Cream of Asparagus Soup

I saw this soup made on Cooking for Real on the Food Network a few weeks back, and it looked super easy, and super yum. Everyone knows I love asparagus, and I've been making more and more soups.I like to make soups cuz I can bring in a big tupperware of them to work and have lunch for the week. I generally toast a frozen roll that we have at the office, and I feel like I have a pretty healthy lunch...

Of course I made a few changes to the recipe cuz that's how I do... I had some celery hearts that were prime for soup making, and asparagus can be expensive, so I thought using some celery would be a good way to keep up the amount of vege, but cheaper. I sauteed up garlic, onion, celery and then added in the asparagus. I saved the tips to add at the end. I then added in vege stock-- i used a big carton and then just a bit of water cuz I always think stock is a bit salty. I brought it all up to a boil, and then let it simmer for 30 minutes or so. I poured it into a blender and blended away. I think that would make a decent soup, but then stirred in some sour cream (way less than in the original recipe) and a dash of skim milk. The sour cream didn't quite melt as well as I'd liked, but the soup still came out delicious. I added the tips to the asparagus after the blending, so they stayed pretty crisp and added some texture to the soup. All in all the soup was easy and yummy, I'd make it again. And I easily got 4 meals out of this, and could have probably stretched it out to 5...

Please note the photo of the blended soup and how perfectly it matches my counter!!

Mexican Night

This night I made black bean soup, homemade tortilla chips, guacamole and corn bread for when I brought the soup for lunch.

I made this soup a long time ago, so my memory may be a bit hazy, but here goes. It's essentially the recipe off the back of the Progresso black beans, but w/ some changes. I'd made it once before and found it to be a bit too salty, this time it was a bit bland. Maybe next time... Also, I prefer a thicker soup and this is still a little runny for my liking. As for the recipe, I'm not a big follower. I always make adaptations and as a result will not be very specific. I think it best to play around and find out what works best for you.

I diced up a large onion, some celery and carrots and sauteed them for abt 5 minutes w/ chili powder and cumin. You then add 2 cans of black beans and something random like 4 cans or 52 ounces of chicken/vege stock. Last time I stuck to this and I blame it both for the saltiness and the runniness, so this time, I believe I added the beans in their liquid, instead of rinsed and drained, and one cup of stock and one cup of water. It was still a bit runny, but definetly less salty.

Then you take 2 cans of drained, rinsed beans and blend them with a jar-ish of salsa. Last time I used up my jalepenos and their juice and that added a nice kick. This time I needed to add additional liquid to get everything moving. Then you mix this mixture into the soup, which thickens it up a bit. I like that this soup has blended beans and chunky beans and vege, I guess I just want the overall soup a bit thicker. I'll need to continue to play w/ water content...

Next, I used my new favorite kitchen gadget to make some delicious guacamole. I love this gadget cuz it is a salad spinner, egg separator and hand spun food processor all in one. It's amazing! I think guacamole is one of the best things ever, but I'm pretty much a purist and don't like to add much to the avocado. I generally use red onion, garlic, salt, lime juice, cilantro and maybe tomato. No sour cream ever, it just cuts the flavor. I also prefer it a bit chunky, that's why I use this gadget and not the infamous Magic Bullet.

For tortilla chips, I just rip flour tortillas and place on a sprayed baking sheet. I generally make a spice mix that has salt, chili powder, cumin, paprika and pepper. I then pinch this over the tortillas. I bake them for abt 8 minutes at about 400 degrees.

Here's the finished meal. I garnish the soup either with scallions or a Mexican cheese mix (seen here). This meal was complimented by a glass of Spanish sangria that I brought back from my most recent European vacation...