Enviously Green Soup

Spinach and Broccoli Soup

It’s another green soup here to try and one I have to admit is quite yummy. I know I’ve professed a number of times to dislike broccoli but it seems that over the last few month of eating it I’ve come to find it less distasteful and actually enjoy it. Sure I still find it a bit hard to eat it by itself but if you add it with a nice roasted chicken or grilled steak. That aside, you’ll really enjoy this recipe and it’s another superfoods recipe packed with healthy benefits found once again in Spinach.

Prep Time

10 min

Cooking Time

40 min

 

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
• 1 large Brown Onion, chopped
• 2 Garlic Cloves, crushed
• 500g Sebago Potatoes, peeled, chopped
• 530g Broccoli, cut into florets
• 1 litre Chicken Stock
• 120g Baby Spinach
• 1/2 cup Pure Cream

 

Utensils Recommended

• Large Saucepan
• Stick Blender

 

Method

1. Heat the oil in your large saucepan over a medium-high heat. Add in the onion and garlic. Cook, making sure to stir, for 3 minutes or until onion has softened. Add broccoli and potato. Cook, and stir for 5 minutes.
2. Add in the stock and season it with pepper. Cover it and bring bring it to the boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or until potato is tender. Add spinach in the last 2 minutes of cooking and allow the leaves to soften and wilt. Then set it aside for 5 minutes to cool slightly.
3. Blend the mix until smooth. Return it to the pan over a low heat. Add your pure cream. Cook, for 2 minutes or until heated through, make sure to stir to avoid any of the soup to catch on the bottom of the pan.

 

Helpful Hints

If you do prefer your soups to have more of a thickened texture add a small amount of watered cornflour to the mix and stir it into the soup and allow for it to thicken. About 1 or 2 heaping tablespoons with a small amount of cold water added to a  mix this size should be enough.

Super Soup

Spinach and Coconut Soup

This recipe was one I cam across and found quite intriguing, since I don’t believe I’ve ever tried an actual coconut flavored soup before. I have of course used coconut  in a number of my recipes and I do enjoy the full flavor that it brings to a dish and this time was no exception. A meal that was soft in its sweet flavor and deliciously complimenting with the added taste of spinach – Popeye’s miracle vegetable! The added bonus of this meal is Spinach icomes packed with numerous health benefits including numerous anti-oxidants, lowered blood pressure, an increase in your immune system just to name a few.

Prep Time

10 min

Cooking Time

20-25 min

Ingredients

• 2 bunches English spinach, stems trimmed
• 25g Butter
• 1 Brown Onion, chopped
• 2 Garlic Cloves, crushed
• 2 cups ‘Real’ Vegetable Stock
• 1/2 (700g) Cauliflower, cut into florets
• 270ml can Coconut Milk
• 1/4 teaspoon Ground Nutmeg
• pinch of Cayenne Pepper
• warmed Naan Bread, to serve

Utensils Recommended

• Large Saucepan
• Stick Blender/Food Processor

Method

1. Rinse the spinach leaves, shaking off any excess water. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook for 5 minutes or until its tender and opaque. Add in the garlic and cook for 1 extra minute, make sure to stir to avoid burning your garlic.
2. Add in the stock and cauliflower. Cover and bring to the boil. Cook for 8 minutes or until cauliflower is tender. Add spinach and cook for 2 minutes or until they’re just wilted.
3. Using your food processor or blender, process soup in batches, until smooth. Return soup to the saucepan. Place over medium heat.
4. Add 250ml of the coconut milk, nutmeg and cayenne pepper. Bring to gentle simmer, taste it to test the flavour and add extra salt or pepper to level it out. Ladle into cups. Drizzle with remaining coconut milk. Season with pepper and serve with the naan bread.

Okay guys, time to quit reading and start cooking, have a go and tell me what you think. If you have any questions or queries please don’t hesitate to ask.

Cold Cure in a Bowl

Chicken Noodle Soup

Yeah I know, chicken soup isn’t exactly the most cold curing meal out there but you cant deny that its a good meal when you are feeling under the weather as it will always perk you up and give you good boost of energy that you may be lacking. This one is more of clear broth soup and probably one of my favorite recipes to date for its simplicity. So give it a go and enjoy.

Nutritional Information

Protein: 39.50g, Dietary Fibre: 6.20g, Fat Total: 19.10g, Saturated Fat: 5.30g, Carbohydrate Total: 22.30g, Energy: 1802Kj, Cholesterol: 124.00mg, Sodium: 1560mg.

Prep Time

25min

Cooking Time

55min

Ingredients

• 1 Roast Chicken
• 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
• 1 Leek, trimmed, halved, washed, chopped
• 1 Large Carrot, peeled, chopped
• 2 Celery Stalks, chopped
• 1 litre Chicken Stock
• 3 cups Cold Water
• 1/2 cup Pearl Barley, rinsed
• 1 tablespoon chopped Fresh Flat-Leaf Parsley Leaves

Utensils Recommended

• Large Saucepan

Method

1. Remove and discard skin and bones from the chicken and shred the meat, basically you want to cut it thin lengthways.
2. Heat your oil in the saucepan over a medium-high heat. Add the leek, carrot and celery and cook, making sure to stir every 5 minutes or until the leek is tender. Next, add your stock and 3 cups cold water. Bring to the boil, add in the barley and reduce the heat to low. Simmer, with the soup partially covered, skimming surface for scum, for 25 to 30 minutes or until vegetables and barley are tender.
3. Finally add the chicken. Cook for 10 minutes or until chicken is heated through. Stir in the parsley and season with salt and pepper. Serve and enjoy.

Be Creative

Now it’s quite a simple recipe and if you you’re just after a chicken soup this works really well but if you’d like a little extra taste you can always edit by placing in extra ingredients. For instance you could add bacon bits, either fresh by adding it into the oil with the vegies at the start or adding dry baked when you add in the stock. Also you could chose to add either crushed ginger or roasted garlic to the mix when you add your vegies, giving them a nice flavour and adding a boost to your immune system.

Winter Soup Month

Winter is fast approaching us Aussies and while most overseas would just assume it’s pretty warm since it rarely shows in the land down under, but like others around the globe we too also get hit with a pretty big dip in temperature and we need to keep ourselves warm. Now there are a few way that we bears achieve this, bear cuddles, big woolly pyjamas, and of course warm home cooked meals. So this Winter (in the Southern Hemisphere for all you lucky boys keeping warm up north) I’m going to be putting up a number of warm meals starting with a month of delicious soups for you all to try and warm up those furry bellies.

All Bases Covered Beef Soup

Nutritional Information

Protein: 33.00g, Dietary Fibre: 8.00g, Fat Total: 9.50g, Saturated Fat: 2.50g, Carbohydrate Total: 31.00g, Energy: 1440kJ.

Prep Time

30 Minutes

Cooking Time

2 Hours 30 Minutes

Ingredients

• 1 tbs Olive Oil
• 500g Lean Beef Chuck, coarsely chopped
• 2 Carrots, peeled, finely chopped
• 2 Celery Sticks, finely chopped
• 1 Large Brown Onion, finely chopped
• 2 Garlic Cloves, crushed
• 2 tsp Chopped Fresh Rosemary
• 500ml (2 cups) Woolworths Select Salt-Reduced Chicken Stock
• 500ml (2 cups) Water
• 80g (1/3 cup) Pearl Barley, rinsed
• 2 dried Bay Leaves
• 3 (about 400g) large Truss Tomatoes, finely chopped
• 300g Sweet Potato (Kumara), peeled, cut into 1cm pieces

Utensils Recommended

• 1 Large Saucepan
• Chopping Board
• 1 Large Knife
• 1 Medium Bowl
• Ladel/Large Spoon

Method

1. Heat half the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir in the beef for 2-3 minutes or until browned and transfer it to your bowl.
2. Heat remaining oil over medium heat. Stir in the carrot, celery and onion for 8 minutes or until they’re soft. Stir in the garlic and rosemary for 1 minute until you get this nice aromatic fragrance, it Take generally one minute. Then you return your beef to the pan.
3. Add the stock, water, barley and bay leaves. Cover and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to low. Simmer, with lid covered, skimming any scum* that rises to the surface, for 1 1/2 hours. Finally tomato and sweet potato. Simmer for another 30 minutes or until beef is tender. Season with pepper and salt to taste and viola you’ve got yourself a hearty an healthy beef soup fit to feed any hungry bear pawing at your door for food.

*Now when I say scum it just means the residue that builds on the surface of the broth as it boils. Basically skim the spoon along the top of the liquid and remove that residue and toss out; your soup will be cleaner, tastier, and visually more appealing this way.

A Slew of Stew just for You!

I was asked by a handsome Melbourne bear to write up a few stew recipes for my blog and let me just state this before I go any further, I LOVE STEW! In winter there is nothing better than a nice warm stew to fill you up. I remember some the dishes my grandma used to make me when I was younger and just thinking about them made me feel a warm glow all over – then my stomach grumbled requesting when was the next time we we’re going up north to visit her. Haha! So I have found three recipes I think will go down really well with you all and believe me when I say I shall be trying at least two of these recipes myself.

Beef and Guinness Stew

We’ll start off with a pretty basic meat stew “Beef and Guinness”, since I’m fairly certain there are quite a few of you hungry bears out there who love a good piece of meat on your fork, and add to that a touch of Guinness and you’re golden! I will admit I’m not the biggest fan of any kind of beer beverage being added into my meals, but after looking at what goes into this one I recon I’ll still give it a good go.

Prep Time
30 minutes

Cooking Time
140 minutes

Ingredients

• 18 Small Shallots
• 2 tbsp Olive Oil
• 1.5kg Gravy Beef, Excess Fat trimmed, cut into 3cm pieces
• 500g cup Mushrooms, halved
• 4 Bacon Rashers, coarsely chopped
• 1 ½ cups Beef Stock
• 1 cup Guinness
• 2 tbsp Tomato Paste
• 3 Dried Bay Leaves
• 2 Sprigs Fresh Thyme
• Mashed potato, to serve
• Steamed Green Beans, to serve

Utensils Recommended

• Small Sharpened Knife
• Medium Heatproof Bowl
• Stock Pot or Large Saucepan
• Kettle

Method
1. Use a small sharp knife to make a small cut in the base of each shallot (don’t cut off the root just yet). Place in a heatproof bowl. Cover with boiling water and set aside for 5 minutes. Drain and peel off the first layer and remove the root then.

2. Heat half the oil in a stock pot or large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add one-third of the beef and cook, turning, for 4-5 minutes or until the outer meat has browned.

3. Transfer the freshly browned meat to a plate. Repeat with remaining beef in two more batches, make sure you keep the cooked meat warm as well by placing it back into the sauce pan with the newly cooked meat – if only for a moment. Then remove all the meat and place it in the heat proof bowl you used for your shallots

4. Heat the remaining oil in the pan. Add the shallots, mushrooms and bacon and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until the mix has a nice light brown to golden hue.

5. You then need to return the beef to the dish. Add the stock, Guinness, tomato paste, bay leaves and thyme and stir until all the ingredients are nicely combined.

6. Cover and bring the boil and once you have done this, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 1 1/2 hours.

7. While you are doing this use the waiting time in between to peel, boil, and then mash your potatoes and steam your green beans. Time management is always an important part to ensuring that you’re able to cook you meal as swiftly as the estimated time says.

8. Once the hour and a half has lapsed uncover your stew mix and simmer for 30 minutes or until the sauce thickens slightly. Season with salt and pepper to your liking.

9. Serve up your final result with the mash, beans you have also prepared.

Be Creative
Now I guess what you can do to be a little creative is always add some extra steamed veggies to the mix if you desire, I would say adding some broccoli and cauliflower and carrot would be a good mix to change from just plain beans. You could also if you wanted to save yourself a bit of effort substitute mashed potato with a nice serving of steamed long grain rice; it would taste just as nice and would be a little healthier for you in the long run.

Be Naughty
Well this is easy to do. Bake your vegies in the oven with some oil instead, you could always still have your mash but also add some baked sweet potato, corn, parsnips and whatever else you fancy would work baked. The choice is yours, experiment and have some fun with it.