Mumsy's Super Chicken Soup ...p22

After a brief stint in the hospital, what should I serve the critic?  Chicken soup, of course.  Healing for the bones and warming to the heart, chicken soup dishes up comfort and better health for pennies on your health insurance dollar.  Though many argue over just why soup helps - be it the heat, the steam or the concentrated nutrients, few argue whether it does.  According to Dr. Mao, with soup you can lose weight, build your immunity and detoxify your body;

according to my husband, he just feels better when he eats soup. 



Mumsy's Super Chicken Soup packs in the nutrients above and beyond your traditional chicken soups by the addition of lots of vegetables and tomato juice, with just a wee bit of alcohol in the form of sherry, to clear the throat.  Which turned out to be the critic's reason for snickering just a bit at this soup, "it tastes too much like vegetable soup!"  "It's good, but not yum - I like just the traditional chicken soup." 

So once more, I have to disagree with the critic.  This is definitely one of my favorite soups - and don't be tempted to leave out the sherry - it really adds kick to the taste - in fact, if you can get a real bottle of dry sherry to use rather than the store-bought cooking sherry, all the better.  When prepping the vegetables, chop up the eggplant first and let it soak covered in salt water while you fry up the bacon and chop the remaining veggies - at least that's the way Mumsy always did it!

Sprinkle a little freshly grated Parmesan on top and you have a yummy - nontraditional - chicken soup.  Let us know whether you agree with the critic or me - leave a comment.

Hardy Appetit!

Peel a Pound Soup ...p21

Once upon a time, I thought I could literally peel away the pounds on this soup and made way too much.  After weeks, it sat in the fridge, it filled up the freezer and it was a long time before I dared make this soup again.  But like all fears, they must eventually be faced, and blogging this cookbook has made me face mine:  the cabbage soup diet!

Well, I won't do the diet again, but I will continue to make this soup.  More delicious than I remembered and the nutrients contained therein are numerous!  Instead of onion soup mix, I added Knorr's Vegetable Soup Mix - experiment with your own additions.

As a sidenote, a neat trick my mother-in-law taught me when making big batches of soup:  Fill your soup bowls with soup, fast freeze in the freezer until solid, then pop them out into zip-lock bags.  When you want a bowl of soup, just pop it back into your bowl and microwave.

Critic's opinion?  Eat your soup!  It's really yummy.

Hardy Appetit!

Mumsy's Curried Pumpkin Soup ...p24

Pumpkin soup?  We've come a long and creative way from chicken noodle, beef vegetable and tomato soups and fall is warmer for it.  If you haven't tried some of the exotic soup recipes, be daring.  Carrot soup, avocado soup, butternut squash - they're all terrific.  I recently tried a black bean soup off the internet that was amazing - its secret ingredient - orange juice.  I added my own secret ingredient of a roasted poblano pepper which really made it pop! 

But back to pumpkin soup.  If you don't like curry, don't worry (sung to the tune of don't worry, be happy) - the flavor is very subtle.  This is the perfect fall soup.  Complete it with a flavorful roll like sourdough or dark whole wheat and a salad.

Hardy Appetit!

Clam Chowder ...p23

"Clams became accepted to them [Pilgrims] in time, but it is on record that in 1620s the Pilgrims fed clams and mussels to their hogs with the explanation that they were "the meanest of God's blessings."  Eating in American - A History, by Waverley Root and Richard de Rochemont.  

 

CLAMS

Indeed it is difficult to imagine this surly crusty creature would be tasty in anything, or even tasty to hogs, but tasty they are to both hogs and humans.....and, when steeped in a nice creamy chowder, sopped with a chunk of sourdough, they make one tantalizing meal.  This particular recipe is simple to put together and satisfying to the partakers.  Indulge.

Close friends and family will know what I mean when I say take note that the critic enjoyed this meal so much, Mr. Lonely is guarding the bowl. 

Hardy Appetit!

Tortilla Soup ...p29

Simple to make, simple to intensify or enhance to individual tastes, this soup is a winner in all our books.  I laid out an array of add-ins:  sour cream, finely chopped jalapeños, chopped green onions, cheese, Cholula (our favorite pepper sauce) and, not having any fresh cilantro, coriander chutney.  In case you are wondering, coriander is the seed of the cilantro plant and is used often in Indian and Asian foods.  My husband is not wild about cilantro, so I usually use little in cooking, lots in garnish.  Coriander Chutney's strong flavor adds the bite I love, especially when dolloped on top of sour cream. 

Hardy Appetit!

Tomato & Bean 15-Minute Stoup

This stoup calls for a whole cup of basil and I just happen to have a whole lot of basil goin' on.  I intended to make a bunch of pesto fresh from my garden, but my garden has been a dismal failure.  The flowers have been wonderful.....but the veggies have been a wee bit disappointing for the work I (we...) put in to their cultivation.  If learning were my aim, it'd be one thing, but my goal was a mini-supermarket.  I am happy to report my Chinese Red Long Beans are prolific and adding vibrant color to my cooking!

Of course the pictures above have nothing to do with this recipe, so.....Back to stoup - a catchy new cooking term for a cross between soup and stew, though long known in religious circles as the holy water font in the front of the church.  Considering it's the [amount of] water that makes the difference here, stoup fits. You'll love this tomato-based version, and though it seems a lot of basil, trust me, you'll love it.  Or trust the critic on this one!

Hardy Appetit!

Mumsy's US Senate Bean Soup ...p24

Yes, if the Senate has its way, this is all we will be eating now that Health Care Bill has passed.  Beans are after all nutritious, filling and can be stretched to satisfy any budget.

All jesting aside, this is one of my favorite soups.  I remember the first time I cooked it, I couldn't believe all the celery that went into it - but it does and the flavor is barely noticeable.  Served with some good warm bread, this a very satisfying meal.

I think it appropriate to print the lyrics to an old children's song that Pappy would sing everytime Mumsy made beans.  Hey!  Maybe it can become our new national anthem?

Beans, beans the musical fruit,
The more you eat, the more you toot,
The more you toot, the happier you feel,
So let's eat beans at every meal!

Here served with pumpernickel bread and, as dessert, a lemon meringue pie.  Now that's a luxury tax!

Hardy Appetit!

Meatball Minestrone Soup ...p29

A quick, head out the door in the morning without a nourishing breakfast to stimulate our appetites and jumpstart our metabolisms, another quick lunch because we just don't have time to cook anymore, a heavy dinner after we arrive home at night just in time to head for bed, have left us with more pounds then we want, more pills than we should take, and more heartburn than we can handle.  OK, so this time we're serious.  Our house is going to try to eat that healthy breakfast, make time for lunch and go easy on the evening delectables.

Soup?  It's not just for lunch anymore.

Katie's Meatball Minestrone recipe caught my eye because of the "dinner" quality of meatballs.  (Gotta ease my way to more broth!)  Served with a baguette and red wine, this one is fabulous.  Everyone one of us, including my visiting 4-yr old grandson, loved, loved it.  My husband's reaction was "fabulous!", "I could eat this every night," and about an hour after dinner, ate another bowl....  Hard to keep the appetite in check on this one.   

Only Nana had a different opinion.  She didn't like the idea of meatballs in a soup, whose broth  and other ingredients were better left consumed without that addition.  Incidentally, the broth is a chicken base - not beef, making it lighter and milder tasting.  So, I guess if you're not into meatballs, leave them out!

Hardy Appetit!

Cabbage/Hominy Corn Soup ....p21

Of course I had to start off with one I knew was a Nana favorite:  cabbage/hominy corn soup.  Also because I just happened to be making it when the cookbooks arrived - how coincidental!

Certainly one of the easiest soups to prepare, and from its prep, you actually get two meals (spareribs & soup) - or use the soup to stimulate your appetite before chowing down on ribs. 

My daughter hesitated about eating the hominy, "isn't it chemically altered?  or genetically-altered?"  I couldn't explain the process of turning corn into hominy, so I had to look it up.

I always knew it was processed using lye - which sounds awful - but I was glad to read that it must be "food grade lye" as lower grades of lye are used as drain openers (and here mom thought it was the cabbage!)  The process actually yields nutritional benefits - removing the hard outer shell (germ) converts the niacin into a more absorbable form, improves the availability of the amino acids while making the corn easier to digest.  To my daughter's liking, hominy had a past:  Cherokees used it.  If it was good enough for them, well, it must be native.

Hardy Appetit!