"Everything-free" Tuscan Soup

I have a wonderful recipe for Zuppa Toscana (Tuscan Soup) that I got from a friend some years ago. It is truly delicious. Unfortunately, when you take out all of the things I can no longer eat (potatoes, cream, onions, garlic) there is not much left: broth, meat and kale. Doesn't that sound delicious? Um...no.

For the past several years, I have been working on a version of this soup that would fit my new food world. I have hit on a satisfactory result a few times...only to find out that yet another food had started bothering me, so back to the drawing board. Or chopping board... ;-)

This is the version I am currently using. In fact, I just finished making a batch for my lunch today.

It is creamy and hearty, just right for a cold Winter day.

"Everything-free" Tuscan Soup
dairy-free, gluten-free, soy-free, nightshade-free
Serves 4
Total time: about an hour

1/2 pound each gluten-free bacon and mild Italian sausage- chop bacon into bite-sized chunks
    (I buy a pound of each, cook it all & save half to freeze for the next time I make soup)
1 quart chicken stock or broth
    (I usually use reduced-sodium, so I can control the overall saltiness. The meats tend to be very salty, which make can the soup far too salty if you also use full-sodium stock)
3-4 "white" sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
    (These can be hard to find in some places; then I use standard orange sweet potatoes/yams)
(1/4 teaspoon dried minced onion- if you can tolerate it)
3/4 teaspoon dried thyme 
Several large leaves of kale, thoroughly washed, ribs cut out, leaves roughly chopped
1 (13.5 fl.oz.) can thick coconut milk (I use Native Forest brand)
Salt and black pepper to taste- I use roughly 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/8 teaspoon pepper, added at the end

While the meats are cooking, I prepare the sweet potatoes and gather the other ingredients.

In a large soup pot, over medium to medium-high heat, cook sausage, stirring often, until cooked through. Remove to a bowl lined with paper towels, to drain off grease. Add chopped bacon pieces to pot. Keep at medium to medium-high until a few pieces start to brown, then turn down to medium-low. Stir often to avoid burning. When the bacon is mostly cooked (the fat has mostly rendered out and most of the pieces are browning) remove to a paper towel-lined bowl to drain grease. Pour the rest of the grease into a heat-proof container. (Don't pour it straight into the trash. The hot grease will melt a plastic garbage bag- voice of unfortunate, absent-minded experience!)

Add the quart of chicken stock to the pot, along with the sweet potato chunks, dried onion and thyme. Cover, bring to a boil, then turn down to a strong simmer. While waiting, prepare the kale. Check soup after 15 minutes. The sweet potatoes should be tender, but not falling apart. When ready, add meats back to the pot, along with the chopped kale. Add the can of coconut milk. As soon as the coconut milk is fully melted and stirred in, check the broth for flavor. Add salt and pepper if needed.The seasoning of sausage can vary widely, so it's good to wait until the end to finish seasoning. Cook for just a few minutes, until the kale just begins to soften.

My new favorite Sausage, Sweet Potato, White Cabbage Soup

This has become one of my favorite soups. It's a great one for cool Fall or Winter evenings, hearty and flavorful but not heavy. Most of the ingredients are simple things you can keep on hand for when you need to whip up a pot of soup.

If I did not live in a travel trailer, with very limited storage space, I could build a collection of pretty bowls and plates to make food pictures more tempting. ;-) I wrote in my first post about deciding to ignore my perfectionist tendencies, which were telling me I should not publish a single thing until I knew how to do every part exactly right. I just went ahead and started the blog, willing to let it be imperfectly good. Silly, I think, to not share the yummy recipes I've developed and tips I've learned, just because it won't be perfect. :-)

Back to the recipe...

It began as a German Sausage Chowder recipe that our son brought home from Culinary Arts class when he was in high school. It quickly became a family favorite. As our food world grew increasingly complicated, we had to make changes to our favorite recipes. This one was no exception. Out went the cheese, cream, potatoes, and wheat flour thickener. The original called for bratwurst, which started to give me trouble for some reason, so I looked for another sausage that would work. I smiled when I saw that I was still calling this "German Sausage Chowder" on meal plans and recipe notes. Precious little of the original recipe remains. I made my adapted version recently, and it was so good that I wanted to share it with everyone. I hope you like it, too.

Favorite Sausage Soup
Total time ~ about one hour
Serves 4-6

1 pound mild Italian Sausage (gluten-free; I also use garlic-free when I can find it)

2 cups white sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
*4 cups finely sliced and chopped white cabbage
     (time saving tip- use a bag of cabbage pre-shredded for coleslaw)
1/4 tsp. dried onion
     (I can't tolerate onions, but a small amount of dried onion seems okay for me)
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. dried parsley
 2 cups water

1 can (14.5 oz.) reduced sodium chicken stock
1 can (13.5 oz.) thick coconut milk (I use Native Forest)

1/4 cup gluten-free flour mix (I use 2T millet flour with 2T tapioca starch*)
1/2 cup water

(*I use tapioca for this, rather than arrowroot. Arrowroot starch loses its thickening powers when heated for long. I have had soups and sauces get nice and thick, then suddenly go watery, when I used arrowroot starch.)

 In a medium-sized soup pot, cook sausage completely. Remove most of the grease from the pot. (Either by draining sausage in a strainer, or soaking up grease from pot with paper towels)

Add potatoes and cabbage to the sausage in the pot, along with all of the seasonings, the can of stock and two cups of water. Stir, scraping up browned bits from the bottom of the pan (flavor nuggets!). Cover and simmer for 20 minutes, until sweet potatoes are nearly tender. Add coconut milk and heat to a low simmer. Taste and adjust seasonings to your preference.

In a small bowl, mix half-cup of water with the flour. Stir into soup, reduce heat and cook just until thickened slightly. Stir often to avoid scorching.

*If you like your cabbage less soft, add after sweet potatoes have cooked for fifteen minutes.
** Arrowroot starch loses its thickening properties if overheated. If you use arrowroot starch, it's important to add it at the end and turn off the heat as soon as it's thickened.
***White sweet potatoes are my favorite substitute for potatoes. As we've roamed the country this year, I've learned that these are not available everywhere. The recipe will work with orange sweet potatoes/yams. The white ones with their milder flavor are my preference, but I make it with yams when they're all I can get. :-)

Quick and Easy Adobo-style Chicken

Something I have done several times is to take a complicated recipe and simplify it dramatically. I try to hone in on the fundamental components and tinker with how to keep those elements but to speed up the whole process...and to make it "safe" for me to eat! Simple, right? ;)

The first recipe that I adapted this way was what we came to call "Castle B." It was based on the deeply flavorful, slow-cooked French classic, Cassoulet. Get it? Cassoulet? ("Castle A")...Castle B.

Yes, we are hilarious like that.

A year or so ago, a Filipina friend of mine mentioned Chicken Adobo as her favorite dish from home. I was intrigued, so I started investigating. It sounded really good, but needed some tweaks so I could eat it- namely, losing the garlic and soy sauce.

For anyone who has eaten the "real" version of any of these classic dishes, mine would pale by comparison. Having to eliminate primary flavor components obviously alters the result.

BUT- for people like me, longing for a new flavor in a world of repetition, or longing for some new thing to do with chicken, it can be great. :)

So, with that being said, here is my *allergy-friendly,* much-simplified version of Chicken Adobo.

Kristie's Quick and Easy Adobo-style Chicken
Serves 4-6
gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, soy-free

Prep time: 10-15 minutes
Cooking time: About 30 minutes

Total time:  About 45 minutes to an hour.

Ingredients:
chicken thighs, oil, coconut aminos, vinegar, peppercorns, bay leaves (garlic)

Boneless, skinless chicken thighs- about 1.5 to 2 pounds
(you can use chicken breast for this, but the thighs have better flavor and texture for this)
A few tablespoons of a neutral oil
       (I'm currently using grapeseed oil)

Get all of the other ingredients ready before you start the chicken, so it doesn't burn while you're grabbing things.....voice of unfortunate experience. ;)

Soy sauce and vinegar are the basic components of the sauce. Our family prefers a little less vinegar, so I've altered the proportions.  If you would like a stronger vinegar flavor, use a little more vinegar and a little less aminos. I substitute coconut aminos for the soy sauce, since I can't eat soy or wheat.

Sauce:
3/4 cup coconut aminos
1 cup vinegar (I use apple cider vinegar)

Seasonings:
1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns 
       If you prefer, use one or two teaspoons ground black pepper
4 dried bay leaves
(garlic- this is an important part of adobo, but I can't eat it. The original recipe that was my inspiration called for twelve whole cloves of garlic! I sometimes add just a sprinkle of garlic powder.)

Directions:
Heat the oil in a straight-sided skillet or pot, over medium-high heat. Brown the chicken pieces slightly, turning so both sides begin to cook. Set chicken aside. Add coconut aminos and vinegar to the pan and scrape the bottom to loosen all the flavorful bits. Return the chicken to the pan, then add seasonings. When liquid begins to boil, reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer. After five minutes, turn the chicken over, cover, and simmer until chicken is cooked through. This should take another five minutes or so (10-15 minutes total), but check to be sure the chicken is cooked. (no pink juices from the middle, 165 degrees Fahrenheit)

Transfer chicken to serving dish and cove to keep warm.

One option: Raise heat to medium, and continue cooking the liquid until it is reduced to about one cup (about ten minutes). Strain the sauce and pour over the chicken. Serve with rice.

Option two: if you don't have time to reduce the sauce, strain in and stir it into the rice. The rice will absorb the sauce and the sauce will flavor the rice.

Serving:
This can be served with steamed white rice, or our family prefers having it with coconut rice.
I'll share the recipe for coconut rice once I post this one. We also like to have roasted broccoli on the side.