Recipe: Curry Carrot Soup with Croutons

Recently I tried out a new recipe that I feel needs sharing. I am always on the lookout for recipes that can be meals without meat (we do eat meat, but we're trying to cut back). I had been saving this one for a while from a magazine, wanting to try it because it was so....different. Well, thankfully this was "different" in a delicious way ;). This soup is perfect for now (as in end of summer/ beginning of fall). It doesn't take long to cook, so you won't be hovering over a hot stove all day. And this is on the healthier side while not being very expensive to make-double bonus! *Note: do not skip the croutons! They're wonderful!
Here it is in all it's glory:

Curry Carrot Soup with Croutons
Serves 4

Croutons:
1 small loaf focaccia (or whatever bread you have on hand-I had Italian bread), cut into small cubes, about 2 cups total
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/4 teaspoon curry powder
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper

Soup:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound carrots, chopped into rough chunks, about 4 cups
Optional: frozen peas defrosted (about 1/2 cup)
1 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup finely chopped celery (I did not have celery on hand, so substituted celery seed)
3 cloves galic, minced
1 tablespoon curry powder
4-5 cups low-sodium chicken stock
1 lime (or lime juice)
kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Croutons:
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Toss bread cubes with olive oil, curry powder, and a generous sprinkle of salt and pepper in a small bowl. Spread in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake for about 10 minutes, or until golden brown and crunchy.
Soup:
Heat oil in a large dutch over or a heavy bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Add the carrots and cook 3 to 4 minutes. Add the onions and celery, and cook 3 to 4 minutes or until onions are translucent. Add the garlic and curry powder, and cook about 1 more minute, or until fragrant.
Add 4 cups of chicken stock to deglaze the bottom of the pot, scraping up any browned bits with a wooden spoon. Bring to a simmer; cover and cook for 30 minutes or until carrots are very tender when pierced. Carefully transfer to a blender and puree until smooth, working in batches as necessary. Put back in the pot to warm, and add peas if desired. Season to taste with a squeeze of lime juice and a few pinches of salt. Add additional broth if you want the soup to be thinner.
Divide soup among bowls and garnish with croutons and ground black pepper. Serve!

Budget Friendly Recipes: Peanut Chicken Bowl

As I mentioned in my previous post, it's the end of the month and time to start getting creative in the kitchen by making those dollars stretch. I love recipes that are easy, taste good, and use inexpensive ingredients I typically have on hand. An extra trip to the grocery store for ingredients means moretime and $$$! With that being said, here's what I made for dinner the other night. Myself and my husband love this, and the kids will usually eat it ;). If you like Thai style peanut sauce (often served with Satay), you will most likely enjoy this.

Peanut Chicken Bowl
Makes 4 (1 1/2 cup) servings

2 3 oz Oriental or Chicken Flavored Raman Noodles packages
3 cups cut-up veggies (frozen mix works) such as broccoli, red sweet pepper, pea pods, sliced carrots
1 1/4 cup water
1/4 cup peanut butter (smooth is best)
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup chopped peanuts (optional-we like this just as well without the peanuts)
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 cups chopped, cooked chicken (like chicken breasts or thighs)
1/4 cup sliced green onions (I didn't have green onions, so I omitted them)

1) Set aside one seasoning packet from noodles for recipe. In a large saucepan bring 2 quarts water to boil. Add noodles and cut veggies. Return to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer gently for 3 minutes. Drain and return to saucepan.
2) Meanwhile, for sauce, in a medium pan whisk together 1 1/4 cup water, peanut butter, soy sauce, brown sugar, corn starch, red pepper, and seasoning packet. Whisk until smooth. Cook and stir over medium heat until thick and bubbly. Cook and stir 2 minutes more. Add chicken to sauce; heat through. Add noodles and veggies. Toss. Top with green onions and peanuts. Serve immediately.

Budget Friendly Recipes: No-Knead Bread

We've reached the last week of June- that last long stretch until a new grocery budget. It's getting a bit lean over here. For example, yesterday we ran out of bread. Now, I could just dip into July's grocery budget and buy bread, or I can stay strong and wait a little longer. Typically, I would just take it from July's money, but then it's a vicious cycle. I take from August early in July, and then September, and so on, and before I know it, I've spent an extra month's worth of grocery money. In an effort to solve our breadless problem, I decided to make some to tide us over. My husband had a slice of freshly baked bread this morning with breakfast, and I have bread for sandwhiches later. Here is an easy No-Knead Bread recipe, that I use the majority of the time I bake bread. Last night I was running out of time and didn't want to get up at 2 AM to bake this, so I skipped Step 3 which made my bread less fluffy than it otherwise would be. It still turned into bread though which demonstrates that if you don't follow it exact, it will most likely still turn out. If you start this in the morning though, or right before bed, you should be able to do all of the steps and have it baked mid morning or evening. Taken from the New York Times in 2006.

No-Knead Bread
Adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery
Time: About 1 1/2 Hours plus 14 to 20 hours rising

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.
3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.
4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.
Yield: One 1½-pound loaf.

Save $: Make your own croutons from the left-overs

I regularly make my own croutons and bread crumbs. Yeah, they're not that expensive to just purchase, but I hate waste. Waste= $ in my opinion, and on one income, saving money is important. Last night I had two ends of dry Italian bread left-over (in CA it'd be French, but for whatever reason they only sell Italian in Cheshire), so I started cutting it into chunks to be made into croutons. I typically like to toss them in olive oil and then whatever seasonings I fancy-usually Italian seasoning, garlic salt, and Parmesan. They then are spread out on a baking pan or cookie sheet, and put in the oven until golden (15-20 min) at about 350 degrees or so. Think about it-you'd otherwise be tossing out that left-over bread and dropping a couple bucks on croutons! Do this regularly, and you're saving yourself around $50 a year or more depending on how often you eat croutons. You can also choose instead to toast up the bread a tad, so it's on the dry side and then put it in a food processor to make bread crumbs. Put it in a Tupperware container or zip lock baggy for storing.
Here are a couple simple crouton recipes to give you some ideas. Homemade Croutons , Sharron's Homemade Croutons , Italian Salad Croutons .