Chorizo corn chowder

I'm not feeling very wordy today-my sinus are killing me-its that lovely death by pollen time of year once again here in the G to the A so I'm in a constant state of blah...dis zoup recipe was good though...try it.

*****I FOUND THIS RECIPE HERE: http://www.jerseybites.com/2009/03/spicy-corn-chowder-with-chorizo/*******************

Chorizo Corn Chowder

What you need:

2 teaspoons EVOO

5 Chorizo links, skin removed

1 whole medium onion, chopped

1 whole sweet red pepper, seeded & chopped

1 garlic clove, chopped

1 canned Chipotle Pepper in adobo sauce, chopped

1 cup peeled and cubed red potato

2 cups chicken broth

1 1/2 cups frozen corn kernels

1 can creamed corn

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 cup half and half

What you do:

Add 2 teaspoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil to a large dutch oven. Add chorizo and brown approximately 10 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon.

Leave remaining oil in pot and add onion and pepper and saute until tender for approximately 10 minutes.

Add garlic and saute for 2 minutes.Add chipotle, potato and 1/2 cup corn and saute for one minute.

Add back approximately 1/2 cup of crumbled chorizo, cumin, broth and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer covered for 10 minutes or until potato is fork tender.

Add half and half and using a stick blender, blend soup until smooth. Add rest of sausage and corn back to soup and simmer until corn is cooked. Serve with a dollop of sour cream, shredded cheese and/or chopped cilantro.

Changes you might want to make:

I think I would like this a little bit spicier, so next time I might add some jalapeno to mine and maybe a squeeze of lime and some cilantro.

Wedding Soup: Improv Style

I {HEART} Wedding Soup. Its one of my favorites. Its a perfect comfort food with some crusty bread. Sure its July-in Georgia-and should be around 95 degrees later today-but its raining right now and what would be better than some soup and crusty bread?

I decided to use this recipe from allrecipes.com, as a base for building my soup:

California Italian Wedding Soup
1/2 pound extra-lean ground beef
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons shredded fresh basil leaves
1 tablespoon chopped Italian flat leaf parsley (optional)
2 green onions, sliced (optional)
5 3/4 cups chicken broth
2 cups finely sliced escarole (spinach may be substituted)
1 lemon, zested
1/2 cup orzo (rice-shaped pasta), uncooked
grated Parmesan cheese for topping


Mix together the meat, egg, bread crumbs, cheese, basil, parsley, and green onions; shape into 3/4 inch balls.
Pour broth into a large saucepan over high heat. When boiling, drop in meatballs. Stir in escarole, lemon zest and orzo. Return to a boil; reduce heat to medium. Cook at a slow boil for 10 minutes or until orzo is tender, stirring frequently. Serve sprinkled with cheese.


Here's what I had to change:

Ground Beef-we don't buy it-only ground turkey in this house
Egg-didn't have any thanks to them falling out of the cart in the parking lot
Fresh basil-had to use dried instead
Green onions-Didn't have any
Escarole-used frozen spinach instead
Lemon-didn't have one so I used some lemon pepper instead
Orzo-none in the pantry used pasta shells instead
Bread crumbs-didn't have any of this either

So its pretty much a wonder why I even bothered to make this with all the ingredients I was missing...All in all though the soup turned out good anyway. I just mixed some grated Parmesan and dried basil and parsley in with the ground turkey then rolled it int0 balls. I made my chicken broth from the chicken bouillon I get in the Latin grocery section. I added some sliced baby carrots for some color.

First its Gazpacho, Then its Gone.

After driving home in Friday evening traffic with no AC in the blazing Georgia heat-after a week of sitting in at work in a tin nearly uninsulated building with virtually no AC in there either-all I could think of was something cold and refreshing to have for dinner last night so I started rummaging through the produce drawer in the fridge and the cabinets. I'd been eating salads for lunch all week so I wasn't really feeling that...then it came to me...GAZPACHO!


I love gazpacho! I am a cold food lover, especially in this heat. I'd like nothing better than to spend the remainder of the summer eating salads, sandwiches, hummus and dips. I love cold fried chicken with ketchup or ice cold shrimp cocktail. Shoot give me a plate of cold spaghetti and I'm a happy camper.


Look-I never claimed to normal or refined did I?


Anyway-I figured I make a batch of gazpacho up while I waited for my camera batteries to charge. There would be plenty to photograph for the blog later on, right?


WRONG. During the night we had a bit of a dramatic event here at the house-a sin my husband was in a car accident. He's fine-no injuries. Just a big headache is all and financial stresses. that being said-what do most of us do when we stress? We eat. We binge. We wallow and drown our sorrows in our food.


I reached for the gazpacho like it was a bottle of vino or a pint of Godiva Chocolate Raspberry Truffle ice cream. I ate and ate and ate until I had so much acidic tomatoes that I had a lump in my throat from reflux. That was some great gazpacho.


So here's a picture of what's left of the gazpacho:




The sticky frog is there for artistic affect.


...and the recipe...

Binge Inducing Gazpacho



1 can petite diced tomatoes
1/4 cup water
1 tbsp EVOO
1 cucumber, seeded and diced
1 /2 small onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp chopped fresh basil
a couple of dashes of hot pepper sauce (I used Louisiana Red Hot)
kosher salt



Put a little under half the can of tomatoes, along with the water and oil into a blender or food processor until soupy. Pour into bowl with the rest of the ingredients. Stir and then season with a bit of kosher salt until you reach the flavor you enjoy. Put in the fridge. Eat. Yum.