Tag Archives: crockpot soups

It’s Been A Soup Sort of Week

Posted on December 10, 2013 by AnnieRie

Seems to be the norm this week to have soup for lunch or dinner. What with a second snowfall today.

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At least we got the snow thrower some hours. I think it hasn’t been used in two years. My husband had everything done in about an hour this afternoon. All told, between the two storms we had about seven inches of snow on the ground.

It even brought the red bellied woodpecker up close to the house, something she rarely does.

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While we were out there, the crockpot was on, with my latest version of cauliflower leek soup bubbling away.

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The secret to my soup? Garam masala. It makes it much more complex in flavor.

The recipe:
1 small head cauliflower, broken into pieces
4 medium leeks, sliced, white part only
2 scallions, sliced
4 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, parboiled first
1 pint stock (I used turkey)
1 pint almond milk
2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt

Everything in the crockpot except for the almond milk, for six hours on high, or eight hours on low. One hour before serving, I pureed most of the mixture, leaving about 1/4 of it in its chunkier form. After pureeing it, add the almond milk for the last hour to give it the creamy texture.

Tonight we dressed it up a bit.

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I had a package of Copper Penny Farm mini chorizo in the oven on slow cook (250 degrees) for that last hour. Placed a few of them, with some of their juice, over the soup.

A mostly local meal tonight. Just the spices and the almond milk, not local. Warm, satisfying. It’s interesting how soup is one thing we love to have when the “weather outside is frightful”.

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Turkey Lurkey

Posted on November 30, 2013 by AnnieRie

My mostly local Thanksgiving meal. Done tonight for just the two of us.

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Pretty traditional this year. Roasted turkey. Green bean casserole. Mashed potatoes. Sausage dressing.

Every element of the meal had local ties.

Let’s start with our turkey. An eleven pound Maple Lawn Farm fresh “hen”.

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Brined for sixteen hours in advance. I found a basic apple cider, salt, brown sugar, orange peel, bay leave, garlic, rosemary and water brine.

Roasted at 450 degrees for 30 minutes, and 90 minutes at 350 degrees. Trickling Springs butter under the skin. Grapeseed oil rubbed over the top, and a poultry mix sprinkled everywhere.

Really moist turkey this year. The right amount of time in the brine, and it wasn’t overcooked. I have a crock pot full of bones, skin and the innards, with a couple gallons of water, which will cook all night to make stock.

Side dishes this year. My take on classics, but revved up a bit.

Mashed potatoes included goat cheese, butter and milk. These were CSA potatoes, a mix of Yukon Gold and white potatoes.

I made a green bean casserole using Breezy Willow’s beans. Blanched them first, then put them in a casserole with some organic condensed cream of mushroom soup I got at Roots. Half of the container became the base for the gravy. The onion on top the beans was a CSA yellow onion that I roasted yesterday until it was crispy. It added flavor without all that breading and greasiness the canned onions have.

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The dressing was simple. Bread cubes mixed with turkey stock (I started the stock early today, using only the innards and water, celery, carrots and scallions. Cooked up about 4 ounces of Boarman’s homemade country sausage and mixed it in. A little sage, salt and pepper. Baked alongside the green beans.

Complementing the meal, a Finger Lakes Pinot Noir. 2007 Konstantin Frank.

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Really a soft wine. Glad we opened it. It is just starting to fade a bit.

All in all, just enough food. I didn’t go overboard on anything other than making just a bit too many potatoes.

As for leftovers, I have two cups of shredded turkey to make a soup. One leg to use for a lunch salad next week. One complete breast for a salad or dinner. A couple of thighs for another dinner.

Keeping it local. Supporting small businesses. I may not have shopped today, but I did pretty well.

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Thanksgiving Eve Eve

Posted on November 26, 2013 by AnnieRie

The calm before (and during) the storm. The ice and snow and rain and sleet and whatever storm.

Pretty dismal today, and the same for tomorrow. But, tomorrow, I have lots to do.

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Pick up the turkey at Boarman’s. The Maple Lawn turkey, along with sausage for dressing, and oysters for stew.

My menu for our meal (Friday night) is oyster stew, salad, turkey, dressing, green beans and a whipped potato/turnip dish.

After getting the turkey, it is off to pick up the CSA box.

We got an anticipatory email, telling us what we might get, but with all the weird weather, we may have lots of substitutions.

Tonight we enjoyed a hearty crockpot soup.

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This is my take on the vegetable soup (With smoked shank) that inspires crab soup.

How did I make it?

1 smoked shank from Boarman’s
1 package frozen green beans from last summer
1 pint stock from the freezer
1 jalapeno
1 baby bok choy shredded
3 large scallions
1 pint frozen tomatoes
1 can Navy beans
salt, pepper to taste
1 pint water

20 hours on low in the crockpot. This was one intensely flavored soup. Served tonight with the last of the rye bread from the CSA.

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Soup, on a cold rainy evening, before the frantic Thanksgiving cooking.

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One Slow Cooked Bargain Meal

Posted on November 18, 2013 by AnnieRie

Actually, it turns out there will be two meals out of the turkey made in the crockpot yesterday.

It all started with those turkey drumsticks from Maple Lawn Farm.

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You can head out to the farm and pick up frozen turkey all during the year. The fresh turkey is sold for the holidays, but they have frozen packages and other specialties.

After bringing home those drumsticks, so I could vacuum seal some and save for soups this winter, I did keep two out to cook on Sunday.

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I have two packages like these in the freezer. Each package cost approximately $2.33 as the six pack was $7.

You can’t beat that for making an economical meal. Throw some carrots, onions, celery, some stock (my last container from last year’s turkey), two drumsticks, a little water, salt, pepper, poultry friendly herbs like tarragon and marjoram, all in the crockpot.

Since the turkey was barely defrosted, and the stock was a brick of frozen goodness, I put the crockpot on high for six hours, then renewed it for another 3 hours. In the last hour, I added some wide noodles and a bit more water to thin it out.

We had it for dinner tonight, and it was simply wonderful. Really rich. So much flavor. It’s amazing and you can’t believe the entire pot probably cost $5-6 in total ingredients. We only had half of it, so lunch or dinner later this week will be our second meal from these drumsticks.

My husband and I both like the dark meat on turkey and chicken, more than we like the bland white breast meat. At Thanksgiving, my husband always takes a drumstick on his plate.

I suppose you could say we are crazy, eating turkey the week before Thanksgiving, but soup is so good on crisp fall days.

If you haven’t popped out to Maple Lawn after the holiday rush, you should. Even the frozen turkey is so much tastier than those butterball things.

hocofood@@@

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And So It is Fall

Posted on November 7, 2013 by AnnieRie

Fall CSA season, that is. The seven week fall extension of our Sandy Spring CSA began today. And not a squash or a potato in sight.

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This is what we got.

White Kohlrabi
Leeks
Napa Cabbage
Bok Choy
White Cauliflower
White Radishes
Purple Top Turnips
Frisee (I swapped for Jerusalem artichokes)
Lacinato Kale
Broccoli Raab
Arugula

The kohlrabi is the largest I have ever seen.

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As for the add ons, I chose this fall to get free range heritage chickens, two every other week, for a total of eight over the season.

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One will get roasted this weekend. The other will be put in the freezer for later this winter.

We also decided to try the bread from “A Loaf of Bread“. An organic bakery in Lancaster. They have a large number of specialties. Today we got a sourdough boule. Just the right size for us.

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There are other add ons. Eggs, cheese. We passed on those. I like my eggs to come from Breezy Willow, and to buy local cheese when I go there or to England Acres.

As for some intended uses of my goodies this week, I have to dig out the recipe for the turnip, Jerusalem artichoke and apple soup I made a few years back. Found the blog entry.

Fall is soup season, and chili season, and stew season. The veggies we get work perfectly to create satisfying warm meals. Glad we got the thirty CSA members, to keep our site going until Christmas week.

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Beans and Greens

Posted on October 28, 2013 by AnnieRie

Until we joined a CSA three seasons ago, I would not have considered greens with beans and some sort of broth, with a little pork, to be the basis of so many meals.

I wandered back into my archives and found at least a half dozen versions of the beans and greens themes in them. Like this one.

The Tuscan soup version, with kale.

And, one of my first attempts from the freezer.

Much like this one I made today, but with tomatoes.

Today’s was a lighter variation.

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I don’t even use recipes anymore. I just wing it. This one used all the mustard greens we got last week. The rest of the bok choy from a week ago. The turnip greens. I started it in the crock pot with carrots, celery, onion and the thicker white parts of the bok choy. A half pint of my chicken stock. A wee bit of bacon grease. I fried up a pound of bacon that I got at England Acres. It has been in three meals and there is still some in the fridge.

I added the greens, some bacon, two cans of butter beans, and two cups of almond milk, making this a non-dairy soup.

What you see in the finished soup are some Great Harvest croutons. As for flavor, I added salt, pepper, parsley, garlic powder, paprika and ground ginger. I also cut up and added an apple to give a hint of sweetness.

Just before serving, I ladled out about half of it, avoiding the bacon pieces, and blended it to give it that creaminess.

A very hearty soup. Served with a “competition” of Sauvignon Blancs. Linden versus Glen Manor. The 2011’s. We decided the Glen Manor complemented the soup better, although Linden was a much bigger bodied SB.

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Here’s to the last week of our summer CSA. Looking forward to fall veggies. Glad that my experience motivated me to cook more with hearty greens.

hocofood@@@

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Cooking Up a Storm, Again

Posted on September 9, 2013 by AnnieRie

Today, with the cooler weather, I had crock pot, oven, stove top and food processor going, in order to keep up with the last of the garden harvests. And with some of the CSA veggies.

What did I get done?

Another batch of tomato sauce using all of my paste tomatoes, and the CSA roma tomatoes.

A foil package of about 30 cloves of garlic, put in the oven after taking out the chicken that I slow cooked for most of the day, which I had finished in the oven, to get it brown. I used the last of my previous batch of garlic to make dinner Sunday night. I always keep a container of roasted garlic in the refrigerator. Beats buying it from the olive bar at the grocery store.

Two quarts of chicken stock tonight, using the carcass and all the drippings from the all day crock pot chicken cooking.

Pesto, using the CSA basil from a week ago, and some of mine. I still have enough to do another large batch.

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Add that to last night’s work. I made ajvar and roasted red pepper hummus while I had last night’s lamb on the grill.

Finally, I have to decide if I want to keep that rendered chicken fat skimmed off the top of the stock, and download Michael Ruhlman’s iPad cookbook dedicate to schmaltz. Now that’s a new adventure that I might just have to try.

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Tell me. If I saute kale in chicken fat, do they cancel each other out? Healthy food. Serious fat. Could be interesting.

The freezer is filling up again.

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Whey Out There!

Posted on April 23, 2013 by AnnieRie

OK! Mozzarella was a success.

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Eight ounces of cheese, close to half a gallon of whey left over. Don’t throw it away!

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Instead, make soup with it. All from the freezer and fridge. Potato corn chowder. Look into the crock pot. Frozen foods in it.

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I dumped about two pounds of Yukon Gold CSA potatoes, boiled, sliced and frozen in October. And, about 10-12 ounces of sweet white corn from TLV, blanched and cut from the cob. The corn is the blob on the right bottom of the pot. All the whey in there.

Plus, green beans from the CSA. Turnips from East Rivendell (they buy wholesale from Lancaster Farm Fresh). Greens and turnips. Baby Hakurei turnips.

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Added some scallions and carrots. Carrots from Breezy Willow. Scallions bought at England Acres when I picked up my half a lamb (another topic for later this week). Oh, and some of that bacon from TLV bought Saturday.

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Popped some basil from my new plants in it. Some veggie blend from dried herbs. At some point, I fished out the potatoes and pureed them in the blender. Salt and pepper and garlic powder to taste. This came out very well. Rich satisfying soup.

Served with a salad medley. And, a lovely white wine from Linden.

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Grandma’s Tomato Soup

Posted on February 15, 2013 by AnnieRie

Nope, none of that canned stuff your mom might have served. The kind of soup my grandma made. Fifty years ago. Made with tomatoes, broth and slow cooked until everything came together.

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Tomato rice soup. Made with tomatoes I grew last summer. Amish paste tomatoes. About two pounds of them. Put in the crock pot with some chicken broth and almond milk. Two tablespoons of tomato paste. A couple of cubes of my garlic scape pesto. Allowed to cook all day, until about an hour before serving when I pureed the tomatoes and added a cup of riso.

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Served with crumbled rosemary crackers and a side salad of baby spinach, cranberries and goat cheese. The wine?

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Tablas Creek syrah. 2003 vintage. Hard to believe it is ten years old. Big, balanced, with a hint of berries in the nose. It went well with the soup and the salad. A simple soup and salad dinner elevated to the next level with a great wine and completely made from scratch. Including the berry vinaigrette on the salad.

Enough left for a couple of lunches. Soup and salad is on the table many days for lunch. Thanks to another hocoblog food blogger for posting about tomato rice soup with basil. Although she used brown rice, the inspiration was there.

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Redefining Local

Posted on February 7, 2013 by AnnieRie

For fifteen months now I have been blogging, mostly about being a locavore. I started out during my challenge to eat locally, by considering only locally grown items. I finally decided that this was unrealistic for me.

Locally grown, locally produced, or locally sourced. That’s my priority now. Beyond that, either organic or as natural as possible. Real food. Food made from scratch.

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Things not grown here in Maryland, ever, like olives and most citrus, most spices and chocolate, I agree, are part of my cooking and won’t be avoided. I just try and maximize the local ingredients, and I support our local farms and markets. I buy from them, even the things they sell that they brought in from outside the state.

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What has that meant? I shop rarely at grocery stores, and then, only for items not available at local markets, shops and farms. I shop organic as much as possible. I make many items from scratch, using fresh ingredients.

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I also don’t eat at chain restaurants, or eat fast food, unless we are in the middle of a turnpike with no other options. I can’t believe how differently I approach dining out. And, how I now cook.

My freezer is full of local veggies, fruits and meat. I shop at farms weekly. I pick up staples and organic items at the grocery stores, usually Wegmans or Harris Teeter these days and very little of my food budget goes to them.

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For my winter eat local challenge, I find that I don’t actually eat one meal a week that is local, but rather, I cook almost every meal with something local in it. Most of the time, the local items outnumber the others.

I know this isn’t easy to do, unless you have the time to do it. I really appreciate what our moms did, 50 years ago. Cooking from scratch every day. Eating in season. Stretching the food budget.

I see quite a few people doing the same as we are. Going back to basic cooking. Not eating all those overly processed foods from institutional food services. Not a bad way to spend time.

Bake a few brownies from scratch. Put a crock pot meal on the table. Spend time in the kitchen, instead of a restaurant lobby with a pager. Not a bad idea.

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Check out that grill. Everything on it locally sourced. Easy as it can be.

Here’s to really good food. Made with love.

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