Soups on

It's cold, and snowy. The wind is blowing and only on a good days does the sun seem to peak from behind the clouds. To top it all off, it is only half way through January and here we have many more weeks of this to go before the snow starts to melt and the temperature warms up.

So depressing, the winter blahs. At least it is a good excuse to make and eat lots of soup. Here are a couple of recent ones from our kitchen:

Potato, Leek and bacon soup:

• half pound bacon, roughly chopped
  
• 4-5 medium leeks; cleaned, dark green part removed, and sliced thin
  
• 4 small yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cubbed
• 5 cups low sodium chicken broth
  
• 1 cup heavy cream
  
• salt and pepper, to taste

In large pot, cook bacon until starts to turn golden, but not crispy. Add leeks and stirring occasionally, cook until soft, approximately 20 minutes.

Add potatoes and broth to pot. Increase heat to medium-high in order to bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer approximately 45 minutes, or until potato is tender.

Remove from heat. Either using immersion blender, or blender, puree soup until smooth. Slowly stir in heavy cream, and season to taste with salt and pepper.

For a vegetarian option, omit bacon and use 3 tbsp of butter to cook leeks in.

Enjoy!

Italian Turkey soup: (Original recipe courtesy of Epicurious)

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
  
• 1 small onion, chopped
  
• 3 large garlic cloves, chopped
  
• 1 tablespoon dried basil
  
• 1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
  
• 6 cups canned low-salt chicken broth
  
• 1 large zucchini, diced
  
• 2 carrot, diced
  
• 1 9-ounce package fresh cheese tortellini
  
• 2 cups diced cooked turkey

Heat oil in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add bell pepper, onion, garlic, basil, and crushed red pepper and sauté until vegetables are just tender, about 10 minutes. Add broth. Cover pot and simmer 10 minutes. Add zucchini and carrot. Cover and simmer until carrot is almost tender, about 5 minutes. Increase heat to high and bring soup to boil. Add tortellini and boil until tender, about 5 minutes. Add turkey and cook just until heated through, about 1 minute. Season soup to taste with salt and pepper.

Ladle soup into bowls. Serve, passing cheese separately.

Enjoy!

The quintessential summer food

Burger of course! Was there truly any doubt in your mind. Quick, easy to cook on the BBQ on a hot day, and always yummy in your tummy. These ones were even healthy, shocking I know, because we used ground turkey instead of ground beef! They left our taste buds extremely happy too!


Turkey burgers with peanut sauce (From Eat Shrink and be merry)

• 1/2 bottled peanut sauce (light if possible)
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp grated lemon zest
• 1 tsp grated ginger root
• 500g ground turkey
• 1 cup fresh whole wheat bread crumbs
• 1/4 minced green onions
• 2 tbsp minced cilantro
• 1 egg
• salt and pepper
• Buns of choice

Combine peanut sauce, sesame oil, soy sauce, lemon zest and ginger root in small bowl, mix and put aside

In large bowl combine turkey, bread crumbs, onion, cilantro, egg, salt and pepper and 3 tbsp of sauce. Mix and form into patties, and refrigerate until ready to cook.

Preheat bbq, grilling for about 5 minutes per side or until no longer pink. During last 2 minutes of cooking brush burger with reserved sauce.

Sever on toasted buns, with favorite toppings. We just added lettuce and tomato, really they had so much flavor you don't need anything else.

Enjoy!