For your Halloween Safety: Roasted Garlic Cauliflower Soup

Oh EM Goodness!

I saw this recipe pop up on my reader and I knew it was in my future. I happened to have some cream in my fridge with which to make it. YUM!

Beware: there are 3 heads of roasted garlic (no, that wasn't a typo- 3 heads of roasted garlic!) Luckily for me I have no boyfriend, so I won't be doing any kissing...


Cauliflower and Roasted Garlic Soup
by Oven Love, via Martha Stewart Recipesserves 10-12
This recipe is for a crowd (think holidays)- but can be easily halved and it's freezable, too.
Ingredients

• 3 heads garlic

• salt and pepper

• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling

• 3 white onions, peeled and thinly sliced

• 4 heads cauliflower, 3 cored and thinly sliced and 1 broken into florets

• 8 sprigs thyme, tied with twine, plus one tablespoon chopped (you can sub. 1T dried thyme)

• 1 cup dry white wine

• 6 cups chicken stock, plus more to thin, if desired

• 2 cups heavy cream, plus more to thin, if desired

• 2 1/2 cups plus 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese (I just used 1 1/2 cups, what was in the bag)

• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley (and I didn't have any of this)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cut off the tops of garlic heads. Place each on a piece of aluminum foil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Wrap tightly in foil, and bake until garlic is very soft, about an hour. Let cool. Squeeze garlic from peel; set aside. Increase oven to 350 degrees.

2. Heat 1/4 cup olive oil in a large pot over medium low heat. Add onions and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, until soft but not browned. Stir in sliced cauliflower, thyme and wine. Simmer until wine is reduced by half. Add stock, bring to a simmer. Cover and cook for 20 minutes. Remove cover and simmer until cauliflower is soft, about 15 minutes more. Remove from the heat.

3. Remove thyme bundle and stir in cream and 2 1/2 cups Parmesan. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in garlic. Puree with a stick blender or in batches until smooth (One reason a stick blender is on my Christmas list!). Thin with more stock or cream, if desired. Return to pot; keep warm on low heat.

4. Heat remaining 1/4 cup olive oil over high heat in a saute pan until almost smoking. Add cauliflower florets, stirring until browned. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer pan to oven and cook until tender, about 10 minutes. (DON'T GRAB THE PAN HANDLE WITH YOUR BARE HAND! OUCH!)  Stir in thyme, parsley and remaining 3 tablespoons Parmesan. To serve; ladle soup into bowls and garnish with cauliflower florets.

I'll update with pictures later, but oh my YUM!

Crock Pot Crazy Part 2: White Chicken Chili

On Friday night, the sister missionaries called me and asked if I was willing to make lunch for General Conference at the church between sessions on Sunday. I knew what I wanted to make! I've had this recipe in various permutations, and this one was pretty delicious. 

White Chicken Chili

2 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts 
2 med onion chopped 
3 tsp garlic powder or 4 cloves fresh garlic minced
4 cans great northern beans, rinsed and drained
24 oz chicken broth
4-6 cans chopped green chilies
2-4 tsp salt
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp pepper
1/4-1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 cup sour cream
1 cup whipping cream
1 cup shredded pepper jack cheese 

In a slow cooker (mine is 7 quarts) place chicken breasts (fresh or frozen) add chopped onion, garlic, beans, green chilies  chicken broth and all spices. Do not add sour cream or whipping cream. Stir the mixture around a bit to incorporate dry spices. Cook on low for 5-7 hours. Remove chicken to cutting board and shred into bite size pieces. Stir back into slow cooker. In small bowl whisk together sour cream and whipping cream until smooth. Whisk the cream mixture into the crock pot with other ingredients. Let the soup cook until heated through. Right before serving stir in shredded cheese. 

This is YUMMY (Probably partially because of the cream, let's be honest here). But it was great! I stuck it in the crock pot, went and watched the morning session, shredded the chicken, added the cream, and Yum! Everyone asked for the recipe. 

Green Chile Chicken Soup

With the cold weather on its way, I decided it was time for some yummy soup. I had researched a lot of recipes online, but none of them were exactly what I was wanting to eat. Plus they are portioned for, like, a restaurant. There are only two of us so here are the portions I used. I tend to not measure things with measuring cups or spoons so here is my best estimate at how to make this yummy soup.

1 cooked chicken breast, chopped or shredded
1 can chicken broth
1 can (the tiny 3.5 oz can) diced green chiles
1 can (I think it was a 10 oz can) green chile enchilada sauce
1/2 can of water
1/2 of a lime's juice
1 can white beans (I used great northern beans)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon cumin

dash of pepper and salt
*Sour cream, shredded cheese, and chips to garnish

Add all of it into a pot and heat thoroughly.

It is delish! As a side note, you can add cilantro to the soup, but the hubs and I do not like it so we chose to omit it. Similar recipes use rice, once again due to preference we used beans. From the peanut gallery (i.e. my husband) he recommended more chicken (he likes his soup chunky, like chili) and less lime (he doesn't like lime...) but I thought it turned out just great!

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Today I was at the store, and I saw a package of velveeta on sale, and the desire for broccoli cheddar soup hit. I am not typically a pasteurized-processed-cheese-food-product kind of girl... but when the moment hits, it hits.

So I picked up the block of velveeta, some carrots, and since I had the normal staples at home, including frozen broccoli that's on my list of things to use up in the next month (score!), I was set.

Last year, I had a similar craving, and found a knock off recipe for Panera Bread's version of this soup. It was to die for! So, today I re-created it. So worth it.

Here's the link :Panera Bread Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Ingredients: 


1 tablespoon butter, melted
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup flour
2 cups half-and-half
2 cups chicken stock or bouillon
1/2 pound fresh broccoli
1 cup carrots, julienned
salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
4 ounces grated sharp cheddar cheese
8 ounces velveeta, cubed


Saute onion in butter. Set aside. Cook melted butter and flour using a whisk over medium heat for 3-5 minutes. Stir constantly and slowly add the half-and-half (this is called making a roux). Add the chicken stock whisking all the time. Simmer for 20 minutes. 

Add the broccoli, carrots and onions. Cook over low heat until the veggies are tender for 20-25 minutes. Add salt and pepper. The soup should be thickened by now. Pour in batches into blender and puree. Return to pot over low heat and add the cheese; stir until well blended. Stir in the nutmeg and serve.

Chicken Parmesan Soup

I have this friend... we've been friends for a long time, and our relationship is such that most of what we do together is cook dinner. We'll call this friend... "J." Usually J and I get together on Sunday evening, we meet at one of our houses and make something delicious. Usually stunning. We don't go for normal food, we make things amazing! Usually, I'm the basic girl, and J adds the idea for the twist that makes everything just one notch above normal. We've make mac-n-cheese, red and white chicken Parmesan, calzones, the list goes on... all of it was delicious and with a twist.
Earlier this week I saw a post on this blog that seemed just about up our alley. So I sent him a quick facebook post that said something to the effect of "you, me, chicken Parmesan SOUP and focaccia bread" Then I went on with my life... 
Today I was woken up during my Sunday afternoon nap by a buzzing cell phone, just one buzz meant it was a text message and could be checked later. Upon waking up a little more, I rolled over and checked my messages. I aparently had 2 messages that I had missed-- one said "I just saw your message. Is it too late to say ABSOLUTELY!!!!"  then a few minutes later it said "Whatcha doing tonight?" Having made no prior plans, we decided on 6:00 at his place.
I know you probably don't care about the background, but I assure you it was worth the wait for this recipe! The foccacia bread went on the back burner for a while, we'll get back to that one. But this soup... I'm craving leftovers already!

Chicken Parmesan Soup

Just Another Day in Paradise

4 Tablespoons olive oil

2 chicken breasts, pounded thin

1 28 oz can diced tomatoes

4 cups chicken broth (We used bullion, I have a costco pack!)

salt and pepper

1 cup fresh basil, chopped (I didn't have nor want to spend 3 dollars on basil, so it was 1/3 cup dried basil, which was perfect)

1 tsp red pepper flakes (the ones I have are pretty spicy and the soup had quite a kick, I liked it, but if you don't... maybe cut this in half.)

1 large onion, sliced really thin

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

(1 cup ish your favorite shaped pasta)

Season chicken with salt and pepper. Cook it in 2 Tbs of olive oil. Cook until just cooked through. Remove and set aside.

Add remaining olive oil and saute chopped garlic, onions, (dried basil) and pepper flakes. Cook until onions are beginning to soften...just a couple minutes. Add tomatoes and chicken broth and bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes.(At this point, my friend J had a brain child, and we added some pasta and let it cook to almost done)  Add the chicken back in and cook another couple of minutes. Sprinkle in the (fresh) chopped basil and stir.

Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and serve with your favorite bread sticks. 

Note: Larissa at Just another Day in Paradise used the bread you would use for bruschetta. She toasted them and used them as crutons, which I'd like to try sometime, I'd bet it was delicious!  Alas... I made my own garlic Parmesan bread sticks. Mostly because I totally ruined a batch of rolls the other day (don't ask, I don't know...) and felt the need to redeem myself with yeast breads. 

I'm thinking this will make a quick, easy dinner group dinner during the up coming, busy count down to graduation! One month from TODAY! 

Cream of Cauliflower Soup

We made this soup in my foods class last Wednesday (7 days ago) and since then I have made or helped make 2 batches. This stuff is DELICIOUS! The recipe is alterable to use whatever vegetable you'd like (we did carrot, zucchini and cauliflower in class) and the Cauliflower was my favorite hands down! I've got a head of cauliflower in the fridge just waiting for me to make a batch of this-- then they'll be pictures.

Soup Base:
1/4 c+2 Tbsp butter or margarine
1/4 c + 2 Tbsp flour
1 Tbsp Chicken bullion granules
1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Pepper
3 cups milk

1.Melt butter in a large saucepan over low heat,
2. Blend in flour, salt and pepper bullion and other sauces
3. Cook over low heat, stirring until mixture is smooth and bubbly.
4. Remove from heat and wisk in the milk.
5. Return to heat and heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute.
6. Let sit on warm heat in pan till veggies are ready to add

Vegetables (other veggie options listed below)
4 cups (about one head) of cauliflower
1 tsp curry powder (add with spices)
1/4 cup onion chopped fine, cooked with cauliflower.

7. Place cut veggies in a medium saucepan, add enough water to barely cover the vegetables.
8. Bring the vegetables to a boil on high heat. Cover the sauce pan with a lid and reduce the heat to simmer. Cook the veggies in the saucepan until soft, about 10 to 15 minutes. Don't let the water boil out.
9. before mixing the veggies into the cream base, puree part of the vegetables in a blender with some of the cooking water. (I used my food processor last time and the first time at home I used a potato masher, which also worked but made for a thinner soup)
10. Combine the remaining veggies, pureed veggies and white sauce together. Add enough veggie water to make the soup the desired consistency. Serve hot with rolls or french bread.


Other vegetable options:
**Cream of Potato**
4 diced spuds, washed and peeled
2 stalks diced celery
1/4 cup onion
**Cream of Asparagus** (which I want to try when asparagus is cheep)
4 cups asparagus
2 tbsp lemon juice
dash of nutmeg or mace
**Cream of Green Bean**
3 cups green beans
1 tsp crushed savory
** Cream of Broccoli**
4 cups broccoli
1/2 tsp dry leaf thyme
1/8 tsp garlic powder
2 bay leaves-- add to white sauce and remove prior to serving
**Cream of Carrot**
2 cups carrots (about 6 large)
1 Tbsp dry parsley
1/2 tsp dry basil
**Cream of Zucchini**
3 cups zucchini
1/8 tsp nutmeg
**Cream of Mushroom**
3 cups mushrooms
1/8 tsp nutmeg