I guess winter has finally arrived. I thought we were getting off easy this year, but no. The bitter cold days of January have kicked in, and all I crave are comfort foods. Thankfully the comfort foods I crave right now are more of the vegetable soups and stew variety, rather than the heavy carbs, fat and dairy type. Trust me, I love those as much as the next guy, but I'm just grateful that my cravings are leaning toward healthy.
Last week I made a lentil soup. Pretty basic, but at the end I threw in some diced zucchini. I like to bulk up my soups with lots of vegetables. It's an easy way to get your five servings in. I like to have a cup of vegetable soup instead of a salad on winter's coldest days. A great tool when dieting, to keep from snacking too much is to have a cup of it while you're prepping a meal and it'll take the edge off your hunger. I don't know about you, but I'm ready to butter my own arm and eat it around that time of the day.
Tonight I made a variation of a dish I like to make this time of year. It doesn't have a name, but my friend from Argentina made something like it when I lived in California. I never had the spice she had to give it the kick, so I had to improvise. I make an 'inspired by' version.
The basic ingredients are onion, garlic, cabbage, yams, white potato and chicken broth. I had no yams so I used butternut squash. I still have some potatoes from the garden so I used those. I used fat free chicken broth, and I sauteed the onion and garlic in a little olive oil. (Vegetable broth will work fine)
I get the onion to where its starting to get nice and brown, and then add the cabbage and the broth.(I used 32oz. of chicken broth) I cook it down for a couple minutes and add the potatoes and yams. In this case it was butternut squash.
As for spices I usually use kosher or sea salt, pepper and then cayenne or crushed red pepper to give it some kick. This time I used a spice blend called Hot Rocks from a company called Pelican Bay Ltd. It's a "Uniquely hot and spicy blend of seasonings, mineral & sea salts, peppers, parsley, lemon and natural flavorings". (this is where I should put a link and try and make some money from Google ads!)
What you end up with is a brothy, spicy, combo of winter vegetables. You could serve it over wide egg noodles if you were so inclined. Serve it as a main dish or along with your dinner as a side. I skipped the noodles and just had a big bowl all by itself. I added a little more kosher salt to my bowl, and a grind of black pepper. I still prefer the yams, but the butternut was a decent substitute. The Hot Rocks were a nice addition.
If you're interested in making either of these, and have questions, just let me know. I know I've posted mostly soups so far and I hope you're not tired of them already! I just need them to get through the coldest portion of winter!
I'll be looking forward to next spring and summer when I plant my garden and start creating dishes from all homegrown vegetables. I hope to share my garden experimentation here on D.R.O.O.L.
Until next time-
d*
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