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    Friday, July 22, 2011

    Spicy Vege Soup - Its Lunch Time Again

    When we moved house a couple of decades ago, I left a large full on kitchen to one, that is about a third of the size of the old one.
    So I got rid of all the mixers, blender etc and bought small versions of them.
    I also had the misguided thought, that I would need lots of bench space.
    Well not so. My small kitchen has catered for up to sixty people.
    Organization is the key word.
    Anyhow these mini appliances served me well, but now that I am at home, cooking, cooking, cooking, I decided to upgrade to a grown ups food processor, which does it all. I love it.
    Yesterday, when making lunch, first it was kneading the bread dough,
    Then slicing all of the vege for my soup.
    Then pop on the blender, done!

    This morning I made breadcrumbs with the leftover bread…then popped
    the little whisk attachment on and now meringues are in the oven.
    I don’t think I have ever made meringues before.
    I may have made the odd Pavlova, but not the little things.
    Thought I would make a treat for the little grand daughters,
    to take on their road trip to Rotorua.
    Little Pink Clouds
    Sandwiched them together  with some Ganache
    They should keep their sugar levels up

    Onto the soup
    My friend Rex sent me his favourite Chili Bean soup.
    I didn’t have all of the ingredients.
    But I was curious about the addition of cabbage to his soup.
    I had 1/4 Cabbage left in the fridge so I decided to try this version.
    This is a keeper.
    Funnily enough the Cabbage along with the Carrots, add sweetness to the soup.
    I did add a little bit of sugar just to boost the flavour.
    I also used the spices from my Spicy Bean Soup you will find here.
    This is very Lo Cal
    3 normal ladlefuls only 106 Kcals
    Leaves room for bread and a little butter



    Olive oil 3 tablespoons
    1 med onion, sliced
    2 med carrots, sliced
    1 med parsnip peeled and sliced
    1 kumara peeled and sliced
    1/4 cabbage chopped
    2 cloves garlic sliced
    1 can Cannellini beans
    1 teaspoon Cumin
    1 teaspoon Coriander
    1/2 teaspoon Cayenne
    1 tablespoon Oregano
    1 teaspoon Celery salt
    1 tablespoon Vegeta
    1500 mls hot water
    1 teaspoon sugar
    1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
    The whole soup yields
    Cals 819
    Weight 2707 gms

    Sauté onion till soft
    Add spices, oregano, celery salt, Vegeta and sugar and cook few minutes
    Add carrots, parsnip and kumara

    Stir and cook gently to get the sweetness out of the vege

    About 8 minutes
    Add cabbage
    Stir well
    Add hot water
    Bring to boil
    Simmer about 15 minutes

    Add beans
    Simmer just a few minutes
    Add red wine vinegar
    Taste and adjust seasoning with Salt and pepper
    Leave about an hour
    Take out half of the vege
    Blend and return to pot

    Serve with some nice bread.
    Here's the recipe...click here
    This is from my Calorie Counting Blog.
    Now, a quick word about the bread.
    If you would like the bread with a nice crust.
    Just flour the tin
    And sprinkle the top of the dough with flour
    before baking.
    When it cooked take out of tin and back into the oven for another 5 minutes.
    This develops a really nice crust

    For a softer crust, oil does a good job.

    2 comments:

    Anonymous said...

    Little pink clouds sound and look delightful. Whimsical pretty food for little girls. My little daughter would love these too!.

    So So Simple said...

    Hi bonbon
    Purely egg white and sugar but I working on a better one for my 4 year old birthday
    Will post. its a Donna Hay recipe