Fun With an Immersion Blender

So as I’ve mentioned, I’ve been relying on soups to get me through busy season without consuming a gazillion calories worth of cheese and oil.  On top of this desire to stay healthy, I also got a fun toy for Christmas that I’ve been LOVING – my Cuisinart Immersion Blender.  A pre-requisite for my soups has been a “puree” step

My favorite soup so far has been my Butternut Squash and Carrot Soup.  I adapted the recipe from this one I saw on RhodeyGirl Tests.

Ingredients:
2 packages frozen butternut squash
kosher salt & black pepper
3 tbs olive oil
3 dried bay leaves
lots of garlic  (i used the minced kind from a jar)
2 large yellow onions, diced
4 cups chicken stock
1/4 teaspoon each: cinnamon, thyme, and paprika

Instructions:

1) Add the olive oil to a soup pan over medium low heat.  Add the onions and garlic, and cook until transluscent.

2)  Add the bay leaves, chicken stock, carrots, and frozen squash to the pot, and bring the soup to a boil.  Once at a boil, reduce heat and let simmer for 15 minutes.

3)  Once the squash is defrosted and distributed around the broth, and the carrots are tender, take the pot off the heat and blend the soup with an immersion blender.  (My favorite part!)  Add the herbs, and serve!  (Or separate into tupperware containers and bring to work!)

This soup was delicious.  I served some to my friend at work, and told her to be a harsh critic – but she loved it!  I can’t get enough of it either.  Good thing there’s still some in the freezer for next week

This week I’m bringing a soup I saw on Healthy Eats… Potato and Kale Soup.

I followed the recipe virtually to the T, but Trader Joe’s didn’t have any kale.  I walked across the street to my local farmers market – but don’t you know that it closed at 4, and I walked up at 4:08!  I made do with a blend of Collard Greens, Turnip Greens, and Mustard Greens from Trader Joes.  I hope this soup is as good as it looks – I have 6 servings to eat!

What is your favorite pureed soup to make?

Weekly Soup: FAIL

Happy MLK Day lovies!

In this episode of BYOD, you will see how things might not always go as planned.  Last night I planned on making a  HUGE pot of broccoli and cheese soup from this recipe in Cooking Light.  I shopped for all the ingredients, and got going with the soup.  As the soup was cooking, I was getting so excited.  My mom used to make pasta and broccoli soup when I lived at home, and the smell of the broccoli simmering in the chicken broth brought back so many memories.  It really is true – the sense of smell is the most directly tied to memory!  I kept eating all the broccoli out of the pot, and looking back, I really wished I had just added a box of pasta to the soup and called it a day.  But NOOOOO… why would I follow my instincts?!  I just really had my heart set on cheesy soup. 

The soup looked amazing.  It turned out perfectly creamy and beautiful.  But there was one thing that just wasn’t right: VELVEETA. 

Guys, I knew this was a bad idea.  When the recipe said use Velveeta, I hesitated.  But I thought “cass, what do you know?  the recipe says it will melt better.  just suck it up and use it.”  And then I almost bailed.  I couldn’t find it in the dairy section.  The staff told me to look in the packaged food section, and all I found were boxes of mac and cheese.  I should have just walked out then.  But I’m stubborn, yo.  I went back to the refrig section… and I found it alright, but it wasn’t in the refrigerator.  I was so skeeved out.  I should have walked out again just then.  But the recipe had four stars!  And it is my favorite!  And it was the “light” version!

FAIL.

My food loving fiance took a bite and said “well, this isn’t the best thing I ever had.”  He ate approximately 4 spoonfuls before he felt sick.  And you know what guys - his nose swelled up!  The velveeta is so nasty it caused an allergic reaction.  I tried to perservere.  I ate 2/3 of my bowl and said I was full.  But I wasn’t full… I had a pit in my stomach of rubbery cheese.  I couldn’t bring myself to eat this again for 3 days this week!  I had to get it out of my kitchen.  The final kicker?!  The damn soup started to clog up my sink.  It got flushed, which is probably where it belonged anyway.

Lesson learned:  follow your instinct, and don’t compromise a diet you base around whole foods just because a recipe has four stars.  And when your recipe doesn’t work out so well, take a deep breath (or as much as you can get when you have a rubber cheese ball impeding your lung capacity   )  and find something else to take for dinner that day.

Surviving Busy Season: Bring Your Own Dinner

Good morning friends!

Today I wanted to kick off a series of posts that I’ve been kicking around in my head for a while now.  I could say they were even the reason I wanted to start a blog!  But first some background:  I am an auditor.  I work in Big 4 accounting, which gets a little intense.  As an auditor, we move from client to client scrutinizing their annual reporting and accounting practices to ensure that the company is not misleading their investors (or any stakeholders for that matter!)  Although companies are allowed to choose the date they use as their fiscal year-end, most companies end up choosing a December 31 year-end.  This means that although annual reports are only required to be issued once a year, most companies are issuing them at the same time every year.   This is what we refer to as busy season – when our firm decrees mandatory 55+ hour work weeks (including saturdays!  ugh!) because we need to attend to as many clients as we can fit into our schedules.

Busy season tends to get the best of a lot of people.  Many of my managers tell stories of how they used to be 20 pounds lighter, happier, and have a more organized life.  I am determined not to get to that point.  Although we are eating all of our meals at work, there is no reason that these meals need to be cheesy pizza or greasy chinese food. 

So far we are 3 full days into busy season, and I have a feeling it’s going to be a tough one.  But having survived two busy seasons already (intern and staff I year), I knew what to expect.  I could already feel that bloated feeling I had after too many slices of pizza.  And that sense of dread, knowing that my day wasn’t over at 830pm – that I still had to get a workout over with.  This year is going to be different.

My first tip for a healthier busy season is to bring your own dinner (BYOD!)  On Sunday before the madness started, I made soup.  An easy one – but it was something I knew would taste good and still be good for me too.  The recipe is below – I hope you enjoy it.  It is easy to transport, and is certainly more appetizing and healthier than the general tso’s chicken my co-worker got last night! 

Black Bean Soup

-modified from this recipe at Real Simple

Ingredients

• 1 can Rotel diced tomatoes and green chiles 
• 1 small yellow onion, diced
• 2 15-ounce cans black beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 cups chicken broth
• greek yogurt (1 dollop per serving)
• shredded cheddar cheese (a few pinches per serving)

Directions

1. Dice the onion into bite size pieces
2. Heat the can of Rotel (including all the juices!) and the raw onion in a large saucepan over medium heat, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes. Stir in the beans and broth, then heat to boiling. Reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer 15 minutes. 
3. Cool slightly, then use immersion blender to slightly puree the soup.  Be sure to leave some beans in tact! If you are serving immediately, be sure to heat the soup to your desired temperature.  If you are bringing some to work – be sure to let it cool completely before you store it in the fridge! 
4. Serve with sour cream, and a little bit of cheese. 

Serves 4 for an appetizer, or 2 for a complete dinner.

[source]