Chicken and yogurt soup

If you were to look through my search history, (or at least its clean version) you’ll quickly notice a clear pattern. Most of the searches include the keywords “warm” and “heating”, and phrases such as “how to stay warm” will be at the top of the list. Maybe it’s me, and maybe I’m just stupid, but I think that when you live through what has been called (already) Cleveland’s coldest February in recorded history, you need to make sure you stay nice and warm everywhere you are. I have no trouble staying warm when I’m outside. I wear several layers of clothes, beanies, ear warmers, scarfs, wool socks and boots. If I’m outside, I’m a walking winter mummy.

My problem is staying warm at home. I can’t possibly talk myself out of using every possible room in the house, no matter how cold or drafty it gets. At the same time, we want to give our overworked furnace a bit of a break. After all, it’s not its fault that subzero temperatures are the new normal. So while some of the tips on “how to stay warm” have been helpful, most of them I won’t even attempt testing. Instead, I’ve been gravitating around the time-proven, internationally accepted anti-cold remedy we call soup.

This chicken and yogurt soup is quite simple; but like most soups worth eating, it takes some time to make it. Instead of thighs, I used bone-in, chicken breasts with their skin on; I did it mostly because I like breasts better than thighs in soups, even though thighs usually cook better. I seared the chicken in a Dutch oven, and rendered some of the fat, and then I used it to sauté the vegetables. I returned the chicken to the Dutch oven, and I just used water with salt and pepper. After simmering for a while, I added a little bit of Lebanese yogurt (Laban) to add flavor, acidity and tanginess. Laban is more tangy than our standard Greek yogurt, but they are otherwise the same (but if it’s homemade it can differ on how well stained it is). That’s it; it’s a really simple, yet delicious soup.

Stay warm!

On the road shortcut

Serves 4

1 teaspoon olive oil

1lb chicken breasts, bone in, skin on, cubed

3 leeks, chopped

2 sticks celery, chopped

1 large carrot, chopped

3 cloves garlic, chopped

2 tomatoes, sliced

¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped

4 cups boiling water

¼ cup Lebanese yogurt (Laban)

1 teaspoon salt (used throughout the recipe)

½ teaspoon pepper

Heat a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add oil and heat it for 2 minutes. Sear chicken about 3-4 minutes per side, seasoning with ½ teaspoon of the salt. Remove the chicken. Use the rendered fat from the chicken to sauté the leeks, celery and carrots. Season with 2 dashes of salt. Sauté for 10-15 minutes. Add the garlic, and sauté for a minute, then add the tomatoes, the parsley, and 2 pinches of salt. Cook for 2 minutes. Add the boiling water, pepper and remaining salt. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 45 minutes, covered. Remove the lid, take ¼ cup of the broth, and add it to the yogurt. Return the mix to the pot, simmer uncovered for 5 more minutes. Stir occasionally.

Coconut rum frozen yogurt cake with walnuts and cherries

Two summers ago, I was at the mall minding my own business when I made a life-changing discovery. Let’s ignore for now that minding my own business at a mall usually involves hours of me collecting all sorts of items through the store, only to spend about 10 seconds deciding I’m leaving it all behind. I know, terrible; but we’ll leave that discussion for another day. I was at the book store, (and whether or not I successfully bought something there isn’t important) and on my way to the car I saw this “ice cream” place I’ve been seeing absolutely packed for years but never ventured in. That day I went in, and I realized it wasn’t ice cream but frozen yogurt, and after a few “trying cups” I was hooked. Over the last couple of years I’ve had so much frozen yogurt (and by so much I actually mean so many times, because I never actually buy more than 6 oz.).  From chains to local, to organic, I’ve tried them all. I love my froyo. I’ve made frozen yogurt at home too, and it has even made its way to this blog as well.

This week I went to a friend’s house for a summer party. She and her fiancé  had an array of great food, but somehow I was especially fixed on their desserts: homemade éclairs and homemade ice cream cake. Éclairs I absolutely love, so no further explanation is needed. I ate more than I should have, I know so. But the ice cream cake really surprised me. I’m not sure why, but I’ve never thought of ice cream cake as “home-doable”. It’s not like I thought it was impossible either. It just that it never really occur to me that you could make it at home. I loved that ice cream cake, and of course, now I want to make one. 

Three days after my epiphany, I decided I had to make an ice cream cake. I had a few issues, though. I am busy, so I wanted something fast and easy to make. I also wanted to keep the oven usage to a bare minimum because it has been really hot and some of us don’t have an AC to chill afterwards. Lastly, I had just overindulged at the party a few days before, so I wanted to keep the calories down. My 10 second decision was to make a “frozen yogurt cake” instead. I used a store bought, ready-to-use Graham crust I’ve had sitting in the pantry for months now. For the filling I used fat-free Greek yogurt, I added some coconut rum for both flavor and to prevent it from freezing into a block, and I added shaved coconut to give it a “cake-ier” texture. Listo. I just mixed the ingredients, poured it over the crust, and froze it overnight. No ice cream machine needed. Just for fun, I made a honey-walnut-cherry topping just before serving. 

The result was a great tasting summer dessert! The frozen yogurt cake was just 255 calories plus an extra 44 calories for the topping. Loved it! Of course, I still have to make a more “traditional” ice cream cake, but the summer has just started, so I have plenty of time to make it. And I have a feeling I’ll be making this frozen yogurt cake a few more times as well.

On the road shortcut

Coconut rum frozen yogurt cake
252 calories, 39 g carbs, 7 g fat, 7 g protein

16 oz. (2 cups) Nonfat Greek yogurt plain

0.5 oz. coconut rum

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup sugar

1 ½ tablespoon unsweetened coconut flakes

1 9-inch Ready to fill crumb Graham cracker crust

Using an electric mixer at medium power, mix the Greek Yogurt, coconut rum, and vanilla extract until well incorporated. Add the sugar, and the coconut flakes and keep mixing until they are well incorporated into a fluid mixture. Pour the mixture into the Graham crust, cover it and freeze it overnight.

Walnut and cherry topping

44 calories, 5 g carbs, 3 g fat, 1 g protein

¼ cup walnuts

¼ cup dried cherries

1 teaspoon honey

Pinch salt

On a skillet on medium-high heat, toast the walnuts until browned and fragrant (about 5 minutes). Make sure to stir constantly to prevent them from burning. Remove from heat, and let them cool to the touch. Chop the walnuts and the dried cherries, then transfer them to a mixing bowl. Add the honey, a pinch of salt, and mix together well.