Another Blast From The Past- Ashley's Stone Soup

A few years ago Ashley received Paula Deen: My First Cookbook for Christmas. In it, there is a story of stone soup. Basically a man sits on a street, stirring a pot of water with a stone it. As people come up and ask him what he is doing, he tells them that he is making stone soup and names an ingredient that "would sure be good" in it. The people go and get the ingredients for him and put it into the pot. Soon he has a large pot of a delicious soup  to share with everyone. So yeah, I guess he kind of tricks people into giving him his ingredients for his dinner, but its a cute story and Ashley really wanted to make the soup.

Stone Soup pretty much is a clean out your crisper kind of soup. You can put any mix of veggies in you like, some pasta and a favorite protein. We went with carrots, celery, green beans, corn, potatoes, tomatoes, macaroni and of course, ham. That girl LOVES ham.



Here she is smiling and ready to get started. Look how young she looks!




Scraping carrots


Slicing celery


Look at all those veggies!




That is a good looking soup!


Goofy kid!


Served with a glass of milk to make it a well balanced meal.


Her little sister loved it too!



The soup was great and Ashley was so proud that she made a healthy meal for us for dinner. Her brother and sister were excited to hear her read the story and they all got several servings of vegetables.
To find out more ways to get your kids involved in the kitchen check out http://www.thekidscookmonday.org/

Clean Eatings Last Chance- Slow Cooked Chicken Barley Stew

This is my third recipe to try from Clean Eating and I was not holding out much  hope. The other recipes had been rather bland, but I was willing give it another try.  This time I went with Slow Cooker Chicken Barley Stew.

I started by putting garlic, cilantro, thyme, basil, dill and bay leaf in the crock pot. 

Then I added in the chicken broth

And then the barley and black eyed peas.

Then I peeled a few potatoes

And added those in with the onions, carrots, and chicken

I left for several hours and it made this nice looking pot of stew.  It smelled great at first, but as the day wore on I think i got tired of smelling it.

It looked good, but now comes the big test, the taste test. I served up a bowl for my oldest first. She is usually the easiest to please.


She liked so I pushed along and dished some up for the rest of family. The kids liked it. The husband liked it. Me, well I though it was bland again. This meal is supposed to hold up well in the freezer, so I packaged up what was left and will try it again in a couple weeks. Maybe it will be better then? I am starting to think that the clean eating diet works because no one really enjoys the food. ;P

Husband's Favorite Soup - Zuppa Toscana

The night before my husband's birthday I decided to surprise him with his favorite soup. I don't make this very often because it is really high in fat and cholesterol which neither of us need, but it is so SO good as an occasional meal. He absolutely loves the Zuppa Toscana at the Olive Garden and this recipe is about as close to it as I can come. Of course, I can never leave a recipe alone so I tend to tweak it a bit, but this is pretty close to the original.

First I sauteed the onions and garlic

While the onion and garlic cooked, I cut the hot links. Normally I use a locally made sausage, Slovacek, but this time I decided to use the Earl Campbell brand. Next time I am going back to my old favorite. Slovacek is spicier and just has a better flavor.

I added the sausage in with the onions and browned it in the pot.

Then I added the base and water and potatoes. After that cooked for around 15 minutes I added the cream and kale to cook for a few minutes. Don't put the kale in too soon or it will change into a brownish color and just not look appealing.

The end product was delicious and mildly spicy from the sausage. It is definitely still a favorite.

Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana

Published 3/13/96 in the Minneapolis Star Tribune Taste Section.

Servings: 5
Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups Sausage links, spicy; about 12 links
3/4 cup Diced onions
6 slices Bacon
1 1/4 teaspoons Minced garlic
2 tablespoons Chicken stock base
1 quart Water
2 medium Potatoes, cut in half and then into 1/4 slices
2 cups Kale, cut in half and then sliced
1/3 cup Heavy whipping cream



Directions:

Cut sausage into half lengthwise, then cut at an angle into 1/2 inch slices. Place onions and bacon in a large saucepan and cook over medium heat until onions are almost clear. Add garlic and cook an additional 1 minute. Add chicken base, water and potatoes, simmer 15 minutes. Add sausage, kale and cream. Simmer 4 minutes and serve.