Mexican Soup Week

Last week we had several main dish salads.  This week we're doing soup.  I find salads or soups as a main course are wonderful for weight control.  We always have a salad with the soup and soups can be both nourishing and filling.  I've noticed that soups that call for 4- 5 cups of chicken broth can be less than frugal if you have to buy the expensive broth.  Make your own from scraps if you really want to save.  


Here are two yummy recipes for Mexican soups.  We enjoyed them both. Yucatan Style Chicken, Lime and Orzo Soup  
This soup is not sour in spite of the lime juice.  Leave in pith and seeds of the pepper according to how hot you like it.   We garnished with sour cream and used tortilla chips instead of bread.     It's very colorful with the tomato, cilantro and pappers.  


Here's another:  Black Bean Soup with Chorizo and Chicken     The chorizo flavors the whole soup, with mild hints of thyme and bay leaf.  We used our neighbor's thyme ("Pick some any time!" )    I garnished this soup with cilantro, too, for color and flavor.  No use having a whole bunch go to waste.  We put avocado in the salad.  It wasn't quite ripe when we brought it home, but a short stint in a plastic bag with an apple was all it took.  You do know this trick, don't you.  Apples emit a ripening agent that will help other fruits to ripen.

Work in the garden and a walk in the coolish June day.  Rewarded myself with watching soccer, golf and baseball.  And the soup!  

Yours in frugality, 


The Cheeseparer 

Soup From a Nail

I always loved the children's story about soup made from a nail.  We aren't quite THAT frugal, but we do buy the Select Harvest soups, either at Ocean State Job Lot or at Walmart.  They taste good, have minimal processing and are lower in sodium than many canned soups.  We have 
discovered that one can makes lunch for two. 


This week we had the Mexican chicken soup.  I added fresh spinach and cherry tomatoes and we ate it garnished with avocado and Mexican cheese, all ingredients from the pantry.  It was so good.  One day I made a chiffonade from a leftover corn tortilla and added that.  I had so many extra ingredients that I added a little chicken broth.  So tasty.  

Fresh Atlantic Salmon was on sale at one of the local markets, and I splurged and bought a pound.  We'll cook it on the grill, Thai style with green beans and corn, both fresh and on sale.  There's a peach pie (from scratch, even the crust) in the oven.  It looked to die for. 


No matter how cheeseparing you are, do take advantage of summer's produce.  Our green beans and cherry tomatoes are providing tasty bites from the garden, along with all the fresh herbs.  I made some quick Fajitas using a small frozen petite sirloin, a few frozen shrimp, a past prime green pepper and some onion.  I made a nice marinade with fresh garlic (from the garden) and heated up some corn tortillas from my economy package of fifty.  We used "found" ingredients, i.e. no trip to the store required.  I like to do this.  The larder is bare, but not quite, and what can you cook that's nourishing and tasty?  

You'd be surprised.  Go ye forth and scrounge from the pantry.  Remember:  potatoes fried with bacon, onion, tomatoes and eggs make a delicious dinner.  Scatter some fresh chives or a bit of grated cheese over the top.  Scallions?  Yup. 


I am so excited about my garlic harvest, that I'm planning to make Chicken with Forty Cloves of Garlic.  Yum!  What are you harvesting this summer? 


The Cheeseparer