Chicken, Kale, & Quinoa Soup

So last week I got a notice from my local blood bank that they were in dire need of O- blood, which happens to be my type.  So I went in to donate—but got turned away because my iron levels were too low.  I was SO bummed, even though they told my I can come back in two weeks to try again.  But I don’t want to get turned away again, so I’ve been ramping up my iron-rich foods.

This soup was one of the inventions I threw together to try to help.  Like, literally, “what do I have in my fridge to throw in a pot?”  And I was SO happy with the way it turned out.

Quinoa is a very iron-rich foods; one cup of quinoa contains about 37% of your recommended allotment.  Kale is also a good source, with about 1mg per serving,but it’s also got a TON of Vitamin C, which helps your body to absorb iron.   And chicken doesn’t hurt—there’s about 2mg of iron in a 3.5 oz serving. 

Even though it was just a mish-mash of things thrown together, I will definitely be making this again….it was delicious and filling, and only 265 calories for a big (2.5 cup) serving!

My husband noted that it “smelled & looked healthy”, but “tastes much better than it smells”.  The seasonings and the bacon really add a ton of flavor to the veggies.

INGREDIENTS:

6 cups water

4 bouillon cubes

1 chicken breasts, boneless / skinless

1/2 tsp chicken seasoning (equal parts onion powder, garlic salt, & paprika)

Olive oil mister

1/2 onion, diced

1 zucchini, cubed

2 cups kale, chopped

3/4 cup quinoa

1 tbsp bacon crumbles

1 tsp minced garlic

1 tsp Cajun seasoning

1 tsp dried basil

salt & pepper to taste

 

Directions:

Lightly spritz a pan with olive oil & heat over medium.  Add onions, season with S&P, and sauté until translucent.

Meanwhile, add the water & bouillon to a large pot & heat on High. Add the kale, zucchini, quinoa, bacon, garlic, & seasonings….bring to a rapid boil then cover & cook for 15-20 minutes.  Add the onions when they’re done.

In the same pan, sauté the chicken breasts & season on both sides with the chicken seasoning.  Once fully cooked, cube the chicken & add it to the pot as well.  Taste as you go, and add more seasoning to your particular preference.

The soup is done when the quinoa is fully cooked.  Makes 4-6 servings.

 

(PS—The Scoop is finally closed for the winter, so I hope to be posting a lot more over the next few months!  I lovelovelove holiday cooking!!!)

 

NUTRIFACTS:

Calories 265.7

  Total Fat 5.7 g

  Saturated Fat 1.0 g

  Polyunsaturated Fat 0.7 g

  Monounsaturated Fat 1.5 g

  Cholesterol 59.5 mg

  Sodium 1,306.8 mg

  Potassium 497.3 mg

  Total Carbohydrate 26.3 g

  Dietary Fiber 4.1 g

  Sugars 4.5 g

  Protein 27.2 g

  Vitamin A 158.1 %

  Vitamin B-12 6.0 %

  Vitamin B-6 33.5 %

  Vitamin C 44.4 %

  Iron 20.2 %

Tiny Drops of Fame: Pumpkin Pancakes!

So, if you’ve been reading this blog a while now, you might remember back in January when I posted my recipe for pumpkin pancakes.
Well, our local magazine, 417 Mag,  has started hosting a monthly “Reader Recipe” contest, and the October theme was pumpkin!  So I of course submitted this recipe, because I LURVE it SOOOO much.  And…lo & behold, I WON!  Totes crazy.
They called me up at work to let me know, and then said, “Okay, I’m going to transfer you to our art department so we can set up a photo shoot.”
*GuLp*  Photo Shoot?  Um… okay.  You should know…I’m not 100% comfortable in front of a camera.  I very much prefer to be the one BEHIND the camera. 
But, still slightly stunned and very humbled, I set up a day so that the photographer from the magazine could come out to our house & take photos.
OUR HOUSE.  Holy crap.  We don’t have a fancy house.  So as much as I would LIKE to do some fancy kitchen photo shoot like Julia Child:


…our kitchen kinda looks like this (but with appliances):

(Took this before we moved into our new house.)

But we make do.  The photo shoot was scheduled for a Monday.  So….we spent the entire weekend before that scouring the kitchen, steam mopping the floors, clearing counter tops and clutter…and cleaning the rest of the house too, because OMG Strangers/Photographers In. My. House.  Gotta look nice for these people! What if they want to sit on the couch!  What if they want to shoot photos on the porch?  What if they need to USE OUR HALL BATHROOM???  We even cleaned & conditioned the leather furniture in our living room.  We were THOROUGH.  (In all honesty though, it really needed it.  We’re more of a “vacuum & dust once a month” type of family.)
Monday morning rolled around, and I baked up a HUUUGE stack of pancakes, so that at least a few of them would be perfect.  When Jamie, the photographer, showed up, she was all about shooting the tall stack, rather than just picking out a few.  We busted out some pecans and spices and a bottle of maple syrup, and they made food-photo-magic happen.

Jamie loved the natural light from our dining window as much as I do…that’s my favorite spot for food photos.

The end result?

Utterly gorgeous.  And SOOOOO much better than the pics I snagged when I first posted that recipe!  They did a great job and I am just overwhelmed and super happy about the whole shebang.
This post is littered with links to their article, but if you haven’t accidentally stumbled upon one of those yet, CLICK HERE.
And for those who are too lazy to click?  Here’s the recipe. :D

Makes 6-8 pancakes (3-4 servings)
Ingredients
3/4 cup flour
1/8 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (nuts are optional)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
a pinch of  salt
1/2 cup fat free milk
1/8 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 can pumpkin puree
Directions
1. Combine first five ingredients in a large bowl (or your mixer), reserving half of the chopped nuts for garnish.
2. Add milk, brown sugar, oil, vanilla and egg, and beat until well mixed. Stir in pumpkin until well combined.
3. Spray a non-stick pan lightly with butter-flavored cooking spray, and heat over medium heat. Scoop about 1/4 cup of the batter into the pan per pancake.
4. Turn pancakes when the tops are covered with bubbles and the edges look cooked.
5. To finish, sprinkle with the remaining nuts, and drizzle with maple syrup.

Bonus (Non-Cajun) Recipe: Gingerbread Pumpkin “Brownies”

I was having a sweet tooth the other night, and sort of created these by “accident”.

I roasted fresh pumpkin earlier this week, so was needing to use some of that for baking.  I found a recipe for “chocolate-pumpkin marbled brownies”, which sounded delicious (because I am a fan of all things “fall spice”, and all things chocolate).  But when my sweets craving hit, I didn’t have any ingredients for the chocolate brownie portion of this recipe on-hand.

BUT, I did have this in my pantry:

So…I improvised!

Ingredients:

Gingerbread cookie mix

1/2 cup applesauce

1 tbsp butter

1 egg

1/2 to 1 cup water

(NOTE: if you can’t find the cookie mix, just get regular gingerbread cake mix & prepare according to package directions—we had to improvise a bit to get the batter to the right consistency.  Buy whichever is more cost-effective for you. PS—using an equal amount of applesauce as a replacement for the butter on the cake mix cuts out a lot of extra fat & calories.)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Mix these ingredients together, pour into a greased 9 x 13 pan.

For the pumpkin portion:

3 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 tablespoon butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1 cup canned pumpkin

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

In a medium mixing bowl beat cream cheese and the 1 tablespoon butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add the 1/2 cup sugar. Beat until well combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in 1 egg, the pumpkin, 1 teaspoon vanilla, the cinnamon, and ginger until combined. Stir in the 1 tablespoon flour.

Spoon the pumpkin mix over the gingerbread batter, then use a knife to swirl together.  Bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Linked to: 33 Shades of Green