Man Soup

Every man I know loves this soup. It's meaty. It's potatoey. It's incredible. It doesn't even have a proper name other than "you know that meaty soup dad and jarod[my brother] love?" My mom would often make this soup on a chilly afternoon, letting its delicious smells permiate our whole house.

The best part, she would drain the bacon on a plate with a paper towel next to the soup pot. A soup pot that looked kinda like this, for the record.

Which was so awesome (Mom's had pictures of vegetables on it... not flowers...but you get the idea)

I would always sneak bacon.

Sorry, mom. But you were kind of asking for it. Always cook extra bacon!

MAN SOUP

 Ingrediences:
6 slices of bacon (plus a few for the cook)
1 red onion
6 cloves of garlic (I used some roasted garlic I had on hand)
1 can of garbanzo beans
1 1/4 lbs stew beef (or a beef shank, you can cut it up)
1 lb ham shank (I had to use sliced ham... )
about 8 red potatoes
about 2 cups of baby carrots
2 kielbasa sausages (8 oz. total)
1 t cumin
1 t oregano


Let's do this!
Cook the bacon until crisp, then lay on your super cute and greenzo napkin to drain, because you don't have any paper towels. 

 Drain all but 2 T of the bacon grease. Slice the onion, and smash or dice the garlic. Cook in the bacon grease. Praise God for the smell of onions and garlic cooking in bacon grease.

While the onions cook, cut up your beef and ham into sizes of beef and ham that would fit in your mouth.

These onions are totes ready.

When the onions and garlic are limp, add the meat, plus the liquid from your garbanzos and enough water that it appears to be about 6 quarts (ugh, don't you hate measuring? I do!)

Let that stew for an hour and a half. Chop your vegies!

Add the vegies!

Simmer for 45 more minutes. Add spices and crumbled bacon. Die a little, because surely this is heaven

Enjoy!

Creamless Cream of Broccoli Soup

Ooooooh y'all, today is Soup Santa's day off!




That means that by noon today, I have already gone to the DMV, gone to the market to get ingredients for this broccoli soup and crack dip (thanks a heap, pinterest), and gone to the MINI dealership to get a gift for my sweetie.


Oh, and I walked 3 miles.


It also means that I'm going to enjoy the perfect mimosa, the most important part of my liquid diet.


The Perfect Mimosa
it's just what the doctor ordered.


Trust me. I'm a doctor.


Step one: juice one orange. Maybe two if you have two. It's a mimosa - not nuclear fission.
Step two: open a bottle of champagne.
Step three: pour a healthy glass of champagne.
Step four: pour a splash of OJ into your glass.
Step five: pour the rest of the juice into the bottle, being VERY CAREFUL not to let it bubble over. (Ignore the OJ stain on the tablecloth)
Step six: enjoy the perfect mimosa (or 5).








And now the soup...




Creamless Cream of Broccoli Soup
lovingly adapted from Joy the Baker


Ingrediences:
2 cups raw cashews, soaked in water for one hour
1 white onion, diced
1 T olive oil

about 5 cups broccoli, steamed and chopped

1 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon salt
fresh ground black pepper (I used lemon pepper from Trader Joe's)
3 teaspoons fresh lemon juice (squeeze of half a lime)
Splash Worcestershire sauce
about 4 cups of water

You need an immersion blender. If you don't have one, you need to get one. They are magical. Be sure to get the one that doubles as a food processor and grater. Or get one that is purple. It's just as good as a multi-purpose one.

After soaking, the cashews become softer. This makes them easier to blend later. Awesome!
Heat the oil in a soup pot. Add the onion and saute until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add 1 teaspoon nutmeg and 1 teaspoon cumin. Stir for about another minute. Add fresh ground pepper and broccoli to the pot. Pour cashews and water, and use your handy immersion blender to blend it all together until smooth. Add splash (or several...) of Worcestershire and squeeze of lemon, and salt to taste. Heat and serve.


Enjoy, y'all.




Kisses,
Soup Santa.

What we learned:

It's pretty thick. Maybe you dig that. It doesn't have anything but good stuff in it, so I suppose it's fine. You could add milk (though that would be dairy... and we are not tolerant of dairy) or stock, I'm sure. 

Or just drink a mimosa already.