Soup Love

One of the first things I loved about my husband was his love of soup. Not a lot of guys are that into soup, but this one loves just about any food in liquid form. When we were just acquaintances he served a cold chipotle tomato soup at a dinner party.  It was a very bold move. While most people polity stirred it around and choked back a few insanely spicy spoonfuls, I ate it up, stars in my eyes.

Now that we're married, we make soup together a lot. We both just can't get enough of the wonderful feeling of a piping hot, flavorful, nutrient-packed broth making its way down our insides and warming us through. The healthy-conscious side of me loves how many veggies you can pack into one dish - and how many bowls you can eat without feeling guilty. I still prefer chunkier stew types and he favors silky purees but we've both leaned to appreciate the spectrum. A perk of our union was inheriting his immersion blender, which has opened up a whole new world of soupy goodness.

These days Dave's repertoire has expanded and he's learned to be a little less heavy-handed with the spices, but he still has a weakness for one store-bought soup. His favorite soup chain, Hale and Hearty Soup used to make a wonderful Tomato Cheddar and whenever we're back in New York he wistfully scours the sandwich boards of every outpost we pass, hoping his beloved will be the soup of the day. It's been a while, however, since we've actually had a sighting, and I'm starting to think they may have discontinued it entirely. So I decided to learn to make it for him. 

Re-creating a tomato soup wasn't much of a challenge, and after searching a few copycat recipes on the internet I concluded that with the right mix of cream and cheese he'd be over the moon. I had been saving some old Gouda rinds for a moment like this, and after sawing off the waxy parts I threw them into the broth. Half an hour later I had some tough, cheesy bits floating around but an incredibly richly flavored broth.

And instead of keeping this recipe a surprise, I decided to involve the connoisseur himself. I wanted to use as little cheese as possible (both to keep it somewhat healthy and for my own enzyme deficiencies), so I stirred in small chunks of cheddar bit by bit, soliciting expert opinion along the way. After a few rounds, he pronounced it almost perfect. I seasoned it with salt, and he was in love.

Tomato Cheddar Soup

Inspired by Hale and Hearty Soup

1 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

Several stalks of celery, diced

2 cups chicken or vegetable broth (I used Better than Bullion)

1 28-oz can diced or crushed tomatoes

1-2 tsp dried thyme

cheese rinds - gouda, parmesan, or other aged cheese *be sure to remove wax before melting!

1/2 cup half-and-half or cream

6-8 oz cubed cheddar, or more to taste

Salt, to taste

Saute the onion, garlic and celery until onions are translucent. Add the broth and tomatoes and bring to a boil. Add thyme and cheese rinds and let simmer 30 minutes to 1 hour, until tomatoes are falling apart and cheese rinds are moist and spongy (see picture above). Remove cheese rinds and puree with an immersion blender (or cool and pour into standing blender). Add cream or half-and-half, and stir in cheddar bits until desired taste is achieved. Be sure to salt along the way as you will probably get to the right flavor with less cheese needed.

Enjoy with a nice slice of toast and your valentine.

A Better Breakfast

So I'm back on the wards again. Which means showing up at 6:30, which means no time to sit down in the morning with some coffee and toast. I've gone on before about my search for the perfect breakfast, one that is quick and portable, while packing a nutritional and protein-packed punch to get me through the entire morning. This time, I turned to banana bread.

I always have a problem with bananas - it seems I never have them when I want them. Sometimes I buy a bunch, and we don't eat them, and then they get spotted, but before I get around to baking bread they've gone black. And kinda fermented. Or the opposite, I feel like baking banana bread and there are no bananas, and the store only has green and not overripe ones. Then I realized...
YOU CAN FREEZE BANANAS!
Truth be told, they look pretty disgusting after they've been sitting in the freezer, brown juice somehow seeping out of the fruit and freezing on its own in the bag. But trust me, once thawed and incorporated into a batter, you won't be able to tell the difference.
Problem. Solved.

I also used this opportunity to experiment with some healthier grains. Spelt flour seems to be all the rage these days. According to the internet, it's an ancient grain with many nutrients. Ancient foods are always better for you, right? The concensus seems to be that overall it is similar to whole wheat in protein, fat and fiber (maybe a little more fat and fiber, which also makes it more filling), but some people finds its flavor a little closer to white flour. I find it overall to be a little bit nuttier and grittier so wouldn't necessarily use in a cake, but it has a good flavor for this bread.

For added protein and fullness, I threw in some chia seeds, and finally tossed in some blueberries for a little sweetness. Spelt, chia, and blueberries - I feel like a health food store!

First day on the wards, consumed my hearty slice at 7am. Didn't get hungry again til lunchtime. Another breakfast, conquered.

Banana blueberry bread with spelt flour and chia seeds
makes 1 loaf

1/2 c. oil (I used sunflower oil)
1 c. mashed bananas
1/3 c. milk (almond milk or other non-dairy works too)
1 large egg
2-4 tbsp agave nectar or sugar, depending on ripeness of bananas
1 1/2 c. spelt flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup blueberries
2 tbsp chia seeds

1. Combine wet (first 5) ingredients.
2. In a mixing cup, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Pour into wet mixture and stir until just combined.
3. Fold in blueberries and chia seeds.
4. Pour into greased loaf pan and bake at 350 for 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out with a few crumbs but not gooey.

Tastes good as is, leftover the next day, or toasted and served with butter. Store in refrigerator so berries don't spoil.

Healthy winter CTM

Chicken Tikka masala is the national dish of England. To some, this may be off-putting, suggesting inauthenticity (and I wouldn't know, I'm South Indian) or some McDonald's like perversion of actual Indian food, but the fact remains: it's just so good. Now I'm a sucker for any tomato sauce, and stir in a little cream and I'm a goner. With a little butter, and the deep complexity of Indian spices, it's just the perfect dish, a blend of all my favorite cuisines. 

The problem is, like McDonald's food, my beloved CTM isn't really that healthy. Especially not when you eat as much of it as I tend to do - when we lived in New York my husband and I used to get two orders of this entree so we could each have one. So naturally I went on a quest to make a healthier version.

The essential elements of CTM are chicken tikka, which is essentially chicken marinated in yogurt and spices and then grilled in a tandoor oven, and the sauce, which generally seems to have tomatoes, onions, spices, and some butter/cream. I figured by adding some veggies to bulk up the recipe I could get more mileage out of the sauce, saving calories and adding vitamins and fiber. And by making the sauce myself and adding the cream only at the end I'd be sure to save on all the delicious fat that restaurants use.

Finding myself in the middle of our second snowstorm in a week, I had to do quite a bit of improvising. Fortunately I had some old sweet potatoes lying around (though I'm sure kale or some other green would have fit in well too). I realized I had no yogurt at the last minute, but was able to re-create the marinade using 2% milk and a splash of vinegar, which ended up making for a very flavorful and tender chicken. I had no plain tomatoes on hand, but these fancy fire-roasted organic tomatoes didn't offend, and maybe even added richness to the sauce. As for the chicken, I always have a big bag of Trader Joe's tenderloins in the freezer, and while I wouldn't recommend eating them plain (especially with an inch of freezer burn like mine had) they do very well in stews and sauces.

When my husband returned after a 35-minute-turned-2-hour train ride (you'd think the Northeast would be used to snow by now), he was downright gleeful when he realized what I was up to. The end result? While you could tell it wasn't takeout (mostly thanks to the sweet potatoes), it provided all the same warm creamy spicy satisfaction, with an added dash of virtuosity as we took in all the colors and patted ourselves on the back for being so healthy.

Healthy Chicken Tikka Masala with Sweet Potatoes

For the marinade:

1/2-1 cup milk (I used 2%) or yogurt

1 tbsp white vinegar (if using milk)

2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp cayenne pepper

pinch of salt

4 boneless chicken tenderloins, or as many as you can fit in the marinade

For the sauce:

1 tbsp canola/sunflower/neutral oil

1 onion, minced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 small hot green chili, minced

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and diced into 1-inch cubes

2 tsp cumin

2 tsp paprika

1 28-ounce can diced plain or fire-roasted tomatoes

dash of cream (about 1/4 cup), to taste

chopped cilantro

1. Combine marinade ingredients, submerge chicken, and let sit for at least 2 hours. Sauté chicken in a little oil, then set aside. 

2. Heat oil, and saute onion, garlic, chili and spices.

3. Once onions are slightly translucent, add sweet potatoes and saute for a few minutes.

4. Add about 1 inch boiling water and cover for about 10 minutes, until potatoes start to steam. 

5. Add tomatoes, cover and bring to a simmer, then cook on low heat for 30-60 minutes (longer for more developed taste).

6. Add chicken and cook until warmed through. 

7. Add cream and garnish with cilantro. 

Serve with rice and/or naan.