KookyCulinary

When I was pregnant with Lil’ C, I had really bad morning sickness all 9 months of it. Almost all food including rice turned my stomach. For some unexplained reason, the only food that I could take were the soups from Panera Bread. I guess that is why nowadays Lil’ C loves going to Panera Bread, even more than McDonalds. Her favorite soup is the Broccoli Cheddar Soup.
Since we were snowed in and freezing cold last week, I decided to make her favorite soup.

The soup turned out great and Lil’ C loved it. You can actually blend the soup to be smoother but I decided to just leave the bits of broccoli and carrots to give a little bite. I topped it with a little French-fried onion for some crunchiness. Add a piece of French bread for dunking into the soup.

Broccoli Cheese Soup

1/2 medium chopped onion
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup flour
2 cups half-and-half cream
2 cups chicken stock
1/2 lb fresh broccoli
1 cup carrot, julienned
6 ounces grated sharp cheddar cheese
salt and pepper

• 1. Sauté onion in butter. Set aside.
• 2. Cook melted butter and flour using a whisk over medium heat for 3-5 minutes. Stir constantly and add the half & half.
• 3. Add the chicken stock. Simmer for 20 minutes.
• 4. Add the broccoli, carrots and onions. Cook over low heat 20-25 minutes.
• 5. Add salt and pepper. Add cheese and stir till cheese has melted.
• 6. Remove from heat & serve.

Now that the chilly weather is here to stay, it’s time for more soups & stews to warm up the day.

Last week, I made Brunswick Stew. A bowl of this served with some garlic toast was just so comforting on a cold wet day!!

Recipe:
3/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 cup carrot (original recipe says red bell pepper)
1 tbsp flour
1 lb boneless chicken thigh or breast - cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 cups chicken broth
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp Tabasco
1 pkg (10 oz) frozen corn - thawed
1 pkg (10 oz) frozen baby lima beans - thawed

• Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray.
• Add onion, celery and carrot to pan. Cook for 5 mins. Stir occasionally.
• Combine flour & chicken in a bowl, tossing to coat. Add a little oil to pan. Then add chicken to pan. Cook for 2 min till lightly brown.
• Stir in chicken broth, bring to a boil.
• Add tomato paste, dried thyme, salt, Tabasco, corn, lima beans to pan. Cover, reduce heat & simmer for 30 mins.
• Serve with garlic bread.

It’s labor day weekend and that means a 3 day weekend for us. Usually on a long weekend, we will try to go out of town but this weekend, we decided to hang around locally, explore some local attractions and pig-out instead!!

Started off the weekend with steamboat. Clear ikan bilis (anchovies) soup on one side and spicy tomyum on the other. Loaded with lots of veg, mushroom, fishball, eggs and noodles, it was a very satisfying meal!! What do you like in your steamboat??

Don’t you just hate it when you have just 1 piece of fruit or vegetable leftover? It’s usually too little to make anything substantial. Well, I had 1 corn!! Too little for the family to share and I’m too lazy to go to the store to get more. So, what did I do? Made a corn and potato soup for the toddler! Just a simple soup with corn, potato, chicken stock, heavy cream & topped off with some bacon. Simple & delicious! : )

On a cold day, what is better than a bowl of steaming hot Potato Cheese Soup . . .

accompanied by Chicken Portobella Pasta