Cream of Broccoli Soup

Broccoli is in season now. It's cheap and easily available. It's also a great source of fibre, calcium, and has a high amount of Vitamin C. One cup of broccoli provides the daily requirement of Vitamin C. It's also a good source of folic acid, which is very important for pregnant women. For people with high blood pressure issues, broccoli is a good source of potassium which is often helpful for those issues. 

This is the time of year to freeze some broccoli for soup later this winter.  Instructions on how to do this are found here. 

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter 1 onion, chopped 1 stalk celery, chopped 3 cups vegetable or chicken broth 8 cups broccoli florets 3 tablespoons butter 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour 2 cups milk 1 Tablespoon of lemon juice Black pepper

Directions:

1.	Melt 2 tablespoons butter in medium sized stock pot, and saute onion and celery until tender. Add broccoli and broth, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
2.	Either puree in a blender or use a stick blender to puree in the cooking pot.  Puree in batches until smooth and pour into a clean pot.
3.	In small saucepan, use medium-heat to melt 3 tablespoons butter, stir in flour. Cook briefly until the flour is absorbed in the melted butter. Add milk slowly and continue stirring. Stir until thick and bubbly, and add to soup.  Stir in the lemon juice and finish seasoning with pepper. Serve warm. Makes 6 servings.

Tortellini Soup

Fresh tortellini are frequently marked down by 50% at various grocery stores. The large family pack makes 2 batches of this delicious and quick soup. Keep an eye out and when the tortellini is marked down in the deli section, buy a pack, split it in two before freezing. That way, you'll always have something quick at hand for those days when time is short and the family is hungry.

Fresh spinach in this is great; however, you can substitute thawed frozen spinach as well.

Ingredients 

• 1- 900 ml box of vegetable, chicken or beef stock or 3 bouillon cubes dissolved in 3-1/2 cups of water.
• 8 oz bag of fresh spinach or 1 box of frozen spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry, roughly chopped
• 540 can of tomatoes
• 350 g of fresh tortellini (about ½ of a ‘family size” package)
• 1 Tablespoon of olive oil (or other suitable oil)
• 4 cloves of garlic
• Basil – about 1 Tablespoon fresh or 1 teaspoon dried.
• Salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Add olive oil to a large flat bottom, heavy pot. Heat the oil over a medium heat. When warm, add the garlic and allow the garlic to warm slightly. Do not use too high a heat or the garlic will burn and become bitter.
2. Add the broth, tomatoes (including juice) and bring to a boil over high heat.
3. Reduce heat, add tortellini and cook for 5 minutes or until tortellini are tender.
4. Stir in basil and spinach, allow it sit for a few minutes to let the spinach wilt.
5. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Maple Syrup Dressing

We pulled this recipe from a cookbook published by the New Brunswick Maple Syrup Association ... YUM, YUM!!! It's simple enough for everyday but fantastic enough for a special occasion.

Ingredients: 

2 Tablespoons maple syrup (30 ml)

1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard (15 ml)

4 Tablespoons red wine vinegar (60 ml)

1/3 cup olive oil (75 ml)

1 clove garlic, finely minced

1 teaspoon fresh fine herbs (5 ml)

½ teaspoon sea salt (2.5 ml)

¼ teaspoon fresh ground pepper (1.25 ml)

Directions:

1      Mix all ingredients together.

2      Let sit for one hour

3      Pour over your favourite salad. It’s particularly good on spinach salads.

Moroccan Chickpea Stew

1 can (540 ml) )chickpeas, rinsed and drained

1 can (796 ml) diced tomatoes – I use no salt added

1 can (4.5 oz) green chilies

1/2 cup diced onions – about one small onion

2 stalks of celery diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup diced sweet potato (optional)

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp ground cumin

1/2 tbsp ground ginger

1 tbsp ground coriander

1/4 cup vegetable broth

4 or 5 frozen spinach pellets or ½ cup of chopped fresh spinach

½ chopped green sweet pepper

Salt and pepper, to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. Saute garlic and onion in olive oil over medium heat for about two minutes.
2. Stir in cumin, ginger and coriander.
3. Add celery and cook until vegetables are tender.
4. Add chickpeas, vegetable broth, green chilies and tomatoes with juice and bring to a boil. Add sweet potatoes if using. Cover and simmer for ten minutes or until sweet potatoes are fork-tender. Add additional water or vegetable broth if it is too thick.
5. Option: stir in some frozen spinach pellets or add ½ green pepper, diced. Remove from heat and let flavours mingle for a few minutes before serving.
6. Serve alone or with brown rice and steamed green beans.

Tomato-basil soup

Tomato –Basil Soup

Adapted from Jamie's Food Revolution by Jamie Oliver

Serves 6-8

Equipment: You will need an immersion (stick) blender, food processor or a regular blender to puree the soup. 

Ingredients

• 2 carrots
• 2 celery stalks
• 2 medium onions
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 3/4 litres vegetable broth
• olive oil
• 796 ml /28 ounce can plum tomatoes
• 6 large ripe tomatoes
• Small bunch of fresh basil
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Crushed red pepper (optional)

Preparation

Peel and roughly slice the carrots, slice the celery, peel and roughly chop the onions and peel and slice the garlic. 

Put the broth in a large saucepan and heat until boiling. Lightly score the bottom of each tomato in an X. Immerse into the broth and leave for 30 seconds. Remove and place into a large bowl of ice water. When tomato has cooled, cut the skin around “the equator”. Skin should peel right off. Set aside.

Put a large saucepan on medium heat and add 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add the chopped ingredients and mix together. Add about 1/4 teaspoon salt. Cook for around 10 minutes with the lid askew until the carrots have softened but are all still holding their shape, and the onion starts to turn color.

Add the boiling broth to the pan with your canned and fresh tomatoes, including the green stalks that may still be attached (provides additional flavor). Stir and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes with the lid on.

Remove the pan from the heat, and season with salt and pepper (you can also add in some crushed red pepper flakes if you'd like) and add the basil leaves. Using an immersion blender, pulse the soup until smooth. Season again before dividing between serving bowls.

Vegetable stock or broth

This is a mildly flavoured stock. Essentially, it is an onion-garlic broth. It is used as the base for soups and other dishes throughout the week. It makes about 3 litres in my 7 litre pressure cooker. I don’t add strong tasting vegetables at this point because I want to retain the versatility of the mild flavour. Broccoli or anything from the cabbage family, asparagus, turnip, beets are avoided at this stage. Potatoes or their peels will make it cloudy. When I make a soup, all those vegetables (and more) can be added. This is also why we never add salt at this stage – salt is added to the final dish and this is just the starter.

Stock is a blessedly imprecise experience. Use what you have on hand. Feel free to add or delete depending on what is in your fridge at the moment. I usually make my vegetable stock in a pressure cooker but I’ve included directions for the stove top in an open stock pot for those who prefer those appliances.

Ingredients:

4-5 large yellow onions, cut in quarters, yellow skin left on

1 head of garlic, cut in half through the cloves

2-3 carrots, scrubbed but not peeled

3-4 stalks of celery – some leaves left on but not too many (bitter)

Dark green trimmings from leeks if they are on hand

2 bay leaves

A jalepeno pepper – remove the seeds and inner membranes if you’re not a “heat” fan

Several sprigs of thyme (or use some dried thyme)

1 large sprig of rosemary (or dried rosemary)

6 dried shitake mushrooms (available from any of the Oriental grocery stores)

Several sprigs of parsley if I have it on hand

NO SALT

Pressure cooker: add water to the maximum fill line, close up the vessel. Heat until it comes to pressure and cook for 30-40 minutes. Allow the cooker to lose heat/pressure naturally. When contents are cool enough to handle, strain out the vegetables and discard them!! (All the taste was just cooked out of them and they’re mush. Compost it – fresh veggies for the soup).

Stock pot on the stove:  depending on the size of your pot, you may want to reduce the quantities by half. Add enough water to fill your pot at least 2/3’s full and not more than 3/4s full. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer about an hour. Remove the lid and let it simmer another 20-30 minutes. Remove from heat. Once cool, strain the vegetables from it and like the previous version, toss those soggy now-tasteless vegetables.

Variation: Toss your vegetables in a bit of olive oil and roast in the oven at 400^o oven for 20 – 30 minutes. Remove the roasted vegetables to pressure cooker or stock pot and proceed from there.

Tip – if you have more than your family will use in a week, freeze some in ice cube trays. Pop them out when frozen into a Ziploc bag for use in other dishes. Since there are no preservatives in this, it can go sour in the fridge. Take it out every second day and bring to a rolling boil for 3 minutes to keep it fresh. What isn’t used inside a week should be discarded.

Easy Wrap Chickpea Sandwich Filling

Ingredients: 

9 oz – 540 ml can chickpeas (garbanzo beans)

1 stalk celery, chopped fine

½ onion chopped fine

1 Tablespoon mayonnaise

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon dried dill weed or 1 Tablespoon fresh dill

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Drain and rinse the chickpeas 

2. Put the chickpeas in a medium sized bowl and mash with a fork. We found using a pastry cutter at the start was helpful. 

3. Add celery, onion, mayonnaise, lemon juice, dill and mix well.

4. Add salt and pepper to taste. 

Serving suggestions: we use this in tortilla wrap sandwiches with a little lettuce and some shredded cucumber or carrot for colour and crunch. 

Tip: You might wish to substitute tzatziki (Greek yoghurt dip) for the mayonnaise for a slightly different flavour.