The weather outside suddenly turned very gray and cold, so I’m embracing the opportunity to talk soup, again. You might be thinking: “What does it matter if it’s gray and cold outside?” Well, it is commonly known that eating soups is linked with bad weather and cold seasons. Soups have warming up qualities. On the other hand, when it’s nice and sunny outside, people tend to reach for salads and cool dishes. Now, don’t ask me when we actually consumed this soup. We won’t go there.
Cooking vegetables has never been my favorite thing to do, let alone eating cooked vegetables. Things like broccoli and cauliflower have never entered my digestive system cooked. I just can’t get past the texture of these vegetables when they are fully cooked. I gave broccoli a try once by steaming it and then gently sauteing in olive oil, but that was the extent of it. I prefer them so much more in their raw form in a salad, that I do not mind at all. I quite enjoy their crunchiness. Now, when it comes to soups it’s a different story all together, because I mush the heck out of them.
I’ve gotten accustomed to putting grilled chicken breast into my soup. It gives it a very nice flavor and texture. I guess that’s what’s left from my past and the conviction that soup means meat….
We had this dish couple of days ago, when I started my “inventive mood”. I was making one soup a day and suddenly felt like I needed to break it up a little. The temperature outside was rising and I kept feeding my boys these hot soups and from the looks on their faces I deduced that they might soon fire me from my cooking duties for making them suffer through yet another bowl of hot soup. So I decided to reach for inspiration to Randy’s favorite restaurant (Oliver’s) and our latest visit there. We both had the same dish, which was linguine and chicken in some extremely rich creamy-cheesy sauce. Yes, I know that was sinful, but we went there in celebration of a year since our first face-to-face meeting, so we made an exception. I remember the sauce was so rich that I was unable to finish it, even though it was quite delicious. So part of my inspiration came from that meal at Oliver’s, even though the only ingredient that both of the meals share is the chicken. Now I needed to find something that would replace the heavy cream that was surely used in the meal at Oliver’s and I decided it would have to be Silken Soft Tofu. I’ve used it before, so I knew the consistency was just perfect for making sauces and dips. I also got inspired by that picture on the box on your right, even though, mine looks nothing like it.
So here is my invention. Mind you, it’s not even half as sinful as the one at Oliver’s….
My mom used to have some staple recipes of her own when I was growing up. One of them would have been her famous breaded chicken breast. Every time she’d buy some boneless chicken breasts, we knew that our favorite meal would have been served that day. Sometimes she would switch it around a bit and use pork chops instead, for a little bit of a different taste and texture. To soften up the meat, she would pound it flat first and that way any stubborn pork transformed itself into a manageable piece of meat. The meat would get seasoned, usually just with salt and pepper. Then she’d take a whole egg or two and beat it to have a wet mixture to dip the meat in. Then she would prepare the breading that consisted only of white bread breadcrumbs. Next, she’d dip the meat in the egg and in the breading twice each and fry the meat in canola oil. There was something about that meal that we all loved. It was probably its simplicity and its homeyness.
Even though it was home made, today I opt for a healthier version of this meal. I found a very similar recipe in one of the Clean Eating magazines, but unfortunately couldn’t follow it very closely because it called for Whole-Wheat Panko and at the time I made this meal I had never heard of this Panko business. Mind you, since then I have found it in Sobeys!! So I will be trying this with the real thing. For this one I substituted Panko with Whole Wheat Bran and flax seed. As for spices, I guess you can be as creative as you’re comfortable with. The egg white can also be substituted with low-fat buttermilk. You can marinate the meat in buttermilk overnight to give it more flavour.
I wonder if my mom would enjoy my Not-so-breaded chicken as much as we loved hers…..
I have to say I’ve never been a big fan of the family of squash, but squash soup seems to be a very popular pick among the cooks I’ve been following. So much so that I had to give it a try myself. I do like it, but it certainly can’t beat my pea soup. It’s a little bit too sweet for my liking, not so much for my family members who just pronounced the soup too spicy Yes, my critics can be very harsh. What happens with these inventions of mine is that I try very hard for them not to come out too bland. Having grown up on my mom’s cooking that was always very safe (read: bland) I developed somewhat of an aversion towards foods that haven’t been appropriately seasoned.
This is what you will need:
Butternut Squash or any Squash that you have on hand
5-6 carrots
2 small onions
olive oil
Low fat chicken stock and water to cover the veggies
Salt, pepper, chili flakes, paprika, garlic powder, rosemary
So, one might think that I have become obsessed with making soup and they would not be very far from the truth. So I want to perfect my soup-making skills…… and? On top of that I was home all day today and felt somewhat bad about not contributing to my house duties as I should have as of late due to my wicked work schedule.
I sort of planned this one yesterday when I conveniently slipped a package of green split peas in the shopping cart. I just wanted this soup to come out looking more colorful than my previous ones and I aimed at green. It’s not the kind of green I’m used to (see any of my flower shots) but it will have to do. The soup itself is 100% my invention and I must say I enjoyed eating it almost as much as making it. My taste buds give it a Divine rating. My lovely tester (aka Randy) is yet to give it his rating…..
So, here is what you will need if you’d like to give your taste buds something to rave about:
1 pkg of green split peas
2 yellow onions
LOTS of garlic
1 cup of low fat, low sodium organic chicken stock
So part of my inspiration came from that meal at Oliver’s, even though the only ingredient that both of the meals share is the chicken. Now I needed to find something that would replace the heavy cream that was surely used in the meal at Oliver’s and I decided it would have to be Silken Soft Tofu. I’ve used it before, so I knew the consistency was just perfect for making sauces and dips. I also got inspired by that picture on the box on your right, even though, mine looks nothing like it.
Yes, my critics can be very harsh. What happens with these inventions of mine is that I try very hard for them not to come out too bland. Having grown up on my mom’s cooking that was always very safe (read: bland) I developed somewhat of an aversion towards foods that haven’t been appropriately seasoned.
