Friday, January 13, 2017

Nourish Thyself

 Many bloggers choose a 'word of the year', and considering that I've been cooking up so many soups this winter in the Crock Pot, which is an appliance seeing a great deal of use in our kitchen over the past number of years, I am choosing the word 'nourish'
 It's what so many of us do on a daily basis.... my husband included, who loves to cook, but at times enjoys a break from it and allows me to make a few things that I enjoy.
My specialty is crock pot cooking.  I leave the fancier things for him, but blending a lot of flavors all together in one big pot, especially during the winter months is what I am all about.
 AND, although I DO enjoy his cooking, nearly all of his recipes are tomato based.  Give me a great chicken based pot of soup and I am one happy little wife.
 *photographed through the crock pot lid*
The thing about soups is that you can follow a recipe 100%, or you can simply read a recipe, get the gist of what flavors it contains and then simply punt.

Sooooo, here's what I made, and I did allow my husband to assist with the slicing and dicing of the veggies simply because with two of us working on this, we were in and out of the kitchen twice as fast.
 
 I wanted a BIG pot of soup so that we had enough to freeze for the long, cold winter ahead of us, which if the past couple of weeks' temperatures return, we will need plenty of hot nourishment.
RECIPE
Ham, Potato and Veggie Soup

Two 32oz cartons 'unsalted' chicken broth
Sliced or cubed ham
Handful of cubed potatoes.  I used baby reds, but it's your choice as to what kind of potatoes you use.
Three sliced carrots
Two stalks sliced celery
Cauliflower (sliced flourets)
Two cans white/northern beans (drained and rinsed)
Three or four cloves of garlic (sliced)
A few shakes of parsley
Two bay leaves

Two hours before we ate we addded sliced cabbage, but only a cup since I did not want this to become 'cabbage' soup, which I had made not so long ago.  I wanted to taste the ham, potatoes and the beans more than the cabbage this time around.

We rarely use measurements when making soups, so you will simply need to play with the amounts you use.
To us, soups are generally 'whatever you throw into the pot', and they always taste delicious.
We also try to use unsalted broth since the ham has salt.

Here are links to other ham soups if you need more specific measurements and directions.... my recipes, although yummy, are for the not so faint hearted cooks who don't need exact measurements.

Classic Ham and Bean Soup by Susie at Simply Sated (looks delicious!)
Crock Pot Ham and Bean Soup by Holly at Spend With Pennies

Eat well.
Stay nourished and warm.
Ciao!

4 comments :

  1. Nothing like the smell of soup slow cooking on a cold day! It's great to make enough to freeze for future meals...especially if you're rushed. We made a taco soup yesterday with a recipe from Pinterest...actually it was three recipes and we adapted the ingredients to our own taste. Hubs thought he had a can of tomatoes but it was actually enchilada sauce but the soup was excellent. I'm with you...don't want everything dish tomato-based. Enjoy your weekend...it's going to be a cold and soggy one here. xoxo

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  2. Looks and sounds perfect . .
    Copy, Paste, Keep . . .
    I made a new Veggie Chilie recipe . . . need to get busy and post!

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  3. Dinner from a pot, served in a bowl, is wintertime normal here. A big pot of soup, stew, or whatever, usually feeds us for three or four meals ... eat one dinner, freeze the rest. This recipe sounds yummy.

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