Easy Cream of Vegetable Soup

This very easy recipe was created using frozen vegetables when there was no fresh broccoli to make the Cream of Broccoli Soup posted on 4/19/2013. I've updated the recipe making the soup more flavorful without added calories, yet, it is mild enough to be kid-friendly. Blessings...

Recipe:

1 tbsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. chopped green onion
2 tbsp. chopped yellow onion
2 cans (14.5 oz. each) chicken broth (3-1/2 cups)
1 cup peeled, diced potato
2 12-oz. pkgs. broccoli, cauliflower and carrots, thawed (3 cups)
2 cups 1% milk
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. savory
1/8 tsp. Tabasco sauce
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

1. Warm olive oil over low heat in a large saucepan; add onion and saute until soft, but not brown, about 5 minutes.
2. Add broth, potato, thawed vegetables, salt, pepper and savory. Heat to boiling. Lower heat; cover and simmer for about 8 minutes or until vegetables are very tender. Set pot aside and allow mixture to cool for 30 minutes. Cooling the mixture makes pureeing simpler.
3. Puree vegetable-broth mixture in small batches in a blender until smooth; return to a soup pot.
4. Add milk, Tabasco sauce and nutmeg. Heat over medium-low flame, don't boil, and adjust seasoning if needed.

Yield: 8 cups
84 calories per cup
2 gms. fiber

Red Lobster's Cheddar Biscuits, posted on 9/26/2013, would be wonderful alongside this soup.

Broccoli Cheddar Quiche

My friend, Patti, and I got together for our monthly catching-up-with-each-other-time today. We shared this Broccoli Cheddar Quiche and some wonderful late-harvest peaches from her yard, while we enjoyed our visit together.

This quiche is mild in flavor and works well for brunch or dinner, and it is very kid-friendly. Our little granddaughter thoroughly enjoyed it when I made it a few years ago for brunch on Thanksgiving weekend. Blessings...

Recipe:

Pastry for a 10-inch one-crust pie
1/2 lb. bacon, crisply fried and crumbled
1 cup grated medium cheddar cheese (4 ounces)
1 cup diced fresh broccoli
1/3 cup minced onion
1-2 tsps. butter
4 eggs
1 cup whipping cream
1 cup half-and-half
1 few grinds white pepper
1/2 tsp. nutmeg


1. Line 10-inch pie plate or 10-inch quiche dish with pastry. Make high fluted edge and set aside.
2. In small frying pan over low heat, melt butter. Add onion and fry until golden in color, remove pan from heat.
3. Heat oven to 425 degrees.
4. Carefully spread cooked onion in pie plate.
5. Sprinkle bacon, cheese and broccoli pieces over onion.
6. Whisk together last 5 ingredients in a medium-sized bowl until well combined. Carefully pour cream mixture into pie plate.
7. Bake 15 minutes. Lower oven temperature to 300 degrees; cover quiche with foil to prevent over-browning and bake another 30 minutes, or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Remove quiche from oven and let rest for 10 minutes before cutting.

Yield: 6 to 8 main dish servings

Slow Cooker Sesame Chicken

Slow cooker recipes are wonderful anytime of the year, but I especially appreciate them when the weather starts to turn cool. My niece contributed this recipe in a recipe group that we were a part of last year, and I readily tried it. The recipe is very easy, and so flavorful. Inexpensive chicken thighs are slow cooked until the meat falls off the bone. It is then shredded, added back into the sauce and served over stir-fried broccoli and cooked rice. A sprinkling of toasted sesame seed and dinner is ready! This recipe comes from www.emilylovesfood.com  Blessings...

Recipe:

6 skinless chicken thighs, bone-in
1/2 an onion, finely chopped (1/2 cup)
2 cloves garlic, minced or 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup tomato paste
2 tsp. sesame oil
1 tbsp. cornstarch
1/4 cup water (I used chicken broth; it adds better flavor)
2 cups broccoli florets, chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 tsp. sesame oil to stir-fry the broccoli
rice
toasted sesame seed, if desired

1. Place the chicken in the slow cooker and turn the heat to high while the sauce is being prepared.
2. Whisk together the onion, garlic, honey, soy sauce, tomato paste and oil in a bowl; pour over the chicken. Cook on high heat for 1 hour; reduce heat to low and continue cooking for another 3 to 4 hours.
3. About 20 minutes before serving, remove the chicken from the slow cooker to a 9 x 13-inch baking dish. It's easy to shred the chicken in a large flat dish.
4. In a small bowl, combine the cornstarch and the water, or chicken broth, and stir into the sauce in the slow cooker. Turn the heat up to high to thicken the sauce.
5. Prepare the rice according to package directions.
6. Shred the chicken and add it back to the sauce to warm through.
7. In a skillet, heat the 1 tsp. sesame oil over medium-high heat. Stir-fry the broccoli pieces until they turn a fresh rich green color, their outsides look moist and they are crisp-tender. This only takes a few minutes.
8. To serve, top rice with broccoli, then chicken and sprinkle with sesame seed, if desired. Yummy!

Yield: 4 to 6 servings

Broccoli Scalloped Potatoes (with ham)

This all-in-one-dish meal was created by Denell Syslo, from Fullerton, Nebraska. Her wonderful recipe was contributed to, and accepted by, "Taste of Home" for one of their cookbooks. As you have probably noted by this time, I have used many "Taste of Home" recipes over the years. I love the ease and simplicity of recipes  shared by home cooks, and this one is no exception. The recipe is very easy, but it does take time to prep the vegetables and make the sauce. Once this is done, pop it in the oven for an hour and dinner is ready. I served Autumn Tossed Salad, recipe posted on 9/24/2014, alongside. Blessings...

Recipe:

2 tbsp. chopped onion
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup butter
5 tbsp. unbleached flour
1/4 tsp. white pepper ( black pepper would work just fine if you don't have the white)
1/8 tsp. salt
2-1/2 cups milk
2 cups (8 oz.) shredded Swiss cheese, divided use
2 pounds medium potatoes, peeled and very thinly sliced (about 6 potatoes)
2 cups julienned fully cooked ham (see note)
2 cups frozen broccoli florets, thawed and patted dry (see note)

1. In a large skillet, saute onion and garlic in butter for 3-4 minutes.
2. Stir in the flour, pepper and salt until blended. Gradually stir in milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Stir in 1 cup of cheese. Reduce heat; cook for 1-2 minutes or until cheese is melted (sauce will be thick).
3. Remove from the heat; gently stir in the potatoes, ham and broccoli.
4. Transfer to a greased 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking dish or line pan with non-stick pan lining paper. (I love pan lining paper for ease of clean up!)
5. Cover dish tightly with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.
6. Uncover and test potatoes with a fork to make sure they are very tender. If they are, sprinkle casserole with remaining cup of cheese and return to the oven for about 5 minutes to melt cheese.

Yield: 8 servings
Note: I used packaged cubed ham; so easy to just take it out of the package and throw it in the pot.
Note: I used fresh broccoli and it worked perfectly.

Italian Broccoli Salad

This recipe for a very easy broccoli salad uses only four ingredients and some bottled dressing. Fast and simple to get on the table after a short stay in the fridge to blend the flavors. And, it tastes great the next day if you make extra and have leftovers. Blessings...

Recipe:

2 cups chopped fresh broccoli florets and thin stems
2/3 cup chopped Roma tomato (1 3-oz tomato)
1/4 cup sliced black olives (8 olives)
1/4 cup chopped onion, white or red
1/2 cup lite Italian dressing (see note)
freshly grated Parmesan cheese, optional

1. Place chopped vegetables in a bowl and pour dressing over; stir to combine and cover.
2. Refrigerate salad for an hour, or more, to blend flavors.
3. Sprinkle individual servings with Parmesan cheese, if desired.

Yield: 2-1/2 cups
63 calories per 1/2 cup serving
1 gm. fiber
Note: I use Ken's Steak House Northern Italian with Basil and Romano Dressing and figured the calorie count accordingly.

Italian-Style Broccoli

This simple recipe for broccoli goes together very quickly and tastes wonderful alongside just about any main dish. The Italian flavor comes from the simplicity of a bit of garlic and onion sauted in olive oil. The flavors are not strong, which is nice since broccoli tends to be a stronger flavored vegetable on its own. Add a sprinkling of freshly grated Parmesan cheese and you have a delicious way of serving this tasty, good-for-you vegetable. Blessings...

Recipe: 

1/3 cup finely chopped onion

1 garlic clove, minced

2 tbsp. olive oil

1-1/2 lbs. fresh broccoli, cut into 2-inch spears

1/4 cup water

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. chili powder
grated Parmesan cheese

1. In a large skillet, saute onion and garlic in oil for 2-3 minutes.

2. Stir in the broccoli, water, salt and chili powder. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and cook for 10-15 minutes or until broccoli is crisp-tender. Spoon into serving bowl and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Yield: 4-6 servings 

Note: My niece made this dish for her family using frozen broccoli and she said it worked well.

Broccoli and Cranberry Salad

My family really likes the traditional broccoli salad recipe that is made with bacon and raisins, so I decided to try this recipe that I found in an old "Taste of Home Cooking School" magazine this week. The twist in this recipe is the cranberries, in place of the raisins, and the addition of Cheddar cheese. I changed the dressing ingredients to better suit our tastes and lower the calorie count. Always important for those of us who love to have dessert! Blessings...

Recipe:

5 cups fresh broccoli florets, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 cup chopped red onion (I didn't have red onion so I used green onion)
1 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1 cup crumbled cooked bacon, about 12 meaty slices fried crisply
1 cup sunflower kernels
1 cup sweetened dried cranberries

Dressing:

1 cup fat-free or reduced-fat mayonnaise (I used 1/2 cup light mayonnaise and 1/2 cup fat-free plain yogurt)
2 tbsps. sugar
2 tbsps. fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper

1. In a large bowl, combine the salad ingredients and mix well.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the dressing ingredients until smooth.
3. Add dressing to salad and stir until the ingredients are well coated; cover and chill for at least an hour to blend flavors.

Yield: 8-10 servings

Cream of Broccoli Soup

One day this week when I went online to check our bank account, I had a heart-stopping moment, and a full day of dealing with the banks' fraud dept. and the manager of our local branch office. There had been fraudulent activity that cleaned out our account. I'm sure you can imagine the sense of panic and the feelings of violation that were the focus of the day. Of course, everything is moving along and the bank manager is doing a wonderful job of covering all the charges. But, there is a very large issue when something like this happens, and that is, you no longer have access to your bank account. All is put on hold until the fraud dept. can get the funds back into the bank account. We don't use charge cards, so this was not an option, either.

I share this to bring up the very important issue of being able to feed your family if you can not go to the grocery store on a daily basis, or even for a week. Thankfully, I've had to learn this lesson well over the years and my pantry and freezer are very well stocked. There are no guarantees that we are going to be able  to run to the store; things can happen and, happen very quickly. I would really encourage you to invest the time into checking how long your family could eat in the event of a crises in your home. Your family may need to eat canned or frozen fruit and vegetables for a few days, and to have a supply of meat in the freezer is very wise. Make sure you have plenty of pasta, beans and cereals, as well.

This recipe is an example of what I mean. With a 16-ounce package of frozen broccoli in the freezer, and chicken broth and potatoes in the pantry, dinner was easy to get on the table in spite of the stress-filled day. I served some leftover dinner rolls alongside the soup, and dessert. All was well, and the menus are planned for the next week as the bank gets everything taken care of for us.  Blessings...

Recipe:

1 bunch fresh broccoli (about 1-1/2 lbs.)- See Note

1/2 cup chopped green onion (yellow onion can be used)

2 tbsps. butter

1 cup diced potato or leftover mashed potatoes

2 cans (14-1/2 oz. each) chicken broth

1/4 - 3/4 tsp. seasoned salt (add salt in 1/4 tsp. increments to desired taste)

dash cayenne pepper

1 cup fat-free half-and-half or milk of choice

1. Trim outer leaves and tough ends from broccoli. Cut into small pieces and parboil in boiling salted water in a large saucepan for 5 minutes; drain well. 

2. Saute onion in butter in saucepan until soft but not brown, about 5 minutes. Add potato, chicken broth, seasoned salt and cayenne pepper. Heat to boiling; lower heat; simmer 15 minutes. Add broccoli; simmer 5 minutes longer or until vegetables are tender. 

3. Cool soup a bit. Pour mixture half at a time into blender; cover; puree until smooth. Return mixture to saucepan. Add cream and heat through. If the soup is too thick for your taste, add more cream to thin to desired consistency. Add more salt and pepper, if needed.

Yield: 8 cups
Note: You may use a thawed 16 ounce pkg. of frozen broccoli pieces in place of the fresh. Add the thawed broccoli pieces to the pot after the potatoes are tender, just as you would the fresh cooked broccoli, and cook another 5 minutes or until the broccoli is tender. Continue the recipe as written. I can usually get frozen broccoli much cheaper than fresh, so this keeps this meal very inexpensive.

Vegetable Casserole

I haven't posted for about two months due to my father's death. With spring and Easter coming, and new beginnings, this seemed a good time to get going again.

This casserole is good and very easy, and if you love French's French fried onions as much as we do, give this dish a try! Blessings...

Recipe:

1 can (10-3/4 oz.) 98% fat-free Cream of Mushroom Soup
1/3 cup lite sour cream
a few grinds black pepper
1 (16 oz.) bag frozen vegetable combination (broccoli, cauliflower and carrots), thawed
1 can (2.8 oz.) French's French fried onions (1-1/3 cups)
1/2 cup shredded medium Cheddar cheese

1. Stir soup, sour cream, and black pepper together in a 2-qt. casserole. Add vegetables, 2/3 cup onions and 1/4 cup cheese; stir to combine. Cover.
2. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 40 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Stir.
3. Top with remaining onions and cheese. Bake uncovered for 5 minutes more.

Yield: 4 - 6 servings

Low-Fat Chicken or Turkey Divan

This past Saturday night we had a Newcomer's Dinner in our home. This is a ministry that my husband and I really enjoy doing for the new people that are attending our church. The recipe I'm sharing here is one that I pasted on to a friend so that she could make it and bring it to our dinner. I "trimmed down" the original version of this dish when I was helping my husband lose weight last year. Everyone enjoyed my variation, I hope you do as well. Blessings...

Recipe:

1-1/4 lbs. chopped fresh broccoli, cooked or 2 - 10 oz. pkgs. frozen broccoli, cooked. (broccoli must be well-drained)
3 cups chopped cooked chicken or turkey
1 can (10-3/4 oz.) low-fat condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted
1 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup low-fat (lite) mayonnaise
1/4 cup plain low-fat yogurt or equivalent in mayonnaise, if the calories don't matter to you
1/8 teaspoon powdered mustard
1/8 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
fresh ground black pepper to taste
1 cup low-fat shredded medium cheddar cheese

1. Arrange broccoli in a 9" x 13" baking pan; sprinkle chicken or turkey evenly over broccoli.
2. Put all remaining ingredients, except cheese, in a medium size bowl. Using a wire whisk, gently whisk until mixture is smooth and well combined.
3. Pour mixture evenly over broccoli and poultry; sprinkle with the cheese.
4. Cover casserole with foil and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 10-15 minutes or until sauce is hot and bubbly.

Tip: When using frozen cooked broccoli, squeeze out extra moisture by wrapping in paper toweling and press gently. Extra moisture always cooks out of broccoli.