Shortcut chicken soup

This chicken soup uses a few shortcuts like rotisserie chicken and store-bought broth to speed up the process, but gets extra oomph from plenty of aromatics, a little extra cooking oil, and teeny tiny pasta cooked right in the broth. A poached egg on top adds even more richness and depth.

Take me to the soup!

I originally called this “Quick and rich chicken soup,” but it sounded too much like a country band. However, the moniker still applies because this guy is indeed quite rich and quite quick (for a soup that tastes this good, that is!).

I’m not a huge fan of the chicken broth that comes in a box or a can. I mean, it’s fine as a replacement for water when cooking grains and beans, but for soup? It’s a little thin and bland for me. But, I don’t always have homemade stock in the freezer or the wherewithal to make it. (But if I do, this is my recipe!)

To spice and thicken it up, I use any combination of these:

• Butter: Adding a little extra cooking fat when you start sautéing your aromatics adds richness to the final product.

• Tiny pasta: The teenier the better! Orzo, stelline, ditalini, anilline, or any other pasta that’s about the size of a pencil eraser works perfectly. When cooked in the broth, the starch from the pasta thickens the broth significantly.

• Cheese: Adding some grated cheese at the end is one strategy, but tossing in the leftover rind of any hard cheese adds salt, depth, and richness.

• Salt: This might sound weird because a lot of canned and boxed broths have A LOT of salt in them, but if you use the unsalted or low salt variety, be sure to add enough salt back in.

• Poached egg: When the soup is done, adding a poached egg on top enriches it even more!

In this soup, I used pasta and a poached egg to give it a rich, silky texture. I included a range for the amount of liquid to add depending on how much liquid you like in your soup. Six cups makes the soup very thick, eight cups make it less so.

Shortcut chicken soup

2 Tbsp olive oil 
1 small onion, diced 
1 medium carrot, peeled and diced (heaping ½ cup)
1 small stalk celery, diced (scant ½ cup)
6 large fresh sage leaves 
½ tsp dried thyme
1 bay leaf 
1 tsp kosher salt
Black pepper to taste 
6-8 cups chicken stock
1 cup tiny pasta 
1-2 cups shredded, precooked chicken
Serving sugggestions: 
Poached egg, parmesan cheese, more seasonin to taste

Time: About 45 minutes, mostly active
Yield: About 6-8 cups of soup, depending on how much water and chicken you add

Heat the olive oil in a large, deep pot over medium high heat. Add the minced onion, carrot, and celery and cook, stirring frequently, until the veggies begin to brown and the onions are translucent, about 6-8 minutes. 

Add the sage and thyme and cook until fragrant, about one minute.

Add the bay leaf, salt, pepper, and chicken stock and mix well. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes. 

While the soup simmers, shred the chicken and set aside.

Bring back to a boil and add the pasta. Cook according to package directions until al dente. 

Add the shredded chicken and stir. 

French onion lentil and spinach soup

This soup is healthy, warming, comforting, and filled with iron and fiber. It also tastes better the second day, so double the batch and enjoy the leftovers all week!

Take me to the recipe!

I started making this soup when I was pregnant with Z and the thought of eating meat really turned my stomach. I was looking for nourishing soups that also tasted great and kept me full because while I LOOOOOOVE a soup, they don’t always fill me up unless they’re cream-based or more of a stew.

Enter this soup. It starts off with a base of caramelized onions like you’re making French onion soup. I use a super-quick method for caramelizing onions that might take a minute to get the hang of, but turns raw onions into melty, caramelized goodness in about 20-25 minutes instead of 45-60 minutes. I outline the process here.

Basically, you’re using high heat and a covered pan while also de-glazing every 2-3 minutes to achieve that deep, rich color and flavor by utilizing all of the stuck on bits at the bottom of the pan. It can be tricky to find that sweet spot between browning and burning, but luckily, the onions are pretty forgiving and if they get a little too dark, you can just deglaze with a bit of extra water and turn the heat down a smidge.

Once you have those jammy onions in the bag, you can basically add the rest of the ingredients (with a little watching for a few minutes) and let the stove do the rest of the work.

This soup makes me so so happy. I’ve made it for new moms during those rough postpartum days. I’ve also made it for snow days and arctic days, regular days and special days. I always wish I was eating it in front of a fire wearing a huge sweater and reading a book, but alas, that never happens.

French onion lentil and spinach soup

5 cups sliced onions (about 3 large onions, sliced 1/8th of an inch thick)
3 Tbsp butter or olive oil (or a combo)
2 cups water
½ tsp dried thyme or 2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 tsp kosher salt 
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
4 cups beef broth 
¾ cup dried green or brown lentils
1 cup frozen spinach or 1 bag fresh baby spinach 

Time: About 1 hour (30 minutes active)
Yield: about 5 cups of soup

 Slice the onions into 1/8th to 1/4th inch slices. 

Heat the oil and butter over a medium flame in a large skillet with high sides. 

Turn the heat up to medium high and add the onions. Cover and cook, for 2-3 minutes until the onions begin to brown and stick to the bottom of the pan. Pour in about 2 -4 Tbsp of water and scrape the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Cover and cook for 2-3 more minutes and repeat the process. Continue cooking until the onions are a deep brown color, about 20-25 minutes. 

Add the thyme and salt and cook for 1 minute. 

Add the red wine vinegar and cook until evaporated, about 1-2 minutes.

Add the broth and the lentils. Bring to a boil over the highest flame. Once boiling, reduce the flame to low and simmer, covered, for about 30 minutes until the lentils are cooked, but have a little bit of crunch left to them. (Continue to cook for another 10 minutes if you prefer mushier lentils.)

Turn off the flame and stir in the spinach, either frozen or fresh, and stir to wilt. 

Test for seasoning. 

Koginut squash soup

This soup is so creamy, herby, warm, and comforting—everything a bowl of soup should be. I use Koginut, which is a cross between the butternut and kabocha varieties of squash, but use anything you have on hand!

Yes, soup for you!

The koginut is my new favorite squash. It has the thick, creamy flesh of a kabocha squash but the mellow, sweet flavor of a butternut. If you can’t find one, have no fear. Basically any winter squash variety would be perfect here and all roast in roughly the same way. I’ve also used 2 extra large sweet potatoes in a pinch and the soup turned out equally delicious.

A note about roasting: One important element of this roasting method is to NOT trim the tops and bottom of the squash. Leaving them whole means that the steam gets trapped in the cavity of the squash so that it roasts and steams at the same time.

Also! In the recipe, you’ll note that I put the milk high up on the ingredients list even though we don’t add it until the end. That’s because, bringing it to room temperature and even microwaving it a bit makes it less likely that the milk solids will separate, which can happen if the cold milk is shocked by the hot soup. You can warm it in a pan on the stove while the soup simmers, but who wants to make another dish or worry about something scalding?

Koginut squash soup 

Time: About 90 minutes, less than half of it active
Yield: 10 cups of soup 

3 cups roasted squash, about 1 medium winter squash or 2 very large sweet potatoes 
½ cup heavy cream or half and half 
1 Tbsp olive oil
½ large onion or 2 large shallots, roughly chopped 
5 large garlic cloves, roughly chopped 
1 Tbsp butter 
3 stems fresh thyme or ¼ tsp dried 
Heaping ¼ tsp cumin
Heaping ¼ tsp paprika 
1 tsp sea salt 
4-6 cups low sodium chicken stock 
2 Tbsp brown sugar (optional)

Heat oven to 425. Halve the squash and scoop out the seeds and stringy flesh inside. Place the squash cut side down on a parchment-lined baking sheet and roast for 30-45 minutes, until the squash is fork tender. 

Using a kitchen towel or oven mitt to protect your hands, scoop out the cooked flesh from the inside of the squash and set aside.

Measure out the cream or half-and-half. Let sit at room temperature while you prepare the rest of the soup.

In a large stock pot, heat the olive oil over a medium-low flame and then cook the onion until beginning to brown, about 5-6 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute until fragrant. 

Add the butter and let melt and bubble slightly. 

Add the spices, stir well, and cook for 1 minute until fragrant. 

Add the squash and stir well to combine. Add the stock, stir well again, increase the flame to high, and let the liquid come to a boil.

Turn down the flame to low and let simmer for 15 minutes.

Puree the soup. 

Add the puree back to the original pot. Test the milk to see if any chill remains. If it feels cool to cold, microwave it for 30 seconds at a time until it feels room temperature or warmer. Add to the soup and stir.  

Test for seasoning and adjust as necessary. If desired, add 2 Tbsp of sugar (brown or white) and stir to combine.

Sunflower seed butter with flax and chia

Once again, I’m copying Trader Joe’s. They have a peanut butter with flax and chia and it’s a fantastic way to get some extra nutrition into a picky eater. Here’s my school-safe version!

Jump to the recipe!

I have a confession to make: I go back and forth between caring A WHOLE LOT about M’s nutrition and then feeling like there are a million little struggles every day and I don’t want to add food to that list.

And he’s always been a contrarian with FOMO, which means he doesn’t love limits. The “perfect parent” voice in my head constantly beats me up about not being stricter. Don’t get me wrong, I say “no” to things 100 times a day and we obviously set lots of boundaries. But we’ve figured out that M does better when he has choice within those limits and that we have to say “yes” to some things or there will be a meltdown.

Anyway, part of M’s way of gaining control these days is that he has VERY strong opinions about food. What he loves one day, he hates the next. Peanut butter mixed into applesauce has been a constant and lately he’s been really into PB&J’s after watching this silly video.

BUT we can’t send any nuts to school, so sunflower seed butter it is. Unfortunately, a lot of the store-bought ones don’t taste great. I’ve made my own sunflower seed butter before and I do love this recipe. But if M’s eating this for at least one meal per day, I wanted to beef up the nutrition. And it tastes so good, he doesn’t complain!

A couple of notes about this nut butter:

• When roasting the nuts, you want them to be mostly brown and golden rather than gray. But watch to make sure that they don’t burn! (See the photos above for a before and after.) Well-roasted seeds are much easier to process than ones that are still partly raw.

• The grinding process takes a bit of patience. If you let the machine run, the seeds will come together into a paste. There are more detailed instructions for the individual grinding steps in the recipe below. Be sure to read the recipe before starting this butter.

• Storage: I store this seed butter in the fridge because I’ve read that flax and chia (and seeds in general) tend to get rancid quickly when left vulnerable to moisture and heat in the cabinet). The cold tightens the butter considerably, but 20 seconds in the microwave makes the butter easily spreadable again.

Sunflower seed butter with flax and chia

Yield: 2-2¼ cups 
Time: 30-35 minutes

3 cups raw sunflower seeds
4-6 Tbsp coconut oil, melted
2 Tbsp maple syrup
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp flaky sea salt
3 Tbsp each chia seeds
3 Tbsp whole flax seeds

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Spread the raw sunflower seeds out on a large sheet pan. Roast for 5 minutes and shake the tray. Roast for 2-3 minutes more, checking to make sure that the seeds don’t burn. When the seeds are uniformly more golden brown than gray, they’re ready for processing.

2. Add the roasted seeds to a large food processor and grind for 2 minutes. The seeds will break up and look very dry and like breadcrumbs.

3. Add 2 Tbsp of coconut oil and the maple syrup and process for 2 more minutes. At this stage, the seeds start coming together in a large slow-moving glacier of seed butter. Scrape down the sides and break up the glacier as necessary. It will still feel dry and crumbly when you break up the glacier.

4. Add the vanilla and cinnamon and process again, this time letting the machine run. Let it go for at least 3-4 minutes before adding more coconut oil as the heat of the processor and the continued grinding will start to make the butter smoother and wetter. The glacier of seed butter will still be forming, but will be spinning around the food processor much faster.

5. After that 3-4 minutes, and while the food processor is running, add the other 2-4 Tbsp of coconut oil to achieve a silky consistency. Don’t add more maple syrup or water because it will make the seed butter stick together and clump more instead of smoothing it out.

6. The whole process of grinding the seeds into a smooth butter usually takes between 15 and 20 minutes (including stopping add ingredients), so patience is key.

7. Transfer to a large bowl and stir in the sea salt, chia seeds and flax seeds and stir well.

Spinach and kale tots

One reliable way I could get some greens into M was to present things as a “tot.” He really loved the Spinach and Kale Bites from Trader Joe’s, but our store has been out of them for weeks. So here is my copycat version.

Take me to the tots (recipe)!

Note my use of the past tense up there.

M is still in his picky phase that I’ve mentioned before. He’s off of hummus, but full steam ahead with smoothies. One day he loves yogurt and the next he won’t touch it. Some days, carrots are a safe food and other days broccoli is his only vegetable. One day he’ll ask for a bowl of peas (straight up with nothing on them) and another day he’s picking them out of his mac and cheese. It’s maddening.

However, food refusal is a normal part of eating for kids. It’s hard to learn how to eat! Their taste buds are changing, their caloric needs swing wildly from day to day, and part of a preschooler’s job is to push against boundaries, so if there are rules around food in your house, they’ll try to break them. It’s how kids operate.

One of my big things is making the same food for the whole family, so the good news here is that I really like these tots and they’re packed with veggies, so they make a good snack for the grownups as well.

Make these tots! One day my kid will eat them, I’m sure. And until then, I’ll eat them.

Spinach and kale tots

1 bag frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 bag frozen kale, thawed and squeezed dry
¾ cup panko breadcrumbs
¾ cup grated Parmesan
½ cup shredded mozzarella
Heaping ½ tsp sea salt
Heaping ½ tsp onion powder
Heaping ½ tsp garlic powder
2 eggs

Preheat the oven to 350.

Thaw and squeeze dry a bag of spinach and a bag of kale. To achieve a smoother texture in your tots, pulse the dried greens in a food processor 10-15 times. You may need to squeeze with another towel if more liquid is released.

Place the squeezed dry greens in a large bowl and add the rest of the ingredients. Mix well to combine.

Take about 1½-2 Tbsp of the mixture and press into a nugget shape with your palms.

Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for about 25 minutes or until the nuggets feel solid when you push on them lightly.  

Yield: about 24-26 tots