Hearty Soups and Pasta Sauce from Roasted Vegetables

 

Roasting vegetables and fruits brings out the best flavors in them without requiring much seasoning because the natural flavors come out during the roasting.

 

Roasted or baked sweet potatoes are sweet and flavorful enough that they can be eaten as is. We had baked sweet potatoes growing up. There was a time that was what we had for lunch! And nobody starved or suffered from malnutrition.

 

We enjoyed those fresh garden vegetables, fruits and berries from the area. If anything arrived by truck back then, it was from a few miles out from nearby farms. I remember seeing people bartering with vegetables for meat or poultry or eggs.

 

The last trip I took along US 49 in Arkansas heading West to Brinkley, there was a little shed with fruits and vegetables for sale. Every trip I’ve taken down that highway, there was always that little shed! Oh, and we always stopped even though we were days away from home!  Most of the time, we ate the fruit we bought within a day.

 

Most cities have large farmers markets, but those aren’t the same as those individual “stands”.  Sometimes you actually knew the family or even if you didn’t, you remembered them from year to year and knew their life stories.  Although the large farmers markets have some really good food, it’s the ‘knowing the providers/growers’ that make it more interesting.

 

If you have never roasted or baked vegetables or fruits, it’s time to try it.  That roasted or baked food will make you go …. um yum good!

 

It’s about time to heat up some of the last batch of soup, just writing about it makes my mouth water!

 

From September

From August

 

September - soup with roasted vegetables

This one included roasted potatoes, carrots, winter squash, peppers, green beans and corn.  It also has ‘fresh’ carrot juice instead of tomato juice.  I do not recommend canned or non-refrigerated bottled carrot juice! Basically if it does not taste like fresh squeezed, it will not have a good effect on this soup.

The finished soup - it comes out like stew, with potatoes doing some major thickening! Delicious for sure!

soup with roasted potatoes and carrots served this one is very thick

 

Soup - roasted vegetables with black and kidney beans added

 

Pasta Sauce

Roasted Vegetables served

 

Preparing soup with a few roasted vegetables

I needed to add other ingredients here, because there was only about 2 cups of roasted vegetables left.
over-ripe tomatoes, frozen mixed vegetables, roasted carrots, roasted corn, roasted potatoes and roasted squash. Cooked sliced okra will be added last

Adding a small amount of quinoa, which will thicken the soup, prior to adding the fresh tomatoes

 

Finished it off with fresh carrot juice

Preparing the okra separate

Added the okra - would be ready to serve in about half an hour

The finished soup  -  Delicious for sure!

Leftovers

                                                                            served with cranberry flax muffin

Prepping the Vegetables

I cover the pans with foil and rub oil over to prevent sticking.  The oil is absorbed into the vegetables. Makes for an easy clean-up.  These can also be roasted in a large covered grill.

Cut the summer squash in cubes

Winter squash

Winter squash carrots and corn

peppers in slices and strips

End pieces of the peppers can be diced for salads or adding to omelets

eggplant and summer squash

Potatoes

 

Get to it!   Roast those veggies and fruits!

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© 2013 http://retiredwithnoregrets.blogspot.com/

Easy Creamy Tomato Bean Soup for a Cold Windy Minnesota Day

 An easy creamy soup that satisfies and tastes good!

Normally, I add a little ‘pepper’ in my bean soups, but decided to leave this one mild. I didn’t want to over power the other flavors.

The Pacific Foods Tomato Soup is very good, but is really high in sodium.  Bean soup sounded really good, but I just hate spending lots of time making meals.  Most of the time, I walk to the pantry, look in to see what can be used to make a quick meal.  The soup was about to go past it’s shelf date, so I decided it was time to use it.

There also was this large can of Kidney beans that I had bought for a family get-together. And I just love those canned diced tomatoes!

 Normally, I make bean soup with the beans whole, but since the tomato soup was cream, the beans needed to be creamed.

Easy Creamy Tomato Bean Soup




Ingredients

1 27-oz. can dark red kidney beans rinsed and drained well
1 14.5-oz. can diced tomatoes
1/2  4-oz. can  chopped green chilies
2 tbsp ginger (squeeze tube)
1 tbsp ginger, powdered
1 tbsp onions, dehydrated, chopped
1/4 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp cumin
1 tbsp garlic infused olive oil (or 1 clove garlic, finely diced, plus oil)
1  32-oz. box tomato soup (Pacific Foods)
optional, 1 tsp sugar

Procedures


1. Place beans and all spices into a food processor and pulse until smooth and beans do not have any skins showing.



2. Drain juice from  tomatoes into the crock pot.  Add the tomatoes and chilies to the food processor and pulse to mix.








3. Add the Food processor mix to the crock pot.  Add the tomato soup to the crock pot.  Stir to mix. Stir in the oil



4. Set the crock pot to low for about 2 hours. Stir minimally every half hour.



5. Serve hot.





Small appliances needed

• 3-5 quart crock pot
• food processor

Makes 6 to 8 servings
Nutrition (per serving  - 8): 149 calories, 2.4g total fat, <1g monounsaturated fat, <1g polyunsaturated fat, <1g saturated fat, 5mg cholesterol, 25.1g carbohydrates, 6.2g fiber, 18.9g net carbohydrates, 8.8g sugar, 1.3g starch, <1g fructose, <1g galactose, <1g glucose, <1g sucrose, 0g maltose, 568.6mg sodium, 334.3mg potassium, 7.7g protein, 100.8mg calcium, 403.4IU vitamin a, <1mg vitamin b6, 0mcg vitamin b12, 10.2mg vitamin c, <1mg vitamin e, 3.6mcg vitamin k, 1.8mg iron, <1g lysine, 0mcg lycopene, 2.1mg phytosterols, <1mcg selenium, <1mg thiamin, 1.3mg zinc.

Nutrition (per serving  - 6):  199 calories, 3.2g total fat, <1g monounsaturated fat, <1g polyunsaturated fat, 1.1g saturated fat, 6.7mg cholesterol, 33.4g carbohydrates, 8.3g fiber, 25.2g net carbohydrates, 11.7g sugar, 1.7g starch, <1g fructose, <1g galactose, <1g glucose, <1g sucrose, 0g maltose, 758.1mg sodium, 445.8mg potassium, 10.2g protein, 134.3mg calcium, 537.8IU vitamin a, <1mg vitamin b6, 0mcg vitamin b12, 13.6mg vitamin c, <1mg vitamin e, 4.8mcg vitamin k, 2.4mg iron, <1g lysine, 0mcg lycopene, 2.8mg phytosterols, <1mcg selenium, <1mg thiamin, 1.7mg zinc.

The soup is very good.  Feel free to use any other kind of beans.  Type of beans determines the amount of added seasoning. Black and red kidney beans require about the same amount of seasoning.
© 2012 retiredwithnoregrets.blogspot.com

Soup’s on! - Carrot Sweet Potato Coconut Cream Soup

My preference is gingered carrot juice over carrots.  There is something nice about getting all of the flavor at once instead of chewing all of those carrots only to not get much flavor.

A better name for this soup would be Carrot Sweet Potato Mirage Soup, because there is a subtle hint of all of the flavors.  It as a slight spicy hint of carrots, sweet potatoes and coconut. There is an even less hint of the onions. It is a simple smooth soup for those days when you haven’t eaten, not hungry but need to eat…
To savor the flavors, eat this soup slowly, sort of like a fine wine…

Carrot Sweet Potato Coconut Cream Soup - with a Hint of Spice

 

Ingredients

1 Tbsp olive oil (EVOO)

1 large sweet onion, shredded

1 16 oz bag peeled baby carrots, sliced thin or chopped

1 1/2 cups sweet potatoes, peeled, shredded

1 Tbsp ginger (squeeze tube)

1 tbsp lemon grass (squeeze tube)

1/2 tsp Cumin, Ground

1/4 tsp Red pepper flakes (not cayenne)

1/2 tsp turmeric, ground

1/4 tsp sage, ground

1/4 tsp white pepper

1 tsp Coconut Manna

1  low-sodium vegetable cube (Edward's & Sons)

1 14 ounce can  light coconut milk (Trader Joe's)

1 1/2 cups water (as needed), heat before adding to soup

Topping (optional):

4 tbsp unsweetened flaked coconut (1 tbsp each serving)

Procedure

Heat oil in large iron skillet on medium heat. Add all ingredients except Coconut Manna, water and coconut milk.  Cook on medium, stirring occasionally until carrots are tender.

The onions and carrots were cooked about 5 minutes before adding the sweet potatoes.

Scrape into a food processor bowl, add Coconut Manna and allow cooling about 5 minutes, then purée until smooth. Scrape the purée into a small slow cooker.

Of course, I grabbed the large crock pot first!

 

Whisk in coconut milk and as much water as needed to get to desired consistency. Allow to heat about 2 hours on low or high about 45 minutes

Serve hot.  Optionally drop a tablespoon of unsweetened coconut flakes over  top of bowl.

 

Servings: 4

Nutrition Facts

Nutrition (per serving): 264 calories, 13.8g total fat, 2.5g monounsaturated fat, <1g polyunsaturated fat, 8.6g saturated fat, 0mg cholesterol, 33.9g carbohydrates, 8.1g fiber, 25.8g net carbohydrates, 12.5g sugar, <1mg stigmasterol, 8.4g starch, 2g fructose, 0g galactose, 2.4g glucose, 5.1g sucrose, 0g maltose, 232.1mg sodium, 565.2mg potassium, 3.1g protein, 70.3mg calcium, 25079.2IU vitamin a, <1mg vitamin b6, 0mcg vitamin b12, 7mg vitamin c, 0IU vitamin d, <1mg vitamin e, 14.1mcg vitamin k, 1.9mg iron, <1g lysine, 0mcg lycopene, 20.8mg phytosterols, 1.6mcg selenium, <1mg thiamin, <1mg zinc, 0mg caffeine.

Notes:
One of the reasons I prefer TJ’s lite coconut milk, is the lack of lots of added ingredients.

© 2012 retiredwithnoregrets.blogspot.com

Easy Meals - Spicy Pinto Bean, Corn and Ham Soup

Crock Pots, slow cookers and even cast iron Dutch ovens work for making soups or stews.
When I was growing up, we just had a big old enameled pot that held lots of soup, beans or even ‘macaroni’.  We had macaroni noodles with tomatoes and sometimes beef stew meat.  That was one dish, I really liked then.  I will probably never make it now.  I remember when one of my sisters couldn’t say ‘macaroni’ and would call it ‘wackawoni’.


Although I try to cook for two, I always make a full crock pot of brown beans when I make them.  It is so much easier to freeze and thaw than to cook them when you want them.  When I had beans at home, most of the time they were great northern  with ’fat back’ or ‘salt pork’.  Most of the time there is no meat in my beans.  If I have pork shank or ham, I add a small amount. Only when I really am making bean  and ham soup, do I add  meat other than for seasoning.

I made this recipe by accident about two years ago.  One of my sisters came by and I looked in the fridge to figure out what to fix for lunch.  I had about a half-cup of beans  and half-cup of corn.  I put them in a small pot, dropped a small amount of ketchup and some cubed ham.  That was the quickest lunch I had made, so it became a keeper.

Normally, I add diced chili peppers, but this time decided to use salsa which is milder.

Spicy Pinto Bean, Corn and Ham Soup


Ingredients

3 cups pinto beans, cooked, seasoned, including any juice
2 cups ham, cooked, cubed
1 12-oz bag  frozen corn
1 15-oz can  diced tomatoes
1/2 cup medium heat red salsa
1 tsp ginger, ground
1 tsp fresh ginger, finely ground (used Gourmet fresh ginger in a tube)
1/2 cup water (if beans have no juice)

Procedure

Place beans in a large crock pot.

Add ham, juice from tomatoes.

Puree the tomatoes in a food processor until chopped. Add tomatoes to crockpot.

Microwave corn according to package and add to crockpot.

Add salsa to crockpot.

Stir to mix. Set crock pot to low.

Allow to cook 2 hours, occasionally stirring..

Serve hot

with a corn muffin



Servings: 6
Yield: makes 6 to 8 servings
Nutrition Facts
Nutrition (per serving): 267 calories, 3.6g total fat, 1.4g monounsaturated fat, <1g polyunsaturated fat, 1g saturated fat, 25.7mg cholesterol, 39.3g carbohydrates, 10.9g fiber, 28.4g net carbohydrates, 5.9g sugar, 13g starch, <1g fructose, <1g galactose, <1g glucose, 1.5g sucrose, <1g maltose, 1077.7mg sodium, 644.9mg potassium, 21.7g protein, 47mg calcium, 201.1IU vitamin a, <1mg vitamin b6, <1mcg vitamin b12, 9.6mg vitamin c, 0IU vitamin d, 1mg vitamin e, 3.2mcg vitamin k, 3.1mg iron, 1.6g lysine, 17.7mcg selenium, <1mg thiamin, 2.3mg zinc, 0mg caffeine.

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Pinto Beans

Retirement - Dust Bunnies and Cooking

One of the things about being retired is that while you are spending more time at home, you notice dust bunnies and cobwebs sooner.

Today I decided to give the kitchen appliances a thorough cleaning. I walked into the kitchen just at the right moment when the sun was shining across the stove top. I could see what appeared to be streaked grease on the display. So, I got out the degreaser spray cleaner and attempted to remove the film. It did not work at all, just seemed to smear more.

I went looking for one of those ‘green’ cleaners, thinking maybe it would work; no deal! I tried dawn liquid, which removed some of the haze. Next I added some vinegar to the water with the dawn liquid. Finally, it was clear.

What I discovered was that what appeared to be glass was just some type of clear acrylic.
The degreaser spray cleaner had always worked on mirrors and window panes, so was surprised that it wasn’t working on the stove display. The piece of clear film that is usually on a display was removed long ago.

Once I cleaned the sides, door and top of the stove and microwave, I went for the dishwasher and refrigerator/freezer. I was on a roll, cleaning until I remembered that I had not eaten breakfast.

After finishing a quick breakfast, I headed for the pantry. If you are like most of us who go shopping without a shopping list, there are things in the pantry that you will never use. Now, it was time to go thru the pantry to bag up a few items. I spied a couple cans of clam, so out they came. Then I thought, hmmm, maybe I should make clam chowder instead of putting them in the donate bag…

Well, it’s been a while since I have made clam chowder, so I decided to Google for a recipe. I looked at a few that were really loaded with fat, so I changed the search to “lite clam chowder”. There were a couple of hits, but weren’t quite what I wanted. So I decided to just pull out all of the ingredients that I remember putting in clam chowder when I made it last.

I try to keep Yukon Gold potatoes on hand, because I eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner!

Now it was over to the freezer, because I never use a full stalk of celery or whole onion. Frozen comes in handy when you need some for a dish.

As I was looking for recipes, decided to check out the activity on Facebook. And there before my eyes, was the announcement that today: February 25 is National Clam Chowder Day!

Well at least, I was planning on making clam chowder before knowing about the designated day.

Clam chowder is a dish that is often seasoned to one’s taste. My version is always New England clam chowder, just do not like the ‘red’ variety. :-)
This is how I made it…………. It has a little less fat than most clam chowders

New England clam chowder
5 cups Gold Yukon potatoes, cubed
1/2 cup chopped or thinly sliced celery
1 cup onion, chopped
1 tbsp McCormick’s Savory All-purpose salt-free seasoning
1 tbsp dried parsley
1 tbsp Litehouse Freeze-Dried Salad Herb Blend
1/4 tsp dried thyme
2 tbsp corn starch
2 cups skim milk
1/2 cup half and half
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp sea salt (optional)
2 6.5-ounce cans chopped clams
2 tbsp hot sauce
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
Additional freshly ground pepper / sea salt to taste

• Heat a large Dutch oven with the olive oil. Add potatoes, celery, onion and seasonings. Sauté about 5 minutes until the celery and potatoes turn slightly translucent.

• Add enough water to cover (about 1 1/2 cups). Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to a simmer and cook until tender (15 – 20 minutes).

• Combine cornstarch with 1/4 cup milk and whisk to mix. Combine with the remainder of the milk and half and half. Pour this mixture into the Dutch oven, stirring until soup is thickened (about 5 minutes). Add the hot sauce. Cover saucepan and simmer on low heat for 15 minutes.

•  Stir in Parmesan  and clames after the soup has finished cooking. Continue cooking at a simmer another 5 minutes. Continue to stir while cooking

Now test for seasoning

Servings: 8

Nutrition Facts
Nutrition (per serving): 209 calories, 4.6g total fat, 1.3g monounsaturated fat, <1g polyunsaturated fat, 2.9g saturated fat, 23.6mg cholesterol, 441.4mg sodium, 871.5mg potassium, 31.4g carbohydrates, 2.2g fiber, 29.2g net carbohydrates, 0g starch, 4.1g sugar, 9.7g protein, <1mg iron.

Tips
Bottled clam sauce can also be substituted for some of the milk

I used my cast iron Dutch oven, now it's time to clean it. Wash, dry and heat to remove all moisture!

Well, tomorrow, I will have to continue cleaning……….. Next up; the kitchen cabinets and floor will get the Murphy Oil treatment.