Clams and Mussels in Thai Curry Sauce

This recipe is compliments of Food Network Magazine, and I have to say, it's not only easy, but delicious too! We used fresh steamers and frozen mussels and served it over some Udon noodles. The broth is a bit spicy, but you can tone that down by using less hot pepper or hot sauce, to your liking. I made a few simple substitutions noted below, but otherwise followed the recipe exactly. The recipe makes quite a bit of broth, which will be used for our lunch tomorrow with a package of Ramen noodles!

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  
• 1 3-inch piece ginger, peeled and finely chopped (I used 1 tsp ginger paste instead)
  
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped (I doubled this)
  
• 1 to 2 Thai chile peppers or jalapenos, seeded and chopped (I used Sriracha hot sauce)
  
• 2 tablespoons Thai red curry paste (I used green curry paste b/c it's all I had)
  
• 1/2 cup ketchup
  
• Juice of 2 limes, plus lime wedges for serving
  
• 16 littleneck clams, scrubbed
  
• 1 3/4 pounds mussels, scrubbed
  
• 1 small red bell pepper, cut into thin strips (I used frozen bell peppers)
  
• 3/4 cup fresh cilantro
  
• 3/4 cup fresh basil
  

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the ginger, garlic and chiles and stir-fry until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the curry paste and ketchup and fry until slightly browned, 3 to 4 more minutes. Add the lime juice and 3 cups water, cover and bring to a boil.

2. Add the clams; cover and steam until they open slightly, about 3 minutes. Add the mussels; cover and steam until they open slightly, 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in the bell pepper and half of the cilantro and basil. Cook, covered, until the pepper is crisp-tender, about 2 minutes.

3. Transfer the clams and mussels to serving bowls and ladle the broth on top. Sprinkle with the remaining cilantro and basil and garnish with lime. Serve with crusty bread, if desired.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Last night was cold and rainy and just a dreary day. So I figured it was time to try out the next soup on my list! Spicy Chicken Tortilla Soup, from the Food Network Magazine. It was very easy to make with just a few ingredients, and took little prep time. Great for a busy weeknight! The recipe didn't have exact measurements or times, so I sort of winged it and ended up with a very tasty soup! It was just a bit spicy, but the creaminess of the avocado mellowed out the spice. We each had 2 bowls, and had to force ourselves to stop, so we could take leftovers for lunch.

Ingredients

• 2 seeded ancho chiles (I used ancho chiles in adobo sauce)
• 1 onion
• 2 tomatoes
• 5 garlic cloves
• 3 cans chicken broth
• 2 chicken breasts, chopped and cooked
• 6 corn tortillas, sliced into thin strips
• 1/2 avocado
• 3/4 cup cilantro (we love cilantro, so you might want to tone this down a bit if you're not as big a fan)

Directons

1. In a food processor, puree ancho chiles, onion, tomatoes and garlic.
2. Meanwhile, cook chicken in large stock pot with a Tbsp of oil. Remove chicken and set aside.
3. Fry chile/onion mixture in the oil until fragrant. Add chicken broth, chicken, and 1/2 cup cilantro; simmer 10-15 minutes until thick. Add tortilla strips and boil 1-2 minutes until softened.
4. Ladle into bowls, top with sliced avocado and more cilantro.

Two Bean Soup with Kale

Apparently, it went from Summer to Fall overnight! All of a sudden, it's 40 degrees in the morning, we had to turn the heat on, and the trees are rapidly changing colors. So of course, it means it's soup season! I have a ton of soup recipes I want to try this Fall/Winter, but to kick things off, I started with a two bean soup with kale. This is a Cooking Light recipe, from October 2009. I followed the recipe exactly and it was delicious.

We loved the variety of textures going on, and the incredibly hearty flavor. It would be great with some added spicy sausage, or served in a bread bowl. Don't leave out the rosemary. It really does bring the dish together! The list of ingredients looks long and daunting, but they're all readily available and fairly inexpensive.

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
  
• 1 cup chopped onion (I used a whole onion, roughly chopped)
  
• 1/2 cup chopped carrot
  
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
  
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
  
• 4 cups organic vegetable broth (such as Emeril's), divided (I used chicken broth instead)
  
• 7 cups stemmed, chopped kale (about 1 bunch)
  
• 2 (15-ounce) cans no-salt-added cannellini beans, rinsed, drained, and divided
  
• 1 (15-ounce) can no-salt-added black beans, rinsed and drained
  
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
  
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary (I used about a Tablespoon)

Directions

1. Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add olive oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add onion, carrot, and celery, and sauté 6 minutes or until tender. Stir in 1/4 teaspoon salt and garlic; cook 1 minute. Stir in 3 cups vegetable broth and kale. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 3 minutes or until kale is crisp-tender.

2. Place half of cannellini beans and remaining 1 cup vegetable broth in a blender or food processor; process until smooth. Add pureed bean mixture, remaining cannellini beans, black beans, and pepper to soup. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes. Stir in remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, vinegar, and rosemary.

Coconut Curry Chicken Soup

With the recent ice and snow hitting the DC area, I decided it was time to start making some warm, hearty soups for dinner. Something about snow and wind makes me crave hot soup and bread, so I turned to Cooking Light (Dec 2008) and found a delicious recipe for Coconut Curry soup. It's definitely filling, with the chicken, spinach and pasta.

This definitely has a long list of ingredients, but it makes about 8 servings, so it'll last a while.

Ingredients

• 4 cups water
• 3 cups fresh spinach leaves
• 1/2 pound snow peas, trimmed and cut in half
• 1 5.75oz package pad thai noodles
• 1 T canola oil
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced shallots
• 2 tsp red curry paste
• 1 1/2 curry powder
• 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 6 cups fat-free, low sodium chicken broth
• 1 13.5 oz can coconut milk
• 2.5 cups shredded cooked chicken breast
• 1/2 cup chopped green onions
• 2 T sugar
• 2 T fish sauce
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
• 4 small hot red chiles, seeded and chopped
• 7 lime wedges

Directions

1. Bring 4 cups water to a boil in a large saucepan. Add spinach and peas to pan, cook for 30 seconds. Remove vegetables and place in a large bowl. Add noodles to pan; cook 3 minutes. Drain; add noodles to spinach mixture in bowl.
2. Heat oil in pan over medium-high heat. Add shallots and next 5 ingredients (through garlic) to pan; saute 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add chicken broth to pan, and bring to a boil. Add coconut milk to pan; reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes. Add chicken, onions, sugar, and fish sauce to pan; cook for 2 minutes. Pour chicken mixture over noodle mixture in bowl. Stir in cilantro and chiles. Serve with lime wedges.

Catfish Chowder

In the past few weeks, I've found incredible deals on both frozen catfish (2 pounds for $6) and baking potatoes (10 pounds for 97 cents). So my recipes have been revolving around catfish and potatoes, this week.

I found a recipe for Catfish chowder on Allrecipes.com. While the recipe has 5 star reviews, I wasn't too thrilled with it. It came out very thin and watery, definitely not a chowder. We ended up making some rice and served it over rice, so it was more of a Chicken a la King (with catfish) dish, or like a pot pie over rice.

However, today we heated up the leftovers and it was delicious! Thick, creamy, and just full of flavor. So I would definitely recommend the recipe, but it's much better the 2nd day.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 small onion, chopped
• 1 (14 ounce) can chicken broth
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 1 cup sliced baby carrots
• 2 medium potatoes, cubed
• 3 cups milk, divided
• 1/3 cup cake flour
• 1 teaspoon celery salt
• 1 teaspoon salt - I ended up using about 3 teaspoons of salt
  
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 pounds catfish fillets, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions

1. In a Dutch oven over medium heat, melt butter and saute the onion until tender. Pour in chicken broth and water. Mix in celery, carrots, and potatoes. Cook 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are tender.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together 1 1/2 cups milk and cake flour. Mix into the Dutch oven.

3. Mix remaining milk, celery salt, salt, and pepper into the Dutch oven. Stirring occasionally, continue cooking the mixture about 10 minutes, until thickened.

4. Stir catfish into the mixture, and cook 5 minutes, or until fish is easily flaked with a fork. Mix in Cheddar cheese, and cook another 5 minutes, until melted.

Chinese Velvet Corn Soup & Grilled Cheese

It's been a bit cool in So Cal these days...somewhere in the 50's during the day and even colder at night! Bbrrr... :) So tonight we decided to make the traditional soup and grilled cheese for dinner. But instead of tomato soup and grilled American cheese, we chose Corn Soup and Grilled Pepperjack on Sourdough. Kick it up a notch, if ya will. The soup is from WW "Simply Delicious" and was really good. Very reminiscent of egg drop soup but the added spinach and corn was a really nice touch. The soup takes about 7 minutes to prepare, and grilled cheese cooks at the same time, so this is a hearty and filling dish in under 10 minutes!

Ingredients

• 2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth (I just 1 can)
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 14.5oz can cream-style corn
• 2 cups torn fresh spinach leaves, or 1/2 (10 oz) box frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

Directions

1. Combine the broth, soy sauce and sesame oil in a medium saucepan; bring just to a boil.

2. Slowly pour in the eggs, stirring constantly with a fork to form shreds of egg. Stir in the corn and spinach. Simmer until heated through, 3-5 minutes.

Meanwhile, put 2 slices of pepperjack between some sourdough, throw it on the George Foreman grill, and by the time the cheese gets all melty, the soup will be ready!

Black Bean & Sausage Soup

This is another WW recipe, from "Take Out Tonight." It's been unseasonably cool here in Southern California, so I got the urge to make soup. We served it with a side salad, topped with fat-free ranch dressing mixed with hot sauce. Great, hearty meal for a cold and rainy night.
4 WW points per serving Ingredients

• 1/2 lb sweet Italian sausage
• olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 jalapeño peppers, seeded and minced
• 3 (15.5 oz) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
• 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Spray a large nonstick saucepan and set over medium-low heat. Add sausage and cook until browned on all sides and cooked through, about 15 minutes. Transfer the sausage to a plate. When it's cool enough to handle, cut into 1/2 inch thick slices.

2. Heat the oil over medium heat in the same saucepan, then add the onion, garlic and jalapenos. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 8 minutes. Stir in the beans and broth; bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, until the flavors are blended, about 8 minutes.

3. Transfer 2 cups of the bean mixture to a blender or food processor and puree. Stir the puree and the sausage into the soup. Simmer, uncovered, until the soup is heated through, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat, stir in the cilantro and serve.

Tortellini Soup

Fresh tortellini was on sale this week, so I was searching for a recipe that wasn't just pasta and sauce. I wanted something new. So when I came across a Tortellini soup recipe, I had to try it!

Ingredients

• 3 cups fresh or frozen cheese tortellini
• 3.5 cups vegetable or chicken broth
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 tsp dried rosemary, crumbled
• 2 cups cleaned spinach or other greens
• 1 16oz can small white beans, rinsed and drained
• 4 sun-dried tomatoes, minced (I added these, but would really prefer the dish without them)
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Cook the tortellini according to package directions, until just tender (do not overcook).

2. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, bring the broth, garlic and rosemary to a boil. Stir in the spinach, beans and tomatoes. Reduce the heat and simmer until the spinach and tomatoes are tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the tortellini; simmer 1 minute longer. Sprinkle with the cheese, and serve.

Cream of Broccoli Soup

This is definitely one of our favorites, but Boudin only serves it on Thursday nights which isn't so convenient for us. So I attempted to make my own, and it turned pretty well actually. I bought some 8 ounce sourdough rounds and made a bread bowl for the soup. Not bad, but maybe a little TOO cheesy, if there is such a thing! Next time, I might add some more milk at the end, just to thin it out a bit.

Ingredients

• 1 can chicken broth
• 1/2 pound fresh broccoli, chopped
  
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 1/2 large onion, chopped roughly
• 3 Tbsp flour
• 2/3 cup milk
• 8 ounces extra sharp cheddar cheese, cubed
• Ground pepper to taste
  
• 1/8 cup milk

Directions

1. In large saucepan, bring chicken broth to a low boil. Add fresh broccoli and cook for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, heat a large skillet on medium high. Melt butter, then add onions. Cook approximately 5-8 minutes until brown and tender.

2. Add flour to onions and mix until thick, then add milk and continue stirring. Pour onion mixture into the pot with the broccoli and chicken broth. Stir to combine.

3. Add 1/2 of the cubed cheese to pot and stir to melt thoroughly over medium-low heat. Be careful not to boil the soup, or the cheese will separate. Add remaining cheese and stir to melt. Mix in ground pepper and garlic powder. If the soup is too thick, slowly stir in about 1/8 cup of milk until you reach the desired consistency.