Rice-A-Roni Summer Soup

So… with the hot weather I’ve been really lazy about making dinners and since turning on the oven or stove is just about the worst idea I can imagine, we’ve been eating out a lot wayyyy too much.

Alas, last night, the wind showed up and the weather cooled, which meant it was the perfect time to use up all my fresh veggies that were close to going bad.

I call it “Fridge Soup,” however, admittedly, its not the most appetizing name, so for aesthetic purposes I’ll call it “Rice-A-Roni Summer Soup.” This recipe has a couple staple ingredients, but the rest is up to you, just use whatever you have in your fridge. It’s low-cal, super filling, and simply amazing with a couple slices of buttered French bread. Enjoy!

Rice-A-Roni Summer Soup

Rice-A-Roni Summer Soup (Or-What-Have-You)

**Note: This recipe made enough for 3 meals for 2 people—I froze what wasn’t eaten, more on that later.

The Staples:

1 box of Chicken or Beef Flavored Rice-A Roni (I actually used the Trader Joes kind)

2 tbls butter

1 Qt. of Low Sodium Chicken Broth

1.5 Qt. of Water

1 Chicken Bullion Cube

Roughly 6-8 cloves of garlic

1 tsp Thyme

Salt & Pepper

4 Bay Leaves

The Optionals:

The rest of the ingredients are totally up to you! I used EVERY veggie I could find, I figured, the more the merrier! Here’s what I used:

1 lb Ground Turkey (Ground Beef is great in this recipe too)

2 Carrots Chopped

½ Red Onion

1 Zucchini Chopped
1 Orange Bell Pepper Chopped
1/2 cup Chopped Green Onions

Some Cauliflower

Some Broccoli

Some Frozen Corn

Some Frozen Peas

A Big handful of Chopped Cabbage

Some more Garlic (because I’m a SUPER fan)

A few dashes of Cayenne Pepper

The Process:

1. In a GIANT pot I browned my ground turkey using a touch of olive oil on the bottom. Once that’s cooked, transfer to a bowl—but keep the pot on the heated stove.

2. Put the butter in the bottom of the pot. Once melted, put the rice contents of the Rice-A-Roni into the Pot and brown (just like it says on the package). Once the vermicelli starts to brown, add your Chicken Broth, Water, Bullion Cube, and Rice-A-Roni Flavor Packet. Stir.

3. Add Thyme, Bay Leaves, Pepper (I advise not adding salt until after it’s close to being done cooking, as there is a lot of salty flavors in the broth, bullion and flavor packet.)

4. Add back your ground meat and throw in any veggies you can find in your fridge. 

5. Bring to Boil. Let mixture boil at a low rumble for about 20-25 minutes, until you can see that the rice is fully cooked.

Soup in zip-lock, on paper towel, on cookie sheet, ready for freezing.

Yay! Frozen Soup!

Freezing:

I love eating this soup fresh, but I think I love it after it’s been frozen even more. The flavors all meld together and rice takes on the broth flavor even more. It’s jut delish! I am generally cooking for 2 people, so I like to use the quart size freezer bags.

With the help of a friend, ladle the soup into the ziplock bag until it’s a little less than half full (see how positive that was?). Then fold over the top to get as much of the air out of the bag as possible without spilling the contents and zip ‘er up.

I like to lay them flat to freeze, so that once frozen, I can stand them up like books and they take up a lot less of my freezer.

Before placing the bags in the freezer I also layer them with paper towels so that if any water/condensation gets on the outside of the bags they don’t freeze together. Note: Putting the bags on a cookie sheet, then taking them to the freezer makes your life a whole heck of a lot easier.

It's just SO Pretty!

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Ladies and Gentlemen, I present Spring Time!

Its that time of year again, when there is still a looming chance of down pour, but it's so exciting to see the sun that we pretend it's summer. 


Go ahead, take out the 6-pack of Schlitz, put on your shorts (even though you're shivering), weed the garden and invite a few friends over for some bbq steaks. 


Unless you're some sort of barbarian (or maybe just a bachelor) you'll want something other than just steak for dinner. Here's a recipe for a side dish that's sure to make any bbq healthier and more balanced. It's 4 ingredients, classy, delicious, and satisfying. BAM! Trust me, there hasn't been an easier, more crowd pleasing dish since Thanksgiving's green bean casserole. 

Caprese Salad: Serves about 4-5 people as a side dish
1 - 8 oz. tub of FRESH Ciliegine Mozzarella (the small cherry sized balls in water)
16 oz Cherry Tomatoes 
2-3 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
a large handful of FRESH basil (the dry stuff won't cut it in this recipe)
Salt and pepper to taste


1. Coarsely chop your basil. 
2. Drain mozzarella (you don't want any of the water).
3. Mix mozzarella, tomatoes and basil in large bowl, drizzle on the olive oil.
4. Salt and Pepper to taste. You can also add about a 3/4 tbsp of balsamic vinegar here and/or garlic powder, if you are so inclined. 
5. Done. Now, go impress your friends. 

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