Oven-Baked Vegetable Soup with Poached Egg

Warm, comforting, simple winter fare.   How does that happen without creating a heavy meal?  Like this:

Spirea at SW corner of house

•  A big pot of vegan vegetable soup (see below for recipe--it's WW 0 Points) stored in the garage frig.  A small bowl stored indoors in the kitchen frig.  3 degrees Fahrenheit with winds creating below zero wind chill.  Hm...probably skipping the trip to the garage.   Next:

• Oven heating to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Alyce tripping to the basement store room to fetch onion soup ramekins. Quick, thorough wash and warm up of the bowls (with hot water) while soup heats on stove.
• Pouring about a cup of hot soup into the bowl.  Making a hole in the middle and pouring in an egg  cracked into a measuring cup.  Sprinkling with salt, pepper, and a little grated Parmesan since I had it.   (continued...)

• Placing bowl on rimmed sheet and baking about 18- 20 minutes for runny eggs and about 23 for soft-set.  25-30 for hard set--a guess, as I only let mine go to 23!
• Happily dining.

Enjoy!

30-Minute Vegan and Gluten-Free Vegetable Soup a la Provence

Have fun cooking and taking care of yourself as you stay warm,
Alyce

One-Pan Seared Salmon with Red Peppers, Onions, and Spinach

All in one pan in, oh, maybe 15 minutes, including chopping time.

Maybe I'm an unusual cook in that when I am home alone and cooking for myself, I cook the most gorgeous healthy meal I can find in that refrigerator.  I often make a big pot of soup just for me. Perhaps many people are like this; I really don't know.  I save the Beef Burgundy (not that Beef Burgundy is UN-healthy) for when the hub comes in from work on Friday night.  I wait for the burger in summer when he's grilling out back. (If we're out at the local bar--in Minnesota this is mostly about families, games, and beer-- I am the weird one out--ordering the veggie burger and wine.)  Last weekend, I made ribs for Dave.  I was sick of winter food, so I did eat some, too.  I even made potato salad, though I made it with vinaigrette, not mayonnaise.  Loved doing it, but I don't make ribs for me.  And it's not because they're time-consuming.

Scones for Breakfast; Scones for Lunch

  

I'm a biscuit maker from way back, but as a Scot, scones and I have always loved one another.  A tiny bit sweet and lovely with butter, jam, cheese, ham or honey, they're biscuit like in taste and texture, but are also just enough different that you'll become pretty obsessive about them once they're made once or twice. 

Clean Out the Frig One-Crust Chicken Pot Pie

I stretched an 8" pie crust into one for a 9" pie--it works, but it shows, too.

We had friends to dinner Friday night for Zucchini Soup with Pistachios (testing soup for the book), Lemon Roast Chicken (a six-pound roaster), Rosemary Potatoes, Garlic Green Beans, and Cherry Pie.  Pretty American, huh?  And lest you think that was too much, we had potato chips and sparkling wine for starters.  Just because I had a sparkler left from the holidays and I'm not embarrassed to say one of my favorite things is champagne and potato chips.   Well... The pie crust was a vegan one to avoid use of dairy (allergies) and I didn't even realize I'd have enough left for an 8 or 9" pie or a pot pie top crust.  (I created my own vegan pie crust--not terribly difficult!  Afterward, I decided to google vegan pie crusts--only to find some people use vodka for the liquid in them.  Who knew?  I might start making vegan pie crusts more often.)

Cooling the pie in the dining room where I won't knock it down like I did last time.

So-

One-Pan Lemon Chicken with Mushrooms and Shallots

 You may like boneless chicken breasts more than I do.  I'm much more fond of bone-in chicken breasts for many reasons.  And I'm even fonder of whole chickens, period!  But there are moments when a boneless chicken breast or two is just simpler, faster, or more useful.  Not often, but occasionally.  And if I'm in need of fast, this is what I do...

I can't call this  a recipe...but if you must:

Microwaved Potatoes and Onions with Asparagus

Happy New Year!

I haven't yet recovered from Christmas, much less New Year's.  I don't know about you, but while it's mostly beautiful and full of family, friends and  good food (and church, if you're me), it is also occasionally a tad much.  Holiday meals, travel with goodie bags in the back seat, food gifts, meals out...it goes on a bit.  I have one friend who woke up December 26, said Christmas is over, and drove in to the office.  Time to move on.  I was not there, as I totally buy into the 12 days of Christmas...but I get it.  And today is the ninth day of Christmas.  9 Ladies Dancing!