According to the calendar, there are still a couple more weeks of winter. Just enough time for me to share this Shrimp and Corn Chowder recipe before everyone starts craving the lighter dishes that are common during spring. So as the last of the cold winter wind and rain patter at your window, cook up a pot of this soup full of all kinds of yumminess like shrimp, bacon, potato and corn.

For the longest time I did not like corn. I did not like corn on the cob, I did not like corn as a side dish and I certainly did not like corn in my chowder. But the older I got the more I opened up to it. I eased my way into corn on the cob and I started cooking corn more often as our vegetable side dish. However, it was not until this dish that I actually tried it in chowder and you know what, it’s pretty good. The sweetness of the corn compliments the sweetness of the shrimp and the kick from the cajun seasoning very nicely. Now if I could just work my way up to corn chowder.

Serves 4

You will need:

• 4 slices bacon, diced into 1 inch pieces
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 3 tablespoons of flour, divided
• 1 (8 ounce) jar clam juice
• 1 cup, plus 2 tablespoons water, divided
• 2 medium red potatoes, diced
• 2 celery stalks, diced
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons cajun seasoning
• 2 cups whole milk
• 1 pound (51 – 60) count prawns, peeled and deveined
• 1 cup frozen corn

1. In a large dutch oven cook bacon until browned. Reserve 1 1/2 tablespoons of pan drippings. Set bacon aside.
2. Add onion to the dutch oven with the reserved bacon drippings. Cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of flour. Cook 2 minutes.
3. Pour clam juice and water over the top. Add potatoes, celery, bay leaf, kosher salt and cajun seasoning. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook until potatoes are fork tender.
4. Stir 3 tablespoons of hot broth into the milk to temper it. Pour tempered milk into the soup.
5. Make a slurry with remaining 1 tablespoon of flour and 2 tablespoons of water. Stir slurry into soup and let simmer for 30 more minutes.
6. After soup has simmered add prawns and frozen corn. Cook 5 more minutes or until shrimp is pink and cooked through. Remove bay leaf. Stir in reserved bacon.
7. Ladle into hot soup bowls and serve.

Enjoy!

Despite the brilliant sunshine that graced Seattle with its presence yesterday, the calendar still says we are smack dab in the middle of February. This means that we have at least a few more weeks of cold weather to get through before things start to warm up. The only good part about this I see is that these lingering cold winter days mean that I get to enjoy warm soups for just a wee bit longer. Soups like this tummy warming Mulligatawny soup that is sure to hit the spot on a cold winter’s day.

I was inspired to create this recipe not by a cookbook, not by a restaurant and not by watching a cooking show. No, I was inspired to create this recipe by watching Seinfeld, everyone’s favorite 90s sitcom about nothing. You see, Ryan and I love to watch a couple of episodes of Seinfeld every night before bed. The episode that inspired this recipe was probably one of the most famous, you know the one. The one with the Soup Nazi. The one where scores of people line up around the block to order some soup so good that they follow a strict set of rules in order to be able to order a cup of it.  Now this isn’t the Soup Nazi’s recipe, but with madras curry, garam masala, chicken, rice, veggies and coconut milk I bet you’ll find your self craving it just as Kramer did.

Serves 6

You will need:

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3/4 cup chopped onion
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1 cup chopped carrots
• 1/2 cup chopped, peeled Granny Smith apple
• 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon Madras curry powder
• 1/4 teaspoon garam masala
• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 1/2 cup uncooked basmati or other white rice
• 2 cups diced cooked chicken
• 1/4 – 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut milk

1. Heat butter and olive oil in a large dutch oven or heavy pot over medium heat. Once butter has melted stir in onion, celery, carrots and apples. Cook until softened slightly, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Stir in flour, curry, garam masala and turmeric and cook one minute. Slowly stir in chicken stock. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 30 minutes.
3. Remove soup from heat and use an immersion blender, to puree the soup until smooth (there may still be a few veggie pieces and that is OK). Note: If you don’t have an immersion blender, allow soup to cool and blend in batches in a blender or food processor.
4. Return soup to burner and heat over medium heat. Stir in rice and cooked chicken. Cook 20 – 25 minutes or until rice is cooked. Stir in 1/4 cup coconut milk. Season to taste with salt and pepper and add remaining coconut milk if desired.
5. Ladle into warm soup bowls and serve.

Enjoy!

You didn’t think that I could get through Valentine’s day without, yet again, indulging in my love affair with mozzarella did you? No, no that would not do at all.  When trying to figure a way to sneak it into the meal, I realized that a salad would be the perfect way so today I am sharing this Mozzarella and Prosciutto Salad with Tomato Vinaigrette. I love this salad because its quick, its easy and light. But at the same time, the creamy mozzarella, salty prosciutto and tangy tomato vinaigrette make this salad taste like it was made for a special occasion.

I am fortunate enough to find all kinds of fresh mozzarella at my local grocery store.  There are the large mozzarella balls, the smaller bocconcini and the even smaller ciliegine. All are equally good and creamy, but for this recipe I decided to use ciliegine mozzarella. Ciliegine mozzarella is fresh mozzarella that is in the shape of cherry tomatoes. I can usually find them in the deli section. If you are having a hard time finding them substitute a large fresh mozzarella ball cut into bite size pieces.

Serves 2

You will need:

• 3 cups spring salad mix
• 15 ciliegine mozzarella, cut in half
• 3 slices prosciutto ham torn into pieces
• Tomato vinaigrette (recipe follows)
• fresh cracked black pepper

1. Combine spring salad mix, mozzarella and prosciutto in a salad bowl.
2. Drizzle tomato vinaigrette over the top. Toss to coat. Sprinkle with fresh cracked pepper.
3. Serve.

Tomato Vinaigrette

Makes 1 cup

• 1/2 cup whole cherry tomatoes
• 1 /4 cup sherry vinegar
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
• 3/4 cup olive oil
• fresh cracked pepper and kosher salt

1. Combine cherry tomatoes, vinegar, garlic and dijon mustard in a food processor. Process until well blended.
2. With food processor on, slowly pour olive oil in in a steady stream until mixture emulsifies.
3. Transfer to a bowl, season to taste with salt and pepper.

Enjoy!

Let me start out by saying to all of you die-hard Pho lovers out there, this is not Pho. This however, is as close as I could come to making Pho one night when I was craving noodle soup and I didn’t have the time to let the broth simmer for 4 hours and the same night that I also found out that Star Anise is far too exotic for my local super market to carry. For those of you that have no idea what Pho is, ignore my first two sentences and embrace this delicious noodle soup with ginger and clove seasoned beef broth, tender steak, noodles, cilantro, bean sprouts and, in my case, the jalapeno from hell.

Don’t worry I don’t anticipate you using a jalapeno from hell in your recipe. Ryan and I however weren’t so lucky. If you’ve been reading the blog for a while you know that I love me some spicy food and to be honest a jalapeno is usually child’s play to me. No really, I liked to snack on them when I was a kid. But all of that aside, in this instance, I took one bite of the jalapeno in my soup and my mouth was on fire. My eyes instantly began watering and no amount of water could cool it down. I even stuck my tongue out of my mouth and tried to fan it off but alas that didn’t work either. Through my watery eyes, I looked over at Ryan and he seemed to be suffering just as much as I was. His eyes were watering and he had this “How could you do this to me?” look on his face as he reached for his beer. After one gulp he was able to mutter “I think this is the jalapeno from hell.” before taking another gulp of beer. Yet despite all of this, we continued to eat this soup, jalapenos and all, until all we had left was broth, and then we drank that too. So, yea, this soup is that good.

Serves 4

You will need:

• 6 cups beef broth
• 1 medium yellow onion, cut in half, one half thinly sliced, leave the other half whole
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tahi chilies, stems removed
• 1 teaspoon whole cloves
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 pound round steak, thinly sliced
• fresh cracked pepper and kosher salt
• 1 (8.8) ounce package of thin rice noodles
• 6 ounces bean sprouts
• 1 – 2 jalapenos, sliced
• handful cilantro, chopped
• sriracha and hoisin sauce (optional)

1. In a large soup pot combine beef broth, 1/2 of onion (the portion not sliced), garlic, thai chilies, cloves and cinnamon stick. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and let simmer for 1 hour. Use a slotted spoon to remove onion, garlic, cloves and cinnamon stick. Keep broth on low heat.
2. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Season the round steak with salt and pepper. Cook until browned, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
3. Bring a large pot of water to boil and cook rice noodles according to directions. Drain.
4. Divide noodles and steak evenly among large soup bowls. Place a small handful of bean sprouts, a couple slices of jalapeno and cilantro leaves in each bowl. Ladle hot broth over each bowl. Serve with sriracha and hoisin sauce.

Oh and don’t worry, most jalapenos aren’t as hot as what I experienced. They do add a nice little heat to the soup though. Enjoy!

After the diet busting Nanaimo Bars that I shared yesterday, I thought it was time to lighten things up a little bit. I could think of no better way to do that than with this refreshing salad. And make no mistake my friends, lighter doesn’t mean less flavor, this salad is full of all kinds of yummy ingredients. Allow me to elaborate,  crisp spring salad mix is tossed with tart apples, tangy gorgonzola cheese, nutty pecans and then drizzled with a little balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil. Delicious, no?

I must say, to save time, I am a huge fan of the washed and ready to eat salad mixes. My favorite of these salad mixes is the baby spring mix with herbs. There are a few different brands that carry a blend like this. Each brand may have various lettuces in it but you will most likely find baby red romaine, arugula, green leaf, frisee and radicchio. The latest batch that I picked up also happened to have some fresh dill and I loved it. Pick your favorite blend, any will work for this salad.

Note: If you make this salad a head of time, toss the apples with a little lemon juice first to help prevent them from browning.

Serves 2 – 4

You will need:

• 3 cups spring lettuce mix with herbs
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 1/3 cup crumbled gorgonzola cheese
• 1 granny smith apple, cored and sliced
• balsamic vinegar
• extra virgin olive oil
• fresh cracked pepper

1. Combine lettuce mix, pecans, gorgonzola cheese and apple slices in a bowl. Toss to combine.
2. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil. Sprinkle with fresh cracked pepper. Toss once more.
3. Serve.

Enjoy!

“This soup sneaks up on you.” These were Ryan’s exact words shortly after we finished eating this. You see, he has this belief that soup isn’t that filling so he always eats two bowls. And despite my warning that tortellini, sausage and kale can be quite filling, he decided to eat two bowls of this. About 30 minutes later he was so close to a food coma that he didn’t care I was watching American Idol.

Being a broth based soup, the kind of broth that you use for this soup is pretty important. You may notice that I use two kinds of broth: chicken and vegetable. I love the combination of the two together but if you only have one or the other feel free to use only one kind. I also suggest using a low sodium broth because that allows you to control the amount of salt in the soup. Because you are using sausage in this soup, which can be kind of salty, the ability to control the amount of salt is important.

Serves 4

You will need:

• 1 pound turkey Italian sausage, casings removed
• 1 tablespoon olive oil (optional)
• 1/2 medium onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 3 cups low sodium chicken broth
• 3 cups low sodium vegetable broth
• 1 bunch (8 – 10 ounces) kale, chopped
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 9 ounces fresh cheese tortellini
• fresh cracked pepper and kosher salt

1. In a large soup pot, cook sausage over medium heat until browned, using a spoon to break the sausage into bite size pieces. Once browned transfer to a plate and set aside.
2. Reserve 1 tablespoon of pan drippings, if there isn’t enough pan drippings add 1 tablespoon olive oil. To the pan drippings add onion and garlic, cook 5 minutes or until onion is softened.
3. Return sausage to pan. Pour in chicken and vegetable broth. Stir in kale and basil. Cook for 10 – 15 minutes or until kale is wilted.
4. After kale has wilted, stir in tortellini and cook for 5 minutes or until the tortellini is soft and warmed through. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
5. Ladle into soup bowls. Serve hot.

Enjoy!

This is the first year in a while that I am finding it pretty easy to keep my New Year’s resolution. Who would’ve known that I would enjoy adding so much salmon to my diet. This lovely salad recipe is my latest experiment. With spinach, smoked salmon, walnuts and a caper vinaigrette its light yet filling and makes the perfect lunch or light supper.

When making this salad, it took me a little while to determine what kind of dressing I wanted to serve with it. As much as I love ranch, and my new found love jalapeno ranch, that wasn’t really what I was going for. This salad needed a vinaigrette. But what kind? I then started to think of flavors I enjoy with salmon and remembered how much I enjoyed my Baked Salmon with Lemon Caper Butter. Thus this Caper Vinaigrette was born. It was delicious on this salad and I can’t wait to try it on other things.

Serves 2 – 4

You will need:

• 3 cups baby spinach leaves
• 1/3 cup shelled chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup shredded smoked salmon
• caper vinaigrette (recipe below)
• fresh cracked black pepper

1. In a bowl combine spinach, walnuts and salmon.
2. Drizzle with a few tablespoons of caper vinaigrette. Toss to combine. Add more dressing if desired.
3. Sprinkle fresh cracked pepper over the top. Serve.

Caper Vinaigrette

Makes 1 cup

You will need:

• 3/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon minced shallots
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 2 teaspoons nonpareil capers, rinsed
• fresh cracked pepper and kosher salt

1. In a bowl whisk together all ingredients. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Allow to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes to allow the flavors to mingle.
2. Whisk once more to combine dressing. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper if necessary.

Enjoy!

To be honest January is one of my least favorite months of the year. It’s rainy, its cold and it’s gray. The only good thing about January, aside from my mother in-law’s birthday, is that this rainy, cold, gray weather is perfect for making chili. Which is exactly what I did this past weekend. However, in the spirit of eating healthier in the New Year this scrumptious tummy warming chili is made with turkey instead of ground beef and gets a little touch of sweetness from some basil and a kick from some jalapeno.

I got the idea to make this chili after trying some chicken chili at a local lunch spot. It is important to note that I did not have my heart set on chicken chili when I went to get my lunch. You see, I crave the old fashioned chili at this particular place. But a couple of weeks ago when I went in to get my weekly chili, they weren’t serving it. Instead along side split pea and chicken noodle, they had a chicken and basil chili.

At first I hesitated. Where was my chili? I had been craving that chili all day. I did not want chicken in my chili. Let alone any basil, who puts basil in chili anyway? This was supposed to be a quick run in and grab kind of lunch, but now I had to make a decision. A decision that could change the whole rest of the day.

Okay, so maybe I am over dramatizing it just a tad. It really didn’t take me more than a couple of minutes before I determined that I wasn’t really in a split pea or chicken noodle kind of mood, I opted to try the chicken and basil chili. And I’m pretty glad I did. It was absolutely delicious and I was surprised that I had never thought to add basil to chili before.

When I decided to make this at home, I was going to use ground chicken, but alas my grocery store did not have any so I opted for ground turkey. If you have ground chicken you can use that instead.

Serves 4 – 6

You will need:

• 1 pound ground turkey or ground chicken
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cumin, divided
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 medium onion, diced
• 2 jalapenos, diced (optional)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can fire roasted diced tomatoes
• 1 (15.5 ounce) can chili beans in zesty tomato sauce
• 1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 2 teaspoons dried basil
• 5 fresh basil leaves

1. In a large soup pot or dutch oven, combine ground turkey, 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, chili powder, 1/4 teaspoon cumin and garlic powder. Cook over medium heat until turkey is cooked through. Strain and set aside.
2. In the same pot heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion, jalapenos and garlic. Cook for 5 minutes or until softened. Return turkey to pan. Stir to combine.
3. Pour in fire roasted tomatoes, chili beans and their liquid, and tomato sauce. Stir in dried basil. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer for 2 hours. Stirring and tasting occasionally. Adjust seasoning with salt if needed.
4. Just before serving, roll basil leaves tightly together and then chop to make basil chiffonade. Sprinkle into chili and stir to combine.
5. Ladle chili into soup bowls. Serve.

Be sure to serve along side some warm tortillas for dipping. Enjoy!

Here it is the day before one of the quintessential American holidays, Thanksgiving, and I’m sharing with you an Italian inspired recipe.  But I was just thinking that come Friday morning, the thought of a steaming hot plate of mashed potatoes and turkey might be the furthest thing from your mind. Instead you may want something a little lighter, something like say, a salad. Thus, I share with you today this Antipasto Salad filled with salami, tomatoes, artichoke hearts, olives, Parmesan cheese and pepperoncini. The perfect lunch to keep you light on your feet while you do all of your Black Friday shopping.

The first thing that you are going to notice is that this isn’t laid out like a traditional recipe. To be honest, I didn’t really do a whole lot of measuring when I put this together. One of my favorite things about salads is that measuring doesn’t really matter. Its really easy to just throw in a little bit of this and a little bit of that. You can make enough for an army or a small bowl for yourself.

Since we’re going light with this salad, I’ll mention that you won’t need any dressing. The ingredients add just the right amount of flavor to the lettuce. But if you are so inclined you can drizzle the salad with a little balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil before serving.

You will need:

• romaine lettuce, chopped
• salami, chopped
• quartered marinated artichoke hearts
• roma tomatoes, diced
• red onion, diced
• kalamata olives, pitted and sliced
• sliced pepperoncini
• freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• fresh cracked black pepper

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Toss to combine.

Pretty easy no? And its very refreshing after a day of cooking and, in my case, slightly over eating. Enjoy!

P.S. One last thing, I want wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. I hope its filled with family, friends, laughter and plenty of delicious dishes.

November has been down right nasty here in Seattle. Its been windy. Its been rainy. It is the kind of weather that makes you want to crawl back in bed and not get out until June or maybe even July considering Seattle’s track record. But alas that is not a possibility. Instead, when the weather turns dismal,  I turn to making beef stew. Beef stew with red wine to be exact. Its full of tender beef, veggies, beef broth and red wine. It is a combination that will warm your home as well as your bellies.

I’d like to say that beef stew has always been one of my favorite foods. But I can’t. Actually, growing up I hated the stuff. It may have been the vegetables, combined with a little pre-teen rebellion but whenever my mom said we were having stew for dinner my response would be “Ugh. Who would want stew? Can we go to McDonald’s instead?” Yes, at one point in my life I thought McDonald’s was better than homemade stew that had simmered on the stove all day until the beef was tender and scrumptious. I am proud to say that that taste challenged child turned into an adult who happens to love beef stew and all of the veggie goodness that goes along with it. That is not to say that you won’t find me in a corner hording a piping hot order of McDonald’s fries from time to time. Everyone has their guilty pleasures right?

Serves 4-6

You will need:

• 1/3 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 pound beef stew meat, cut into bit size pieces
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 4 cups beef broth
• 1 cup red wine (I used Pinot Noir)
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 celery stalks, diced
• 1 carrot, peeled and diced
• 1 cup sliced crimini mushrooms
• 1 yukon gold potato, diced
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons cold water

1. In a resealable plastic bag combine flour, salt, black pepper and garlic powder. Add in stew meat, seal bag and toss to coat.
2. Heat olive oil in a dutch oven or other large soup pot over medium heat. Add beef and cook until browned, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, cook for 30 seconds.
3. Stir in beef broth and red wine. Be sure to scrape up all of the flavor bits from the bottom of the pot. Add in bay leaves. Turn heat to medium-low and simmer for 2 hours, skimming fat and foam occasionally.
4. After two hours, stir in celery, carrots and diced potato. Cook for 25-30 minutes or until potatoes are tender.
5. Dissolve cornstarch in cold water to make a slurry. Pour slurry into stew. Bring to a boil and simmer for 20 more minutes. Broth will thicken.
6. Ladle into soup bowls and serve hot.

I like to serve this with some toasted baguette slices to soak up all the lovely broth. Enjoy!