Soups and Stews

January 30, 2017

Turkey Chili over Cheese Grits

laura.smoak@gmail.com Freezer Friendly, Quick and Easy Mains, Soups and Stews 2 Comments

After several weeks on the vegetarian/vegan train, let’s get back to more traditional comfort food: turkey chili over cheese grits.

Let me paint you a picture of a typical Winter Saturday in the Peascoe house. Wake up and play before a super easy breakfast of – I don’t know, say – Saturday brunch surprise. An outing to whatever activity we have planned to get us through lunchtime. We get home, eat some lunch and get Anna Ruth into her room for room time. If we’re lucky, a Carolina basketball game will be on. If not, Andy either starts doing work for grad school or a little yard work, and I start on whatever I’m making that day. AR finishes room time, Andy’s done with work, dinner is going and we just have the rest of the day to do whatever we want. It sounds so simple – and it is – but after such a hectic holiday season it is really the best thing ever.

I’ve always been really into cooking and freezing, but being pregnant that goes into overdrive. The more I can make and freeze now, the less I have to worry about when I’m nearing my due date or once the baby is here. Lately I’ve been making a lot of this turkey chili. This isn’t your typical chili with beans, so your idea of chili needs to shift a little here.

My mom and I started making this recipe when I was just out of college and living with my parents before Andy and I got married. Given that there are no beans, and given our skinny, early-20-something-bodies, Andy and I would feel like we just needed something else with the meal. We tried cornbread, which was eh/okayish, but not quite IT. That’s when I came across some sort of slow cooked meat dish served over polenta, and my mind immediately went to turkey chili over grits. After that first time we were hooked, and life had so much more meaning. <– yes, that sounds a bit dramatic, but try it and tell me otherwise. My sister recently served this to a large group of her in-laws, and said she could just tell it blew some minds.

The chili itself here is really quite simple. We brown the ground turkey with the aromatics, add the final ingredients and let it cook for as little or as long as you want. I love starting this in the afternoon, and just letting it go for an hour on low so the whole house smells like comfort food. I generally double or triple the recipe, so I have plenty to freeze for later.

The other star of this show is the cheese grits. When it comes to cheese grits, the naughtier the better. I don’t have an exact recipe, but I always use stone ground grits, and cook them in chicken broth. Once they’re done I add an assortment of shredded cheese, cream cheese and heavy cream (really just whatever I have on hand). If we’re making this for a group, I don’t hold back on the indulgent additions because more cheese is always better. However, if it’s just for a family meal I regulate myself to keep the calorie count in check. The gorgeous thing here is that the turkey chili has so few calories, that it’s okay in my book to have the grits a little more indulgent.

Top with other traditional chili toppings, or don’t (we don’t) – once you have this version of turkey chili over cheese grits you’ll have a new ideal for what chili night looks like in your house.

Turkey Chili over Cheese Grits

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil
1 large shallot – diced
2 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp cumin
2-3 tbsp minced garlic (I use jarred garlic)
1 lb ground turkey
2 (16 oz) can stewed tomatoes*
1 (4 oz) can chopped green chilies – mild or hot*
For the grits: stone ground grits, chicken broth, shredded cheese/cream cheese/heavy cream (optional)

Directions:

Add the first six ingredients to a large pot, and cook over medium-high heat until the turkey is done.
Add the tomatoes and chilies, and bring to a simmer. Allow to cook over low heat for at least 10 minutes and up to an hour.
Cook the desired amount of grits in the appropriate amount of chicken broth according to package directions. Once done stir in whatever combination of shredded cheese, cream cheese and heavy cream desired.
Serve the turkey chili over the cheese grits and enjoy!

*If you’re going to eat it without letting it simmer on the stove for a while, drain the tomato juice from one of the cans. If you’re going to let it simmer on the stove, include all of the juices.

**Hot green chilies make this really really hot. Andy and I love spicy food, but it’s even a little hot for us. Since I generally double this recipe, I use one can of each.

September 14, 2016

Tomato Coconut Lime Soup

laura.smoak@gmail.com Freezer Friendly, One Pot Dishes, Quick and Easy Mains, Soups and Stews 2 Comments

Happy Fall, y’all! It’s official. We made it past Labor Day, so it is perfectly acceptable to take on the Fall mentality: pumpkin spice everything, football, football snacks (<–one of my earliest posts, yet still one of the top viewed recipes – make it, you won’t be sorry), mums, Fall décor and soup…oh soup, how I’ve missed you. This tomato coconut lime soup is our perfect transition into Fall with its bright flavors and feel good vibes. The fact that it’s soup nods to the cooler weather coming, but it’s also light enough that you don’t feel like you’re jumping into the deep end of heavy, cold-weather, stick to your ribs kind of foods.

(Sorry for the crummy picture – I will figure out how to float avocado on top of soup and update ASAP once I get it right.)

Let me start by saying I am generally – like 99% of the time – NOT a coconut girl. Sure I like caramel delights, but otherwise flaky coconut is just not something I enjoy. However, over the years of becoming a spicy curry lover (4lyfe) I have found that I really do like the flavor of coconut milk in soup/brothy dishes. If you’re worried about this being overly coconutty, don’t – even Andy agrees it’s not overpowering in this soup. What we have here is just a hint of coconut sweetness to balance out the zesty lime zing and acidic tomatoyness of the soup.

My inspiration for this soup came from my office. I’ve mentioned before how we have an awesome cafeteria, and tomato coconut soup is usually on the menu at least once a week. I got to thinking that it’s basically just a fancied up tomato soup, and couldn’t be hard to copycat. Lucky for us – dear reader friends – I was right, and now we can all enjoy this fancy tomato coconut lime soup anytime we want.

Pic of luscious coconut milk pour in 3, 2…

In my true fashion, let me list out why I love making this soup…

It comes together in less than 10 minutes (hiiiiii, 5 ingredients!!).
It makes enough for a dinner and a couple lunches.
It freezes well.
It’s easily doubled or tripled for plenty of freezer meals.
You can customize it to your liking with a variety of (highly recommended) toppings.

Seriously, drop what you’re doing right now and go make this soup. Serve with crusty cheese bread for dipping and dinner is on the table in 15 minutes.

Ingredients:

23.2 oz can condensed tomato soup
(2) 14-15 oz cans diced tomatoes*
32 oz chicken broth (or vegetable broth to make this vegan)
1 can coconut milk
3 tbsp lime juice
Optional toppings: avocado, shredded cheddar, tortilla chips, sour cream, cilantro

Directions:

In a large pot combine condensed soup, diced tomatoes (with liquid) and chicken broth over medium heat. Make sure to stir well so that the condensed soup really incorporates with the tomatoes and broth. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Once at a simmer add the lime juice and coconut milk**.
Serve immediately and enjoy!

Notes: we prefer ours with fresh avocado and a little cheese, so while optional I would highly recommend this.

* If you want more tomato chunks, just add another can or two, but drain the juices.

** If you want a smoother soup, use an immersion blender to get the consistency you want.

April 13, 2016

Lazy Girl French Onion Soup

laura.smoak@gmail.com Freezer Friendly, Soups and Stews 0 Comments

This year April weather = drunk weather. It was hot and Spring-like for about five minutes and then boom back to the 40s. Hellooooooo, April, you are no March. Go home. Last week it got cold again. Like bring your newly potted plants inside so the frost doesn’t kill them cold. The silver lining? This lazy girl French onion soup. We’ve already established that I love soup with an undying passion, so when the high dipped below 60 degrees the Soupstress came back out for one last hurrah before it warms up for good.

Where are my French onion lovers? Anyone get super excited when you see it on a menu? Me me me!! The bread covered with melty cheese, sitting atop the most flavorful oniony broth mixture. Pure magic. But…

Sometimes you gotta stay iiiin…

…and you know where we liiiive…

Welcome to my house. We can’t even slow down. We don’t like to go-o out… (thumbs up)

Did you kind of sing that as you read it? If so then – congrats! – we’re bound to be besties. You know those songs that you only know about two lines? That’s it for me, and I drive Andy nutso singing it over and over and over and over. I mean, it’s a catchy little tune, amiright? This song basically describes our relationship with going out to eat. Why go out and spend $$$ when we can make it better and healthier at home for $? Sorry this was such an unnecessary tangent. I don’t even know what’s going on here. Back on track and in your face with 1-2-3 melty cheese strands…

While you know I’m into recipes that take a long time, I am NOT into recipes that take a lot of hands on time. Who is? Here’s what makes this “lazy” French onion soup: onions cook on the stove-top, then in the oven and, finally, it all simmers together with minimal stirring. We rarely made French onion soup before I found the method of cooking the onions in the oven. It takes out an hour of time that you would otherwise have to pretty consistently stir the onions to get them to brown. I mean – just look at that perfect golden goodness that was done completely in the oven. Genius!

There are three “active” times: slicing eight onions, stirring while the flour and wine incorporate and assembly. The only “slaving over the stove” bit is one 10-minute stretch where you need to constantly stir the onions with the flour and wine. I actually really like this part – add the wine to the pot, pour a little for yourself and just slowly stir and watch the mixture thicken before adding the remaining ingredients. It’s actually really relaxing or Zen-like (?). I have no clue what constitutes “Zen” in cooking, but I imagine it’s something like this.

Assembly here is also a little different than you’re probably used to. My favorite part of this soup is the cheesy bread on top, but I’m always left a little unsatisfied when I run out of said goodness. My answer? Are you ready for this? We make a layer of cheesy bread on the bottom, melt it, add the soup and the final layer of bread and cheese and finish in the oven. The bottom layer of bread bumps standard French onion soup up to a whole new level. It’s almost like a French onion stuffed grilled cheese when it’s all said and done. Behold, the evolution of my lazy girl French onion soup in three, two…

You may not have time to do this on a week night, but you can make the soup over the weekend and just reheat it when you’re ready to assemble during the week. Any leftovers (minus cheese and bread, obv) freeze really well, too. Go ahead and plan on making it this weekend, then – fine, twist my arm – I’ll come over and help you eat it 🙂 One more shot for drool factor, then the recipe. Enjoy!

Calories are based on the soup alone because the amount of bread and cheese is totally up to you! I generally use about 2 oz bread and 4 tbsp shredded cheese per bowl, bringing the calorie count up to 434. <—Perfect dinner.

Serves 8 – 190 calories

Ingredients:

4 tbsp butter
7-8 yellow onions – sliced thin
2 tbsp all purpose flour
1 cup red wine (I use Merlot)
8 cups beef broth
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp dried thyme
Sliced French baguette
Shredded mozzarella and/or Swiss

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a dutch oven, melt the butter over medium-low heat and add the onions. Cover and cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Place pot in the oven with the lid ajar and cook for one hour, stirring 3-4 times.
Remove the pot from the oven and place back on the stove over medium heat. Stir in the flour and cook 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the wine and cook for another 10 minutes to reduce (it will become very thick).
Add the broth, bay leaves and thyme and simmer for 30-45 more minutes.
Set oven to broil.
Cover the bottom of oven-safe bowls with sliced baguette, and top with 2-3 tbsp shredded cheese. Place in oven just until the cheese melts.
Ladle the soup into the oven-safe bowls, top with another layer of baguette slices and shredded cheese, then broil until the cheese melts.
Enjoy!

March 2, 2016

Creamy Potato and White Bean Soup with Sausage and Kale

laura.smoak@gmail.com Freezer Friendly, One Pot Dishes, Soups and Stews, Veggies 0 Comments

I’m back with another mouthful of a recipe name – shocker. The only other name that came to mind that would truly make sense is Winter Bliss Soup, but I am not that obnoxious with my recipe names just yet. This Creamy Potato and White Bean Soup with Sausage and Kale feels like giving yourself a hug from the inside out, so “winter bliss” could totally be an appropriate name if that’s what you want to call it. Friends, I don’t even feel like I can give you an adequate description of how delicious this soup is, which is very sad for a food blogger. I’ve tried and just can’t come up with the words that express it well enough. Seriously, though, this might be the best soup I’ve ever made or eaten. There’s not one thing that makes it what it is. It’s everything combined that just makes it so perfect. Literally, I’ve had people taste this and offer to actually PAY me to make a batch for them. Personal-ish chef? Me? *Blushes*

Something you’ll learn about me is that I’m a raging soup enthusiast. Obsessed. Literally, if I ever open a restaurant it will be called Laura’s Bisquetro and serve soup year-round, which is why I will probably never open a restaurant because I am likely the only person that still wants soup when it’s 90+ degrees outside. I love love love making soup – maybe even more than eating it, okay fiiine it’s a tie. I have several quick and easy recipes, but there’s just something about spending a little time here and there on a long, lazy Saturday that makes me so happy (probably because I have so few long, lazy Saturdays 😉 ). This soup is somewhere in between quick and easy and long and involved. It’s pretty hands on from start to finish, but really doesn’t take more than about 45 minutes. Here’s the gist: cook sausage, cook shallots and potatoes, add beans, puree, add sausage and kale. Dunzo bunzo.

Now that I’ve said “dunzo bunzo” twice now, I have to explain. This is something my sweet little niece started saying a couple of years ago, and it stuck around the Peascoe house. Here is a pic of my perfect little Abigail. She just loves Anna Ruth to pieces and the feeling is mutual, which makes my heart happy happy happy. If you ever see AR holding a toy like a phone, ask her who she’s calling and she will say Abby or Jack 99% of the time. (Jack is Abigail’s brother/AR’s cousin-twin, and he’ll definitely show up later on!)

This creamy potato and white bean soup with sausage and kale is everything your freezing self ~~wants~~ needs during the winter. All with fresh, cozy ingredients. The potatoes, white beans and heavy cream puree into the creamiest, silkiest soup base ev-er. I’m generally not one that goes for heavy cream in recipes, but it just adds so much to this soup that I can’t forgo it. I don’t peel the potatoes (duh, all the nutrients, and ->LAZY GIRL<-), so the combination of that with the white beans gives it an earthy taste, which isn’t bad, but just needs to be mellowed out by a little cream IMO. Made as is this soup has a good kick of spice, so if you’re making it for kids I would suggest either leaving out the red pepper flakes and/or using a mild sausage. Side note: I’m interested in making this with turkey or chicken sausage, so let me know how it turns out if you do it first! Guess what else I love about this soup…it freezes beautifully! <– You probably knew that was coming, right? I’m so typical. I’ll admit I was a little skeptical about how the kale would handle it, but it comes out of the freezer and is 100% as good as the fresh version. Just make sure to let it thaw out completely in the fridge before reheating. Enjoy!

Serves 8 (435 calories per serving)

Ingredients:
1 pound hot Italian sausage
1 tbsp butter
1 large shallot – diced
2 cloves garlic – minced
1 tsp each salt and pepper
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
8 cups chicken broth
3 large russet potatoes – diced
2 (15.5 oz) cans cannellini beans – drained and rinsed
1/4 cup heavy cream (optional)
1/2 -1 bunch kale – stems removed and leaves rough chopped or torn

Directions:
1. In a dutch oven or large stock pot over medium heat, cook sausage until done, using a wooden spoon to crumble as it cooks. Remove from pot and set aside*.
2. In same pot melt butter and add shallot and cook until soft. Add garlic, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes (if using) and stir until fragrant – about one minute. Add broth, scrape up the browned bits on the bottom and then add the potatoes.
3. Bring mixture to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer for 30 minutes, or until potatoes are tender. During the last five minutes of cooking time, add the beans.
4. Use an immersion blender to puree the mixture until smooth. Stir in heavy cream.
5. Return the sausage to the soup, then add the kale a couple handfuls at a time. It will look like it’s too much, but kale wilts down a lot, so keep adding!
6. Serve with crusty bread (if desired) and enjoy!

*I use sausage that doesn’t render much fat, so I just leave what’s left in the pot after scooping it out. If your sausage renders a lot of fat, spoon most of it out and leave 1-2 tsp.

January 20, 2016

Soul Warming Chicken Pipette Stew

laura.smoak@gmail.com Chicken, Freezer Friendly, One Pot Dishes, Pasta, Soups and Stews 8 Comments

Winter has finally arrived in North Carolina…if you need me you can find me bundled up in a chunky sweater and fluffy socks and probably curled up under a big blanket. All that unless there is snow on the ground! People tend to laugh at the South for shutting down when it snows, but I actually love it. As a teacher, Andy is automatically in the group that gets to stay home, and sometimes my office will close or tell everyone to work from home if we’re able. We’ve only had one dusting this year, but snow’s in the forecast for Friday, and I’m really hoping it’s a good one. Last year Anna Ruth was just under a year old and we were dealing with ear infection after ear infection, so we didn’t take her outside much.

This year I have visions of sledding and building snowmen, then coming inside for hot chocolate and warming up by the fire. The reality, though, will be playing trying to get a perfect picture outside for 10 minutes before deciding AR is too cold, then trekking back in and getting snow and dirt all over our mudroom. Then no hot chocolate because this loser mom generally just can’t justify the amount of sugar, and also HAVE YOU EVEN SEEN MY KID HOPPED UP ON SUGAR?? <—I’m sure it’s like most almost two-year-olds, but I try to avoid it as much as possible. I know the day’s coming when she’ll know what sweets are, but for now she doesn’t and, therefore, doesn’t feel deprived by not having them.

One thing I can get behind on a cold, snowy day is this Soul Warming Chicken Pipette Stew. Yes, I just went there. It doesn’t even have to be a cold, snowy day. Below 80 degrees? I’ll have the soul warming stew, please. This is really somewhere in between a stew and a soup, but closer to stew, so that’s what I’m going with. This is so easy – especially when prepped ahead. A couple of variations – if I happen to have it I like to make it with homemade turkey stock and leftover turkey from Thanksgiving or Christmas. Also, *leaning forward, looking at you over the rim of my glasses* I cannot stress this enough – subbing tortellini with the pipette takes it completely over the top. I’ll use tortellini if I have it, but generally just use whatever little tube pasta I have on hand, which in this case is almost always pipette (Barilla brand). There’s just something so fancy sounding about making Chicken Pipette Stew, right? Any small tube pasta works, but then it can’t realllly be called Chicken Pipette Stew…it would be something like Chicken Elbow Macaroni Stew, which would be very sad. Ok, fiiiiine, you can still call it Chicken Pipette – I won’t tell. Anyways, back to the point, this is great for a crowd and freezes really well if there are leftovers. We generally get two dinners and two lunches out of the batch, but Andy eats a lot, so it may go even further for some families.

If you’re making this all at once, you’ll need to give yourself about an hour (though, more than half of that is just time to let it cook). Let’s talk about your prep ahead plan for a minute. When I plan this for a weeknight meal I always dice the veggies and shred the chicken on the Sunday afternoon before. I prepped this during the commercial breaks while watching the first quarter of the #Panthers game. Then the night of it’s simply softening the veggies, adding the other ingredients and stirring occasionally. If you’re making this all the night of, just dice the veggies first, then shred the chicken after you’ve added the broth. Feel free to add any other herbs or spices you like. I like to add a little crushed red pepper or hot sauce, but don’t add it until serving so that AR can eat it. Ok, now it’s your turn – run on to the store and make sure you have everything on hand, so you can have this ready to warm you back up after a long, cold day. Thanks for reading!

I’m looking for a reliable recipe calorie calculator, but when I put the ingredients into a free online counter it came out to roughly 380 calories per serving if you break this into 8 servings. One serving is perfect for me, but Andy generally goes for seconds.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp olive oil
3 carrots – fine diced
4 stalks celery – fine diced
2 small shallots (or one medium onion) – fine diced
1 tsp Italian seasoning
2 cloves garlic – minced
1 bay leaf (optional)
1 (24 oz) can crushed tomatoes (I use the kind with basil, garlic and oregano)
8 cups chicken broth or stock (or 6 cups broth and 2 cups water)
2 cups uncooked short tube pasta (I use Pipette from Barilla)
1 whole rotisserie chicken – skin removed and shredded off the bone (or 3 chicken breasts cooked and shredded)

Directions:

Heat olive oil in a large pot or dutch oven over medium heat.
Add carrots, celery and shallots and cook until tender – about 5-7 minutes
Stir in Italian seasoning, bay leaf, garlic, crushed tomatoes and chicken broth. Reduce heat to just under medium, but not quite medium-low. Simmer for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Bring mixture to a boil then add pasta and cook according to package directions.
Towards the end of the pasta’s cooking time, add the shredded chicken.
Serve hot garnished with parmesan and hot sauce if desired.
Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week or in the freezer for three months.