Clean Eating #138 & 139: Green Onion Soup

Green Onion Soup

or 

Spinach & Green Onion Soup

Truth time.  Even thought I recently discovered a love for French Onion soup, I didn't think this recipe would please me at ALL.  It seemed too... bland.  Too... green.  I love green.  I love green onions, but I like variety and this seemed like it would just be too... single minded.

I DID end up messing with my original recipe, but even without the additions, I ate a bowl and enjoyed it.  I just needed a bit more flavor.  Yeah, it had plenty of green onion flavor, but I guess I needed more variety of flavor.

Since my pantries are pretty much bare, I had to go with what I could find, namely frozen spinach and extra caramelized onions.  I then pureed them to give a little bit of thickening to the soup without adding any wheat.  I'm cutting out wheat for the next three weeks for a cleanse I'm doing.  I should probably go wheat free, if not gluten free altogether, just knowing how much better I do without it, but I'm just not sure I'm up for that quite yet.

I figure giving up refined foods, additives, artificial sweeteners, and now most meats... I'm doing what I can:)

Anyway, on to the recipe(s):

Green Onion Soup:
2 bunched of green onions, chopped
1 Tbsp Oil (EVOO or coconut oil)
1 small-medium Vidala onion, finely diced
3 cloves of garlic, pressed
3 cups vegetable broth/other broth
1 cup water
salt & pepper to taste

Caramelized the Vidalia onions on medium heat with a tablespoon of oil for about 15 minutes
Add pressed garlic & chopped green onions for another 10 minutes
Add broth and water and simmer for 20-30 minutes.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve hot.

Spinach & Green Onion Soup:

2 bunched of green onions, chopped

1 Tbsp Oil (EVOO or coconut oil)

3 medium Vidala onion, finely diced

1 cup of chopped frozen spinach

3 cloves of garlic, pressed

3 cups vegetable broth/other broth

1 1/4 cup water

salt & pepper to taste

Caramelized the Vidalia onions on medium heat with a tablespoon of oil for about 20-25 minutes

*Separate out approximately 2/3rds of the caramelized onions and set aside

Add pressed garlic & chopped green onions for another 10 minutes

Add broth and 1 cup of water and simmer for 20-30 minutes.

Take the separated caramelized onions, spinach & 1/4 cup of water and puree thoroughly in the blender

Add puree to your soup and simmer on medium low for another 20 minutes until thickened.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Verdict:  I Liked the first version.  I LIKED it.  It would have been really good as a small SIDE to another, really rich dish, but since I was eating it by itself, it needed more.  If you have a more simple palate and prefer less flavor explosion, this will be your speed.

*The added spinach puree?  Loved it.  I probably should have done without the puree and just added the onions and spinach chopped, but I was curious:)  Plus, I don't much care for really 'broth' liquid soups.  I prefer more substance.  I don't know why.  Something I should probably get over.

Anyway, take your pick!  Those are the recipes for today.  Or right now, anyway.  What is your favorite onion based recipe?

I think the French Onion Soup Tartines are still my favorite!

Clean Eating #128: Crockpot Potato Onion Stew & More Wisdom Teeth Humor

Potato Onion Stew

  We're down to the nitty gritty.  Again.  Very little food in the house and $30.00 to name and a week to payday.  Yikes.  With gas being what it is... yeah, that doesn't say much!

I had a bunch of onions because apparently both my husband and I bought extra thinking we were almost out.  I also had a few potatoes.  Knowing how much my family loves onions, I decided to thaw some of my marinara sauce and make some good old fashioned stew like my mom used to make.

Of course I left out the beef, and had a LOT of onions and various other things in mine:)

Ingredients:
6 small to medium onions, cut into 4ths
4 potatoes, cut into 4ths
 1 1/2 cup diced bell peppers (I had some various types in freezer bags already diced)
4 pearl onions (because I had them leftover from something)
1-2 cups frozen corn
1-2 cups frozen/fresh spinach
1 1/2 cup cooked lentils
1 1/2  cup cooked white beans
3 heads of Roasted Garlic
1 quart of Hearty Vegetable Marinara

Directions
Throw everything into a pot, add some extra vegetable stock if you want more liquid, but I like my stew super thick.

This recipe is kind of like Barney Stinson's "how to run a marathon" comment... Put it on the stove, in the oven or in the crockpot.  Turn it on.  That's it.  I just let mine cook on medium/medium low all day long... delicious stew for dinner!

Clean Eating #113: Split Pea Lentil Soup

Split Pea Lentil Soup

I have to admit, split pea soup has never been something I ever thought I'd try.  The only versions I had ever seen were totally pureed and it just didn't look appetizing to me.  However, this weekend I was away and someone cooked soup similar to this recipe.  It was AMAZING.  Honestly, I didn't even realize it was pea soup until I started eating it.  I came home and the first thing I did was to get supplies and make a version of my own.

Ingredients:

1 16oz bag of dried split peas

2 cups of dried lentils

2 Medium Onions, diced

4 medium carrots thinly sliced or grated

1/2 head of cabbage, chopped

2 cups of vegetable stock

4 cups water

Seasonings:

1 tsp Thyme

1 tsp celery salt

1 Tbsp garlic pepper

1 Tbsp fresh parsley finely chopped

Directions:

Add the split peas & lentils to the water and bring to a boil

Boil on medium low with the lid vented a little for about 15 minutes

Add the vegetable stock, seasonings, cabbage, carrots & onions

When the veggies start to get tender, take out about 2 cups of the soup and puree in the blender.

Serve warm.

Verdict:

YUM!!  Not as yummy as say, my mozzerella tomato sandwich, but definitely a keeper.  It would have been divine on all those raining, miserable days we just had.  Hopefully we're done with that though, so I hope I remember this recipe when next winter rolls around!  I really enjoyed the variety of textures and flavors, it made for a really interesting flavor combination.

Clean Eating #54: Clean Cream of Mushroom Soup

Cream of Mushroom Soup

A while back, I made Beef Stroganoff.  I realized then that the sauce for that was pretty much just cream of mushroom soup... and that if I could make it for that dish, I could surely make it just to have soup.  Then I remembered all the other dishes I used to make with canned cream of mushroom soup.  Shepherd's Pie, Tuna Noodle Cheese & Peas, Chicken & Rice bakes... and so on.  Yes!  Great idea!

I then discovered this blog, "The Joy of Clean Eating" and got distracted looking at her site for twenty minutes.  AWESOME site, people.  Check it out!  I was basically wondering what types of seasonings you use in mushroom soup, since I've really not made it before.  Her recipe looked very much like what I made for the Stroganoff, so I kind of messed with it a bit with what I had on hand and what I remembered from my Stroganoff sauce.

Ingredients:

8 button mushrooms

1 medium - large onion

1 cup Greek yogurt or yogurt cheese

1 cup low fat sour cream

1/2 carton of vegetable broth

1 cup of milk

1 TBSP. of whole wheat flour

Seasonings:

1 Tbsp Fresh Ground Pepper 

1 tsp thyme

(Oops!  I forgot to use the parsley... I just realized)

sea salt to taste

Directions:

Dice the mushrooms and onions & Sautee until tender with a little coconut oil

Add seasonings, cooked veggies, yogurt and sour cream to your blender & puree.

Return to the pan and add other liquids. Simmer for a bit 

(I left mine simmering for about 25-30 minutes because I was really busy cooking about 5 different things at once.  You don't need to leave it that long, but it didn't hurt)

It will thicken a bit as it cools.

I sauteed some extra mushrooms and onions and topped the soup with it.  My hubby liked it a lot!

What I'd Do Differently Next Time:  

• Hmmm... probably more yogurt to thicken it a little more, because you couldn't taste it at all.  I don't like using whole wheat flour as a thickening agent.  I just... eh.  
• I'd also make more.  I made this recipe only to realize that it only made enough for one small (for us) batch of Shepherd's Pie:( 
• I would also get some white wine like "The Joy of Eating Clean" suggested, but I didn't have any today.

Enjoy!

Clean Eating #28: Hearty Delicious Chili from the UnFashion Blogger:)

Snow Day #2:

Spicy Clean Chili & Fresh Whole Wheat Bread

Don't you just love the snow?  I most assuredly do NOT.  Especially not when it keeps me from the gym (they cancel all fitness classes if schools are cancelled due to bad weather) and my hubby is gone working.  Homeschoolers, however, get no break... Bwahahahaha!!!



The Bean looking like she's about to kill her notebook... she's supposed to be smiling.

 

 Sometimes its nice, though, and I'm really productive.  Like yesterday for instance.  Yesterday was a snow day.  I made three batches of bread to work with this week and they ALL turned out wonderfully!!  All of them!  I was so thrilled (I'll post how to's tips and stuff later when I get through the process of shaping, baking and all that... I made a little video, even!)

Today I dragged a bunch of prepped stuff out of the freezer because we're getting to the point in the month where we have no grocery budget to speak of until I go pick up my check, and even then, its sparse.  I don't know about you, but we aren't rolling in dough.  Dough.  *snort*  I meant money.  We're not rolling in money.  However, if anyone has a money tree to give away, I could sure use one.

It feels good to be using food that we've had for a while instead of cleaning out a freezer in a few months having to toss everything.  I'm making a bit of a variation on our normal chili, since we're out of cocoa and beer, and I'm not sure the coffee will taste right without the beer and cocoa.  I don't think beer counts as clean eating either... but it does give chili a VERY unique and AWESOME flavor.

Have you ever tried beer in your chili?  If not, you should.  Its as awesome as blueberries in your cheese burger.  No, I'm not kidding.



Why I'm not a fashion blogger.  Plus, I'm too cheap.  I could be an uberfrugal fashion blogger, I suppose.  Uberfrugal is kind of a cool sounding word.



Ingredients:

1 bag of chopped pablano & jalapeno peppers (probably about 3 jalapenos, 1 large pablano)

4-8 cups of prepped kidney, black and red beans. (My hubby likes bean variety and we all like LOTS of beans)

1 bag of chopped cooked flank steak (This tastes AWESOME with lean ground turkey or chopped chicken breasts as well)
1 gallon sized bag of tomato sauce *click for recipe
2 cloves of garlic chopped or you can use your roasted garlic
2 Tbsp of chipotle Pepper powder
2 Tbsp of chili powder
1 carton beef broth
*Optional, not so much with the clean, but worth a try because it gives your chili an awesome flavor
1 large can of beer
1 cup strong coffee
1/4th cup unsweetened cocoa

Mix together all ingredient, then, if you want divide them up.  I make two pans:
Girl's Chili:
Add 1/2 bag of frozen corn (I love corn.  I could put corn in everything.  My hubby doesn't care for it in his chili, but I prefer it, so today I'm going to make two pans, one with green peppers for him, one with corn for me and the girls)

I leave the peppers really big so the girls can pick them out:)

Boy's Chili
Add 2 Tbsp hot sauce
Add 2 Tbsp crushed red pepper
1 chopped green bell pepper

This will simmer on the stove for the rest of the day until dinner, when our bread will be done rising, and we can have fresh bread and hot chili for dinner.  I'm going to get extra points for this one after the hubby has been out delivering mail in the snow all day. 

Have I mentioned how much he hates the cold... and how much he LOVES food? 

I eat my chili with bread and peanut butter because that's how it was always served in my school growing up.  My family thinks I'm weird.  My husband and kids like it with grilled cheese, because that's how you're "supposed" to eat it.