Mom on a Budget - TVP Taco Soup

 I love making Taco Soup. It is such a quick and easy meal to prepare and is a winner amongst most people (some members of my family excluded... but only because of the onion)

I first tried making Taco Soup when I was eating a vegan style plant based diet, (I have since discontinued my vegan diet because I found it very restrictive and living in a completely omnivorous home, I found all the extra food prep and cooking too much for me while being pregnant, although I rarely eat eggs, meat and opt for milk alternatives as I am lactose-intolerant.) and I am still asked by some, "How do you make Taco Soup without the beef?" The answer? TVP.

Textured Vegetable Protein is a highly nutritious soy product. It is incredibly wealthy in complete protein and contains no fat, so it is an excellent alternative to meat. Although TVP doesn't add much flavor, it's low in fat and calories, contains a wealth of complete soy protein and it's a good source of dietary fiber. You can use TVP as an extender in meat or protein patties and meatloaf, stews and soups. It works great as a protein additive for health bars, salads, cereals, baked potatoes and stuffing. It is very easy to prepare and takes on the flavor of whatever recipe to which it is added, making it an incredibly versatile addition to a wide variety of dishes.

Anyhoo, enough babbling about TVP - on with the soup!

I've chosen this recipe because it is insanely easy to prepare, cooks quickly, is healthy, nutrient dense and is one of the best friends a budget saavy mom (or anyone) can have. It also makes a decent sized batch of soup and it freezes well.

 For this recipe, you will need:

• Roughly 1 Tbsp Olive Oil (or oil of your preference)
• 1 decent sized onion, chopped
• 1 796ml can of diced tomatoes
• 1 540ml can of black beans
• 1 540ml can of six bean mix
• 2 cups unprepared (dry) TVP
• 2 cups vegetable stock (or water or stock of your choosing)
• 1 341ml can kernal corn
•  1 package taco seasoning (or 2-4 Tbsp of your own taco spice mix)
• Optional - 1 540ml can of red (kidney) beans
  

As much as we ALL love music, sometimes the music our own bodies (or maybe, that of your spouses) isn't quite appealing. If you want to avoid the "Musical Fruit" effect, rinse those beans, and rinse them really well. It will wash away all the "food" that the bacteria in your gut thrive on.

'scuse the belly!
Heat the olive oil in a large pot, chop up that onion and toss it in until it's nice and golden brown.

 

While you're waiting for the onion to brown, prepare your TVP. Follow the directions on the package, but I've found that it is pretty standard to soak the TVP in equal parts liquid. For this recipe, I used 2 cups dry TVP and two cups water (I didn't have any vegetable stock on hand) I often add more liquid, because otherwise I end up with a VERY hearty stew, and while I prefer more of a stew texture than I do soup, it turns out a bit too dry for me.

Once the onion is done to your liking, add your cans of diced tomatoes, rinsed beans, kernel corn, prepared TVP and Taco seasoning and mix that big bad pot up! I prefer to use a blend of spices to make a taco seasoning rather than buy the store bought pouches that are full of preservatives and "ingredients" that I can't pronounce.

Voila! You have a big pot of soup that will easy feed a family of four (possibly more, Baby Bird and I are the only ones in the house who eat this soup) with more for seconds or leftovers. Like I said, it freezes well too, so you can make a batch, use my muffin tin method (Found in this blog entry: http://one-eighty-loosed-a-kaboose.blogspot.ca/2013/04/mom-to-be-freezer-meal-sweet-potato.html

Serve with a dollop of sour cream and cornbread!

Nomnomnom!

Signing off for now!
I hope you give this recipe a try and enjoy it. Don't forget to scroll down and feed the fish!

<3 Robin

PS, this cost me under $15.00 to make!

Mom-To-Be Freezer Meal - Soups and Stews II

In my last post about soups and stews, which can be found here: http://one-eighty-loosed-a-kaboose.blogspot.ca/2013/05/mom-to-be-freezer-meal-soups-and-stews-i.html instead of me writing it out again or copying and pasting if you'd like to read more on that.

I sang praise to how easy it is to freeze soups and prepare soups from frozen. I wrote how I choose to freeze and package my soups (and stocks) and I really do believe that the muffin tin method is the easiest method, especially if you want to be able to make single serve portions.

The following soups are quite good, although personally, I wouldn't make them often.

Irish Beef Stew
This stew freezes really well.
Ingredients:
1/2 - 1 lb stewing beef
salt and pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
1 11.2oz bottle Guinness Draught (I actually haven't used this any time I've made this stew and it turns out fine, but I imagine it would add a new dimension of flavour.)
1 cup red wine (virgin wine works well if you don't have the alcoholic kind)
5 cups beef stock
1 tsp dried thyme (or a couple sprigs fresh.)
3 bay leaves
2 tbsp ketchup
3 large russet potatoes, peeled
2 large carrots (or 20 baby carrots)
1 yellow onion
2 tbsp butter
Fresh parsley

Directions:
If your beef is in large chunks, chop into small bite sized pieces. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Heat the oil on med-high heat in a large stock pot and add the meat. Cook the meat for several minutes on each side, using tongs to turn over individual pieces so the meat gets nice and brown.

When your beef is browned, add the Guinness, red wine, beef stock, thyme, bay leaves and ketchup. Stir well. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer while covered for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

While beef is simmering, chop your potatoes and carrots into bite sized pieces, and finely chop the onion. (If you have a picky eater in the house and have to pick out the inions afterward... sad, I know, you can quarter the onion instead, so the onion is easier to pick out.) In another pot, melt the butter on medium-high then add the potato, carrot and onion. Stir the vegetables so that they are coated with butter and cook for about 20 minutes, stirring every few minutes so that the vegetables get caramelized. Try and time it so your vegetables finish at about the same time that the simmering beef ends.

Add the vegetables to the beef and broth. Simmer another 20 minutes with the lid on. Ladle the stew into bowls and sprinkle with freshly chopped parsley.

 

Roasted Carrot & Cilantro Soup
This soup freezes really well in small batches and can last up to three months in a deep freeze.
Ingredients:
2 lbs carrots, peeled and uniformly sliced
2 tsp vegetable oil
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 tsp cumin (I think I used about 1 - 1 1/2 tsp cumin, I might use 2 tsp next time)
1 large onion, roughly chopped
2 tbsp vegetable oil
6 small new or nugget potatoes, about 2/3 lb (I think I used about 2 cups russet potatoes)
8 cups chicken stock
1 cup cilantro (lightly packed, stemps cut off)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toss sliced carrots in 2 tsp vegetable oil, salt, pepper and cumin. Roast in centre of oven for 30 minutes, turning once in between. Removed when slightly caramelized or blackened. Set aside.

In a heavy bottomed saucepan, saute onion on medium heat in 2 tbsp oil. Meanwhile, peel potatoes and cut into large chunks. Once onions have turned slightly translucent, add potatoes and saute for about 10 minutes.

Add the stock and turn the heat up to high. Once boiling, lower to a simmer. Keep simmering until the potatoes are almost done, about 10-15 minutes, then add the roasted carrots. Cook just enough to bring the carrots up to temperature, then remove from heat.

Pour soup into blender or food processor in batches (or use an immersion blender). Add in your cilantro at this point. Blend until it becomes as smooth as you like.  Return to saucepan and reheat.

Mom-To-Be Freezer Meal - Soups and Stews I

The fantastic thing about soups, is that they freeze quite well, with a few exceptions to the rule of course. Another wonderful thing about freezer meal soups? They are SUPER easy to prepare. Usually, I take the soup I want out about 30 minutes to an hour before I want to eat, place it in an appropriate sized pot and let thaw out a little before I turn on the element. If I have the stove on already for something else I'm preparing, it's doubly easy. I put the pot with the frozen soup over the element that vents the heat from the oven (on my stove, it's the top right element that has the oven heat vent) to help the soup to thaw out at a faster rate before I turn on the element to actually reheat the soup. If I'm in a rush, I skip thawing and jump straight to reheating the soup to hot - starting at a low heat and gradually turning up the heat as the soup is thawed and becoming hot.

My freezing method for stocks and soups is the "muffin tin method". I spoon whatever soup/stock into my muffin tins. I know that my muffin tins can hold up to 1/4 cup of whatever I want to freeze, which makes thawing easier than if I freeze in a jar or other larger container. It also allows me to take out single serve portions.

Once whatever I'm freezing is frozen and ready to be packaged, I take out my tins and place them on the counter for a few minutes for things to loosen (If I'm in a rush, I'll put some warm water in the bottom of my kitchen sink to encourage quicker loosening - although, I'd make sure to have the extra few minutes for blended/smooth soups, since they loosen pretty quickly and if you place the tin in warm water, even for a few seconds too long, things can get messy and your soup moulds could end up frozen together once they're packaged and refrozen)

Once things are loose and I can turn the mould around while it's inside the tin, I know it's ready to come out. You can take the moulds out a few ways, I usually opt for grabbing a butter knife and popping each one out - but be careful, if you have really nice tins, you can scratch the sides and/or bottoms and they can rust if you let them air dry. Or, you can flip the whole tin over and let them fall out onto your counter or a big cookie sheet.

Then I toss my prepared frozen moulds into a freezer bag, labelled with the contents, cooking directions, the date it was packaged. If I'm giving packaged freezer meals to a friend, I will include a list of ingredients in case they have an allergy I forgot about and I might include the website or the written out recipe in case they like it and want to make it themselves.

Butternut Beet Soup

I liked the idea of this soup. I really like beets quite a bit and I've wanted to start cooking with squash more often.Once I had all the ingredients though, I started to wonder how well all of the flavours would interact with each other. I have to say, I was not disappointed. I think this might be my all time favourite soup - for now that is.

Ingredients:
3 medium beets
4 medium carrots
1 medium butternut squash
5 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 14oz can unsweetened coconut milk
2 onions, chopped
10 cloves garlic, peeled
4 oz fresh ginger (I used a little less, about 3 oz maybe)
2 bay leaves

2 limes
2 cups fresh cilantro (loose with stems cut off)
1 tsp sriracha - thai chili vinegar hot sauce (I used Franks Red Hot Sauce as I didn't have this and didn't have the money in our food budget to buy any)
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt

Directions:Clean and peel carrots, beet and squash. Chop into sections less than 4 inches long. They just need to fit into the pot, don't worry about how big they are, you will puree them once they are cooked.

In a large pot (I ended up having to use two pots, I once everything was pureed, I just mixed all the pureed soup together so there would be no chance of inconsistant taste) over medium heat add the carrots, squash, beets, broth, coconut milk and bay leaves. Cover and allow to come to a boil.

Meanwhile, saute the onion in a tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat. Mince the garlic and ginger. Once onion is translucent add garlic and ginger. Saute for an additional minute then add the onion mixture to the pot of stewing vegetables. When the soup pot starts to boil, reduce heat and simmer. Simmer covered for 30 minutes or until the vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally.

While soup is simmering, make the lime cilantro yogurt sauce. In your food processor add the juice of two limes, yogurt, cilantro and hot sauce. Puree until smooth. Pour into a small serving bowl and refrigerate until you are ready to serve the soup.

When the veggies are soft, you are ready to remove the bay leaves and puree the soup. Then use an immersion blender to puree the mixture. If you don't have an immersion blender, puree the soup  in batches through a blender or food processor.

To serve soup fresh, pour into bowls and top with a dollop of yogurt sauce. You can make a design if you like using simple tools like a spoon and chopsticks. If you are freezing the soup, add all the yogurt sauce and blend.

Do you have a favourite freezer meal soup?

Mom-To-Be Freezer Meal - Sweet Potato Chili

I have to tell you honestly, I'm doing my first taste test as we speak you read. My very first response to this recipe,  http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2012/01/05/sweet-potato-chili/ was a little less than enthusiastic. The recipe is super simple and really easy to follow - toss the prepped ingredients in a pot, boil, turn down and simmer.

I love finding recipes that have a little something different to offer and that aren't the exact same as every other recipe out there, which is why I found "sweet potato chili" intriguing. I love sweet potatoes, I'm a fan of flavour and spices, it's a healthy recipe - and what goes better with chili than a side of corn bread?

First response after the first taste? "Meh." I really thought that my favourite part of tonights meal would be the corn bread. The chili was still quite hot, which I think was part of my issue. My theory is, that with it being so hot, it tasted more bland than it actually is, because once it started to cool a little, I ended up liking the chili more and more - even though the corn bread was probably still my favourite part... but I love my carbs, and well, corn bread is pretty much awesome.

After being frozen, the sweet potato and the zucchini were pretty mushy, so I'd suggest that if you plan on serving it to guests, serve fresh the day of or the day after. (Katie said in her blog entry that she thought the flavour of the chili was better the day after.)

My freezer meal method for this recipe is the same method I use for my stocks and soups. the muffin tin method!

For my muffin tins, I know I can fit 1/4 cup of whatever I'm baking/freezing, which makes for easy single serve meals and easy measuring when I'm making a soup and need to measure out the amount of stock I'll need. It also makes it easy to take out the exact amount I need, instead of a bigger batch than I actually need.

Once whatever I'm freezing is frozen and ready to be packaged, I take out my tins and place them on the counter for a few minutes for things to loosen (If I'm in a rush, I'll put some warm water in the bottom of my kitchen sink to encourage quicker loosening - although, I'd make sure to have the extra few minutes for blended/smooth soups, since they loosen pretty quickly and if you place the tin in warm water, even for a few seconds too long, things can get messy and your soup moulds could end up frozen together once they're packaged and refrozen)

Once things are loose and I can turn the mould around while it's inside the tin, I know it's ready to come out. You can take the moulds out a few ways, I usually opt for grabbing a butter knife and popping each one out - but be careful, if you have really nice tins, you can scratch the sides and/or bottoms and they can rust if you let them air dry. Or, you can flip the whole tin over and let them fall out onto your counter or a big cookie sheet.

Then I toss my prepared frozen moulds into a freezer bag, labelled with the contents, cooking directions, the date it was packaged. If I'm giving packaged freezer meals to a friend, I will include a list of ingredients in case they have an allergy I forgot about and I might include the website or the written out recipe in case they like it and want to make it themselves.



All in all, I think I would make this recipe again, and wait for it to cool off a little bit before I started eating again so I can enjoy all the flavours right from the beginning.

In my next entry I'll be sure to include the recipe for the corn bread I enjoyed so much with dinner tonight. It comes from one of my favourite recipe books.

Do you have a favourite or go-to chili recipe?
Have an awesome day and thanks for reading!

Oh! And don't forget to scroll down past the comments section and feed the goldfish - I think it's been a while since they've been fed :)