickened by a puree of sweet potatoes and carrots.

Use your favorite choice of salsa for the soup!  I use 2 jars of salsa from Trader Joe's for the soup because they have some great varieties of salsa.

To make the soup, you cook chicken thighs, chopped sweet potatoes and carrots, salsa, and chicken stock.  Once the chicken finishes cooking, you'll remove the chicken and shred it.  You'll also scoop out 2 cups of the vegetables and add them to a blender with some of the broth and then puree.  This mixture will then "thicken" the soup and give it a chowder like thickness.    Once you return the thickener and the chicken to the soup, you'll add some spinach and cilantro.  Cook for about ten more minutes, and you've gone one delicious Mexican chicken chowder!

This chowder also freezes well, too.  It would make a great light dinner, too!

Mexican Chicken Chowder
Yields 6 servings

Ingredients:
2 lbs. bone-in chicken thighs
3 cups/24 oz. salsa of your choice
4 cups chicken stock
3 cups peeled and cubed sweet potatoes (about 2 sweet potatoes)
2 cups peeled and diced carrots (about 4 carrots)
1 lime
1 tsp. sea salt
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 cups chopped spinach
1 avocado, optional
Cilantro, optional

Directions:
Add the chicken, salsa, chicken stock, sweet potatoes, carrots, garlic, and salt to a large pot and heat over medium-high heat.  Once the soup reaches a boil, reduce the head to medium-low and cover for an hour.

After an hour, reduce the heat to low, and remove the chicken to a bowl.  Set aside to cool.  Meanwhile, scoop 2 cups of vegetables from the soup and place in a blender with 1/3 cup of the broth.  Puree the vegetables until smooth and then add it back to the soup.

Shred the chicken and add the back chicken to the soup with the chopped spinach and any desired cilantro.  Cook on low for ten minutes or until the spinach is wilted.

After the soup finishes cooking, squeeze the lime in the soup.  Serve with any desired avocado slices.

Source: Danielle Walker's Against All Grain

Rustic Tomato Soup

Happy February!  I hope the new year is off to a great start for everyone.

I love a good tomato soup - there's something comforting about it.  However, like so many good things, tomato soups are often full of cream, butter, and cheese.  I wanted to come up with a healthier tomato soup that still tasted top notch.

This is a simple soup to make that doesn't require any real complicated ingredients.

After making Thomas Keller's French onion soup over the holiday season, I really have appreciated that roasting vegetables takes a soup from good to great.  Roasted vegetables have so much more flavor, so I roasted carrots, celery, garlic, and onion for this soup.  I didn't roast the tomatoes because my favorite Bianco DiNapoli tomatoes are perfect just as they are!  If you want to roast the tomatoes, go for it!  Just reserve the liquid from the tomato cans for the soup.

After you roast the veggies, you'll add it to a soup pot with tomatoes and your choice of stock.  I also like adding a bay leaf and parmesan cheese rind to the soup.  Parmesan cheese rinds adds a hint of cheese flavor and the right saltiness.  After it cooks, you'll run it through a food mill, blender, etc. to puree it.  I keep it a little chunky.

I've made this soup three times already.  I love having a cup for an afternoon snack--it's something you can feel good about indulging in, too!

Rustic Tomato Soup
Yields 4-6 servings

Ingredients:
3 large carrots, peeled and chopped
3 stalks celery, diced
3 cloves garlic
1 large sweet onion, sliced
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
2 28-ounce cans of whole tomatoes
4 cups/32 oz. of chicken, vegetable, or beef stock
1 bay leaf
1 parmesan cheese rind, optional
Red pepper flakes, optional
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375ºF.  On a large baking sheet, place the cut carrots, celery, onion, and garlic cloves.  Drizzle with the 2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Roast in oven for 45 minutes, turning vegetables halfway.  Once done, remove from oven and set aside.

Once the vegetables are coated, place a large soup pot (at least 6 quarts) over medium high heat.  Add the canned tomatoes (including the juice), the stock, and then the roasted vegetables.  Add in a bay leaf, cheese rind, and any other desired salt, pepper, and/or red pepper flakes.  Cook over medium high heat until the soup begins to boil, and then reduce heat to low.  Cook over low for 20-30 minutes, stirring periodically.

Then, transfer the soup in batches to a blender or a food processor to puree.  Alternatively, you can use a food mill or even an immersion blender if it will not damage your pot.  Serve and enjoy! Garnish with any extra herbs you desire.

A Simply Sweet Justice Original

Slow Cooker Chicken Stock

Adding a parmesan cheese rind and using homemade stock are two of my favorite ways to make a a soup go from good to really good.    The parmesan rind brings the perfect saltiness and some creaminess to the soup (and can you ever go wrong with a hint of cheese in a soup?).   Homemade stock is the base to the soup, and it is so more rich in flavor.   The canned and boxed stocks from the store, as convenient as they may be, lack the flavor profiles that you'll find in homemade stock.

Making your own chicken stock is very simple, especially when you use your slow cooker.  You can just put chicken bones, vegetables, herbs, and water in the slow cooker.  I think it is pretty impossible to mess it up.  It tastes so much better than store-bought stock, and you get to control what goes in it.

You don't always have to go out and buy all the ingredients needed for stock.  Use leftovers for this stock!  When I say "use leftovers," I mean to use those vegetables hanging out in your veggie drawer that you know you aren't going to eat.  3 pounds of carrots and 8 bunches of celery for healthy snacks sounded like a better snack at the store, right? ;)  Just kidding.  You can also use your leftover roast chicken to make stock.

Some general tips for DIY chicken stock:

1. Make a vegetable bag.  Throw random vegetable pieces, onion ends, the last bit of a carrot, onion peels, etc. into a bag and freeze it.  When the bag is full, make stock.  I would not use potatoes because it will add too much starch to the stock, and you may not want to use peppers, unless you are looking for a kick. ;)

2.  Get the most out of that rotisserie chicken!  Often times, it's cheaper to buy one of those cooked
rotisserie chickens from the store compared to buying a raw chicken and roasting it yourself.   On Wednesday's, Whole Foods has rotisserie chickens on sale for $8.99 on Wednesday's, and Costco has them for $4.99.  After you finish eating the chicken, save the carcass (which you can freeze), and use it to make stock.  

3. Roasting brings out more flavor.  I roast beef bones when making bone broth/beef stock because it brings out more flavor.  I found that a leftover chicken carcass from a roasted chicken brought more flavor to the stock than using use a raw chicken.   To deepen the flavor, you could even roast the chicken carcass from the leftover roast chicken.

4. Cook it, real good and real slow!  With the slow cooker, it is so much easier to make stock because the slow cooker does all the work.  You can make stock in a stock pot over the stove, but I never like to stray too far from the stove, and leaving the stove on for hours doesn't seem as efficient to me.  Often times, I'll throw everything into the slow cooker in the evening and then the stock is ready in the morning.  

5. There are many ways to store it! If I'm not going to use the stock within a few days, then I freeze it.   Most of the time, I use old 32 oz. Greek yogurt containers to store stock and sometimes glass mason jars.  If you don't have containers, you could also use 1 quart freezer bags.  If you use the freezer bags, freeze them flat because then you can just dip them in hot water for quick defrosting.  You could also freeze stock in ice cube trays or muffin pans, too.

I'm including my way of making chicken stock below, but just use it as a guide!  The key things you need are chicken, water, and veggies.  I think onions, carrots, celery, and garlic bring those classic comfort flavors, but you could try other veggies like parsnips or even fennel.  If you don't have fresh herbs on hand, you can skip them or even use tried versions, too.

Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Chicken Stock
Yields 64 oz. of stock

Ingredients: 1 chicken carcass (2-4 lbs.)
4 carrots, chopped
4 celery stalks, chopped
2 yellow onions, chopped
6 quarts of water
6 cloves of garlic
1/4 cup fresh thyme
1/4 cup fresh dill
1/4 cup fresh parsley
3 bay leaves
2 tsp. peppercorns
Salt, to taste

Directions:
Place the chicken carcass in the slow cooker, and scatter the vegetables around the chicken.  Then, add the bay leafs, herbs, peppercorns, and any desired salt.  Cover with water.

Cook on low setting for 8 to 14 hours.  Strain the stock over a large bowl.

Divide the stock among storage containers.  Cool before refrigerating and/or freezing.

Source: A Simply Sweet Justice Original

Detox Broth

Happy New Year, everyone!  I hope that 2015 is off to a beautiful and happy start for everyone.

Well, following all the delicious eats of the holiday season, I felt like a detox was in order.   Now, a girl can only drink so much kale juice and mean green smoothies (haha!), so I try to vary it up with this detox broth.  This detox broth is simple, soothing, warm, and healthy.   You cook chicken and some veggies and infuse some herbs and spices into the mixture, and this makes for one flavorful broth.  You can leave the vegetables and chicken in, or you can take them out and just sip on the broth.  Either way, this is just a soothing broth to enjoy to enjoy.

What have you been cooking lately?

Detox Broth
Yields 4 cups broth

Ingredients:
6 cups water
1 12 oz. bone-in, skinless chicken breast
2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch rounds
2 celery stalks, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 1-inch piece of ginger, peeled and chopped
3 garlic cloves, peeled
2 shallots, thinly sliced
6 springs fresh thyme
8 whole peppercorns
3 whole cloves
1 dried bay leaf
1/2 cinnamon stick

Directions:
In a medium saucepan, add all of the ingredients and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.  Reduce the heat and simmer for an hour.  Strain the liquid, and reserve the chicken and vegetables for another use. (You could chopped the chicken and add it back in with the vegetables.)

Cool the broth and refrigerate for up to 2 days.

Source: Giada Di Laurentiis' Feel Good Food

Green Detox Soup

Hi, friends!  Sorry that I have been away from the blog.  These past few weeks have been crazy, busy, and GREAT!  I changed jobs, visited California, and just adopted another golden retriever.  It has been an exciting spring!

"Doga"

Though it is spring, Colorado is still getting some winter weather, but the warm, sunny days will be back soon.  (Did you know that Denver gets 300 days of sunshine?)

Spring--or spring disguised as winter--always feels like a good time to detox, so I decided to try a reboot, inspired by Joe Cross.  During a reboot, you drink and eat only fruits and vegetables, herbal teas, and water.  In doing so, you recharge your body and increase your energy levels.  As some of you know, I love juicing because it gives me more energy!  Juicing makes fruits and vegetables easy to digest, and energy spent on digestion can then be spent on more important things, like getting used to walking two golden retrievers. ;)

I kind of went crazy getting fruits and veggies!

With the "reboot," you spend the first five days eating and juicing fruits and vegetables, the next five days juicing fruits and vegetables, and the final five days eating and juicing fruits and vegetables.  The first two days were the hardest because of caffeine withdrawal related headaches.  ;)  Since then, I have felt fantastic.  Those spring allergies are now gone.  Over the next week or so, I'll be sharing some of the good eats and drinks from my reboot.

This soup is as green as it gets!  It is full of so many vegetables and good stuff like iron, calcium, folic acid, beta-carotene, and vitamin K.  (Take that, gummy bear vitamin.)  It tastes fresh, and the combination of veggies creates a great flavor.

Veg it up with this green detox soup.


Green Detox Soup
Yields 6-8 servings

Ingredients:
1 leek, thinly sliced
3 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
8 cups vegetable broth
2 cups broccoli, trimmed to small florets
8 kale leaves, torn
2 zucchini, sliced
3 celery stalks, diced
6 asparagus stalks
1/2 cup parsley or basil
2 green onions, sliced
Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:
In a large stock pot or French oven, heat the extra virgin olive oil over medium heat.  Add the sliced leek and minced garlic, and sauté for about three minutes until you begin to smell a light garlic-onion aroma.  Then, add the vegetable stock and the vegetables (broccoli, kale, zucchini, celery, and asparagus).  Slowly bring to a boil, and stir occasionally.  Cook until the zucchini is salt.

Add salt and pepper to taste.  To process the soup, use an immersion blender.  Alternatively, you can transfer it to a blender or a food processor.  Garnish with parsley and sliced green onions, and enjoy!

Source: Adapted with modifications from Reboot with Joe

Winter Minestrone

Well, the weather outside is frightful…

But the fire is so delightful…

When I first moved out to Colorado, people thought that I was moving to the arctic tundra.  Surprisingly, Colorado winters are not too bad.  Denver enjoys 300 days of sunshine per year.  When it does snow, it usually does not stick around for more than few days because the sun melts it faster.

This winter has been very dry and much warmer than usual.   Denver recently had a cloudy, overcast week end with a high around 20 degrees.

When the weather is gloomy with cold temperatures, staying inside and enjoying some lazy time makes for a good afternoon--especially while a pot of minestrone cooks.

Minestrone is a rustic Italian soup which literally means "big soup."  There is no set recipe for minestrone because it is usually made with the vegetables in season.  This version includes pancetta along with some winter veggies.  Giada De Laurentiis is my favorite Food Network chef, and one of my favorite Giada tips has been to keep cheese rinds in the freezer, instead of discarding them.  You can use the cheese rinds to add flavor to recipes.  By adding the cheese rind to this soup, this hearty soup is infused with a very light buttery flavor.

There's nothing like a big warm bowl of soup on a cold winter day!  This soup is so simple and so filling.

Winter Minestrone
Yields 6 servings

Ingredients:
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
4 oz. diced pancetta
2 garlic gloves, minced
1 lb. Swiss chard or kale, leaves coarsely chopped
1 russet potato, peeled and cube
1 14.5-oz. can diced tomatoes
1 tsp. dried rosemary or 1 fresh rosemary sprig
1 15-oz. can cannelloni beans, drained and rinsed
32 oz. beef broth
1 Parmesan cheese rind
2 tbsp. fresh Italian parsley, chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:
Heat the oil in a heavy large pot over medium heat.  Add the onion, carrots, celery, pancetta, and garlic.  Sauté until the onion is translucent, about 10 minutes.

Next, add the Swiss chard and potato; sauté for 2 additional minutes.  Add the tomatoes and rosemary.  Simmer until the chard is wilted and the tomatoes break down, about 10 minutes.

Blend 3/4 cup of the beans with 1/4 cup of the broth in a food process until nearly smooth.  Add the pureed bean mixture, remaining broth, and Parmesan cheese rind to the vegetable mixture.  Simmer until the potato pieces are tender, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes.  Add in the whole beans and parsley, and stir.

Simmer until the soup thickens, about 2 minutes.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Before serving, discard the Parmesan rind and the rosemary sprig (if you used fresh rosemary).  Ladle the soup into bowls and serve with some toasted bread drizzled with olive oil.

Source: Giada De Laurentiis via the Food Network

Slow Cooker Vegetable Soup

My refrigerator was overflowing with so many vegetables.  When the forecast called for some rainy, cold days, I thought soup was also in the forecast.

The slow cooker is always great to use during cooler weather.  Cloudy cold days always make for great lazy weather--especially when those days bring rain or snow.  During lazy weather, the slow cooker makes more appearances in my kitchen.  Normally, I make vegetable soup on the stove, but this time, I used the slow cooker because the weather made me feel lazy.  I prepared (cleaned, cut, and measured) all of the vegetables the night before, and in the morning, everything went into the slow cooker.  I left the slow cooker on low all day.  When I came home from work, dinner was ready!

This soup will get you your daily veggie servings and more.  It's jam-packed with so many different vegetables!  Last time I visited a Trader Joe's, I picked up a bag of their "17 Bean and Barley Mix."  I added it into the soup to increase the fiber.  Since the beans were dried, I thought that cooking them in the slow cooker would be much easier because no soaking or rehydration would be needed.  Wow, this was one flavorful vegetable soup!  The soup is low calorie and very filling.  The best part: the slow cooker does all the work!

This recipe makes a large amount of soup, and I froze a good portion of it.  The frozen portions made for a perfect healthy lunch and an easy way to get my daily dose of vegetables.  You could easily swap out vegetables for different vegetables, too.

A friend sent me a link to s'more chocolate chip cookies during my lunch hour.  I made the mistake of clicking on it while eating a bowl of this soup.  As delicious as this soup is, it was hard to finish eating the soup after seeing a cookie like that! ;)

Slow Cooker Vegetable Soup
Yields 6.5 quarts

Ingredients:
1 16 oz. bag, "17 Bean and Barley Mix" from Trader Joe's*
2 32 oz. containers of vegetable or chicken broth
1 cup water
1 large onion, diced
1 28 oz. can chopped or diced tomatoes, with juices
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 bell peppers, diced
1 cup corn
1 cup green beans, chopped
2 cup carrots, chopped
1 1/2 cup potatoes, chopped
1 1/2 cups leeks, chopped (just the white part)
1 bunch of kale, chard, or spinach, chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. fresh parsley
1 tsp. dried basil
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:
Add all ingredients to slow cooker, and stir so that ingredients are evenly distributed.  Cook on low for 8 hours, periodically stirring.

* Note: The Trader Joe's "17 Bean and Barley Mix" contains dried baby lima beans, black turtle beans, blackeye peas, dark red kidney beans, garbanzo beans, great northern beans, green lentils, green split peas, large lima beans, light red kidney beans, navy beans, pink beans, pinto beans, red lentils, small red beans, small white beans, yellow split peas, and pearl barley.  If you do not have a Trader Joe's in your area, you could just use a combination of the above.  Since many grocery stores now have a "bulk" section, you can select a random 1 lb. assortment of dried beans and barley.  The dried beans will cook just perfectly in the slow cooker, so there is no need to soak or rehydrate them.

Source: A Simply Sweet Justice Original

Asian Chicken Noodle Soup

Chicken noodle soup is the ultimate “feel better” soup.  To this day, any time when my mom hears that I’m not feeling well, her response is always, “Time for chicken soup!!”  Chicken soup has been a traditional remedy for a cold, and every culture seems to have a different version of this healing recipe.

I tend to cook more European cuisine (especially Italian) but decided to learn more Asian styles of cooking this year.  When I started to feel a little tired from allergies with the change of season, it seemed like the perfect time for chicken soup.

What makes this soup so healing?

This soup is low in fat and full of vitamin C, A, and K, thanks to the bok choy.  Ginger is great for relieving achy muscles and helping with digestion.  The pepper helps clear your sinuses.  In Chinese medicine, green onions are a key ingredient in a cold-fighting soup.  Garlic and onions contain immune-boosting properties from their sulfur-containing compounds, which also gives them their “special” smell.  In Chinese medicine, chicken is described as “yang,” which means that it is warming, and warming foods give you the energy to fight off a pathogen.  It also contains iron, which is important to a healthy immune system, and zinc, which activates white blood cells to fight body infections.

This soup is also a great “base” to get creative with additional toppings and mix-ins for new combinations.  Broccoli always brings quite a powerful nutritional punch to any dish with Vitamin C and ant-oxidants.  Carrots would add more beta-carotene, and the body uses beta-carotene to make Vitamin A, which is immune boosting.  For extra protein, you could go traditional Ramen style and add a hardboiled egg.

Chinese Chicken Soup

Ingredients:
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp. ginger, minced (or substitute 1 tsp. ground ginger)
1 tbsp. sesame oil
8 cups chicken broth
1 jalapeño, thinly sliced
5 green onions, sliced
1/2 tsp. salt
3 tbsp. soy sauce
2 tbsp. rice vinegar
3 baby bok choy, chopped
8 oz. Ramen noodles (or other Asian style noodles)
Sriracha sauce for serving (optional)
Chopped cilantro for serving (optional)

Directions:
Heat the sesame oil over medium high heat in a Dutch oven (or a large stock pot).  Add the minced garlic and minced fresh ginger.  Briefly sauté for about a minute.  Add the chicken and the bok choy, and sprinkle with salt.  Sauté for another three minutes or until the chicken has turned white but not completely cooked.

Add the chicken broth, jalapeño, and green onions to the Dutch oven, and bring to a simmer.  Stir occasionally.  After the soup is brought to a simmer, add the rice vinegar and soy sauce.  Cook for about 15 minutes, or until chicken is done.

Meanwhile, add cook the noodles in a separate pot of boiling salted water.  Drain and rinse with cold water.  Set aside.

After the chicken is done, add the noodles to the pot and stir.  Serve with chopped cilantro and sriracha sauce on the side, if desired.

(Note: If you are using ground ginger in lieu of the fresh ginger, add the ground ginger when you add the chicken broth, jalapeño, and green onions.)


Source: Slightly adapted from Eat, Live, Run