Elana’s Pantry

Thai Chicken Soup

I have to give full credit for this photo to my boys. They helped me stage the shot and then sat with me at the computer to crop and size the photo. They are becoming such little artists, having far surpassed me in this arena.

The delicious Thai soup above is based on a recipe from Cook’s Illustrated. My friend Deb got me hooked on this magazine last year when she gave me a subscription. The recipes in Cook’s use fresh interesting combinations of ingredients and often are not overly complicated.

We ate this soup for dinner tonight; I downed the bowl in the photo above as soon as I finished snapping the pictures; it is sweet, rather spicy and very comforting. After he finished his, my younger son said, “it was good; this is a happy, happy, happy soup.” That is a direct quote!

I am hoping that with more soup we can build more community. Many people have been leaving comments over here of late which is wonderful. I also want to take a moment to encourage people to respond to each others comments.

Jeanne, one of my regular readers, asked a question here. I hope that any of you who have experience in figuring out which foods work best for you will feel free to jump in and respond to her comment, it’s great when we can support one another…Now, back to soup!

This soup also works very well with leftover chicken. Leftovers are a great thing in so many ways. They save us trips to the store as well as time in the kitchen.

Other uses for leftover chicken? I use it to make a simple Mexican salad for dinner (salad greens with black beans, guacamole and salsa) and to add an extra hit of protein to this sesame noodle dish.

As you can see from the recipes on this blog, while I don’t eat the SAD (Standard American Diet), I do not feel deprived. I focus on the foods I can eat, create as much variety as possible and savor every morsel I put into my mouth! All in all, I feel happy and grateful to have access to the beautiful fresh foods that nourish me day in and day out.

Passover Round Up

Passover is this Saturday! I have been cooking up many Pesach dishes of late and am happy to provide a round-up below.

A couple of notes:

I did not include a vegetable dish in the above list. Generally, I like to serve steamed broccoli or broiled asparagus with our Passover meal. I have linked to a squash pie recipe that I use during Passover as our squash “kugel.”

As you will notice, matzoh is conspicuously absent from the above list. I purchase a gluten-free oat matzoh for my boys, however, I do not eat grains, so I create an almond flour matzoh for myself to use as a vehicle for the Hillel Sandwich. My husband says the matzoh that I make is so bad, that I have deemed it unworthy of ‘blogage’.

Happy Pesach to you and yours!

Elana

Making Soup and Community

Over the last month I have received several emails from people despondent over their dietary options, or lack thereof. The touching aspect? Each person thanks me profusely for this website, for providing them with options and offering new ways to enjoy the foods they can eat.

The heartbreaking aspect of these same emails? People express their feelings of loneliness and isolation. They ask if I can recommend a community where people share their dietary concerns. If only I knew of such a place.

Certain sites such as gluten-free girl (written by Shauna Ahern), have created amazing online neighborhoods; I often refer people to her blog. However, Shauna follows a different food plan than many of us over here. While she offers great gluten-free recipes, some people cannot eat the dairy, soy, corn, potatoes, grains and white sugar in her dishes. Looking for a book about making the most of your dietary lot? Hers is a good read.

Where can those of us on a more restricted diet go for community? Let’s form one right here.

Whether you come to this site because you have dietary dilemmas or you just like to eat good food, join in and let us all know about one of the following:

Go ahead, leave a comment; let all of us out here know what’s on your mind.

Squash Aduki Chestnut Soup
2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
1 leek, washed and chopped
1 cup butternut or acorn squash, peeled and cubed
2 quarts chicken or vegetable stock
1 cup aduki beans, cooked
1 cup chestnuts, cooked
1 head kale, chopped

1. In a large soup pot, warm oil over medium-high heat
2. Sauté leek for 10 minutes until soft
3. Add squash and sauté for 5 minutes
4. Pour stock into pan and bring to a simmer
5. Add aduki beans, chestnuts and kale
6. Simmer for ½ hour to allow flavors to meld
7. Serve

Here in Colorado, it is cold and snowy yet again! Today, I will be making another big pot of this soup to warm my bones.

Yellow Split Pea Soup with Smoked Paprika

When my husband takes the boys up to the mountains for a night or two, first I call Martha for hike. Then, I go into soup mode.

For me, soup is all about simplicity –vegetables and protein in a one pot meal. I make soup for dinner and often end up eating it for breakfast and lunch the next day. My husband cringes when I tell him this; he has a strong dislike of leftovers, and has not yet discovered the appeal of eating dinner for breakfast. Those who cook non-stop definitely get the leftover thing –and the charm of last night’s dinner first thing in the morning.

Tonight’s soup was exceedingly hearty –filled with chicken stock, legumes and mushrooms, three nutritious, filling foods that could easily make meals in and of themselves.

For this soup, you can definitely use veggie stock instead of the chicken stock; I like chicken stock as it gives the soup a good hit of protein. These days I’m focusing my diet as much as possible on protein and greens –and of course, dessert.

Matzoh Ball Soup

Passover is one of my favorite holidays. I adore holidays that involve a change of seasons and Passover, occurring each year in March or April (depending on the full moon), ushers in spring.

Like most other families who grew up celebrating this holiday, we had matzoh ball soup every year. My grandmother made this soup. My mother made this soup. And now I have made this soup! My children will be at least the fourth generation of my family to partake in matzoh balls!

I made a test batch today for my family to sample and was given the thumbs up. I will be serving this soup at our Passover seder, which falls on Monday, April 2nd, this year.

Matzoh Ball Soup
4 eggs
2 teaspoons celtic sea salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
1  2 cups blanched almond flour, sifted
6 cups chicken stock

1. In a medium bowl, beat the eggs, (1 teaspoon) salt and pepper for 2 minutes
2. Stir in 1 cup of almond flour
3. Refrigerate the mixture 2-4 hours
4. Remove from refrigerator; mixture will still be somewhat liquidy
5. Heat a large pot of water (with 1 teaspoon salt) and bring to a boil
6. Spoonful by spoonful, drop the matzoh mixture into the pot of boiling water
7. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes
8. Heat 6 cups chicken stock in a separate pot
9. When the matzoh balls are finished, remove from simmering water with a slotted spoon and add to chicken stock
10. Ladle stock, plus 2-3 matzoh balls into individual bowls and serve

Serves 6

Please note: After repeated testing and feedback from a couple of readers, I have altered the recipe above, doubling the amount of almond flour.  The matzo balls are now much easier to handle and do not crumble when cooking. 

These gluten-free matzoh balls are non-gebruchts, pareve and kosher for Passover.

Butternut Squash - My Favorite Soup

This one is great for a cold winter’s day. We’ve had a lot of those lately. I haven’t worn anything outside but snow boots in 2007. We just had our 7th snow storm in seven weeks. I don’t mind, I was raised in California where we pretended that a heavy frost was “snow.” Here’s some good grub for staying warm.