My Favorite Comfort Food

I've really been into making soups a lot lately. I enjoy making them and I like how they're a great light meal. I really shouldn't call them light because they always fill me up. The one tool I will say everyone needs in their kitchen is an immersion blender.

I've had mine for years and it comes in great use from making soups to mashing mashed potatoes. Anytime a recipe says pour the contents into a blender and blend, you can just use your immersion blender. Saves so much time and clean up. Since it's been so cold out all I want to eat is something warm and soup is perfect for that. Here are some of my favorites:

Creamy Cauliflower Soup

This was so delicious and ridiculously easy. I like that it has zero dairy in it and the creaminess comes from blending the cauliflower. This could be totally vegan/vegetarian if you used vegetable broth instead of chicken broth. We served ours with a chicken bacon and cheddar cheese panini. It was a yummy meal!

White Bean and Kale Soup

I didn't expect this soup to have so much flavor but it really did. This soup is straight up vegetables and spices so it's very healthy. Anything with kale and beans in it is a winner to me. 

Creamy Lentil Soup

This soup came together because I had a bag of dried lentils in my pantry that I didn't know what to do with. I love bean and lentil soups so this was perfect for me. Theo actually really liked it too. It has a potato in it as well to make it creamier. Another soup recipe my immersion blender came into good use.

Beer- Infused Chicken Chili with White Beans

This recipe comes from The Pollan Family Table Cookbook. I was excited to find this cookbook at Costco because I'm a huge admirer of Michael Pollan. He was the author of In Defense of Food and a real food activist. He's also in the movie Food, Inc. This cookbook was written by his 3 sisters and mom and it's all their family recipes. The book has some beautiful pictures and delicious looking recipes. The first one I tried was this soup recipe and it was great. Theo really had his heart set on a "real chili" that night but I had other plans and he was pleased with this soup. I'm sure the added bottle of beer helped. ;) The recipe called for 4 chicken breasts cooked but I've got no time for that so I picked up a rotisserie chicken and shredded it. 

Ingredients

1 whole rotisserie chicken, chopped and shredded into pieces

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

kosher salt

freshly ground black pepper

two 15 oz cans organic white beans (navy or cannellini)

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

1 large white onion, chopped

2 cups seeded and diced poblano peppers, cut into 1/4 inch cubes

1 jalapeno chili, seeded and diced 

1 tablespoon minced garlic

4 cups low sodium chicken broth

1 bottle of beer

3 tablespoons fresh lime juice

2 tablespoons fresh chopped cilantro

1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Recipe

Rinse and drain the beans in a colander. Put half the beans in a mixing bowl and smash with a potato masher or fork until smooth. Add the remaining whole beans and set aside.

In a small mixing bowl, mix the cumin, coriander, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper.

Place a large saucepan over medium high heat and add the olive oil. When the oil is shimmering, add the onions, poblano, jalapeno, and garlic. Saute until soft, about 5-7 minutes. Stir in the spice mixture, cook for 1 minutes and remove from the heat.

Transfer one cup of the vegetable from the saucepan to separate bowl and add 1 cup of of the chicken broth. Blend with immersion blender until pureed. Add the puree to the rest of the vegetables in the saucepan. Turn the heat to medium and stir. Add the beer and cook for 5 minutes.

Add the remaining 3 cups of chicken broth, the lime juice, cilantro, all the beans, the shredded chicken, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Increase the heat to high, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, covered, for a minimum 25 minutes and up to 1 hour, stirring occasionally. 

Ladle the chili into bowls and top with shredded cheese and a dollop of sour cream.

I picked up Ina's new book and really want to try her Butternut Squash Soup recipe. 

Any soup recipes you recommend?