Blender Soup

 We're big fans of the Instant Pot brand of small appliances. We own three IP electric pressure cookers - each a different size - and we use all three. When our blender died last spring, the IP blender had just been introduced, so Greg did some research and that's what we purchased. It's a powerful blender, but it also heats and purees soup. Greg's a fan of multi-use appliances, which I find annoying, but this time, it turns out to be okay. We've had the blender several months and I've used it for blending, even made Hollandaise sauce during the "egg-cellent eggs" class I taught via Zoom for the local community college, but hadn't tried the soup function. A quick look at a YouTube video, and I was ready to give it a try.

There was a zipper bag full of cooked black beans in the freezer that had been there awhile and needed to be used. I was thinking maybe a taco soup, but found a black bean soup recipe when I looked on my Pinterest board for ideas. Turns out it was the perfect recipe to try out the soup function on the blender. 

Low Calorie Black Bean Soup

Ingredients

1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained (I used frozen cooked beans)

2 cups chicken broth (substitute vegetable for vegetarians)

1 cup cherry tomatoes (I used about half a cup of canned tomato sauce)

1 bunch green onions (used chopped frozen green onions)

1/2 bunch cilantro (two cubes from the freezer)

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon garlic salt

1/2 lime

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Drain and rinse 3/4 of the black beans.

2. Place rinsed beans in a blender along with cilantro, chicken broth, tomatoes, green onions, cumin, garlic salt, and lime juice. Pulse for a smooth texture. Add salt and pepper to taste.

3. Pour the soup into a large pot and add the rest of the beans into the mix. Heat up and serve.

4. Garnish with cilantro, a diced green onion, or get spicy with a jalapeño!

The soup was really hot when it was done - I could see it boiling in the glass pitcher as it cooked in the blender. It cooks for about 20 minutes, then for the last 2 minutes it starts to puree the soup. If you don't want it completely smooth, you can cancel the function and leave some texture. I let it puree, and it was smooth and silky. I realize it doesn't look so appetizing, and it would have been great with some fresh cilantro, but the taste was pretty good. I used the black beans from the freezer as well as some frozen cilantro and a jar of chicken stock from the refrigerator. This was a great dish to use up some "fragments". I made grilled cheese sandwiches to go with the soup, using cheddar and spicy Monterey Jack cheeses. Yum.

I'm going to make more soups to stock the freezer - tomato and broccoli cheddar come to mind first. The weather looks to be cooling down to more wintry temps than we've had, and that will be perfect soup weather. I like to freeze it in individual serving sizes perfect for lunches. Greg and I both eat supper leftovers for lunch, but sometimes there's only enough for one. I send those with Greg and just make myself something quick. Freezer soup is perfect. 

 I like tomato basil, broccoli cheddar, and the hot and sour soup from a local Chinese restaurant. Oh, and chili, creamy asparagus, homemade chicken soup, and lots more. What's your favorite soup?

Keep Well Chicken Soup

Soup is THE BEST nourishment for illness and recovery, in my opinion. They say chicken soup may contain a number of substances with beneficial medicinal activity including an anti-inflammatory mechanism that could ease the symptoms of upper respiratory tract infections. (Science Daily)

A few weeks before Thanksgiving, my daughter's best friends contracted the Covid virus. Both girls work in high-risk environments, so it was really just a matter of time before one of them got sick. They were quite ill, but both have recovered and are now back to their prospective jobs. Neither has family close enough to help them with errands and cooking while they were quarantined inside their home. My daughter picked up meds and dropped them on the porch. My mission in life is to feed people, so I made them homemade chicken soup - that was also delivered to their front porch.

The recipe I used is called "Keep Well Chicken Soup" from the Once A Month Meals website. (Please click on the link to go to the recipe.)

I cooked the chicken in the Instant Pot, then made the broth from that carcass and some veg scraps I keep in the freezer. The soup recipe I made on the stovetop so I could stir and taste and adjust seasonings. This recipe is quite possibly the best chicken soup I've ever tasted. In fact, I got a text from one of the girls that said, "That soup was amazing. Like omg good!". Lol. She had lost her sense of taste and smell, but it was slowly returning. I'm happy the soup was flavorful enough that she could enjoy it. The recipe calls for orzo pasta, but one of my girls must eat gluten-free, so instead I sent cooked and frozen brown rice for them to add to the soup when they reheated it. Both versions are good, or you can leave that out altogether. I doubled the recipe and put a couple of containers in the freezer. Remember if you're going to make this ahead, wait to add the pasta or rice until reheating.

The key to the flavor of this soup recipe is the herbs. For this batch I had to use dried, but I have used fresh, and both are excellent. Rosemary is a booster for the immune system, as is garlic. Don't skip the kale. It's one of the most nutrient-dense foods available. 

That's it for today - I got a little more outside decorating done. Hopefully that will be finished tomorrow. I really need to get it done while the weather holds. It's chilly, but mid-40s on the prairie in December is really pretty nice. 

Be back tomorrow!

Soup Day

Even though it is now November, we're still having lovely weather here on the prairie. Every now and again there is a touch of chill to the air, though, and today the wind was from the north, and the sun was fleeting as the clouds blew in. It was a great day for soup for lunch!Usually when I'm home alone during the day I forage the refrigerator for leftovers and cobble together this and that to make something of a meal for lunch. Today I just kept thinking of a soup recipe I've made before in the Instant Pot. Since I had fresh-made beef stock (from t-bone steak bones and scraps), I quickly threw stuff in the IP, and within 20 minutes had a piping-hot bowl of nourishing and tasty vegetable beef soup.
The original recipe that I used for inspiration calls for potatoes and white rice, neither of which were in my pantry. Instead I used mushrooms and the last bit of a box of rotini pasta. I also substituted green beans for the peas, and black beans instead of garbanzo.This made a full pot of soup, so I enjoyed my lunch, then packaged up the remainder in glass jars to freeze for another meal. I love having extras to freeze for later.I'll be doing a couple of soup days for freezer cooking in the near future. It's an easy and frugal meal, and makes a perfect lunch for me and to send with Greg.Tell me what your favorite soup is - I'd love some ideas for new recipes to try!
Edited to add:It was so chaotic around here when I was trying to publish this post that I forgot to include the recipe. Oops! Here it is:

Pressure Cooker Vegetable Beef Soup

Yield: 6 servings

·      1lb. lean ground beef

·      1 tablespoon oil

·      1 large onion, diced

·      1 rib celery, chopped

·      6-8 mushrooms, quartered

·      3 cloves garlic, finely chopped or pressed

·      2 14-ounce cans beef broth (I used homemade)

·      1 14-ounce can crushed tomatoes

·      1 12-ounce bottle V8 juice

·      1 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed

·      2 carrots, peeled then sliced into thin coins

·      1 can cut green beans, drained

·      salt and pepper

·       

1.  Preheat the pressure cooking pot using the browning or sauté setting. Add ground beef to the pressure cooking pot and cook until browned. Remove to a plate lined with paper towels.

2.  Add oil to the pressure cooking pot. Add onion, celery, and mushrooms. Cook, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more.

3.  Add beef broth, tomatoes, V8 juice, beans, carrots, and browned ground beef to the pot and stir to combine. Lock lid in place, select High Pressure and 4 minutes cook time. When timer beeps, turn off pressure cooker and do a quick pressure release.

4.  Stir in green beans and pasta, season with salt and pepper to taste. Turn on sauté function and cook until pasta is done to your liking.

(You could put the pasta in before pressure cooking since it only cooks 4 minutes, but I didn’t think to do that. It would save a little time at the end.)

Enjoy!

T.

Soup

We’ve all been sick with colds and flu, so I’ve given myself a pass on the freezer/pantry challenge for a few days, and had Greg bring home some take-out a couple of nights. Hot and sour soup from the local Chinese place was just what I needed for the congestion and cough. Soup has been appealing to me this entire week when not much else was, and even though I’m feeling somewhat better, it still sounded good for supper.

Tonight I used up some bits and pieces from the freezer and frig and we had a version of Taste of Home’s Meatball Minestrone. Instead of meatballs, I just used a package of browned ground beef from the freezer. It was pretty tasty, but really is better with meatballs. There was a partial bag of cooked black beans in the freezer, and from the frig I pulled out part of a can of crushed tomatoes and about a cup of beef broth that I used in place of some of the water in the recipe. The other day when I dug through the pantry cupboards I found a partial box of macaroni that I truly didn’t know was in there. Perfect for this soup.

As it turns out, January is National Soup Month. A few years ago I wrote a few posts on my recipe blog and shared some of my favorites. Besides being a great vehicle for using up other leftovers, soup freezes wonderfully, and lots of times tastes better the second day after it’s made.

Do you have a favorite recipe or soup tip?