Soup Day.......

We woke up on Saturday to a very over cast day, with a forecast of rain on and off all weekend.  So to my mind it was a soup day!  The one thing I enjoy about making soup is that it's a great way of using stuff up in your fridge and pantry.

So the first thing I did was gather and chop everything up.  As you can see it's a mix of fresh, canned and packaged items.

I found this package of 5 grain mix, so figured that would add fibre to the soup.

More importantly all the grains were pre cooked, so one step less for me.

Then my mother brought over this box of 4 cup of soup's from the UK this summer.

Cup of Soup is a favourite amongst the British and my mother usually has a cup with a sandwich at lunch time.  My brother swears this is as good as the canned version.  We tried it but found it way too sweet for us.

So my stock for this soup was the package of onion soup mix, and the cup of soup mixed in with boiling water.  Due to the salt content in the soup mixes and the canned tomatoes, I did not have to add more salt.  I also added a no salt spice mix and some some minced garlic to the ingredients.

I softened the fresh veggies in a little olive oil and butter, then added everything else and cooked until it was ready.  I let it simmer for an hour or so and this is what it looked like:

It was good, but was missing something.  I had some at lunch time.  Then at supper time, I decided to add a can of coconut milk, and it was SO GOOD.  That was the missing something.  It reminded me of a beef barley soup without the beef!

Do you like soup?  I like a thicker, creamier soup.  

Soup's On!

Thursday was a cold snowy day, with bands of snow coming in from the lake all day.  Now granted it wasn't like the foot of snow we received a week ago, but it was a few inches.

We were due to go west of Toronto to watch eldest grand daughter in a gymnastics competition, but decided with the weather the way it was we would stay at home.

On the weekend dd brought up a veggie tray with a dip and left it with us.  There were carrots, celery, cauliflower and broccoli.  I chopped up the celery, carrots, along with an onion using my new chopper; which by the way works great, and stuck them in a bag in the freezer for later use.

Thursday was a soup kind of day and decided to make a curried veggie and lentil soup.  One veggie I hate with a passion is celery.  So I knew I had to make sure to disguise the taste of the celery.

Dd also left a package of this Boursin cheese.

So I put that in the pot to melt with various seasonings and cooked everything through.

Pureed it all with my stick blender and I have to say it was pretty good, and no taste of celery!!!

Is there a veggie you hate?

A no recipe, recipe

I make this soup on a regular basis, but there is no actual recipe/amounts.  You use what you have!!  During winter I love a hearty soup on a cold day.

Curried Butternut Squash and Carrot Soup

Ingredients:

1 small butternut squash, diced

some carrots, diced I use around a pound or so

1 onion, diced

Garlic to taste

Chicken or veggie stock, especially if you want it to be vegetarian

Tablespoon of marg/butter/oil

Curry Paste/powder or spices

Salt & pepper

Milk/Cream/Coconut Milk/Milk alternative 

When you read through what I did you'll get a better idea of how much I used of everything.

Prep the butternut squash, carrots, and onion.  Smaller you dice them the faster they cook.

Melt marg and saute the diced veggies and garlic on medium hear for around five minutes

Add the curry paste/powder/spices along with salt and pepper and saute for another minute.  I use the curry paste and used a heaped teaspoon as I like things to be mild.

Cover the veggies with your stock.  I used around 3/4 of a litre.  Bring to a boil, turn down the heat to a simmer and then cook for 20 to 25 minutes until veggies cooked through.

Blend the soup until it is nice and smooth.  Now "thin" the soup with milk, or milk substitute until you are happy with the consistency.  Some people like it thicker, some people like it thinner.  I personally like a thick soup.

This will feed four.

Lesson Learned

I decided to make some bean and vegetable soup on the weekend.  I forgot to get my soup beans out the night before and soak them.  So I put them in a pan covered with water; brought it too a boil and then took it off the heat and let them soak for an hour.

I drained and rinsed them and went on to make my soup.  I simmered on a low heat for the rest of the day.  I had a dish for supper on Saturday and it was so good.

A couple of hours later, my stomach began to cramp up and the flatulence began😮  I went to bed with a horrible cramping stomach, believing that I would be fine on Sunday.  Nope, just the same.  Went on two walks on Sunday thinking, things would "move."  Nope, woke up on Monday still had a cramping stomach.  Went on a walk and this time things "moved," when I got back home.  As I am writing this on Monday evening, my stomach is still not right.

So raw beans contain compounds known as lectins. These are glycoproteins found in all kinds of plant foods. Although some glycoproteins are not harmful, others can be toxic, including the ones found in raw beans.  Now my beans weren't raw, but I have a feeling that the larger ones may not have been fully cooked, though everything tasted fine too me.

Now my stomach has become more and more sensitive the older I get.  So in future I will soak my beans!!

(image credit)

P dot S: I so hope by the time you read this everything is back to normal!!

Perfect day for soup.

I made a batch of carrot soup on Thursday as I knew I had to leave a simple meal for dh, as I was at the craft show.  I first posted this recipe back in 2008.  I have been using this recipe for years, you can check it out here.  I love that it's all done in the microwave oven.  I sprinkled a little goat cheese on top of it for extra flavour, as I rarely eat bread nowadays.

I was eating this while watched football on tv with hubby, so used my trusty soup bowl cozie.

While I was looking up the post for the recipe, I stumbled across this post, which features, carrot, potato and turnip (rutabaga) soup, which I think I may make this week, as I have all the ingredients in the house.  That post also included one of Mrs. Brown's video's!!

This week at Wal-Mart they had obviously over ordered on the broccoli and were selling it off at 27 cents a bunch.  So I will make a batch of broccoli soup and a broccoli quiche with the two bunches I bought.

What is your favourite soup, and do you make your own?

Have a question for you.......

I made a couple more Soup Bowl pad's for ourselves yesterday.  My question for you is do you think they are a useful item and how much would you pay for one or two?  They are made with high quality cotton and are washable as well as reversible.  Thanks in advance for your thoughts...........

I also decided to finally make a batch of Curried Butternut Squash Soup that I posted about here.

That recipe is a keeper.  I changed it slightly as I didn't have enough butternut squash, so I added some carrots to it as well.  Well worth making and super easy to make.

Where did July go too, plus kitchen photos.

I know I am not the only one asking that.  One minute it was the beginning of July, next minute it's August.  This month is an exciting month in that we will be finished our mortgage by the end of the month.  Actually we only have four Friday's to pay, so in theory should be all done on August 23rd.  However there are discharge fees etc in the amount of $325 to be paid, no idea when that is due, but by the end of the month we will be done.  Bought our first house back in 1982, so have been stuck with a mortgage since then.  Six and a bit years in Britain and twenty four and a bit years in Canada.  

We have had some nice cool weather these past few days which has meant no a/c on.  Just paid June 14th to July 16th hydro/electricity bill and that was $174.72.  This next month's bill will be similar no doubt and totally expected for this time of the year.  However if this cooler weather continues we may get a cheaper bill.

In the middle of winter I always get a craving for salad.  So of course I have been craving soup this week.  Had a ham bone in the freezer, so made ham, bean and veggie soup the other day.  It's so good.

The centre island came back from the shop and it's all lovely and painted now.  What a huge difference. 

They even changed up the castors for me and they are safer and a lot nicer. The island has also been lowered and is now a similar height to the rest of the cabinets.

If you click on this link you will see a before photo of the island.

Our little Princess and other things...........

Went down to see Our little Princess and the family on Tuesday.  She is growing so much and she is getting so much strength in here neck, so her head is not as wobbly.

She sleeps through the night and averages around 14 hours of sleep in twenty four hours.  She will be three months old on Friday.  Time is certainly flying by.  She does not like being on her tummy and as she has a little reflux prefers to be sitting upright.  She is also a little talker and here she is talking to her dolly.

The reason I went down to Brampton, is that I was meeting dh in Mississauga to see about ordering the counter tops for the kitchen.  This is what we bought:

We should have them in a couple of weeks.  I love granite but can't afford the prices, so laminate is an affordable option.  Regardless removing the tiles worktop is a good thing, as it is so unhygienic , with all those grout lines.

I pulled out the turkey carcass from Easter and boiled it up for the broth and I got all this meat from it:

Made a turkey, rice and corn chowder with it.  It's amazing how much more meat you can pick off the bones when you boil it up.

I have just posted another book review here  It's a Harlequin book and it was very, very good!

Book Review and Campbells Soup....

"Out of Control," by Mary Connealy

Rafe Kincaid controls everything in his life... until he meets Julia.


Julia Gilliland has always been interested in the natural world around her. She particularly enjoys studying the fossils and formations in the magnificent cave near her father's house. The cave seems plenty safe--until the day a mysterious intruder steals the rope she uses to climb out.


Rafe Kincaid is a man used to being in control--of himself, his brothers, and his family's ranch. The last thing he expects is to find a woman trapped in the cavern on his land--or to be forced to kiss her!


Rafe is more intrigued by Julia than any woman he's ever known. But when their developing relationship threatens a reconciliation with his brothers, will Rafe have to choose between his family and this new love that could heal his troubled heart and secure his happiness?


Have to say I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  The author brought Julia's spunk and personality to life so well.  Rafe is the perfect "hero," despite having an unusual name and the way the story unfolded it kept you on your toes the whole time.  I am guessing there will be three books in this series as there are three brothers, and I looked up the author and the next in the series is coming out in February of 2012.

Stars out of 5: 5 great book well worth the read and can't wait until the next in the series is published.


"Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.
Available at your favourite bookseller from Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group".

Now as it is boiling hot here, I of course fancy eating soup, just like in the middle of winter I crave salad.  I bought a couple of cans of Campbells condensed soup as it was on sale this week at Zehrs for $1.79 a can. Dh's favourite is Bean with Bacon, and mine is Scotch Broth.

One thing I love about the Campbells site is they have lots of good easy recipes to try.
If you buy canned soup what is your favourite flavour and brand?