Month: October 2019

Beef Minestrone Soup

This hearty winter soup will warm you to your toes.  It is a complete meal, with stew beef and beans for protein, plus veggies and gluten free pasta to round out the bowl.  I love making bean soups on a Sunday afternoon.  Having soaked the beans the night before, there is plenty of time for them to simmer while I prep the rest of the soup ingredients.  Always check labels for gluten containing ingredients.  In this recipe, choose gluten free canned tomatoes and stock.

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INGREDIENTS:

  • 1-1/2 cups mixed beans
  • 1/2 lb. chuck stew beef cut into 1/2″ cubes
  • olive oil
  • salt and pepper
  • 1-1/2 cups diced onion (3/4 large)
  • 1 cup diced carrot (1 large)
  • 3/4 cup celery (2 stalks)
  • 14.5 oz. can stewed tomatoes
  • 1 cup beef stock
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 tsp. sage
  • 1 tsp. thyme
  • 4 oz. gluten free pasta
  • Italian parsley, for garnish
  • grated cheese, for serving

Preparation:

Soak the beans overnight in a stock pot or Dutch oven.  In the morning, drain and rinse the beans.  Wipe the pot clean and add back the beans with 8 cups of cold water.  Simmer for 2 hours on lowest heat.  Drain and rinse the beans again.

Wipe the pot clean, add 1 tbsp. olive oil and brown the beef.  Add the onion, carrot and celery to the pan.  Season with salt and pepper.

In a separate bowl, combine 1 can of stewed tomatoes, 2 ladles of the cooked beans and 1/2 cup water.  Puree with a stick blender.

Add the pureed mixture, 1 cup beef stock and 1 cup water to the stockpot with the rest of the beans.  Stir well and add the bay leaf, sage and thyme.  Simmer 3 more hours on lowest heat.

When the soup is finished, be sure to pull out the bay leaf!

Boil salted water for pasta and cook according to package directions.  Drain and add to the soup.  Serve with grated cheese and garnish with Italian parsley.

Notes:

♪ I normally shy away from packaged mixed beans because so many of them contain barley.  Luckily, I came across this one by Hambeens that is clearly labeled gluten free!

♫ Can you see the lasagna noodles in my bowl?  Gluten free pasta seems especially prone to breakage.  Every box has some broken bits at the bottom.  Don’t throw them away!  They are perfect to use in soup.

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Jambalaya Stuffed Peppers

It’s been a while since I’ve made these pumpkin inspired stuffed peppers!  I love jambalaya, and while I do make it now and then, this time I went a step further and used it as a stuffing for these beautiful orange bell peppers.  The orange color really speaks to October, autumn and Halloween!

Carving out the cute little jack-o-lantern faces takes some patience!  Are they Pinterest worthy?  Probably not, but you get the idea!  At any rate they were delicious.  If you like comfort food with a spicy New Orleans kick give this one a try!  What a fun way to spend time in the kitchen!

Yield: 6-8 stuffed peppers, depending on size

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Ingredients:

Preparation:

Heat a large pot of salted water for blanching the peppers.

Cook ¾ cups brown rice according to package directions.  I cooked mine in a rice cooker using 1 cup water, one cup chicken broth and ½ tsp. seasoning.

Cut the tops off the peppers, then remove the seeds and ribs.  For a fun fall twist, use a small paring knife to carve out a jack-o-lantern face.  Don’t discard those cutout pieces, chop them up to add to the filling!

Heat a large non-stick skillet and begin browning the sausage.  When cooked through, transfer the sausage to a bowl and leave any remaining fat in the pan to flavor the other ingredients.  Add more olive oil as needed.

Next sprinkle the chicken with seasoning and brown on all sides.  Remove and set aside.

Add the shrimp and cook just until they turn pink.  I diced most of the shrimp but left a couple whole for garnish.  Remove and set aside.

Finally, add the onions, bell pepper and garlic to the skillet with a little more olive oil.  Cook for 2 minutes then push the veggies to the side of the pan and add the tomato paste.  Let the paste cook for a minute, breaking it up with a spatula before stirring it into the veggies.

To finish the jambalaya, whisk in 1 cup of chicken broth then stir in the meat and rice, tossing well to combine.

Blanch the peppers for 3 minutes in boiling water.  Drain well and arrange in a baking dish that has been misted with cooking spray.

Spoon the jambalaya mixture into the peppers and bake for 20 minutes at 350°.  Top peppers off with a whole shrimp.

Notes ♪♫ I made a few stuffed peppers, and there was plenty of the jambalaya left over.  You could make 6 to 8 stuffed peppers from this recipe.  They freeze well too, just wrap in tin foil and freeze in an airtight freezer safe container.

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