Green Soup, Immersion Blenders, More Boston Organics, and Justin Bieber

First, Justin Bieber, who makes young girls apparently all Beatles-like riotous.



Really? Seriously? Do you get it? Cause I don't. And I actually LIKE pop music. I dunno, maybe I'm too old to understand. I did really like Joey Mac back in the day, so evs.

OK, matter at hand, GREEN SOUP!

Here is my picture of GREEN SOUP. Yes, I drank half of it before photographing, but I just couldn't help it. Soooo good.



This post is a kind of cousin to my last post, which involved a chowder recipe made from vegetables out of the Boston Organics Box. This weeks box contained asparagus, zucchini, and a basil plant. I still had broccoli(yuck) left from my last box and some onions, so I had all of the ingredients available to make Ellie's mom's famed GREEN SOUP that she served them in Mexico. I have been cautioned not to eat too much of this in one week because there apparently is so much chlorophyll in it that too much can affect your liver negatively. I cannot confirm this. Also, if I have to say - "How much is too much?" It's really good, I needed to be cautioned.

So ok, ingredients:

• 2 small onions or 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves
• a large handful of asparagus, maybe 12-15 spears, with the tough ends broken off (reserve this for veggie stock later), cut into 2 inch pieces
• 2 cups of roughly chopped broccoli florets (you can keep the florets whole, just make sure they're off the stalk. Reserve the stalks for stock.)
• 2 small zucchinis, diced or sliced
• 1 large handful of swiss chard, about 2 cups, no need to chop
• salt
• pepper
• water as needed
• garlic powder, optional
• half a cup of fresh basil leaves, optional

NOTE: No need to precut veggies. Each step allows for time for you to chop the next vegetable before it goes into the pot.

Warm olive oil on low heat in a large pot. Add onions and salt and pepper, I added about a half a teaspoon of each. Stir and let it work itself out for a while. Crush the garlic cloves to remove skin, reserve skins for stock. Add the garlic to pot, no need to chop, mince, etc. Once onions are translucent, add asparagus to pot and stir. Cook for about 3 minutes and then add water to pot to just cover the vegetables. Turn heat up high and cover. Let boil for 4-5 minutes while preparing broccoli florets. Add to the pot and add more water to just cover the vegetables. Add another pinch of salt and pepper to the pot. Cover and let boil for 4-5 minutes while preparing zucchini. Add zuccini and enough water to just cover vegetables. Pinch of salt and pepper and let boil while you prepare the swiss chard and basil or any fresh herb. You can use a comparable amount of fresh parsley or nothing at all.

This soup should be simple! Once you add the chard and herbs, cover the pot and let boil for about 5 more minutes. You can add more water if it's looking low, but you want to make sure the level of water is always just covering the veggies. Once the 5 minutes are up, uncover and test your veggies. Stick a fork in the asparagus pieces, the asparagus should completely yield to the fork. All the veggies should be completely tender at this point. If not, let it boil for a little while longer. Now for the exciting part. Grab that amazing immersion blender that you gifted yourself prompted by self love...No? Ok, grab the immersion blender you stole from your ex-boyfriend. Evs. Just get yourself an immersion blender. Whatever it takes. Trust me. It will change your life. Like when Boston Organics sends you every root vegetable known to man all autumn and if you eat another fricken turnip mash you will die or kill someone but then you were saved by the immersion blender and now you can make turnip and chive soup, or potato leek soup, or curried sweet potato soup, or anything else wonderful like that because you have an immersion blender and you make your own veggie stock so you always have some on hand and is anyone else's life like this?

Ok, maybe not. So enough of a rant. You can use a regular old blender, but um beware. Wait for the liquid to cool so the blender won't explode and the top of your blender won't pop off and the hot liquid will squirt everywhere and burn you - this has happened to me and to others, please be careful. So when the soup is all blended, taste it. You will need to add salt and pepper and maybe even a few really good shakes of garlic powder like I did. Up to you...I like things with a little kick. Your soup will be creamy without any dairy products at all. It will be delicious and healthy - except for the chlorophyll thing, but I don't know. Internet research suggested that chlorophyll cures everything from cancer to bad breath. Here's a link about this that I cannot confirm the validity of and that Mad Tasty has no affiliation to.

But anyway, back to GREEN SOUP. GREEN! TASTY! SOUP!

You will thank me later.

Until next time,
A

South West Grilled Chicken and Green Beans

With a little prep you too can make this tasty yet healthy meal... Just kidding, I'm not that pretentious and neither is this meal, though it kinda taste like it, and I meant that in a good way.


Ingredients:

• 1 Sachet of southwest seasoning (or make your own: cumin, pepper, chilli powder, onion powder, garlic powder, red pepper flakes, bit of hot sauce)
• 2 Chicken breasts
• 1/4 cup of chicken broth
• 3 large handfuls of green beans

Instructions:

Step 1: Marinate the chicken overnight in the seasoning. i.e. put it in a ziploc bag with a couple tablespoon of white vinegar, a 1/4 cup of canola oil, and half a cup of water.

Step 2a and 2b: Heat your grill pan and oven to 350

Step 3: Place the chicken on the grill (or saute) pan


Step 4: Turn the Chicken after about 5-7 minutes (once one side is brown). Let the other side brown.


Step 5: Put it in the oven for about 20 minutes. It really depends on how thick the breasts are. These were some big honkers so your are quite as massive maybe 15 minutes.

Step 6:Pull chicken out of the oven and set aside. Now, take a look at all of that browned gook at the bottom of the pan....


Step 7a: It's actually goodness. Place the pan back on the stove at med high heat, splash some chicken broth on it and move it around. I think this is what they call deglazing....

Step 7b. throw those green beans in. They should cook up in about 7 minutes.


Step 8a, 8b, 8c: Slice Chicken, Serve and Enjoy