Asian Miracle Soup

Ok, so I got the original recipe from All Recipes, but what ended up happening is me just using the base of the soup to get the flavor right and pretty much changing everything else.

Budget Tip

Leave out the shrimp and add more veggies.  Use olive oil instead of sesame oil.  Use frozen BOGO veggies and add them at the end before the shrimp and spinach.  This makes ALOT, so you can make it ahead of time, freeze half and use the rest for lunches through the week.

Suggested Ingredients

1 tsp sesame oil
64fl oz of chicken stock
1/4 cup of fresh minced ginger (honestly, I think it's too much because I'm not over-the-top for ginger, so be sure to adjust to your ginger likeness)
1/4 cup of fresh minced garlic
couple of stalks of celery
a couple of baby videlia onions
(if you don't have these, use regular sweet onion or scallions)









1 bokchoy, stems and leaves, chopped
1 pkg of your favorite fresh mushrooms (I used a variety pack of gourmet ones)
1 can of bamboo shoots
1/2 cup of soy sauce (Ok, I like to control my salt, so I only did 1/4)
1/4 rice wine vinegar
1/2 cup of cornstarch
1lb of uncooked shrimp
1/4 cup of fresh cilantro
a bag of baby spinach
1 or more tsp of crushed red pepper

Cooking Instructions

Heat up a large pasta or soup pot with the oil.  Saute celery and onion for a few minutes until they start to get just a bit soft.  Add ginger and garlic and let cook for another 3 minutes or so. 

Stir one cup of your chicken stock with the cornstarch until well blended.  Pour in the cornstarch mixture, and the rest of the stock into the pot - stir it good to blend up all of the cornstarch.  Add mushrooms, bamboo, soy and crushed red pepper to the pot.  Bring to a boil and then let simmer 20 or 30 minutes to meld the flavors.

When you are ready for serving, add in the cilantro and spinach.  Once it's mixed in go ahead and plop in the shrimp.  Turn off the pot immediately.  The soup is hot enough to cook the shrimp, I promise!

Serve this hot with some Srirasha chili sauce.  It's AWESOME!

Low Carb Minestrone Soup

Budget Tip

If you purchase Qunioa in bulk at Costco, you can get it for about 10 bucks and I swear it'll last you at least a year!  Even if you can't get it in bulk for a cheaper price, Quinoa bulks up alot when you cook it so one cup uncooked will easily last you a week if not more.

Suggested Ingredients

1 stalk celery (sliced)
1 good size zucchini (sliced)
1 carrot or slice up some baby carrots, which I generally have around for snacking anyway
1 15oz can no-salt added cannelloni beans (white beans)
1 14oz can no-salt added crushed tomatoes
2 14oz cans no-salt added diced tomatoes
1 large onion
4 minced cloves of fresh garlic
4 cups of lower sodium chicken stock (or make your own - see recipe on my blog!)
Herbs: oregano, parsley, thyme (really anything in the Italian herb family that you like), salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup quinoa

Suggested Cooking Method

Saute celery and onion in a bit of olive oil in a good size soup pot until the onion is soft.  Add garlic and saute a bit more.  Rinse and drain the beans.  Add everything else except quinoa and let it cook for about 20 minutes or until the beans are almost as soft as you like them.  This will cook for another 20 minutes, so keep that in mind.  Season it to taste.  Since we used alot of no-salt added, you will probably want to salt it some.  The reason I generally get no salt added is so that I can control how much salt goes into my food - otherwise I end up with it being too salty and yucky after a few days.  Add quinoa and let it cook for another 20 minutes or until you see the little white quinoa spirals pop out.  Depending on consistency you might want to add some more liquid.

So, I actually doubled this recipe and it made a boat-load.  I filled a gallon ziplock bag with it and put it in the freezer and STILL had enough to give 4 cups away plus had enough for myself for 4 days of lunch and 3 dinners.  I probably had about a cup and a half every time.  It's very filling!  If you want vegetarian soup, just substitute vegetable stock for the chicken stock.  YUM.

Personally, I'm thinking of adding miniature turkey meatballs to it next time.