Chicken and Lentil Soup

What do you do when you desperately need to go grocery shopping, but it's way too hot to even think about going outside?  Or you're just too lazy busy to leave your hectic domain?  Or maybe you stayed up past 4am trying to watch the Delta-Aquarid meteor shower and you don't have your life together today? Ahem. None of those apply to me.  Promise.

So what do you do?  Pinterest.  Obviously.  Because I cannot feed my entire family on just two chicken breasts (which, at this point, are still frozen).

Or can I?

I'm desperately looking around my kitchen trying to get an inventory.  Let's see, I've got some veggies, tomato paste, some lentils... I can do this.  I found a very inspiring chicken and lentil soup recipe, and upped it.  What do I call it? A whole bunch of delcious stuff thrown into a pot.  With grilled cheese.  That's too long.  Whatever.

Problem: the chicken is still frozen.
Solution: cook it while I prep the rest of my ingredients.  Drizzle with avocado oil, season both sides with salt and pepper, bake at 375°F for about 25-30 minutes, or until cooked through.

This would be an amazing recipe for some straggling left over chicken.  And it would take less time.

Side note about tomato paste: even though it comes in a teeny tiny can, you never really ever need that much.  You can put it in a Ziploc bag, divided in sections, and freeze it.  Just break off a piece whenever you need it.  Like so:

Shown frozen with two sections missing.  I would guess they're about a tablespoon each.

What you'll need:

• 2 large chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
• 1 cup dry lentils, rinsed
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 1 carrot, diced (I actually had about 6 baby carrots, which worked wonderfully)
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 can cut green beans, drained
• 1 cup frozen corn (coincidentally, the exact amount I had on hand)
• 3 Tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 Tbsp paprika
• 4 cups chicken broth
• Avocado oil
• salt and pepper

What to do:

Heat a large drizzle of oil in a large pot over medium heat.  Add onions, garlic, and carrots and cook for about 4 minutes, until onions are soft.  Add seasonings and lentils and stir until well combined.

Add in the rest of the ingredients: chicken, green beans, corn, broth, tomato paste.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and let simmer for about 25 minutes, or until lentils are soft.  Season with salt and pepper.

And that's it!  Serve it up with some grilled cheese sandwiches and enjoy!

Tip: if you like a more soupy soup, you can add about 2 cups of water.  We like thick soup in my household.  For some reason, my husband is against eating with spoons and would rather sop up the broth with bread, or grilled cheese in this case.

Prep time: about 30 minutes if you have to cook the chicken
                  about 5 minutes if chicken is already cooked

Cook time: 30 minutes

Makes about 6 servings.

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

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!