A New Italian Wedding

I've always been a soup lover-I could probably live on it for the rest of my life and be quite content.
I'll admit, sometimes in the middle of the summer it does feel a little too warm for soup, but I can't seem to go very long without making some anyway. The second I see a hint of a thunderstorm headed our way, or the first signs of autumn, I start thinking about all the soup recipes I want to try.

A lot of the time though, soup is a way for me to cook a seemingly well rounded meal even if I desperately need to go grocery shopping and feel like we hardly have anything in the house to cook with.
There are some frozen, and dry pantry staples that I almost always have stocked that often end up in a soup of some sort.

Last week I made this soup for our family and it went over really well, even with the little miss. We were all pretty surprised by how closely it tasted to the Italian Wedding soup from East Side Mario's. (one of our favorite restaurants.)

The ingredients are unconventional, but they work surprisingly well in this traditional soup.
And the best part is that it cooks up really fast, without much work at all.
Of course you could make this with ground pork or ground beef, but the point of this was total convenience, using common freezer ingredients, and NOT having to thaw ground meat, break out the bread crumbs and roll out a bunch of little meatballs.

All you need is:
Chicken stock (or water and bouillon powder)

6 frozen hamburger patties (plain, not the grilled, smokey flavoured kind. Can even be turkey, or veggie burgers)
2 blocks of frozen spinach (about 4 cups of chopped spinach, fresh, frozen or canned.)

1 chopped onion (optional) 

Tiny pasta, like orzo or Acini de Pepe (I've even done this with brown rice.)
Dried basil and garlic powder and black pepper for seasoning

Lemon juice or vinegar
Parmesan cheese for garnish

I know, the hamburger patty thing seems really weird, but hear me out.
A while back, my husband and I hit up a sale at a local gourmet grocery store and bought frozen hamburgers, only $5 for 20. Twenty! and with the prices of ground beef right now, that's a steal.
We bought 4 bags to feed to the deep freezer, thinking that they'd be great in a pinch, and we were planning several bbqs this summer.

Fast forward a couple of months...I'm trying to figure out what to make for dinner one night. I realized that we had everything to make chili but beef, turkey, (ground meat of any kind.)
I often even use textured vegetable protein (aka TVP)  in chili, but we were out of that as well.

Then I had a flash back to my college days when I remembered scavenging my freezer and using a veggie burger patty to make a two serving pan of vegetarian chili. I remembered the bags of frozen hamburgers in our basement freezer and grabbed some.
It worked so well in the chili that I used it the next week in pasta sauce, and then in soups etc.

Here's how it works:

Take the 6 frozen beef, turkey or veggie patties, and put them in your pan. Add about a 2 quarts of stock (or water if you're going to do the bouillon method.) Boil those suckers over medium heat until they're cooked through, and even a little overcooked.
Use a potato masher to break them up into tiny, pebble sized pieces. This is a great job for an eager-to-help child. 

And yes, you *could* use a knife, but the potato masher is actually easier. (and depending on your pan, you might scratch it while using the knife. And if you wanted to avoid that, you'd have to remove the patties and get out a cutting board and then this would involve way more work than it's supposed to, so just go with it. Use the potato masher!)

Throw in your onion, 3 more quarts of stock, spinach (drain it if you're using canned), 

3 tbsp of basil (yes, lots. Even more if you have the spunk. More basil will not ruin this soup.)

2 tbsp of lemon juice, or vinegar (the lemon juice is best, but the vinegar will do.)

Garlic powder-this is up to you, it just depends on how much garlic you like. I did about a 3 tsp for the whole pot. I like it best if I can taste the basil more than the garlic.

Bring this to a boil, make sure that the spinach is broken up and completely defrosted if you started from frozen.
Add 1.5 cups of the pasta and return to a boil until the pasta is cooked through. (If you use brown rice, use only 1 cup, and you'll need to boil it a little longer.)
You could add more pasta if you like, but it will be less brothy-so it really just depends on you, and how thin or thick you like your soup.

I usually fine tune the seasonings at the end, adding pepper, more bouillon if needed, sometimes more lemon juice etc.

Serve, and garnish with Parmesan cheese and fresh basil if you're lucky enough to have it!

Enjoy! (and let me know how you liked it!)

Spring Creamy Dill Asparagus Soup

Aside from grilling it, this is by far, my favorite way to eat Asparagus. Not that I'd ever complain about eating Asparagus at all-it's one of my favorite vegetables. But in a creamy soup, paired with some tangy dill and black pepper,  you just can't go wrong.

This Recipe serves 8 pretty generously, but between Zeke and I,  it's gone in no time. We'll eat it over the course of a couple of days until it's gone...and then we'll make more.

Spring Creamy Dill Asparagus Soup

2 slivered shallots

5 cloves of garlic, minced

1/4 cup butter

4 whole sage leaves

8 tbsp of flour

1 tbsp ground black pepper

4 cups chicken (or vegetable) stock

6 cups whole milk (Keep 1/2 cup aside)

4 cups chopped asparagus

4 tbsp dill, plus extra for garnish

Sea salt, to taste.

Melt butter over medium heat, and add shallots, garlic and sage,  and increase the heat. Let the shallots and garlic fry, while stirring continuously. Allow them to brown until they're almost crispy. Add in black pepper.
Reduce the heat, and slowly stir in 4 of the tbsp of butter, until  you have a creamy paste.

Once you have a flour paste with an even consistency, slowly stir in 5.5 cups of milk.

 I like to use a whisk at this point to avoid lumps. Once your milk is mixed thoroughly with the butter paste, add the stock and bring to a low boil. Add the asparagus and the dill and let cook approximately 5 minutes (or to whatever point YOU want the asparagus at. I like to leave mine a touch crunchy.) 

Whisk together the remaining half cup of milk with the remaining 4 tbsp of flour in a separate bowl until smooth. Then slowly add to the rest of the soup while stirring.
Keep it over a medium heat for another couple of minutes while it thickens.
Season with salt to taste and you're all set.

Garnish with dill, (and sour cream too, if you're feeling extra fancy) and serve it with some good,  crusty bread.

Enjoy!

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Vetkoek and Curry Chicken

This is a recipe that one of my friends from South Africa shared with me a few years ago. She said that this was  usually the Sunday afternoon favorite that her Grandmother would make when the whole family came for dinner.

I've made it quite a few times and it's definitely a favorite around here too. There's usually a bit of a fight over who gets the last sandwich.

These make also fantastic picnic sandwiches-so much more fun than boring old white bread and bologna!

Vetkoek (pronounced FET-cook) is the bread portion of the sandwich, made from a very simple dough recipe, and then deep fried.

I never said that this was a terribly healthy meal.


The filling is basically a curried chicken salad. There was no definite recipe for this-all my friend said is that everyone made their chicken salad differently.

I've come up with our own variation for the Chicken Salad though, and i'll share it as well.

Of course, you could top these with something else if you wanted. If you're going to do the Chicken Salad, I'd suggest making that first. The Vetkoek is best when it's piping hot and crispy.
I make mine in a stand mixer, but this is easily made by hand as well.

For the Vetkoek: (makes about 14 generously sized buns)


7 cups Flour (all-purpose flour)
1 teaspoons Salt
2 tablespoons Sugar
2 tablespoons yeast
Lukewarm water
Cooking oil (for frying)


Stir the water into the yeast and let it sit a few minutes. Then add in the sugar and salt.
Slowly stir in the flour. You may need a little more, or slightly less. You don't want the dough to be too wet, you want to be able to handle it. You don't want it terribly dry though either.
Think a slightly wetter pizza dough.

Once your dough is mixed, knead it for a few minutes and then let it rise for about 30 minutes. 
Once it's finished rising, start heating the oil in a cast iron skillet. The oil should be about an inch deep. Heat the oil to 375f.

While the oil warms up, with floured hands, pull off balls of dough that are slightly smaller than a tennis ball, roll and flatten into a patty, as if you were making a hamburger. 

You don't want these to be too thick, or the outside will be done long before the inside.
Around an inch thick is perfect-they'll puff up as they fry.

Once the oil is thoroughly heated, fry them for about 2-3 minutes on each side, and then set aside to drain on paper towels.
In a couple minutes they'll be cool enough to slice open for the chicken salad.
For the Curried Chicken Salad:


3 Chicken breasts, cooked, boned and cubed/shredded (or equal amount of dark meat. No chicken discrimination here!)
4 tablespoons of Mayonnaise
1/2 cup of diced carrots
1/3 cup diced minced pickle
1 medium apple, cored and diced
1/2 yellow onion, minced
3 tablespoons curry powder
Salt and Pepper, to taste

I know, apple sounds like a really strange ingredient for chicken salad, but trust me, it's amazing. You don't have to follow this recipe exactly either-this is just how we like it.

Spread the chicken salad onto your freshly fried vetkoek, and garnish with a dilly, kicker of a pickle. 
You know those fancy pickles sitting on your pantry shelves, the ones that you've been waiting to open for the perfect, most deserving meal? Now would be the time.
Enjoy!


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Special Days -Spicy Mango Ketchup

Hot chicken tacos-corn tortilla with chicken, shredded cabbage, diced grapes and spicy mango ketchup.

Yesterday Zeke and I had a "special" day. We do this now and then-my Mom will take one of the boys to her house for some alone time with her, and the other will stay home to hang out with his Mama. The boys started calling these "special days" when they were quite little, and it stuck.

One of Zeke's favorite "special" things to do is cook, especially if he gets to make up a secret recipe.
This one is no secret though as I've made it quite a few times. Sometimes I make it with all peaches, but usually Mangoes.

 Unfortunately, I'm notorious for letting fruit go soft in the fridge. And once that happens to a Mango, it's only good for few things-such as chutney or hot sauce!
Hint: fruit off of the reduced rack makes really good preserves!!

This recipe makes a nice, thick sauce (like ketchup) that goes great with just about anything. It goes really well with samosas! The perfect mix of sweet/spicy.

The recipe is pretty simple: yields 8 pints

• 7 mushy mangoes. They don't really have to be mushy, but they do need to be ripe!
• 4 peaches or an extra mango
• 15 Asian chili peppers.

You can use any other hot pepper for this-but please know that Asian chilis are really small. If you go using a different type of pepper that is larger, don't use 15. I'd say maybe 7 Jalapenos, scotch bonnets etc. For Habaneros, maybe 4. You want to enjoy this! The heat level with 15 chili peppers is about the same as Tabasco, maybe a little hotter. It isn't so hot though that my boys can't have it.

• 1 cup lime or lemon juice
• 1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar or any other vinegar-but if you're canning it, make sure that it's 5% acidity or higher.
• 3 tsp of pickling salt, or kosher salt
• 3 tbsp Honey
• 2 tsp whole mustard seeds
• 1 tbsp curry powder Optional. I've made this with and without the curry. I find that the sauce is a little more versatile if you don't put the curry in, but then again, it's really yummy if you do. If you're a curry fan, go for it.

Peel and dice up the mangoes, and throw into a non reactive pot. (if you're planning on preserving that is. If you're freezing or just putting in your fridge, it really doesn't matter what you cook it in.)

Chop the peppers up as fine as possible, and depending on the heat intensity you want, discard some or all of the seeds. With Asian chili peppers, I leave the seeds in, same with Jalapenos. For hotter peppers though, you might want to leave those out. It's really up to you though.

Put all the ingredients in with the Mangoes, and bring to a low boil. Let this simmer until the Mango pieces are easily *squishable* against the side of the pan. The riper the mango, the quicker this will be.

Then remove from the heat and put through a strainer. This isn't absolutely necessary if you want a few chunks here and there. If you're planning on putting it all in a squirt type bottle though, you'll want to strain it.
There's also the option of pouring it all in a blender. I hate washing my blender though (and where I have it stored right now I can't even reach it)...so I usually pass on that.
With the strainer though, in the end there really isn't much to discard, since you can force just about all of it through. A foodmill would work well too.
Once it's strained (or blended) you can either put it in jars and seal it (open kettle is fine for this) or put some in your fridge and freeze the rest.
I usually save some large soy sauce bottles for things like this, and this recipe will make about two large bottles. One goes straight to the fridge (keeps about 6 months-but never lasts that long!), and the other goes in the freezer.

Some ways to eat your Mango Ketchup:
Tacos
Bbq'd sausages or burgers
Rice with cilantro, green onions and grilled chicken
Samosas
Butter chicken
Toast with melted goats cheese and prosciutto 
Perogies
Casseroles...The list goes on.

Get creative, and enjoy!

Lemony Poppy Seed Loaf

Ok, who are we kidding? We call it loaf, but it's really cake. Fluffy, sweet, lemony goodness.

I made this last weekend-I was craving something sweet and tangy and wanted to make something to have on hand for when family was over.

My picky little 3 year old niece was the only one who wasn't a fan. She said "I can't like them little dirt balls" (poppy seeds) and wouldn't even try it. Oh well, more for us!

I couldn't find a recipe that I was really thrilled with...I wanted something that was worth my time.

(I'm getting really stingy with time, seeing as I have swollen ankles, and time until baby is rather limited.)

So I played around with an older recipe I had that was only so-so, and actually took the time to write down what I put in it, just in case it turned out. I can't count the times that I've made something really yummy, but then forgotten what the ingredients were, let alone what the measurements were!

Lemon Poppy Seed Loaf (cake)

makes 2 loaves or one large bundt, Set oven to 325. Bake for approx 50 minutes. Butter and flour your pans beforehand and set aside.

1.5 cups sugar

4 tbsp grated lemon

1.5 cups butter (use the real deal.)

6 eggs

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

2 tsp pure vanilla

3 cups flour

1/3 cup poppy seeds

1 tsp salt

1tsp baking soda

3/4 cups sour cream

Icing: Lemon juice, Icing sugar, lemon zest.

Start by juicing and grating your lemon (s). I had a really big one, so I only needed one. You really could get by with bottled lemon juice and skip the zest...but it might not be quite as yummy.

Stir the zest into the sugar really well. This starts to release the lemon's oil into the sugar.

(I know, this sounds goofy. I heard it on a cooking show though once, so I figure that they know what they're talking about...or not. Just play along.)

Begin to cream the eggs and butter. It helps if your butter is already softened.

One thing that I have noticed though is the difference between regular grocery store chicken mill eggs and organic/free range eggs.

 If you want your cake to turn out really yellow, naturally, use organic or free range. The yolks are so much more bright and sunny compared to those poor ol' chicken mill eggs. Those sad chickens never see the light of day!
We're lucky to be able to buy free range really reasonably from a nearby Amish farm. 

Slowly add the lemon juice. If your butter wasn't soft already, it should break up a little easier now.

Pour the mixture you have so far into a mixer if you have one. You can do this entirely by hand if you don't, or you can use a hand mixer.

Squirt in a little vanilla, just for kicks.

Start to beat it up, you don't want the butter to be completely dissolved though. Try to get it to the consistency of small curd cottage cheese. Then Add the sour cream.

While that's mixing at a low setting, add your poppy seeds to your flour and stir them together. Also Add the salt, baking soda and baking powder.

Once it's thoroughly mixed, add it very slowly to the wet mixture, stirring constantly.

Once it's all added in, try to stir/mix it quickly to get it fluffed up a bit.

Pour into your two buttered/floured loaf pans (or one bundt.)  And then pop them in the oven for about 50 (agonizing) minutes at 325. Check the middle with a knife to see if it's cooked through.

Pull them out and let them cool about 10 minutes before turning them out onto a cooling rack or cutting board. While they're cooling is a perfect time to make your icing.

When it comes to icing I don't really measure. I just pour the icing sugar into a bowl and slowly add squirts of lemon juice, bits at a time, stirring, until I get the consistency I want.

This icing is supposed to be drizzly, runny type, so use a little more lemon juice than you normally would. You can also throw in some lemon zest if you like.

Drizzle the icing over the loaf however you like. I let the boys do ours, so we got a really fun little pattern.

Let it sit until the icing hardens up, and then slice.

 (or don't, and just eat it while it's all sticky. Your call.)

Hide the other loaf from your husband and children so that you'll actually be able to get your very own slice when they aren't looking.

Enjoy!