New Twist on Coconut Soup

Sunday afternoon I was hungry and the pickings were slim.  Most of my prep items were frozen, and I had just made a big bowl of slaw out of all the "old maid" veggies in the crisper. So, my  fresh produce was seriously depleted.

TheHub had already eaten a bowl entire can of cream of mushroom soup. I guess smelling the soup kind of put me in a soup mood, but if you read the labels of just about every single soup on the market you will not find a list of paleo friendly ingredients. (Why does everything prepared have some form of corn in it?) That meant I was going to have to fix me something from scratch using very limited options.

When I rumbled through the things in the refrigerator I found about 1/3 cup of coconut milk, a cooked pork chop, 1 not so pretty scallion, a small sweet pepper and about a cup and a half of chicken broth.  I thought I would make a single serving of coconut soup.  I do make it occasionally, but usually try to make it in a much more traditional form than I did today. Necessity meet mother of invention!

                                                 Convoluted Coconut Soup

(Sorry this picture is bad, but I was hungry, the soup was hot and I only snapped 1 quick pic)


For the soup

1/3 cup coconut milk
1 1/2 cup chicken broth
2 tablespoons dried mushrooms
1 teaspoon dehydrated onion flakes
2 shakes garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 leftover chicken breast or pork chop, meat removed from the bone and chopped coarsely
salt and pepper to taste

For the topping
1 scallion sliced
1 small sweet pepper, sliced
6 cilantro leaves
1 wedge fresh lime

Mix all the ingredients in a pot.  Cook on low heat until the mushrooms and onions are fully rehydrated, the turn to medium high until the soup is very hot.

This is when I really strayed from anything ordinary.  I had this huge bowl of slaw ready and it was dressed with a very simple oil and vinegar dressing. (literally just cider vinegar, grapeseed* oil, salt and pepper) I knew I was going to have to eat some of the slaw because I needed the vegetable volume, but I didn't want to eat it as a side dish.  Instead I got one of my oversized soup bowls and put about 1 cup of slaw in the bottom of it.  Then I poured the piping hot soup over it.

I topped it with the scallion, pepper and cilantro leaves then squeezed the lime juice over everything. A quick stir to combine it all and I had one delicious variation on a theme of coconut soup. Most of the slaw bits wilted as soon as the boiling hot soup hit them, but there were a smattering of crunchy bits that gave it a really nice texture.

So I have been back on the Whole30 plan all day, but I must confess those leftover doughnuts from yesterday are yelling at me.  I am seriously considering pastry murder and just hacking them to death them in the garbage disposal.I am going to have a cup of coffee right now and if those blooming doughnuts are still yelling at me when I finish it's CURTAINS for them!

* Grapeseed oil is a neutral oil that imparts no flavor on the foods it contacts.