Soup vs Stew

Yesterday was cold and wet...again!  Ugh, I'm so ready to see some snow.  All our Christmas decorations are up, the fire place is going and music's in the air.  And outside there's piles and piles of rain.  Come on!  I want a WHITE Christmas, not a wet one.  Now to be clear, I want a nice and pretty snow fall - NOT a 3', ice roads, scared to go out and sled kind of snow. Is that really too much to ask?  :)


So anyway, it's rainy days and I'm back to making soups all the time. They're just the perfect cool weather meal.  How can you beat that?


As lunch rolled around I got out my pot and sauteed:
1 onion - chopped
1 pealed zucchini - chopped into half moons
Handful of baby carrots - chopped
Handful of Mushrooms - chopped
2 Kale leaves - destemmed & torn into bite size pieces


Then I added
1 can chopped tomatoes with Chili
1 cup black beans
Veggie Broth to bring the liquid up to the top of the veggies


And then I let it simmer.

When the Hubs walked by he said "Oh, you're making your Soup" and even put the word soup in air quotes.  Surprised, I calmly asked what he meant by "Soup".  I mean seriously, does that not look like soup to you?

He told me that my soup has so much in it that it's more of a stew than a soup.  "Soups should be mostly broth with a little bit of veggies, meat or noodles".  I promptly told him that I'd be checking into his soup vs stew theory and be posting about it. :)

After a quick Google search I've decided I'm right. :)

soup

noun

1.

a liquid food made by boiling or simmering meat, fish, orvegetables with various added ingredients.

stew
noun

5.

a preparation of meat, fish, or other food cooked by stewing,especially a mixture of meat and vegetables.

Stewing: to cook (food) by simmering or slow boiling.

There you have it - In my opinion Soups are made quickly and stews simmer longer.  Nowhere is there any mention of a liquid-to-solid ratio requirement for one or the other.  I was definitely right, what I make are soups since mine are made in anywhere from 20-40 minutes. I win!  :)

So anyway, once my SOUP was done I topped it with some nutritional yeast and feta cheese.  Delish!!

As evening rolled around the Hubs also wanted some soup so I made some up for him - being sure to use LOTS of broth so there would be no confusion.

I sauteed an onion, carrots, and celery.

Added Veggie Broth & water so that there was plenty of liquid, and a frozen chicken Breast.

And I added some spices - Fennel and Basil.

I brought that to a boil and let it simmer until the chicken was cooked.

I pulled the chicken breast out of the pot and cut it up into bite size pieces,

then added it back in.

Then I boiled some store bought Amish noodles in a separate pot and when they were ready I added those to the soup.  (I learned the hard way that if you cook the noodles in the soup they'll absorb all the liquid and then you've stuck with what the hubs deems a "Stew", lol!)

All done!

The hubs also wanted some grilled cheese to go with the soup (I admit that soup and grilled cheese go together like PB & J) so on the side he had 2 (!) sandwiches.

I made myself a slice of roasted cabbage and later, a bowl of pumpkin & almond milk since I was still REALLY full from eating the entire pot of soup earlier!

Someone wanted in on my photo shoot!

And to share some more of the Christmas extravaganza that's going on here I thought I'd show you one of Kai's latest creations...

She tied her suitcase to her rocking horse and pulls it around the house saying "Ho, Ho, Ho".  She even has a little toy fishing pole that she "whips" and says lets go reindeer!  I love her creativity in creating her very own sleigh & reindeer. :)

Our Kitchen tree with my little Santa driving her sleigh