The Soup That Greens Are Made Of

I laughed out loud earlier this week when I discovered that I'd picked yet another Rachel Ray recipe by accident. The accident is due to the Food Network Magazine, which I have been receiving in the mail for the past year or so (since it began). Therefore I'm picking the recipes that look good, completely unaware that many of these are Rachel's. Like I've said before, I don't usually like her recipes. And yet, here I am enjoying the 3rd dish of hers since the beginning of the year. Guess I'm ready to take that original statement back.

Tonight I made Potato, Spinach and Artichoke Soup. It's good, not great. I like it for all the spinach and artichokes (love them both). Oh, and there's cheese (parmesan). I'm fairly sure that no kid would touch this unless they're big fans of green veggies.

Spicy Tortilla Soup

Like Babs, I had a hankerin' for hot peppers this week (or is it every week?). Tortilla soup is a favorite in our house. I usually make it with chicken, but this time I decided to try something different. It always amazes me how freakin' delicious vegetarian cooking can be. This tortilla soup is technically vegan since there's no cheese and I rarely use sour cream. It's a Rachel Ray recipe (30 minutes) and she really scored big with us using this Corn and Salsa Tortilla Soup recipe. I'm giving it my highest rating, which is something I do maybe once every couple of months. It's that good. What I'm saying is that I'm currently trying to type while soup dribbles are running down my chin.

First you start roasting the poblano peppers in the oven until black and crispy on all sides. While that's doing its thing, brown the corn and onion in oil in a soup pot. Add garlic, brown. Add tomatoes (fire roasted is the only way to go), veg broth, S&P, and let it simmer. Peel off the skin of the cooled peppers, dice and throw into the pot.


One of the best features of this dish is that you bake the tortillas with cumin. You don't even put seasoning (except for S & P) in the soup until it's done. Put the crispy tortilla strips in the soup, add cilantro and lime juice, and top with avocado (we tend to go overboard with the last 3 ingredients). This is really really really tasty. YAM!

Goin' Green

I really love making soups and stews. I enjoy the one pot / one meal technique: it's less to worry about (sync multiple dishes so they're all ready at the same time), and less to clean up (Rob is especially thankful for that). Warm hearty soup, a glass of wine and some good tunes are all I need after a chilly ride home and long day at work.

This is one of Rachel Ray's 30-min recipes: Kal-iflower Stoup. It's healthy and vegetarian (except for the chicken broth, which could, of course, be substituted for veg broth). I really want to like Rachel Ray. I like her TV show (I'm referring to the 30-min meal show, not her daytime one), and I appreciate the short-on-time approach. However, her recipes are hit and miss with me. Some are delicious and some just suck. This dish gets more like a 4-star rating. I love that it's healthy - and let's be honest -- we're talking about KALE. How good can kale really be? So, she did well considering it includes 2 bunches of bitter chewy kale.

Kale. I only love kale for one reason: it's a superfood. It's so healthy that it makes me a better person just putting it in the shopping cart. It's in that awesome-good-for-you Brassica family (e.g., brussels spouts, broccoli), and that group has claimed to ward off cancer. Let's face it - that family needs to bring something to the table other than turned up noses. Warding off cancer and providing a plethora of vitimins (it's an excellent source of iron and calcium), and antioxidants, are pretty good reasons. Plus, it's very pretty in the garden. So I'm slowly learning to enjoy kale.