Crock-pot soup- Asian themed

Hello all!

So this weekend when I was supposed to be studying for neurobiology...BLECH...I came up with this wonderful recipe. My apartment smelled heavenly. If only you could capture smell in pictures. This soup combined two of my greatest loves in the kitchen: Asian flavors and my crock-pot. To me, the crock-pot or slow cooker whatever you want to call it, is the best invention ever....well for cooking devices at least. To just throw stuff in it, and slowly let it meld together and make the entire house fragrant, is just amazing and awesome. 

 This soup is super comforting, at least to me. It is has three strong flavors that are three of my favorite savory flavors- ginger, garlic, and sesame oil. I have been on such a ginger kick the past week. Putting sliced ginger in my water/tea with a squirt of lime....just make sure you don't cut the ginger on a cutting board previously used to cut garlic and put said ginger in tea, makes tea garlicky. Not so great actually. 

Ingredients:

4 chicken thighs- bone in, but skinned

~4 cups chicken broth ( I have since added 2-3 more cups because I added WAY to many noodles)

1 inch piece of ginger, thinly sliced,

4 cloves garlic- roughly chopped

~ 2tsp sesame oil or to taste. Remember sesame oil is very strong. A little goes a long way and it will overpower other flavors. 

~1/2 tsp sriracha sauce (rooster sauce)- once again a little goes a long way, it is flavorful but very hot. Best to add too little and add more later than add a whole bunch and not be able to taste.

1/2tsp cumin

1/2tsp dried onion

3/4tsp onion salt

3/4tsp celery salt

3/4tsp black pepper

~10 dashes of soy sauce

1 large carrot, sliced into coins

~2tsp of red wine vinegar (optional)

drizzle of agave (optional)- the vinegar and agave were to add a sweet/sour element...but not enough to really tell. 

Rice noodles- DON'T USE WHOLE 6OZ PACKAGE!!! WAY TOO MANE NOODLES!!!

lime, cilantro, and green onions for garnish

 Add all ingredients to crockpot (I used bullion cubes and added them in here)

 Add in 4cups of water

 Cover and set to high. Cook on high for ~5hrs, take chicken out and shred, set to low and cook 2 more hours.

 Add in rice noodles and let soften.

 

 Add garnishes of choice, and devour! Just looking makes my mouth water.

  

 Just a warning, I did not actually measure the spices, these are an approximation on the low side of what I used. Taste when chicken is cooked and alter to taste. 

What do you think of the recipe format? Any suggestions?

Happy eatings,

Smashley

Curried tomato bisque

Hi everybody!

So for those of you who really know me, you know I have a strong dislike for tomatoes. I really really want to like them, I just haven't gotten there yet. I do like cooked tomatoes (IE spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce, chili, ...), but I normally am not a huge fan of tomato soup...until now. This was seriously the easiest and best tomato soup or well bisque I have ever had to pleasure to consume. 

My mom found this recipe in a magazine and had been wanting to make it for a while. I had already wanted to make soup for dinner since the BF was coming over to watch a movie and hand out. This was not what I was planning in my head for the type of soup to make, but I am very glad I did.  

Here are the ingredients-

Small onion (chopped)

Two cloves garlic (crushed)

28os can whole tomatoes

Salt and pepper

2tsp curry powder

1/2 cup water

1tbsp EVOO

Splash of cream (optional)

 Here is the recipe.

 Saute the garlic and onion in oil with salt and pepper.

 Toss in curry powder and heat till fragrant (the actual recipe called for 1tsp, but you couldn't taste the curry enough so I upped it to 2tsp)

 Once fragrant, add in tomatoes with the juice from can and water. Bring to a boil.

 Remove from heat.

 Transfer bisque to blender

 Puree. I added a splash or two of half and half. Totally optional. We had some left over naan bread. So we smeared it with EVOO, added garlic powder, fresh mini basil, and fresh mozzarella. Baked until melty.

This was seriously amazing. So easy, the soup prob took about 10mins to make. Great for a cool winter day! 

How do you like your tomatoes?

Happy eatings,

Smashley

Egg Drop Soup

Egg drop soup is one of my biggest loves. It is so easy to make, fun to play with, and cheap. Just need some chicken broth, sesame oil, an egg, and corn starch dissolved in cold water.. Everything else is just making it to your liking. today I added some garlic powder, soy sauce, and siracha sauce. Totally hits the spot. The sad part is that I ruined egg drop soup that you get in Chinese buffets for ever because theirs is bland and this is..well the completely opposite. O well, its cheaper here :)

PS. This soup does not have to be made with chicken broth, it also works with beef and vegetable. It can also be made without the Asain influence, just don't use the sesame oil. Just play with it till you like it.

SOUP!!!

I went from from grad school last week and cooked my parents dinner. I was inspired by some Thai ingredients I had bought at a local international market and Vietnamese pho I tried in Chicago last summer. The soup was a semi-home made stock...I didn't have enough chicken to make strong enough stock so I had to add two bullion cubes to the pot of 11 cups. I sauteed some garlic, 2 fresh Thai red chilies, onion, and lemon grass  in some sesame oil (def need a little more next time). I used three chicken thighs, a couple of dashes of soy sauce and fish sauce,  and plenty of ginger in the stock. The stock was pretty tasty at this point, but made like 10 times better with the addition of a can of coconut milk. After taking the meat off the chicken and returning the soup to a biol, I added chopped shitake mushrooms and some green similar to Bok choy. The plate in the middle had lime, bean sprouts, cilantro, and Thai basil. All in all, a pretty darn good soup for no recipe and all imagination. Guten A petite.