Grae and I have had this soup for 3 out of our last 4 meals {not even joking}. We whipped it up for lunch yesterday, ate it for dinner last night, and then had it again today for lunch. The crazy part is that neither of us enjoys fresh tomatoes. But this soup is different – soooo yummy! And with our new bout of cold weather (13 degrees Celcisus – BRRRR!), it’s the perfect warm-your-insides meal. Plus, it packs a good protein punch which is great when you’re like us and don’t eat a lot of meat.
The last few days have been hectic. With only 5 days to pack up our entire house and prepare for our first of two upcoming moves, Brad and I have been working at full steam sorting through things, preparing boxes of items we’ll need for August, boxes that will go straight to Kuwait, and boxes that will go into storage until we return home to Canada in a few years. Sort of sadly, that leaves our little lady to play independently almost all day long most days. As a result, I’ve been pulling together all kinds of random, super simple activities with whichever everyday materials are nearby at the moment. Luckily for me, this morning as I popped on the internet for a brief moment, there was a discussion on different ways to use fresh mint going on in one of the awesome blogger networks I belong to (if you’re not already one of the 68 000 people that follow our Pinterest board, you certainly should be!) We have loads of mint growing in our backyard, so I took a bunch of the suggestions, mashed them together and created this fresh mint soup station for Miss G to explore.
To start out, I set out a big bunch of fresh mint, a pair of Gracen’s scissors, and few plastic bowls and spoons. Grae began smelling and cutting and ripping the mint and the amazing scent of fresh mint filled our house. She dished out bowls of ‘salad’ and delivered them to us as we worked.
Before long, I sensed that something would have to be added to the mix in order to keep Grae engaged in her play, so I grabbed a small container of green glitter and a jug filled with water and a couple drops of green food colouring and quietly added them to the bin. (Slowly adding elements to sensory bins as play progresses is one of my favourite tips for keeping munchkins engaged in their play.)
In no time at all, bowls of sparkly green soup were rolling out of Gracen’s fresh mint kitchen.
Looks delicious, right?
This was such a simple set-up, but Grae enjoyed it so much that I just tidied it up to make it look inviting again, and I’m leaving it out overnight for Miss G to enjoy again tomorrow. We’ll see how the mint lasts!
♥
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Mulligatawny has been one of my very favourite soups since my days working at Earls long, long ago. While I haven’t seen in on their menu recently, I have found a homemade version that I think is every bit as good. This recipe is actually based off of Pioneer Woman‘s Quick & Easy Mulligatawny. Now if you know Pioneer Woman, you know that it’s really in your best interest not to muck about with her recipes. Not even a little bit. Just follow them, exactly as is, and soak up the perfection. Seriously. The woman is an absolute master in the kitchen and I promise that you will never be disappointed when you follow her lead. The one thing that may be disappointed, however, is your waistline. She goes for the gusto in the kitchen, not making any sacrifices, and it’s rich. Butter, cream, white sugar… You name it, it’s there. Which is absolutely fine and dandy once and a while, but when you want to enjoy your favourite soup on the daily, not so much. So, despite my better judgement, I created a healthified version of Pioneer Woman’s mulligatawny (shhhh….I promise to never do it again) and we enjoy it regularly.
Here’s how we made it today…
To start off, I got my little sous chef working on chopping some garlic.
And while she did that, I quickly chopped up a chicken breast, heated up a pan with some coconut oil, cooked the chicken until it was beginning to brown, then set it aside.
Then I got busy working on chopping an onion and finishing off Miss G’s garlic.
In the meantime, she did a job she’s getting quite good at – peeling carrots.
With Miss G busy with her job, I tossed the onions and garlic into the same pan I used for the chicken, turned the heat on medium low, and let them cook down for a good while. When they were tender, I added some wholewheat flour and curry powder into the mix, and stirred pretty much constantly as I let it cook for about a minute.
Next, I covered the onions with chicken stock and cranked up the temperature. Miss G and I quickly got our veggies cut up (we always use carrots and celery, but often throw others into the mix also) and added them into the mix.
Afterwards, when the veggies were just about tender, we added some cream, our milk, a teeny bit of pure maple syrup, a little more salt and pepper, plus our favourite rice blend and brought everything back up to temperature again.
When it was dinner time, my nearly naked chef wearing bloomers that covered her bellybutton (’cause duh – that’s the thing to do right now) topped each of our bowls with fresh herbs and apple cubes (we normally use cilantro and granny smiths, but didn’t have either in the house tonight, so opted for parsley and galas).
And voila – dinner was served!
Hearty {Healthier} Mulligatawny
Adapted from this recipe
Heat coconut oil over medium-high heat. Add in diced chicken, cook until golden, and set aside.
Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook the onions and garlic in the same pot/pan until tender. Sprinkle flour and curry powder over the garlic and onions, and cook for a minute, stirring almost constantly.
Pour in the chicken stock, turn the heat up to high, and add the carrots and celery. Cook until the veggies are almost tender, stirring occasionally.
Add in the cream, milk, rice, maple syrup, salt, and pepper, and cook for about 5 minutes.
Add the chicken back in and cook for another 5 minutes.
Allow soup to stand for 5 or 10 minutes and taste. Adjust seasonings if needed.
Dish into bowls and top with apple cubes and fresh cilantro.
Enjoy!
♥
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