Three Fabulous Soup Recipes

Start the New Year Light and Fresh

with these hearty and fabulous soup recipes

Happy New Year, Dear Reader! Welcome to a brand new day. The unwritten slate of 2015 awaits our choices, as clean and cold as a January dawn. What will you do with this gift of time? This fresh start? Where to begin?

I suggest soup.

And stew.

Slow cooker comfort in a bowl.

Kind to your body. Nourishing to your spirit. A soother of cravings.

For omnivores, this Cranberry Pot Roast Stew is sure to stick to your ribs. Not to mention, tantalize your taste buds. This is a stew destined for football games and Sunday marathons of Downton Abbey (or True Detective, if that's your particular philosophical persuasion).

For those among us looking to the New Year as a fresh start (notice I do not say the dreaded word diet), my favorite, gorgeous, green detox soup might just be the ticket. Light and fresh tasting, but so incredibly flavorful you won't miss the meat or the butter or the cream. Seriously. Try it. Karina's Green Detox Soup Recipe with Coconut Milk.

The third soup choice (they like to say third time's the charm) is a postmodern twist on a classic. Mulligatawny, gluten-free style. So good. Dare I say, slurp worthy. A popular choice here on Gluten-Free Goddess. Find my Mulligatawny Soup Recipe with Jasmine Rice here.

So that's it for now. Dust off the Crock Pot and grab your spoons. Start the New Year off with a gift to your body. And your soul.

Karina's Irish Beef Stew

Beef Stew. Who knew?

This recipe is a surprise- even to me. Beef stew? You wouldn't expect a life-long Vegetarian Goddess to create and fall in love with an Irish beef stew recipe, but that is precisely what happened this weekend. 

Shocking? 

Tell me about it.

Just when you think you've got your life all figured out, and your tastes and preferences arranged in a tidy packet of self-identification and veggie piety- all Hades breaks loose. Celiac. Food allergies. Broken hip.

Suddenly, your food-world view is quite literally flipped on its leafy little head.

So, after my orthopedic surgeon's instructions to "eat lots of animal protein" to support the healing of my hip fracture, my husband and I decided to try our collective hands at making our very first Irish beef stew together.

The first beef stew of our marriage.

And what did I do as I spooned the first taste into my hesitant, quivering lips? Gentle Reader, I swooned like a virgin in a bodice ripper. I sighed. I grew faint with pleasure. I slurped. Oh my! I murmured through one spoonful after another. Wow, said my partner in crime. This is mighty damn tasty.

You could have knocked us over with a feather.

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Kale Soup with Spicy Chicken Sausage and Sweet Potato

Comfort Food for a Dark

and Gnarly Winter

Back in New England, it's been one long gnarly Winter. The word wicked does not even begin to cover it. Epic... might be a start. Massive... might be an understatement. The snow, you see, is record breaking. One might even say, insane. It's enough to make a big dog weep.

In (previously) typical fashion, one might be tempted to throw up one's hands in defeat and shout, Let the carb cravings begin! But I might actually be in the mood to defy such cravings, yipping and gnawing inside my belly like so many tiny, quivering chihuahuas. Tugging my attention to mocha frosted vanilla cupcakes. Banana bread. Chocolate chip cookies.

I might actually choose, instead, to grab a big pot. And start a batch of hearty, soul mending soup.

And living- as we did for three decades- on Cape Cod, you might guess I rustled up some classic clam chowdah. Or lobstah bisque. Nope. Instead, my inspiration comes via Wellfleet village. A gluten-free, cooking lighter take on a New England Portuguese mainstay. Kale soup. With andouille.

It's the perfect, spicy soup to brave this stuff called SNOW.

And in the meantime, string up some fairy lights. Gather some candles. And know I'm counting with you- the lengthening days till Spring.

That'd be 33.

Or 231 in dog years.


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Three Fabulous Soup Recipes for the New Year

Start the New Year Light and Fresh

with these hearty and fabulous soup recipes

Happy New Year, Dear Reader! Welcome to a brand new day. The unwritten slate of 2015 awaits our choices, as clean and cold as a January dawn. What will you do with this gift of time? This fresh start? Where to begin?

I suggest soup.

And stew.

Slow cooker comfort in a bowl.

Kind to your body. Nourishing to your spirit. A soother of cravings.

For omnivores, this Cranberry Pot Roast Stew is sure to stick to your ribs. Not to mention, tantalize your taste buds. This is a stew destined for football games and Sunday marathons of Downton Abbey (or True Detective, if that's your particular philosophical persuasion).

For those among us looking to the New Year as a fresh start (notice I do not say the dreaded word diet), my favorite, gorgeous, green detox soup might just be the ticket. Light and fresh tasting, but so incredibly flavorful you won't miss the meat or the butter or the cream. Seriously. Try it. Karina's Green Detox Soup Recipe with Coconut Milk.

The third soup choice (they like to say third time's the charm) is a postmodern twist on a classic. Mulligatawny, gluten-free style. So good. Dare I say, slurp worthy. A popular choice here on Gluten-Free Goddess. Find my Mulligatawny Soup Recipe with Jasmine Rice here.

So that's it for now. Dust off the Crock Pot and grab your spoons. Start the New Year off with a gift to your body. And your soul.

Karina's Roasted Hatch Chile Stew

Karina's Santa Fe Inspired Stew

If you are lucky enough to live in enchanted New Mexico (as we were- a few years back), chances are you worship at the Sacred Temple of the Holy Chile Pepper. During the all-too-short chile harvest season you can smell the intoxicating smoky-sweet scent of roasting chiles everywhere you go. Teasing. Tantalizing. Infusing your daydreams with green chile fantasies.

The devotion to roasted chile runs deep in these parts and yes, it's with an e never with an i; if you call chile chili in these parts you may as well kiss your white bread tuchas good-bye, pendajo, because you'll be laughed out of the state. Shunned. Scorned. These folks get very serious about their autumn roasted chile. Don't mess with 'em. It's harvest time.

If you're up to roasting your own chiles, you can do it on the grill or even over an open flame like Elise does at Simply Recipes; here's her How to Roast Chile Peppers Over a Gas Flame. After roasting, cool and peel; then stem, seed and chop.

READ MORE and get the recipe ...

Easy Chicken Chili with Sweet Potato + Lime

My version of white chili. With lime.

Easy Chicken Chili Time

New Year's Day looms. Ah, the annual parades. The glut of bowl games. The feast of football. Pigskin is king. Tight ends are tightening. Quarterbacks are quarterbacking. And kickers are praying to the football gods they won't be called in for a chip-shot, with 6 seconds to spare in the final quarter. Do I sound like I know what I am talking about? I don't. I just overheard some manly sporty banter over gluten-free tuna melts. To which I smiled politely.

And reached for a pickle.

Even after watching every episode of Friday Night Lights, I still don't understand a down. Football is a mystery. Back fields in motion. Penalties! Off sides. Snap. Blitz. Gotta love the lingo. It's a language alluringly foreign to me. Like math.

Or for some, perhaps it's akin to say... abstract expressionism.

Visual chaos executed in angles and arcs and bursts of focus, drive and energy.

Thing is, I get the practiced dance of propulsion. Designing motion from multiple points of view. I get it. In my bones. This is my territory. You're talkin' my language. Value verses tone. Light bumping up against dark. Sharp contrast dissolving into blur. I appreciate the power of practice and intention. Negative space divided by a perfect spiral.

Think of the interplay of icing thick paint and oceanic viscosity.  The quickening beauty of a layered surface, vibrating with complementary colors. Transparency and opacity. Cool against warm. Unprimed and primed. Lost and found edges. The seduction of action's evidence. The painter's hand. Rugged tooth and clean, smooth paper.

Though it's not all yin yang, a wrestle of opposites.

As in football- and life- painting is a focus of expression, sometimes true and authentic, and sometimes disappointingly off the mark.

Like a short field goal.

We try. We sometimes miss. But what matters is- we make the effort. And that is all we can do. We kick the ball. We brush wet paint. We string words into a lyric. We stitch a quilt. We photograph a child's curiosity. We make chili.

And sometimes?

We get a winner.

And if not?

Tomorrow is another day.


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Gluten-Free Slow Cooker Stew with Sausage

Stirring the Pot

Here's a bright and delicious slow cooker stew recipe with sausages - and it's tasty using any sausage you choose, from free-range roaming buffalo to furry-friendly vegan. Scrumptious. Seriously. Make it for the Big Game. You know, the one with a pigskin ball and helmeted men in shiny tights. Throw all the ingredients in a Crock Pot and go root for your favorite tight end. Make a hot artichoke dip and grab some gluten-free chips. Game on.

Go Cubs!

Okay I confess. I'm not watching the game. Game fever is something utterly, totally beyond me. Apparently I lack a few mirror neurons. Sports? Yawn. I dare you to make me comprehend football. Go ahead. Try. Many have tread that tortuous path and failed, my friend. Great minds have worked tirelessly to convey the rules, to communicate the strategy. The triumph. The back field in motion and the blitz.

But what they don't realize? Deep down inside my private tiny girl heart- my neurons don't CARE. They really don't. And I know you think that if only I let you explain The Game to me I would finally, miraculously, ecstatically get it! And paint my face red and blue, but. It's never going to happen. 

It's a non-conforming neuron issue.

So, the Patriots? Are they the soccer team Mel Gibson coaches? 

Excuse me while I alphabetize my spice rack.

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Gluten-Free Chili - Our Favorite Recipe

Our favorite gluten-free chili- hearty winter comfort.

 
FADE IN:

INT. 5TH FLOOR APARTMENT - DAY


A chilly winter light slices into a SANTA MONICA apartment and illuminates every cobweb. (Obviously, a certain individual has been neglecting house work again). Said individual sighs audibly. Glances sideways into the mirror hanging above the kitchen sink cluttered with coffee spoons, grilled cornbread crumbs and half-filled tea mugs. She could never pass for Martha Stewart. Not in a million years. 

DISHEVELED GLUTEN-FREE GODDESS

Good gravy. Look at all the dust balls. 

STEVE (HUSBAND)

So what. What's a dust bunny or two? 

(glancing up from his laptop)

I’ll vacuum later. Or next Tuesday.

DISHEVELED GLUTEN-FREE GODDESS

My hero.


(dragging out the Crock Pot from under the sink)

This calls for chili.

FADE TO BLACK

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Karina's New Mexican Stew with Ground Turkey + Green Chiles

Dust off the slow cooker.

Looking for a simple but truly fabulous slow cooker stew recipe to warm you up? Here is one my all time faves. A New Mexican style stew with budget-friendly ground turkey spiked with roasted green chiles, lime, and cilantro. Butternut squash and potatoes round out the spicier flavors. Make it as mild or as spicy as your taste buds prefer. It's perfect comfort food for any time of year. We serve it with my favorite gluten-free corn muffin recipe.

Need more slow cooker inspiration? Check out the tasty gluten-free cookbook Make it Fast, Cook it Slow by fellow food blogger Stephanie O'Dea.


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Karina's Cranberry Pot Roast Stew

Warm Your Body (& Celiac Soul)

What could be more comforting as we face the chilly New Year than a slow roasted one-dish supper? Not to mention, easier. Especially after all the hustle and bustle of last week's holiday celebrations. All the sugar. And latkes. And eggnog. And hoopla. I'm exhausted just imagining it. So I'll stop. And share a recipe instead- a tasty little number I tossed together in my trusty Crock Pot over the weekend- a cranberry laced pot roast stew that cooked its sweet 'n savory heart out while I walked in snowy woods.

So, Happy Monday, Dear Heart. It's a brand new week. And I offer up this warming flavorful stew to help you recover from holiday stress and travel and whatever kind of wacky, weird or wonderful family stuff you dealt with over the big collective craziness we call Christmas.

Take a deep breath. 

Slide on your toasty new slippers.

And slow cook a bowl of spoon-licking winter goodness.

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Gluten-Free Soup, Stew and Chili Recipes

Our Favorite

Gluten-Free Soup, Stew and Chili Recipes

Here is a collection of my favorite gluten-free soups, stews and chili recipes here on Gluten-Free Goddess®. Warm up body and soul with one of these hearty slurp-worthy bowls of comfort. There's nothing like soup. And from a can doesn't count.

Many of these favorites are made in a slow cooker for easy, year round cooking.

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