My book

In my book, Itā€™s a Great Day Toā€¦Gather  Around a Table, I recommend keeping a soup on hand during the cooler months so that a healthy lunch, simple dinner or snack is readily on hand.  If you have good food on hand routinely, you are less likely to snack or feel the need to pick up fast food.  Good healthy food hand means less impulsive buying and less time wasted going out for unplanned trips to the story.  When you make your grocery list after planning meals/food prep for the week remember to include a soup.  This time of year, Zucchini, or as the French and Brits call them, Courgette, are so plentiful and easily available at the farmerā€™s market, at your local grocer or in your garden.  If you are growing them, donā€™t let them get too big as they will loose flavor the larger they get.  If you keep some of the Laughing Cow Cheese on hand in the fridge, the other ingredients youā€™ll most likely have on hand as well, garlic, chicken stock and  onion.  Most of the time, I make this with zucchini, but one could  substitute the zucchini for broccoli or asparagus.  This soup cooks up very quickly.  I have been known to prepare it on a Sunday evening supper served along side some grilled sandwiches, served by the fire on a chilly evening.  Your FAV white wine would accompany nicely.   Another recommendation for this soup is that it would be a good, simple soup to prepare and take over to a friend ā€˜under the weather,ā€™ or recovering from surgery.  It is so quick to make up, I have not had experience  freezing it so I am unable to speak on that topic.   Enjoy šŸ„ 

This one, will leave your people asking for, ā€œMore, please,ā€ just like Oliver Twist, from the British movie musical, ā€œOliverā€ that came out in 1968 based on Charles Dickens classic story, Oliver Twist. The movie was nominated for 11 Academy Awards and won 6, including Best Picture.

Ingredients 

1 medium yellow onion chopped

2 pounds zucchini/courgette small, cut into cubes

2 teaspoons minced garlic

2 cups chicken stock (I like/use Better Than Bouillon)

4 ounces Laughing Cow Cheese (regular or low fat)

coarse salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

This is just delicious!

Instructions 

  1. Place zucchini/courgette, onion, garlic and chicken stock in a stock pot. Bring to a boil, turn down and let it cook until vegetables are soft, approximately 10 to 15 minutes. 
  2. Remove from heat and add 4 ounces of laughing cow cheese. 
  3. Stir as cheese melts and then either blend with a hand immersion blender or pour mixture into a blender and blend until mixture reaches your desire texture smoothness (be mindful of how hot mixture is. 
  4. Add sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. 
Author, Mary Yana Burau. This is a really nice and easy recipe for the end of summer and heading into fall for a quick dinner or simple lunch šŸ„£