Hearty and Healthy Back to School Soup Recipe and a few Celebrate Gloucester photos with Lily

Happy Back to school everyone!  What a terrific summer it has been–and hurricane Earl?  What hurricane?  Anyway…….

I have a contest entry in the Le Creuset True Memories contest and need your support–the link to the entry is below.  I noticed how cool it is the evening and started thinking that a nice pot of soup might just the thing to have in the fridge for quick suppers this week so here’s the recipe for the soup I referred to in the entry–If you would be so kind as to go and vote for my entry that would be most helpful to me:

http://www.brickfish.com/Pages/PhotosAlbums/PhotoView.aspx?qsi=48828100

Hearty Southwestern Fire Roasted Tomato Soup
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 medium onions, diced
1 large green pepper, diced
1 large red bell pepper, diced
4 teaspoon ground cumin, divided
2 teaspoon chili powder, divided
8 cups chicken broth
3 tablespoons jarred or homemade roasted garlic
3-14.5 oz cans Diced Tomatoes
2-14.5 oz cans Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes
1-14.5 oz can Diced Tomatoes with Green Chilies

1-14.5 oz box whole wheat or high fiber white pasta

1/2 cup fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
Salt & pepper to taste plus additional salt for pasta water
Reduced fat sour cream (optional)
Fresh cilantro sprigs (optional)

*if pasta is not on hand, add one or two cans of rinsed black beans and some canned corn–delicious!  Grilled diced shrimp or chicken breast would also make a nice addition to the recipe

On the stove top in a large Le Creuset Dutch oven (or other heavy bottomed pot), combine onions and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Cook slowly over medium low heat, stirring occasionally, until onions are translucent and beginning to caramelize, about 15 minutes. Add roasted garlic, red and green peppers and 2 teaspoons cumin and cook until peppers are softened, about 10 more minutes, stirring occasionally.

With an immersion or conventional blender, puree cooked vegetable mixture until smooth. Return puree to the pan and add chicken broth, Diced Tomatoes, Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes and Diced Tomatoes with Green Chilies and stir to combine. Simmer over low heat for 30 minutes.

While soup is simmering, sprinkle remaining cumin and chili powder over chicken breasts and season with salt and pepper. Saute chicken with one tablespoon olive oil until cooked through, about 10 minutes, depending on thickness of breasts. Remove from pan and set aside. Allow chicken to rest for 5 minutes and cut into cubes.

Meanwhile, in another large pot filled with salted boiling water, cook entire box of pasta according to package instructions. Drain and toss with remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil and set aside.

After soup is simmered, add diced chicken, pasta and fresh cilantro. Reheat if necessary and season with salt and pepper to taste. Top individual servings with one tablespoon sour cream and fresh cilantro springs, if desired.

And now, some great photos of Lily with the celebs from Sunday’s Celebrate Gloucester Concert:

Lily and Ed Collard

Lily and Alan Estes

Lil with Henri Smith and his amazing trumpet player (sorry, I don’t have his name)

And Lily with Charles Neville

What a great event and Lil and I were so happy to help out and volunteer–count us in for next year!