It’s that time of the year where the Earth shifts; the northern hemisphere becomes slightly warmer where as southern starts to cool down. Luckily living near the equator in Kenya doesn’t necessarily get extremely cold like Montreal, Canada. However with the drastic change of heat one day and rain the next I managed to get a cold.
Now lets all agree having the sniffles is not a nice feeling. I can’t do what I used to do as a kid and sleep all day and ask dearest mummy to take care of me, doing that in your 20’s is just pathetic and lazy. So I’m on the road to recovery, and what does that entail? The right medication, lots of rest and eating copious amounts of soup!
I can eat soup once in a while and especially when I am sick, drinking hot liquid really does soothe the sore throat and if you add some dried chilli it definitely helps open up the sinuses. The soup I am creating today I found when Mum and I were on a detox diet. It’s from this old dietary book of hers called Fit for Life, in this book it gives a range of recipes and schedules of what to eat and when to eat it. In my honest opinion if you want to loose some weight or detox this is your GO TO BOOK. It’s not like the typical diets where it refers you not to eat certain foods, or eat one specific food (like the cabbage soup diet) but helps you understand how to balance when and how to eat. So the soup that I am creating from the book is Corn Chowder. There is not much difference between a soup and a chowder, a chowder is just soup that is not blended and is much thicker. This corn chowder has a subtle taste, and I believe that has to do with use of the vegetables. If you want to add some more flavour, I recommend sprinkling a bit of dried chilli flakes to the soup.
For my music today I was a bit lost as to what I should listen to, luckily one of my good friends Qali recommended her playlist. Every Saturday she makes a new playlist and publishes on her blog beingqaali.com. I really like her taste in music, its a mixture of soul, rnb, indie, rap you name it. You can check out her playlist HERE.
Ingredients:
6 cups of water
6 medium all-purpose, potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 stalk celery, chopped
2 vegetable bouillon or 1 vegetable bouillon and 1 tablespoon light miso
1/8 teaspoon dried sage
½ teaspoon dried thyme
½ teaspoon dried oregano
½ teaspoon sea salt
½ teaspoon ground pepper
3-4 cups fresh or frozen corn
1 tablespoon butter
¼ cup green or red pepper, minced
½ cup scallions, minced
¼ heavy cream (optional)
1 tablespoon fresh dill, minced (optional)
Method from Fit For Life book:
Bring water to a boil. Add potatoes, onion, garlic and celery. Return water to a boil and add bouillon and seasonings. Cover and simmer over medium heat for 15-20 minutes or until potatoes are tender but not mushy.
Cool slightly. Remove 2 cups of potatoes from stock and set aside. Blend remaining chowder in small increments. Reheat over low heat.
Add corn and reserved potatoes. Simmer, stirring to insure that chowder does not stick, for 5 minutes. Melt butter in a small skillet. Add green pepper and scallions. Sauté until vegetables turn bright green, approximately 3 minutes. Stir into simmering chowder. Add cream and dill if desired. Adjust seasonings.
NOTE:
- I didn’t mince the peppers like the recipe said because I wanted to add more body to the chowder and give it a bit more colour. Just chopped into smaller pieces.
- With the soup I didn’t add the cream, as I didn’t have any but it would have been a great touch to the soup.
- Book: Fit for Life [1985] by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond
What is your comfort food when you're sick? Do you have any great recipes for soups or chowders? Let me know in the comment box below!
