Cream of Italy Soup

This is a quick, tasty and low calorie lunch that I enjoy on school days when break time has to be brief and energizing!

Ingredients:

2 cups chicken broth*
¼ cup spaghetti sauce*
2 TBS fat-free sour cream
Additional basil to taste

Combine broth and spaghetti sauce in a medium saucepan and heat to almost boiling. Add fat free sour cream and stir until blended. Add basil to taste.

Serve with 2 tablespoons of salad croutons and Parmesan cheese.

Serves 1
100 calories (includes garnish)

*This recipe can be made vegetarian by substituting vegetable broth and vegetarian sauce

Rotisserie Chicken

This is not so much a recipe, but a creative kitchen spark!


The best bargain you can get at your grocery store is a rotisserie chicken! Even if the chicken is at full price for 8-10 dollars, it’s still a steal! I got ten meals, five different meals for 2, out of the last chicken I bought!

Meal 1 - Succulent warm breast meat from the chicken.

Meal 2 - Chicken in creamy gravy made with the juice from the container over rice.

This one’s an easy one! Use remaining breast meat with the drippings from the rotisserie chicken container, a little flour, salt and poultry seasoning to taste. I use a whisk while it’s cooking to keep it smooth. Serve over rice!

Meal 3,4 and 5 are after making broth!

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Meal three is chicken salad made with white and dark soup meat. The spices and extra cooking from making the soup add extra flavor to the chicken salad made with ranch dressing and shredded cheddar cheese.

Meal 4 - SOUP! Then there’s that Rotisserie Chicken Soup, using about half the stock you made.

Meal 5 - Italian Vegetable Soup


Using the rest of your broth, add about a quarter of a cabbage, chopped and sautéed lightly in a tablespoon of olive oil, and a half cup of soup noodles, like a quadritini and bring to a boil. Once the noodles and cabbage are soft, add a diced zucchini, a handful of green beans. a half can of canelli beans and a cup and a half of tomato juice. Cook until everything is ready to eat!



There are a ton of variations that I use in this soup. You can use a diced potato instead of the beans. Add that when you add the pasta. You can also add some oregano, basil and garlic to Italian it up a bit more. It’s also great served with croutons and parmesan cheese on top!

As my Noni always said, “MANGIA!”

Turkey Congee

Traditional Vietnamese Congee

This has often been the traditional day after Thanksgiving soup. It's a simple soup that I use to make the most of those wonderful leftovers. I was inspired by a recipe for Vietnamese Congee, which is a strong broth poured over rice, boiled meat and vegetables. Mine is little heartier using broth made from the Thanksgiving Turkey and leftovers like stuffing, potatoes and veggies in cream sauce.


Turkey Congee

The broth:

After cutting off the remaining meat and scooping out the last of the stuffing, put the carcass of your Thanksgiving turkey (or any roasted or baked poultry at any other time of the year) in a large soup pot. Add 3 or 4 celery ribs and about 3 carrots along with salt and peppercorns to taste. Cover the bird to about an inch over it's top with water. The seasonings can be adjusted through the cooking process, but I usually rely on the flavors from the spices I used on the turkey and dressing to flavor the broth. Bring to a boil on high heat and reduce the heat to medium low. Let the broth simmer for up to 6 hours.

When the broth has a rich flavor, remove it from the heat. Strain the broth into a soup tureen or a new pot. retain the celery and carrots to use in the base. Discard the carcass and any remaining pieces of bone.


The base:

This is where it becomes your personal soup! In the original Vietnamese recipe, it calls for rice spooned into the bowl with some cubed boiled meat and vegetables like bean sprouts or curly leaf cabbage. In my after Thanksgiving recipe, I cut into bite sized pieces some of the remaining turkey meat, make stuffing cubes with some of that Mom's Recipe Sage Dressing, and some of the leftover tortellini from our Thanksgiving Day soup. (Tortellini will usually absorb what's left of the broth over night and that adds even more flavor to the Congee) Every year I make a different kind of potato and veggie with Grandma. so every year the congee has a flair all of it's own. Sometimes the potatoes are roasted or they are done in parsley and butter, I use a dollop of mashed the years we do them that way. The veggies are usually in a butter, cream or cheese sauce and a spoon of that adds to the congee flavor too. I also cut the celery and carrots from making the broth and add those too. I even cube some of the leftover cheeses from the fruit and cheese tray. (Havarti in this congee is SO good!) The base ingredients don't have to be warned up, but get them on the table while the broth is reheating so they aren’t refrigerator-cold!


Dinner time!

To serve the congee, I put the tureen with the hot broth in the middle of the table and surround it with the smaller bowls with the base ingredients so everyone can choose their own things to add to the broth.

Spoon the base ingredients of your choice into the center of the bowl. Ladle hot broth over the base ingredients to cover and enjoy!

Congee is really great with a lightly toasted piece of bread or roll leftover from Turkey Day and a slice of that leftover pumpkin pie for dessert!

Creamy Carrot Soup

What a wonderful veggie the carrot is! I have found in the Davlicious test kitchen that carrots adapt to both vegetable and potato or squash preparations. This recipe incorporates the texture of a cream of potato soup with the delicate seasoning of vegetable soup and a character that’s all carrot! I’ve had it as a warm winter soup and chilled in the summer and it’s spectacular both ways!


Creamy Carrot Soup

Ingredients:
1 medium onion, diced
1 TBS olive oil
2 tsp dried basil
1 can chicken broth (vegetable broth can be substituted)
2 cups baby carrots or carrot chunks
3/4 cup skim or low-fat milk
ground black and white pepper to taste

In a sauce pan on medium-high heat, sauté onions in olive oil until soft. Mix in basil and stir until fragrant. Add chicken broth and carrots. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and let cook until carrots are very soft.

Uncover, remove from heat and allow to cool until steam is no longer rising when stirred. Put contents of whole pan into a blender and mill until all of the carrots are ground. Slowly blend in milk.

Return to stove on low heat, stirring constantly. Garnish with basil sprinkled on top and serve with a Hawaiian roll.

Makes 2 servings, About 250 calories, with one roll

Originally posted at The Chronicles of Nani May 2008

15-Minute Black Bean Soup

15-Minute Black Bean Soup

Serves 2

1 small onion, chopped
1 TBS cooking oil
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
1 16-oz can black beans (NOT drained)
1 cup water
1 TBS lemon juice

In medium sauce pan, brown onion in cooking oil over medium-high heat.

Add oregano and cumin stirring until spices are fragrant. Add beans and water. Bring to a boil and lower heat to medium.

Let soup cook for about five minutes or until beans are very soft and some of the liquid has cooked off.

Remove from heat. Add lemon juice and mash with a potato masher or fork to thicken soup. Serve with a dollop of sour cream.

Originally posted at Simply Davine January 2006

Peanut Butter Soup

Peanut Butter Soup

1/4 cup grated carrots
1/4 cup diced onions
1/4 cup diced celery
1 tsp butter
1 small can chicken broth
2 TBS peanut butter

Saute vegetables in butter until soft. Add broth and bring to boil over med-high heat. Remove from heat and stir in Peanut Butter. Add salt and pepper to taste

serves 2, 105 calories per serving

Originally posted at Simply Davine October 2005

Plum Tomato Soup

Plum Tomato Soup

1 tsp olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 medium carrot, chopped
2 stalks celery , chopped
1 tsp each: parsley, oregano and basil
2 cups Chicken broth*
1/2 cup white wine
10 plum tomatoes, halved

Heat oil in medium saucepan. sauté onions until tender. Add celery and carrots and continue to sauté until the carrots are tender-crisp. Reduce heat.

add parsley, oregano and basil and mix just until spices are fragrant. Add chicken broth and wine and allow to come to a slight boil over medium heat. Add tomato halves and cover.

Simmer until carrots are soft and can be easily mashed with a fork. Remover from heat and process in a food mill until soup is all pureed. Serve with parmesan cheese or croutons as a garnish.

serves 2-3 people

* Vegetable broth can be substituted for vegan preparation

Originally posted at Simply Davine October 2005