Chicken Soup

6 Tips for Adding Flavor to Any Dish for Less

January 23, 2014 by Katie Mae 2 Comments

By Katie, Contributing Writer

Do you believe that cooking delicious and nourishing foods is possible even on a tight budget? Sometimes we overlook how much flavor some of the humblest foods in our pantry can add to our dishes. These 6 simple and frugal tips are practical and have been used by our ancestors and different cultures for generations. Unfortunately some of these have become a lost art in today’s modern society. You might even be surprised to find most – if not all – of these ingredients already in your kitchen.

Let’s celebrate the simple, flavorful additions we all can have access to on any budget.

Use homemade broth for better flavor

It seems that we are always talking about broth here at The Nourishing Gourmet. It is just so good that we just can’t keep sharing about it! Chicken stock is my favorite of all broths. It is light, delicate and the perfect base for soup, stews, stir frys and sauces. It’s considered a cornerstone of many cuisines because of it’s wonderful flavor. And who hasn’t been told to eat a bowl of chicken noodle soup to cure a cold? It’s often called the “Jewish Penicillin” because of the nutrients, vitamins and minerals found in it.

Homemade broth (stocks) are essential for making delicious and nourishing soups (Kimi wrote a whole book on soups and broths). They are easy to make and are a way for you to use up kitchen scraps that might have otherwise been tossed. Have you ever used a can or carton of broth from the store? Not only are they expensive but they also lack flavor. If that is what you are used to, I understand that you probably see nothing wrong with the flavor as our palates get used to certain flavors. Unfortunately broth from the store not only lacks flavor and nutrients found in the bones but it also has unnecessary added ingredients like sugar.

You can make a delicious chicken broth practically for free when you use bones and vegetable scraps. You can also follow this method for using whole pieces of chicken and vegetables which is still a more fugal and flavorful option than buying the pre-made verity.

Adding flavor with spices

The world of spices add variety and tremendous flavor to dishes. It can be as simple as a grind of pepper over chicken, to multi-spice curry creations. Many, many spices have also been found to hold incredible health and healing benefits, showing us once again how our tongue can guide us to good eating habits.

Spices found in the jars on the shelves of your local supermarket are a bit lackluster. By the time they’ve made it to your humble abode they can be void of flavor, potency and nutrition. When possible, it is best to buy high quality whole spices in bulk and grind/grate them yourself. One excellent company to buy spices and herbs from is our affiliate, Mountain Rose Herbs. (Kimi notes: I just found a bag of dried peppermint I bought from them several years ago, and it’s still incredibly flavorful! They have some of the freshest herbs and spices I’ve ever bought.)

There are some spices I prefer to buy whole in bulk and others I tend to buy pre-ground. When it comes to some spices such as cinnamon I keep both the whole sticks and ground on hand. (When you are searching for cinnamon be sure to purchase Ceylon and not cassia.) A few pre-ground spices I buy are curry powders, turmeric and cumin.

Dishes such as curries and many Indian dishes benefit from frying the spices for a few minutes before adding the remaining ingredients. It brings out a fragrant smell and rich flavor that would other wise be missing. Two great example of this technic are this garam marsala lentil soup with coconut milk and this simple Indian daalh (lentil) dish.

Adding flavor with fresh herbs

I love fresh herbs! I try to keep some of my favorite growing year round in my garden. If it’s too cold to grow herbs outside year round or if you don’t have space try growing a few small pots of herbs like basil, peppermint and oregano on a window seal. They add a complexity of flavor that is lacking in dried herbs. Adding add a bit of freshly chopped herbs on top dishes like this nourishing Thai noodle soup or fresh garden pasta give the dish added nutrition, flavor and beauty.

Adding flavor with traditional fats

Healthy fats are must in a nourishing diet for health, but they are also important flavor components. I love olive oil, pastured/raw butter and coconut oil like any other real foodie. Sadly they can be a bit pricey even in bulk. I count myself blessed to live in a Mediterranean climate so I am able to buy local olive oil for a reasonable price.

When I think of frugal fats I am immediately dawn into my grandma’s kitchen. I can see her pull her tin can out of the small cupboard by her stove that she used to to save leftover grease from frying bacon or sausage. Nothing went to waste. Back then I was squeamish over the thought, but now I see the wisdom she had. Whenever I make chicken stock I also skim the fat off the top after it is cooled. I buy pork fat to render my own lard. The best tamales and refried beans are made with fresh lard. There is a depth of flavor that just can’t be beat. If I’m roasting beef bones I scoop off the fat after it’s cooled to make tallow. If you have never tasted french fries made in tallow and sprinkled with real salt then you are missing out! Let’s not forget popcorn popped in a little bacon grease! To die for! If you ever have eaten much low-fat food, you know the lose of flavor that happens. Keeping healthy, traditional fats in our diets allows us not only to fill our body’s fat needs, but also makes our food absolutely delicious.

Adding flavor with unrefined salt

Yes, you heard me right, salt. It is that simple ingredient that allows a dish to shine. Once again, if you have ever eaten low-salt or saltless foods, you know much we rely on salt for well balanced flavor in our food. I tend to be a bit heavy handed on the salt shaker (actually I have a salt well) but I’m not that worried about it since I use a mineral rich high quality salt, Redmond’s Real Salt. Another excellent brand is Celtic Sea Salt or HimalaSalt. The body needs salt. Just a pinch (or few) goes a long way in adding drawing out the flavors in your dishes.

It’s easy in our modern days to take salt for granted, but wars were fought in the past over access to salt because it was traditionally held in such high regard. Our bodies need salt for health, and our food is more vibrant in flavor when well salted. It makes the sweet, sweeter, the spice, spicier, and is needed for a well balanced dish.

Adding flavor with onions and garlic

I cook with onions and garlic almost everyday. They are a simple, frugal, and delicious way to add flavor to dishes. I use them in salsa, stir fries, pasta, soups – you get the idea. Unless I am using them in salsa, I normally saute the onions and garlic in a bit of fat and sprinkle with with salt. They add a delicious taste that can’t be achieved in with raw. Caramalized onions take extra time but they are worth the effort to add that extra special touch to a dish. Both onions and garlic lay down a flavorful foundation for many dishes, from a simple salad dressing, to a complex stew. Don’t overlook the simple, frugal things in your pantry that, when proper used, add depth of flavor, and make your food shine.

Pasta e Fagioli (Italian Pasta and Bean Soup)

January 10, 2014 by April Swiger 11 Comments

By April Swiger, Contributing Writer

Rich nourishing bone broth with frugal beans and pasta make Pasta e Fagioli perfect for a large family dinner on a cold night.

(Kimi – This recipe is a perfect example of how simple and delicious it is to get beautiful, nourishing, health-building broth into your family, which is why we wanted to share it along with my post, 10 reasons homemade broth should be part of your diet! Read the introduction to our series, 21 steps to a nourishing diet, and find out what a nourishing diet can and cannot do for you here. )

This recipe can be easily adapted for gluten-free and vegetarian diets by using vegetable broth instead of chicken, and eliminating the pasta completely or using a gluten-free brand of macaroni instead. Kimi recommends this brand. (Amazon links are affiliate)

Pasta e Fagioli is traditionally a peasant dish, as the ingredients are incredibly frugal. This particular recipe is one that my Italian family has been using for multiple generations. Even today when I walk into my 93 year old grandfather’s kitchen, this soup, bubbling away in his big aluminum pot, always comes to my mind.

My mother lovingly served our family this soup all throughout my childhood. “Bean Soup” nights were always my favorite! It wasn’t until after I graduated from college, and moved overseas for a year, that I finally learned to make it myself. I was living in China, and missing the traditional Italian food that was so easily accessible in the states. That was the year that I learned how to cook for myself from scratch, continuing the tradition of passing this recipe down the family line.

This soup is easily adaptable to whatever ingredients you have on hand. My grandfather, and mother, would frequently use a scoop of marinara sauce, instead of diced tomatoes. If you make this during the summer, fresh diced tomatoes, and herbs from the garden would work great as well. I like my pasta e fagioli heavy on the garlic, and with a nice kick from the crushed red pepper. You can adapt this to your family’s taste quickly and easily.

To keep this soup as frugal as possible, it’s best to use dried cannellini (or white kidney) beans. By soaking the beans overnight to remove irritating phytic acid, cooking them, and adding them to the rest of the ingredients, you’ve saved quite a bit of money! If you’re in a pinch, and need a fast meal, canned beans work great too. I often use Eden Organic’s canned cannellini beans, because the beans have been soaked and cooked with kombu seaweed, and their cans are BPA-free. They are a little pricy, but are a very good option if you are not able to use dried beans.

This soup is always better the next day, after the flavors have melded together overnight. If you’re lucky enough to have leftovers, enjoy a bowl for a wonderfully nourishing lunch!

Pasta e Fagioli (Italian Pasta and Bean Soup)

Author:

April Swiger

Recipe type: Soup

Serves: 6-8

This nourishing soup will warm your family up on cold winter nights! The recipe can be easily adapted to your taste buds or dietary needs.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
5-6 Cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
3 15oz Cans of cannellini beans (I like Eden Organic's BPA-free canned beans), or 1½ cups of dried cannellini beans that have been soaked overnight, and cooked (about 5 cups cooked)
7 Cups of chicken broth (vegetable broth to make it vegetarian)
1 Cup chopped tomatoes (I love Pomi chopped tomatoes in a BPA-free carton)
½ teaspoon Dried basil
½ teaspoon. Dried oregano
⅛-1/2 teaspoon. Crushed red pepper flakes, depending on how much "kick" you like
1lb Ditalini pasta, or other short cut pasta like elbow macaroni or tubetti (a gluten-free pasta can be easily substituted as well)
Salt and Pepper to taste
OPTIONAL: Parmesan cheese and chopped flat leaf parsley

Instructions

In a large pot heat the olive oil, and sauté the minced garlic for a minute or two. Be sure that it doesn't brown.
Add your beans (previously cooked, or canned with liquid), broth, tomatoes, basil, oregano, crushed red pepper, salt and pepper.
Allow the soup to simmer for 45-60 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Shortly before the soup is done, boil salted water for the pasta, and cook it al dente according to the package.
When serving, spoon ¼-1/2 cup of the pasta into bowls, and ladle soup on top. I prefer not to store any leftover pasta in the leftover soup as it typically soaks up a lot of the broth and becomes soggy.
Sprinkle grated parmesan cheese or freshly chopped parsley on top.

Other soups you may enjoy:

10 Reasons Homemade Broth Should Be Part of Your Diet

January 9, 2014 by KimiHarris 9 Comments

The Jewish penicillin, the gut-healing golden liquid, the frugal kitchen’s star, the gourmet’s canvas, healthy homemade broths and stocks are incredibly worthy of your time, and certainly worthy to be on your table.

I know that I circle around to how great homemade broth is a lot on this blog , but could I really ignore the topic in my 21 steps to a nourishing diet series? Absolutely not! Considering that I am the type of person to write an entire book on soups ( affiliate link), you better believe that I think that broth’s are valuable.

Today I thought I’d gather together ten great reasons making broth should be high in your priorities when switching to a nourishing diet. And don’t worry. Broth making is one of the easiest methods to learn in the kitchen. I have a couple links at the end of this post for recipes.

1. Homemade broth is delicious!

Homemade broths (stocks) have been the cornerstone of many different traditional diets, and have been held in high regard for their health promoting aspects and how delicious they make food. Not only can you make delicious hot soups (who doesn’t like Chicken Noodle Soup?!), but you can also use them for delicious sauces, to moisten stir fried dishes, and even use them in gravies! I made a dairy-free sausage gravy with homemade chicken broth the other day, and it was delicious. The point it this, we can find many delicious ways to use broth.

2. Making broth respects the death of an animal

We have chosen not to be vegan as we feel that animal products are necessary for our health and well being. But that doesn’t mean we take the death of animals lightly. We respect and honor their sacrifice. One of the ways we do that is by making sure that all parts of the animal are used. When making broth, you are making sure that none is being wasted.

3. Homemade broth is a frugal practice

Do you like making roasted chicken or chicken drumstick dishes? Absolutely save those bones for homemade broth! I can squeeze so many more meals out of a strict grocery budget when I am making broths and using them in meals. Beef broth is also frugal to make. To take frugal to the next level, reuse the bones following this method, or my own version of it in my cookbook, Ladled: Nourishing Soups for all Seasons. (aff link)

4. Homemade broths made with bones are a good source of minerals, including calcium

When you make broths in slightly acidic water (by the addition of vinegar) and slow cook it for hours, the minerals in the bones start drifting into the broth creating a mineral rich food for you. The higher the bone-to-water ratio, the more mineral rich it will be. Since we have found that we can’t rely on dairy for calcium, homemade broths fit the bill nicely for us. Some may remember that soup made with homemade broth was part of Dr. Price’s body and teeth building protocol.

5. Homemade broths are a good source of proline

Proline could help support our nervous system, and is being researched as a possible treatment for neurodegenerative diseases, meaning it could help protect our brains! Some are considering it an essential amino acid.

6. The glycine in broth could help with detoxification

As was explained so well in The Healing Power of Broth, “Another vital function [of glycine] is detoxification. The human body requires copious amounts of glycine for detoxification after exposure to chemicals…”

Unfortunately, we are often exposed to chemicals in our environment. Regular servings of high quality broth could help our bodies deal with that real stress.

7. Glycine in broth could help your digestion

Once again quoting, The Healing Power of Broth, “Glycine also helps digestion by enhancing gastric acid secretion. Research published in 1976 established that only proteins stimulate gastric acid secretion, but apparently not all amino acids do so. Glycine is one of those that do, a fact that was known in 1925.”

I’m sure that many of you have heard of the research showing how abnormal our stomach acid levels are. Glycine (and more broadly) the gelatin in broth could help balance that out for us, which is vital for proper digestion, and gut health. Gut issues are really much more common than many know. Because so much of our health starts in the gut (even our bodies ability to respond to allergens!), keeping out gut healthy is vital, and homemade broth is full of elements that are gut healthy – one being glycine.

8. Gelatin in homemade broth helps you digest protein from meat and plant sources

Homemade broth can be a wonderful source of natural gelatin, which has many benefits. One of which is that it was found to increase the digestion of protein from wheat, oats, barley, beans, and meat. If you are on a stricter budget that doesn’t allow higher amounts of protein foods, homemade broth or gelatin could help you absorb and use more of the protein you do eat!

9. Homemade broth is an excellent food for those recovering from illness

Homemade broth was especially valued for those who were sick traditionally, and some studies did show that those who consumed gelatin (one of the main parts of broth) did indeed heal and recover faster. Ever wonder why Jello was served so often at hospitals? Now you know (and I would actually eat it if it was made with fruit juice or kombucha!).

10. Homemade broth is a rich source of a variety of nutrients

There is always a danger in turning to supplements of this or that for healing and nutrition. A single substance could have many benefits, but it is also more likely to have side effects or throw out of balance other nutrients in the body. However, when eating them in food form, other balancing nutrients are also present. This allows the body to be well nourished across the board, instead of simply getting high doses of one thing. Homemade broth is an excellent source of many important minerals, amino acids, and health building gelatin, and as such, can be an excellent addition to your diet.

Posts on Making Broth:

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