Food School: a 31 Day Course (day 19 Vegan Soup)

Accidentally Vegan Soup

I love Rick Bayless, of Frontera Grill.  When we lived near Chicago 18 years ago we went to his restaurant and I fell in love with the food.  Then Mexico:  One Plate at a time was aired on PBS, again . . . I just could not watch enough and try enough recipes . . . bought the books!  You get the idea.

Frontera has a White Bean Chili Starter that I buy by the case (to get the discount ;-) and we have soup at least once a week during the winter.  I’ve written about these meals here and here.  I wondered, was it vegan?  I read the label but as we know from other posts (here) that labels are not exactly honest information.  So I called the customer service number.  

Rick answered the phone–well, his voice was on the other end and I just about had a heart attack!  I was going to ask Rick Bayless about his jar of soup starter.  Then I realized it was an answering machine directing where my call should go!  I laughed long, loud and hard.  

So–for my friends–do not call me pretending to be Rick Bayless–and Rick if you call, I probably won’t believe it is you!  But you are more than welcome to drive north and cook with the kids and I!  

This is my second video of this dinner.  The first video was cut in half and you didn’t hear my story of me thinking I was talking to Rick Bayless!  This video includes the story and I was able to (pretty much) control my laughing at myself.  I’ll be honest–I crack myself up.  So many funny things happen in life–we all need to laugh at ourselves.

 And yes I am holding my phone while I’m cooking with one hand!  I made this video in just over 7 minutes–cooking one-handed–with all the veggies prepped.  So I would say that if you make this recipe, using two hands you could have it done in 10 minutes.  This is a great crockpot dinner!

For my meat-eating friends–I have used chicken thighs–they hold up to the crock pot cooking and offer a wonderful flavor contrast to the soup.  Even when I ate chicken–I didn’t like white meat in my soups.

Any questions?  Do you eat soup more in the winter?  or do you not eat soup at all?  

Be Blessed.

 To receive a free copy of my Blessed by Breakfast cookbook, please go to http://blessedbybreakfast.com and sign up! I send updates that include; family tested and approved recipes, video tutorials, tips and tricks on how to begin your day with the blessing of food.

cookbook coming soon

Books I suggest: The Omnivore’s Dilemma: The Secrets Behind What You Eat,

Young Readers Edition The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals

Hope’s Edge: The Next Diet for a Small Planet

Some of my friends have also joined the 31 day challenge:  

Anastacia Maness  http://rocksolidfamily.com/31-days-building-commitment/

Racquel Narciso http://howtomakeitinsanfrancisco.com/…/

Pamela Hodges http://ipaintiwrite.com

I’m linking up to these blogs

 

Ultimate Recipe Swap: Soup

I know I break the rules when I post on this site because I love to cook and I love to share my ideas but I don’t really do recipes.  So this week I’m going to share my best “cheating” soup–because let’s be honest–we don’t all cook from scratch all the time!

I am writing a 31 day series about being honest–so I felt compelled to fit the honest part in someplace–but if you are interested in the “real series” you can read about me being fat, kids toys, my closet issue, things that scare me and an entire month of authenticity.

Chicken Chili

The first time I followed the recipe on the jar–then I began to experiment.

some of the goodies I add . . .

  1. Typically I add–onions, peppers, carrots sauté in butter or olive oil
  2. I pour the contents of the jar into the crock pot, then I add broth or water–(I freeze my homemade chicken broth and often use that) to the jar and shake to get all the good stuff out of the jar :-) my frugal tip
  3. I add the veggies to the crockpot
  4. Add cooked meat (or don’t), I use chicken from the grill, baked, or turkey leftovers–I’ve even used pork.
  5. I always add at least one can of beans–usually white beans but I use whatever I have.
  6. I also have added: celery, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, rice, and quinoa.

The soup just needs to be heated through but I often put it in the crock pot on the lowest setting–the flavors blend in a wonderful way.  I have also assembled the night before in the crock pot (put in the fridge) and then the next morning I plug it in and get going.

This soup is awesome on its own but I have served it with chips, tortillas, or as a side dish with nachos.

Be Blessed.

Linking up with the 2012 Countdown!

Ultimate Recipe Swap