GIVEAWAY and Split pea soup

Giveaway Closed.  Thanks for entering!


   My mother has made this soup since I was a little girl and I have always LOVED it.  I know I was a strange kid.  It is still one of my favorites and fortunately my husband likes it too.  I think there are two kids of people: those who like split pea soup and those who don't... or they think they don't.   If you have never had it or only had it from a can you are missing out.  You have got to try this.  This is a very basic recipe.  Many people add potatoes too, but I usually opt not to. I am not really a potato girl... I know I know and I live in Idaho....

  I love the lemon juice it really brightens it up and lighten the flavor.  This is a must on a cold day. It is so healthy and just pennies to make.... It would be great in a bread bowl too or top with croutons....mmmm

Ingredients
1 pound split green peas, picked over and rinsed
3 medium smoked ham hocks or ham shanks (what ever look like they have more meat on them)
1 Tablespoon minced fresh thyme or 1t dried
salt
2 quarts water
2 large carrots, peeled and chopped medium
2 onions, minced
2 ribs celery, chopped medium
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
pepper

Directions
1. Bring peas, ham hocks, thyme, 1 teaspoon salt and water to a simmer for an hour in a large dutch oven or heavy pot.  Cook for one hour.
2. Stir in carrots, onions and celery.  Continue to simmer until peas have soften and are broken down. 25-35 minutes.
3. Remove hocks.  When they are cool enough to handle remove any fat skin and bones and separate meat I shred mine and add to soup.  (if your hocks or shanks do not have much meat on them add deli ham.  You can buy it sliced 1/2 inch thick  about 6 ounces then chop up into small chunks.
OR  you can put all ingredients at the same time into the crock pot and leave it for 4 hours on High or 6-8 hours on low!!  How simple is that!

Note:  if you read the label on split peas it always reads sort and wash peas.  I would rinse mine, but never would I sort them..  what did they want me to sort.  It seemed pointless and and extra step I didn't want to take the time.   While I was researching my recipe before I made this soup, I was reading in my  America's Test Kitchen Cookbook that often there are small rocks or pebbles in the peas.... yikes....so I sorted,  who wants to bite into a pebble?... not me... I have expensive teeth.   So guess what I found.... TWO ROCKS!!  well pebbles.  They were easily recognizable as a rock while sorting through.... Moral of the story  if it says sort they is a reason you should sort.  Hopefully you will not find anything, but on times you do you will be glad you sorted.

I got this recipe from America's Test Kitchen Cookbook.  It happens to be exactly my moms recipe as well that she has been cooking for 30 years.   But a side note I LOVE this cookbook,  it has so many helpful hints and tells you why you should do something what the technique is behind it.  You learn so much while reading it.   I often find myself curled up on the couch reading this book.  They also have gadget reviews and recommendations.  I think this is a must have cookbook.  I think you all should have one too!!!  One lucky reader will receive one courtesy of me. I am new to this food blog and I have received so much love and support and I would like to thank you all!!

     This is my first giveaway here on The Very Hungry Caterpillar so please help to make it successful so we can do more.

• All you have to do is leave me comment and tell me what your favorite soup is.
• You can leave additional comments for extra chances to win:
• if you are a follower, 
• Like me on facebook 
• post about my giveaway on your blog or facebook page

  Good luck!! 
  All entries must be submitted by Thursday January 13th.   Please leave your email if your profile doesn't have a way to contact you when you win.

cream of potato and broccoli soup

 This is one of my favorite comfort foods, especially when it is FREEZING outside like it is here, like a high of 8 degrees YIKES!  This soup will warm you up and it is a little healthier and lighter version of this classic for this new year. This creamy, low-fat soup is a delicious way to serve broccoli, a nutritional powerhouse, and the addition of beans makes it a one-dish meal.
 This is a cream soup with no cream, cheese or butter.... unbelievable!   It tastes great too! 

this makes a ton, feel free to half it.  I love to make extras and freeze it for later.  cook once eat twice....
 Ingredients
8 cups of water or broth
2 large potatoes, scrubbed, skin ON and cubed
2 large carrots chopped
2 stalks of celery and leaves chopped
1 large or 2 small onions chopped
 6 cloves of garlic whole and peeled

1 1/2 tsp whole celery seeds

 2 tsp dried thyme

 1 tsp dried marjoram

 1/2 tsp ground black pepper

3 cups (2 cans) cooked chickpeas, rinsed and drained, or any other white bean

 8 cups broccoli florets

 1 1/2 tsp salt, as needed
Directions

bring liquid and veggies and seasoning to boil and let simmer for 20 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Add beans.

 Laddle into blender and puree until smooth.  Return to pot .

Add broccoli into soup simmer for 5 minutes until tender.  I like my soup smoother so then I pull out florets and pulse in blender to chop up a bit, but I could have chopped more before I cooked them, but I am lazy.

 stir together and serve. With how light this is you can even afford to top with cheese.

good luck soup

    Every year since I can remember on new years day my family and I would go to my grandma Adele's house on New years day for "Good Luck Soup" ( folklore has it that eating black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day brings good luck and money)  so that is what we always had for dinner of course we would also have a roast, pasta, salad, veggies, bread and dessert... who just east soup for dinner at her house???  I have always loved it. Last year while I was away from my family on new years I thought I would get the recipe from my grandma and try it myself.  So many memories flooded in with my first spoonful.  I love the soup, I love the tradition and I am not above just having a nice big bowl or two of soup for dinner!  Enjoy and HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!!


INGREDIENTS

2 cans black-eyed peas rinsed

2 to 3 pounds of ham hocks, cut in 2-inch pieces (I like to use ham shanks they have more meat on them)

Chicken stock, as needed

3 celery stalks, chopped

3 carrots, chopped

1 large onion, chopped

2 to 3 garlic cloves, minced

1 bunch of kale

1/2 teaspoon each of oregano, thyme and basil

2 bay leaves

Cayenne pepper, to taste

Salt and pepper, to taste



INSTRUCTIONS



Place ham hocks in a large pot. Add enough water to cover. Simmer for 2 hours or until tender. Remove meat from bones. Reserve meat, discard bones. Pour liquid (ham stock) from the pot into a large measuring container. Add enough chicken stock to make at least 6 to 8 cups of liquid. Return liquid to pot and add peas.

Add vegetables and spices to pot  and bring to a boil. Remove center stems from kale and chop coarsely. Add kale and ham to pot, cover and continue cooking until kale is tender. Season with salt and Tabasco to taste and serve with Simmer for about an hour.  Peas should be tender but not mushy.  Remove bay leaves and serve.

This dish can be reheated for later serving, but don't cook too long, or the peas will break up.

Japanese style curry

  I have been a baking maniac the last few days for great cookie recipes for you, but today I thought I would try something a  little different.  After Thanksgiving I love to serve lots of non traditional food to mix up the flavors.
   I am not sure if I have mentioned it before or not on this blog, but we have a Japanese exchange student with us for the year.  Her name is Rina she is 17 and we absolutely adore her.
   We mainly eat as we normally would but I can tell she really misses rice.  I tell her all the time you can make as much rice as you want whenever you want to,  but she never does.
  I try and have some dish at least once a week with rice.  She was telling me about a curry that her family eats very often.  So we gave it a try.  Japanese curry is very popular there.  It is one of their comfort foods like mac and cheese is for us.  The Japanese style is much milder and sweeter than Indian curry.  So if you are afraid to try curry, try it like this and you can ease your way into it.  The sauce is not very strong or over powering.  My kids loved it.
  Most of us do not have all the Indian spices in our cupboards,  So I opted to buy the curry roux. They sell it in my grocery store along with all the other Asian food. I believe the brand is Golden curry.  Rina says this is what they use at home too.  So you can still feel authentic.
  You cook it just like you would a stew, an easy weeknight dinner.

sorry for the non natural light.  we eat at 5:30 and it is so dark here.

Printer friendly recipe

Japanese style curry

• 2 Large chicken breasts
• 2 yellow onion sliced thin
• 3 carrots, chopped
• 2 stalks celery
• 1 bell pepper
• 2 large potatoes
• 6 cups water
• 1 tbsp.  veg oil
• 2 whole bay leaves
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 tsp. ginger
• 1/2 tbsp. sugar 
• golden curry mix 1 large box.  choose heat. I did medium.
• steamed rice

  Start by sauteing onions, bell pepper, carrots, celery, garlic in oil.  Cook until caramelized.   Add water seasonings, chicken and potatoes.
Bring to a simmer until chicken and potatoes are done.
Chop golden curry mix.  It comes in a brick like chocolate.  add to pot.  stir for 5 minutes until dissolved.  bring to simmer, it will thicken.  Shred the chicken, serve over rice.  I did brown rice.

turkey chili

    It is officially fall around here beautiful changing leaves, crisp mornings and chili season!!   I love soups and chili's I love when I can get away with cooking them a few times a week for dinner.
     This weekend we had a fall social with the adults of our church and we all brought chili.  There are so many different variations of chili, to very meaty, no bean, vegetarian, no tomatoes white, chicken.....
   When I make things like this  and soups I clean out my fridge and throw lots of stuff I think would work well together.   It might seem like a lot of ingredients but customize it to fit you and what you like. Today I will show you one that is our staple chili.  It is not the most ordinary, but neither and I.  Mine is secretly full of veggies, that taste great give good texture and of course nutrition.
   I opted for ground turkey because it is lighter than beef and I only did one pound with lots of beans (so good for you) and a few veggies. ( most people may not do mushrooms in their chili, that is how we made it growing up, I like them, I do less meat so this gives it more of a meaty feeling and great flavor, and my kids love them, even fight over them) Even picky eaters with not find them in all the goodness.  Especially if they get to eat it with chips.  In my house chips with big scoops on top are like the magic utensil for eating things  they would not normally want to.

Printer friendly recipe
 Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 2 bell peppers, diced ( I used red but you can use whatever color you have on hand)
• 1 pound mushrooms ( I used baby bellas) chopped
•  2 stalks celery finely diced
• 1 pound ground turkey (trying to keep it healthier)
• 1Tb mexican reasoning
• 1T chili powder
• 1T ground cumin
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• salt and pepper to taste.
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can beef broth or water
• 1/2 cup favorite salsa
• 2 (14.5 ounce) can crushed tomatoes, or coarsely chopped tomatoes packed in puree
• Juice of one lime
• 2 T brown sugar. 
•  1 can kidney beans, rinsed
•  1 can pinto, rinsed
• 1 can northern beans, rinsed (use any variety of beans you like)  Tip: check consistency and add water if needed and put on lid   or if too  liquidy keep your lid off and the chili will cook down.
  
  
  Directions:  Saute onion, bell peppers, celery, mushrooms in oil, until tender then move to side brown turkey, add seasonings, tomatoes and beans etc...  simmer on low for 30 minutes to an hour or put in the crock pot and let it go all day.
  
  
  Then for the fun part, garnishes   we love cut up avocados. sour cream, cilantro, green onions, and chips and of course cheese.  Go ahead be as naughty or as nice as you like and of course enjoy!!!

Happy fall everyone.  Do you have a perfect chili?  what are your secret ingredients.   Next time I am trying cocoa powder in mine.   sounds fun huh.

chicken tortilla soup.

this was a good, easy and fast dinner. it rained here today and I thought maybe I could squeeze one last soup in before it gets too hot.
i did not follow a recipe i just kind of threw it together, but here is the main idea.
2 large chicken breasts.
4 cups chicken broth
1 can or corn (or frozen 1.5 cups)
1 can black beans (drained)
1 can refried beans
1 can Mexican tomatoes
1.5 cups your favorite salsa
6-8 corn tortillas
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 yellow onion, chopped
juice of one lime
3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
1T cumin
1T chili powder

Garnishes:
tortilla chips
avocados
green onions
cheese
sour cream

first for the chicken I just had some frozen breasts so I put them in the chicken broth and brought it to a boil and then simmered it until done then removed and shredded it. mean while saute onions and garlic then add in broth, tomatoes, corn, beans, and salsa, seasonings.
in a blender or food processor take corn tortillas ripped into pieces and put in 1/2 cup chicken broth and blend until creamy. add the mush to the soup keep it on low at this point it will thicken fast. taste add salt/ pepper...or whatever else as needed.
once everything is combined sprinkle in cilantro. serve and top with lots of yummy stuff.
I know the tortillas sound weird but it makes the best consistency and gives it an authentic taste!
enjoy

Lasagna soup

I got this from a friends blog and it is so yummy and quick and tastes a ton like lasagna with no effort.

Lasagna Soup

1 lb ground chuck

1 onion, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 (32-ounce) box chicken broth

2 (14.5 ounce) cans petite diced tomatoes

1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce

1 tablespoon firmly packed brown sugar

2 teaspoons Italian seasoning

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups broken lasagna noodles

1 (5-ounce) package grated Parmesan Cheese

1 (5.5-ounce) box Italian seasoned croutons

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1-In a large pot, combine ground chuck, onion, bell pepper, and garlic; cook over medium-high heat, 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally until beef is browned and crumbles. Drain well.

2-Stir in both, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, broth, brown sugar, Italian seasoning, and salt. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes. Add noodles, and simmer until noodles are tender. Stir in Parmesan cheese.

3-Preheat broiler. Ladle soup into 10 ovenproof bowls. Top with croutons; sprinkle evenly with mozzarella cheese. Broil soups, 6 inches from heat, 3 to 4 minutes, or until cheese is browned and bubbly. Serve immediately.