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April 01, 2021

Misty’s EASY Crock-Pot Vegetable Soup

It’s so good.

It’s cold outside and I have the world’s biggest fixation for anything related to soup. Meanwhile, the whole Russ Bowman clan don’t see eye-to-eye on my love for soup.

I’ve already shared my tedious rendition of my favorite technique for Pho. Keep following friends and family, it’s only going to get yummier.

I stumbled upon a vegetable soup recipe when I was working with the Newseum. Where the ladies that were working there followed a diet plan to help shed weight while eating healthy wholesome meals. When PGT came to us with a treat for our first weigh-in, she presented us with bowls of hearty-vegetable soup. It was delicious, obviously, I had a bowl or two. Anyway, as the years went by, I made this soup multiple times and I have a keen ability to pair all kinds of spices/herbs and ingredients that will amplify your taste buds. So if you’re not inclined to all the spices I provide in this recipe, remember you can tweak it – add or remove ingredients as you want. This recipe is mine and I will definitely give it a tasty flare of perfection for the Russ Bowman Clan.

Each large bowl (2 to 3 cups) is approximately 160 to 200 calories
Ingredients:
1 large onion diced
1 cup chopped celery
3 minced garlic cloves (or sub with 1 tbsp of dried powdered garlic)
2 tbsp. grated fresh ginger (or sub with 1 tbsp dried powdered ginger)
1 small zucchini chopped
1 potato diced
¼ cup chopped green beans
¼ cup corn
¼ cup carrots
Large handful of sliced kale
1 cup diced tomatoes (or sub with a can diced tomatoes)
2 cups of sodium-free vegetable stock
2-4 cups of water (see directions for more detail)
A handful of any grain you desire (quinoa, barley, white rice, brown rice).

Herbs and Spices
1 Rosemary Stem (or sub with 2 tsp dry Dried Rosemary)
2 Bay Leaves
2 tbsp Fresh Chopped Basil Leaves (or sub with Dried Basil)
2 tbsp Oregano
2 tbsp Parsley
2 tsp Himalayan Sea Salt
2 Cloves
2 tbsp Pepper

OPTIONAL:
½ sliced Jalapeno Pepper (or sub with ¼ tsp of Cayenne Pepper)
2 tbsp Oregano
2 tbsp Parsley
2 tsp Himalayan Sea Salt
2 Cloves
2 tbsp Pepper

OPTIONAL:
½ sliced Jalapeno Pepper (or sub with ¼ tsp of Cayenne Pepper)

DIRECTIONS:
Wash and cut all vegetables, herbs/spices.
In crock-pot, add vegetable stock, vegetables, herbs & spices and your grain of choice.
Stir.
Top off with water then stir again.
Leave cook for 3 hours, turn down to simmer/low (1 – 2 more hours) until ready to consume.

NOT SO VEGAN ADDITIONS:
As I said before, not every Russ Bowman Family member share my love for soup, except for the baby of the family and my oldest child. The other two, well if you want to accommodate to the carnivores in the home or they demand something that is more substantial than just a “SOUP”. Pair with a grilled cheese sandwich or even add their meat of choice. In case you don’t want to add to what’s already in the crockpot. You can always pan fry the stew meat or diced chicken and add to their personal bowls.

Personally, I don’t accommodate very often. The option is there if you want it. I literally, tell my famjam – “I don’t accommodate to picky eaters”). I stand my ground. If they want more, they know where the kitchen is. 😉

Besides, who says I don’t have a beef stew recipe?

Stay-tuned friends and family. I’ll be back soon with another soup recipe. 🙂 <3

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April 01, 2021

Misty’s Pho Recipe

I’ve been to five Pho restaurants, my entire life. I’ll be honest, I favor one. They’ve watched my children grow, they watched my belly grow while I was pregnant with my two youngest. They even witnessed my babes slurping their very first noodles. I even took my oldest daughter to this restaurant as soon as she landed in Virginia, from Canada. Pho Saigon, in Dale City VA, is and will always be my favorite Pho Restaurant. I will always be loyal to this restaurant, they’re almost family. I found myself getting more and more interested in how to make pho at home.

How many people do you know, know how to make their very own yummy bowl of pho at home that isn’t delivery? 🙂 I’ve shared this recipe with a lot of people and decided to put my recipe out there for everyone to see. I am so excited to share my recipe with you. It took me a year to perfect, I had the help of a friend who gave me her tips, tricks and advice and I applied to what you will be reading below.

Please, if you have any questions, leave me a comment! Tell me how your recipe turned out! I’d love to hear from you and thank you for taking the time to visit our family page.

I’ll be adding more and more recipes, I guess I should find a filing system for all the Russ Bowman Yummy FOOD Roster!

EACH bowl is approximately 350-400 calories.

10 qt stock pot

BROTH:
3-4 lbs beef bones blanched OR OXTAIL (OXTAIL gives a more substantial broth) OR BOTH.
2 med. Onions sliced in half (charred)
Three-Six healthy slices of ginger (charred)
Handful of whole garlic cloves
Handful of star anise
½ lbs. Beef Tendon
1 cinnamon stick
4 cloves
6-8 peppercorn
1-2 tsp fennel seeds
1-2 tsp coriander seeds
¼ – ½ cup fish sauce
Kosher salt to taste
4 tbsp apple cider vinegar with mother

GARNISH:
Green Onion
White Onion
Cilantro
Bean Sprouts
Jalapeno
Thai Basil

CONDIMENTS:
Sriracha
Hoison Sauce

SUBSTANCE in PHO Bowl:
Sliced Beef Tenderloin or Thin Sliced Chicken or Meatballs with Tendon or Tofu
Banh Pho Rice Noodles

  1. Blanching the bones. Place all bones in the stockpot. Fill the stockpot with water to cover the bones completely submerged. Bring to a rapid boil, keep boiling for approximately 10-15 minutes. Drain water and bones using a strainer. Thoroughly clean the bones with cold water and place back into a clean stockpot. Fill with approximately 5 quarts of water.
  2. Bring blanched bones to a boil, add 4 tbsp of apple cider vinegar. Turn down heat to a medium simmer.
  3. Charring of the Ginger and Onion. Place rack in the oven to the highest level. Grab a cookie sheet, some parchment paper. Slice onion (half) and Ginger (¼ inch slices). Place sliced onion and ginger on the cookie sheet covered in parchment paper. Char in the oven top rack for approximately 10 minutes or until a nice golden dark brown (almost black) CHARRED 🙂
  4. In spice bags add all dry spices: star anise, cinnamon sticks, coriander seeds, fennel seeds, peppercorn then place in the stockpot.
  5. In the broth add ginger, onion and whole garlic cloves, then enough water to leave about 2 inches from the top bare.
  6. Bring to a rapid boil, then simmer COVERED for 4-6 hours.
  7. For best results cook overnight, but remove the garlic and onion so it doesn’t break down in the broth.
  8. IMPORTANT!!! Cooking Noodles: Bring approx. 8 cups of water to a boil, take the pot off the burner and then add the dry noodles to the pot. Make sure all noodles are submerged in the water. Stir and let sit for 7 to 10 minutes in the boiling water. Strain, rinse with cold water.

MEAT & Tofu TIPS & Tricks:

  1. Prep- Beef Tenderloin. Find a container with a lid. Either Rubbermaid or glass container will do. Place sliced beef in the container, add cold water and place in the fridge (for a few hours). You don’t want bloody beef getting into your broth, it will make it taste different and look cloudy. Drain water from the container and rinse off all the meat before using. Depending on how thinly sliced your beef is, you can place raw meat in the bowl before adding hot pho broth.Th
  2. Sliced Chicken, please cook the chicken before putting it in your broth.
  3. Meatballs with Tendon: Boil or Steam, they’re already cooked, you just want to make sure they’re not frozen when you use them in your Pho.
  4. Tofu: Cut the desired amount of tofu into cubes. In a smaller pot, add some broth to the pot and cook the cubed tofu in the broth.

BUILDING YOUR PHO BOWL:

Here’s the thing, you’ve just made your own pho broth at home!! THAT’S Exciting! Congratulations. I hope you become the pho junkie that I’ve become. It’s been in my weekly routine for over 15 years now. Let’s build your bowl, shall we?

  • Approx. 1-1 ½ cups of cooked noodles, place in your bowl.
  • Add all desired garnishes to the bowl. Start with a little then add as you go, You’ll figure out what you like in your pho as you get to know your dish a little better.
  • Top with meat of choice (below is a list of suggestions).
  • Squeeze Juice from Lime Wedge into the bowl.
  • Place Substance of Choice to the bowl (meat or tofu)
  • Add as much broth as you desire into the bowl.
  • You can either use the Sriracha and Hoison and add straight to your bowl or use them as dipping sauces for the meat or tofu.
  • Enjoy! SLURP! SMELL THE AROMAS!!! INDULGE your TASTEBUDS!!!
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PHOYUMMY

Meats I use (thinly sliced beef tenderloin that’s been soaking in water to rid the blood from the meat), Chicken breast slices or Meatballs with tendon and they look like this (photo below). 🙂

 

Below are pictures of regular garnishes needed for your bowl of Pho. 🙂

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Green Onion