Borscht

This is my Grandmother's recipe. She didn't give it to me because she doesn't have it written down. Last time I visited her I had to watch her make it and try to take notes (so that's why it's a little strangely worded). I've tried making it myself but it didn't taste quite as good as when Grandma makes it (isn't that how it always goes). This is one of my favorite dishes. I distinctly remember asking my mom to make me this for my birthday one year (I think that's like the third time I've said that about a dish).

Grandma B’s Ukrainian Borscht
½ onion
1.25 lb beef (chuck stake) w/ bone in - cut off fat before cooking
salt

1 beet (for color)
2 potatoes
1 carrot
1 lb cabbage - cut into 4 wedges then slice
32 oz tomato juice
1 T Parsley
1 small onion
1 clove garlic
paprika

veg. oil

Boil meet with the 1/2 onion in salted water (6-8c) until cooked and tender.
While meat is cooking peel and chop veggies.
Remove beef from pot- discard onion. Pour beef stock in another pot and add veggies. Cook until tender/soft. While cooking, clean (from bone) and cut up meat, then add to pot.
Add cabbage and cook for 5 min. then add tomato juice.

Fry a small onion and garlic in veg. oil with paprika, then add it as well.
Boil a couple more minutes. Garnish with sour cream and pressed garlic if you like.

Tastes even better the next day.

Roasted Winter Vegetables/Soup

The cool weather has made me feel like making soup. This one is made from the leftovers of the Barefoot Contessa's Roasted Winter Vegetables. Delicious! And so easy:

1 lb carrots, 1 lb parsnips, 1 large sweet potato, 1 small butternut squash

Peel, cut, toss with olive oil, salt and pepper and bake at 425 for 25-35 min. (Sprinkle w/ fresh parsley if you like.)

The Roasted Vegetable Soup is simple. Coarsely puree the roasted veggies in a blender/food processor, add chicken broth (or vegetable broth if you want to make it vegetarian) and heat it up! If you have an awesome blender like a VitaMix this would take minutes!

My husband really liked the soup but I think I like the veggies better.

Chicken Tortilla Lime Soup

This is one of my favorite soups. I think the cilantro and fresh lime juice make it taste just like some I had in Mexico. Mmm The recipe has you make your tortilla strips, but I usually just use tortilla chips.

Chicken Tortilla Lime Soup (Raylene Hadley)
1-2 lbs chicken breasts or tenders seasoned with garlic powder, salt, pepper and 1/4 tsp cumin

(I usually just use 2 breasts)
olive oil cooking spray (I just use olive oil)
1 onion, chopped
1 red jalapeno, chopped (I can only find green, so that's what I use)
1 Anaheim chili, chopped
1/4 tsp chili powder
7 cups chicken stock or broth
1 c white sweet corn, fresh or frozen
1 can black beans, rinsed
1/3 c cilantro, chopped
2-3 medium avacadoes, chopped (into small chuncks)
juice of 1 large lime (1/4 cup)
½ c grated low fat jack or chedder cheese
tortilla strips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place seasoned chicken in one layer on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes for tenders or 25 minutes for chicken breasts, or until jucies run clear. Remove from oven and cool. Then shred or cut into 1-inch pieces and set aside.

Spray a large Dutch oven or stock pot lightly with cooking spray and heat over medium high. Add onion and red jalapeno peppers to pan and sauté until onion is translucent. Add Anaheim pepers and 1/8 tsp. chili powder to onions and continue to sauté for another minute.

Add chicken broth to onion and pepper mixture along with chcken and corn, beans, cilantro, and lime juice. Simmer for 5-10 minutes over medium until all ingredients are heated through. Adjust seasonings if necessary with salt, cumin, extra lime juice and fresh pepper. Add chopped avacadoes.

Pour soup into bowls top with tortilla strips and cheese.

Yeild six 2-cup servings each at approximately 295 calories; 4.5 grams of total fat; 1.4 grams sturated fat; 31 grams total carboydtrate; 4.4 grams dietary fiber; and 33 grams of protien.

Easter Candy & Tortilla Soup

The kids ate pretty much all their Easter candy for breakfast. :P I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

We were supposed to go to a pot luck for Easter dinner, but Kurt and I came down with some serious sinus colds and we decided to spare everyone and stay home. So I made this Tortilla soup for Easter dinner. Not traditional, but hopefully it will get us feeling better quick. I usually try to make meals with lots of onions and/or garlic when we've got colds at our house.

Tortilla Soup

2 Tablespoons grapeseed oil

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, pressed

1 Anaheim chile, seeded, small diced

1 jalapeno chile, seeded, small diced

2 (14.5 oz) can chicken broth

1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cooked chicken breast, diced (I cut it into 3 smaller pieces sprinkle with salt, pepper, cumin and bake at 400 for 20 min.)

1 or 2 ripe avocados, chopped

chopped fresh cilantro

Garnish:

tortilla chips

shredded cheddar cheese

lime wedges

Cook onions in oil for a couple minutes. Add garlic and chilies and cook until tender. Mix in broth, tomatoes, salt, and chicken. Let simmer until heated though. Add avocados and cilantro right before serving. Place tortilla chips in each bowl, fill with soup, top with cheese and squeeze in lime.

Oops

I noticed there were was only half an onion in the fridge today so when I went shopping I picked up a bag of onions. While putting away the groceries at home I decided to put the onions in the cupboard instead of the fridge because there wasn't much. When I opened the cupboard I found a bag of onions already sitting there. I guess I had the same idea the last time I went shopping. :P

So, tonight I made my mom's "Poor Man's Soup." a.k.a. Onion Potato Soup a.k.a. Potato Soup (for my sister growing up- she didn't like onions so we would tell her it was just potatoes). We ate this a lot when I was little and often we would have Swedish Pancakes afterwards. Mmmm Both are definitely on my list of comfort foods.

1 1/2 Tbsp butter

3 onions, cut in half and sliced

5 potatoes, peeled, cut in half and sliced

4 cups water

chicken bullion to equal water (or use broth)

parsley (dried, or fresh finely chopped)

salt

pepper

Melt butter in pot and add onions. Cook until soft. Add potatoes, water and bullion. Bring to a boil and then lower temperature and simmer until potatoes are soft. Add parsley, salt and pepper to taste.