Hearty vegetable soup with tomatoes and chicken

Posted on by gloriouslygoodfood

This is another one of my low-cal, low-carb, low-fat recipes for my pre-op diet before I have weight loss surgery next week. 

Hearty vegetable soup with tomatoes and chicken - gloriouslygoodfood.com

The recipe is one of those ‘chuck things in’ kind of recipes, so the vegetable quantities are approximate.  Play around with it and find what suits your palate in terms of actual vegetables used and ratio of one to another 🙂

Ingredients (for two hearty / filling portions containing virtually no fat and half the amount of protein I was advised to have in one day during my pre-op diet)

  • 1 chicken thigh (boneless, skinless, all visible fat removed), approx. 100g raw weight
  • 1l chicken stock (I make this with 2 Knorr chicken stock pots and 1l water, but you can make your own low-fat stock or buy other stock cubes / pots)
  • 2-3 baby carrots or one standard carrot, scraped, topped and tailed (cut into smaller chunks if using a standard size carrot)
  • 2-3 broccoli florets
  • Approximately 200g tinned chopped tomatoes
  • 2 very small potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
  • 1 small courgette, cut into chunky slices

Method

Place all the ingredients into a saucepan and bring to the boil, then simmer for approximately 30 minutes or until all ingredients are cooked and the harder vegetables are tender enough to break easily with a spoon. 

Once the soup is cooked, remove the chicken thigh and set it aside, then place the remaining ingredients (all stock and all vegetables) into a food processor.  Blend until smooth or, if you prefer, leave a few chunkier pieces in. 

Chop the chicken into pea-size pieces.  As this makes two portions,
place half the chicken pieces into a food storage container or bag and add half the soup.

If you don’t want that much soup in one go, you can of course split this into more portions.  If you are following a pre-op diet like mine, make sure you have enough protein in your other meal of the day if you have less than half the chicken thigh in one meal.

Serve the remaining half of soup, with the remaining half of chopped chicken pieces, immediately. 

Gloriously simple, gloriously good!

Disclaimer: I am not a dietitian or medical professional.  These are simply ideas based on meals I have created to suit my own dietary needs and, as I’ve enjoyed them, I wanted to share them. If you are unsure about the suitability of any ingredients or recipes on my blog for your own requirements, please check with a health professional first. 

Rice-stuffed tomatoes with potatoes | Pomodori ripieni al riso con patate

Posted on by gloriouslygoodfood
rice-stuffed tomatoes with potatoes

This recipe for rice-stuffed tomatoes was originally my Nonna Wanda’s recipe, with the addition of potatoes made by my Zia Emilia to make it more authentically Roman.

Here is a photo of the recipe as cooked by my Zia Emilia in Rome on my last visit, in May 2017:

rice-stuffed tomatoes with potatoes made by zia Emilia | pomodori ripieni di riso con le patate, fatti da zia Emilia

And here is my latest rendition of this delicious dish:

rice-stuffed tomatoes with potatoes

The quantities and timings etc in this recipe are, as many of the recipes passed down from generation to generation in our family, vague and open to interpretation / personal touch, but I’ve tried to be a bit more precise so you can follow it, too 🙂

Ingredients (for 3-6 people, depending on whether it is a starter, main course, or side dish): 

  • 6 large beef tomatoes
  • Arborio rice (approximately 2 small fistfuls per tomato)
  • Fresh flat-leaf parsley (a good handful)
  • Fresh basil (a good handful)
  • Half a medium onion
  • Freshly-grated parmesan cheese (a couple of handfuls)
  • Potatoes (5-6 medium sized ones) – watch this video for the best way to cut potatoes the Italian way
  • Olive oil
  • Sea salt

Method

Here is the hand-written recipe written down by my Zia Emilia as dictated by her mum, my Nonna Wanda, when Zia Emilia was preparing to get married and leave home.  You can see the addition of the potatoes on page 2:

rice-stuffed tomatoes with potatoes - hand-written recipe pg1

rice-stuffed tomatoes with potatoes - hand-written recipe pg2

Start by cutting the potatoes.  Ideally, do these the Italian way (watch video) – this allows them to cook slightly unevenly, giving you lovely crispy edges and soft centres.

Tip: Cutting potatoes this way and roasting them with rosemary and olive oil is a delicious Italian way to do roast potatoes!

Place these into an oven dish and set aside for now.

Then cut the tops off the tomatoes (think little ‘hats’).  Slice two thin strips off the ‘discarded’ tomato tops and set aside (you’ll use these later for decoration, to top your stuffed tomatoes), and chop up the remaining ‘discarded’ tops into small pieces.  Add these small pieces to the potatoes.  Season the potatoes and tomato pieces with a generous sprinkling of sea salt, add a generous glug of olive oil, toss, and place in a pre-heated oven (fan-assisted 180­°C) for 25 minutes.

While the potatoes are cooking, prepare the rice: 

Place the rice in cold water, add a generous sprinkling of sea salt, and bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes or so (check this as not all rice cooks at the same rate – you want to make sure the rice is still a little bit uncooked at the end of this stage).

While the rice is cooking, finely chop the half onion and soften it in a pan with a generous amount of olive oil, over a low heat (let the onion soften slowly, making sure it does not go brown). Finely chop the parsley and basil, and add these to the onion just as the rice is nearly ready at the not quite cooked stage. Make sure you don’t fry the herbs for too long.

Drain the rice, leaving it quite wet, and saving the cooking water.  Add the rice to the pan with the olive oil, onion and herbs and stir, letting the rice continue to cook like a risotto.  You may need to add some of the cooking water to allow it to remain moist and cook until it is cooked, but still ‘al dente’. Make sure you don’t over-stir as this breaks up the rice grains.

Take it off the heat once it’s cooked and stir in about 2/3rds of the parmesan cheese.  Set aside.

Return to the tomatoes you previously removed the tops from. Carefully hollow these out with a spoon (the insides with the seeds are my favourite part of the tomato – I always used to eagerly await this stage when my Nonna made stuffed tomatoes, and still do when my Zia does them, so I could eat them, seasoned with a bit of salt).

Lightly season the insides of the hollow tomatoes with a sprinkling of sea salt.

Once the potatoes have had about 25 minutes in the oven, take the oven dish out and give them a bit of a stir. Turn the oven down to 150°C (fan).

Take each hollow tomato and fill it as high as you can with the cooked rice mixture. Make a space amongst the potatoes and place the tomato in that space.  Repeat with each tomato, then sprinkle some parmesan onto each stuffed tomato and, finally, top each one with two strips of the tomato ‘lids’ you cut out earlier.

Place the dish back into the oven and bake until the tomatoes are very soft and the rice has a crispy parmesan topping.  The potatoes should be cooked and golden, not overly brown.  This takes approximately 40-45 minutes.

Serve on their own, as a side-dish, or as a starter.  These are also delicious once they’ve cooled down a little to luke-warm.

Enjoy!

Gloriously simple, gloriously good!

 

 

 

 

Quick and Easy Vegetable Soup with Peas and Barley | Low-Fat Vegetable Soup | Reflux Recipe

Posted on by gloriouslygoodfood
Vegetable Soup | Low-Fat Vegetable Soup | Reflux Recipe | Vegetable Soup with Peas and Barley

A Vegetable Soup packed with Nutrients!

This is an easy no-fuss vegetable soup recipe that I love to make in bulk so I can eat it for a few days for lunch when I’m working from home.  It’s very filling and nutritious and very low in fat, which also makes it excellent for reflux sufferers*.

The quantities are not precise in this soup – it’s one of those ‘chuck everything in’ type of soups, so here are some guidelines to get you started.

Vegetable Soup | Low-Fat Vegetable Soup | Reflux Recipe | Vegetable Soup with Peas and Barley

Ingredients

  • Pea and Barley Soup Mix (I use Sainsbury’s version, but there are others, for example Tesco Soup and Broth Mix) – 3-4 handfuls, depending on how much soup I’m making and how much bulk I want in it.  These usually need soaking overnight – follow pack instructions.  You can also use lentils instead, for a different taste & texture, or leave these out altogether.  The vegetable soup is delicious on its own.
  • A selection (or all) of the following vegetables:
    • Savoy Cabbage, trimmed and quartered – I usually use a couple of quarters
    • Curly Kale – lots!
    • Fresh spinach leaves – lots! (whatever vegetables you choose to add or omit, I find that the spinach makes this soup extra special so I always include this)
    • 2-3 carrots, trimmed, peeled/scraped and cut into big 2-3 cm long chunks
    • 1 parsnip, trimmed, peeled and cut into big 2-3 cm long chunks
    • Swede / Turnip, about half of one, depending on how large it is and how much you like the taste, peeled and cut into 2-3 big chunks
    • 1 potato, peeled and cut into 4 big chunks
    • Chicken stock cubes or stock pots – I use Knorr Chicken Stock Pots, but you could use vegetable stock instead and any good brand of stock pot or stock cube will work (quantities according to pack instructions, but typically 1 for each 500ml of water used)
    • Water

Method

Soak the Pea and Barley Soup Mix overnight as indicated on the pack instructions.

When you’re ready to make your soup, drain the pea and barley mix and place in a small saucepan, cover with enough cold water to have as much depth of water over the peas and barley again as there is depth in the peas & barley mix (i.e. if you have a 2cm depth of pea & barley mix in the pan, make sure you have about 2cm of water above the pea & barley mix).  Add enough stock cubes / stock pots to make a normal consistency stock, based on the amount of water you have used.  For Knorr Chicken Stock Pots, this is 1 Stock Pot per 0.5l of water.  Place on the hob and bring to the boil, then turn down and simmer for the cooking time recommended on the pack (usually around 50 minutes).  The stock will reduce during this time and become quite thick.  Do not let the mix boil dry – add more stock if required, but make sure there is only a little stock and it is quite thick by the end of cooking.

While the pea & barley mix is cooking in chicken stock, prepare your vegetables as described in the ingredients listing above.  Place them all – but NOT the spinach! – into a large stockpot, add enough water to just cover the vegetables and enough stock cubes / stock pots to make a normal consistency stock, based on the amount of water you have used. Bring to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer until the hardest vegetables (usually the carrots) are soft.  This can take approximately 30 minutes, but sometimes longer, depending on the size of the chunks.

Once the vegetable soup is cooked, turn off the heat and add the spinach leaves, pushing them down with a large spoon and stirring them into the soup.  They will wilt within seconds.  Let the soup cool for a few minutes, then blitz it to a fine consistency, either in a food blender or by using a hand-held blender in the stockpot itself (this is the easiest option, and the one I use!).  Take care to avoid splashing with the hot soup!

Once your pea & barley mix is cooked and the chicken stock it sits in is nice and thick, add the pea and barley mix, with its thick stock, to the lovely bright green vegetable soup.  Stir it in and serve.

Gloriously Good, Gloriously Simple, Gloriously reflux-friendly!

*Please note I am not a doctor, speech therapist or in any way medically qualified.  The recipes are a combination of my interpretation of the rules outlined in the ‘Dropping Acid – The Reflux Diet’ book and ingredients that work for my reflux.  If you believe you suffer from reflux, please seek advice from a medical professional to confirm your diagnosis and work out the best course of treatment/management for you.  I hope that my recipes can help you as part of this management.  The recipes are, by their nature, very low in fat, so are also suitable for anyone wishing to follow a low-fat diet.