Broccoli Stem Soup with Mixed Vegetables

by Cindy on May 15, 2012

What do you do with your leftover broccoli stalks? I’ve always tossed mine directly into the garbage. However, I recently learned that pureeing your broccoli stems with broth results in a thick, creamy base for soup.

Since I love meal-based soups, I decided to do an internet search and found recipes that either looked a little bland for my taste buds or were laden with cream. I decided to make my own version, mashing together a few recipes and tweaking here and there. Using pantry (I only had canned mushrooms) and frozen vegetables, I created a soup that surprisingly I LOVED! Even got the thumbs up from hubby. Best of all, my Broccoli Stem Soup with Mixed Vegetables came together in an incredibly fast 15 minutes.

Below is the recipe for my version of Broccoli Stem Soup. (I included tips on how to make this even easier and heartier by adding lentils.)

Broccoli Stem Soup with Mixed Vegetables

-1 to 2 tsp olive oil (you can forgo oil instead water or broth sauté)
-1 onion, diced
-4 cloves garlic, minced
-stems from 2 heads of broccoli, sliced into rounds
-4 cups (1 quart container) low-sodium vegetable or chicken broth,
-1 container sliced mushrooms, 8 ounces
-1/2 cup frozen corn
-1/2 cup peas
-1 tsp basil
-few shakes red pepper
-salt and pepper to taste

Heat olive oil (can replace with broth or water) in large soup pot, sauté onions, once translucent add garlic, stir for a minute, add broccoli till tender. Stir frequently and add broth if needed so nothing burns.

Add rest of broth. Turn off heat. Stir.

While soup is cooling, sauté mushrooms in a small hot pan using just water to sauté (a few tablespoons at a time). Once mushrooms are soft turn off pan and put aside till soup is pureed. (I skipped this step because I only had canned mushrooms. I used 2 small cans. Fresher tastes much better!)

Now add soup ingredients to blender and make soup.

Put soup back into large pot, add corn, peas and cooked mushrooms.
Add in basil, red pepper, salt and pepper to taste.
*You can substitute one bag of frozen mixed vegetables instead of the corn, peas and cooked mushrooms. You’ll just have to heat longer.
**You can always canned rinsed lentils to make thicker and a fuller meal.

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Dressing-2-Go

by Cindy on May 1, 2012

I look forward to my daily lunchtime ginormous salad. I am definitely a creature of habit, so whatever works for me, I tend to stick with. My salad is far from boring, besides the usual spring mix, carrots and tomatoes; I add in whatever leftover cooked veggies and/or grains I have in the fridge, beans, some variety of nuts and on occasion avocado. Luckily for me, I work from home, so tossing this together and topping it with a yummy homemade salad dressing is relatively quick. However, many folks don’t have this luxury and have to brown bag, hoping their salad dressing does not “runneth over” and ruin their beautiful salad.

Fortunately, those folks over at Evriholder, makers of one of my favorite products the Avosaver (keeps leftover half of avocado from browning quickly), came up with a portable salad dressing container. Full disclaimer here, Evriholder sent me a fun package of goodies as a thank you for my Avosaver post reassuring me I am under no obligation (except Jewish guilt) to blog about any of their products in return. Loving all handy kitchen gadgets I gravitated right towards their Dressing-2-Go container.

Just like the Avosaver, they nailed it! Number one, Dressing-2-Go, is BPA free. Yeah!! Two, it does not have that “plasticky” smell that some containers give off. (You know what I’m talking about.) Third, it’s top rack dishwasher safe. Most importantly, it really works.

Dressing Upside Down. "No Spills!"

Since I work from home, I simulated the lunch bag experience. After easily filling the container I stuck the holder back in the fridge, on its side just to see if it was really spill proof. Fridge was clean so points there. Just the right amount pours out from the leak proof cap preventing a big glob of dressing spoiling your healthy salad. The flexible silicone container is wider at the bottom helping to avoid messy spills. I also really appreciate that it holds just one serving. This way you don’t have to cart around more than you need, and if you don’t have access to a fridge you don’t have to worry about the dressing going bad by the end of the day.

Dressing "Ready 2 Go"

I give Dressing-2-Go, 2 Salad Forks Up! To find out more about this product, visit Evriholder.

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