The Bread is in the Baking

At lunch today one of my friends remarked out how many people at school are sick and how she wanted to make soup for some of them, specifically Thai Chicken Coconut soup. Then looked at me and said "want to make soup?"
I said "yeah!"
So we spent a good 5 plus hours getting ingredients and cooking. Most of the cooking is just sitting back and watching the soup to make sure it's not boiling.
It turned out great and we didn't even use a real recipe! This is college style soup, yo.

Thai Chicken Coconut Soup

1 raw whole chicken
3 stalks of celery broken in half
1 yellow onion diced
4 tbls curry paste
2 cans of coconut milk
4 lemon grass stalks diced
2 hand fulls of mushrooms
1 1/2 limes
Salt and pepper to taste

Gut and wash chicken, stip off as much skin as you can (this will lessen the fat content) and place in a large pot. Fill the pot with water just above the chicken, add onion, celery, lemon grass, mushrooms and let simmer (not boil) on the stove for 2 hours, stir occasionally.
Take the chicken out of the broth and take all the meat off the bones and put the meat back in the broth and throw out the bones. Pour in all the coconut milk and stir. Squeeze the lime juice into the broth and stir. Stir in the curry paste. Add salt and pepper to taste and enjoy!

If you like a less fatty soup, skim off the fat from the top of the soup or you can place the soup in the fridge overnight, the fat will rise to the top and harden and then you can just take it off.

Total Time: About 3 hours

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First soup post! This soup is really good and simple. I'm excited to make it when I go back to college next year. I found this soup on Cookbook 101, one of my favorite recipe sites. The soup is vegetarian and you don't need to add any broth to it. I changed the recipe a little from the site, I used nonfat yogurt and canned diced tomatoes instead of crushed.

Greens and Lentil Soup

2 cups black beluga lentils (or green French lentils), picked over and rinsed (I used French)
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes
2 cups water
3 cups of a chard/kale/etc. rinsed well, finely chopped (I used chard and it was very nice)

Saffron Yogurt
a pinch of saffron (30-40 threads)
1 tablespoon boiling water
two pinches of salt
1/2 cup Non-fat Greek Yogurt
(I did make the saffron yogurt, but I think plain greek yogurt would have worked fine too, since Saffron is pretty pricey)


Bring 6 cups of water to a boil in a large saucepan, add the lentils, and cook for about 20 minutes, or until tender. Drain and set aside.

While the lentils are cooking, make the saffron yogurt by combining the saffron threads and boiling water in a tiny cup. Let the saffron steep for a few minutes. Now stir the saffron along with the liquid into the yogurt. Mix in the salt and set aside.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a heavy soup pot over medium heat, then add the onion and salt and saute until tender, a couple minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, lentils, and water and continue cooking for a few more minutes, letting the soup come back up to a simmer. Stir in the chopped greens, and wait another minute. Taste and adjust the seasoning if need be. Ladle into bowls, and serve with a dollop of the saffron yogurt.

Total Time: 1 hour

NOTE: would go very well with a crusty bread, like the baguettes or the dark rye

Picture courtest of Eddie Barksdale

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