Bo Kho – Vietnamese Beef Stew

Posted on February 16, 2023February 16, 2023 by Amanda 2 Comments

After traveling to Las Vegas for work and making a pit stop in Phoenix, I was immediately greeted back to the PNW with *snow* on the ground?? Small hail? Regardless, it was white and cold. I miss the sun and warmth so I wanted to make something warm and cozy. I saw it on a menu at a Vietnamese restaurant recently and suddenly had a craving. Bo kho is a Vietnamese-style beef stew that can be eaten with rice, noodles, or bread. It’s rich, warm, and super comforting!

Ingredients

Beef – It is a beef stew, so I would recommend using beef, but swap ingredients to your heart’s desire! The chuck roast here gives the broth a really beefy flavor, but you can use other stew meat or beef shank too.

Ketchup – Weird right? It gives the broth a reddish tint, a slight tomato flavor, and some sweetness.

Bo Kho – Vietnamese Beef Stew

Print Recipe

Lemongrass and anise beefy stew with onions and carrots.

Course Main Course, Soup

Cuisine Asian

Keyword beef, bo kho, soup, stew, vietnamese

Ingredients

1/4 cup olive oil 2 tbsp + 2 tbsp
3 lbs chuck roast cut into 2" cubes
1/2 onion sliced
6 cloves garlic whole
2 tbsp lemongrass minced
thumb chunk ginger
1 tbsp 5 spice
1 cup ketchup
1/4 cup fish sauce
1 tbsp brown sugar
8 cups water
2 cups carrots chopped

Instructions

In a heavy pot, add 2 tbsp of olive oil to heat.
When oil shimmers, add half of the chuck roast, searing on all sides. Do not crowd the pot.
Sprinkle salt and pepper over each piece as it sears.
After all sides are seared, remove from pot.
Add another 2 tbsp of olive oil and sear remaining beef and adding salt and pepper.
Remove all beef from the pot.
In the pot, add onions, garlic, lemongrass, ginger, and 5 spice to toast and brown.
After onions start to soften, add ketchup and fish sauce. Mix together.
When mixture starts to boil, return meat to pot and add brown sugar and water.
Mix and simmer on low for 2 hours, skimming any foam as necessary.
For the last 15 minutes, add chopped carrots.
Serve with rice, noodles, or bread!

After this, have some Pumpkin Walnut Cake with Chocolate Hazelnut Spread or Apple Crumb Pie.

Cozy Chili

Posted on October 27, 2022October 27, 2022 by Amanda Leave a comment

It’s like the weather flipped a switch! Really, it was 70F one day and the next, dropped to 50F. Pretty rude, but I guess with less than a week left of October, it was time for fall to truly set in. Fresh beans are out of the season with their pods all dried out. I got some fresh plucked beans from my CSA (are these fresh, dry beans?), there was leftover tomato sauce from the homemade tomato sauce used for the Zucchini Parm Lasagna, and I had a few peppers starting to wrinkle. With the chilly weather & these ingredients, I wanted something hot and cozy and fall? I think that means chili.

Ingredients

Beans – Use any beans you would like. When I have a lot of dry beans and I’m feeling especially beany, I’ll cook off a large batch and then freeze the cooked beans to use in future recipes. These beans can also be substituted for canned beans. In chili, no one will ever know.

Tomato sauce – I had some extra tomato sauce from the last batch of fresh tomatoes from the farm. My tomato sauce was flavored only with onions, garlic, and salt, but you can use any canned or jarred tomato from the grocery store. If using plain canned crushed tomatoes, more salt may need to be added.

Protein – I wanted to keep my chili veggie friendly, so I used a soy protein alternative. Use whatever you like! Some good options might be ground pork, beef, chicken, or even Italian sausage or seitan chunks.

Cozy Chili

Print Recipe

A warm and hearty chili that can be easily made vegetarian or vegan.

Course Main Course, Soup

Keyword chili, vegan, vegetarian

Ingredients

1 pound protein
1 yellow onion diced
2 bell peppers any color, diced
30 ounces cooked beans any kind
32 ounces tomato sauce
1 tsp Cajun seasoning
1 tsp chipotle chili powder
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
salt & pepper

Instructions

In a heavy pot, cook ground protein until browned, breaking up into smaller pieces. After mostly browned, removed from the pot. It's ok if it's not fully cooked yet, it'll finish cooking later.
Lower heat to medium, and add some oil to the pot, and sauté onions and peppers with a pinch of salt until softened. Scrape bottom of the pot to loosen any brown bits from the protein.
After onions & pepper are soft, add the beans, tomato sauce, Cajun seasoning, cumin, chipotle chili powder, bay leaves, and garlic powder. Stir until combined.
Continue cooking on low until mixture starts to simmer. Return protein to the pot and cover. Simmer for another 30 minutes – 1 hour.
After simmering, add additional water, salt, or pepper to thin the chili to your desired consistency and season to your preference. Enjoy!

Some other soups that are lovely for fall include Tomato Basil Soup, Pumpkin Soup, and Chicken & Napa Cabbage Soup. Stay warm! <3

Tomato Basil Soup

Posted on September 22, 2022September 22, 2022 by Amanda Leave a comment

It’s getting darker in the mornings and weather is dropping below 60F, so it’s soup season! Tomato season is drawing to a close, so the farms near me are rushing to harvest all their tomatoes before the cold sets in. These fresh tomatoes are so juicy and so sweet. I always end up with too many to eat fresh in sandwiches and salads, so I turn to tomato soup when I need to get through them all. This tomato soup thickens up on its own over time and requires very little work to make it shine. It doesn’t require a lot of baby-sitting and there are few ingredients required. After all my ingredients have spent a few hours together, I like to blend them up for a smooth texture. If you like the chunks, leave it as it!

I also like to save some leftover My Favorite Focaccia, chop it up into small cubes, and bake to dry out to make croutons. These croutons are lovely to top the soup with. If you would rather just have some bread to dip into the tomato soup, the fresh focaccia is great too.

Ingredients

Tomatoes – Use any that you like!

Basil/Heavy Cream – Both of these are entirely optional. I love to use fresh basil for this soup, but you can most certainly substitute with dried. I love a splash of the heavy cream in the soup to mellow out the acidity of the tomatoes and make the soup even creamier.

Tomato Basil Soup

Print Recipe

End the summer by using up your remaining tomatoes with this tomato basil soup

Course Soup

Keyword basil, soup, tomato

Equipment

blender

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil
5 lbs tomatoes
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup fresh basil
1/4 cup heavy cream

Instructions

Wash, core, and chop tomatoes into quarters. These do not need to be perfect as the tomatoes will cook down.
Add tomatoes, salt, olive oil, and garlic to the pot on medium heat.
Cover with a lid for 20 minutes for the juices to start coming out of the tomatoes.
Uncover the pot, mix, recover, and reduce the heat to medium-low.
Leave the soup to simmer for 2-4 hours. The soup will reduce and intensify the tomato flavor.
Blend the soup to your desired smoothness.
Optional – Stir in heavy cream for extra creaminess and top or blend in some fresh basil. Season with additional salt as needed.

Want more fall soups? Try Pumpkin Soup

Chicken & Napa Cabbage Soup

Posted on May 5, 2022May 5, 2022 by Amanda Leave a comment

There have been glimpses of sunshine this week in the PNW and I cannot wait for summer. When it’s rainy, cold, or I’m feeling a little sick, I love to have soup. Chicken noodle soup is the soup that most people reach for when they’re feeling sick, but this chicken soup has much more comforting flavors for me. This soup is warm and satisfying with really simple ingredients. The chicken bouillon shortcut gives you a flavorful soup in a short amount of time, so you can whip this together in under 30 minutes for a weeknight meal.

Ingredients

Chicken – I like using chicken thighs since they stay relatively moist even if you end up cooking this soup longer than you intend to. I’ve also used tofu at a complete replacement for chicken or done even half chicken and half tofu. If you choose a different protein, you may need to pick a cut that will give a more “shreddy” texture like pork butt/shoulder or chuck roast. Other protein options will require longer cooking time to reach peak tenderness.

Chicken bouillon – I like using “Better than Bouillon” since I can get it in a massive jar at Costco, but feel free to use any other bouillon you like. You can also use chicken stock instead of water and bouillon. If you’ve substituted the protein, feel free to use a different bouillon flavor too!

Napa cabbage – I like the thick, crunchiness of a leaf of Napa vs other cabbages. This could be substituted with other crunchy veggies like bok choy, Brussel sprouts, or other cabbages.

Chicken & Napa Cabbage Soup

Print Recipe

Warm & satisfying soup, ready in under 30 minutes.

Course Soup

Keyword cabbage, chicken, soup

Servings 4

Ingredients

2 chicken thighs
5 cups water
1 tsp chicken bouillon
4 cups shredded Napa cabbage
3 cups spinach
2 tsp salt
2 tbsp sesame oil

Instructions

In a heavy pot, cook chicken until cooked on the exterior. This prevents the soup broth from getting cloudy. Don't worry if the chicken is not fully cooked in the center!
Add water and bouillon.
Cover pot and bring to a boil. Allow to boil for 5 minutes.
While the pot is boiling, you can shred your cabbage.
After 5 minutes, remove the chicken from the water. Turn heat to low and add Napa cabbage and spinach. Give a quick stir.
Shred chicken and return to pot.
Taste the broth and add salt, approximately 2 tsps. If you don't need that much, don't add that much! If you need more, add more!
Finish with sesame oil and serve.

You could even add some Chicken & Cabbage Dumplings to the soup too.

Have a dessert like Crispy Gooey Chocolate Chip Cookies or Kitchen Sink Cookies

Pumpkin Soup

Posted on January 27, 2022January 31, 2022 by Amanda Leave a comment

A luscious, creamy pumpkin soup that’ll fill you up and keep you warm. True pumpkin flavor (not pumpkin spice) that’s flavored with garlic and thyme and creamy with some soy milk. This pumpkin soup is (accidentally) vegan and you can’t even tell. The pumpkin gives it such a pretty color and it’s an excellent vehicle for all sorts of exciting toppings. The soup is also wonderful to have later in the week and freezes well for an emergency meal when cooking is not an option.

Veggie soups like this pumpkin soup are some of my favorite go to weeknight dinners because they are so low maintenance. All you have to do is grab a bunch of vegetables or aromatics, cook them, add some liquid, blend together, and you have a satisfying, warm dinner!

Ingredients

Garlic – I used a lot of garlic here, but you really can’t tell that there’s this much garlic in the soup. As the garlic cooks, it sweetens so it doesn’t have that sharpness to it in the soup. It really brightens the flavor of the pumpkin. Sometimes I do even more than just 7 cloves…

Pumpkin – I highly recommend using fresh pumpkin. Try making my Homemade Pumpkin Puree.

Soy milk – You can use any milk alternative here for a creamy soup or use a stock for a brothy soup. I generally have oat milk or soy milk on hand since my body tends to reject cow milk. Pumpkin puree is generally thick on its own, so the additional liquid of milk or stock helps thin it to more of a desirable consistency.

Thyme – My CSA provides herbs as well as produce! I usually have random herbs hanging upside down from my kitchen cabinets waiting to be sprinkled into a recipe. Here I have some thyme that has been drying in my kitchen for a few months now. You can use fresh thyme or dried thyme you can get at the grocery store too.

Toppings – The soup is delicious on its own, but its more fun with more toppings. I topped mine with some garlic, sautéed spinach and some spicy homemade croutons. Top with whatever you may have on hand to add more dimension and texture. I’d try caramelized onions, crackers, or even toasted nuts. No toppings? No problem. Try it with a slice of toasty bread for dipping.

Method

Blender – I used an immersion blender for this soup since I didn’t want to watch a blender/lid combo, but a traditional blender works fine! Blend to your desired consistency using whatever method works best for you.

Pumpkin Thyme Soup

Print Recipe

A thick, comforting soup to get you through the rest of winter.

Course Main Course, Soup

Keyword pumpkin, soup, thyme, vegan, vegetarian

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 30

Servings 4

Equipment

heavy bottom pot
blender

Ingredients

7 cloves garlic
4 cups pumpkin puree fresh
2 cups soy milk
1 tsp thyme
salt
pepper

Instructions

In a heavy bottom pot, saute garlic for a few minutes, until lightly browned.
Add pumpkin puree and mix with garlic for 1-2 minutes.
Add soy milk and mix together with pumpkin and garlic.
Allow to simmer ~8 minutes until garlic softens.
Blend the pumpkin, soy milk, garlic mixture together until creamy and texture evens.
Add 1 tsp of thyme.
Season with salt & pepper to taste.
Serve immediately with any toppings you'd like! I had mine with sautéed garlic spinach and homemade spicy rosemary croutons.

Interested in other pumpkin recipes?

Try Pumpkin Pull Apart Bread or Pumpkin Panang Curry with Spinach and Paneer.