Minestrone Soup

Minestrone is Italian for “big soup”. Traditionally, it’s a vegetable soup with beans and pasta in it. It’s also meant to be a mix and match deal. Substitute ingredients freely when you’re making this. You can add meat, greens like kale or spinach or omit ingredients your family doesn’t enjoy. Have fun; be creative.

Ingredients: 

• 1 Tablespoon oil
• 1 medium onion, diced (about 1 cup)
• 1 cup diced carrot (about 2 medium carrots)
• 1 cup diced celery (about 2 stalks)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 cups of beef, vegetable or chicken stock
• 2 cups of water
• 540 ml/ 19 oz can beans or lentils
• 1 cup diced potatoes
• 1 cup diced zucchini
• 1 cup shredded cabbage
• 1 can (796 ml/ 28 oz) tomatoes
• 1 cup dried pasta (any small shape)
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon dried basil (1 Tablespoon fresh)
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano (1 Tablespoon fresh)
• ½ teaspoon dried thyme (2 teaspoons fresh)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1.  Cook the pasta in boiling water until tender, drain and set aside.

2.  Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion, carrot, celery and sauté until the vegetables have softened.

3.  Add the rest of the ingredients (except for the reserved pasta) and simmer for 20-30 minutes.

4.  Put some of the cooked pasta in a bowl and ladle the hot soup over it. Serve with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese (optional).

We cook the pasta separate from the soup because the pasta stays firm instead of becoming mushy when it’s put into the soup. This recipe makes a big pot with plenty for leftovers. Cooking the pasta seperately means the next day's soup is still awesome, instead of starchy.  

Salmon Patties

Ingredients: 

1 – small can of salmon, approximately 200 g – drained, bones removed.

½ small onion, minced finely

1 egg

1/3-1/2 c bread crumbs.

Oil for frying

Directions:

1.     Mash drained salmon in a small bowl.

2.     Mix with minced onion.

3.     Add one egg, lightly beaten and mix well.

4.     Add 1/3 c of bread crumbs and mix. If the mixture is too wet, add more bread crumbs until it becomes firm enough to handle.

5.     Divide mixture into 3 small balls or 2 larger balls. Flatten into patties.

6.     In a frying pan, heat oil over medium-high heat. Fry patties 2 minutes each side or until nicely browned.

Makes 3 “child-sized” patties or 2 “adult sized” patties.

Borscht (beet) soup

Beets are cheap and plentiful this time of the year. This recipe also freezes well, so make an extra pot and freeze it meal-sized portions for your family later this winter.

Ingredients:

• 454 g package pork sausage or ground pork (optional)
• 2 litres / 8 cups  beef or vegetable stock (or water)
• 3 medium beets, peeled and shredded
• 3 carrots, peeled and shredded – about 1-1/2 cups
• 3 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped – about 1 cup
• 156 ml (5.5 oz) can tomato paste
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/2 medium head cabbage, cored and shredded – about 2 cups
• 796 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tablespoon vinegar
• 1 teaspoon horseradish (optional)
• 1 teaspoon dried dill weed (optional)
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 teaspoon white sugar, or to taste
• 1/2 cup sour cream, for topping (optional)
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley for garnish (optional)

Directions:

1. If using it, crumble the sausage or ground pork into a skillet over medium-high heat. Cook and stir until no longer pink. Add chopped onions and garlic and sauté briefly. Remove from the heat and set aside.
2. If not using pork, heat a small amount of oil in a skillet and sauté the onions, then garlic until the onion is soft.
3. In a large soup pot, bring stock or water to a boil. Add the beets, and cook for 10 minutes.  Add the carrots and potatoes, and cook until tender, about 15 minutes. Add the cabbage, and the can of diced tomatoes.
4. Add vinegar, dill weed and/or horseradish to the pot if you are using these ingredients.
5. Stir in tomato paste and additional water (if needed) until well blended. You may chose to puree half of the pot in a blender or use a stick (immersion) blender to puree the soup right in the cooking pot. It should not be completely smooth – leave some chunkiness to it. Add the cooked pork to the pot and stir well. Let stand for 5 minutes. Taste, and season with salt, pepper and sugar if necessary.
6. Ladle into serving bowls, and garnish with sour cream and fresh parsley (optional).  

 

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.