The Cook & The Coach Blog

Creamy Butternut Squash Soup with Sausage with Maple Crema

11/8/2017

Simple. Delicious. Sweet. Spicy. Hearty.

If you've made soup before you've probably tried version of this soup. I see it on menus all the time especially this time of year. I've made it a handful of times and this version is by far my favorite. Call me a sucker for some good sausage. Or maybe just the simplicity and letting the fresh veggies and quality stock.

This recipe only has a few ingredients but it is built on a solid chicken stock. We have our recipe over here on how you can make your own. I think some of the keys to a good stock is getting a good pressure cooker, because who has time to cook stock for 48 hours. Also chicken feet! Yup I said it, chicken feet. The collagen from all the connective tissue in chicken feet add a richness that nearly impossible to get any other way. Just try and thank me later. You can find chicken feet at most groceries. I've seen them at every Asian market that I've ever been to also.

To make this soup even better and because we like pretty pictures, we added a maple crema. Sound fancy but it basically is just a dairy product mixed with something else that is liquid. Calling it that is just my inner chef coming out. Or maybe it is from watching too many episodes of Top Chef! Either way it is delicious and makes this dish well rounded. Sweet from the apple and maple, slightly smokey from the sausage, and a hint of spice from the cayenne. So good!

We would love to hear from you if and when you try this and what you think.

Ingredients

Soup Ingredients

1/2 pound pork sausage
1 small onion, diced
Medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cubed
2 apples, seeded and chopped
6 cups of chicken broth or enough to cover soup ingredients
1 cinnamon stick
1 bay leaf
Salt and pepper
Dash of cayenne pepper (optional)

Maple Crema Ingredients

3 tbsp greek yogurt
1 tbsp almond milk
2 tbsp maple syrup
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

In a large dutch oven add your sausage and cook over medium heat. Cook for 8-10 minutes or until cooked through and a lot of the fat has rendered out.
Remove the sausage from pot, add the onion and cook until transucent, roughly 6-8 minutes.
Add the remaining ingredients other than the cayenne pepper to the pot and bring to boil. Once it is boiling reduce heat to medium and simmer for 25 minutes.
While the soup is simmering, mix the Maple Crema ingredients in a small bowl and whisk to combine.
Remove the bay leaf and cinnamon stick. Transfer the soup to a blender and blend to remove all chunks from the soup. Make sure you remove the top plastic piece of your blender when you are blending hot items to ensure you don't have an explosion of soup. Our Vitamix is naturally vented.
If you are eating right away go ahead and pour directly into bowls. If not go ahead and return to the pot and simmer as long as needed, stirring occasionally.
Add 1/4 cup of sausage to each bowl then drizzle with Maple Crema and if you like a little spice add a dash of cayenne pepper.

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Ham, Lentil and Pea Soup

11/15/2016

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Cooler temps equal soup season! Although we are staying in warmer climates this winter we have still seen temps dip into the 40's at night and not get much past 60 during the day. I know, I know it could be so much worse. This year I guess it is all about perspective and it is cold to us!
We are also in a season of trying to save some money and our food budget is one area where we can save some money. Soups are a great way to stretch your dollar, get loads of nutrition, all without starving yourself.

Just in case you aren't convinced on soups yet, they are also super easy to make. This one could easily be a crockpot meal where you just throw everything in and forget about it. Also when we make soup, we always have leftovers, which means even easier, healthy meals for days.

Ingredients

3/4 pound ham, cubed
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, diced
3 large carrots, peeled and diced
4 stalks of celery, diced
2 tbsp minced garlic
1 cup dry lentils
1 cup dry split peas
1 tbsp dry thyme
2 bay leaves
8 cups water or chicken broth
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

You can cook this a number of ways. We used our pressure cooker but you could use a large pot on the stove top or a slow cooker. If you are using a slow cooker, just throw everything in for 8 hours on low and you should be good.
If you are using a pressure cooker or stove top start by adding your olive oil and sautee the onion, carrot, celery, and garlic for 6-8 minutes until everything begins to soften.
Add the remaining ingredients and cook as directed. Your lentils will likely be the thing that takes the longest, roughly 30 minutes on the stove top or 18 minutes in a pressure cooker.
Serve and enjoy!

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Chicken Tortilla Soup

10/10/2016

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I don't know why I don't always have a batch of this soup in our fridge. So good!!! Five years ago I would have laughed at you if you would tell me that soup can be an entire meal. I guess I was used to terrible canned soups or the tiny cup of soup that you get at restaurants. Oh how the times of changed.

Now my view of soup is basically it is liquid salad! Seriously though if you make a good soup it should resemble a salad. So if you don't like to eat salad, I suggest you try soup instead. This version of chicken tortilla soup is loaded up with veggies, quality protein, and of course some amazing chicken stock.

When I make soup I love to make a huge batch because it tastes better the next day! Feel free to scale this recipe up or down but it makes about 6 large bowls of soup. Also as a little bonus here is a how I like to make my chicken stock at home which is super simple.

Homemade Chicken Stock

Ingredients

5-6 pound whole chicken
1/2 pound chicken feet (optional but not really but this is where you get all that amazing gelatenous goodness!)
2 large carrots, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
3 celery stalks, chopped
4-5 garlic cloves, smashed
2 bay leaves
2 tsp dry thyme
2 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
Water

Directions

We use our pressure cooker if you don't have one you could do this in a stock pot or even in a slow cooker. It will just take longer.
Put your chicken and all your vegetables in your cooking vessel along with 2 cups of water. If you using a pressure cooker you will need to cook for approximately 45-60 minutes depending on how big your chicken is. Similar on a stove top and multiple hours in a slow cooker.
After the chicken is cooked, remove it from your pot. You can let it cool or if you are tough feel free to dig right in and start removing the meat from all the bones. Add the bones back into the pot that still has the vegetables in it.
Set your meat aside for later and discard the skin and gristle.
Add the remaining seasonings and ingredients and fill up your pot with water. We have a 6 quart stockpot and this amount of vegetables and spices works well with that amount of liquid.
Pressure cook for 2-3 hours depending on how much time you have. If you are using a stovetop or slow cooker you are looking at more like 24-48 hours.
After cooking, strain it so you are just left with the liquid, store in the fridge for up to a week.

Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe

Ingredients

1 lb of shredded cooked chicken meat
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion
1 green bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
0-3 jalepenos, seeds removed
2 tbsp of minced garlic
4 cups of pureed tomatoes
4 cups chicken stock
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tbsp chili powder
2 tsp smoked paprika
Cayenne pepper to taste
Salt and pepper to taste

Garnishes/Toppings

Green Onion
Cilantro
Corn Tortilla Chips
Shredded Cheese
Sour Cream or Greek Yogurt
Hot sauce

Directions

In a large pot add the oil, then add the onion, peppers and garlic and cook over medium heat for 8 minutes or until softened.
Add tomatoes and stock to the pot along with spices and bring to a boil.
Reduce to a low, add the chicken and simmer for minimum of 15 minutes or up to an hour.
Your done, add with some of your favorite toppings and enjoy!

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Hearty Miso Soup

1/28/2016

We have started making an effort to clean out our cupboards and freezer as we prepare to move out of our house and into a 300 sq ft motorhome. That means we will likely be making a lot more soups. I had a coworker/chef once tell me about the concept of "Mustgo Soup." When he was making soup for the day he would look in the cooler and see what was about to go bad and that must go in the soup. I love that about soups in that they can be so versatile and there really aren't that many rules. Just throw it all together with a delicious broth and there you go.

This miso soup was super tasty and a ton of flavor. I will say that I scaled back the amount of miso from what we used, it was a little much in my version. In case you've never used miso it is a fermented soybean paste that you can find at most grocery stores in the refrigerator section. I like to shop at our local Asian grocery store, so they have an entire section of it, super easy to find! This is the kind we bought, Miso Paste. I definitely recommend splurging for organic when it come miso since it comes from soy. It ensures you aren't consuming GMO soy which is what you find in any non-organic soy products for the most part. Another miso trick is because it is a fermented food, meaning it contains live probiotics which are super healthy for your gut, you don't want to add miso to boiling soup otherwise it will kill those probiotics. I've also found it easier to separate out some of your broth and add to the miso paste to make a slurry before adding it back to the soup. It will mix in that much better.

Hope you enjoy this soup.

Ingredients

3 medium carrots, cut into bite size pieces
1 onion, diced
1 1/2 lbs of chicken breast cut into bite size pieces (could sub tofu if you want to be vegetarian)
4 cloves of garlic, diced
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 tsp sesame oil
1 15 oz can of chickpeas, liquid drained and rinsed
1 15 oz can of full fat coconut milk
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp coconut aminos or soy sauce
1/2 of a 1.76 oz package of Wakame seaweed, roughly 1/4 cup when dry
6-8 cups of chicken stock or veggie stock
1/4 cup white miso
Juice of 1 lime

Directions

Add your coconut and sesame oil to large pot or dutch oven over medium heat.
Add in your carrots, onion, and chicken and cook for 5 minutes, then add garlic and cook until chicken is cooked through.
While all of that is cooking soak the Wakame seaweed in 2 cups of water. You'll want to soak this for 5 minutes roughly, you'll be surprised at how much it expands.
Add all the remaining ingredients except the miso and simmer for 15 minutes.
In a small bowl add your miso paste and ladle in about 1-2 cups of liquid from your pot to make a miso slurry. Kill the heat of your burner at this point and add the miso back into the pot. Also add in the lime juice at this point too.
ENJOY!!!

Italian Wedding Style Soup

12/9/2013

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So this is one of Laura’s favorites soups that she loves to buy in a can from time to time. This recipe was our version of the soup, not an exact representation but I tried to make it a little bit healthier using turkey sausage instead of pork and added kale instead of spinach. Also Laura loves hearty thick soups so she convinced me to add some quinoa to it to thicken it up.

This was a great quick soup and made for great leftovers.

ingredients

1 lb turkey sausage
1/2 large onion or about a 1 1/2 cups chopped onion
4 stalks of celery chopped
3-4 carrots depending on size
3 cups chopped kale
1/2 cup quinoa
8 cups chicken stock
2 Tbsp Sherry wine
1 tsp ground sage
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese per serving (optional)
1 tbsp fresh parsley (optional)

directions

1) Heat a pan to medium high, add 1 tbsp olive oil, once hot add the ground turkey sausage, season with salt, pepper, sage, thyme, paprika, oregano, and garlic. Cook until browned, then remove from the pan along with any excess grease.
2) Add a little more olive oil to the pan and let it heat up again, then add your veggies, season with salt and pepper, and cook almost to the point of them being soft, roughly 10 minutes.
3) Add Sherry and let the alcohol simmer off, 2 minutes roughly.
4) Add quinoa, kale and chicken stock and bring to a boil. Cook for 25 minutes.
5) Garnish with cheese and parsley if you like otherwise ENJOY!

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Creamy Butternut Squash Soup with Sausage with Maple Crema

Ingredients

Ham, Lentil and Pea Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Homemade Chicken Stock

Ingredients

Directions

Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe

Ingredients

Directions

Hearty Miso Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Italian Wedding Style Soup

ingredients

directions