soup recipe

fresh corn and king crab chilled soup

You haven’t truly lived until you’ve tried this soup. IT’S UH-MAZING. It’s flavorful, refreshing and only 115 calories per serving. 115. That’s like eating an ice cube.

I love perusing cooking magazines (and methodically wiping up my drool with each page turn), and June’s Cooking Light did not disappoint. By the time I got to the end, I had pretty much dog-eared every page. But despite wanting to eat the entire issue, deciding to tackle this recipe first was a no-brainer. I LOVE shellfish. And I LOVE short ingredient lists. Nothing discourages me from trying out a new recipe like a 10-foot-long list of ingredients, half of which I’ve probably never even heard of. Spend $8 on an exotic spice I’ll probably never use again? No, thanks.

The following ingredient amounts will make 4 appetizer servings or 2 meal servings. Unless you’re me, in which case it makes just 1 gigantic serving. Om nom nom.

INGREDIENTS

½ lb king crab legs
3 cups fresh corn kernels (6 ears)
3 cups water
1/8 tsp ground red pepper
½ cup 2% milk
¼ cup chopped chives
¼ tsp pepper

DIRECTIONS

Get your Laura Ingalls Wilder on and shuck some corn. Remove the kernels by holding each cob in a bowl and carefully taking a knife down the sides.
Dump the crab legs in a large saucepan of boiling water for 5-7 minutes.
Remove the crabmeat from the legs. Cooking Light suggests you use “cooking shears.” I suggest you stop being a pansy and use your hands. Chop the meat up coarsely and set it aside in a covered bowl in the refrigerator. Don’t throw away the shells.
Dump the water, corn, crab shells and red pepper in a big saucepan. Bring it to a boil and then reduce heat. Simmer for 20 minutes.
Throw out the shells. Put the corn mixture in a blender. I used a Magic Bullet so I had to do a third of it at a time. Once it’s thoroughly blended, you’re going to dump it through a strainer so that the liquid can pass through into a bowl and the solid corn kernel shells will remain collected in the strainer. Because the mixture is thick, you may want to use a spatula or spoon to help mush it through the strainer.
Stir in the milk, chives and pepper. Cover and refrigerate for two hours. When you’re ready to eat, dump in the crabmeat.

Without a doubt, I will make this soup at least 10 times this summer. Do yourself a favor and follow suit! And if anyone has some other amazing crab recipes, I’d love if you shared them—I can’t get enough!

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cheesy potato & onion soup

A few weeks ago, I needed an excuse to go into CVS and buy a Snicker’s bar so I convinced myself that I just absolutely had to buy a food magazine to get some new recipe ideas. As you can surely imagine, it was really difficult to talk myself into it, but eventually I capitulated and bought a Cooking Light magazine (and a Snicker’s bar to balance out the whole “Light” thing).

It must have been destiny because I found this Cheesy Potato Soup recipe and holy shnykies is it delicious! And since it’s in Cooking LIGHT magazine, it’s as guilt-free as an iceberg lettuce salad with a side of air, right? Right.

INGREDIENTS

1 ½ tablespoon butter
1 cup chopped red onion
2 ½ tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 cups chopped red potato
1 ¼ cups 1% low-fat milk
¾ cup fat-free, low-sodium chicken broth
½ cup water
½ cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
¼ teaspoon ground red pepper
2 tablespoons chopped green onions

Original recipe can be found here: Cheesy Potato Soup

My Modifications: I used ¼ tsp of ground red pepper instead of Cooking Light’s suggested 1/8 tsp because I love spicy everything. I also used 1 ½ tbsp butter instead of the suggested 1 tbsp because I found my onions were starting to burn and stick to the pan when sautéing. Last but not least, I heaped the shit out of that cheese, so my ½ cup cheese was really more like ¾ cup.

DIRECTIONS

Melt butter in saucepan over medium-high heat. Sauté onions 5 minutes. Add flour; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly.
Add potato, milk, broth and water to saucepan. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
Add cheese and ground red pepper and stir until cheese is completely melted.
Top each serving with chopped green onions, serve with a piece of whole-wheat toast and get yo’ grub on!

The recipe says this makes 4 servings, but I beg to differ. My roommate and I pretty much killed the whole thing easily (I had about half a serving left for lunch the next day). This soup is DELICOUS and, according to Cooking Light, only 225 calories. Granted, that 225 is thrown out the window if you eat the entire saucepan to your face, but that’s a minor detail I’ll choose to ignore.