Hearty Vegetable Soup

I learned to make soup a long time ago...first from a red and white can, next from scratch, watching my mother boiling bones in a pot.

I worked at an Italian Deli after that, and watched the head of the kitchen make an enormous pot of soup every day. (More salt, Cathy!! People like to TASTE!!)

I recently started attending Weight Watchers meetings again, as in the nearly 8 years since I managed to lose 30+ pounds...a stray 15 pounds have crept back on. I have been having soup for lunch lately, and this method of soup making is super fast, and heavy on the fresh flavour...

All you need to do is chop your veg. Throw everything into a large soup pot with liquid of your choice(reduced sodium vegetable stock?) Cover the pot, bring to a boil, reduce to low, and simmer partly covered for 10 minutes. Stir in salt, pepper, and fresh herbs.

I used:

• A bunch of fresh black kale roughly chopped
• 2 small zucchini-cubed
• Fennel-1 bulb-sliced
• Red Pepper-fresh chopped
• onion-as above
• couple of cloves of garlic-sliced
• 6 cups broth of your choice
• 28 oz can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
• fresh thyme, oregano, parsley, basil, and a shot of hot sauce
• salt and pepper

Delish...check out weight watchers.ca 

Post-Thanksgiving Lentil Soup-Via CHOW.com

Homemade Soup

Yesterday was Canadian Thanksgiving. It's just the P-Man and I...so no need to go crazy cooking a 17 pound turkey! I decided to cook a nice little ham...and it turned out well-eventhough the above mentioned P-Man pooh-poohed the delicious delicata squash chunks I scattered at the bottom of the roaster.

Fresh Ginger Cake: "Breakfast Lunch Tea-Rose Bakery"

One of my few remaining cookbooks

 Fresh Ginger Cake

Ginger is an ingredient I came to fairly late in my cooking life. My mother kept a dusty jar of ground ginger in her 1970's spice rack but I never recall her using it. When did I discovered fresh ginger? I can't tell you, although I do remember reading a recipe that had fresh ginger as an ingredient in my very favourite...

Bread+Egg=Heaven!

Sort of Cooking-Really Delicious!
My husband was out of town this week, and after 29 years of marriage, that means 1 thing…I eat when, what, and if I want.

Eggs are a sort of 'go-to' for me. The protein fills me up, and a fried egg sandwich is a treat because I am not generally a sandwich eater. I had a jar of roasted red peppers in the fridge, and think they were one of the STARS of this particular sandwich…they added a bit of sweetness, and a 'vegetable' component which I try to have at every meal.

Ham and Dijon mustard are perfect together…and in my fridge I also had this tasty, scraggly piece of ham I picked up at a fantastic urban deli in the Crosstown neighbourhood of Vancouver, a place called The Dirty Apron.(the ham was scraggly looking because every time I went anywhere near the kitchen, a piece ended up in my mouth!)

Lastly…Any sandwich that has any hope of being delicious MUST have good bread. You all know my dad was a baker, so I drive miles for good bread, just on principle! This tasty loaf is called a 'Millers Grain Loaf', and is available a couple of miles from my place in Ocean Park, at a bakery called Fieldstone. It's crunchy and dense, and yeasty, and full of nuts and seeds. If this post has you thinking about creating a few tasty sandwiches for you or yours tonight, check out everybodylikessandwiches.com a great blog!

Anyone have a favourite sandwich? Please leave me a comment…and don't forget to share! I'm on Twitter too…@CathyCavern.

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

Winter 2014

It's been a long cold winter. I'm on the West Coast of Canada…so I will spare you the horror of imagining temperatures of minus 1 degree Celsius! Needless to say, I have been cooking more than usual, in between checking the Canadian Dollar vs the US dollar in hopes of getting myself to Honolulu.

Butternut Squash
I'm not a huge squash fan, but butternut squash I like. I decided to make some soup, and thought that roasting the squash would give the soup some richness, in the absence of meat. I roasted the squash, with a few carrots and parsnips I had laying around, but by the time the squash was soft, the carrots and parsnips were nearly incinerated! I piled them into a bowl, and ate them as a before soup snack, as I was worried my soup would turn out smokey or burnt tasting.

chow.com
I adapted this recipe from: chow.com Roasted Butternut Squash Soup Recipe by Christine Gallary
You can view the original recipe here. My adapted recipe is below. I hope you like it. I thought it was simply delicious!  Please leave me a comment…and please feel free to share…

RECIPE:
1 medium butternut squash
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1 medium Ambrosia apple
1/2 medium yellow onion
8 fresh sage leaves
2 1/2 cups homemade chicken stock
2 1/2 cups water
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

In a 425 degree preheated oven roast the squash as above-cut side up, on an aluminum foil lined baking tray.(brush the squash with olive oil and season w salt and pepper. Roast until tender-approx 60 min. Wash and core the apple. Cut the apple and the yellow onion into a medium dice and cook in a saucepan with the butter and fresh sage over medium heat. Season the mixture with salt&pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally until softened, 5 to 7 minutes. Scoop the softened squash into the saucepan with the apple onion mixture, add the water and the stock, and a bit more salt&pepper. Bring everything to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 15 minutes. Using a blender, puree the soup in batches until smooth, being sure to only fill the blender up half way, and placing a kitchen towel over the lid to prevent splattering. Taste and adjust seasonings if needed.