Who needs dancing when we have yummy Greek meatball soup with a super Greek salad and grilled pita bread! Our Souper Tueday gathering was a little smaller this week. We were missing Erica and Marybeth and Ryan's family. Some weeks are just like that!
Bruce entertained the troops by relating how we started going together..Since it involved sand, piggyback racing, ambulance, surgery, and subsequent recovery, and a row boat, it was quite a story. The best part was that he hooked me in with a phony limp and the need to put his arm around me. Seems like yesterday not 49 years ago!
I digress. The soup was fairly easy to make except that the recipe (than you, Food Network!) didn't call for any egg in the meatball mixture. Some of the meatballs fell apart so I'd add an egg to the mix next time I made them.
2 cups chicken broth
2 14-oz cans of fire roasted tomatoes with Green chilies. ( Jesse our shopper this week had trouble finding these in our local markets. He was able to get them at a Whole Foods.)
1 lg red onion roughly chopped
1 cup fresh dill
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 cup pimento-stuffer gree olives (I made one batch without these and one batch with)
4 slices of bread
1 egg
1 lb of ground beef
1 14-ox can of butter beans (drained and rinsed)
1 zucchini quartered and cut into small pieces
1 lemon
Prepare onion, olives and spices including the fresh dill by finely copping in a food processor. In the meantime, Bring broth and tomatoes to a boil over med heat. Add half the onion-spice mixture into the tomato mixture.
Crumble the bread in a blender, add to onion-spice mixture and mix in the ground beef. Add an eggs and mix until well blended. Roll into 1 inch meatballs. Drop gently into the soup mixture and simmer for about 10 minutes.
Add the beans and zucchini. Simmer for about 5 minutes or until the zucchini is tender. Squeeze the juice of one lemon into the soup just before serving.
Original recipe from the Food Network Magazine, May 2013.
If you' like to make grilled pita, brush both sides with olive oil. Use a pizza cutter to cut each pita into 6 pieces. Bake in a 400 degree oven- about 5 minutes on each side. These were delicious warm or cooled.
Serve with a tossed Greek salad (thank you, Barbara) and a fabulous sherry laden coconut cake from our resident pastry chef, Arlene!
Enjoy! Next up- Black Bean Soup!
Saturday, January 31, 2015
Saturday, January 17, 2015
Welcome to Souper Tuesday, 2015
Welcome to a new year of Souper Tuesday on Thursday! Sounds odd, doesn't it? This year we are getting together on Thursday nights. That's not the only change- we welcomed 2 new families to our gathering. Marybeth, Ryan, and their cute boys, Rocco and Turner and our newest neighbors Jesse and Jennifer helped us kick off a new Souper season.
And quite a gathering it was! Barbara is continuing to bring delicious salads, Marybeth and Arlene tempted us with sweet treats and Erica brought awesome popovers. With all this you might be thinking, "Who needs soup?"
This week I started us off with Chicken Nacho. I found the recipe in Food Network Magazine featured for a slow cooker. Since I am feeding 14, I adapted the recipe for my big soup pot. This version will feed 4-6.
Chicken Nacho Soup
1/2 can of tomato paste
1 14.5 oz can of diced fire roasted tomatoes
1 14.5 oz jar of spaghetti sauce
1 large potato- peeled and diced
1 small zucchini - diced
1 small onion- diced
1 small jalapeño- finely chop half; thinly slice the rest and reserve for the topping ( Wear gloves when working with the jalapeño!) Removing the seeds makes it less hot.
1 clove of garlic minced
1/2 tsp ground cumin
3 sprigs of fresh cilantro
1 sm bag of frozen corn
1 qt of chicken broth
Salt to taste
1 1/2 lbs skinless, boneless chicken breasts cut into 3/4 inch cubes
2 TBS vegetable oil
Topping
1 sm box of Velveeta cheese
1/2 cup milk
Tortilla Chips
Add oil into the bottom of the soup pot. Cook onions in oil over medium heat until onions are tender but not browned. Add the diced tomatoes including juice, tomato paste, sauce, zucchini, potatoes, finely diced jalapeño, garlic, cumin, cilantro, and chicken broth. stirring often, bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer on low for about 30 minutes stirring occasionally. Add the corn and chicken and simmer for another 30-40 minutes checking to see that the chicken is thoroughly cooked.
Prepare the cheese topping by melting the Velveeta in a microwaveable bowl. Stir and thin with milk until the cheese is thick but can be poured. I used a 4 cup glass Pyrex measuring cup.
To serve: top each bowl with 3or 4 whole tortilla chips. Spoon (or pour) a little melted cheese on top of the chips. Add jalapeños if desired.
The soup was very easy to make but found that I had to keep a watchful eye to make sure it didn't stick to the bottom. So make sure to keep the heat low once it comes to a boil. Make sure you stir it as it comes to a boil, too!
Don't skip the topping- I think it really made the soup!
I hope you try it! Please let us know how you like it.
If you want to try the slow cooker version, I found it in the April 2014 Food Network Magazine.
And quite a gathering it was! Barbara is continuing to bring delicious salads, Marybeth and Arlene tempted us with sweet treats and Erica brought awesome popovers. With all this you might be thinking, "Who needs soup?"
This week I started us off with Chicken Nacho. I found the recipe in Food Network Magazine featured for a slow cooker. Since I am feeding 14, I adapted the recipe for my big soup pot. This version will feed 4-6.
Chicken Nacho Soup
1/2 can of tomato paste
1 14.5 oz can of diced fire roasted tomatoes
1 14.5 oz jar of spaghetti sauce
1 large potato- peeled and diced
1 small zucchini - diced
1 small onion- diced
1 small jalapeño- finely chop half; thinly slice the rest and reserve for the topping ( Wear gloves when working with the jalapeño!) Removing the seeds makes it less hot.
1 clove of garlic minced
1/2 tsp ground cumin
3 sprigs of fresh cilantro
1 sm bag of frozen corn
1 qt of chicken broth
Salt to taste
1 1/2 lbs skinless, boneless chicken breasts cut into 3/4 inch cubes
2 TBS vegetable oil
Topping
1 sm box of Velveeta cheese
1/2 cup milk
Tortilla Chips
Add oil into the bottom of the soup pot. Cook onions in oil over medium heat until onions are tender but not browned. Add the diced tomatoes including juice, tomato paste, sauce, zucchini, potatoes, finely diced jalapeño, garlic, cumin, cilantro, and chicken broth. stirring often, bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer on low for about 30 minutes stirring occasionally. Add the corn and chicken and simmer for another 30-40 minutes checking to see that the chicken is thoroughly cooked.
Prepare the cheese topping by melting the Velveeta in a microwaveable bowl. Stir and thin with milk until the cheese is thick but can be poured. I used a 4 cup glass Pyrex measuring cup.
To serve: top each bowl with 3or 4 whole tortilla chips. Spoon (or pour) a little melted cheese on top of the chips. Add jalapeños if desired.
The soup was very easy to make but found that I had to keep a watchful eye to make sure it didn't stick to the bottom. So make sure to keep the heat low once it comes to a boil. Make sure you stir it as it comes to a boil, too!
Don't skip the topping- I think it really made the soup!
I hope you try it! Please let us know how you like it.
If you want to try the slow cooker version, I found it in the April 2014 Food Network Magazine.
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