Ham and Bean Soup

February 28, 2013 by · 2 Comments

Ham and Bean Soup

One of the big surprises in my recent life is that my kids like beans.  I was soooo happy to find that they really liked this soup.  I even put it in their lunch boxes one or two days.

I don’t know what it is, but cooking with dried beans makes me feel super domestic.  Kind of like baking bread from scratch or making homemade chicken broth.  There is just something about making something on your own that we usually buy from the store.  It’s healthier and soooo much better tasting.   Canned beans are a great staple and there are plenty in my pantry, believe me.  However, I do think starting with dried beans makes a big difference in your final product.

I also made Cajun red beans and rice this week and looooooved it!

The little toasts in the picture have a combo of goat cheese, olive oil and fig preserves spread on them and then broiled.  Yes, you should do that if you are wondering.

We still have a few weeks left of soup season.  Try this recipe before it’s too late!

Note:  You can find the bean soup mix in with all the other dried beans at your store.   I think I actually used a 16 bean package which is just fine. It comes with a packet of seasoning.  You can use it in this recipe or leave out.  You may find that you won’t need it.

If you like this recipe you may also want to try these other recipes from Becki’s Whole Life…

 

BBQ Baked Beans – another recipe using dried beans

Mexican Chicken Tortilla Soup – another healthy and super tasty soup

Thai Coconut Chicken Noodle Soup – one of my favorite soups with so much flavor

 

Source:  Slightly adapted from Cooking Light

Ham and Bean Soup
 
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Ingredients
  • 1 (12-ounce) package variety dried seven-bean mix
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 cup chopped onion (1 medium)
  • 4 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 cup chopped carrot (about 2)
  • 1 cup chopped celery (3 ribs)
  • 1 cup chopped green bell pepper
  • 1 cup chopped red bell pepper
  • ¼ cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
  • 2 teaspoons dried basil or 2 tablespoons fresh
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano or 1 tablespoon fresh
  • 1 teaspoon dried thyme or 1 tablespoon fresh
  • ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
  • ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 ham hock – I used about 2 cups of chopped leftover ham
  • 1 (14-ounce) can crushed tomatoes, undrained
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Instructions
  1. Sort and wash beans; place in a large Dutch oven. Cover with water to 2 inches above beans; cover and let stand 8 hours. Drain beans. You can also do a quick soak by bringing the water to boil and then taking the beans off the heat to soak for 2 hours.
  2. Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Coat pan with olive oil. Add onion and garlic to pan; sauté 3 minutes. Add beans, broth, and remaining ingredients except lemon juice; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 2½ hours.
  3. Remove ham hock from pan (if using); cool slightly. Remove ham from bones; finely chop and return meat to pan. Discard bones, skin, and fat.
  4. Discard bay leaf. Stir in juice.

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Lunchbox Chicken Noodle Soup

February 19, 2012 by · 11 Comments

When I was young my favorite soup came in a red box. It consisted of two things….salty broth and vermicelli noodles. To this day, if I am sick the first thing I want to eat when I start to feel better is Lipton’s Noodle Soup. I have never looked at the sodium count, but I’m sure it’s through the roof. Still, it’s good and it makes me feel better. So there.

When I was in the store the other day I came across a package of short vermicelli noodles and I grabbed it. My first thought was that I would recreate Lipton’s Noodle soup and the kids would love it. Somewhere along the way I decided to make it a true chicken noodle soup with the carrots, chicken, celery and parsley. However I decided to chop everything up very small just like the noodles. I also added some bouillon to the broth to make it taste even more like my favorite soup in the red box.

Perfect for little mouths to eat and carry to school in a thermos in their little lunchboxes. I honestly think the fact that everything was cut up so small made it easier and more appealing for them to eat.

The girls loved it and happily ate it three days in a row – no complaints. I was worried that after the first two days they might grow tired of it. However, the only complaint was that it wasn’t hot enough on day 2. Oh well, it was still gone.

I decided to buy each of the girls a Thermos last year so that I could send them some different foods in their lunches. We probably use them 2-3 days a week. Sometimes I will send leftovers and some days we will pack it with a fruit salad and yogurt. I know people are always looking for different lunch ideas for the kids and if you don’t have a Thermos I definitely suggest purchasing some. Having these increases your lunch possibilities threefold…maybe even one hundred.

Plus, how cute is Hello Kitty?

Enjoy!

Lunchbox Chicken Noodle Soup
 
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Ingredients
  • 2 carrots
  • 2 stalks of celery
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil (can use half butter if you would like)
  • 1 32 ounce box of low sodium chicken broth
  • 4 cups of water
  • 3 tablespoons of chicken base (I use Better Than Broth and you can use this to taste)
  • 2 cups cooked chicken – cut into small cubes (1/4″ is what I did)
  • 6 oz. short vermicelli noodles (you can use more or less depending on your preferences, however if you add more you may need to add additional liquid.)
  • 1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
  • salt and pepper to taste

Instructions
  1. Chop celery and carrots into a small dice about ¼ inch. Saute in olive oil in a soup pot for several minutes until tender. Add remaining ingredients through chicken and simmer for 20 minutes. Turn heat up and bring to a gentle boil. Add noodles and cook until tender. Turn soup back down to a simmer and add parsley flakes. Simmer for 5-10 minutes more and serve.

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Thai Coconut Chicken Noodle Soup

February 5, 2012 by · 9 Comments

I love Thai food.

Over Christmas we were up in Maryland visiting Jim’s parents just outside of DC. After our boxing day shopping in Annapolis we decided to grab a quick lunch. My brother and sister in-law, Matt and Holly suggested a Thai restaurant they found on Yelp that got five stars.

The restaurant, Carlson’s Thai Kitchen, is part Thai restaurant, part donut shop. As soon as I heard that I was in. There is something about the combination of donuts and Thai food that just speaks to me. It was some of the best Thai food I have ever had. I just imagine that the women in the back cooking are someone’s little old Thai grandmas. It’s that kind of place – if you know what I mean. Apparently if you don’t get there early in the day they sometimes sell out of donuts. The restaurant is very unassuming and the staff is very friendly. They even gave Ella and Taylor a free donut as we were leaving.

I had a spicy Thai basil dish with wide rice noodles. It was so full of flavor and my mouth was on fire the entire time I was eating….but I couldn’t stop eating because it was sooooo good. Dilemma, right? The girls split a non-spicy noodle dish with broccoli and Taylor was literally scraping her plate (with her nose about as close to the dish as she could get it) to get every last bite. Jim had their spicy coconut chicken soup (Tom Kha Gai.) It was delicious.

Our visit to Carlson’s left me with some serious Thai cravings. I have thought about recreating that soup for a while now and last week I finally did it. My soup was delicious and I think it captured the flavors of the soup at Carlson’s really well. I wanted some noodles even though Carlson’s soup didn’t have any.

I used light coconut milk but you could certainly use the regular milk. Many recipes actually say to only use the full-fat version. I probably would have, but Trader Joe’s only has the light. It was still perfect. I used homemade broth but just use whatever broth you have. I found the bean thread noodles at the Asian market over in Cary, but I am pretty sure you can find these noodles at many grocery stores. If you just can’t find them then you could use angel hair or even some ramen noodles. I just really like the texture of the thin rice noodles. I think sometimes they are called rice vermicelli.

If you like Thai food I highly recommend this soup. It’s sooooo good. Jim thought it was great (which says a lot) and the girls even liked the noodles and the chicken. Enjoy!

Try these other Thai dishes from BWL….

Thai Summer Rolls

Spicy Thai Basil Chicken

Hoisin Chicken with Thai Flavors

Thai Style Curried Chicken Salad

Thai Coconut Chicken Noodle Soup
 
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Ingredients
  • 1 Tablespoon Olive or Vegetable Oil
  • 2 Tablespoons Red Curry Paste
  • 3 Tablespoons grated ginger
  • 5 Cups Chicken Broth
  • 2 cans lite or regular coconut milk
  • 2 cups shredded or cubed chicken
  • 1 red pepper cut into thin 1 inch strips
  • 5-6 oz thin rice noodles
  • 3 tablespoons fish sauce
  • Juice from ½ a lime
  • 2 Tablespoons Thai Basil (can be found in a jar in the Asian section of many grocers)
  • Salt to taste
  • Optional garnish – thinly sliced jalapeño, cilantro, chopped peanuts, sriracha sauce, Thai chili paste

Instructions
  1. Over medium heat in a large pot sauté the curry paste and ginger in the oil until fragrant (about 1-2 minutes.)
  2. Add the broth, chicken and red pepper and simmer for 5 minutes and then add the coconut milk, basil, fish sauce and rice noodles. Simmer until the noodles are cooked. Add salt and lime juice.
  3. Serve with optional garnishes as desired. Enjoy!

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Mexican Chicken Tortilla Soup

January 10, 2012 by · 8 Comments

This soup was so flavorful, I loved it. I’m a big fan of Mexican food and the nice thing with this soup (and Mexican food in general) is that each person can pick and choose what flavors they want. The soup part of this meal is basically the broth with some tomatoes and the chicken. From there everyone can add in what they want and leave out what they don’t want.

The baked corn tortilla strips were soooo good in this. Taylor loved them and told me she wanted them for lunch every day. We also added some avocado, jalapeño, scallions, cilantro and queso fresco. I topped mine off with a squirt or two of lime juice. Like I said, so much flavor. Plus, when you are eating something like this, your pickier eaters will still like the base soup and then they can add what they like and leave off what they don’t like. Taylor just added the queso fresco and the tortilla strips.

Oh yeah…and it’s pretty healthy for you too! I have tried to add peppers into my meals because the capsaicin is supposedly a good boost for your metabolism and it curbs your appetite. So eat your spicy peppers!!

So if you are looking for a super easy soup with some yummy Mexican flavors try this soup out. Enjoy!

Source: Everyday Food January/February 2012

Mexican Chicken Tortilla Soup
 
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Ingredients
  • 3 teaspoons vegetable oil
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • 1 cup diced tomatoes with liquid (from a 15-ounce can)
  • 4 teaspoons chili powder
  • 10 cups chicken broth
  • 4 cups cooked and shredded chicken
  • 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
  • Coarse salt and ground pepper
  • 3 corn tortillas, cut into thin strips (I doubled this and would probably make even more next time)
  • ½ avocado, thinly sliced
  • 2 ounces cotija cheese, crumbled (1/3 cup) (I used queso fresco)
  • ¼ cup fresh cilantro leaves
  • 1 scallion, thinly sliced
  • 1 jalapeño seeded and chopped
  • Lime wedges, for serving

Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  2. In a dutch oven, cook garlic in 1 teaspoon oil over medium-high heat. Cook until fragrant and then add tomato paste, diced tomatoes(with their liquid), and chili powder. Cook until most of the liquid is evaporated. Add broth and bring to a boil; season with salt and pepper.
  3. On a rimmed baking sheet toss tortilla strips gently in oil. Bake about 8 minutes until browned and crispy. Turn halfway through.
  4. Divide chicken,black beans, jalapeño, avocado, cheese, cilantro, and scallion among six bowls; top with broth and tortilla strips. Serve with lime wedges.

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