Minestrone Soup- Slow Cooker Recipe

Hello Sweeties!!! If you are an soup lover and especially love Olive Garden specialty minestrone soup, hang on, I have this recipe that was passed by a very special friend. But if you know me, you very well know I cannot simply stick to the recipe, I have to deviate and wander off to make it my own, some are big hits some are flops. This is a sure shot big hit, maybe because I did not let go of the basic recipe and simply added my own additions. Or maybe because it was cooked in a slow cooker and used stock to enhance flavors and make it more earthy. It is full of good nutrition and zero oil except if you used re-fried beans like me, you would not call it zero oil. Feel free to replace the re-fried beans with any beans of your choice to make it truly a zero oil soup recipe.

You will need;

2 carrots chopped in semi circles

1 stick celery chopped fine

2 sprigs Green onion

1/2 cup spinach

2-3 big florets of broccoli

2-3 cloves garlic-crushed

1 tbspn Italian Seasoning

1 Qt box of vegetable stock

1 cup Pasta-I used elbows

1 can re-fried beans--(Had to use them)-Use any beans you prefer

1 can diced tomatoes or use fresh

1 tsbpn fresh rosemary

6-8 leaves of fresh basil torn

Salt to taste

In a slow cooker insert, add all the above ingredients and let it to cook for 8 hrs on low or 6 hrs high. Enjoy the soup after the slow cooker has done its job well.

Tomato Butternut Squash Soup

Hello Sweeties!!! Today I bring to you a warm and earthy soup, packed with goodness of vitamins and essential fibers. I have been making soups for dinner in winters and snow days as they warm up the bones like no magic drink in cold cold frosty months. Soups in summer have lost all their charm. There is something about cold winters and bowls of warm soups with winter vegetables. 

You will need,
1 cup cubes butternut squash
1 cup diced tomatoes
1/2 onion--diced
1-2 cloves garlic
1 tbspn Italian seasoning
1 tbspn oil
salt to taste
water or stock

In a pressure pan, heat the oil and add garlic and onions, stir till onions are translucent, then add in the butternut squash, add the tomatoes and let it roast till the butternut squash is browned, then add the salt, spices and water and bring a small boil, cover and pressure cook for 2 whistles.

Once cooled, run a stick blender and puree the soup, adjust water to thin it out if needed. Bring it to  a slow simmer  and enjoy the earthy soup with your loved ones. garnish with cream if you like food art.

Vegeterian Bean Soup/Bean Chili Indianized and No meat!!!

Hello Sweet pies!!! I bring to you a warm and spicy soup/chili recipe today. Chili for most Americans means meat, beans and spicy. This is my version of Indianizing the classic American dish to blend with our mixed food habits. Its spicy, and has beans but sadly no meat. Feel free to chop some bean patties or burger patties and add to the soup if you like.

I cooked this soup over stove top, but feel free to use your crock pots and slow cookers. The longer it cooks the better it tastes.


 You will need;
3-4 small 8 oz Cans of assorted beans
* I used corn, black beans, kidney beans, chick peas and Southwest blend of beans.
1 tbspn Oil
1 Can of Crushed Tomatoes

1 Big onion diced

1 Stem of celery diced

1 Tspn Garam masala powder
1 tsp Red chilli powder 
2-3 cloves of garlic chopped
1 inch piece Ginger,chopped
Lemon Pepper Spice Mix- as per taste-- Optional
* *Lemon pepper is a mix of dry lemon, onion/garlic, black pepper and mix of celery salt
Salt to taste 

In a wok, take the oil, heat over medium heat,add the ginger and the garlic, add the onions, celery and dash of salt. Let the mixture cook for 2 minutes, then add the tomatoes and cook till the onion and tomato gets mashed well.

Add canned beans. Adjust the amount of water. I added water till 2 inches above the mixture, adjust the salt. Add in the red chili powder, spice blends and the garam masala. 

Cover with the lid and reduce for good 30-45 min over low to medium heat. Thin it out or enjoy it thick. Top it with some sour cream, tortilla chips or some cheese; the bean soup/veggie chili is sure to impress all.

Ambat Varan- Sour lentil soup

Hello sweeties!!! How is the Holiday shopping and gifting progressing at your end. I am finally done with all the shopping and now what remains is endless hours of packing paper, ribbon and tape. Armed with the supplies I set one weekend morning for packing holiday gifts. We  started celebrating Christmas only after Donut was born. Till then we simply enjoyed others and holiday frenzy. We strolled NYC at midnight on the Christmas eve and watched the lights and window displays at Macy's in NYC. Things gradually changed when Donut was born. The concept of Santa visiting good kids and leaving presents under the tree was born in Ashland. Now we set up the tree, decorate it, bake cookies for Santa, leave carrots and sugar for reindeer and its our annual tradition to leave phone voice messages for Santa in the North Pole and send our wishes and wants to him. Santa is also now a tech geek. Gone are the days you wrote letters to him, he has a phone now with an answering machine. Any doubts that Donut has if Santa really exists are now easy to answer; if he has a phone connection, leaves a  message on his machine is bound to live. Also few goof up about wrong gifts assures his faith in Santa as only Human makes mistakes.

After shopping in the bitter cold, cutting wind and icy air, you need some thing to warm you up. I make soups, warm sandwiches and all, which warms up my bones but the mind is still not satisfied. It craves for moms comfort food. Being an True Indian, I love my rice and dal. I fail to understand why rice would be bad for you. Its a grain which fluffs up by absorbing water, so technically its not what makes you FAT.; its your overeating that makes you fat. Japanese, Chinese and most of the south Asian countries eat rice as staple diet, yet they are not obese. My mom always said NO food is per se bad for you, its just the amount you eat. Eat well and intelligently, it can actually be good for you.
 She always made this ambat meaning sour and varan meaning dal, when we were little under the weather. IT was our own veggie chicken soup substitute. Thin it down and drink as soup, thicken it and enjoy as side dish of tadka dal.. This is one such dal/which I drink as a soup even when I am all well and crave for moms food. Its very easy with minimum ingredients and can be toned to your liking. Its also masala free so easy on your system. Add little jaggry or honey to make it sweet and sour, either ways its a hit hit win.

You will need;
1 Cup cooked and mashed Arhar or toor dal
Salt to taste
1/2 inch Ginger grated
1 tbspn Lemon Juice to sour it(Its again as per your liking)
Cilantro for garnishing

Tempering;
1 tbspn Ghee/ Clarified butter
** do not use oil, the flavour of the ghee is the key with the sourness of the lemon
1 Green Chili slit
3-4 leaves kadi putta/curry leaves
1 and 1/2 tspn Cumin seeds

In a pot thin the cooked dal with water and add salt and grated ginger and set to boil on low heat. Once it comes to a small boil, take a another small wok, heat the ghee on LOW for tempering, once it melts add the cumin, let it sizzle, then add the curry leaves and chilies. The leaves and chili frying in the ghee gives a pleasant aroma in the kitchen, an added bonus on cold tired nights. Add the tempering to the dal and boil again for about 5 minutes. Then switch off the flame and add the lemon juice and stir. Garnish with Cilantro and enjoii as is as a  soup or with rice or roti.

Cream of Broccolli and Sweet Potato soup-- or Cream of Brocsweepo soup.

Hello Dearies, how have you been? I know I am kind of gone now and appearing the next minute. But I am trying to be regular here, I am really trying. Summers are very hectic for most of us. We go out during the day and by dinner time, we are super tired to do any cooking of any sort. But you all will agree with me that the outing to any amusement park, water park and such places costs a bomb for a family of four, so to make up for the costs, I try to cook something before we leave in the morning and at diner time, whats left is just heating it or adding a sandwich or salad or raita. On many occasions, I have roasted rava with veggies for a quick upma, similarly roasted rice with veggies for  a quick pulav or khiachadi and all time favorite is doing these soups. I simply pressure cook few veggies with onion and garlic clove and blend it and freeze it in small batches. When I leave the house, I kind of keep the soup boxes on the counter top, so by evening it comes down to the room temperature, making cooking dinner a breeze after a long tiring day. I had got this idea when I did make my kids food when they were babies. Both refused eating Gerber veggies. With both in daycare, preparing food daily for them at every meal was not an option for me. What  a poor mom to do...quitting my job was not an option for me, so I found this way out, I made and pureed all veggies in small batches every Sunday and filled it in boxes for the week. I guess after you become a MOM you kind of start thinking like  a mom. you find ways to wiggle, trick and treat your kids to healthy meal options. MY younger Munchkin still claims he dislikes Broccoli and my elder one can live on it alone. So to make things easy for me, I make this soup and simply give it a different name for my kids. My elder son is smart and knows the veggies, but for my younger one, we kind of play the game. My Younger son calls it cream of brocsweepo soup. Any name you may give it, this soup is a hands down winner. Even Mr. Ash commented that it did taste like a high end restaurant kind of soup. When he says that, it is a Huge compliment in itself.


You will need;
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped (about 3/4 cup)
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
1 medium Sweet Potato, peeled and cubed
2 cups fresh broccoli, including stems, chopped
2 cups low-sodium, fat-free vegetable broth--I used water, so needed to add salt
1 tbspn Lemon pepper spice powder- Optional, but highly recommended
1/3 cup Heavy cream--(Use Milk if cream makes you fat)

Heat oil on medium heat in a soup pot. Gently saute onion and celery for 3-4 minutes, until onion is softened. Add sweet potato and chopped broccoli, followed by the broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes, until vegetables are tender. Alternatively pressure cook for 1-2 whistles till it gets coked.  If using water adjust salt to taste. Allow soup to cool slightly, then transfer to a blender in 2-3 batches, and blend until smooth. Return soup to pot and heat gently with the cream and the lemon pepper spice powder, until ready to serve. Serve with a sandwich or herbed croutons.

Enjoy the summer with your kids as they will have only these memories to grow up with.

Herbed Croutons

Hello dearies... how is the summer heat and sun treating you all. Our summer has been the usual kind so far, weekends getting busier than the regular weekdays. June was a birthday month where I had been to a minimum of 3 birthdays so far...June is again special for me as My birthday and wedding anniversary is also in this month.

I am trying to get my kids in the kitchen to learn the basics of food and getting used to the idea that even if something fails, it need not see the garbage can, you can still try to save it and make something new from it. Since my idea of making home made pav/rools failed and flopped big time, I had a full batch of rolls/pav on hand which had baked well and tasted even better, but the whole softness and  the melt in your mouth was missing. I followed the recipe to the T, yet it sank my ship. so out of that disaster, these croutons were born. Here in Ashland , we enjoy croutons like  a snack, topped with melted cheese, on salads, or in soups. The recipe as such is very simple, either use store brought bread slices, stale or day old bread works better than soft fresh ones. I made these croutons with  my failed recipe of whole wheat pav/rolls.
 
You will need;
any amount of leftover bread, diced into big cubes
oil enough to coat them
Herbs like black pepper, rosemary, sage and Salt to taste

** YAY!!. the herbs are from my kitchen garden.

***You can  use the garlic rolls, instead of the bread.

I went ahead with simple, dicing the bread, coating with oil, salt and herbs. Spread it on a cookie sheet. Crank the oven to a good 400 degree F, and roast the croutons. Watch them like a hawk as they burn so easily. Turn off the oven just when they change color to a pale brown( I used wheat flour for my bread). IF using any white bread, turn off when it starts getting toasted. Let it stay in the oven for 2-3 mins more and then remove and cool on a wire rack. Once cooled enjoy them in salads, or soups. or if are like us, snack on them.

Palak Tomato Shorba

Oh the weather outside is frightful,
But the fire is so delightful,
And since we've no place to go,
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

Don't you just love this time of the year, when the air is cold and the wind is blowing your hair making you look like a lion and Christmas songs playing everywhere from coffee shops to shopping malls and even buses and trains. Such times after a long day at work, my body craves for some soup, hot comforting and earthy soup. I make soups with whatever veggies I happen to have and need to finish, so whatever is left out during the week gets boiled and tossed into the soup. I have added pumpkin, squash, raddish and even spring onions at times. I had posted my Tomato-Broccoli Shorba some time back. keeping the process the same, I substituted the broccoli with spinach this time around and added some curry powder for the added heat.

to Serve 3 hungry humans, you will need;
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped (about 3/4 cup)
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
1 medium Red Gold potato with skin on, peeled and cubed,
1  cup fresh spinach leaves, including stems, chopped
1.5 cup Tomatoes chopped
2 cups low-sodium, fat-free vegetable broth--I used water, so needed to add salt
1 tspn curry powder-I have medium hot, but use whatever you prefer
Salt and Black Pepper powder as per taste

Heat oil on medium heat in a soup pot. Gently saute onion and celery for 3-4 minutes, until onion is softened. Add potato, tomatoes and chopped spinach, followed by the broth/water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes, until vegetables are tender. If using water adjust salt  and add black pepper powder and curry powder to taste. Heat for another 5-10 minutes. Run this through a stick blender to puree and serve hot with a piece of toast or some steamed rice.

Enjoii and Stay Healthy,

Love Ash.

Tomato-Broccoli Shorba

The winter is slowly approaching and the air is crisp. Thanksgiving is almost here and sooner than we know, X'mas madness will start. Admist all the crazy shopping and gift wrapping, we all will need a comforting warm bowl of soup, hearty and filling. The aroma of soup simmering on the stove brings the sweetness and comfort of home, that can be replaced only by your mom's cooking. Not all can have their moms around, hence this soup is an attempt to give you an excuse to indulge in something soothing during the stress such holidays bring along.

This can aslo be jazzed up and served warm or hot depending on your call of the day, to kickstart any Thanksgiving feast or enjoyed as a meal in itself.

to Serve 3 hungry humans, you will need;
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped (about 3/4 cup)
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
1 medium Red Gold potato with skin on, peeled and cubed,
1  cup fresh broccoli, including stems, chopped
1.5 cup Tomatoes chopped
2 cups low-sodium, fat-free vegetable broth--I used water, so needed to add salt
Salt and Black Pepper powder as per taste

Heat oil on medium heat in a soup pot. Gently saute onion and celery for 3-4 minutes, until onion is softened. Add potato, tomatoes and chopped broccoli, followed by the broth/water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes, until vegetables are tender. If using water adjust salt  and add black pepper powder to taste.

The soup is chunky,therefore run it through a food mill or use a stick blender to puree. The shorba is ready to be served with some, crackers, grilled cheese or some pasta, like I did.

Hope this shorba/soups warms your heart and bone and you enjoy the rush and madness of the Holiday season.

Low Fat Broccoli Soup

There is a chill and crispiness in the air now, the weather is changing and Halloween is right around the corner. Such weather calls for some soup and a nice grilled cheese sandwich to dunk it in. I know Broccoli is not a favourite for everyone, but it is a hit in my home. My son loves Broccoli, and I love soup of any kind and any vegetable. I made this low fat soup by using potato and milk. We were licking the bowls by the end of our meal.

Rec.Source

Add body to low-fat soups by using potato and some low-fat or nonfat milk, then puree the soup in a blender. This low-fat broccoli soup makes a delicious and satisfying lunch/dinner.


You will need;
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped (about 3/4 cup)
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
1 medium Red Gold potato, peeled and cubed
4 cups fresh broccoli, including stems, chopped
2 cups low-sodium, fat-free vegetable broth--I used water, so needed to add salt
1 1/2 cups nonfat milk--I used 2% Milk

Heat oil on medium heat in a soup pot. Gently saute onion and celery for 3-4 minutes, until onion is softened. Add potato and chopped broccoli, followed by the broth and milk. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes, until vegetables are tender. If using water adjust salt to taste.

Allow soup to cool slightly, then transfer to a blender in 2-3 batches, and blend until smooth. Return soup to pot and heat gently until ready to serve.

I served this spoup with cheese and a nice sandiwch. But you can feel free to serve it with anything or plain as is.
 Sending this to cooking4allseasons Soups and Salad event

Love Fall,
Love Ash.
** The round up on these events.