Chicken NOODLE Soup

It's been so cloudy in New York recently - and rainy. I guess that's typical for this time of year, but I hate the perma-cloud as I've come to call it. It just drains all my energy and makes me want to sleep all winter: hibernate like a bear. On these dark and damp days, though, nothing warms me up inside and brings a smile to my face quite like homemade chicken noodle soup. While some people really focus on the chicken in the chicken noodle soup, I'm all about the noodles. I find them to be the best part. Chicken, I'm plus or minus on. If I made it, I'll grill it, fry it, or boil it and then shred it and throw it into the soup. There's no right or wrong way to cook the chicken in my mind. Whatever you're in the mood for. It's imperative to have excellent noodles and excellent chicken broth. I buy organic chicken broth. Even if you don't get organic, make sure you get low sodium, otherwise your whole soup just tastes like salt. I personally like the soup overflowing with noodles, but you may or may not like that approach to your soup, so add as many or as few noodles as you like and as many or as few different veggies as you like to mix it up.

While I normally post the recipe below, I'm going to throw a shout out to my favorite recipe-collecting website, cookingfriend.com. You can catch my treasured go-to chicken NOODLE soup recipe there. Enjoy!


Chicken NOODLE Soup

Recipe can be found at CookingFriend.

Gaspacho

Hello blog readers! Fear not; I haven't forgotten about you. Life has just been busy in our household. Last week we moved into a super cute house - with a real sized kitchen! Our first evening was spent unpacking all of our kitchen supplies. Boy, do we have a lot of them! We've taken over every cupboard, our hutch, and then had to put up a bookshelf to house the actual food! We have not-so-often used kitchen gadgets (e.g. the waffle maker and slow cooker) in the coat closet; cookbooks are currently housed in the den. I guess that's what happens when you have a husband and wife pair that like to cook and bake. :)

In addition to our lovely new kitchen, our garden is thriving. We have so many cherry tomatoes ripening every day, cucumbers constantly begging to be picked, and beautiful peppers lounging from their branches. So, what does this all this mean? That it's *finally* gaspacho season!!!!!! I started craving gaspacho in April, but alas it is one of those foods that you can enjoy only when the vegetables are seasonally ripe. Otherwise, the soup just a pitiful mirage of its former self. Similarly, using poor quality olive oils or vinegar will not yield the same exceptional taste.

If you're not familiar with gaspacho, it is a cold summer soup that originated in Spain. Personal recipes vary, but basically it tastes like the soup form of a perfect tomato sandwich. (Quite literally as the recipe includes bread.) If you're familiar with gaspacho and hate it, well, then you haven't tried *this* gaspacho, which is delicious!!!

Similar to all perfect summer recipes, it doesn't require turning on your oven (unless you're going to use that to make bread). We've been eating it at least twice a week while we can. My hope is to eat so much of it that I'm satisfied until next Spring when I'll start to crave gaspacho again! Enjoy!

Gaspacho

The hubby's recipe, adapted from a segment heard on NPR

1 thick slice of fresh homemade bread (the Wonder Bread varieties really won't work...)

1 1/2 cups fresh tomatoes from the garden

1/4 large sweet yellow onion

1/4 large cucumber

1 green bell pepper

1/4 cup Spanish olive oil (or high quality version of your liking. We use a brand from California)

scant Tablespoon raspberry wine vinegar (or high quality balsalmic if you're desperate)

salt and pepper to taste

1.) Wash and rinse all veggies.

2.) Put everything into a hearty blender. (We use a Vitamix.)

3.) Turn on the blender to medium-high and blend until there is a creamy texture and everything is pink. Salt and pepper to taste.

4.) Serve immediately and enjoy.

Homemade Tomato Soup

After a long day of cleaning, gardening, and running (3 miles!), the hubs and I came home and wanted something comforting for dinner, so I thought of grilled cheese and tomato soup. Mmm.

Two of my best girlfriends and I had a virtual dinner a few months ago (since we all live in different time zones), and we all made cream of tomato soup, grilled cheese, and 'wedding' salad. I immediately thought of this soup as the one I wanted to make tonight, but since hubby is vegan the soup had to be altered. It turned out fabulously - and less heavy than the creamy version, which was nice. Unfortunately, vegan cheese just cannot compare to the real stuff, so only I ate the grilled cheese filled with Irish Cheddar. Maybe some day there will be a better vegan cheese product... :)

Overall, this recipe is very tasty and easy to whip up, so please give it (or the creamy version) a try! Enjoy!

Fresh Tomato Soup

3-4 Tablespoons olive oil

1 yellow onion, diced (or half of those mega onions)

2 carrots, diced

4-5 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tablespoons flour

1 28-ounce can crushed organic tomatoes (or 2 pounds fresh (in season!), peeled, seeded, and chopped tomatoes)

2 cups vegetable broth (I used 2 vegan (no salt) bouillon cubes and water)

1 Tablespoon tomato paste (but you can do without it if you have to)

1 teaspoon fresh or dried basil

salt and pepper

1.) Sauté the onions and carrots with the olive oil over low heat until they just start to turn translucent. Add the garlic and cook that until you just start to notice its fragrance (a minute or two).

2.) Add the flour and stir for about 20 seconds. Pour in the tomatoes, broth, and tomato paste, and bring to a boil.

3.) Reduce heat, and let simmer for roughly 15 minutes.

4.) Leave the soup as is if you like it chunky; alternatively, you can use an immersion blender or pour parts into a regular blender to smooth the soup, which is how we prefer it.

5.) Add basil. Add salt and pepper to taste.