Health for life

Sweet readers! Hi there. It’s Kris. And I have a favor to ask yis.

First, some background: We’re all about life changes at the CHG Mansion lately. HOTUS and I are still cleaning up from the wedding. I started a new job last week. We’re buying a car, even though I’ve driven exactly once since 2004. Our cat barfed.

And now, the latest, most unexpected (but happy) development: we’re moving right after Thanksgiving.

As they say in France, LES YIKES.

Among many other fabulous things, this means theres not much time to blog, much less pack, much less see the new Harry Potter. (Crap!) Leigh and Jaime are taking up some of the slack, but we’re gonna need backup. So, I was wondering if any of y’all would be interested in providing it. With guest posts, I mean.

If you’re not interested, no worries. We’ll catch up over a few drinks later.

If you are interested, yay! I kiss you.

Here are the details: We’re looking for fun, original, grammatically sound recipe posts and CHG-esque articles. They can be personal accounts, experiments, Top 10s, or anything really, as long as the topics generally adhere to CHGs usual subject matter (cheap n healthy food). Also, taking a look at this Guest Submission Guideline post from Get Rich Slowly might be a good idea.

In return, we can offer you a fair amount of publicity for your own blog, website, small business, or backwoods militia. Our RSS feed is up over 10,000 these days, and we’re getting between 4,000 and 5,000 hits off of various search engines and links daily. So there’s that.

Should this sound like a fun idea, shoot me an e-mail at


to discuss a potential post, as well as a few blogging rules and regulations (formatting, recipes instruction rewrites, etc.). We’ll take the best ideas and run with ‘em, and see how it all ends up.

If you don’t receive a reply within a few days, I apologize, and will hopefully get to everybody as soon as possible. In the meantime, thank you for being more wonderful than an evening with Ina Garten, Tina Fey, and Eddie Vedder combined.

Now, off to clean up some cat barf.

Writing a guest post to a co blogger, any blogger can dream about it, thank god its happens quite often to me and am loving it. Recently Nalini of Nalinis Kitchen asked me to write a guest post for her, as she is celebrating her second blog anniversary. How can i miss a chance, i immediately said yes and i did this wonderful dessert for her.



Actually i know Nalini through blogging marathon before few years back,ill never forget to visit her space and she shares mouthwatering recipes with breath taking pictures. Beware dont go to her space while you are hungry,yes each and every pictures of her food will tempt you definitely and you will go crazy. If you are searching authentic dishes, just check her space and you will definitely fallen in love with her post.

When she asked me for the guest post, she wants me to make a French bakes,but sorry Nalini i couldnt keep my words, i prepared a no bake French dessert specially for you.


Crème caramel or caramel custard is a custard dessert with a layer of soft caramel on top, as opposed to crème brûlée, which is custard with a hard caramel top. The dish is eaten throughout the world eventhough is dessert is from French Cuisine.

Crème caramel goes for a plain custard where sugar syrup cooked to caramel stage is poured into the mold before adding the custard base. It is usually cooked in a bain-marie on a stove top or in the oven in a water bath. It is turned and served with the caramel sauce on top, hence the alternate French name crème caramel renversée.

But my version of No Bake Eggless Créme caramel doesnt need a oven and its completely egg free, this dessert goes for custard flour, Full fat milk, sugar and agar agar. Just with 4 ingredients you can make an incredible french dessert even if dont have oven at home. Have you noticed that this dessert is also gelatin free, i used china grass aka agar agar in this créme caramel, if you want to make with gelatin feel free to use it.

Check Nalinis space for my guest post..

We’re hungry. There’s nothing to eat. What are we gonna do?

Five of us are upstate at a friend’s country house. One of us is a gluten-free vegetarian, and another is off sugar. I like to eat whole grains and real food, but I’m not a total snob. Oh, and the other people would be happy with a grilled American cheese on white bread with a donut for dessert.

We blew a bunch of money on lift tickets. We want to save money.

I go to the cupboard and I find a bag of brown rice; it’s almost empty. So, I dig further and find some lentils, some dried split peas, and some millet. Some taco shells. I find a can of black beans, another can of ried beans, a tiny can of tomato paste. I know we have some onions and garlic. In the freezer there’s a bag of frozen carrots. Rummaging through the fridge, I turn up some slightly withered hot peppers and some cheddar cheese.

I’m in business. It’s gonna be chili & rice.

I sauté half a sliced onion in some olive oil and add half a bouillon cube. (I use Rapunzel, it’s vegan. At some point I recommended it to my friends and thankfully, they have some on hand.) I put in the brown rice and some salt while I have the teakettle on to heat up some water. When the onions are soft and the rice gets kind of opaque I toss in the lentils, split peas, and the millet, and then the hot water. Plumes of steam hiss up and I slam a lid on it, dropping it down to a low simmer temp.

I get some help to slice the onions and hot peppers (which leads to an alarming contact lens situation later) and toss them into a pot with olive oil. I rinse off the black beans in a colander. We’re in company; it’s essential to not make the country cabin into a gas factory. I’ve been told it helps if you rinse off the beans. I find chili powder and cayenne in the cabinet. (I wish they had caraway seeds, it’s a great anti-gas agent!)

Once the onions and peppers are soft I toss in some crushed, coarse-chopped garlic. Following quickly are the beans, the tomato paste, some water, some chili powder, salt, and for the sneaky warmth of it, a cinnamon stick. Cover and simmer. You know what? Some ried beans go in. Not the whole can, I took a quick survey and everybody wants some ried beans just as they come, warmed up. That and the carrots, I’m gonna keep simple. They go into their respective pots for a warmup. I toast the taco shells in the oven a little bit so they are warm and won’t break apart.

At the end we have a ton of food. It’s pretty low rent but with grated cheddar melting on vegetarian chili, girl, we sure did like it. Also, since the food was already paid for, we have more money for snowboarding.

The chili took about 20 minutes. If you want this whole recipe to take 20 minutes, make quinoa instead of the brown rice.

The brown rice took about 45 minutes; that’s a pretty long wait but it’d still take longer to go to town, sit in a restaurant, look at menus, decide and then wait for the food. I bet.

On the Fly Vegetarian Chili
Serves 4 or 5


Chili
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 small hot red peppers, chopped
2 or 3 cloves garlic, chopped
1/3 14.5-ounce can ried beans (vegetarian, if possible)
1 14.5-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 small can tomato paste
A little water
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Chili powder to your liking
1 cinnamon stick (or a little ground cinnamon)

Rice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1/2 bouillon cube (Rapunzel if you can)
1/2 cup brown rice, uncooked
1/8 cup lentils, uncooked
1/8 cup millet, uncooked
1/8 cup green split peas, uncooked
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Jack, cheddar, or Colby cheese, grated (optional)
Taco shells (optional)

See above for preparation directions. You should have just enough chili to feed everyone. There will probably be leftovers of the rice mixture.

Approximate Calories, Fat, Fiber, and Price Per Serving
4 servings: 433 calories, 13 g fat, 16.8 g fiber, $1.95
5 servings: 346 calories, 10.4 g fat, 13.5 g fiber, $1.56
For 1 taco shell add: 62 calories, 3 g fat, 1 g fiber, $0.21
For 1 ounce grated 2% cheese, add: 90 calories, 9 g fat, 0 g fiber, $0.25

Calculations
1 1/2 medium onion, chopped: 69 calories, 0.2 g fat, 2.3 g fiber, $0.93
2 small hot red peppers (hot): 36 calories, 0.4 g fat, 1.4 g fiber, $0.75
2 or 3 cloves garlic, chopped: 10 calories, 0 g fat, 0.1 g fiber, $0.10
3 tablespoons olive oil: 358 calories, 40.5 g fat, 0 g fiber, $0.56
1/3 can ried beans: 79 calories, 1.1 g fat, 4.4 g fiber, $1.29
1 14.5-ounce can black beans: 382 calories, 1.3 g fat, 29 g fiber, $1.29
1 small can tomato paste: 131 calories, 0.2 g fat, 7.2 g fiber, $0.89
1/2 cup brown rice, uncooked: 342 calories, 2.7 g fat, 3.2 g fiber, $0.54
1/8 cup lentils, uncooked: 85 calories, 0.3 g fat, 7.3 g fiber, $0.12
1/8 cup millet, uncooked: 95 calories, 1.1 g fat, 2.1 g fiber, $0.35
1/8 cup green split peas, uncooked: 85 calories, 0.3 g fat, 6.5 g fiber, $0.25
1/2 bouillon cube (Rapunzel brand): 25 calories, 2 g fat, 0 g fiber, $0.19
Kosher salt: negligible calories, fat, and fiber, $0.01
Freshly ground black pepper: negligible calories, fat, and fiber, $0.01
1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder: 35 calories, 1.9 g fat, 3.8 g fiber, $0.20
1 cinnamon stick: negligible calories, fat, and fiber, $0.33
TOTALS: 1732 calories, 52 g fat, 67.3 g fiber, $7.81
PER SERVING (TOTAL/4): 433 calories, 13 g fat, 16.8 g fiber, $1.95
PER SERVING (TOTAL/5): 346 calories, 10.4 g fat, 13.5 g fiber, $1.56

Vincent Scordo is the proprietor of Scordo.com, a fabulous blog about Italian American cooking. Check out his Pasta Challenge, which is more than sufficiently awesome.

As Ive said in the past, eating out/ordering in is a colossal waste of money, and beyond the occasional breakdown or special night out I tend not to reach for the Chinese take out menu or make reservations at our local restaurant. My other rationale for not eating out is that I simply will not get the same quality food at 95 percent of the restaurants in our immediate area (including New York City). Im not a trained Chef, but outside some extraordinary restaurants in New York, Ill take a simple meal prepared at home, with high quality ingredients, over a mediocre restaurant experience. Eating well at home is not rocket science, and moreover, you dont always need to purchase exotic ingredients to make tasty dishes. (The ingredients need to be high quality, but they shouldnt break the bank).

Here are 4 ingredients that can help you eat cheap and well for as long as our recession lasts:


From Flickrs Minimalist Photography


2. Tuna in Olive Oil
I always keep between 3-4 cans of Italian tuna in olive oil stocked in my kitchen. My ideal tuna sandwich consists of one can of tuna (do not discard the oil!) with salt and pepper on toasted whole wheat bread. You can also add some fresh parsley and a few slices of tomatoes if theyre in season. (Try it without the mayonnaise, I swear youll like it.)

3. Pasta and Rice
My pasta and rice arsenal includes: thin linguine, angel hair or capellini, linguine, rigatoni, penne rigate, pastine, soba noodles, arborio rice for risotto, Carolina rice, brown rice, jasmine rice, and whole wheat couscous. Having the aforementioned pasta and rice on hand at all times gives you limitless possibilities, including: linguine with olive oil, parsley, and garlic, baked rigatoni with tomato sauce, mozzarella, and Parmigiano-Reggiano, soba noodles stir fried with green peppers, chicken breast, and onion, brown rice with ginger, cilantro, and cracked black pepper, couscous with feta, red onion, cucumber, and olive oil, etc.

4. Whole Chicken
Buying a whole, free range, chicken is the equivalent to getting the deal of a lifetime. A whole chicken gets you two types of meat (dark and white) as well various parts which translate into various types of dishes. I purchase a whole, free range, chicken every other week and butcher the chicken according to my perences. If Im interested in making a whole roasted chicken, Ill simply leave the bird as is and make a rub mixture with lemon zest, salt and pepper, rosemary, and olive oil. If I have a little more time on my hands Ill butcher the bird into nine pieces and freeze the parts for various dishes throughout the week, including: braised chicken thighs with fresh mint, breaded and baked drumsticks and wings, thinly pounded chicken breast with shitake mushrooms and sherry wine, etc.

~~~

If you like this article, check out:

• The 10 Cheapest, Healthiest Foods Money Can Buy
• 10 Ways to Eat Less Meat
• Touch of Class: 10 Thrifty, Healthy Ingredients to Improve the Quality of Your Meals

Miriam Isserow is a fundraising consultant based in Silver Spring, Maryland. In her misspent youth, she loved to make dessert. Now she likes to cook delicious and healthful meals.

This time of year, we seem to go from one food-centric event to another. This is a particular challenge for my dear husband, otherwise known as The Man Who Discovered Food Has Calories. I know my new nickname for him is a mouthful, so from here on in, Ill call him TMWDFHC.

I recently mentioned to TMWDFHC that for our own holiday meal, I would make a bulgur stuffing instead of our traditional bread stuffing. Years ago, my cousin whipped up a similar dish that I still remember—and given the dieting and monitoring of cholesterol we’ve been doing at my house, I thought it would be a great alternative to soaking bread with eggs.

But when I told TMWDFHC I would be doing a bulgur stuffing, he flipped out.

“How can you make stuffing without chestnuts?”

You see, one core principle in our house is that stuffing has chestnuts. I assured TMWDFHC that the bulgur stuffing would have chestnuts, too.

So, I found some bulgur stuffing recipes, added chestnuts and played around a little. This was the result. You can make it in the turkey, or, if youre expecting vegetarians or happen to live with someone who discovered that food has calories, you can bake it in a pan. An additional healthful plus: You don’t have to grease the pan as you would with classic stuffing.

Chestnut & Bulgur Stuffing
Serves 12

2 ½ c water,
2 oz. dried porcini mushrooms (around 2 cups)
1 oz. dried morel mushrooms (around 1 cup)
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 chopped medium sized onion
5 ½ c. broth
2 ½ c. bulgur (it’s good if it’s coarse but it really doesn’t matter)
1 c. flat leaf parsley, chopped
1 cup shelled chestnuts (use a freeze dried package that you can buy at an Asian market for next to nothing).

1) Bring water to a boil. Pour over mushrooms and soak for half an hour.

2) In a 4 quart sauce pan or chefs pan, sauté onion in olive oil until softened. Add broth and bring to a boil. Stir in bulgur and cook around 8 minutes more, uncovered.

3) Remove mushrooms from water, squeezing if necessary. Reserve soaking liquid, strain, and set aside. Rinse mushrooms and coarsely chop.

4) In a large bowl, toss together bulgur, ½ cup of the reserved liquid, mushrooms, chestnuts, parsley, and salt and pepper to taste. Let cool completely.

5) Now you can either stuff it in a turkey or bake it. If you are baking it in a pan, no need to grease the pan—and bake it at 325 for 40 minutes, covered.

NOTE: Our custom is to use some as stuffing and some in a pan for the vegetarians (using vegetable broth in that case). After all, even those who have discovered that food has calories and who are trying to be really good through the holidays are entitled to the divine taste of chestnut stuffing with turkey drippings.

Lorri Brown is a mom, writer, and avid Murder She Wrote fan, who lives far away in the Mountains of Western Maine with her four awesome kids and three cats. When she’s not working in public health, she writes for About.com and bunch of other fun sites. 

Greetings CHG readers! I am sooo excited about being a guest blogger while Kris moves! (I just moved to a new house, so I know how much work that is- bleck). Anyway, I’m here to share with you my super-easy slow cooker recipe for Mexican Beans.

By day I work in community health, in the Wilds of Western Maine, doing nutrition outreach (please note, I am not a dietician, nurse, or doctor- nor do I play any of these on TV). By night I am a single mother of four children ranging in ages 14 to 6. So, I like cheap, healthy, good and quick foods. Theore, my slow cooker is my BFF.

This meal, adapted from an old family recipe, is easy-peasy to make and it goes a long, long way. I freeze leftover beans and use them in everything from scrambled egg breakfast burritos to a base for bean soup or chili. I’ve tried different variation of the recipe, but none satisfy me like the original version. In one case I thought I’d spice ‘em up with a little of Dave’s Insanity Hot Sauce- If you’ve never tried Dave’s – he’s not joking. One teaspoon of the hot sauce made two pounds of dried beans taste like you were eating molten lava. No one- not even my Middle Son who puts Tabasco sauce on everything- could eat them. I chalked that cooking experiment up as a valuable lesson learned.

If you aren’t familiar with the benefits of beans, here are a couple of quick facts: Beans are an excellent source of protein, containing 14-16grams per cup. They have approximately 1/3 the amount of protein of beef, without any of the fat or cholesterol. Beans are also a good source of fiber, potassium, magnesium, iron and folate. Okay, health lecture over, on to the recipe.

Slow Cooker Mexican Beans
Serving size – 1 cup of cooked beans
Makes 12 servings


 2 pounds (or 4 cups) of dried pinto beans
1 diced onion
½ a bottle (roughly 3 tablespoons) of cumin – it sounds like a lot, but this recipe makes a lot of beans!
1 Tbs. black pepper
1Tbs. garlic powder
1Tbs. onion powder
2 tsp. salt

1) Rinse beans and check for any stones.

2) Throw beans (no soaking required! Yay!) and onion into the crock pot and fill ¾ of the crock pot with water

3) Add all the spices

4) Set to low (8 hours)

5) Round up the kids and go to work. Come home to the fragrant smell of dinner already done!

Nutrition Facts:
I used Nutritionist Pro to calculate the nutrition info.

• Calories- 224
• Fat - .08 g
• Sodium – 395 mg (16% DV)
• Fiber – 10 g (40% DV)
• Sugars – 2 g
• Calcium – 76 mg (8% DV)
• Iron – 3 mg (19 % DV)
• Potassium – 895 mg (26% DV)

Cost per serving: $0.19

• Bag of beans - $1.19
• Onion - $0.50
• Cumin - $0.50
• Onion powder -$0.03
• Garlic powder - $0.03
• Salt - $0.03
• Pepper - $0.03

Serving Suggestions
I like to serve the beans with a little bit of shredded cheddar cheese and a tortilla to dip into the broth. However, they would go great with salsa and guacamole. Of course, what doesn’t go great with guacamole? After a day or two in the fridge the beans thicken to a porridge-like consistency, good for quesadillas.

Things You Should Know
I’ll be honest- this is a trial and error recipe at first. You might have to up the amount of spices, depending on your tastes. But I always stick with the time-honored advice of you can put in more salt/pepper/cumin/whatever- but you can’t take it out.

As the holidays descend upon us like so many hungry vultures (What? Am I the only person who feels completely blindsided?), many of us will find ourselves entertaining, either hosting parties, large dinners, or maybe even housing guests overnight(s).

From Flickrs jpovey

In the past, I’ve always looked forward with excitement to any opportunity to entertain. Due to work and distance, the mister and I rarely see some of our friends. Of course, due to work we end up running around like headless chickens, and it turns out that headless chickens do not do housework. Then, as the date looms, I begin to freak out because the house isn’t clean, food isn’t waiting in the rigerator, and I’ve realized I have multiple work or other engagements around the time of said event.

Basically, I imagine myself as a lovely hostess with trays of hors d’ouevres, flowers in the guest room, and a nicely decorated home; in reality, I shove everything under the bed, buy the $2 manager’s special florals at Kroger, and end up making the reshments after the guests have arrived.

Luckily, I’ve found some ways to allay my freakout, and I would like to share them with you.

CARE AND FEEDING OF HOUSEGUESTS

1) Chill out. Unless your guest is a complete neatnick and you know it, don’t worry so much about the state of your house. Wouldn’t you rather be somewhere that is comfortable than in a room that looks like a museum? If you’d rather be in a museum, don’t come to my house. If you’re worrying about the state of the house and running around the entire time, you won’t be spending time with your guest and said guest may feel uncomfortable.

2) Nice amenities aren’t expensive. Want a guest to feel welcome? Leave an extra blanket, pillow, towels, a notepad, a pen, a decanter of water, and a (working) flashlight near the bed. This way, everything the guest might need is close by, and should the guest need to wander around, the flashlight can help with navigating an unfamiliar house at night, saving shins, toes, and your sleep. Don’t have a decanter? Save a juice jar, clean it, fill it with water, and invert a glass on top. Viola voila!

If your guest is couchsurfing, try to give him or her some privacy. A folding screen is great if you have one around, and the above items could be left on an endtable close by.

From Flickrs Rick

3) Keep food easy and accessible. Guests breakfasting at varied times? Have some oatmeal in a slowcooker with a topping buffet. Leave bowls of fruit on the table. Apples and oranges are cheap and crowd-pleasing, and crackers are also marked down this time of year. Leave plates, glasses, and utensils out so your guest doesn’t have to rummage.

4) Plan escape time. If you live alone and haven’t hosted before, having a houseguest could be a weird experience after a couple days. Alternately, if your houseguest lives alone, it can be stressful for him to be surrounded by people all the time. You don’t have to hover (unless your houseguest is young enough to require babysitting). Go run an errand if you need to get away, or go take a nap. It’s okay!

5) Know your guest’s expectations. Does the guest just want to spend time with you? Are there other folks in town she wants to see? Does she want to hit the museum? Ask in advance to make the visit work.

THROWING A PARTY THAT FEELS LIKE ONE WITH MINIMAL MONEY AND STRESS

1) Eat your leftovers and stockpiles in the weeks leading up to the event. This strategy serves several purposes. First, you’re going to be prepping and cooking food for an event; the last thing you will feel like doing is cooking dinner for yourself during this time. Also, eating up your fridge and freezer stockpiles makes room for the food you cook in advance. Lastly, this frees up space for the glorious leftovers you are sure to have, as well as the booze you or your guests may be chilling. And while you’re at it, wipe down the fridge shelves and door pockets. You’ll be so happy every time you see it, and you won’t shriek when one of your guests opens it to slip in a bottle of bubbly.

2) Resist last-minute additions. If you have already planned, shopped, and begun prep, do NOT drop everything to make that gorgeous appetizer you saw on The Kitchn. Cool your jets. You have enough food and you are trying to be superhost. No one will give you a cape. I promise; I have tried.

3) Have a timed list. Kris has already taught us the importance of the timetable for knocking out a holiday dinner. It’s applicable for parties too, and you should include all the tasks necessary (cleaning, dishwashing, etc.). Also, make sure you work in a good 45 minutes of chill time for yourself before guests arrive so that you can be relaxed and ready to enjoy yourself.

4) Ask two people to bring ice and have a place to put it. Unless you have an industrial icemaker, you need this whether you think so or not. You will run out of ice. It is a fact of entertaining. Also, by asking two people, if one forgets -- you still have ice! Win!

5) You don’t have to be matchy-matchy. I have tons of mismatched glassware that I use for entertaining, and I picked up 18 white appetizer plates for 29 cents a pop at the grocery store last year after the holidays. I’ve used them for a baby shower, two spa parties, and a dessert buffet. Unlike the fine china, no one has to feel bad if one crashes to the floor. Look for deals like this, or thrift some cups and plates; just clean them well. Try to stick with one color to unify the look, or pick schemes that work with pieces you already have. You’ll come out close to the price of disposables and have something you can use again and again. Or, if space is a problem, donate them back.

6) Start early with cleaning and decorating. You can also get your servingware out and ready to go days in advance. It’s one less thing on the list and will help you feel collected and ahead of the game.

7) Decorate frugally and sparsely.

From Flickrs Elin B

Tealights are the best cheap decor. You can get a bag of 100 for under $5. Put them in colored glasses, ashtrays, in jellyjars on platters -- anywhere they won’t start a fire or damage what they sit on. Dim the lights, and let them flicker for ambience. Just don’t forget the matches.

Ribbon is multipurpose and thus handy for more than decor. Craft stores often have $0.99 spools of ribbon. Tie it to chandeliers and let long strands flutter. Put bows around vases and candleholders, and tie some ribbon around a mason jar to make a nice holder for a tealight..

Flowers are a nice touch, but not necessary. Shop for flowers late the night before if you’re not looking for something particular. Lots of grocery stores mark down gorgeous flowers to move them on out, and you can get great deals. Buy several bouquets and make groupings throughout the house if they are cheap enough. No vases? Pitchers, mason jars, and glass juice bottles can make great vases, or you can float the blooms in bowls of water.

Tablecloth, shmablecloth. Use an old (clean!) sheet or two to drape the table. For an upscale look, if you have some old pillowcases in a matching or complimentary color, rip the seams down the long sides and unfold them. Lay them crossways on the table for runners that double as placemats.

8) Don’t forget the music. ‘Nuff said.

9) Dress up the outside entryway with a ribbon or something to indicate to people who have never been that they are at the right place.

10. Enjoy your guests. Don’t constantly run back and forth to the kitchen or fuss too much with things. A party isn’t just for your guests; it’s for you, too.

~~~

If you enjoyed this piece, you might also quite like:

• Cheap Healthy Party Food
• Potluck Tips to Save You Time and Moolah
• Recession Chic, Party Planning, and Me

My husband and I love finding ways to satisfy our collective sweet tooth without eating food thats over-the-top sweet or too heavily processed. Last year, this lead us to experiment with recipes for different type of granola. Eventually, we decided that any old granola wouldn’t do. We had to find a recipe for chocolate granola. I mean, think about it - the best of all worlds!

After a couple of duds (okay - way more than a couple of duds), we finally found a recipe that has become a staple of our household. Just a few simple and easy-to-find ingredients makes an amazing sweet and salty mixture that always has our friends asking us when the next batch will be ready. Compared to granola from the store, which is expensive and often comes in small packages, this turns out to be a great deal. When we are being selfish and keeping it for ourselves, it can easily last a week.

Before I present the recipe, I do want to make two comments:

1) You really have to try it with the sea salt. I know it seems strange and even I was skeptical of the thought at first, but now I wont eat this granola without it. It will work with regular table salt as well, but the sea salt is a step up.

2) Dont expect granola bars. This will come out more like the granola in a cereal, with some large and some small pieces.

With that said, heres the recipe!

~~~

If this looks good, youll love:

• Chocolate Cherry Popsicles
• Chocolate Souffles
• Granola Bars

~~~

Chocolate Granola
Serves 4


2 1/4 cups of oats
3/4 cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon sea salt (optional)
5 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup CRUNCHY peanut butter (Note: I do not think natural peanut butter would work here.)
1/2 cup brown sugar
You will also need a 9x9 casserole dish, a large mixing bowl, and a pot for melting the butter.

1) Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and butter the casserole dish.

2) Mix the oats, sesame seeds, cocoa powder, and salt together in large mixing bowl.

3) Place the butter and peanut butter in a medium sized pot on the stove and melt both together over low heat. Once they have melted, remove from heat and mix in the brown sugar.

4) Pour the butter, peanut butter, and brown sugar mixture over the dry ingredients in the mixing bowl and mix thoroughly.

5) Take mixture and put into baking dish pressing it down and flat. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until browned on top. Once you remove it from the oven, allow it to cool COMPLETELY for the best results. In fact, we will often let it cool a bit then put in the freezer for about 15 minutes to really set it.

After it cools, it is ready to go, simply use a spoon to break it into pieces and eat by itself in a bowl, or even with milk or ice cream (I need to try this!). You will find that it is not only really good – but also VERY
filling for a snack!

Hi everyone! Before we get started, I just want to say how happy I am to be here. So, my fellow CHG-lovers, it’s so nice to meet you!

And, now that we’re on a first name basis, I have a confession to make. I am a lot of things: a wife, a small business owner, a triathlete, a skier, and an animal lover, among others. Until recently, I was not, by any stretch of the imagination, a cook.

In fact, I used to pretty much avoid cooking as much as possible, aside from maybe boiling water for pasta. My husband and I have fully remodeled two houses together, which left little time to think about what we were eating. When you’re covered from head-to-toe in some form of paint, drywall mud, tile mastic (or worse), the last thing on your mind is what goes in your mouth. Dinner came out of a box, a bag, or from a restaurant. I. Did. Not. Cook.

About a year ago, I started paying attention to the foods we eat, and, yikes! Have you ever internalized what some of those ingredients in convenience foods really are? I finally did, and had an “ah-ha” moment: I realized the meaning of that old adage, “you are what you eat.”

The past year has been an interesting journey of figuring out how to feed us things that actually qualify as food instead of chemistry, and it has been surprisingly wonderful. Among the many surprises, I found out I really like having an active role in our nutrition. I learned to make things I would have never thought I could make, with ingredients I would have never purchased (or had even heard of) before.

It’s all good.

A while back, I was on a mission to serve my husband, AKA 2ChiliBreadBowl (yes, I actually call him that) something with butternut squash in it. I was certain he wouldn’t actually eat butternut squash if it wasn’t somehow disguised, but he had mentioned he had tried butternut squash ravioli once and liked it. My ears perked up. Anytime 2Chili mentions he likes something that does not involve massive amounts of sugar, ketchup, or barbeque sauce, I take notice. I decided I would try my hand at this magical ravioli he liked.

A surprise dinner guest on that fateful butternut squash ravioli night, which happened to be a Tuesday, gave me the idea to create Test Kitchen Tuesdays. Now, I make something completely new-to-us every Tuesday night, and have started blogging about it. 2Chili is taking it in stride. He’s the first one to admit his palate is about as diverse as your average 6-year-old’s, and watching me put effort into something new and outside my comfort zone in the kitchen has (I presume) inspired him to eat outside his box of chicken nuggets.

All that stage-setting aside, let’s get on to business. I figured since the fabulous and humble butternut squash was responsible for inspiring me to start up our weekly test recipe endeavors, it was only proper to feature a butternut squash recipe in this post.

I happen to like the ol’ butternut in a multitude of dishes, from smoothies (really!) to soup to just plain roasted. When I stumbled on a large butternut squash on the end cap at our local Trader Joe’s for only $1.59, I couldn’t resist. The result of that purchase was this creamy, savory soup that officially qualifies as autumn in a bowl. If autumn in a bowl wasn’t good enough, as an added bonus, it’s so good for you that you can gobble it down without regret!

BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP

Original Recipe/Inspiration: The Reluctant Vegetarian.

Recipe Makes: 8 one-cup servings, plus or minus, depending on the size of your squash


 Time Required:

• 15 minutes to prep
• 30 minutes to cook

Skill Level (out of a possible 5): 2

Chili’s Taster Rating (out of a possible 5): 4

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 medium butternut squash, peeled and cubed
• 4 1/4 cups low sodium vegetable broth/stock
• 1 apple, peeled, cored and chopped
• 1/2 cup apple cider

Method

• Peel and cube butternut squash, and peel/core apple and set aside
• Heat olive oil in a stock pot. Once it begins to heat up and thin out, add onion and nutmeg; Sauté until the onions soften up – 3-5 minutes
• Add squash, vegetable, apple, and apple cider; Depending on the size of your squash, you may need more broth than called for – just make sure that the apple and squash are covered by about 3/4-1 inch of broth
• Bring to boil. Then, drop heat to low or medium-low and simmer (uncovered) around 30 minutes, until both the apples and the squash are soft and tender.
• Add soup to blender with a ladle, making sure to evenly distribute enough liquid to help blend your squash/apples well. The amount of broth you add will determine the thickness of your soup. I had to blend the soup in two batches, and I have a pretty big commercial-sized blender. It’s called the Ninja, by the way. If you’re going to blend, you might as well blend like a ninja!
• Puree soup until smooth, and serve immediately

General Notes:

• The original recipe called for seasoning with sea salt and pepper – I am generally not in to adding salt and pepper. Maybe you are. If so, season to taste!
• If you don’t have apple cider, and don’t want to buy apple cider just for this, you can do what I did. Peel and chop an apple and put it in your blender. Add a couple tablespoons of water, and blend until you have applesauce consistency. Then, pour the applesauce into a sieve that is set up to drip into a bowl, pressing down on the sauce to squeeze out the juice. Let the sauce drip for about 10-15 minutes and you’ll have about 1/2 cup of homemade cider. You can use the leftover applesauce in another recipe to replace some butter. Talk about thrifty!
• I feel like this recipe would freeze well. Perhaps make up a big pot and save half in the freezer to remember the taste of autumn when we are deep into the winter doldrums.

Nutritional Profile
I used the Lose It app on my iPhone to calculate this info based on a low sodium vegetable stock. Your final results may vary, depending on the type of stock you add.

• Calories: 79
• Total Fat: 1.9g
• Saturated Fat: .3g
• Cholesterol: 0g
• Sodium: 79.3mg
• Carbohydrate: 15.9g
• Fiber: 2.7g
• Sugars: 7g
• Protein: .9g

The Verdict: Okay, I’ll admit it. 2Chili doesn’t much like soup. He has a thing against hot liquids (yes, he knows chili is technically a hot liquid). Try as I may, I have not been able to get him to overcome his hot liquid aversion. So, for him to give it a 4 star rating is a pretty big deal. You’d think I’d learn to stop trying, but I find myself channeling my mother a lot: “just try it, and if you don’t like it, you don’t have to eat it…”

Personally, I thought it was so good I would drink this soup from a mug and call it a thick latte. I guess you’re just going to have to try this one yourself and determine your own rating!

A funny thing happened while I was making French Onion Soup for the first time: I discovered that onions sautéed in butter made a wonderful base for a vegetable broth. I extended that thought by adding carrots, celery, mushrooms and thyme after the onions had browned a bit (10-15 minutes), cooked for a few more minutes, and then added water. From that point, I could make any number of soups and they would have been incredibly rich.

The first time I made it, I added two cups of lentils with about 12 cups of water and some more thyme. I brought it to a boil and then lowered to simmer for an hour. It was awesome! I have always loved lentil soup and still have fond memories of eating canned Progresso as a child. This soup beat the pants off Progresso.

This weekend I was charged with making butternut squash soup for my Best Friend’s 40th birthday dinner. The complicating factor was her wonderful new boyfriend, who is a vegetarian. I always used chicken broth in the past and had a batch of chicken broth itching to be used in my freezer. Fortunately, before I offended the guest of honor and her honored guest I remembered the Lentil Soup vegetable broth base. I also decided to roast the squash with sage and olive oil to add a layer of depth. Once the squash was nicely roasted, browned and mushy, I added it to the soup base. I used my handy dandy hand blender and voila - rich yummy, vegetarian, squash soup.

Just for fun, because I don’t have enough to do with my husband, two children under five, full-time job out of the house and three cats, I decided to make sage toasted croutons out of homemade bread. I used my new go-to no knead bread recipe and then tossed crouton-sized chunks with sage and olive oil and toasted in the oven at 350 degrees until crunchy. You could save some time by toasting the croutons while you roast the squash.

If 20 cups of soup seems like too much, both soups freeze well or make great party favors. We left some with our hosts and gave some to the guest of honor to take home.

~~~

If these look good, youll surely enjoy:

• Gingered Carrot Soup with Lime and Cilantro
• Hot and Sour Cabbage Soup
• Italian White Bean and Spinach Soup

~~~

Vegetable Stock Base


 4 TB salted butter
1 large onion (I used yellow)
3 large carrots diced (about two cups)
3 large celery sticks diced (about two cups)
1/2 pint mushrooms diced (about two cups)
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
2-3 sprigs of fresh thyme
1 tsp salt
12 cups water

1) Melt butter in large stock pot

2) Cook onions in butter on medium heat until they brown, about 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3) Add carrots, celery, mushrooms, thyme leaves and pepper and cook for another 10 minutes stirring occasionally.

4) Add water, salt and thyme sprigs. Bring to a boil and then lower to simmer for a half hour.

~~~

Squash Soup with Sage Croutons
Makes about 20 cups of soup


1 recipe vegetable stock base
1 large butternut squash peeled and cubed
30 fresh sage leaves chopped
1/2 loaf hearty bread cut into cubes
4 TB olive oil split
Salt and pepper to taste

1) Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.

2) Toss squash with 2 TB of olive oil, 1/2 the sage leaves, salt and pepper.

3) Toss bread cubes with 2 TB of olive oil and the other 1/2 of the sage leaves.

4) Roast the squash on the bottom half of the over for 40 minutes stirring at 20 minutes.

5) Toast the bread cubes on the top half of the oven until you reach your perred level of crunchiness. I like mine crunchy and it took about 20 minutes.

6) Add the squash to the vegetable stock base. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 10 minutes.

7) Puree soup with a stick hand blender if you have one. Alternately you can use a regular blender but be very caul!

~~~

Bonus Lentil Soup
Makes about 20 cups of soup
1 recipe vegetable stock base
2 cups lentils
Salt and pepper to taste

1) Add two cups of lentils to vegetable stock base. Bring to a boil and then lower to simmer for an hour or until the lentils are soft.

2) Add salt and pepper to taste.

Approximate Calories, Fat, and Price per Serving
191 calories, 6.4 g fat, $0.63

Calculations
4 tablespoons butter: 400 calories, 44 g fat
1 large onion: 67 calories, 0.13 g fat
1 medium butternut squash: 410 calories, 1.0 g fat
3 carrots: 164 calories, 0.62 g fat
3 celery stalks: 18 calories, 0.21 g fat
½ pint mushrooms: 30 calories, 0.48 g fat
4 TB olive oil: 476 calories, 54 g fat
1 tsp thyme: negligible fat and calories
30 sage leaves: negligible fat and calories
Salt, freshly ground black pepper: negligible fat and calories
½ loaf whole wheat bread: 540 calories, 6.00 g fat
TOTAL: 1705 calories, 62.44 g fat
PER SERVING (TOTAL/20): 85.25 calories, 3.12 g fat

Why did I start teaching healthy cooking classes? Simply put, there are too many people who don’t know how to read a recipe or use common kitchen appliances. (Microwaves don’t count.)

It’s becoming generational. I found that when I did demonstrational classes, people loved tasting the food, but never actually thought about making it at home. I call it the “Food Network Halo Effect,” in which viewers watch the network, but never end up cooking anything on screen. However, once they landed in a kitchen, participating in the process made them less afraid to make mistakes, and those small victories gave them confidence to start trying things on their own. As I tell my classes, “It’s only food, not rocket science.”

I had one college freshman approach me during a class, embarrassed he didn’t quite understand recipes. The five minutes we spent learning have unlocked a world of healthier eating and for him, not to mention several ways to save money.

Time and time again, when folks get together and cook, really cool things happen: community development, team building, the melding of cultures and camaraderie. Often they walk in with uncertainties, but walk out laughing, encouraging each other to try recipes. Either way, as an educator, I see behavioral changes happen faster than if they participated in any lecture or demo.

I personally believe food is meant to be enjoyed. It’s a part of our culture, our traditions, our memories. But I also realize that for health’s sake, we need balance, so we can simultaneously enjoy food and nourish our bodies. This is important whether you’re trying to maintain your weight, prevent medical issues, or if you are smack dab in the middle of a health crisis. I try to teach the concept of balance to my own children, as well. If they enjoy a double cheeseburger at lunch, you better believe they’re going to have more health-filled options for supper.

Enough of the sermon, and let’s get to a recipe! Here’s one of my favorites from the Frugal Healthy Foods class I teach. The secret ingredient is surprising and gets folks talking every time. Try it, and I betchyoo like it, too. Better yet, tinker around with the ingredients (I give some options below) and make it your own.

~~~

If you like this article, you might also enjoy:

• American Chop Suey
• Food, Finance, and Judging Others
• Free Cooking Lessons. No, Seriously.

Sloppy Jacks
Serves 4-6
NOTE: Creative commons photo is from Flickrs Word Ridden, and gives a pretty good idea of what the end product will look like.

1 pound ground turkey (or equivalent Soy Crumbles)
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 15-ounce can plain pumpkin (not pie filling)
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
Pinch black pepper
Whole wheat buns

In a large nonstick skillet, cook meat and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink. Drain and return to pan. Add ketchup, water, chili powder, pepper and vinegar and mix well. Stir in pumpkin, cover,  reduce heat to low, and simmer 10 minutes.

Options: Add brown sugar if you like it sweeter, hot sauce if you like it spicier, and chopped green pepper if you want a one-pot meal; you can also serve over baked potatoes.

NOTE: The pumpkin is a power-packed nutrition addition to this recipe as well. It is super high in vitamin A!

Approximate Calories, Fat, Fiber, Protein, and Price Per Serving
NOTE: Calculations do NOT include buns, since they numbers can vary wildly depending on brand.
Four servings: 236 calories, 8.5 g fat, 3.6 g fiber, 23.4 g protein, $1.24
Six servings: 157 calories, 5.6 g fat, 2.4 g fiber, 15.6 g protein, $0.82

Calculations
1 pound (93/7) ground turkey: 640 calories, 32 g fat, 0 g fiber, 88 g protein, $2.80
1 small onion, chopped: 29 calories, 0.1 g fat, 1 g fiber, 0.6 g protein, $0.15
1/2 cup ketchup: 120 calories, 0 g fat, 0 g fiber, 0 g protein,
1/4 cup water: negligible calories, fat, fiber, and protein, $0.00
1 teaspoon chili powder: 9 calories, 0.4 g fat, 0.9 g fiber, 0.3 g protein, $0.05
1 15-ounce can plain pumpkin (not pie filling): 145 calories, 1.3 g fat, 12.3 g fiber, 4.7 g protein,
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar: negligible calories, fat, fiber, and protein, $0.02
Pinch black pepper: negligible calories, fat, fiber, and protein, $0.01
TOTALS: 943 calories, 33.8 g fat, 14.2 g fiber, 93.6 g protein, $4.94
PER SERVING (TOTAL/4): 236 calories, 8.5 g fat, 3.6 g fiber, 23.4 g protein, $1.24
PER SERVING (TOTAL/6): 157 calories, 5.6 g fat, 2.4 g fiber, 15.6 g protein, $0.82
_http://cheaphealthygood.blogspot.com/2011/01/guest-post-musings-of-healthy-cooking.html

My daughter Evie likes pancakes. A lot. Its not really Sunday at our house if youre not in your PJs at noon eating pancakes while batter slowly drips off your daughter (and the stove, and the walls...). I cant say I blame her, theyre fun to make, theyre delicious, and theyre really not that bad for you.

(This is assuming you dont put chocolate chips inside and then slather them with whipped cream and who knows what else - I mean, you can do that, Im not judging. I wont even call the health police on you. However, if she was going to be eating pancakes that often, I figured we should at least try.)

So why are they "pioneer" pancakes? Well, anyone who has kids knows that the first component to a successful meal, especially one they dont want to eat, is marketing. (Yes, we had to sell our daughter on the idea of pancakes. Kids are funny that way. Im sure she wouldnt believe it now either.) One of the main components of the recipe is substituting molasses for sugar, since molasses is a mineral-dense sweetener, particularly for calcium and iron. My daughter and I were reading the Little House on the Prairie books, and they mentioned eating molasses as a topping for pancakes. Voilà, marketing slogan established!

Evie, helping me make pancakes: "Are we going to put that in now? The other thing?"
Me: "What thing?"
Evie: "The icky sticky goo?"

Well, apparently I cant add molasses to anything without singing, "Molasses, molasses, icky sticky goo! Molasses, molasses, itll always stick to you!" A song that fun was not going to go unnoticed.


As far as Im concerned, there arent a lot of things that cant be improved with the addition of pumpkin (and theres not a lot of other ways to sneak vegetables unnoticed into breakfast). And I throw some walnuts in there too for good measure ("Brain Food"...it looks like your brain and its good for it too! There should be a requirement that all ad execs have to have prior experience as a parent.) Use whole wheat flour and youre in business!

We usually make a triple batch and freeze them on cookie sheets, before putting them in big freezer bags. Then we can reheat one or two at a time for a quick breakfast during the week. Because, hey, if you could get away with eating pumpkin pioneer pancakes for breakfast every morning, you would too!

Pioneer Pumpkin Pancakes
Feeds 3 hungry people (12 - 14 medium-sized pancakes)

1 egg
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp black strap molasses
1 tbsp canola oil
1/2 cup pumpkin
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 1/4 cups white whole wheat flour
1/4 cup walnuts

1) Beat egg in a large mixing bowl.

2) Beat in buttermilk, baking soda, baking powder, molasses, canola oil, pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice.

3) Beat in whole wheat flour. I just hand mix it (but then again Evie doesnt mind if it is a little lumpy). You might notice that the batter is pretty dark thanks to the whole wheat flour and the molasses.

4) Add water to thin batter if necessary.

5) Heat skillet. You could hypothetically do this at the same time as mixing the batter, unless you also have to manage a 3 year old.

6) Oil the skillet. I usually do this about every other batch of pancakes or so.

7) Use a large spoon to make whatever size pancakes you want.

8) Sprinkle a handful of walnuts on each pancake. You could mix it into the batter, but I like to put it into the pancakes manually so the walnuts are evenly spread. I find that if you mix them into the batter, you end up with the last few pancakes being walnut city.

9) Flip the pancakes when bubbles rise to the top and the edges look a little crispy.


NOTE: All of the following calculations come from Kris (the proprietor of CHG), instead of Shane (author of the guest post). Please e-mail her/me if there are any issues. Thanks!

Approximate Calories, Fat, Fiber, Protein, and Price Per Serving
382 calories, 15.4 g fat, 8.1 g fiber, 14.6 g protein, $0.99

Calculations
1 egg: 54 calories, 3.7 g fat, 0 g fiber, 4.7 g protein, $0.33
1 1/4 cups buttermilk: 172 calories, 6.1 g fat, 0 g fiber, 12.6 g protein, $0.62
1/2 tsp baking soda: negligible calories, fat, fiber, and protein, $0.01
1 tsp baking powder: 2 calories, 0 g fat, 0 g fiber, 0 g protein, $0.01
1 tbsp black strap molasses: 47 calories, 0 g fat, 0 g fiber, 0 g protein, $0.13
1 tbsp canola oil: 124 calories, 14 g fat, 0 g fiber, 0 g protein, $0.08
1/2 cup pumpkin: 42 calories, 0.4 g fat, 3.6 g fiber, 1.3 g protein, $0.33
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice: 6 calories, 0.2 g fat, 0.3 g fiber, 0.1 g protein, $0.70
1 1/4 cups white whole wheat flour: 509 calories, 2.8 g fat, 18.3 g fiber, 20.5 g protein, $0.27
1/4 cup walnuts: 191 calories, 19.1 g fat, 2 g fiber, 4.5 g protein, $0.50
TOTAL: 1147 calories, 46.3 g fat, 24.2 g fiber, 43.7 g protein, $2.98
PER SERVING (TOTAL/3): 382 calories, 15.4 g fat, 8.1 g fiber, 14.6 g protein, $0.99

As (relatively) intelligent beings, we take the advice of those around us who are wiser and more experienced in order to avoid undesirable consequences. We wear seatbelts. We say “No!” to drugs. We steer clear of young children at the mall wearing Heelys. But sometimes we just need to learn lessons for ourselves.

For me, pureeing hot soup in a blender was a life lesson that fell squarely in the second category.

The husband and I crowded into our postage stamp kitchen with a few friends to whip up a batch of Sweet Potato and Chipotle Soup. Everything was going swimmingly. The soup was nearing completion, and everyone was laughing and joking. More importantly, all our digits were still attached and no one had sustained major burns.

Then I read this step in the recipe, “Let soup cool slightly. Working in batches, transfer soup to a blender and puree until smooth. (Use caution when blending hot liquids).”

Well, did I mention I was starving? Overconfident? And also impatient?

I loaded that blender to the tippy-top, slammed on the lid, and switched it on with a flick of my wrist and a cocky gleam in my eye.

And sweet potato soup exploded all over my kitchen.

So, when you make this soup (because you really ought to; it’s delicious), I implore you, take caution. When the recipe says to puree in batches, it ain’t kidding. Cover the lid of your blender with a towel and hold on for dear life.

Or, just do what I did and put an immersion blender on your birthday list. Because I’m still starving, overconfident, and impatient. I guess I’ll never learn…

~~~

If this looks good, imagine the following:

• Curried Sweet Potato Stew
• Molasses Whipped Sweet Potatoes
• Sweet Potato and Swiss Chard Soup

~~~

Sweet Potato and Chipotle Soup
Serves 8.
Adapted from Everyday Food.


1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
Salt and pepper
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 medium sweet potatoes (about 2 pounds total), peeled and cut into 1” chunks
1 chipotle chile in adobo, chopped, plus 2 teaspoons adobo sauce
7 cups low-sodium chicken broth (feel free to use a bit more or less until the soup is the desired consistency)
Sour cream, for serving

1) In a large Dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high. Add onion to pot and season with salt and pepper. Cook onion, stirring as needed, until softened and golden brown at the edges, about 7 minutes. Add cumin and garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

2) Stir in sweet potatoes, 6 cups chicken broth, chipotle chile, and adobo sauce. Bring liquid to a boil. Reduce heat to low, partially cover, and simmer until sweet potatoes are very tender, about 25 minutes.

3) Allow soup to cool slightly. Transfer soup to your blender in batches, being cautious not to fill blender to the top, and holding lid on tightly, and puree until smooth. Return pureed soup to Dutch oven. (Alternatively, puree using an immersion blender.) If the soup is too thick, add last 1 cup chicken broth. Season to taste with salt and pepper. At medium-low temperature, heat soup until it is warmed through. Serve with a dollop of sour cream.

NOTE (from Kris): For a vegan/vegetarian version of this soup, simply replace the chicken broth with vegetable broth, and leave out the sour cream.