Cream of Spinach Soup

I love soup! Especially on rainy or snowy evenings. I also like the basics. I’m content with the simple. I don’t need seasonings or gourmet to satisfy my palette. Is it just me?

This evening I opened the refrigerator and saw a 400 gram bag of fresh spinach leaves. Mmmm! Spinach soup! That will do for dinner!

I was too simple to pull out a cookbook – again! I chopped up a small onion, one leek and a small zucchini and threw them in the pot with the spinach and 1 t. salt to sauté in olive oil until everything was tender.

I stirred everything around a few times to get it going, then turn the burner to medium low, covered the pot and let it do it’s thing for 20 minutes or so.

Then I poured in some chicken broth to cover and a chorro (a liquid dash – what is that called in English? A splash?) of almond milk, and blended everything until smooth.

It was just right for a rainy night! Thank you, God, for soup!

A soup that scored

Okay, so maybe it didn’t score as big for those in the family whose digestive systems are more sensitive to beans, but I think the majority of us thought it was delicious!

It was a two-for-one crockpot chicken soup, in that I had made a roast chicken dinner Sunday afternoon, then piled the soup ingredients in with the leftovers and had a hearty chicken and bean soup Monday for lunch.

Chicken rub for crockpot chicken dinner (with olive oil French fries and steamed broccoli)

Cayenne pepper
Black pepper
Garlic
Salt
Provence herbs
Olive oil

To the leftover chicken, chicken bones and drippings I added 3 stalks of celery, 3 Italian peppers (whole), 1 onion (peeled and quartered), 1/2 head of garlic (unpeeled), 1 cup uncooked pinto beans, two tablespoons spicy Mexican salsa, and a little additional salt.

Then I covered the ingredients with water, cooked it for an hour (more or less) on high, then cooked it overnight on low. Total cooking time? I’m not really sure. Probably 10 hours.

I let the pot cool off before removing the veggies and the bones (straining the broth through a strainer and sorting the cooked beans – rather messy, actually) and shredding the chicken.

I combined the chicken, beans and broth, heating it just before mealtime.

Three-bean Chili Beef Stew

1 cup Black beans
1 cup Pinto beans
1 cup Kidney bean
4 small, whole onions (peeled)
6 whole cloves of garlic (peeled)
1 large green pepper, whole
1 lb. stew meat
2 T. salt
2 T. chili powder

Rinse beans well. Cover with water in large crock pot. Let soak for 6-8 hours.

Drain water, rinse and cover beans with fresh water. Add onions, garlic, and whole green pepper and 2 T. salt to the pot. Brown stew meat in olive oil. Add to the crock. Turn crock on high until heated. Drop heat to low and cook overnight. Once cooked add 2 T. chil

The Best Beef Stew I’ve Ever Made

Ooo! It is so fun when you dump things in a pot and it comes out tasting like more – especially when you have guests for lunch!

I was thinking about a traditional beef stew and really didn’t feel too excited about it. I also had few ingredients on hand…just the basics. So, I decided to be basic about it, and then I did a little “refrigerator” clean up.

This is what I did:

Sauté 1 pound stew meat in olive oil with three cloves of garlic. When the meat is cooked through, add three small onions, peeled and quartered, with 2 T. Provence herbs, and cover with water. Then, add 2-3 cups of zucchini puree (that has not been pureed well at all because the blender was broken – it is better described as finely chopped and cooked carrot (1), zucchini (3), leek (3), garlic (1), and onion (1)). That adds a nice sweet flavor to the broth. Simmer several hours until meat is tender. An hour before serving add 6 small potatoes, peeled and in large chunks.

Serve with a green salad (lettuce, tomato and green onion seasoned with sea salt, olive oil and a touch of fresh lemon juice) and warm, fresh Spanish baguettes – Oh, that’s right, this is supposed to be Gluten Free! But, your guests will love the combination and you will feel very happy that you did have some bread on hand for those Spanish youth who have never missed their daily bread!