Hot and Sour Soup, Cold and Sweet Day

Yes another Soup Post. And I'm making soup again tonight. I can't help it, have you been outside?! This freezing cold weather basically begs you to make soup. Although today felt like a warm spring morning after the past few mornings. Yesterday was to date, the coldest running morning of the year - make that the past 2 years. I called Kate the night before and asked her if she wanted to go or not because according to weather.com the temp at 5:45 was going to be 12 degrees... feels like 6. BUT no wind.

As soon as we were running it felt fine, like any other morning - I tell you its that wind that really stinks the most. I did however totally WIPE OUT on my run. No not from ice, and not from the dark (I have a headlamp) just from plain old Karen clumsiness. It was the kind of cold morning where the hot shower actually kind of hurts your skin at first but once your body adjusts it takes a lot, A LOT of effort to make yourself turn the shower off and get out. I was 15 minutes late for my 6 month OB check up because I was stuck in the hot hot shower :)

By the way the 6 month check up was the "sweet" part of the day - I brought both boys and it made my heart fill with joy when Batman got to hold the heartbeat monitor wand on my belly. His eyes were wide with amazement and he kept saying, "baby, baby!" Superman, in typical Superman fashion, was more into his trains to notice what was going on on the exam table.

So I was excited to try this recipe last night - it was the perfect Hot Soup for a very Cold Day.

*Recipe is from Cooking Light, with my own adjustments

Hot and Sour Soup with Shrimp

3 cups Chicken Broth

1 tbl White Vinegar

1/2 c. sliced mushrooms

Soy sauce

2 1/2 tbl lemon juice

black pepper

8 oz diced tofu

2 large cloves fresh garlic or 1 tsp powder

1 tbl flour whisked in 2 tbl cold water

6-12 oz frozen raw shrimp

Spinach

1 egg white

green onions

Red Chili flakes or Chili Oil

Combine 3 cups chicken broth, 1 tbl white vinegar, 1/2 cup of sliced mushrooms, and 2 to 3 tablespoons os soy sauce (I'm a salt addict... I did 3 or 4. Taste at the end and add more according to your preference).

Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer. Add 2 1/2 tbl of fresh lemon juice (don't skimp, this is the "sour" part!), black pepper, chopped fresh garlic, and 8 oz of diced tofu (or more if you like). Stir in your thickening agent (1 tbl of flour whisked with 2 tbl cold water).

Bring back up to a slow boil and add 6 oz of raw shrimp (I put in about half a 12 oz package of frozen raw tail off shrimp - recipe called for a pound and a half but shrimp is expensive - I opted to add more tofu and extra veggies and save the other 6 oz of shrimp for another night).

Whisk one egg white in a bowl. Truth be told I'm actually anti-egg white because I always buy the overpriced organic eggs and it makes me mad to waste half the egg. Anyway slowly stir the whisked egg or egg white in the soup to make an egg drop soup of sorts.

Drop in about a half bag of baby spinach leaves, chopped, and let wilt in hot soup. Reduce to a simmer. From the picture above you can see I added my spinach way too early in the process which made it lose its beautiful bright green color. Stir in chopped green onion for garnish, and 1/2 tbl of chile oil. I didn't have chile oil so I sprinkled Red Chili Flakes. Add as much or as little heat as you can take (a little goes a long way) but I will say the heat + sour really makes the soup.

I served the soup over rice so that my very carnivorous husband wouldn't complain about the lack of red meat or chicken in dinner. Worked like a charm, he didn't. :)