thai chicken noodle soup

Remember when I used to post recipes?
Like, all the time?

Lately, it is not for lack of recipes that I don't post them. I am constantly scribbling notes and amounts of ingredients on scraps of paper in my kitchen, only to crumple them up and throw them away later. I just never seem to have time to take pictures (huge pet-peeve: recipes with no pictures).

The few moments before a meal are always the craziest at our house. I am scrambling to plate everyone's meals, find a sippy cup, lovingly call to yell at Lane to come to the table, cut up one of the meals into bite-size pieces, keep from tripping over James, and calm the baby who always seems to be ready to eat right when we are. Needless to say, not the best time for a photo shoot.
Friday night, however, I made this soup.

It was so good that it had to be documented and shared with you. (Also, the kids overlapped their naps for about forty minutes, and instead of scrubbing toilets and folding laundry like I should have been doing, I photographed lemongrass stalks. And made granola, so that's productive, right?) This soup is the perfect alternative to plain old chicken noodle, and it will clear your sinuses if you use enough curry paste. It almost makes me excited to still have soup weather. Almost.

Recipe Note: Do yourself a favor and order some Mae Ploy curry paste from Thailand. It won't disappoint.

Thai Chicken Noodle Soup
1 or 2 chicken breasts
2 tsp sesame oil
2 stalks lemongrass
2 large cloves garlic
32 oz chicken broth
4 cups water
1/2 cup coconut milk (go full-fat)
large handful of lime leaves
2 tsp green curry paste (I would use more, but we have an eater who doesn't "yike ficy"- like spicy)
1 very large bundle of bok choy, chopped
4 to 8 oz (depending on how much you like noodles) thin udon noodles
lime wedges (for serving)
torn basil leaves (for topping)

Heat a large stock pot to medium heat. add chicken breast and drizzle sesame oil over it.
Remove husk from lemongrass stalks. Cut the inner, bottom part (about the bottom third of the stalk) into fourths lengthwise and throw into the pot with the chicken. Cut garlic lengthwise and crush with flat side of your knife. Throw into the pot as well.
When chicken, lemongrass pieces, and garlic are all beginning to brown, add broth, water, coconut milk and lime leaves. Whisk in curry paste. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and let simmer 30 minutes or until chicken is done all the way through (165 degrees). Shred chicken.
Return to a boil. Add bok choy and noodles. Cook about 6 minutes, or until noodles are done and bok choy is tender, but not mushy. Discard lemon grass pieces and as many lime leaves as you can.
Top with basil and serve with lime wedges. Enjoy.

Coming up: kid yoga, "fashion" questions, and more house tour (hopefully)

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Tuscan White Bean Stew

In case you have been following along, I feel like I should update you on the house situation after the last post. Let me just put it this way: the house-hunting saga will continue. The seller decided not to sell his house mid-negotiation. "Unusual," you may think, yet that is the second time that has happened to us. One of these days I will write an entire post and fill you in on our house hunt from beginning to (hopefully) end. 

Anyway, on to more exciting and enjoyable things, like hot soup on a cold day. This soup is hearty, although it  could even be served to a vegan friend. It is super flavorful thanks to the abundance of rosemary and garlic. And it is just about the only soup I can think of that has a satisfying crunch, thanks to the crouton topping. 

My dad made it for James and I some time last month when we were over there for a visit, and I was excited to get the recipe and share it with you. When he emailed it to me, I was surprised at how few ingredients it included. It begins by infusing some olive oil with garlic (very easy, and a good thing to know how to do), and the rest is very simple. I pureed a cup and a half to make it stew-like, but you could leave it more like a soup, or puree more to create a thicker consistency. Any way you make it, it is sure to fill you up and warm you up in the cold, rainy weather.

Tuscan White Bean Stew
adapted from my dad's recipe which was adapted from the Mayo Clinic Cookbook

5 tbsp olive oil, divided

3 cloves garlic, quartered

3 cloves garlic, chopped

about 4 cups artisan bread, cut into cubes

1 can white beans, undrained

1 white onion, coarsely chopped

2 cups coarsely chopped carrots

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper

3 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary

2 cups broth

Heat 3 tbsp olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add the 3 quartered garlic cloves and let cook a couple minutes. Then remove the pan from the heat and let the oil and garlic stand about 10 minutes. Discard the garlic, and return the pan to medium heat. Add the bread cubes and saute, stirring often, until light brown and crispy. Set aside. 

Add 2 tbsp olive oil to a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and carrots, stirring until onions begin to brown and carrots begin to tenderize, about 15 minutes. Stir in the chopped garlic, chopped rosemary, salt, and pepper and cook a couple minutes. Then add the can of beans and the broth. Bring to a boil, then let simmer at least 10 minutes. 

Remove about 1 1/2 cups of the soup and puree in a blender or food processor. Return to the pot and stir well. Garnish each bowl of soup with croutons and a rosemary sprig if desired. Enjoy.

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Butternut Squash, Black Bean, and Red Wine Soup

So here's how my day went down:
I woke up this morning with a runny nose and stuffy sinuses. Not like a cold, but like allergies. This keeps happening to me, and I have finally decided what it is: I'm allergic to Vancouver.
I grew up in a really neat part of Southwest Portland, and then I moved to Corvallis for college, which is a really eclectic, fun little town... and now, I live in the suburbia of East Vancouver.
It's nothing against the people. They are all wonderful and kind. There are a lot of families here, which was one of the reasons we moved here originally. But, it just isn't us. We have been trying to make our escape for a while, but no success so far. And I feel like I need to get out.
Anyway, it was in this state of self-pity that I started my morning. Pretty pathetic, huh?

To cheer myself up, James and I went to our favorite coffee shop, where he downed with impressive speed a 6 oz 1/2 milk 1/2 chocolate milk. Then we delivered a hot coffee to Lane at work (or at least, outside at the gate, since we can't go in without a badge because we might be spies). Then we went to the grocery store (which is my favorite place in Vancouver, hands down).

At least, we tried to go to the grocery store.
I kind of forgot that it is two days before the biggest cooking day of the year, and that today is Senior Citizen Discount Tuesday at Chuck's. So, we circled the parking lot many times, but there were no spots to park. To make matters worse, I had to pee so bad. (Which is ironic, becuase I didn't order anything at my favorite coffee shop so that I wouldn't have to pee. I guess the two cups I had before we left the house didn't help.) Anyway, we ended up going home with no groceries. We had a pretty bare fridge at home. Ah ha! Time to get creative.

This morning, I had planned to make some sort of chicken noodle soup for dinner, but we had no chicken and very little noodles since I didn't go grocery shopping. I wanted to use some left-over squash, and also some left over oregano (I hate wasting herbs since they cost about five dollars an ounce). I grabbed a can of black beans from the pantry for protein. The rest just sort of came together as I went.

While the soup simmered on the stove, James and I waited for Lane to come home. We felt like we needed to put up something festive, so we hung some twinkle lights which, we decided, are not a Christmas decoration if they are white.

Lane came home and we enjoyed our warm, comforting soup under the soft glow of the twinkle lights.

It turns out, life in the 'Couv isn't really all that bad.

Squash, Black Bean, and Red Wine Soup
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 white onion, chopped
1 c broth
1 c water
2 c* butternut squash, roasted or steamed
1 15oz can black beans
1/4 c fresh oregano, stemmed (de-stemmed? un-stemmed?), plus more for garnish
1/2 c red wine

Pour olive oil in a dutch oven or large sauce pan, turn heat to medium-high. Add onions and garlic and saute until they are browning. Add broth and water, and turn down to a simmer.
Place cooked squash, black beans, and oregano in a food processor or blender. Blend until smooth. Add the puree to the broth mixture, whisking until smooth.
Add the red wine, but don't let it get above a simmer so that you can preserve the flavor of the wine.
Serve hot with oregano leaves on top. Enjoy.
*That is, 2 cups before it is cooked, so it will cook down to more like 1 1/2 cups.

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Velvety Butternut Squash Soup and Grandma's Biscuits

(really poorly lit photos courtesy of daylight savings time, since we don't eat dinner at 2 in the afternoon)

Christmas music came on by accident in our house this morning.
I'm serious. It was completely unintentional. I was innocently listening to a Nat King Cole Greatest Hits album on Spotify, and The Christmas Song came on (you know: "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire..."). Which, as we all know, is the ultimate Christmas song, especially when sung by Nat.
It instantly brightened my mood and I knew that, although it really isn't legal yet, I must start listening to Christmas music. After a full album of Nat's Christmas songs, James and I indulged in the instrumental version of Charlie Brown Christmas (instrumental Christmas music before Thanksgiving is only half cheating). Can I just say, it warms the heart, like soup on a cold rainy day...

Which brings me -really stretching the segue here- to dinner last night...

This soup can be made with a rosemary and garlic infused olive oil* which my mother-in-law makes and let me borrow a little (must return the jar so she will replenish my supply as a stocking stuffer), or you can add the garlic and rosemary to the veggies while they roast. I did both just to be on the safe side.

The biscuits are my Grandma Rose's recipe. I can remember "helping" her make them numerous times in her cozy kitchen when I was young. I have made a couple adjustments to make them a little more nutritious, but they are still crunchy on the outside and soft and flaky on the inside, the perfect accompaniment to soup.
* to make garlic infused olive oil: fill about an 8 oz bottle with 2 peeled cloves of garlic and 4 sprigs rosemary, fill the bottle the rest of the way with olive oil

Velvety Butternut Squash Soup
1 butternut squash, peeled, seeds scooped out, and cut into 1" cubes
1 yellow onion, cut in half, then cut into four parts per half, layers separated
1/4 cup of rosemary-garlic infused olive oil or 1/4 cup olive oil and:
1 clove garlic and 4 sprigs rosemary
2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1/2 tsp (25 grinds on the mill) freshly ground pepper
1/2 tsp salt

If not using the infused oil, peel the garlic clove and cut in half, rub the cut half over a rimmed baking sheet and discard the garlic. Put butternut squash and onion on the baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil. Toss the veggies in the oil and evenly distribute on the baking sheet. If you are not using the infused oil, put the sprigs of rosemary around the baking sheet. Bake the veggies at 425 degrees for 20 minutes, then toss and bake another 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from oven, discard rosemary, and puree in a blender or food processor until creamy. Add broth, salt, and pepper and puree until smooth.

Grandma's Biscuits
2 cups whole wheat flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp applesauce
1/4 cup canola, olive, or safflower oil
2/3 cup reduced fat milk
canola cooking spray

Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, combine wet ingredients. Add wet ingredients to dry, mix until just combined, do not over mix. Drop heaping spoonfuls on greased baking sheet. Bake at 450 degrees for 12 minutes.
Serve with Butternut Squash Soup. Enjoy.

P.S. I made whole wheat bagels using this recipe, and substituting whole wheat bread flour for white bread flour. They were surprisingly easy and, although not pretty, very delicious.

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