My plan was to make Nova Scotia Gingerbread my next blog, but this morning’s local paper, The Chronicle Herald, published a front page article detailing some Vital Signs on the health of Nova Scotians and the one that jumped out at me was this: “63.7% don’t eat enough fruits and vegetables.” We grow a delicious variety of fruits and vegetables in this beautiful province, a bountiful Nova Scotia harvest available widely right now at farms, local farmers’ markets and featured in our grocery stores. So I’m putting on my “Mom” hat and making my father’s Harvest Vegetable Chowder to hopefully inspire you to eat your veggies with a spoon – have a bowl with your gingerbread!
The ingredients are fresh and few, okay I used canned kidney beans, having not soaked dried ones the night before, and this is a quick and easy recipe which can be varied however you like. Don’t like kidney beans? Substitute chick peas or another type of cooked or canned bean. Don’t like beans at all? Leave them out and add cubed chicken breast or chicken thighs for some protein. I’ve used this recipe as a base many times and varied the ingredients, just try to keep the overall ratio of vegetables to liquid the same. I’m also not too fussy about chopping things an equal size, leaving that level of detail to others and for some reason in my mind, turnip and carrots deserve slightly bigger billing than the onions and celery. No equal opportunity here!
Quick, easy and healthy, the vegetables aren’t even sauteed, just dumped into the soup pot with chicken stock and water, brought to a boil and simmered for a few minutes before adding the rest of the ingredients. Hold the kidney beans, they go in later.
Then you add a can of tomatoes, chopped up if whole, the kidney beans, some frozen corn and baby lima beans. Now, Cranky Spice, my youngest daughter doesn’t like kidney beans so I have been known to remove some of the soup base before adding the beans so that she doesn’t have to pick them out. That approach, while effective at getting her to eat the chowder, is sure to bring interesting comments from her slightly older twin, let’s call her Cheeky Spice – life isn’t dull living with this much female teenage angst, but until I learn how to be Perfect Mom and start a blog on successfully mothering multiples, I’m going to take the path of least resistance and settle for survival! My philosophy is “Fair is not necessarily the same”.
Simmer gently for another 15 minutes or so, test the turnip to see if it’s done, and your Harvest Vegetable Chowder is ready to enjoy with a salad, a piece of cheese or homemade biscuits or crusty bread. Sometimes, if I want to “up” the green in this soup, I’ll add a cup or so of baby spinach to a serving; place the spinach in the bottom of a soup bowl, wilt in the microwave for 20 – 30 seconds, top with the soup. This way, the spinach is only slightly cooked and keeps its fresh green colour. Eat up and enjoy your veggies!
But wait, what about the gingerbread? Okay, it’s coming next!
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Harvest Vegetable Chowder
- 2 cups carrots, chopped
- 2 cups turnip, chopped
- 1 cup celery, chopped
- 1 cup onions, chopped
- 1 -2 bay leaves
- 1 - 28 oz. can tomatoes, chopped if whole
- 1 - 14 oz. can kidney beans
- 2 cups frozen corn
- 1 cup frozen baby lima beans or edamame
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 1 cup water
Cooking Directions
- Place carrots, turnip, onions and celery in a soup or stock pot and add the bay leaves, chicken stock and water.
- Cover and bring to a boil, uncover and simmer 15 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes, kidney beans, corn and lima beans and simmer another 15 minutes.
- Can be made ahead, refrigerated or frozen. Reheat to serve.