Refrigerator Soup

Thursday Rob went to Wendover and I ordered a pizza. I just didn't have any energy, so a great veggie pizza from the Blind Onion was in order. Montse and I shared, she got the crust and we had a great evening.

On Friday we had Shabbat supper with the Jewish Community. It was a very small supper this time. Only three families. Pam brought salmon with sun dried tomatoes and basil on a bed of citrus. Barb and Herb brought salad and apricot pie for dessert. I made challah (duh!, I always make challah.) and a rice dish that I got from the November 2009 issue of The Food Network Magazine. This rice dish is so easy and so great. I doubled the recipe because I was feeding eight and not our.

You need two cups of cooked rice.
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup cheddar cheese
1 cup chopped scallions
1 4 oz can of diced green chilies
Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper
and cayenne pepper or smoky paprika.

Spray with nonstick cooking spray or olive oil the bottom of a small casserole dish. Take about 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese and sprinkle it in the pan, then in a bowl mix together the rice, sour cream (I used plain yogurt), the cheddar cheese and the scallions, along with the cayenne pepper or smoky paprika. I used the smoky paprika. Add salt and pepper to taste. Put it on top of the Parmesan cheese and then cover the dish with Parmesan cheese to make a great crust. I then spray the nonstick cooking spray onto the Parmesan and it helps it crisp. Bake in a 450 oven for about 20 minutes.

There was not a scoop left. Not one. I was upset. I wanted to take some home.

On Saturday, Rob and I lazed around because it's Shabbat and the wind was blowing about 200 miles an hour. It was the perfect day for soup. So hence the title refrigerator soup. I used what I had.

One and a half boxes of chicken broth, 2 cups of homemade stock, and 1 chicken bouillon cube.

One onion, 1 heaping tsp of garlic, two carrots, 8 ounces of mushrooms, the center of a celery bunch (four or five stalks with as many leaves as you can chop up into the soup), one potato, salt and pepper and Mexican noodles. You've seen them, they look like broken spaghetti noodles in a bag. Oh, and olive oil.

Now, put some olive oil in your soup pot and get it hot, add the onion, which has been chopped and the garlic. Saute until it is translucent. Add the chopped celery. Chop it fine, so it cooks quickly. Then add the carrots, I grate them, it makes them cook faster. I do the same with the potato, and then I add the mushrooms which have been sliced, a little salt, because I have added the bouillon cube, and a good grind of pepper. I bring this all to a boil, and then add two big handfuls of noodles. I cook the soup until the noodles are cooked and all the vegetables are soft.

I served it with multi-grain bread.

Today, we had leftover beans and rice for lunch. Not sure what we will have for dinner, it's getting pretty late, and I'm not sure how much I want to cook. Let you know tomorrow.