New Year's Soup

I have my mother to thank for the inspiration for this dish.  She used to always make cabbage soup when I was growing up, and it was pretty damn tasty.

Once I became a responsible adult, I always dreaded the New Year meal.
A. Cabbage is not tasty.  Not only that, it smells awful.
B. While black eyed peas are not really bad, it is difficult to get creative with them.

After several New Years of failed meals, I finally remembered about my mom's cabbage soup. I made some adjustments for the occasion, added some secret ingredients, and made a meal worthy of Hell's Kitchen (according to me and my minions).

And the best part is that it doesn't leave your kitchen reeking of cabbage.

What you'll need:

• 1 lb chopped ham (I just bought a small pre-sliced honey ham and chopped it up)
• 1/2 head of cabbage, medium to large, chopped
• 1 cup dried black eyed peas, rinsed
• 4 cups low sodium chicken stock
• 1 cup water
• 1 can (15oz) tomato sauce
• 1 can (14.5oz) petite diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1/2 cup dried minced onion
• 1/4 cup parsley
• 1 T basil
• 2 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1 tsp dill weed
• 2-3 dashes of Swampy's Bar-B-Q Rub (secret ingredient #1)
• 2-3 dashes of Tony Chachere's Original Creole Seasoning (secret ingredient #2)

**This soup does NOT need salt**

What to do:

Warm the ham in the bottom of a large stock pot over medium heat.  I like to let it sizzle for about 4-5 minutes to bring out some of the flavor.  Stir in garlic and let cook for about 30 seconds or until fragrant.

Add the rest of the ingredients to the pot and stir it all together.  You may or may not need more water, depending on how big your cabbage is.  Make sure it is all covered up with liquid.  Raise heat to high and bring to a boil.

Reduce to medium-low heat (slightly more on the medium side), cover, and let simmer for about an hour, or until beans are nice and tender.

Serve with cornbread, and you have a highly inexpensive, highly delicious meal to get you ready for your prosperous year.

Enjoy!

Prep time: About 10 minutes

Cook time: About an hour

Serves: 6-7

How to Make Delicious Mushroom Chicken from Frozen Chicken

Fun fact: I am notorious for not having anything thawed out when it comes time to start dinner.  It's kind of awful, really.  So a lot of the times I end up baking frozen chicken.  If you have ever done that, you have found that is it quite difficult to do without it drying out.

Well, I am here to tell you that I rarely ever thaw my chicken out ahead of time, and it always ends up juicy and tender.  In fact, dinner tonight was completely thrown together.  Something I have never made, but it sounded like it would all work out.

It did.  And it was not only yummy, but super easy. I even had a bag of mushrooms in the freezer that I had previously chopped up (from the Shepherd's Pie!), so that cut a few minutes off of my prep time.  Actually, it was so unplanned, I didn't even think to take a picture until I had my plate made.  Whoops.  You'll get the idea, though.

Side note: I have yet to research the benefits of using avocado oil instead of olive oil, but I have been using it a lot lately. You can still use olive oil where I call for avocado.

What you'll need:

• 4 large boneless skinless chicken breasts (frozen is okay)
• 1 cup chopped mushrooms
• 1 can (10,5 oz) cream of mushroom
• 1/4 can of water
• 1 T minced garlic
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 T rosemary
• 1/4 cup dried minced onions
• avocado oil
• salt and pepper to taste

What to do: 

Preheat oven to 375°. Arrange chicken breasts in a square baking pan.  Drizzle with avocado oil, making sure to get some on the bottom of the pan.  Sprinkle all seasonings over the chicken, then the minced onions.

Heat oil in the bottom of a skillet over medium heat.  Add mushrooms and cook until brown, about 4 minutes.  Stir in garlic and cook an additional 30 seconds, or until fragrant.

Add cream of mushroom soup.  Put a tiny bit of water in the can, about 1/4 of the way full, and add it to the skillet.  Stir and let warm completely through until the entire mixture is an even consistency.

Pour mushroom sauce evenly over and in between the chicken.  Bake for 40-45 minutes if you used frozen chicken (25 minutes if thawed), or until cooked through.  (According to the USDA, the safe internal temperature for poultry is 165°F.  I think it is perfect around 145-153°F because I absolutely hate dry chicken.  White meat is always so dry.  If you feel iffy about it, cut it in half to see how done it is, and make your own call.)

The pan will be full of juices that would be great for making a gravy.  Remove chicken from the juice and serve hot.

Enjoy.

Prep time: About 5 minutes

Cook time: 40-60 minutes (depending on if you use thawed or frozen chicken)

Serves: 4

Ground Beef and Lentil Soup

Oh, how I love fall.  For all of the normal reasons of course, but also because it is the best time to start bringing out those soup recipes, and of course for discovering more.

For this one, I had some ground beef thawed out for meatloaf, but then I remembered that I had lentils and really wanted to make a soup.  So, naturally, I went scrolling through Pinterest and found one that caught my fancy.  And then I made it my own.  If you're interested in the original recipe, you can find it here, but I did not agree with some of it, so I improved upon it.

I was actually unsure of how it would turn out at first, but it was a hit at my table.  Both kids and the husband ate every bite and loved it.  (Success!)

What you'll need:

• 1lb lean ground beef (I used 96/4)
• 1/2 an onion finely chopped
• 1 Tb minced garlic
• 1 Tb olive oil
• 1 Tb parsley
• 1 Tb thyme
• 1/2 tsp dill weed
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• approx. 50.7oz chicken stock (I used 3 16.9oz boxes)
• 1 crushed beef bullion cube
• 2/3 cup lentils
• 1/2 cup chopped carrots
• 1/2 cup uncooked rice (I used white rice)
• 2 Tb soy sauce

What to do:

Heat olive oil in the bottom of a large stock pot on medium heat.  Add onions and saute until translucent (about 4 minutes).  Add garlic and saute an additional 30 seconds or until fragrant.

Add ground beef and cook until it is all brown.  Add parsley, thyme, dill weed, cumin, and turmeric and cook for an additional 1-2 minutes.

Add lentils and carrots and mix into the ground beef.

Add chicken stock and beef bullion and stir it all together.  Bring soup to a boil (use high heat for this step).  Reduce to low heat and simmer for 25 minutes, covered, until carrots and lentils are soft.

Stir in the rice and bring to a boil (I used high heat again).  Reduce heat back to low and simmer for another 20 minutes, or until rice is thoroughly cooked.  Add soy sauce.  Salt and pepper to taste (be sure to taste before you add salt because of the soy sauce).

Serve it up hot with some crackers, and you've got yourself a hearty cold weather dish.

Yields about 6 hearty servings.

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 1 hour(ish)

Enjoy!