Favourite Slow-Cooker Recipes

As fall drew to an end, I decided to do a post on my favourite slow-cooker recipes, to get everyone into the mood for some comforting winter food.  And here we are, almost the end of January... better late than never, right?

Cooking for me this winter has really only meant using my slow cooker, for the most part.  Time is a precious entity these days and I love how you can whip together a healthy and delicious meal in under 30 minutes when using your slow cooker.  I also love coming home to a delicious smelling house.  And, not having to race to get everything ready last minute, as the kids scream from hunger!

These recipes are my favourite slow-cooker recipes, in no particular order.  I also have a slow-cooker tag on the left side of my blog, if you want to check out others.

I apologize for the quality of some of these photos.  This was way before I knew anything the manual settings of my camera or even knew what the word white balance meant ;)  I promise you, however, that these recipes are delicious, even if the photos of some of them are not the most appetizing.  

Mexican-style chicken with cilantro and lemon

Easy chicken tacos made with shredded chicken

Comforting shredded beef

Polynesian chicken

Chickpeas in curried coconut broth

Red lentil and carrot soup with coconut

Lamb keema

Thai chicken thighs

  
Easy cabbage roll casserole

Creole black beans

South American black bean soup

What are your favourite slow cooker recipes?

(No) Cream of Mushroom Soup

My dad suggested making a cream of mushroom soup with all of the leftover mushrooms from our meat fondue last weekend.  Great idea.  Particularly since, the day prior, Logan had actually eaten some of the (no) cream of vegetable soup we had all been eating for lunch.  And actually kept begging for more soup when there was no more to give, despite there being a tiny, tiny slice of sour cherry cheesecake in front of him at that point.  Go figure.  If anyone has these kids figured out, please, please, let me in on the secret...

Logan really enjoyed this one too, and asked for both a second and a third helping. Yay!!!  I also found it to be quite nice.

a little grumpy, but he liked the soup

In fact, we all liked it so much that I whipped up a huge second batch of this today, with 6 packs of mushrooms (well, they were on sale for 99 cents each). 

I got my recipe off of All Recipes, but made a few modifications to make it that much more delicious.

5 C sliced fresh mushrooms
2 tbsp. butter 
1 1/2 C chicken broth
1/2 C chopped onion
1/8 tsp. dried thyme
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
1 tbsp. sherry (I omitted this, because I didn't have any, but I'm sure it'd be delicious)
béchamel sauce (follow the instructions in this link, but using 3 tbsp. butter, 3 tbsp. of flour and 1 C of milk)

1.  In a large saucepan, cook onion and mushrooms in 2 tbsp. of butter until tender.  

2.  Pour in the chicken broth and add spices and sherry.  

3.  Make the béchamel sauce and add to the mushroom/broth mixture.  

4.  In blender or food processor, or using an immersion blender, purée the mixture, leaving some chunks of vegetable in it, if you would like. Adjust seasoning to taste.

Difficulty level: moderate to difficult, due to the béchamel.  But once you know how to make one, this recipe is super quick and easy.

(No) Cream of Vegetable Soup

Wow... here I am at my 200th post!  Which is over 200 recipes, since I've occasionally posted more than one recipe at a time.  When Steph suggested to me just over two years ago that I should start a food blog, I would never have thought that I would have that many recipes. Never mind that I would end up blogging so many!  And I still have bucket loads of recipes to get up here over time.  Some that I've already made in past and others that are in my folders of recipes to try.  Here's to a great love of all things delicious!

You would die if you came over to my house and poked through my recipes.  I have two cookbook shelves in my kitchen with so many cookbooks on them that they continually fall off the ends, threatening to break the sugar bowl.

And this is after having gone through them a year or so ago, getting rid of some cookbooks and sending others down to the basement.

Then I have my my files of recipes that I've ripped out from various magazines over the years.

These used to just accumulate in piles all over the place.  But when I was off of work injured a few years ago, one of my first projects was to sort through and organize all of these recipes, which led to two giant boxes of files.  I hadn't realized just how many recipes I'd accumulated over the years until they were all in the same spot.

Needless to say, with the internet being such a useful source of good recipes, I haven't been going to these much any more.  In fact, I was thinking the other day that I should get rid of them, but I still can't quite bring myself to throw out so many hopefully good recipes.

The good recipe of the day comes from my friend Lyne, who invited me over for lunch and a visit just three days before Christmas.  And this was despite the fact that she was entertaining 40 family members at her place over the holidays.  She promised that she would just whip together something easy.  Which turned out to be this delicious cream of vegetable soup, some deviled eggs, two different kinds of mixed salads and cookies for dessert.  Wow!!  And I thought we'd be having pb&j sandwiches ;)

Everything was delicious, but I particularly loved this soup.  And she was kind enough to share her secret: béchamel sauce.  Why had I never thought of that???  It gives the soup a delicious creamy flavour, without any cream.  I've never used cream in soups, substituting instead with the healthier option of milk.  But adding this béchamel sauce gives it much more flavour and texture with the only difference being a slight bit of flour and butter.  I'm hooked.  We've been eating this with dinner every night for over a week.  And I'm going to whip up a new batch as soon as this one is gone.

She didn't give me a specific recipe, but said that she basically just throws whatever veggies she has in her fridge into her soup (other than cabbage, which she said doesn't work well) and then mixes in a béchamel.   

This is what I specifically put into mine, though I'm sure the veggies will change depending on what I have on hand.

2 zucchini
1 onion, chopped
3 carrots, peeled and sliced
1/2 bunch of asparagus
1 bunch of broccoli stems (I coarsely peeled the stems and saved the florets for us to eat) 

Lyne mentioned that she saves the stalks of all of her broccoli in the fridge to make this recipe.  And this is a habit I am going to adopt, since I usually just throw them out.

I would have also put a couple stalks of celery into the soup as well, if the grocery store hadn't been out of it.

I cooked all of this in about 12 cups of chicken stock.  I started with just 6 cups, but kept adding until there seemed to be enough for the amount of veggies.  So you can adapt, depending on how many veggies you put in your soup.  I then brought it to a boil, lowered to a simmer and cooked until the veggies were all fork tender.

Once everything was cooked, I added in some béchamel sauce from this recipe here.  I didn't use the whole batch, as I felt it was a bit much for the quantity of soup, but maybe used 2/3 to 3/4 of what the recipe made.  But you can do it to taste, putting all of it in if you like your soups particularly creamy.  I didn't ask Lyne how she seasons her soup, so I just put in some ground pepper, parsley, basil and oregano and this tasted pretty good.  

And then I just blended it all with my new immersion blender.  Which, as a side note, I am loving to death, as it means I don't have to wait for soups to cool a bit to put them into the blender.  I got this on sale at Canadian Tire awhile back for $50 and it has gone to good use since.  If you are a soup lover and don't have one, I highly recommend it. 

Difficulty level: moderate to difficult (due to the béchamel sauce)

So here's to 200 more recipes blogged, 10 times over!  I hope you are enjoying the blog and getting good use out of it.  If there is anything you would like to see on here, please let me know in the comments section and I will do my best to hunt down some great recipes.

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

I'll admit it.  I'm addicted.  To soup that is.  This happens to me every winter. We've been eating turkey soup for lunch every day and a veggie soup with dinner each night.  And now I'm out of soup for lunch.  I just can't do those canned versions. And I don't have quite enough time just yet to make another soup.  Never mind run to the grocery store to get a bunch more veggies.  So I had veggie soup again today with lunch. Addicted, I say.

I made this soup while making the cream of vegetable soup that I posted the other day.  I used the leftover béchamel sauce that I didn't put into the cream of vegetable soup into this soup instead of using cream or milk.  The recipe was originally just for broccoli soup, but cheddar just makes it that much better.  So I just grated some low-fat cheddar into it at the end and cooked until it melted.

1 bunch broccoli
2 tbsp. butter
1/4 C chopped onion
1/4 C chopped celery
1/4 tsp. curry powder
2 C chicken or vegetable stock
1 C 10% cream
1/2 tsp. salt
pinch pepper
grated cheddar cheese 

1.  Separate broccoli into florets; reserve 1/2 C for garnish.  Peel stems and chop coarsely.  Set aside.

2.  In large heavy saucepan, melt butter over medium heat; cook onion, celery and curry powder, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes or until softened.

3.  Add broccoli florets and stalks and chicken stock; bring to boil.  Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes or until broccoli is just tender.
4.  Add in grated cheddar and cook until melted.

4.  Transfer soup, in batches, to food processor or blender; purée until smooth.  Return to saucepan.  Add cream (or béchamel), salt and pepper; bring just to simmer.  Ladle into warmed bowls; float reserved broccoli florets on top.

Makes 4 servings.

South American Black Bean Soup

I am newly addicted to this soup. Completely. I could eat it every single day. Did I say delish?? I'm about to make it a second time and think I'll make a simplified version for Logan soon. It also comes from The 150 Best Slow Cooker Recipes cookbook, where I've been getting all of my soup recipes lately. The recipe says to purée the soup, but I chose to purée about half of it and then stir in the other half without puréeing, which I quite liked. Loved. In fact, I'm drooling as I write this. Enjoy :)

6 slices bacon, chopped
2 onions, finely chopped
2 stalks celery, peeled and finely chopped
2 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. dried thyme leaves
2 tbsp. cumin seeds
1 tbsp. dried oregano leaves
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cracked black peppercorns
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
2 tbsp. tomato paste
6 C chicken stock
4 cans black beans, rinsed and drained, or 4 C dried black beans, cooked and drained
1/3 C freshly squeezed lime juice
finely chopped cilantro
sour cream (optional)
salsa (optional)

1.   In a skillet, over medium-high heat, cook back until crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon to a paper-towel-lined plate and drain thoroughly. Set aside.

2.   Drain all but 1 tbsp. fat from pan. Reduce heat to medium. Add onions, celery and carrots and cook, stirring, until vegetables are softened, 4 to 5 minutes. Add garlic, thyme, cumin seeds, oregano, salt, pepper and cayenne and cook, stirring for 1 minute. Add tomato paste and stir to combine thoroughly. 


 

3.  Transfer contents of pan to slow cooker stoneware. Add bacon, stock and beans and stir to combine.

4.  Cover and cook on Low for 8 to 10 hours or on High for 4 to 6 hours.

5.  Before serving, stir in lime juice. In blender or food processor, purée soup in batches. Spoon into individual soup bowls and garnish with cilantro and/or sour cream and salsa, if using.

Serves 4 to 6 as a main course or 6 to 8 as a starter (I find it made more)

Caribbean Pepper Pot Soup

This recipe also comes from The 150 Best Slow Cooker Recipes cookbook. I'm slowly working my way through trying all of the soup recipes in it and so far so good. This is another 6am soup... You'll see a theme running through my recipes. Anything with coconut milk and coriander is a go. My favourite :)

1 tbsp. vegetable oil
2 onions, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp. minced gingerroot
2 tbsp. chili powder
1/2 to 1 chili pepper, preferably Scotch bonnet, finely chopped
1 tsp. whole coriander seeds (I used ground coriander because I didn't have any whole seeds)
1 tsp. celery seeds (I left this out because I hate celery)
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cracked black peppercorns
1 tbsp. packed brown sugar
4 C acorn or butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes, or 4 C carrots, peeled and thinly sliced (I used carrots, only because I HATE peeling squash)
1 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained or 2 C cooked and drained dried kidney beans
1 can (28oz) tomatoes, including juice, chopped
4 C chicken or vegetable stock
1 can coconut milk (I used light)
finely chopped parsley or cilantro (I, of course, used cilantro)

1. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add onions and cook until soft. Add garlic, gingerroot, chili powder, chili pepper, coriander seeds, celery seeds, salt and pepper and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add sugar and stir to combine. Add squash or carrots, kidney beans, tomatoes and stock.

2. Transfer to slow cooker stoneware. Cover and cook on Low for 8 to 10 hours or on High for 4 to 5 hours, until vegetables are tender.

3. Add coconut milk. Cover and cook on High for another 15 to 20 minutes, until heated through. Garnish with parsley or cilantro, if using.

Serves 6 (though it gave us several more portions)

Savory Cheddar Cheese Soup

You know that your life has changed when you start making your lunch and dinner at 6:30 in the morning. I never used to be anywhere near out of bed at that time on a weekend. I remember rolling out of bed at 9:30 or 10 and heading straight to the gym, not getting home until past noon. Gone are those days... :) Since having Logan, I find that early mornings are the best shot of me getting anything done in my day. He's happy to sit in his high chair and play on his own for awhile while I whip up some meals.

I've been on a bit of a huge soup kick lately. This inevitably happens every winter. I've been making some of my tried and true favourites, that are already on my blog, such as my Chicken Coconut Curry Soup, Red Lentil and Carrot Soup and French Onion Soup. I've also tried a few new soups, but none of them have been blog-worthy so far. Though I still have a whole bunch that I'll try before the end of winter. Luckily, Jerome is yet to be sick of eating soups either, so I can keep working my way through my cookbooks.

This recipe comes from the cookbook The 150 Best Slow Cooker Recipes. I used to make it all the time when we used to regularly go night skiing (before I hurt my tailbone). I'd throw this into the slow cooker and we'd get in late in the evening to a hot home-cooked meal. Although this recipe used to be one of my regulars, I haven't made it for a few years. The first thing Jerome said after tasting it today was that it tastes like French onion soup. Which made me laugh, because that's what I had made for supper tonight. I guess it's because both this recipe and my mom's French onion soup (which is DELICIOUS!) both use consommé.

I prefer to purée the recipe, but Jerome prefers to leave it as is, so that's what we did this time. I didn't bother taking a picture as the soup doesn't actually look very appetizing (though it is tasty). The cheese doesn't melt super well and ends up in little chunks throughout the soup. It's probably not something I would serve to guests, as it doesn't look pretty enough, but it's great for a meal at home.

1 tbsp. butter
1 leek, white part with just a bit of green, cleaned and finely chopped
2 medium carrots, finely chopped
3 stalks celery, peeled and finely chopped (I didn't bother peeling them)
1 tsp. dry mustard
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
2 tbsp. all-purpose flour (I used whole-wheat)
2 cans condensed beef consommé soup (undiluted)
3 C water
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 bay leaf
1/2 C whipping cream (I used 1% milk)
3 C shredded Cheddar cheese (I used low-fat)
hot pepper sauce to taste (optional) (shoot... I forgot to add this in)

1. In a large skillet, over medium heat, melt butter. Add leeks, carrots and celery. Turn heat to low, cover and cook for 10 minutes, until vegetables are soft. Add dry mustard, salt, pepper and flour to pan and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add consommé, water, Worcestershire sauce and bay leaf and cook until slightly thickened.

2. Transfer mixture to slow cooker stoneware. Cover and cook on Low for 8 to 10 hours or on High for 4 to 5 hours. Discard bay leaf. If desired, transfer solids plus 1 cup liquid to a food processor and process until smoother, then return mixture to slow cooker.

3. Add cream and cheese, cover and cook on High for 15 minutes, until cheese is melted and mixture is bubbling.

Serves 4 to 6 as a meal or 8 as a starter.

Zuppa du Jour

Life has been busy and I haven't been cooking as much as usual lately. Well that isn't quite true... I still have been cooking, but I've been relying on tried and true recipes that I make each year, which are mostly almost all already on my blog. Which (amongst my complete lack of time lately) is one reason I haven't been blogging lately. Hopefully, once our renovations are completely done (will I ever see the day??) and my house is once again organized (as if!), I'll have more time to try new recipes again.

In any case... I made this soup last night for our lunches for the next few days. My friend April gave this recipe to me many years ago and I used to make it all of the time, but just got out of the habit of making it. I saw it in my recipe book the other day and had it whipped up in no time tonight. It really only takes a few minutes, so it's great when you're in a pinch for a quick meal.

6 slices bacon, chopped
2 medium onions, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 tsp. each marjoram, thyme
1/2 tsp. each oregano, rosemary
2 tbsp. chopped fresh basil or 2 tsp. dried
1/4 C chopped fresh parsley (I just threw in some dried)
1/2 tsp. hot pepper flakes
5 C chicken stock
28 oz. can Italian tomatoes, chopped
2/3 C baby shell pasta (I used whole-wheat macaroni)
14 oz. can artichoke hearts (12-14 count), drained and cut into wedges
salt and pepper to taste
grated parmesan cheese to sprinkle (optional)



1. In a large heavy pot, cook bacon, onions, celery, garlic, herbs and hot pepper flakes, until onions are softened.

2. Stir in stock and tomatoes. Bring to a boil. Add pasta. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, 10 minutes or until pasta is just tender (12 minutes for macaroni).

3. Stir in artichokes and season to taste. Serve with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese.

Makes 6 servings.

Zucchini Soup and Hot Coconut-Ginger Shrimp

Let me start by wishing everyone the best for the upcoming year. I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday, had time to relax with friends and family and of course, enjoyed some wonderful food over the holidays. I was lucky enough yet again to not be the one doing the cooking this year :) Which was further simplified by us not having our New Year's Eve party this year, though we'll get back to that again next year (mark it on your calendars!).

This blog has become a bit of a Dear Diary at times... settle in, as this is a long one... lots going on these days...

2010 was a bit of a challenging year for us. Well... not the whole year. Particularly the fall. The whole having a baby part of it turned out to be not quite as challenging as I had anticipated. But there's been quite a bit going on otherwise that has kept us running for the better part of the past few months. Though I'm sure that throwing a baby in on top of it all hasn't made things any easier, even if we do have a relatively easy baby (and I thank God for that, as I think that otherwise I'd have lost my marbles!). I have decided that recent events are all about me learning to refine my coping skills :) And I have to say, I feel that we're doing quite well, given all that's been going on lately. I've even managed to still cook/bake fairly regularly and get some recipes up on here regardless.

I feel like we literally haven't stopped since early September when we got the call that Jerome's mom was quite ill. I had thoroughly enjoyed my time at home with Logan prior to that, but feel that I've barely had a moment since to just sit down and enjoy him. I'm hoping that 2011 will restore some of the balance that we had in our lives prior to the busy rhythm that our lives have taken of late.

We went from rushing over to France, to having my mother-in-law pass away, and all of the associated stresses of losing a loved one, arranging a funeral and emptying out the apartment where my husband grew up in just a few short weeks. And all of that with a 5 month old...

Upon our return home, we found out that Logan hadn't been putting on adequate weight and was considered failure to thrive. This had gone unnoticed, as we skipped our 4 month visit, since we had to leave suddenly for France. This led to a flurry of different visits to try to figure out the cause of his lack of weight gain. I think that we had 11 different doctors' appointments in 5 0r 6 weeks for him, in addition to meetings with nutritionists and a couple of physio appointments, as our pediatrician was also concerned about his motor development (which I decided to follow up on even though my gut telling me that he seemed ok).

I'm happy to report that the physio recently told me that his development is within the normal range. He had also put on quite a bit of weight at his last pediatrician's appointment (so much that the pediatrician joked he was going to send him to Weight Watchers). We have another appointment with him in a couple of weeks and if Logan continues to put on good weight, this will lead to the end of the harrying schedule of appointments we've been keeping up lately (cross your fingers for me, as I'm sick of running around!). Alternatively, if his weight doesn't continue to improve, it will lead to a whole new set of referrals to gastro and genetics to look at possible causes. My gut tells me that the lack of weight gain is due to his reflux, which has apparently been particularly bad for a baby, but much better since they doubled his dose of Prevacid. So I'm not terribly worried, but feel a bit run-down on certain days from having to run to so many appointments (don't they know that parents have their own appointments to run to as well???).

Oh... and did I mention that we've been in the middle of renovations since mid-July?? I CAN'T WAIT for them to finally finish so that I can put everything back where it belongs and finally be able to walk in all of the rooms of my house again. Never mind the sawdust. I've just given up cleaning it up every day and just thank my lucky stars that Logan isn't crawling yet and getting into the mess. We are now having our basement finished so that we'll have a play room for him. Which will be fantastic, as I am already more than sick of tripping over his toys everywhere, and he's only 8 months old. I'm sure it would only get much worse as he gets older. They've promised us that it will be done by March at latest, so here's hoping...

I was finally starting to feel like I was getting back to a 'normal' level of activity when we got a call from the doctor a week before Christmas that he needed to see my husband, further to a routine physical and blood work. Uh oh was my first thought... that can't be good...

Well, I guess that in the grand scheme of things, it could have been a lot worse, as he doesn't have anything fatal. It turns out that he's diabetic. Which came to us as a complete surprise. And the doctor suspects from some other things in his blood work that he has a genetic blood disorder called hemochromatosis that has caused the diabetes. Basically, this disorder leads to accumulation of iron in different tissues of the body, which eventually damages different organs. The doctor suspects that this has caused his pancreas to stop working, leading to diabetes. We consider ourselves lucky, as the first symptoms could have been in his heart or lungs, which would have had much more serious consequences. He was tested yesterday for hemochromatosis and we will find out shortly whether or not that is the cause of the diabetes. Either way, he has diabetes. And I suspect that our year to come will still include a fair share of craziness for the next little while, as he will most surely have many different medical appointments to go to to figure out exactly what is going on. But at least everything is treatable, manageable and ultimately, he is likely going to be just fine, even if he does have hemochromatosis.

So although we generally eat a relatively healthy, varied diet, this will most certainly have an impact on my future cooking (and particularly baking!). I made the cheesecake recipe that I just posted to take with us to dinner last night with Splenda instead of sugar and it worked out just fine. So I guess my blog will reflect that... though I'm sure I'll still make the occasional treat when we have people over. And I'll definitely do my best to modify our favourites as best as I can.

The many, many events of the past few months have led me to realize that I don't want to go back to work in April. Which is kind of hilarious, as my mom reminded me how insistent I was, even after Logan was born, that I wanted to return to work. But I feel like my mat leave was a bit stolen from me, with everything that has been going on. And I just want some time to hang out with him and relax... So I've decided to not go back to work, at least for the next little while. No real decisions just yet as to when I will return and I haven't even yet requested a formal leave from McGill beyond September (even though I don't intend to go back just then)... Ultimately, my intention is to not return until after eventually having a second baby. But we'll have to see how things go. Wow how life changes so quickly!!! I intend to fully enjoy the next few months, as I know that we can't afford for me to stay off of work indefinitely. But I look forward to cherishing my time at home with Logan and just enjoying the fun of watching him discover new things every day, as I did in his first few months of life.

So for those of you to whom I still owe an e-mail (and there are many of you!), here is my explanation as to why I haven't gotten back to you yet, even if it has been a couple of months... I will dig through my inbox as soon as I have a chance.

And with that, I will now get on to the recipes. Clearly, that is the only reason anyone looks at this anyhow :)

We had this wonderful soup at Heather's on New Year's Eve last night. I called her first thing this morning to get the recipe to make some myself. I doubled the recipe to have lots to stick in the freezer. She had made it with a mixture of cream and milk, which was clearly delicious. I decided to treat ourselves for the holidays and did the same, though I will typically probably make it with milk. I used brown rice in this, as (1) that's the only kind of rice I had in the house and (2) it's better for Jerome's diabetes anyhow. But I suspect Heather's had white rice in it, as it puréed a bit more smoothly than mine did (or maybe that was your hand blender??).

Zucchini Soup

1 onion
1 apple
2 tbsp. butter (omit to make it dairy-free)
1 tsp. curry powder
4 C vegetable broth
2 zucchini, not peeled
1/4 C rice
1 C any combination of cream/milk/water

1. Melt butter in a pot. Peel apple and roughly chop into 4 chunks. Chop onion into a few large pieces. Add curry powder and sauté for 10 minutes.

2. Add broth and bring to a boil. Once boiling, add the zucchini and rice. Simmer for 20 minutes. Blend in blender or food processor. Add cream/milk water.

I also made this shrimp dish for dinner, though I realized as I was making it that there is sugar in both soy sauce and the hot chili-garlic sauce. So it's likely something that I won't make often. I served this with a small portion of quinoa instead of rice, as it has a lower glycemic index and is therefore better for diabetes.

Hot Coconut-Ginger Shrimp

1 lb. large shrimp, fresh or frozen, raw or cooked
1/4 C finely minced fresh ginger
14 oz. can light coconut milk
2 tbsp. soy sauce
2 tsp. sesame oil
2 tsp. hot chili-garlic sauce
2 C snow peas
1/2 sweet red pepper (optional)
3 green onions, thinly sliced
fresh coriander leaves
1 lime

1. Shrimp shells may be left on or removed. Devein shrimp and set aside.

2. Combine finely minced, peeled ginger, coconut milk, soy sauce, sesame oil and chili-garlic sauce in a wide saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring often, over medium-high heat. Boil gently, uncovered and stirring often, until sauce is very thick, from 15 to 20 minutes. Meanwhile, trim snow peas. Seed pepper, if using, then slice into matchstick-size pieces.

3. Reduce sauce until it just covers bottom of pan and measures about 1/2 C. If making ahead, remove sauce from heat and leave, covered, at room temperature for several hours or refrigerate.



4. Just before serving, add shrimp, snow peas, pepper, if using, and onions to hot sauce. Stir almost constantly until shrimp are hot and bright pink, from 2 to 4 minutes. Serve over rice or rice noodles. Sprinkle with coriander and squeeze a little lime juice overtop.



Makes 4 servings.

The soup is freezer-friendly, but the shrimp is not.

Asparagus Soup

I bought some asparagus for Logan a few weeks ago and got the idea to make some asparagus soup with the leftovers. Oddly enough (or at least, it seems odd to me!), the little guy prefers asparagus to more bland things, like carrots, chicken, lentils, quinoa, etc. I think it's a texture thing... but at least he'll eat asparagus so that I can get one veggie into him other than sweet potatoes.

I made this to start dinner when friends were over this weekend. I served it with a few French croutons in them, because the French ones are super delicious (and so different than the ones here in Canada) and they are used in France more in soups than in salads. The recipe says that it makes 6 servings. When served before the main meal, this gave us 13 portions in all. I also stirred in some extra milk, as I found the soup a bit too thick.

3 medium leeks (white part only), chopped
3 tbsp. butter or stick margarine
4 C chicken broth
1 1/2 lbs. fresh asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
2 C diced peeled potatoes
1/8 tsp. white pepper (I just used regular pepper)
1/2 C 2% milk
1 tbsp. minced fresh parsley



1. In a large saucepan, sauté the leeks in butter. Add broth, asparagus, potatoes and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

2. In a blender, process soup in batches until smooth; return to the pan. Add milk; cook over low heat until heated through. Sprinkle with parsley.

Makes 6 servings.

Strawberry Soup

Fresh berries are amongst my favourite foods and we take advantage of the yummy local berries every year by going strawberry picking. I typically pick enough to make mountains of jam, but opted not to make any this year, given that I've got an 8 week old and a stash of jam still in the freezer from last year.

But I couldn't skip the strawberry picking all together though this year. They're so much tastier (and cheaper!!) when you pick them yourselves. We always go to the Fraiserie de la Veille Grange, but somehow this year ended up at Fraiserie Gravel instead. The pickings were a bit slim this year and I gave up after 3/4 of a basket, as Logan started screeching every time I bent down to pick more. So we ended up with 2 baskets instead of the 4 I had hoped for. But good thing, as they quickly bordered going off, since we left them in the car all afternoon while picking a vanity and ceramic for the bathroom we're renovating. Not too smart, which we knew at the time...



So we've been eating mass quantities of strawberries for the past few days (yum!) and I've been hunting down new recipes to make with them. When we were on a Carnaval cruise to the Caribbean with my sister and husband awhile back, we were served all sorts of delicious fruit soups as appetizers. They all tasted like cream and were delicious (though I'm sure, not overly healthy!). So I searched out a similar recipe to make with my strawberries. I chose a recipe off of Allrecipes that used yogurt instead of cream, to make it healthier. I used Liberty plain yogurt, as it's nice and thick and omitted the cardamom, as I didn't have any. I would cut back a bit on the amount of sugar next time, as I don't feel it needed to be quite so sweet (you could always start with 1/4 C and add more in, as necessary). I served this as the start to a meal, as had been done in the Caribbean, but next time, I think I would perhaps serve it as a dessert instead.

4 C strawberries
2 C plain yogurt
1/2 C orange juice
1/2 C white sugar
1/2 C water
1/8 tsp. ground cardamom



1. In a blender, combine the strawberries, yogurt, orange juice, sugar, water and cardamom. Puree until well mixed. Chill and serve.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Curried Squash and Apple Soup

My sister gave me this recipe, which comes from her husband's mom. It's a bit too spicy for me now that I'm pregnant - I had the joy of experiencing heartburn for the first time in my life after having this soup. But is quite tasty nonetheless. I'll just wait until baby is born to make it again, or will adjust the curry powder a bit. That being said, it really didn't seem to be super spicy when eating it.

I forgot to take a picture of this, but really, all soups look the same, so you can use your imagination.

4 tbsp. butter
2 medium onions, chopped
3 tsp. curry powder
2 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded, cut in one-inch dice
3 apples, peeled, cored, roughly chopped
6 C chicken broth

1. Heat butter over medium heat in large soup pot. Sauté onions until soft. Stir in curry powder. Cook 2-3 minutes.

2. Add squash, apples and chicken broth. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer, partially covered, until squash is tender, about 45 minutes. Season with salt to taste. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

3. Use a food mill or purée in a food processor. Serve with freshly ground black pepper and swirl a dollop of yogurt through, if desired. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Chicken Coconut Curry Soup

Some of you may have noticed on facebook that I have been desperately searching for an authentic Thai restaurant somewhere near our place. It's gotten to the extent that it's perhaps detrimental to my marriage... I convinced my husband over the weekend to drive 45 minutes to try this little Thai restaurant I had found on-line (under the guise of looking at strollers). Sadly, the restaurant isn't open for lunch on the weekend, so my craving once again had to be put on hold.

I realized over the weekend though that I have a couple of excellent Thai recipes. Though they're not quite as good as what I'd get in a true Thai restaurant, it'll help hold me over until I've found what I'm searching for. Or until the next time I'm in Oakville and can go back to the fantastic restaurant we found there (I can't remember the name right now, but am sure I could hunt it down again if it came to it).

This is a great soup recipe and I make it lots during the winter for both lunches and suppers. It's great with a salad and/or homemade biscuit or roll.

1 tbsp. oil
4 tsp. curry paste
1 1/4 lb. chicken, cut
1 onion
1 red pepper, chopped
grated rind of 1 lemon
1 C light coconut milk
2 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
chicken broth (optional)
1/3 C fresh coriander



1. Heat oil. Stir-fry curry paste for 30 seconds. Add chicken and cook for 3 minutes. Add onion and cook for another minute. (I usually use the Shredded Chicken from my post of Dec. 18th. So I typically cook the pepper and onion until cooked and then stir in the curry paste and already cooked Shredded Chicken).

2. Add pepper and lemon rind and stir-fry for 1 minute or until onion is soft. (I typically cheat and use store-bought ground lemon rind, which you can usually find in the spices section of a well-stocked grocery store, such as Loblaws).

3. Stir in coconut milk, soy sauce and lemon juice and bring to a boil. I usually also add in a decent quantity of chicken broth, as I find that otherwise, the soup doesn't have enough broth to my liking.

4. Cook for 2 minutes or until liquid is reduced. Stir in coriander. (I always say this, but don't omit the fresh coriander unless absolutely necessary, as it really does contribute a lot of flavour to the soup.)

Baked Potato and Leek Soup with Cheddar and Bacon

I got this recipe from April a few years back and continue to make it at least a few times every winter. It's one of my husband's favourites. I usually buy a few bunches of leeks at the end of fall, when they're much cheaper than in the winter. I slice them and freeze them in the portion required for this soup and then take them out whenever I feel like making this. Unfortunately, the soup doesn't freeze very well itself, due to the potatoes. But it's good enough that you'll be able to finish it without freezing it.

2 medium baked potatoes
1/4 C butter (optional)
2 1/2 C sliced leeks
2 garlic cloves
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
2 C water
2 C chicken broth
4 slices bacon, cut into pieces
1/2 C milk
1/2 C sour cream (I use the fat-free)
1 C grated sharp cheddar
2 tbsp. sliced green onions



1. Wash potatoes and bake in the oven until tender. Set aside to cool. Melt butter over medium heat (I skip this step). Add leeks and garlic, season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally until softened, about 10 minutes.

2. Add broth and water. Simmer over medium heat and cook until leeks are tender, about 20 minutes.

3. Cook bacon until brown and crisp. Drain on paper towel.

4. Cut potatoes in half lengthwise. Use a large spoon to scoop pulp into 1/2 inch cubes and set aside. Coarsely chop potato skin and entire remaining potato and add to pot with leeks.

5. In a blender or food processor, purée in batches. Return puréed soup to a clean pot and reheat over medium-low. In a small bowl, whisk together milk and sour cream until smooth, then whisk into soup with 1/2 C of cheddar. Stir in diced potato.

6. If soup is too thick, it may be thinned with a little water.

7. Season to taste and garnish with remaining cheddar, bacon and chives.

For a vegetarian version, just omit the bacon bits and use vegetable instead of chicken broth.

Makes 4 servings.

Easy Cabbage Roll Casserole and Pumpkin Coconut Soup

This first recipe also comes from Canada's Best Slow Cooker Recipes. It freezes really well and is basically the same ingredients as you'd find in cabbage rolls, but without the hassle.

Easy Cabbage Roll Casserole

1 1/2 lbs. lean ground beef or turkey (I've only ever used turkey)
2 medium onions, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 small can (221 mL) tomato sauce
1 C water
1 can (284 mL) condensed tomato soup
1/2 C long grain rice
4 C shredded cabbage
1/3 C tomato juice or water
sour cream (optional)



1. In a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, combine ground beef, onions, garlic, salt and pepper; cook, breaking up meat with a spoon, until browned. Drain off any excess fat. Return to heat and add tomato sauce, water and half the can of tomato soup, mixing well. Add rice, stirring to combine.

2. Into prepared slow cooker, place half of meat mixture, then half of cabbage. Top with remaining meat mixture and remaining cabbage

3. In a bowl combine remaining tomato soup with tomato juice, mixing well. Pour into slow cooker. Cover and cook on Low for 8 to 10 hours or on High for 4 to 6 hours, until bubbling and heated through. Serve with sour cream.

Serves 6 to 8.

Pumpkin Coconut Soup

I can't quite recall where I stumbled across this soup recipe, though it's one of my favourite fall soups. I usually buy sugar pumpkins every year to put on our steps around Halloween. I then cook all of the pumpkins and freeze the pumpkin in batches to make this soup all winter. Or as I did this year, when I get really motivated, I just make mass batches of this soup and freeze the whole soup to last through the winter.

This recipe is much better when made with fresh rather than canned pumpkin. However, if you do use canned, be sure not to accidentally buy pumpkin pie filling, as it already has spices added to it. Also, I always find the soup a bit thick, so I add a bit more water or chicken broth than what the recipe calls for.

8 C of cooked pumpkin
2 medium onions
1 can light coconut milk
chicken broth (optional)
1 tsp. fresh ginger
salt and pepper to taste



1. Chop the onions and cook in a bit of butter or oil on low heat.

2. Mix together the cooked pumpkin, onions, coconut milk and 4 cups of water or chicken broth. Season to taste and let simmer for 30 minutes.

3. Add the ginger and blend to purée consistency.

Can be garnished with roasted pumpkin seeds.

Serves 8.

Carrot and Coriander Soup and Cacciatore Chicken

So I went a bit crazy and bought 10 lbs. of carrots a few weeks back. Which I suppose is quite a bit for only two people to eat... I just couldn't restrain myself. They were $3.99... so that explains the abundance of carrot soup recipes I've been making lately. Luckily, I've yet to hear complaint from my husband about the lack of variety of vegetables lately.

This soup freezes well, though you may have to run it through the blender again with a bit of stock once it has thawed. Be sure that the carrots are cooked enough before blending, otherwise it won't blend into a nice purée. Also, you can substitute vegetable stock for a vegetarian version. Don't make the mistake of using ground coriander instead of fresh, as it is not at all the same thing. I used a ground lemon peel bought in the spice aisle of the grocery store instead of fresh lemon peel, as I rarely have fresh lemons around and that worked well.

Carrot and Coriander Soup

1 onion, chopped
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 1/2 lbs. carrots, peeled and chopped
3 3/4 C chicken stock
few sprigs fresh coriander
1 tsp. lemon rind
2 tbsp. lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste



1. Soften the onion in a large pot. Add chopped carrots, chicken stock, coriander leaves, lemon rind, lemon juice and seasoning to taste.

2. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes, occasionally checking that there is enough liquid. When the carrots are really tender, blend or liquidize and return to pot, then check seasoning.

3. Heat thoroughly again and sprinkle with chopped coriander before serving.

Chicken Cacciatore

This is recipe that I used to make whenever I had people over for dinner in undergrad. It used to be my 'fancy' meal, as I was really just learning to cook. I rarely make it anymore, but it's a good recipe and freezes well. I usually use boneless skinless chicken breast, though I'm sure you could use other cuts of chicken as well.



1/3 C all-purpose flour (or whole-wheat)
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
3 lbs. chicken pieces
1/4 C margarine (butter browns too fast)
1 C chopped onion
1 small green pepper, chopped
10 oz. (284 mL) sliced mushrooms, drained
7 1/2 oz. (213 mL) tomato sauce
14 oz. (398 mL) canned tomatoes
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp. oregano
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. granulated sugar
1/4 tsp. thyme
1/4 tsp. basil
grated parmesan cheese, sprinkle

1. Combine flour, salt and pepper in a plastic bag.

2. Put 2 or 3 pieces of chicken at a time. Shake to coat. Brown margarine in frying pan or large heavy Dutch oven. Remove chicken as it is browned.

3. Add onion and green pepper to pan. Sauté until soft. Add more margarine if needed.

4. Measure in next 9 ingredients and stir.

5. Add chicken. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese. Cover and simmer slowly for about 35 to 40 minutes until tender.

Serves 4 to 5 (though I find it makes much more).

Red Lentil and Carrot Soup with Coconut and Spelt Biscuits

I can't quite recall where I got this recipe. The soup is made in the slow cooker, which is super practical for a work day. It's great for cold winter days and is filling as a meal on its own. I usually make it with light coconut milk instead of regular. Don't omit the fresh coriander if at all possible, because it really makes a big difference.

Red Lentil and Carrot Soup with Coconut

2 C dry red lentils
1 tbsp. vegetable oil
2 onions, finely chopped
2 large carrots, peeled and chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp. turmeric
2 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 can (28 oz.) tomatoes, including juice
6 C vegetable stock
1 can (14 oz.) coconut milk
1 tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 long red chili pepper or 2 Thai chilies, finely chopped (or hot pepper sauce)
thin lemon slices (optional)
finely chopped coriander

1. In a colander, rinse lentils thoroughly under cold running water. Set aside.

2. In a skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add onions and carrots and cook, stirring, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, turmeric, cumin, salt and pepper and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add tomatoes with juice and bring to a boil, breaking up with the back of a spoon. Stir in reserved lentils and stock.

3. Transfer mixture to slow cooker stoneware. Cover and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours or on high for 4 or 5 hours, until carrots are tender and mixture is bubbling. Stir in coconut milk, lemon juice and chili pepper and cook on high for 20 to 30 minutes, until heated through.

4. When ready to serve, ladle into bowls and top with lemon slices and cilantro, if using.

Serves 8 to 10 as starter or 4 to 6 as a main course.

Spelt Biscuits

I got this recipe off of the All Recipes website last year when I was trying to find wheat-free recipes. These are a bit crumbly but really good.

2 C spelt flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
6 tbsp. butter
2/3 C milk



1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Farenheit.

2. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt. Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Gradually stir in milk, until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. You may need to adjust the amount of milk. Pat out on a floured surface to about 1-inch thick. Cut into biscuits and place on a baking sheet.

3. Bake in the oven for 12 to 15 minutes, until the bottoms are golden brown.

French Onion Soup and Ceasar Salad

I made this for dinner last weekend. It is one of my favourite winter meals - classic comfort food. This is what we always have for Christmas Eve dinner with my family and we all love it. The soup recipe is my mom's and the salad recipe is my dad's. And both are delicious. So good, in fact, that I have rarely had either a French onion soup or ceasar salad as good as these two recipes when I eat in restaurants. Though you have to like both vinegar and garlic to enjoy the salad.

Mom's French Onion Soup

4 onions
3 cans of consomme soup
french bread
shredded mozzarella, cheddar and monteray jack

1. Cut up the onions and saute in 1/2 C of water for 25 minutes (bring the water to a boil and then simmer).
2. Add 3 cans of consomme soup and 2 cans of water and simmer for one hour.
3. Put toasted buttered bread in French onion soup bowl and add soup.
4. Top with mixture of cheeses and broil until cheese is melted.
   

Dad's Ceasar Salad Dressing

1 crushed garlic clove (I usually use considerably more)
1 egg yolk

Mix together and then stir in:

4 tbsp. olive oil

Progressively add, while stirring:

dash of tabasco/hot sauce
dash of Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. red wine vinegar
3 tbsp. parmesan (or can mix in later with the lettuce)
freshly ground pepper to taste

Mix with romaine lettuce.

Optional:
croutons
bacon bits
additional parmesan

Carrot and Lots of Garlic Soup

This recipe was passed on to me from my Aunt Liz. I've been making it for a few years now and it's really good. We made this recipe last weekend and I'm going to make a few more batches this weekend to freeze because I love it.

2 heads garlic
1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1/2 tsp. salt and pepper
5 C vegetable stock
3 C chopped carrots
1 potato, peeled and chopped
1 C shredded fresh basil (optional)
1/4 C light sour cream or plain yogurt (optional)
1/4 C minced fresh chives (optional)



1. Separate and peel garlic cloves. In large saucepan, heat oil over medium heat; fry garlic, onion, salt and pepper, stirring, until onion is softened, about 5 minutes. Add stock, carrots, potato and 1 C water; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer until vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes.

2. Purée soup until smooth in small batches using blender. Add water to thin, if you desire (optional).

To serve, stir in basil, ladle into bowls; top with sour cream and chives.

Makes 4-6 servings.

I don't use any of the optional ingredients and it's wonderful as is. Enjoy!