Butternut-Spinach Noodle Soup

 

I ate this soup all by myself. I remember that I went in to work on the day that I prepared this and that leftovers were on the menu for dinner. Except, I didn't want to eat leftovers. It was a cold, rainy day. After staring out of a classroom window at the blustery, gray day and hopping in and out of the car while picking up the kiddos after school, all I wanted was a great bowl of soup. And so, while my daughters did their homework, I threw together this simple soup and then heated leftovers for them while it simmered.

 

This soup was just what I needed. It warmed my bones and filled my belly and made me happy. I know that I just wrote I ate it "all by myself", but that's not completely true. While staring up at me from his leftovers, the baby got a case of soup envy. And so I shared. It made him happy too.

 

I used prepared chicken broth in this recipe, but you could easily make a vegetarian version by using vegetable broth.

 

Here's how it came together:

 

First, I heated a little olive oil in the bottom of my small stock pot. Then I added in the equivalent of 1/2 of a large onion, diced. I just used onion that was already chopped from my refrigerator, which consisted of part red onion and part yellow onion. Any type of onion is fine. My personal favorite from the onion family is the shallot, but I didn't have any of those laying around on this particular night. Saute the onion until tender.

 

While the onion  sautéed, I chopped the bottom part of the butternut squash that was leftover from the Squash Fries that recently wrote about. I ended up with a heaping cupful of squash.

Add the squash to the onion and saute for a few minutes longer. Salt and pepper the mixture. Then pour in 6 cups of broth and bring it to a boil. I forgot to take a picture of this step. I got a little caught up with helping with homework, heating leftovers for the kids, and toddler wrangling....

Once the broth boils, add 2 cups of wide egg noodles. Cook according to package directions, or until the noodles are tender.

While the noodles cook in the soup mixture, chop 1/2 of an 8 oz. bag of fresh baby spinach. Or if your household is like mine; chop the spinach, assist your 4th grader with long division, listen to the nightly 1st grade reading assignment, unload the dishwasher, pull your toddler off of the top of the dining room table (from where he is firing his entire toy train/tractor collection over the edge and then leaning dangerously close to toppling over while watching them crash below because, well, his head is big and heavy and the rest of his body may just follow his head onto the hardwood floor below and land on the whole train/tractor pile-up that has accumulated there) then attempt to engage him in an activity closer to the kitchen, but not quite underfoot, perhaps a session of banging on pots with a wooden spoon, then carry a basket of laundry up from the dryer (which may or may not get folded within the next 24 hours) and set the coffeemaker for the next morning. #multitasking

Add the spinach to the soup, then cook and stir for a couple of minutes until it wilts.

And that's it! Super quick and easy soup. Packed with flavor, low in fat, high in dietary fiber, and there are even some vitamins and anti-oxidants in there.

Butternut-Spinach Noodle Soup

Olive oil
1/2 of a large onion, diced
1 cup butternut squash, chopped
6 cups chicken or vegetable broth
2 cups wide egg noodles
4-6 oz. fresh baby spinach, chopped
salt and pepper, to taste

Heat enough olive oil in the bottom of a large saucepan or small stockpot to keep onion from sticking. Add diced onion and saute until tender. Add squash and saute for 3-5 minutes. Pour in broth, then bring to a boil. Add noodles and cook according to package directions or until tender. Stir in spinach and cook until just wilted. Remove from heat. Salt and pepper to taste.

*Add a teaspoon of Italian seasoning or a pinch of red pepper flakes with the broth if a more complex flavor is desired.

This concludes my series of posts on butternut squash. Probably. There is 1 more butternut squash staring at me from my kitchen counter as I type these words, but I think that I'm going to "give it a rest" on my posts about squash for a bit. Tune in next time for my review of ways to seed a pomegranate. Have a wonderful day, everyone!

Easy Creole Shrimp and Sausage Stew

Hello friends! I realize that my last post was over 2 weeks ago. It's not that I quit cooking. Far from it- I've been cooking (and baking) a TON of food lately...but mostly for other people. This fall has found me extremely busy with catering, teaching cooking classes, and a few other odd jobs that I have taken on. In addition to all of that, I've been preparing for my return to full-time employment, which means making arrangements for our children, filling out paperwork, and getting my household in order (if that's possible) for the days when I will no longer be home. One week from tomorrow I will begin 6 weeks of training for my new teaching assignment and after the holidays, I will return to the classroom as a high school teacher.

I'm sorry that I left some of you loyal readers hanging and I certainly appreciate those of you that have checked in with me to express your concern make sure that all is well.

With these upcoming changes on the horizon, I still plan to update here with new recipes. This isn't a goodbye (after 3 years of documenting my cooking adventures, I wouldn't dream of abandoning "Krista's Kitchen") but realistically, my posts will be less frequent while I adjust to my new job and a typical work schedule.

For now, I'd like to share one of the (delicious!) recipes I have prepared for my family recently. This Creole Shrimp and Sausage Stew came together quickly and totally hit the spot on a cool fall evening. Served with a crusty bread for sopping up the flavorful broth, on the night that we ate this for dinner, I thought it was just about the best thing I'd ever tasted. Sometimes a meal just "hits the spot", ya know?

I found this recipe in the "Super Fast" section of the September 2009 edition of Cooking Light magazine. Labelled a "20 Minute Dish" it fit the bill for my busy lifestyle as of late.

Doesn't it look delicious?

Here's the easy step-by-step:

To begin, just chop onion, green pepper, and smoked sausage.

Saute with a couple of cloves of minced garlic in a little oil until the green pepper is tender.

Add a can of diced tomatoes with green chiles and some broth. Bring it to a boil.

Now peel some shrimp. The original recipe called for 8 oz. of medium shrimp. I used WAY more than that! I had these beautiful jumbo tiger shrimp in my freezer. (They were left over from last Christmas and my grandma sent them with me to use up the last time I visited her.) This was the perfect way to use them up! I think I ended up adding about a pound and a half.

Add the shrimp to the stew and simmer, covered, until the shrimp are done. Then, stir in some freshly chopped parsley.

And, that's dinner!

Quick, delicious, and figure-friendly too! You can't beat that!

Creole Shrimp and Sausage Stew adapted from Cooking Light September 2009
YIELD: 4 servings (serving size: about 1 cup)
TOTAL:20 Minutes

Ingredients
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 cup thinly sliced turkey smoked sausage (about 6 ounces)
1 teaspoon bottled minced garlic
3/4 cup fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth
1 (10-ounce) can diced tomatoes and green chiles, undrained (such as Rotel)
8 ounces peeled and deveined medium shrimp
1 handful chopped fresh parsley
Preparation
1. Heat a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add bell pepper, sausage, and garlic to pan; sauté 3 minutes or until bell pepper is tender, stirring occasionally. Add broth and tomatoes; bring to a boil. Stir in shrimp and beans; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 6 minutes or until shrimp are done. Sprinkle with parsley.

Nutritional Information
Amount per serving

Calories: 191
Fat: 6g
Saturated fat: 1.7g
Monounsaturated fat: 2.7g
Polyunsaturated fat: 1g
Protein: 21.3g
Carbohydrate: 13.2g
Fiber: 3.5g
Cholesterol: 97mg
Iron: 2.9mg
Sodium: 694mg
Calcium: 127mg

Notes: 1. I used 2-3 cloves of pressed fresh garlic rather than garlic from a jar. 2. I used "regular" smoked sausage rather than turkey. 3. I tripled the amount of shrimp. 4. The original recipe calls for a can of kidney beans. I omitted the beans because a)I didn't have any and b) I knew that my kiddos would pick them out anyhow.However, if you're in the market for a good source of dietary fiber, then toss in the beans!

Serving Suggestion: Serve with slices of a good, crusty bread for dipping/sopping.

Cream of Butternut Soup

As promised in the meal plan, I served squash all week long. I even updated my spaghetti squash recipe and wrote about it in my weekly column for the Strongsville Patch. You can check out the article and the new and improved step-by-step pictures HERE. But somehow, it has taken me all week to get around to posting a single squash recipe on this blog.

Tonight, with my daughter's very first sleepover party on the agenda for tomorrow and the start of a nasty cold slowing me down, I have grounded myself to the couch on this fine, crisp, fall Friday night in order to share my Cream of Butternut Soup recipe with all of you and to rest up for tomorrow's birthday festivities. Wish me luck! : )

As is the case with many of my favorite foods, this one comes with a memory.

I lived in Dublin, Ohio for 9 months in 2004. My husband had been transferred there for work. It was summertime and I was 5 or 6 months pregnant with our first child when I moved. I say "I" instead of "we" because my husband had moved before I did. (Lucky him, missing out on my entire nauseous first trimester!) I stayed behind to pack up our household and finish teaching my students until the end of the school year.

I didn't know a single person in our new town and my husband worked long hours, so once I had unpacked, I explored the shops and restaurants of Dublin's pretty downtown. Oscar's Restaurant and their welcoming outdoor patio quickly caught my attention.

My mother-in-law came to visit soon after we settled in. I knew exactly where I wanted to take her for lunch. I can't remember anything else that we ordered at Oscar's on that lunch date, but their butternut squash soup (or was it a bisque?) left an impression on both of us. Smooth, creamy, and delicious- the soup was definitely a winner! We visited Oscar's and ordered this soup on a number of subsequent visits.

After my mother-in-law headed back to Indiana, I set out to re-create this recipe in my own kitchen. I can't remember where I initially found this recipe, but I've tweaked it over the years to make it my own. The following spring, I left Dublin with a beautiful 8 month old daughter and the ability to make my very own butternut soup. I've carried the recipe with me through moves to 3 states and I still look forward to it every fall.

Fast forward to the present. My mother-in-law is visiting this weekend for my daughter's 7th birthday. We're living in Ohio again. With an abundance of squash atop my kitchen counter, I can't think of a better way to commemorate the occasion than to cook a batch of the soup we fell in love with 7 years ago when that baby was still kicking against my tightly stretched tummy.

It feels like I have known this amazing little girl forever (maybe because she is my mini-me in both appearance and personality?) and at the same time, it feels like just yesterday that I held her in my arms for the very first time. Ahhh. Where did the time go!?

Look at me, all nostalgic on the eve of my daughter's 7th birthday party...

Okay, I've allowed myself a "moment", now it's time to put away the Kleenex and write about soup!

Here's how it came together.

I began with a Butternut Squash.

I like to cut it into more manageable portions by cutting off the neck, then slicing the round, lower portion in half.

Scoop out the seeds from the middle and discard.

Then, peel the tough skin from the flesh of the squash. Warning: this requires a sharp paring knife and a bit of persistence.

Here is the peeled squash.

Cut it up.

Now begin the base of the soup. Start by sauteing some onion and celery in butter or oil until tender.

Stir in all of the spices: Salt, pepper, tumeric, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and a bay leaf.

With all of those spices stirred in, your house will smell amazing! When I smell this soup simmering, I can't help but embrace the cooler fall temperatures. It makes the house seem so cozy!

Once the spices have heated up, stir in some chicken broth.

Bring the mixture to a boil, then add in the chopped squash and a few peeled, cubed, potatoes.

Bring to a boil, then simmer for 15-20 minutes until the squash and potatoes are tender.

If you've got an immersion blender, put it into the pot and start blending!

Otherwise you can transfer the soup in batches to a traditional blender or food processor.

Blend until smooth.

Finally, stir in sherry (for a punch!) and milk (for a creamier texture).

Serve with a baguette for sopping or homemade garlic croutons. Garnish with a sprinkle of nutmeg or fresh parsley.

Cream of Butternut Soup

1 medium onion, diced
2 celery ribs, chopped
2 tablespoons butter
2-3 (14.5 oz) cans chicken broth
1 tablespoon sugar
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon tumeric
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg + more for garnish
1 (2-1/2 to 3 lb) butternut squash, cubed
3 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
1-1/2 cups milk
2-4 tablespoons sherry

Saute onion and celery in butter. Stir in spices and heat through, then add broth. Bring to a boil. Add squash and potatoes. Return to boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until squash and potatoes are tender. Remove from heat. Cool slightly. Remove bay leaf. Puree. Stir in milk and sherry. Heat through. Divide into serving bowls and garnish.

Notes: I used cooking sherry, versus regular sherry. I needed to use more. If using "real" sherry, add a lesser amount and then add more according to taste.

If the soup is too thick, thin with additional broth or milk. I've made this soup too thick in the past. It resembled baby food. Not good!

Don't be afraid to play around with the spices, adjusting the amounts until the flavor of the soup suits your personal taste.

Enjoy!

White Bean Fennel Soup

This light and healthy fennel soup was absolutely delicious. It's packed with vitamins, antioxidants, and fiber and was a huge hit alongside our grilled cheese sandwiches at dinner tonight. My kids even loved it!

I found this fennel bulb labelled as anise in my local supermarket's produce section. Since I have never purchased or cooked with fennel before, I was hesitant to pick it up. It looked like what I was looking for, but it said, "Anise" not "Fennel". This was definitely a produce dilemma. I needed guidance. I tracked down a young man working in the department and politely waited for him to conclude the conversation he was having with a co-worker. After a period of time that I would describe as awkward, I finally cleared my throat "Ahem" and asked if they had any fennel. He promptly led me to the stuff labelled, "Anise". Ah-ha! Just as I suspected! "But it SAYS anise," I pointed out. You know, just in case he didn't notice the improperly placed sign. He just shrugged and replied, "It's the same thing." Now go away lady, I want to get back to flirting with this cute cashier...

His answer wasn't good enough for me. Anise? Like the stuff they make black licorice out of?! No way was I making soup with that! I despise black licorice...although, surprisingly I don't mind those cookies with the anise seed that we get around Christmas-time. Still, I couldn't imagine that flavor in this soup recipe. Good ol' Google. I checked it out.

On a site called "The World's Healthiest Foods" I found this information:

"Although they share a similar taste profile—reminiscent of black licorice—fennel and anise are two different plants. The botanical name of anise is Pimpinella anisum while the botanical name of fennel is Foeniculum vulgare. Both anise and fennel belong to the Apiaceae family.

In addition to the fact that they share a similar flavor, what often creates confusion among these two plants/foods is that fennel is often referred to as anise. Since the whole plant (bulb, stalks, fronds) of fennel is consumed while it is usually just the seeds from the anise plant that are eaten, if you see a vegetable-like plant called "anise," chances are that it is actually fennel."

"The Gilded Fork" confirmed the claims of "The World's Healthiest Foods" stating, "In fact, many American supermarkets mislabel fennel as “anise”, perhaps because both have at their base the aromatic compound anethole (also found in chinese star anise)."

Here is a picture of the FENNEL that I used.

As directed by the recipe, I thinly sliced it. It did smell slightly like anise, but luckily the taste was super subtle- not like black licorice at all.

I sauteed the fennel with a chopped onion in olive oil until both were tender.

Then I stirred in the spices, a can of diced tomatoes, a can of butter beans (the recipe called for white kidney or cannellini, but I had butter beans, so I improvised), and chicken broth. Bring the soup to a boil, then cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

To finish, stir in 3 cups of chopped baby spinach and cook a few minutes longer until the spinach wilts.

Salt and pepper to taste and serve! This really is a simple and delicious vegetable soup. We ate ours with grilled cheese sandwiches, but it would also be great with a nice, rustic bread.

Here's the recipe from the February/March 2003 edition of Light and Tasty magazine:

White Bean Fennel Soup adapted slightly by me

1 large onion, chopped
1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon olive oil
6 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth or vegetable broth
1 can (15 ounces) white kidney or cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (14-1/2 ounces)Diced Italian Tomatoes, undrained
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 bay leaf
3 cups chopped fresh spinach
Directions
•In a large saucepan, saute onion and fennel in oil until tender. Add
the broth, beans, tomatoes, thyme, pepper and bay leaf; bring to a
boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 30 minutes or until fennel
is tender.
•Discard bay leaf. Add spinach; cook 3-4 minutes longer or until
spinach is wilted. Yield: 5 servings.

Nutrition Facts: One serving (1-1/2 cups) equals 152 calories, 3 g fat (trace saturated fat), 0 cholesterol, 976 mg sodium, 23 g carbohydrate, 7 g fiber, 8 g protein. Diabetic Exchanges: 1 starch, 1 vegetable,

Garlic Parmesan Chicken and Noodles PLUS Creamy Garlic Parmesan Chicken Noodle Soup (Creative Leftovers)

Winter has finally arrived here in Northeastern Ohio! After an hour-long driveway shovelling session last night, I was in the mood for some comfort food. This twist on a classic chicken and noodles recipe fit the bill! Nothing earth-shattering about this one...no intense or exotic flavors, in that regard it was sort of ho-hum...but still, it was creamy and delicious and the perfect meal for a snowy Monday night. Plus, the kiddos ate it up!

This recipe was written for a pre-roasted rotisserie chicken. When I first came across it in an issue of Better Homes and Gardens, I thought it would be a great way to use leftover Thanksgiving turkey. But last night, with no rotisserie chicken or leftover turkey in sight, I poached a couple of large boneless, skinless chicken breasts.

Chicken breasts bubbling away in a pot of salted water is never a pretty sight. That icky foam always forms on top. But my pictures last night were all decidedly bad no matter what I photographed. Sorry about that.

In another pot, saute 4 cloves of minced garlic in a little olive oil.

Stir a cup of frozen peas into the garlic.

Then, add in 1-3/4 to 2 cups of milk. Heat through.

While the milk and peas are heating up, and you shred the chicken (if you're not using an rotisserie chicken, that is), boil the noodles. I just boiled these in the same water that I used to poach the chicken (after skimming the scum, that is). No time needed to heat the water and less dishes!

Add the cooked, shredded chicken to the milk mixture.

Then stir in the noodles and Parmesan. Heat through.

Transfer the mixture into a casserole dish, then go to work on the topping.

I know that I've shared my trick for using a coffee grinder to make bread crumbs on this blog before.

It really does work well!

Mix the bread crumbs with some Parmesan cheese and butter.

Then top the chicken and noodles and bake at 450 degrees for 5 minutes or until the top begins to brown.

Now the only step left is to dish it up!

Here's the recipe, adapted by me from Better Homes and Gardens

Garlic Parmesan Chicken and Noodles

Start to Finish: 30 minutes

Ingredients
6-8 oz. extra-wide egg noodles
1 2- to 2-1/4-lb. purchased roasted chicken
1 cup frozen peas
4 cloves garlic, minced or 2 teaspoons bottled minced garlic
2 cups milk
1 slice white or wheat bread
1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. In a soup pot, bring 6 cups salted water to boiling; add noodles. Cook 10 minutes or until tender; drain.

2. Meanwhile, remove chicken from bones. Discard skin and bones; shred chicken. In saucepan combine chicken, peas, garlic, and whole milk; heat through. Cover and keep warm.

3. In blender or food processor or coffee grinder, process bread into coarse crumbs. Transfer to small bowl; add 1/4 cup of the Parmesan and 2 Tbsp. melted butter.

4. Stir noodles and remaining Parmesan into hot chicken mixture. Heat and stir until bubbly. Divide among 4 individual casserole dishes. Top each with some of the bread crumb mixture. Bake 5 minutes or until top begins to brown. Makes 4 servings.

A couple of notes: First of all, I used 2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts which I cooked, then shredded. Second, I baked this in one casserole dish, rather than dividing the mixture into 4 dishes.
_____________

Now for the soup....

Tonight, (after more shovelling) I was in the mood for soup, not leftover chicken and noodle casserole. My husband had taken the "lion's share" of the leftover casserole to work for his lunch. Still, I was left with 1/4 to 1/3 of a casserole to divvy out for dinner. And so I decided to make it into a soup. You'd never know that this delicious, creamy soup was created by scraping a casserole dish clean! So good!

Here's what I did:

Creamy Garlic Parmesan Chicken and Noodle Soup aka Soup from Leftovers

1/4 to 1/3 of a recipe of leftover Garlic Parmesan Chicken and Noodles
4 cups chicken stock or broth
1 can reduced fat cream of chicken soup
4 cups fresh baby spinach, chopped

In a soup pot or large saucepan, bring the chicken broth and cream of chicken soup to a boil. Add in the leftover chicken and noodles. Heat through. Stir in the spinach and heat until wilted.

*Note: if you're opposed to using processed cream of chicken soup in this recipe, then leave it out. It was good without the Cream of Chicken...however, I was going for a quick fix to make a creamier soup and the condensed soup worked beautifully!

This was a seriously yummy soup and it was ready in minutes! Gotta love that!