Something from Nothing--Asparagus and Broccoli Soup

Sometimes you just gotta stick your head in the fridge and make do with what you have.  And sometimes you just gotta make soup.  That's how this happened.  While in my frugal state of mind, I saved both the broccoli hearts and the asparagus ends after Easter dinner.  I really wanted to kick myself, though, because I'd thrown out a ham bone a couple of days before this.  I was thinking, well, if I don't eat split peas, or navy beans, well, I'm just totally not going to try to make any kind of imitation of those to go with that ham bone--I could not wrap my brain around making anything but split pea soup with that ham bone.

Image from www.thedeliciouslife.com

So I threw it out.

And immediately regretted it.

Because no sooner was it touching the compost garbage, then I thought--wait, I could use to to seriously flavor ANY kind of vegetable soup!  Just like bacon makes it better, ham flavor makes things better, too--ham goes with everything, doesn't it??  Well, next time, my clean-out-the-veggie-crisper-soup is going to involve a ham bone, dang-it!


The biscuits come from Satisfying Eats.  They totally rocked.  See note at bottom.

Now, on with the recipe!

Ingredients:

Image from www.eatingrichly.com

1 cup (roughly) asparagus ends, PEELED
2 cups broccoli stems, hearts (PEELED) or crowns
1/2 cup onions, chopped
2 cups broth--ham, turkey, or chicken preferably
1 ripe avocado
1 - 2 Tbs lime or lemon juice
butter or fat to saute
garlic powder, salt and pepper (optional)
1 cup leftover ham, or bacon (optional)

Method:

In large heavy-bottom pot or dutch oven, saute onions in butter until translucent.  Add broth, broccoli and asparagus, cover and simmer on medium-low heat until broccoli and asparagus are very tender (about 20 minutes).  Remove all to blender or food processor and puree until smooth, adding avocado and lime/lemon juice here.  Return to pot along with ham, if using, heat through, and taste.  Add garlic, salt and pepper if necessary.  Add bacon, if using, right before serving.

*These were the best paleo biscuits I've eaten, to-date!  Voted on by my whole family; actually tasted like flour had been used.  They were fast, and easy.  I only added about 2 Tbs of the Parmesan  and skipped the stevia altogether.  Awesome.  I will be serving these with every soup from this point on...

B2B Beef & Broccoli

ha-ha--you thought I'd fallen off the Back to Basics bandwagon?  Wrong!  Still going strong, and the cravings are substantially subsided these days....

I think it's going to be beef "surprise" night around here for a long time.  With the half-cow order, and the bison order now both received, my freezer(s) are stuffed to the gills.  There's no such thing as looking for something specific.  You open the freezer door, and whatever tries to fall out and attack you is what you're going to eat that night.  Between that and going a little hog-wild at the farmers markets, we are overflowing.  Now I get to try to think up what I can pull together based on what I have on-hand.  This is not how I normally do things.  I'm more of a "plan the meals, then shop for the ingredients" kind of girl.  This is all backwards.  Ah, well, I love a good challenge.

So the other day I was at my usual Hakka restaurant, and I demanded a gluten-free meal.  Yes, demanded.  In fact, i refused to go until it was agreed that I'd get a special meal.  I got my own plate of food and everyone else got to share multiple plates of junk food.  Try telling a man at a Chinese restaurant that you don't want anything with gluten.  Gluten?  Gluten?  He couldn't even pronounce the word.  I'm pretty sure he didn't understand me.  So I did the best I could.  I ordered the broccoli with beef.  The sauce was mild and not sweet, and not terribly abundant, either, and it tasted pretty darned good.  I think I ate a whole head of broccoli, the serving was so large.  But as I tasted mouthful after mouthful, I kind of thought I could make this myself at home pretty easily.  This is my attempt.  I think it came out pretty tasty, too!

Sauce:

2 Tbs gluten-free tamari sauce
3 Tbs coconut aminos
2-3 tsp chili-garlic sauce
1 tsp fresh ginger
1 tsp fresh minced garlic
1 Tbs fish sauce
1 Tbs sesame oil
1 Tbs tapioca
3 Tbs beef broth

1 head broccoli
1 1/2 lbs cheap cut of steak
1/2 red pepper
1 large carrot
1/2 cooking onion.

Prep everything:  Shave the beef as thin as possible.  Chop broccoli.  Slice the peppers, carrots, onions.  Mix the sauce in a small bowl.  Taste for sweetness/spiciness.  Add coconut aminos for sweet, or chili-garlic for heat.

In large skillet on medium heat, saute onions until translucent (in fat of choice).  Remove.  Turn up heat to med-hi.  Saute broccoli, carrots and peppers until broccoli is just al-dente.  You may want to keep them covered so they steam a bit, and you may need to add a Tbs of water to help it steam a bit.  When it begins to get tender, remove from heat.  Let pan get good and hot again.  Add a bit more fat to pan and sear beef, in batches if necessary, removing from pan when its still somewhat pink (and cover it to let it finish cooking).

Turn pan back to medium.  Add all the veggies and sauce, stirring to coat and thicken, heating through, and add beef and juices at last minute, tossing well to coat in sauce and make sure its warm throughout.  It won't be pink any longer, but its ok if it is a bit pink still.

If you're like me, serve with sriracha sauce.