Cincinnati Chili

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cincinnati, cincinnati chili, cooking, dinner, eating, food, meat, recipes, skyline chili, skyline diner, soup, spicy food, travel

So, our friend Matt is from Cincinnati.  Or used to live there.  Or likes the city.  I don’t know, it’s very convoluted.  He went to high school here over ten years ago, so…..he’s kind of from here.

Don’t tell him that though.

Anyway, Matt is one of Jay’s bffs from way back, and I actually met him before Jay.  So, he’s my friend too, not just “one of Jay’s friends.”

It’s important to me that you know that, so it doesn’t appear that my only friends came from my fiancee.

I have issues.

ANYWAY, Matt is a foodie like us, which is nice for me because it means sometimes we can talk about things that aren’t sports. Apparently some time back he made Cincinnati chili for Jay, and I haven’t heard the end of it – I’ve never eaten the stuff except for what is depicted in this recipe, but Jay requested that we make it on a Sunday when we decided that drinking all day was the ticket to happiness.

That happened last Sunday!  I got lots of info from Matt and the interwebz about what Cincinnati chili entails, and here’s my best go at it.  For those of you who don’t know, it’s chili made with Greek-ish seasonings served over pasta.  It’s weird, in the BEST way.

Carrot Cheddar Soup

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carrot cheddar soup, cheese soup, cooking, easy cooking, eating, food, how to cook, recipes, soup, vegetables, vegetarian

Well.

I got something in my eye.

I’m not sure at this point if it’s pinkeye, irritation due to contact wearing, something really cool that I don’t even know about yet, or just mutiny of every blood vessel in one eye for staring at a computer all day every day.

I am sure, that it hurts.  In a way that has me swearing every 5 minutes.  In a way that requires REST from getting dressed, doing work, or looking at anything that isn’t, well, black.

It’s a good day, is what I mean.

On good days like this one, I need comfort food.  For me, cheese is comforting.  Is it for you too?  It’s also moderately cold here, which means that it’s already sunshiny (eff my eye, that sh*t hurts) and will reach 60 in a matter of hours.  Not that I can enjoy it, but this morning it was, like, 43.  So we need soup.  With cheese.

Wanna see a fun way to make it?

Fish Chowder

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chowder, cooking, eating, food, how to cook, recipes, seafood, soup, vegetarian

Guys.

I made you soup.

I did that because it’s cold outside and I don’t like the cold very much unless I’m snuggled under a thousand blankets and also because half the world seems to be sick and we have a thing in our culture where we feed sick people hot liquids.

Why?  Why not kale and sweet potatoes? Orange peel?  Green tea mixed with yogurt and lentils?

Anyway.

This soup is really delicious.  It’s cheap to make, too!  You could of course go nuts with various seafoods, but I find that the flavor from any old white fish (tilapia, cod, catfish….), and if you make your own seafood stock, like we did yesterday, this is SO delicious.

Easy and Healthy Leftover Turkey Soup

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christmas, comfort food, cooking, eating, food, holiday, leftover turkey, recipes, soup, thanksgiving

I promised.

I’m delivering.

You’re welcome.

Yesterday we talked about the joys of making one’s own stock at home.

We also talked about what folks might do with leftover turkey.

One of the ideas was soup. DUH.  So obvious.  So delicious.  So easy.

My version has very few ingredients and is super light and healthy.  You could of course leave out the meat for a vegetarian version, or use poached chicken or rotisserie chicken or canned chicken or shredded pork or WHATEVER YOU LIKE any other time of the year – don’t keep this one just for these days of leftovers!

Borscht.

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beets, borscht, comfort food, cooking, easy dinner, european food, food, jewish food, recipes, soup, stew

Do you know what borscht is?

It’s hard to type.

Also, it’s a traditional Eastern European soup made with beets and beef. And tons of delicious other cozy flavors that will make you die of happiness.

And fresh dill.

But still, borscht is hard to type.

This version is nice and healthy – you use just a small bit of beef woven in with tons of veggies, so you get the flavor without tons of extra fat and calories.  It’s a wee bit fancy because we saute the beet greens and serve them over the top – nice, huh?  I don’t throw things away.  You know this about me.

Broccoli Cheddar Risotto

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broccoli cheddar soup, cheese, cooking, creative cooking, dinner, food, italian food, panera bread, recipes, soup, vegetarian

YES.

I made this.

I loved it.

I want to make it again.

This is rice, mixed with cheese and broccoli and a few other flavors that make the whole mess taste like broccoli-cheddar soup, preferably from Panera, with the addition of crunchy almonds to seal the deal.

I’m not joking.

You are going to LOVE this.

Pin THIS

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cooking, diy, eating, finance, from scratch, recipes, saving money, soup, vegetable, vegetarian

You know how on Pinterest you just go through and pin all sorts of different things that you’ll likely never get around to doing?

This is something that you can pin AND start doing today!

Amazing Fish Stew – Cioppino

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cooking, expatriate, fish, food, healthy, italy, recipe, seafood, soup, travel, vegetarian

THIS was epic.

Have you ever had fish stew?

We did, on Valentine’s day.

Yep, it was perfect.

Tomatoes, wine, fish, clams, SAFFRON, bread.  Ahhhhhhh.

This is easy, people.  The sauce simmers for about an hour so it isn’t ideal for a hasty weeknight, but the steps are very simple and the ingredients are interchangeable based on what you have in your fridge, as per the usual.

You’ll love it!

Jay Cooks! Cauliflower Cream Soup

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boyfriend, cooking, easy, food, funny love, girlfriend, soup, vegetarian

Last week I decided to make dinner for Lindsay and me. This semester Lindsay’s classes fall on Tuesday and Thursday nights, so I wanted to have dinner ready for her when she got home (jealous ladies? I’m good looking, caring, I cook and I’m humble. OMG!). I decided to make a cauliflower soup since Lindsay and I are currently on a vegetarian diet. This was a snap decision that I put zero thought into. I saw a huge head of cauliflower and my brain yelled, “SOUP!”

Here is how I think I did it.

Cozy and Healthy – Asparagus Soup

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asparagus, easy cooking, fast cooking, food, healthy cooking, low calorie, low fat, recipe, soup, stew, vegan, vegetarian

Don’t you just love winter and all the cozy foods that go along with this season?

I made this for my sister Emily a few weeks ago because 1. I had lots of veggies, 2. she’s really pretty, and 3. she was feeling sick.  I’m pretty sure soup has some magical healing powers, and I KNOW veggies do!

This is so easy and can be altered depending on what veggies you have and what flavors you’re in the mood for!  It’s very similar to my potato-leek soup – the method is almost identical!