Green Soup and Ham

A few weeks ago I made a massive ham roast at the request of my wife, which I glazed in brown sugar, cloves, and ginger and it came out beautifully. But then I had all this ham! And I'm not eating much these days. ;-) My wife ate what she could and then I put the rest of the meat from the roast (and the bone, natch) into the freezer for a later meal. One of those meals came this evening in the form of Green Soup and Ham. It's essentially a nutritionally ramped up split pea soup and it's got all the unctuous mouth feel and salty, hammy, flavor you would expect out of the original version. I halved the split peas with lentils because split peas have such a high carb count and lentils have more protein. I also added a little extra in the way of veggies to boost the fiber and vitamins. After pureeing the soup, you don't even notice them.

It would also be worth noting that I tend to make large amounts of soup and we eat off them for quick lunches and dinner for a few days before I freeze the rest for future lazy days when I don't feel like cooking. (Depending on the soup, sometimes there's nothing left to freeze!)

Green Soup and Ham

2 T. Olive Oil
2 Medium Onions, chopped
2 Medium Carrots, chopped
2 Stalks Celery, chopped
3-4 Cloves Garlic, minced
1 Bay Leaf
1 t. Thyme
32 oz. Fat Free, Reduced Sodium Chicken Broth
1 C. Dry Split Peas
1 C. Dry Green Lentils
2 C. Frozen Chopped Kale
3 C. Cooked Ham, fat removed and cut in to bite sized cubes
Salt and Pepper to taste

In a large pan, sweat the veggies with the bay leaf and thyme until they are very tender and have given up a lot of their moisture. Add the chicken broth, cover, and bring to a simmer. When the broth is hot, add the dried peas, lentils, and frozen kale and cook 20-30 minutes, or until the beans are very tender. The peas will start to break down. Remove soup from heat and use an immersion blender (or whatever you like) to puree the soup to a smooth a silky consistency. Return the soup to the heat, add the ham, and return to a simmer to heat the ham. Adjust the salt and pepper and serve.

Makes 8 1 C. Servings

Nutrition Roundup: Calories 192, Total Fat 6.3 g, Total Carbs 18.1 g, Fiber 5.9 g, Protein 16.4 g.

Sausage Lentil Stew

I've been digging on lentils a lot lately which I am personally scandalized by, since before surgery I frequently declared that they tasted like little pieces of dirt. Now? I like them. A lot. (Will wonders never cease?) I've discovered that lentils have good protein, good fiber, healthy carbs, and they work well for strong flavors, like onion and curry. Plus, the new stomach (pouch) seems to be on good terms with them.

This stew was inspired by Stephanie O'Dea's Crockpot 365 recipe. I created a recipe for the stove top that had loads of veggies in it and a nice full flavored sausage. I opted for andouille sausage - which admittedly has more fat than many chicken sausages that you could choose - but I love the spicy, garlicy flavor. If anything will keep lentils from tasting like the earth they grow out of, it's andouille. But, as my grand aunt would say, "If you don't have the andouille, then use a little hot Italian sausage, or if you don't have that, then a little sweet sausage, or whatever you have that's cheap at the market." Yeah, my Aunt Rose was a big one for freewheeling substitutions in her cooking and so am I. ;-)

I wanted to keep this stew from being too tough to digest, so I chose to puree half the veggies after they had softened from cooking, but it adds to the labor and you don't really need to do that. I also used frozen chopped kale since it was in the house and to be honest, I tend to prefer to stock my house with frozen veggies, since I can't always be arsed to cook the fresh veggies before they compost in the bottom of my fridge. What can I say? I live a real life and stuff happens.

Sausage Lentil Stew

2 T. Olive Oil, divided
1 lb. Andouille Sausage (or whatever you like)
1 C. Chopped Carrots
2 C. Chopped Onions
4-6 Cloves Garlic, Minced
1 Can Diced Tomatoes
4 C. Chopped Frozen Kale, Thawed
32-40 oz. Fat Free, Reduced Sodium Chicken Broth (or veggie broth)
1 C. Lentils, rinsed and soaked 30 minutes
Salt and Pepper to taste

Slice sausage lengthwise in 4 pieces and then cross-wise into 1 cm pieces. In a large pan, lightly brown the sausage in 1 T. olive oil and remove from the pan and set aside in a bowl. Add 1 T. additional olive oil to the pan and cook the carrots, onions and garlic until soft. Add tomatoes with the juice, kale, and broth and bring to a simmer. Cook 15 minutes until the veggies are tender and remove half the veggies from the pan. Using an immersion blender, puree the other half the veggies right in the broth and return the pan to the stove. Return the remaining veggies to the pan with sausage and lentils. Cover and simmer until lentils are very tender (I prefer them almost mushy), 30-45 minutes. You may need to add a little extra broth or water as it cooks, depending on how much is absorbed by the lentils.

Including the olive oil, here are the nutrition stats (from the sparkrecipes.com calculator): Calories: 293, Total Fat 13.8 g, Cholestrol 33.3 mg, Sodium 1,118.8 mg, Total Carbohydrate 27.5 g, Fiber 9.2 g, Protein 17.9 g.

White Bean Chicken Chili

With a big nor'easter rolling into the neighborhood, I thought today would be a good day for something hot, filling, and flavorful. I adapted this recipe from one by Ellie Krieger at Food Network. I've changed a few things to align with the ingredients I had available and to reduce the carbohydrate content. The original recipe called for poblanos, but my local Shaw's stinks and they only had cubanelles. It also called for hominy and celery, but I just removed them from the recipe because of the carbs and the stringyness of the celery (not great for stomachs recovering from surgery.)

The result is a flavorful, aromatic, chili that's high on satisfaction. Even with the lightly thickened chicken broth, this is more of a stew than a soup in consistency, and there's plenty to chew on with the beans, chicken, and veggies. The cubanelles did what I believe the poblanos were supposed to do: Add a lot of flavor and just a hint of heat. I took Ms. Krieger's suggestion and served it with a couple tablspoons of plain fat free GReek yogurt and I was impressed by the flavor similarity to the less-nutritious sour cream. If you want to lower the fat a little further, I suggest you use ground turkey, as in the original recipe, but I find ground turkey a bit gamey for my taste.

White Bean Chicken Chili

1 T. Olive Oil
1 Medium onion, diced
2 Cubanelle peppers, seeded and diced
3 Cloves Garlic, minced
1.5 t. Cumin
3/4 t. Coriander
1/4 t. Cayenne pepper (or to taste)
1 t. Oregano
1 lb. Ground Chicken (or turkey, I prefer chicken)
4 C. Reduced Fat, Reduced Sodium Chicken Broth
2 20 oz. Cans Canellini Beans
S&P to taste
4 T. Cilantro, minced

In a large pan, cook cubanelle peppers and onion until soft. Add garlic, cumin, coriander, and cayenne and cook an additional minute. Add ground chicken and cook through before adding oregano, chicken broth, and half to two-thirds of the beans. In a small bowl, mash the rest of the beans with a fork. Add the mashed beans to the pan, cover, and cook on medium-low for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add salt and pepper to taste and additional cayenne, if desired. Serve with a sprinkling of minced cilantro.

Yield: 6 servings of 1.5 C. each

According to the recipe caculator at sparkrecipes.com, the stats on this round out as follows: Calories 270, Total Fat 10.2 g, Cholesterol 86.7 mg, Sodium 554.4 mg, Total Carbs 23.9 g, Dietary Fiber 6.2 g, Protein 22.3 g.

Tom Kar Comfort

Whenever I get sick or feel like hell, the only thing I want to eat is Tom Kar (aka Tom Kha Gai) soup. It's a light, fragrant, chicken soup flavored with lemon grass, Kaffir lime leaves, coconut milk, cilantro, and galangal. The local Thai restaurant serves it with chunks of mushrooms, chicken breast, and scallions but it's mostly the flavorful broth that I loooove. It's just the perfect comfort food...warm, fragrant, redolent with the scent of lime leaves and cilantro. Mmm...

Before I get to the recipe, a few words about lime leaves and galangal. Lime leaves (sometimes called "Kaffir" limes leaves) are tough, shiny leaves possessing an immense burst of citrus scent and flavor. The flavor really cannot be substituted, so it's definitely worth the effort to find some. If none of the grocers in your area carry them, you can buy them online here. They freeze beautifully, too. Galangal root can usually be found cleaned, sliced, and frozen at an international grocery store. It's a rhizome, like ginger, but with a very different flavor that combines notes of bitter, sour, and spicy and does not have as sharp a bite as ginger. If you manage to find it in its fresh form, prepare it for use in recipes the same way you would with ginger - scrape off the tender peel and slice, mince, or grate.

Tom Kha Gai (Thai Chicken Soup)

• 4 C. Low Fat, Low Sodium Chicken Broth
• 1 Stalk Lemon Grass
• 2-4 Lime Leaves, torn in pieces
• 1" Chunk Galangal Root, sliced thinly
• 2-5 Red Thai Chiles, sliced in half and seeded
• 8 oz. Chicken Breast (boneless/skinless), cubed in bite-sized pieces
• 0.5 C. Dried Shiitake Mushrooms
• 0.75-1 C. Coconut Milk
• 4 T. Fish Sauce (optional)
• 3 T. Minced Cilantro
• 2 t. Fresh Lime Juice

Place dried mushrooms in a small bowl and cover with boiling water. Allow mushrooms to steep for about 10 minutes and then drain, discarding the water. While the mushrooms are soaking, cut lemon grass stalk into 4 even pieces and, using a studded meat tenderizing mallet (or the back of a heavy knife), beat the heck out of it. You really want to bruise it up and tenderize the tough stalk to release the flavor.

In a medium pan, combine chicken broth, lemon grass, lime leaves, fish sauce, and galangal root. Bring to a gentle boil over medium-high heat. Add chicken, drained mushrooms, and chiles and simmer until chicken is cooked through. Reduce heat to low, add coconut milk, season with salt to taste, and allow it to heat up. Turn off heat and add fresh cilantro and lime juice and serve immediately.