Broccoli Soup

We're having a good winter here in Michigan so far.  There hasn't been much snow yet and it's been quite sunny and that's always a good thing. Sometimes we have days were the sun never shows its face so sunny days in winter are always welcome! It's still pretty cold though and despite the sun you still need layers of clothing when you go out and that also means you need a hot and hearty bowl of soup to warm you up.

So finally I decided to make a new soup. I wanted something healthy that doesn't rely on milk or cream to make it creamier or taste better. When it comes to broccoli soup the only ones I have tried are the cheesy ones and I do love them for sure but sometimes when there's too much dairy added you almost lose the broccoli taste. Broccoli almost becomes just a mere addition to brighten the
color and make it look healthy but nothing more.

I wanted the broccoli to be the main star of this soup and not just with a supporting role. With the help of a few wonderful vegetables added to the mix (that means extra nutrients, too!), this has become a wonderful soup indeed. The taste of the vegetables sautéed in a little butter harmonize well and the result is delicious. When puréed it is thick enough and with just the right consistency that you don't need any cream at all to make it thicker or better. A perfect winter soup indeed!

Ingredients

1 Tablespoon Olive oil
2 Tablespoons, butter (optional, increase Olive Oil by another Tbsp if you want it to be fully dairy-free)
3 Garlic cloves, minced
1 large or 2 small to medium onions, chopped
8-10 baby carrots, chopped thinly
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
4 cups or 32 oz chicken or vegetable broth/stock
3 Brocolli trimmed into small florets
Salt and Pepper, to taste

Procedure

In a large saucepan, melt the butter with the oil. Once the butter has melted, saute the garlic and onions just until aromatic, 30 seconds or less. Stir in the rest of the veggies and cook over gentle heat until tender roughly 6-8 minutes. Pour in the stock/broth and bring to a boil.

Add the broccolli florets and cook until tender. Remove the pan from the heat and cool a little.

Pour in the contents of the pan into a blender. Process until smooth. Return the pureed vegetables into the pan and then reheat. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Ladle into bowls and serve with some crusty French bread and some green salad! Enjoy this healthy and delicious soup!

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Strawberry Kiwi Smoothie

 

I am a happy mom because I don't have much of a problem when it comes to asking my kids to eat their fruits. They love fruits and I don't even need to ask them, they ask themselves if they want some fruits for snacks. I try as much as I can to give them better snacks and since they always want something sweet - fruits are always the best options.

 

Summer or not we always have fruit shakes or smoothies in our house. Before I came to the US, my shake and smothie combinations were very few and mainly included mangoes, bananas, papayas and avocado and occasionally guyabano (sour sop) - all tropical fruits and flavors. They are all wonderful of course, there's no doubt. But now that I reside in the US - I have all the berries that are otherwise not available in my native land to turn into wonderful smoothies.  Yay!

 

I saw some Kiwis the other day in our grocery store and then some lovely strawberries were on sale too. I thought that these two fruits with contrasting colors and texture might result to a great smoothie when blended together. I added as usual some applesauce to sweeten the smoothie and sort of balance the tartness. I think it worked well for they were gone in seconds when my two tots got a hold of them! That's what I call sucess! Enjoy!

 

Ingredients 



2-3 Kiwi fruits, peeled and chopped

1 to 1 1/2 cups frozen strawberries (chopped)*

1 cup Applesauce

1/2 cup plain low-fat yogurt 

Honey or Brown sugar, about 2 Tablespoons or to taste

Procedure

Place all the ingredients in a blender. Process till smooth. Pour into glasses or jars and serve immediately.  Enjoy.

*Note: I pre-cut the strawberries because they are frozen and it's more difficult to blend/purée them when they are whole. I usually place them on the bottom of the blender to make it easier. Pulse until the strawberries are all broken down and smooth and then process as usual. Enjoy!

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Eggs, Spinach and Mushrooms Skillet

A delicious breakfast or brunch dish - Eggs, Spinach and Mushrooms Skillet. All done on the stove top. Naturally nutritious, low-carb and gluten-free!

If you are a follower of this blog or our Facebook page you would notice that I love to have eggs, spinach and mushrooms for breakfast. I have a few recipes that feature all these three ingredients together in one dish. I think they all work together well that's why. The texture and flavors of each of these lovely and nutritious ingredients all combine to produce a delicious breakfast dish. However, when you have the same recipe all over again you get tired of it no matter how great it is. That's why I make a rotation for these ingredients. I don't cook them together in the same recipe all the time. I try to make variations whenever possible. Here's another lovely recipe using this three ingredients which this time does not involve the oven but just a skillet on the stove top. Easy and pretty to.

Now, depending on how big your skillet and the number of people you want to serve this - you can make up to 5 eggs/5 servings in one go. Since we are only a family of 4, more often than not, we use 4 eggs for 4 servings though occasionally if it's just me and hubby eating, we cut it down to 3 eggs.

While Spinach is my favorite greens to use - feel free to use Kale or Swiss Chard if you like.

Ingredients

1 Tbsp Olive oil (for cooking the mushrooms)
1 (8 oz package) mini-bella mushrooms, chopped
1 (10 oz) package fresh spinach or about 5-6 cups firmly packed spinach
3-4 eggs

A little butter (optional)

Salt and Pepper, to taste

 Procedure

Heat the oil in a large skillet or fying pan. Saute the mushrooms until they are tender and have fully released their water about 6-8 minutes. Set Aside.

Place the spinach in the frying  pan or skillet that you cooked the mushrooms in. Add a little water, 2 tablespoons more or less. Using medium heat, cook the spinach just until wilted, about 2-4 mins. Use either your hand or a spatula to pack in the spinach.

Bring back the mushrooms to the skillet. You may season the vegetables lightly with salt and pepper at this point. Depending on the number of eggs you are using, create wells (if using 4 eggs, then 4 wells) in the middle by pushing the spinach and mushrooms to the side.

Dot each well with a little butter or spray with a little oil.

Crack an egg on each well. Season the eggs with salt and pepper. Cook until the eggs are fully set or to your desired doneness roughly 5-6 minutes.





Serve with toast or if you're Pinoy, with rice of course. Enjoy!

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Blueberry Banana and Applesauce Smoothie

Our friend Linda from Project Healthy Ever After hosts a  weekly Smoothie Tuesday Party at her lovely page. There you not only get so many delicious and nutritious smoothie recipes, you also learn about tips and tricks on how to make the best smoothies. One of the tips I learned from her page as shared by one of her readers was - never to use any ice on your smoothie so as not to dilute its taste.
I always used ice in my smoothie and I have never had a problem with it - though I must admit if you put just a little too much ice or perhaps a little more liquid (like milk) then you end with a watery smoothie or a slushie instead. So I thought I'd put this tip to the test with my latest smoothie creation -  Blueberry Banana and Applesauce Smoothie. Instead of using ice, I used frozen bananas and blueberries.

Sometimes when my bananas get too ripe and I don't have the time to make banana bread or muffins - off it goes to the freezer for later use. Now there's a perfect reason to use these frozen bananas. I also for the first time used yogurt instead of the usual milk and then to add another layer of flavor to the mix I decided on the last minute to add some Applesauce. Wow - this smoothie is divine! The flavor was truly more robust when there's no ice. Wonderful! My husband and little William laid claim to the smoothie once it was done! Good thing I took the photos first or else I would not have any proof of how yummy it is! Try and enjoy this for breakfast or as an afternoon pick me up!



Ingredients

2 Frozen bananas
1 cup frozen blueberries
1/2 cup unsweetened Applesauce (if sweetened you may not need to add any sweetener at all)
1/2 cup yogurt (plain)
1 Tablespoon - Honey or Agave Nectar (or to taste)
1/4 cup milk, or as needed


Procedure

Peel the frozen bananas. I find the potato peeler or a small knife useful to remove the frozen skin.
Chop the bananas into smaller pieces.

Place the chopped bananas, blueberries, applesauce, yogurt, sweetener and a little milk on the blender. Process until smooth. It will be quite thick but I love it that way. Add more milk if necessary. Adjust the sweetness to your taste.

Pour into a glass or jar. Enjoy immediately!

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Spaghetti with Bolognese Sauce

The Filipinos have their own version of Pasta sauce. Sweet and spicy meat sauce using tomato sauce or ketchup and some chopped hotdogs thrown in - think Jollibee Spaghetti. It may sound weird to some but Filipinos love it. I do like it, too to be honest. It is flavorful after all. I grew  up with this since this was often our snack for recess during our elementary years. I say this for a fact since  my mom was the Home Economics teacher who help managed the canteen in the public school I attended. I was content with this version of meat sauce (Filipino style for sure!) until I tasted the real thing - I am saying the real Italian Bolognese. You see, a few years ago my husband and I were walking down our street and then we chanced upon a Garage Sale and saw this lovely book "The Ultimate Italian Cookbook" by Carla Capalbo being sold for a whopping $2. I thought then  that it was expensive for a garage sale but the book looked like new and I loved the pictures [hahaha :-)]  so I said, why not? Now it has become one of my priceless treasures and am sure glad it was a $2 well-spent!

One of the many recipes in this book was this beautiful Bolognese Sauce. I was very intimidated at first because it recommended nearly 2 hours of cooking and then some red wine. I haven't really cooked with wine yet at this point (nearly 10 years ago....) and I wasn't sure if I could do this. Oh well, I am one to try a recipe at least once and then see how it goes.

I have never turned my back on this Bolognese Sauce Recipe ever since! Yes, it does take a long time to reach that perfect flavor - but that's a small sacrifice to make to achieve the most wonderful meat sauce that I have ever tasted. I have shared this recipe with a few friends, they've made this and came back to me with a big thank you! They loved it. I served this to some of our guests who came to our house for a visit and to no surprise - they have loved it, too. Now, thanks to this bolognese sauce, I love cooking with wine. I don't drink alcohol but I sure love to cook with it. Makes a huge difference in taste - so from stews, to pasta sauces or even Asian dishes I sure love wine in them!

Try this bolognese sauce - it may take a little effort than a stir-fry and some waiting time - but trust me - a dish this good is worth all the time and effort in the world! Enjoy!

Ingredients 

2 Tablespoons Olive oil

2 Tbsp Butter
4 garlic cloves, crushed  or finely minced (I do whatever strikes my fancy when I make this)
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3-4 pancetta (Italian bacon) or regular streaky bacon strips, finely chopped or cut (I use kitchen scissors to cut them and if you don’t like the fat you may trim them out, which I usually do too when I use regular bacon)
1 medium carrot (or about 8-10 pcs baby carrots), finely chopped

1-2 celery sticks, finely sliced

1 lb / ½ a kilo ground beef

¾ cup red wine (white is fine but I prefer the stronger taste of red)

½ cup milk

3 roma tomatoes, diced or 1 (14 oz) can diced tomatoes

1 bay leaf

½ teaspoon each –  dried thyme and oregano

Salt and pepper, to taste

1 lb spaghetti or any favorite pasta cooked al dente.

Chopped fresh parsley to garnish (optional)



Procedure

Heat the olive oil and butter in a deep saucepan. When the butter has melted, sauté the onions and garlic just until aromatic, about a minute.

Add the chopped bacon and cook until it begins to render its fat between 3-5 mins.

Stir in the veggies (carrots and celery) and cook for a further 3-4 mins. Add the ground beef and crumble with a fork to separate. Cook until it is no longer red. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.



Pour in the red wine. Raise the heat slightly and cook until most of the wine has evaporated. Add the milk and continue to cook until it evaporates, too.



Stir in the tomatoes with their juice (if using canned) and the herbs including the Bay Leaf. Bring the sauce to a boil and then simmer uncovered on the lowest setting, stirring occasionally, for at least an hour (pref. 1 ½ hours). Don't worry, it's meant to be a little drier than other pasta sauces. In the end, sprinkle with a little salt and pepper, to correct the seasoning, if necessary.

Garnish with fresh chopped parsley (if desired). Serve with parmesan cheese on the side. This recipe is indispensable for lasagna or for Baked Bolognese. Enjoy!

If you wish to print the recipe, there's a print-friendly icon at the end of the post. Click on the "remove images box" for easy printing.

This recipe was adapted from "The Ultimate Italian Cookbook" by Carla Capalbo.

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