A chilled soup and more whining about the heat and humidity.

It's in the 90s today. The kind of day where all you want to do is lay in front of the fan and drink ice cold water. I made a chilled tomato and veggie soup. I love gazspacho a lot. The challenge for me when making it is keeping it from tasting like a big bowl of salsa or tomato sauce. I do believe I have solved that problem. Today I used lemon juice, fresh basil and fresh mint. The combination of these three ingredients keeps it fresh, light and just a wee bit tart. I scarfed down a big bowl when I was done. It was quite refreshing. This was also fantastically easily.

Use whatever summer vegetables you have on hand. Dice them small, about the size of a pea. I used green peppers, an English cucumber, green onions, celery and red cabbage. It's what I had on hand and it's what I like. English cucumbers are less watery than a traditional cucumber, which is nice here. Summer squash might be nice here, but remove the seeds. You really want veggies with a little crunch. The small diced pieces make this feel more like a soup.

Slice some French bread very thin then cut those slices into quarters. I used my favorite multigrain baguette.

Fry up the bread bits in butter and olive oil. It's okay, the soup is all healthy veggies.

Serve well chilled with the croutons on top. Yummy! This might also be good with a little goat cheese too.


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Chilled Summer Tomato Soup

2 large cans whole peeled tomatoes, including the juice
1 TBSP fresh garlic, rough chopped
2 TBSP fresh basil, rough chopped
2 TBSP fresh mint, rough chopped
1 green jalapeno, rough chopped (optional)
juice of two lemons
1 cup diced English cucumber
1 cup diced green bell pepper
1 cup diced celery
1 cup thinly sliced green onion
1 cup finely chopped red cabbage

In a large bowl, blend well the two cans of peeled tomatoes using a stick blender. Add garlic, basil, mint, jalapeno, and lemon juice to bowl and blend again. Add the remaining ingredients and stir well. Chill for about an hour to allow flavors to marry.

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Croutons

Use about 4 inches of baguette and slice thin. Cut these slices into quarters. Fry in a hot saute pan with 2 TBSP butter and 2 TBSP olive oil until golden brown. Use as a garnish for chilled soup.

Chicken and Dumplings

Saturday afternoon I had my elderly neighbors, Mary Jane and Mr. Smith, over for lunch. I figured chicken and dumplings was a good option, especially since they are both Southern. We drank sweet tea. My mom was kind enough to reheat the food and clean up afterwards. We had a nice time chatting and laughing.

I feel like I have been in the South long enough to think that I know everything about southern food. My brother and I have a long standing debate over who makes the better chicken and dumplings. I can say with 100% certainty that mine is better. Mr Fancy Pants Culinary School adds carrots to his. I am morally opposed to carrots in chicken and dumplings. Just sayin'.

Here's my recipe.

2 lbs chicken thighs
4-5 ribs celery, large dice
1 white onion, large dice
2 cans low sodium condensed cream of chicken soup
2 chicken bouillon cubes
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped fine
1 recipe dumplings

Add chicken thighs to large stock pot, cover with water, about two quarts. Boil until cooked through. Put in fridge to cool, reserving broth. Skim any excess fat.

When chicken is cool, pull off bones. Discard any excess fat and bones. Chop chicken into bite side pieces and set aside. In large stock pot over high, saute onions and celery until soft. Add chicken. Cover with broth. Add bouillon cubes and cream of chicken soup. Stir well and bring to boil. Make dumplings. Add to pot, a few at a time, once boiling. When dumplings are floating, let boil for five minutes. Turn off heat.

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Dumpling recipe:
1 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 TBSP vegetable shortening
1/3 cup milk

Mix flour, baking powder, salt and pepper in small bowl. Mix in shortening until mixture feels like cornmeal. With a fork, mix in cold milk until mixture begins to come together. Turn out onto counter or board. Kneed until dough is smooth. Let rest 5 minutes. Roll out until dough is about 1/4" thick. Using pizza cutter, cut into strips then in the opposite direction into squares.


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Notes:

This serves about 6 people. This is easily doubled.

Try to get boneless, skinless chicken thighs if possible. It'll make your life easier.

Do not add salt to this before tasting it. The bouillon and canned soup have plenty of sodium, even the low sodium options. I find I don't need any extra.

If you want to be all fancy an' stuff, add chopped herbs (sage, thyme, marjoram) to the dumplings. It's tasty.

If you wanted to use white wheat flour in the dumplings, substitute equally for the white flour. If you want to use whole wheat flour, use 1/2 whole wheat flour and 1/2 regular flour. The dumplings are also good if you use 3/4 cup white flour and 1/4 cup cornmeal.

This would be great vegetarian, with maybe mushrooms and squash instead of the chicken. Knorr makes a wonderful Vegetarian Vegetable bouillon. You could use low sodium cream of mushroom or celery soup instead.

Cream of Mushroom Soup

1 small white onion
2 small carrots
3 ribs of celery
12 oz. mushrooms
1 small acorn squash
1 large baking potato
1 quart 2% milk
2 cups half and half
1 tbsp butter (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Peel carrots, potato, and acorn squash. Chop all veggies into even 1/2" pieces. Saute in large stock pot with olive oil for 10 minutes. Add milk, half and half and butter. Simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally. When all veggies are soft, whiz up with stick blender until smooth.

Notes:
You could season with fresh sage, marjoram or oregano, if you had any. I did not. I was also going for a fast and simple mushroom soup.

The potato thickens this allowing you to use the lower fat dairy products, rather than the traditional whole milk and cream.

Leave out the acorn squash for a more traditional mushroom soup.

Keep a watchful eye on this. If you burn dairy in or on the stove, the only solution usually is to buy another pot or stove. It makes an awful mess.