Soup of the Day

Real Simple always has some good recipes to check out.  The most recent one I put to the test was their Squash, Mushroom, and Kale Soup With Dill.  All ingredients sound pretty darn good!

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
Kosher salt and black pepper
1 pound mixed mushrooms (such as button and shiitake), stemmed and halved (or quartered if large) (grabbed some good ones from Trader Joe’s)
4 cups vegetable broth
1/2 medium butternut squash, peeled and cut into ½-inch chunks (about 12 ounces)
1/3 cup orzo (could even use quinoa, etc if gluten intolerant)
4 cups loosely packed baby kale leaves (about 2½ ounces)
1/2 cup chopped fresh dill, plus more for garnishing (just used dry stuff)

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Directions

-Heat the oil in a medium pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion, ½ 
teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is softened, about 4 minutes. 
Add the mushrooms and lower heat to medium. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms are tender and have released their juices, 6 to 8 
minutes. Stir in the broth, squash, and orzo and bring to a boil. Reduce heat 
to medium-low and simmer until the squash is tender and the orzo is cooked, about 15 minutes.
-Stir in the kale until just wilted. 
Season with salt and pepper and stir in the dill. Serve topped with more dill.

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When I sampled this mid-way through I was a bit disappointed.  But then, when you add the dill…totally amazing flavor punch!  Very happy with the end result and nice one to add to the list.

Brussels Sprouts Turned Chips

I love kale chips so it’s fun to find recipes that parallel them.  I was going through some sites recently and found a similar one for Brussels Sprouts chips.  Those little round green veggies taste great to begin with so why not try them in another form?

Ingredients:

-2 cups of Brussels sprout leaves (outer leaves from 2 pounds of sprouts)
-2 tablespoons of melted ghee (I used olive olive)
-Kosher salt to taste (threw some pepper in there, too)
-Lemon zest (optional)

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Directions:

-Preheat oven to 350°F
-Mix the leaves, ghee, and salt together in a large bowl
-Line two large baking trays with parchment. Divide the leaves evenly in a single layer on each tray.
-Bake each tray for 8-10 minutes or until crispy and brown around the edges.
-Microplane some lemon zest over the chips (optional)

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My deep thoughts on these; they took WAY too much work.  You have to peel all these sprouts.  My friend and I must have stood there for well over 20 minutes doing this.  I felt like we were picking crabs.  We tried various methods for this — quick tear, cutting the bottom to see if leaves would fall.  No method seemed super efficient.

The taste was great.  Crisp, flavorful.  So, if I need to kill time, will totally make them again.  Otherwise, will stick to kale chips.