Roasted Cauliflower Soup

Carlos is not a fan of cauliflower and I hardly buy any of it but when I saw them on sale for $0.99 each, I just have to buy a couple of it. I roasted some and used the rest to make this soup. The weather here is getting much cooler so it is always nice to have some warm soup with crusty sour dough bread in the evening. I like my soup to be light and not too creamy so I make a slightly healthier version with more chicken stock and less dairy. Well, is not completely healthy as I add some bacon for the topping :)

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New England Clam and Corn Chowder

This is a traditional cream base chowder with ingredients like onion, potatoes, clams and additional of corn in it. I made it a wee bit on the healthier side by using half and half instead of heavy cream. I always like clam chowder especially the one served at Boudin Bakery in San Francisco. Their clam chowder is the creamy kind serves on sourdough bread bowl while the Manhattan clam chowder is with tomatoes. Both are just as good as it is simply a matter of taste and preference. I used canned clams but you can always use fresh clams to make this. It’s serve piping hot with some crusty bread and just great for cold winter evening.

Pasta Fagioli

I don’t cook a lot of soup but it is always nice to have a bowl or two during winter. This soup was one of the many Italian dishes that I learned from a friend many years ago but I never thought of making it again until my good friend Shereen tasted it at Olive Garden. I told her I know how to make this soup but it might not be exactly the same as the one she tasted but I will try to replica it. So this here is the recipe and hope it is what she is looking for.

Corn and Potato Chowder

My 4 ears of corn have been sitting in fridge for over a week. We thought of having BBQ last weekend but we were invited to a party. So, before it turns wrinkle and dry I decided to make some chowder out of it. They are creamy thick soups with lots of chunky bits of sweet corns and potatoes in them. This chowder is so hearty, creamy, filling and it is a meal by itself. I served them with some pita chips.

Rice Porridge/ Congee

I grew up with rice porridge, also known as congee or we Hokkien call ‘Ber'. My grandmother and mother will make this for our weekday’s lunch nearly every day. Our porridge is just the plain ones totally unseasoned where we will eat it with salted eggs, fried ikan bilis, some pickle vegetables, omelet or sometimes with some fried fish. I actually prefer eating porridge served at dim sum place when the rice grains are cooked down, thick consistency and full of flavor .

Carlos was having tooth ache a few weeks ago so I thought I prepared this type of porridge for him with the leftover chicken stock from my Poached Chicken but guess what, he refused to touch it. I can’t blame him as he never eat this before. I end up having it all by myself which I don’t mind at all.

Asian Style Butterflied Roast Chicken - S$20 Budget Meal (Blog Event)

I will prepare at least 3-4 elaborate dinners each week and the rest of the week will be something simple like sandwiches, salad or leftovers. I don’t normally have a menu plan out for the week. During groceries shopping I will buy what is in season or what items are on sale. I will cook the weekly meal based on what I bought or what I still have in the fridge.

Here is one of the many meals I prepared for our dinner and sharing this with S$20 Budget Meal Blog Event hosted by Elena of Cuisine Paradise. The theme of this event is to prepare any "2 Dishes plus 1 Soup" or "1 Pot Dish" using a Maximum budget of S$20.00 or in my case US$15.00. I spent a total of $ 12.21 for this meal that will serve 4 people.

We will have roast chicken once every two weeks. I will usually marinate it with lots of fresh herbs and seasonings but for this chicken I marinate it with some Asian ingredients. We will usually eat this with roasted vegetables accompanied with some bread or rice.

Wild Rice Turkey Soup

Each year we have problem finishing up our 12 pound Thanksgiving turkey. Actually that was the smallest bird I could find from the supermarket. The 3 of us only managed to finish one side of the breast and I have to think of ways to finish them up. I already made some rice porridge with one of the turkey leg and wing, turkey pot pie with the meat, sandwiches with the breast meat and turkey stock from the carcass. This is one of the soups I made from the stock and the leftover meat.

Hearty Beef and Potato Soup

This is a hearty autumn and winter soup that will warm your family from the inside out. This beef and potato soup is richly flavored, nutritious but it is also light on calories. I prepared a large pot of this and freeze some of it up so we can have a warm bowl of soup anytime we want it.

Ingredients:

1 pound beef (stew meat) – cut into small cubes
3 carrots – cut into small cubes
3 stalk celery – cut into small cubes
3 potatoes – peel and cut into cubes
1 large onion – finely chopped
2 cloves garlic – chopped
2 bay leaves
1 can of 14 oz chopped tomato
½ cup elbow pasta
6 cups low sodium beef stock
Enough water
Salt and pepper to taste

Ipoh Noodles Soup with Shredded Chicken/Ipoh Hor Fun

Ipoh is famous of their hor fun (flat rice noodles). The star of this noodle dish is the silky-smooth flat noodles, or as the locals calls it, hor fun. Around Ipoh, vendors may serve the hor fun in a clear chicken broth, or with chicken-and-shrimp broth. I actually cooked this noodles many months and only post it now as I totally forgoteen about it.

Ingredients:
Recipe adapted from My Gastronomic Odyssey

A handful of dried shrimps, soaked for 5 minutes in hot water, then drained
About 1 pound shrimp heads and shells
a handful of rock sugar
a small handful of peppercorns
4 tbsp oil
1 liter of chicken stock

Ground Beef Chili

The weather here in PA is telling me it’s time for some Chili. For anyone who is not familiar with the cuisine of the Southwestern United States, this stew-like dish called Chili may be a bit puzzling. Yes, it does usually contain green hot peppers as well as chili powder. The Chili has meat in it and it could be ground beef, pork, chicken, or turkey, but Chili can be a vegetarian dish too. You can replace the ground meat with tofu cubes. There are Chili recipes with or without beans, but if you use beans any type of bean will work, including red beans, black beans, white beans, pinto beans, and more. This is an easy, healthy, hearty and inexpensive meal and everyone will love.

Roasted Pumpkin Soup

Weather is getting cold and the day is getting shorter. What is it that makes the fall such a beautiful season? Is it the cooler air or the shades of red, yellow, orange and pink coloring the world around you just come to life? And the pumpkins!! Who can miss that? With so many pumpkins all around me I just have to cook something with it. In the cold weather what can be better than a bowl of sweet hearty soup. The different with this soup is that I roasted the pumpkin first. Roasting the pumpkin for the soup encourages the natural sugars to caramelize and enriches its flavor creating a more complex soup.

Ingredients:

1 ½ pound of pumpkin – remove skin, seeds and cut into chunks
2 cloves garlic - whole
1 small onion – peels and cut into chunks
4 cups chicken stocks
Salt and pepper to taste

Wanton Soup

We are having some cold winter blast for the past few days’ and man, it can get pretty cold. What can be better than slurping up a bowl of warm and comforting delicious wanton soup. This is a simple, light 'Chinese dumpling' classic that can be found in every restaurants or take-out place but I think it taste much better making it yourself.

Ingredients:

1/2 pound ground meat (either pork, chicken or turkey)
1 cup of shrimp, finely chopped
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tbsp Chinese rice wine
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 spring onion - finely chopped
1 teaspoon grataed fresh ginger root
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1/2 tsp sesame oil
Salt and pepper to taste
24 wanton wrappers

Soup:

3 cups chicken stock
Some green vegetables like mustard green or bak choy
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Prepare the filling. Mix in a bowl, combined meat, shrimp, and all the seasoning. Mix well and set aside for 30 minutes to marinate.
2. Place a wanton wrapper on your palm and put about 1 teaspoon of the filling in the center of the wanton wrapper. Wet the edges and gather the corners of the wrapper with the other hand and give it a twist in the middle to “close” the wanton. Repeat until the filling is used up.
3. In a saucepan, bring the stock to a boil and add in the wantons and cook for approx. 4 - 5 minutes. Add in the vegetables and check seasoning.
4. Transfer to bowls and serve warm.