The tricky times are when there are only three of us dining.  It feels more cumbersome to make two different entrées for a party that small.  Our of deference to our vegetarian, I make a meal that is vegetarian and (hopefully) will please all of us.  Depending on which person makes the third in the party determines what route I will take.

We had a dinner for three the other week, and being a cold, windy day, I decided to make soup.  In my opinion, soup lends itself to vegetarianism quite nicely, as it can be made hearty with the addition of legumes, root vegetables, or pasta.  For this soup I chose lentils.  Not only are they filling, but they need less prep time than most dried beans.

This soup was a great way to warm us all with little effort.

Lentil Soup

1 cup lentils
water
1 Tb. olive oil
1/2 sweet onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
4 cups vegetable stock
2 cups water
1/2 cup red wine
6 oz. tomato paste
2 cups carrots, peeled and chopped
1 cup celery, chopped
1 Tb. dried basil

Place lentils in a medium-sized stockpot, cover with water, and allow to sit for one hour.  Drain and set lentils aside.

Heat olive oil in same pot over medium heat.  Add onion and cook for 5 minutes or until translucent.  Add garlic and sauté for 1 minute.  Add stock, 2 cups water, wine, tomato paste, carrots, celery, basil, and lentils.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low.  Simmer for 1 hour.

Fast forward four months to a cold winter day.  I had been considering making two different soups, one vegetarian and one not, when it occurred to me that a seafood or fish-based soup would work for all of us.  Thankfully I also remembered that I had a large container of lobster stock in the basement.  Now all I needed were some veggies and seafood items to make it complete.

I used shrimp and langoustine tails in this soup.  However, I could imagine using scallops, clams, or a firm fish.  It really can be made with whatever seafood item is appealing to you.

Seafood Soup

10 cups lobster stock
1 qt. canned tomatoes, diced
1 onion, diced
1 pepper, diced
1 Tb. Old Bay seasoning
ground pepper
1 cup frozen corn
1/2 lb. shrimp, cooked
1/2 lb. langoustine tails, cooked

In a large stock pot, combine lobster stock, tomatoes and their juice, onion, pepper, and Old Bay over medium heat.  Simmer for 30 minutes, then add ground pepper and additional Old Bay to taste.   Add corn and simmer for an additional 10 minutes.

While soup is simmering, peel, devein, and chop shrimp.  Chop langoustine tails.  Divide seafood among six serving bowls.  Ladle soup into bowls.  Eat immediately.

This recipe is one that should be made sooner as opposed to later.  For many parts of the country, zucchini season is ending, and this soup is best made with fresh, local zucchini.  With temps in my region starting in the mid-30s today, it seems the perfect day to serve a bowl of soup to warm yourself.

This soup is also quite handy, in that it is ready in less than 30 minutes.  For this soup, there’s no need to let it simmer to intensify flavors.  A little sautéing, a little blending, and a little simmering and dinner is ready.

Give it a try while the harvest and temperatures are working in tandem to enjoy a fresh, hot serving of zucchini.

Silky Zucchini Soup

1 Tb. olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

5 medium zucchini, chopped

2 cups spinach broth*

1/3 cup Greek yogurt

salt & pepper

hot sauce

In a medium stockpot, heat olive oil over medium heat.  Add onion, and sauté until translucent, about 5 minutes.  Add garlic and zucchini, and sauté for an additional 5 minutes, or until zucchini is tender.  Add broth, and bring to a boil.  Transfer half of the zucchini soup to a blender, and purée.  (Be sure to hold the blender lid with a heavy towel, as the heat may cause the lid to fly off!)  Repeat with the other half, and return all of the purée to the stockpot.  Over low-medium heat, add yogurt and stir to combine.  Season with salt, pepper, and hot sauce, if desired. Allow to simmer for 5 minutes.

*I had spinach broth on hand from blanching spinach.  Vegetable broth can be used as a replacement.

This weather doesn’t encourage me to make big salads for dinner, even though I now have an almost endless supply of greens, courtesy of my husband’s indoor gardening.  What I crave is something that will me inside and out, such as a pot of soup.  With a vegetarian daughter in the house, it adds a challenge to my soup-making skills.  I don’t mind vegetarian soups, but it seems that so many recipes start with a chicken stock base.  While I could replace it with vegetable stock, it doesn’t always seem like the correct substitution.  The other challenge is to find a vegetarian soup that will be hearty enough to be the main dish.

This Cheddar Potato Soup was an excellent choice.  The addition of freshly grated nutmeg and a generous portion of sharp cheddar cheese gave this soup all of the flavor it needed.  Although many potato soups are made with chicken broth or have bacon added for flavor, a little seasoning and a little extra cheese seemed to make it work.  Even our son who is quite carniverous didn’t mind having a vegetarian soup, as it was so hearty and flavorful.

A warm and rich (but lowfat) soup did make us feel much warmer that night.  However, we’d gladly take some spring weather to warm us instead.

Cheddar Potato Soup

1 pound potatoes, peeled & diced

3 Tb. butter

1/2 large onion, diced

3 Tb. flour

4 cups skim milk

1-1/2 cups sharp cheddar, shredded

nutmeg

salt & pepper

Fill a medium saucepot with water and bring to a boil.  Add potatoes, and boil for about 5 minutes, or until the potatoes are barely fork tender.  Remove potatoes to a small bowl to cool, discard water, and return pot to burner on medium heat.  Melt butter in pot and add onions.  Cook for 3-5 minutes, or until translucent.  Add flour and cook, stirring frequently, for another 3 minutes.  Slowly add milk, stirring constantly to combine.  When it nears boiling, reduce to a simmer, and add cheddar and potatoes.  Add nutmeg, salt, and pepper to taste.  Allow to simmer, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes.

Although our daughter has seemed to enjoy her three month stint of being meat-free, I think sometimes I am more excited for these new creations.  A few weeks ago I made veggiepalooza, a simple stirfry of a multitude of vegetables that I raved about for days.  Last week, I created a carrot soup, which was meant to be a side dish to accompany sandwiches, but that I made my main dish as I was so enamored with it. (Yes, I am the quirky person in your dinner party that happily announces that there are brussel sprouts on the menu.) While my less-excited-for-vegetables fellow diners only ate side dish servings, they did seem to enjoy it also.

The beauty of this soup is three-fold.  First, it is incredibly simple to make, taking less than 30 minutes.  Second, it was low in fat and calories, as the entire pot required only a half tablespoon of butter and a half cup of milk.  Third, the flavor was amazing.

On a day such as this, when the temperature is hovering in the single digits with the windchill pushing it below zero, a pot of carrot soup seems like the perfect way to fight the cold.  Plus, it may inspire the veggie lover in your home to proclaim his or her love for carrots.

Creamy (Yet Lowfat) Carrot Soup

3 cups carrots, peeled & diced

1/2 Tb. butter

1 onion, diced

1 Tb. fresh thyme, diced

2-1/2 cups vegetable broth

1/2 cup skim milk

salt & pepper

Sour cream*

Maple syrup*

Bring a medium pot of water to a boil over high heat.  Add carrots, and boil for 8-10 minutes, or until they are fork tender.  Drain, and set carrots aside.  Return pot to medium heat, and add butter.  Once butter is melted, add onions and sauté until translucent, about 5 minutes.  Add thyme, and sauté for 1 minute longer.  Remove pot from heat.  Place half of carrots and half of onion mixture in a blender with half of the broth.  Pureé until creamy.  Repeat with other half of carrots, onions, and broth.  Return all pureéd ingredients to pot and warm over medium heat.  Add milk, and stir well.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Makes 6 side dish servings or 2-3 main dish servings.

*When serving, each dish can be topped with sour cream or maple syrup for additional flavor.

In hindsight, purchasing a second half-bushel may have been too much.  We didn’t need to make more apple butter, as we already had many jars in our pantry.  We made a couple batches of dried apple slices, but that only required a half dozen or so apples.  No one in our house particularly enjoys apple sauce, and while we all enjoy apple pie and apple crisp, we would have had to made many to use all of the apples.

So, it became time to be creative with apples.  The first new twist on apples was Apple Soup.  Thankfully I have a husband who is open-minded and doesn’t hear the words apple and soup combined and decide immediately that this must be a joke or a horrible combination.  The kids were more hesitant.  Our 14 year old was suspicious but ended up finding it enjoyable.  Our 12 year old on the other hand wasn’t as pleased, “I thought it would be puréed more” was her subtle way of expressing displeasure.

Of course, they’re kids, which means they’re bound to be more fickle.  So, what did the two adults think?  We loved it, me especially.  Although I’m not a vegetarian, I have a love for all things made with fruit and veggies.   This soup was a nice combination of those.  If you prefer a soup without texture, you could purée it longer.  However, I liked that there was a hint of texture to it, as it made you aware that you were eating a bowl of soup and not just sipping an apple flavored latté.

Apple Soup

2 Tb. butter

1 onion, diced

2 celery stalks, diced

20 baby carrots, diced

6 apples, peeled, cored, & diced*

1 Tb. brown sugar

4 cups chicken broth

1-1/3 cup apple cider

1 Tb. maple syrup

salt & pepper

cinnamon

In a medium-sized stock pot, melt butter over medium heat.  Add onion, celery, and carrots, and sauté for 4 minutes.  Add apples, brown sugar, chicken broth, cider, and maple syrup, and cook for 5 more minutes.  Purée small batches of soup in a blender.  Return to pan, and season with salt, pepper, and cinnamon to your liking.

*Should equal 5 cups

That’s about all I feel inspired to write at this moment.  With temperatures in the high 90s and lots of humidity, the weather is less than comfortable.  As my mom (who lives in Florida) explains, I just am not used to these wonderfully warm days.  That is true.  I like warmth, say 80s, and I can do without the humidity.  However, I don’t get to pick the weather.

To add to the excitement of the heat, one of my home’s central air conditioning units decided this would be a good time to need new parts.  The good news is that the bedrooms have a separate unit, so sleeping is cool.  However, the kitchen and my office are controlled by the sickly air conditioner.  So, as I sit at my desk and down multiple glasses of water while a fan blows on me continuously, I debate ways to create meals that involve minimal heat.

Last night was easy.  The kids wanted to finish leftovers from dinner at a restaurant.  Perfect!  For my husband and me I decided to try my hand at a chilled soup.  While it did mean that the soup needed to simmer for a little bit on the stove, I didn’t need to turn on the oven.  Plus, once the soup was ready, we would have an ice cold, tasty meal.  It seemed worth a few minutes at the stove.

I found this soup to be quite delicious served with some flatbread crackers.  Depending on your preferences, you can purée the soup more or less to achieve the texture you desire.

Nectarine Soup

1/2 Tb. olive oil

1 yellow onion, diced

1-1/2 Tb. flour

5 nectarines, peeled and diced

2/3 cup white wine (I used Chenin Blanc)

2 cups chicken broth

salt & pepper

Heat olive oil in a medium stockpot over medium heat.  Add onion, and cook for 5 minutes or until translucent.  Add flour, and cook, stirring frequently, for 2 minutes.  Add nectarines, wine, and broth, and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to low, and simmer for 20 minutes.  Pour about half of the soup into a blender, and purée until you achieve the desired consistency.  (As the soup is hot, you do not want to fill the blender.)  Place puréed soup into a storage container, and repeat with second half of soup.  Season with salt and pepper, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

Reviewing our store of meat in the freezer, I had limited options.  We had ground lamb, veal medallions, and chicken wings.  Chicken wings seemed like a bad choice, and ground meat wasn’t what I was envisioning.  While I could have bought some other meat at the store, I thought I would see what I could make with the veal.

Our kids were on vacation from school and made plans with friends, so dinner would be just for my husband me.  That gave me a broader scope of choices for other ingredients.  Although I encourage our kids to try a variety of foods, it is nice to be able to choose any veggie that we want and not hear, “How many bites do I have to take?”  A hearty amount of mushrooms seemed like the perfect compliment for veal and the perfect addition for a child-free dinner.

After hours of simmering on the stove, our house felt warmer and smelled delicious.  It was the perfect way to counteract the weather outside.

Veal & Mushroom Soup

1 Tb. olive oil

1 yellow onion, diced

2 carrots, peeled & diced

2 celery stalks, diced

3 garlic cloves, minced

1-1/4 lb. veal medallions, cut into bite-sized pieces

4 cups chicken broth

1 bay leaf

1-1/2 tsp. basil

1/2 tsp. oregano

1/2 cup port

1/2 pound crimini mushrooms, chopped

In a large stockpot, heat oil over medium heat.  Add onion, carrots, and celery, and sauté for 5 minutes.  Add garlic and veal, and sauté until veal is browned.  Add broth, bay leaf, basil, oregano, and port.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, and allow to simmer.  (The soup should simmer for at least one hour but can cook for longer.)  A half-hour before serving, add mushrooms.

Mondays are busy due to the nature of my job, but this Monday is extra busy.  First, it is February break, which means that I have a 12 and 13 year old hanging around the house, and although they understand that I work from home, there are more interruptions than when they’re at school.  Second, our daughter turned 12 on Saturday, and tonight was deemed the best night to host her party.  So, that means juggling my schedule in order to help facilitate the party.  Not that 12 year olds want to play party games, but my presence is desired when it is time to drive to the bowling alley, purchase pizza, and make the chocolate fondue.

This recipe fits this day well.  It’s a quick recipe to type and also a quick recipe to make.  In fact, it would have been a great choice for tonight, but we just had it last week.  Tonight, once bowling, pizza, and fondue are done, my husband and I will sit down for a simple, yet tasty, dinner of cheeses, crackers, fruit, and sausage.  Enough sustenance to quell any hunger pangs but a dinner that requires almost no work.  Perfect!

Egg Drop Soup

4 cups chicken broth

2 eggs, beaten

3 scallions, diced

salt & pepper

Heat chicken broth to boiling in a medium pot.  While stirring the broth continuously, add the eggs in a SLOW, steady stream. Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Add scallions, stir, and serve immediately.

*It is important that you stir continuously while adding the eggs, so that you don’t end up with a big egg “blob”.

For the kids I made a simple veggie-beef-noodle soup.  For us that sounded way too bland and boring.  And as their afternoons were filled with practices and they needed to eat earlier than us, it was the perfect reason to make two pots of soup.  With no wrinkled nose ingredients to avoid, the obvious choice was French onion soup.

I have made French onion soup a few times but never have put chunks of meat into the soup.  It did seem like a good way to make the soup more filling.  Plus, a new addition to this soup was using dry vermouth instead of white wine or a splash of cognac.  When my husband and I finally sat down for dinner around 8:30, both of us were delighted to discover that this was the most delicious French onion soup either of us had eaten.  Ever.  The vermouth gave the soup a nice sweetness, and the beef was quite tender.

The next time we have leftover beef, I will be making this soup.  I even might introduce it to our kids and work on expanding their palates.

Fabulous French Onion Soup

1/2 Tb. olive oil

4 yellow onions, thinly sliced

1/2 tsp. sugar

1 garlic clove, minced

5 cups beef broth

1/2 cup dry vermouth

1 cup beef, diced

1 bay leaf

1 tsp. fresh thyme

salt & pepper

3 pieces bread, thinly sliced & toasted*

swiss cheese, thinly sliced

In a medium stock pot, heat olive oil and add onions, stirring occasionally.  After 15 minutes, add sugar and saute for another 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add garlic and saute for a minute or two.  Add broth, vermouth, beef, bay leaf, and thyme, and cover and simmer for 15 minutes.  Taste soup and add salt and pepper as desired.  Cook, covered, for an additional 15 minutes.

Ladle soup into individual bowls (oven-proof are best).  Top with bread and slices of cheese.  Oven-proof bowls should be placed under a heated broiler for a minute or two to melt cheese.  Non-oven-proof bowls can be placed in the microwave for 30-45 seconds to melt cheese.

*We had leftover onion rolls from our Christmas dinner.  We thinly sliced one roll, which provided the topping for three cups of soup and added a little extra flavor.