Friday, December 25, 2009
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Cauliflower 'Cream' Soup. Yeah, it's healthy
Just in time for the nasty winter weather I made some cauliflower soup. Since there's been discussion about Alton and weight loss, I guess this one can fall into the healthy category as well. It is a cream style soup but uses no cream, so it's really low fat and has lots of whatever good stuff is to be found in the veggies used. Also, it was be made vegetarian or have sausage added. I had one of the PBS stations on in the background while I was working the other weekend and noticed this dish on Sara Moulton's show and also on some vegetarian show too. It's a really easy soup to add your own touches to and the following is what I cobbled together.
The first thing on the list is cauliflower, the size of which will determine the rest of your volumes. I was surprised at how many recipes I found on the Net specified exactly how much of what you need when a head of cauliflower can vary greatly. The ingredient list is what I ended up using with a pretty large head of locally grown cauliflower. If you're picking one up from the grocery store, it's likely to be smaller and you can certainly make a smaller batch, just adjust the volumes accordingly. Secondly, as I mentioned, you can used sausage or leave it out for a vegetarian (or just lower fat) soup. And lastly, adding greens gives the final product a great texture and for this you can also use whatever piques your taste buds.
Ingredients:
1 head cauliflower (roughly chopped)
1-2 quarts chicken or veg. broth ( I used 2 quarts)
1/2 pound of sausage, chorizo/andouille/Italian*, etc. sliced (optional)
1 onion (roughly chopped)
1-2 Yukon or other waxy potato (peeled and roughly chopped)
Greens such as kale, spinach, mustard, etc. if desired
1. Get out your favorite soup pot and cook the sausage slices, then remove the slices for later use.
2. Sweat the onion, add some oil if not using sausage
3. Add the cauliflower, potato (you can reserve some florets to add later if you want a chunkier soup)
4. Add enough broth to cover the veggies and simmer for about 10 minutes until soft
5. Run the soup through a blender in batches or hit it with an immersion blender (much easier) until smooth
6. If adding extra veg. to your soup, such as cauliflower florets or heavy greens like kale*, add them now and simmer for a few minutes to soften. This is also a good time to add the sausage back in to the mix or keep on the side for serving time if you have picky eaters.
7. Add any extra seasonings to taste, such as salt & pepper, hot pepper flakes, lemon juice, hot sauce, nutmeg, etc.
* I used baby spinach for the texture, so I only added what I needed when reheating the soup since it will get soggy quickly. I used sweet fennel Italian sausage and it gave off a little too strong of a flavor after melding in the fridge overnight.
Enjoy! If you have any tips or personal variations please feel free to share!
The first thing on the list is cauliflower, the size of which will determine the rest of your volumes. I was surprised at how many recipes I found on the Net specified exactly how much of what you need when a head of cauliflower can vary greatly. The ingredient list is what I ended up using with a pretty large head of locally grown cauliflower. If you're picking one up from the grocery store, it's likely to be smaller and you can certainly make a smaller batch, just adjust the volumes accordingly. Secondly, as I mentioned, you can used sausage or leave it out for a vegetarian (or just lower fat) soup. And lastly, adding greens gives the final product a great texture and for this you can also use whatever piques your taste buds.
Ingredients:
1 head cauliflower (roughly chopped)
1-2 quarts chicken or veg. broth ( I used 2 quarts)
1/2 pound of sausage, chorizo/andouille/Italian*, etc. sliced (optional)
1 onion (roughly chopped)
1-2 Yukon or other waxy potato (peeled and roughly chopped)
Greens such as kale, spinach, mustard, etc. if desired
1. Get out your favorite soup pot and cook the sausage slices, then remove the slices for later use.
2. Sweat the onion, add some oil if not using sausage
3. Add the cauliflower, potato (you can reserve some florets to add later if you want a chunkier soup)
4. Add enough broth to cover the veggies and simmer for about 10 minutes until soft
5. Run the soup through a blender in batches or hit it with an immersion blender (much easier) until smooth
6. If adding extra veg. to your soup, such as cauliflower florets or heavy greens like kale*, add them now and simmer for a few minutes to soften. This is also a good time to add the sausage back in to the mix or keep on the side for serving time if you have picky eaters.
7. Add any extra seasonings to taste, such as salt & pepper, hot pepper flakes, lemon juice, hot sauce, nutmeg, etc.
* I used baby spinach for the texture, so I only added what I needed when reheating the soup since it will get soggy quickly. I used sweet fennel Italian sausage and it gave off a little too strong of a flavor after melding in the fridge overnight.
Enjoy! If you have any tips or personal variations please feel free to share!
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Time Article: How Celebrity Chefs are Losing Weight
A friend just forwarded a Time Magazine article on chefs and weight loss. Model Diets: How Celebrity Chefs are Losing Weight opens with some comments from Alton Brown. It sounds like he's gone off the health nut deep end a bit. Instead of eating healthier, he's eliminating foods since he views it as a habit and obviously a pretty bad habit. "You don't cut back on heroin, you don't cut back on smoking; you either quit or you don't," says Brown, who now snacks incessantly on avocados, sardines and almonds, having given up almost everything bad for him. "I decided there were foods I was just not going to have. I've probably had three tons of French fries in my life. I don't need any more French fries." The irony is that I just made his GE chips and fish the other day while reading his latest book! When I see this type of all or nothing attitude from people, I wonder if there's an underlying self-control issue. It's the reverse of saying, 'hey I'm overweight already, why not eat a lot more fries?' A lot of people have commented on how AB hasn't been looking too healthy after the big weight drop, which has to make you question how 'healthy' the process was and how far it's going to go. Makes you wonder what kind of foods we'll see on Good Eats from now on.
The other thing that stood out in the article was the mention that Alton is thinking about writing a book about how he lost 50 pounds. The hair stood up on the back of my neck and images of Rachel Ray popped into my head. Could a talk show be in AB's future?!
The other thing that stood out in the article was the mention that Alton is thinking about writing a book about how he lost 50 pounds. The hair stood up on the back of my neck and images of Rachel Ray popped into my head. Could a talk show be in AB's future?!
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Busy Times Abound
I've been busy this past week or so with computer upgrades and family activities, so haven't had much spare time for posting! My new Alienware system is up and running, but I still have to go through the laborious task of transfering files and downloading all those little programs, like Adobe and Flash, that we need nowadays. On the family front: wee took our daughter to cut down her first Christmas tree and had a nice day out at the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village yesterday. I also learned the hard way that Scotch pine needles are not vacuum friendly! At least I finally have a really good excuse to buy a new vacuum :-)
Hope everybody's holiday plans are ramping up nicely!
Hope everybody's holiday plans are ramping up nicely!
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