Hotplate: COVID19 Quick Chicken Vegetable Broth

I will be posting about my experiences self-quarantining.

I am a small portion eater to begin with but, after a recalculation of my pantry supplies, I decided to try making a soup to stretch my vegetable and protein stock. I adapted my Hotplate: Simple Chicken Vegetable Soup recipe as a trial.



Hotplate: COVID19 Quick Chicken Vegetable Broth


Ingredients:

1 Chicken bouillon cube
6 cups of water
3 Dashes Onion powder
3 Dashes Garlic powder
2 Dashes Hot sauce (Optional)
1 Grind black pepper
4 TBspns frozen mixed vegetables
1 Heaping TBspn canned chicken, drained
2 TBspns canned diced potatoes, drained and rinsed
Use What You Have regarding additions, I found:
2 Snack carrots, diced
2 TBspns canned salsa
Small quantity of cooked white beans


Process:

Add 2 cups of water to a microwaveable container
Add 1 bouillon cube to the water.
Microwave on high for 2-3 minutes.
Remove and stir until bouillon cube has dissolved.
Add stock to large pot.
Add 4 cups of water.
Add spices.
Stir.
Cover pot.
Cook on high.
Cover pot.
Bring liquid to a boil.
Add vegetables and leftovers.
Stir.
Recover pot.
Cook on medium for about 15 minutes.
Check vegetables, if they are soft, the soup is ready, if not, cook for 5-10 minutes more.

This recipe could make 6-8 servings.

Cool remaining soup. Freeze in portions.


#GERD-friendly, if you determine which and how much of the spices you can tolerate.

 

A New Batch of Vegetables - How Meals Will They Make?

I went to a local Expat market to get 1 cucumber and came home with 9 vegetables.

How many meals will they make?

Day One:

Quick pickles
Cucumber water with cucumber slices
Cucumber and Apple salad with yogurt
MW Baked potato topped with beans and cream cheese
Sliced up lime and froze for use in various drinks

Day Two:

Baked Apples
Vegetable Soup with potatoes
Sliced up Bell peppers and froze for future recipe

FYI: The cost for the 9 vegetables was $62MX. This was an Expat market, so I assume the prices are higher than at a local market.

$62MX = $3.30US (based on $18.77 exchange rate for 1$ on this day.)

I looked at an American Grocery flyer (I do not have a car, so I choose a store near my home that I can reach by bus) online and came up with this cost comparison:

Apples $1.79 - 2.49 a pound
Potatoes $3.50 for a 24oz bag or 3.99 for a 5lb bag
Peppers and/or Cucumbers 3 for $5
.10 or .25 for a lime, a Key lime or a Persian Lime

Estimated cost:

1.79 - 2.49 Apples
1.25 Potatoes
5.00 Peppers and Cucumbers
0.10 Lime
--------
$8.14 - $8.84US

Curry and Cinnamon Overnight Oats

I am enjoying making variations on Jack Monroe's Carrot Cake Overnight Oats

For this recipe, BudgetBytes offered another good idea for making a version of overnight oats using spices like Turmeric. As usual, I often don't have the spices called for in a recipe, so I have to make substitutions.

I did not have Turmeric, so I took a look at my Badia curry powder and it had Turmeric and a few other spices as its ingredients.

So, I went with the Curry and I made a few other adjustments. I had wanted to make one small serving, so instead of measuring the ingredients, I used them as a guide.

(Badia: https://badiaspices.com/product/curry-powder-1-20-lbs/)

Curry and Cinnamon Overnight Oats
(Adapted from:) https://www.budgetbytes.com/golden-milk-overnight-oats/)

 

Ingredients:

2 - 4 TBspns Rolled oats
1/2 - 2/3 Cup milk, made from dry powder mix
1 Tspn Curry powder
1/2 Tspn Cinnamon
1 Tspn Honey
 1/2 Capful Vanilla


Process:

In a small container with a lid, add a layer of oats.
Add a little milk, stir to coat oats.
Add a little more milk to cover oats.
Add spices and honey.
Stir and mix thoroughly.
Add lid.
Place in frig overnight.

In the morning, open the container. The oats will have absorbed the milk, add more milk and stir well before eating.

This makes a small serving. Increase oats, milk and spices for larger servings.

#GERD-friendly
 

Garlic Butter

Spruce Eats has become another of favorite go to recipe site.

For the present, the website is not full of popup boxes or moving videos which I like.

Lots of good info, written in an easy to understand manner.

Recipes include both fancy and simple recipes.

I always love a recipe website that offers tips.

For some reason, I was swimming in anchovy and sardine recipes and ended up on Spruce Eats and making garlic butter and anchovy butter for other recipes.

I know, I know, it's a simple recipe. But, it's all the other tips that make it fun.

Garlic Butter
(Adapted from: How to Make Simple Garlic Butter With Variations)


 Ingredients:

1/2 Cup Butter
1 Tspn Garlic Powder


Process:

Add butter to a container with a lid.
Add garlic powder.
Use a spoon to mix the ingredients thoroughly.

#GERD-friendly

 

Hotplate / Microwave: Dressed Up Can of Portobello Mushroom Soup

You can take this dressed up Can of Cream of Portobello Mushroom soup anywhere.

Thanks to Jack Monroe (https://cookingonabootstrap.com/), I’ve made another great soup.

Sadly, I do not have a blender, so I used a can of Cream of Portobello mushroom soup instead of fresh mushrooms and also made other adjustments.

It turns out that Cream of Portobello mushroom soup is more of a broth whereas a different Cream of mushroom soup is creamy.

Also, I was pleasantly surprised, I had been saving a bit of leftover red wine in the frig for quite awhile. It was fine.


Hotplate/Microwave: Dressed Up Can of Portobello Mushroom Soup
(Adapted from A Girl Called Jack - Red Wine and Mushroom Soup p51)
 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 Cups water
1 Vegetable Bouillon cube
1/2-1 TBspns Onion powder
1/2 TBspn Garlic powder
1 15oz (420g) Can of cream of Portobello mushroom soup
2 oz (50ml) Leftover Red wine
1 Tspn Thyme, dry, crushed
Garnish: Thyme, dry, crushed

Process:

Add bouillon cube to water.
Microwave on high for 2 minutes.
Remove and stir until cube has dissolved.
Pour a small amount of the vegetable stock into a medium pan.
Add garlic and onion powders.
Stir.
With the liquid, the powders will become a paste.
Simmer for 1-2 minutes.
Add mushroom soup.
Stir and mix ingredients.
Add the rest of the stock.
Stir.
Add wine.
Stir.
Add thyme, crush between palms over liquid.
Stir.
Bring to a boil.
Stir.
Simmer 3-5 minutes to get soup thoroughly hot.
Add garnish when serving.

#GERD-friendly