Stuffed Pepper Soup

I was in the mood for stuffed peppers today, but decided this was easier to get the same flavors in a soup. Also, I was able to include extra veggies, always a good thing. This came out absolutely yummy, I hope you will enjoy it.

 Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground beef or turkey
• 3 red peppers, chopped
• 3 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 medium carrots, sliced
• 3-4 cups chicken stock (or one large container)
• 1 large can crushed tomato
• 1 large can diced tomato
• 3/4 cup white long grain rice (or whatever rice you prefer)
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper

Directions:
In large soup pot, brown ground beef/turkey.
Drain, set aside the meat, reserve a little fat in the pot.
Add onions, celery and red peppers and saute until onions are translucent. (if you are using ground turkey, you may need to add a tablespoon of oil.)
Add chicken stock, crushed tomatoes and undrained diced tomatoes, browned meat, carrots and seasonings.
Cover and cook on medium until carrots are tender.
Add rice and cook for 10 minutes more.
Turn off heat but let the soup sit until the rice has cooked through, maybe 15 minutes.
Ready to serve.

This makes a large pot and will keep for 3 or 4 days in the fridge. I also like to freeze leftovers in individual serving containers to have for lunches.



 

Saucy Stuffed Steak Rolls (Braciole)

This dish sounded so appetizing to me that I had to try it. Traditional Braciole (pronounced bra- jol) is an italian dish of stuffed tenderized beef, browned and then braised in tomato sauce. I decided to try to make a gluten free version with a veggie stuffing. Seems like a long list of ingredients, but it is only really about 3 steps.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb bottom or top round steak (you can use chicken breast or boneless pork instead)
• 2 28oz can crushed tomatoes
• 1 28oz can whole peeled tomatoes
• 1 onion
• 1 stalk celery
• 1 carrot
• 1 package chopped spinach, thawed
• 1/4 c. raisins or currents
• 3 tbsp shredded or grated parmesan
• teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp dry oregano
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• pinch Splenda or Sugar
• tbsp canola oil
• optional: one package thicker rice noodles (like spaghetti or linguini style), to serve as a pasta in the sauce

Prep:

1. In a small bowl, mix garlic powder, onion powder, pepper, nutmeg and oregano. Set aside.
2. Prep onion, carrot, celery, spinach. Thaw and squeeze out the moisture from spinach. Grate carrot. Dice small 1/2 of onion and celery to go in the filling. Chop the remaining onion and celery larger for the chunky tomato sauce. Set aside.
3. Place meat between two sheets of plastic wrap. Pound the meat thin. If the piece of meat will be too large once stuffed, you might want to cut into 2 portions at this point, then prep two rolls.

Cook:

1. Heat up dutch oven and add 1 tbsp oil. Saute small diced veggies, spinach and half of each the raisins and grated carrot til tender but veggies are still intact. Add 1/2 the garlic and large pinch of dry seasoning mix, saute 1 minute more. Do not burn garlic. Turn off heat, remove veggies into a bowl.
2. Add all the parmesan to veggies. Mix together.
3. Lay out the pounded meat flat. Put filling onto half of the meat (towards yourself). Do not worry if you have extra filling, it can be added to the sauce later.
4. Slowly roll up the meat tightly, rolling in the ends a little to keep the filling in. Use butcher string to tie up the roll or use toothpicks to hold together. Season the outside of the roll with another large pinch of dry seasoning mix.
5. Heat up pan, add a little more oil if necessary. Brown beef rolls on all sides. Remove from pan and set aside.
6. Add remaining cut veggies, grated carrot and raisins to pan and saute for a few minutes. Add tomatoes, crushing with your hands the whole tomatoes, leaving them chunky. Add all the liquid too. Also add in any remaining seasonings, splenda/sugar and any leftover stuffing mixture at this time.
7. Put beef rolls into the sauce, push them into the sauce so they are covered. Cover the dutch oven and slow simmer for 30 minutes.
8. At this time, prep noodles til al dente.
9. When sauce is done, turn off heat and remove beef rolls. Let sit for 5 minutes, then slice rolls to about one inch thick.
10. Add pasta to sauce and mix to coat. Let sit a couple minutes for sauce to absorb a bit into noodles.
11. Serve pasta topped with sliced beef roll. Add a little sauce and perhaps a little more parmesan cheese.

Easy Stuffed Cabbage Soup

Cooler weather is on the horizon and with my love for soup I thought I would try this out. It is hearty, delicious and is sort of a deconstructed stuffed cabbage. Ingredients:

Meatballs:
1 1/2 lbs ground meat (I used 1/2 each turkey and beef)
1 cup uncooked rice (regular, not instant)
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 medium onion, minced

Soup:

2 cloves minced garlic

2 tbsp olive oil
1 minced onion
1 carrot shredded 

6-8 oz tomato paste (1 can)
1/2 cup brown sugar (you can substitute 2 tbsp Splenda for this)
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
1 28-ounce can diced tomotoes

1 cabbage, sliced thin (or a bag of cole slaw, pre-shredded cabbage)
1 tsp dried oregano or basil (whatever your preference)
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup raisins

Directions

For the meatballs:
In a large bowl, combine rice, pepper, cumin and onions. Blend to mix, then add meat, combine, then form into 1-inch balls and set aside while you make the soup.

For the soup:
In a large soup pot, Add oil and onions, saute until translucent. Add garlic, saute for 1 minute. Then add the carrots, tomato paste, brown sugar, crushed tomatoes and diced tomotoes with its liquid. Stir and add water (2 - 3 cups) for desired consistency. Season with pepper and simmer 10 minutes.

Add the cabbage to the soup and stir to blend in. Simmer over low heat for 10 minutes more. Add more water if needed to thin the soup if it has gotten thick. Add the meatballs and simmer for 25-30 minutes minutes, until meat is cooked through and rice is tender. Add the lemon juice and raisins 10 minutes before serving.

Serving suggestion: add a dollop of sour cream on top.

Note: This could easily be done in a crock pot, Start by putting all the soup ingredients in and stirring to blend. Add meatballs, and just let it cook on low for 6 hours, or high for 4 hours, until the meatballs are cooked through.

Curry Soup

Soon I will be posting more summer recipes, but here I am with another soup. As you may have already figured out, I am a soup nut! Also, my latest endeavors include Indian spices, especially curry and garam masala. For the moment, just about every time we go to a restaurant I order something with curry if it is available.

This soup is delectable. It is not HOT, as in spicy hot. I will have a few suggestions below the ingredients if you would prefer it that way.

In this version I used ground beef. Traditional Indian cuisine is vegetarian, so that would not include meat,  This certainly can be made without meat or with chicken. (mmm, curry chicken comes to mind.)


This recipe makes a large pot, about 12 servings.

Ingredients:

• 2 containers chicken stock (about 6 cups)
• 1 cup white wine (can be replaced with 1 cup water)
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1/2 stick butter (Promise)
• 6 carrots sliced (1/4-1/2 inch slice)
• 1 package, frozen chopped broccoli or cauliflower
• 3 stalks celery chopped
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1/2 red or yellow pepper, chopped
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped (sometimes called coriander)
• 3 tablespoons corn starch
• 2 heaping teaspoons curry powder
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 teaspoons each onion powder and garlic powder
• optional: cayenne pepper, crushed red pepper or dashes of hot sauce to taste, for *heat*

Directions:

1. In a 2 qt or larger pan, boil carrots in one container of chicken stock and wine until tender.
2. In a soup pot, brown ground beef, with the black pepper, onion powder and garlic powder until no longer pink. Remove meat and set aside, reserving about a tablespoon of fat in the pan.
3. Saute onions, celery and pepper in the reserved fat of the soup pot until tender. Add the 1/2 stick butter when the fat is absorbed and continue cooking.
4. Add the cornstarch and let cook through, about 1 or 2 minutes.
5. At this time, add the curry, stir, then add the remaining stock.
6. Let this come to a boil, it will thicken a little.
7. Add the broccoli or cauliflower, let it come back to a boil.
8. Turn off heat.
9. Add the carrots (with the liquid they were boiled in) into the soup pot.
10. Blend in. Taste.
11. Add more curry if you want at this point. Also, any *heat* you have chosen to add.
12. Once you have the flavor correct add the cooked ground beef and chopped cilantro.

Serve with a few whole cilantro leaves on top, or a small dollop of sour cream.

Note: If you refrigerate leftovers this soup will thicken. Add a little water when reheating for a more soup-like consistency.