Sunday's Soup/Bountiful Greens Soup

This past week I saw my retina specialist. I was a little apprehensive as I had been told by the surgeon who operated on my right eye this past summer that she saw the formation of a third mole on my retina. Oh my. But, the news was great! He said that yes he saw the third mole, and he felt that there was no sign of a malignancy. Whew!!! So relieved! In just a week's time, I found out that I am in great shape, colon wise, and my eyes are holding steady. The retina specialist told me to keep doing what I'm doing...and I will! 

With the holidays coming up, and the temptation to eat lots of rich food, I thought I would post a soup that I love to eat. It is chuck full of vitamins, and while it looks like a soup that will taste like grass, it's actually quite delicious.

This soup is a blend of asparagus, kale, spinach, carrots and fennel.

Begin by sauteing 1 large onion with 2 chopped carrots in olive oil until the onion is translucent.

Add the chopped fennel, asparagus, chopped and seeded jalapeno pepper, garlic and saute for another 10 minutes.

Add chopped kale, chopped spinach, and chopped parsley along with 8 cups of vegetable broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. 

Blend the soup with a handheld blender, or in a blender until smooth. Add 1/2 cup of tahini(sesame paste). The tahini adds a lovely smooth taste to the soup as well as a little protein. Season to taste with salt and black pepper.

Serve the soup with toasted nuts, I like toasted pumpkin seeds. 
It really is quite delicious and will ward off all sorts of winter bugs and make up for a little of the indulgences that we just can't resist this time of year :) 

Bountiful Greens Soup

ingredients;
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion chopped
2 large carrots chopped
1 jalapeno seeded and chopped
3 cloves garlic minced
3 cups chopped asparagus
1 fennel bulb chopped, use only the bulb
6 cups coarsely chopped spinach
1 bunch kale coarsely chopped, stems removed
1 cup coarsely chopped flat leaf parsley
1/2 cup tahini(sesame paste)
8 cups vegetable broth
salt and black pepper to taste

directions;
Pour olive oil in large pot. Add onion and carrots. Saute until onion is translucent. Add jalapeno, garlic, fennel, and asparagus. Continue sauteing for another 10 minutes. 
Add kale, spinach, and parsley to the pot along with 8 cups of vegetable broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. 
Remove pot from heat. Use a blender, or handheld blender to puree soup.
Stir in tahini. Add salt and black pepper to taste.
Serve soup with toasted nuts of choice.

The soup will freeze well.

Enjoy!
Rhonda    

Eating For Your Future/Summer Farro Salad

The last month has been one of those, "oh great, what now?," kind of months. It began when I blew a tire while landing the airplane and ever since, it has been one thing after another. Just a few days ago we found that we were lucky that our house didn't burn down, truly. My husband had gone upstairs to find that 2 rooms were without electricity. The electrician came and found that 2 wires had actually caught fire in the wall. Thankfully, that's all that was burned, but even the electrician said that it was a miracle that the house didn't catch fire. As upsetting as all the events have been, the best way to look at it all is....we're still here :) 

I have the BEST salad recipe to share with you. It's not just a salad, but a meal in a bowl. One of the key ingredients is Farro. It's typically grown in the northern regions of Italy. Farro is an ancient grain, a type of wheat, so while not gluten free, it contains large amounts of fiber, magnesium, and is rich in vitamins A, B, C and E.

I found the salad posted on Design Sponge this past Friday and I could not wait to make it. Neither of us were disappointed. Not only does it taste great, it looks just so pretty! This is Allison Hooper's Farro Salad and you can find the recipe HERE.

The changes I made;

*The recipe calls for fresh goat cheese, I used fresh feta.  

*Rather than peas, I used Edamame.

*I did not zest the lemon for the salad dressing, in fact, I was super lazy. Rather than mix the salad ingredients, I simply squeezed a lemon over the prepared salad and then sprinkled the olive oil over the salad. I then tossed the salad and served it. And as I said, we loved it! 

I did toast slivered almonds as a topping and I'm so glad that I did, Added a great toasty touch.

You can cook the farro ahead of time and then quickly mix up the salad for a week night meal. 

By all means, give this recipe a try. If you like the ingredients seperately, you'll love them all mixed together!

Happy Sunday!
Rhonda

Sunday's Soup/The Perfect Asparagus Soup

An early Happy Sunday from Chicago! The Haute Couture fashion show is today, so I will be off soon. My garments are ready and my bags are packed, so it should be a fun day. Most of the garments that I will have in the show you've seen before, but I will try and get pictures and share them later this week.
Before I run out the door, I wanted to share this fabulous asparagus soup recipe. This is one that is not only good, but will impress anyone who is a little snobbish about their food. It has an amazing taste, it's easy to make and like I said, will impress any foodie out their. I made it a few nights ago for my husband and he said, "PLEASE remember this recipe!" It comes from Green Kitchen Stories and you can find the recipe HERE.
What makes this soup truly special is first of all, the mix of ingredients, asparagus, fennel and spinach. Then there is a topping that is absolutely delicious and an unexpected cashew cream that is drizzled over the soup.

The recipe for the topping calls for a green chili, I used crushed red pepper and I was very happy with the taste. For the lentils, I found precooked lentils at Trader Joe's, a grocery store here in the U.S.

The recipe says to soak the cashews over night. I did not. I merely put them in a small blender and blended them almost to a paste. I then added the water and lemon juice and I was good to go. By the way, the cashew cream would make a lovely sauce for vegetables, so its a great recipe on its own.

If you like asparagus, I HIGHLY recommend this recipe. I think you'll love it. The only thing I didn't love was the yield, the recipe doesn't make up, enough soup! By all means, double the recipe!!
Have a wonderful day!
Rhonda

Healthy Eating/Asparagus and Arugula Pasta Salad

I just had breakfast and this picture makes me hungry!!! I made this pasta dish earlier this week and it is absolutely delicious! It's from a fun food blog called Gimme Some Oven. The blog is all about.creating fun, creative and easy recipes that are not only good to eat but healthy as well. The dish is called Asparagus and Arugula pasta Salad and you can find the recipe HERE.

Asparagus is in season right now, so it's full of flavor as well as nice and tender.

While shopping, I found this pasta. It's a blend of 8 whole grains and very flavorful. 

I basically followed the recipe. I began by filling my pasta bowl with fresh arugula.

Because I am looking to add as much color as possible to my dishes, I decided to add quartered grape tomatoes, love these little buggers!! At this point, I sat the bowl aside,cooked my pasta and chopped my asparagus. Be sure to follow the instructions and add the asparagus toward the end of the pasta cooking time.

Once the pasta was cooked and drained, I did not cool it down with water, rather I returned it to the pot and added the rest of the ingredients, except for the toasted pine nuts. Before combining the pasta with the arugula  and tomatoes, I sprinkled a little olive oil over the arugula. The pasta mixture was then added to the salad mixture and topped with the pine nuts. So in essence, I served the pasta warm. It was great! We had leftovers, so for the leftovers, I simply piled a little fresh arugula on a plate and topped it with the pasta salad and served the leftovers cold.
If you like pasta salad, by all means give this recipe a try. It's great warm and cold, so it will make a wonderful leftover, lunch time dish as well.
On the Gimme Some Oven website, you'll find a nice printable version of the recipe, so be sure to pop over. If you would prefer a vegan version of the dish, just leave out the feta cheese.

Here's to your health!
Rhonda

Sunday's Soup

Holiday themed food can be fun! I found a very simple recipe for Creamy Asparagus and Cauliflower Soup that sounded quite nice, so I gave it a try. The ingredients are basically, garlic, cauliflower and asparagus. Doesn't get much simpler! You can find the original recipe HERE. If you have company coming who is vegetarian/vegan, this would be a great soup to have on hand and or serve. There is no dairy in the recipe, so perfect for the vegans, and if you aren't vegan, perfect for your waistline ;)

Creamy Asparagus and Cauliflower Soup

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 6 cups chicken broth
• 1 head cauliflower, broken into florets
• cayenne pepper, or to taste

• salt and ground black pepper to taste
• 2 pounds fresh asparagus, trimmed and chopped
• 2 tablespoons nasturtium petals, or more to taste
• 2 tablespoons diced asparagus tips, or more to taste

Directions

1. Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Cook and stir garlic in hot oil until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir chicken broth, cauliflower, cayenne pepper, salt, and black pepper into garlic. Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook until cauliflower is tender, about 15 minutes.
2. Stir 2 pounds asparagus into cauliflower mixture and increase heat to high. Cook until asparagus is tender but still bright green, 5 to 6 minutes.
3. Blend soup with an immersion blender until smooth; season with salt and black pepper. Ladle soup into bowls and serve.

I made 2 changes to the recipe. First, I left out the cayenne. I pureed a roasted red pepper and added hot chili oil to the puree and then topped my soup with the puree. I also used a vegetable broth rather than the chicken broth for a true vegan version. The soup is now in keeping with Christmas colors and the pepper sauce makes for a nice addition to the soup.  

There is a video that accompanies this recipe and you can find it here, http://allrecipes.com/video/4640/creamy-asparagus-and-cauliflower-soup/detail.aspx

Additions can be made to the recipe, like adding chopped onion, green onions, shallots, or leeks. The soup is quite fragrant and full bodied without the addition of the onions, but if you really like onions, add away!!

Enjoy!