Comprised of easy to prepare and easy to find ingredients (save for quinoa, although it’s becoming more widely available), this soup will keep you going on the battlefield!

Also, if you’re like me, I recommend doubling the recipe you can eat it for lunch all week! I also modified the amount of liquid, as the quinoa will absorb quite a lot of liquid. If you’re health conscious, this soup is great – tons of vegetables, very-low carb, and the quinoa is a great source of protein and fiber.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup uncooked quinoa
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 2 small carrots, cut into slices
• 2 medium green onions, thinly sliced
• 2 medium garlic cloves, minced (add another one or two for flavour and a health boost!)
• 5 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
• 1 medium red potato, unpeeled and diced
• 1 cup shredded red or green cabbage
• 2 medium ribs of celery, diced
• 1/4 cup sliced radishes
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 2 tablespoons snipped fresh parsley

Instructions:

(Authors’ note: I actually left out the radishes and red pepper flakes, as I desired a more mild soup. I compensated by adding two extra cloves of garlic. I say spice to your taste!)

1) In a medium saucepan, dry-roast the quinoa over medium heat for 1 to 2 minutes, or until slightly golden brown, stirring occasionally (some of the grains may pop slightly). Transfer to a plate.

2) In the same pan, heat the oil over medium heat, swirling to coat the bottom. Cook the carrots, green onions and garlic for 3-4 minutes, or until the carrots are tender-crisp, stirring occasionally.

3) Stir in the broth. Increase the heat to medium high and bring to a light boil, stirring occasionally.

4) Stir in the remaining ingredients except the parsley. Reduce the heat and simmer, partially covered, for 10 minutes, or until the potato is tender when pierced with a fork or sharp knife.

5) Stir in the quinoa. Simmer for 15  minutes, or until the quinoa is tender. Garnish with parsley.

This recipe was brought to you by Deliciously Healthy Recipes: Good food that’s good for you by the ‘Go Red for Women’ group of the American Heart Association.’

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast
• 1 can of condensed soup (mushroom or chicken)
• 1 lb. frozen vegetable mix

Directions:

1. Start off by cutting the chicken breast into cubes about 1inch thick/wide. It doesn’t really matter much if they’re bigger or smaller, you just don’t want giant clobs or chicken-bits.
2. Spread about a tablespoon of oil on a skillet. Brown the cubes on the skillet on medium-high heat. Stir often and take your time to make sure that you’re cooking the chicken well. When the cubes are well browned, add the can of soup. You don’t need to dilute it or anything, we’re basically using it as sauce. The original recipe says to use ‘Campbell’s Cream of Chicken’, but I usually use their cream of mushroom for an extra flavour. I guess most cream soups would do well, although I’ve only ever tried the chicken or the mushroom.
3. Add the vegetables right after the soup. Stir it all well to cover the veggies and the chicken with the soup and increase heat for a moment to make it boil. Once it does, reduce the heat to low. Cover the pot and let it simmer quietly for 5 minutes.
4. After 5 minutes open the lid carefully and prod the veggies. If they still feel really frozen and tough, stir them in again and cook for a couple of minutes more. The two things to make sure if that the chicken is cooked through and that the veggies are not still frozen. I did that once. Blech!
5. You’re done! Transfer some to a plate or a bowl and take with you to nom during the next raid. ^_^

Coca Cola and Figure Print sold separately.

Kissless approves. Simple, tasty and quick.

Life takes its toll on all of us. I’ve been busy as hell. The economy certainly hasn’t helped. People are losing their jobs, and it’s just been a general mess all around.

My authors have all been busy with their own lives. We have a giant backlog of recipes that haven’t been made and photographed yet. Part of it is my fault; I haven’t been the taskmaster that I should have been.

However, all is not lost!

Nourish will continue. New posts will be forthcoming. Pix will get back in the kitchen, and make you some pie (so to speak).

Sorry to keep you all waiting!

Well, okay, it’s always that time of year in Winterspring and Northrend. Nevertheless, we at Nourish have the cure for the commonly cold! (I’m so punny.)

Just about everyone loves hot chocolate, but what do you do when it’s 20 below and the cocoa’s cold before it ever reaches your tum? Add hot spices, that’s what! This delicious recipe is sure to keep you toasty inside until Winterspring turns to Summerfall and Northrend migrates south!

Chocolate on the boil!

Ingredients:

• 3 1/4 cups 2% milk
• 6 ounces chopped white chocolate
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or you can use chili powder for less heat, chipotle powder for more)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Instructions:
If you have a double-boiler, this is pretty easy. You can melt the chocolate without worrying about burning it, and add all of the ingredients appropriately. If you don’t have a double boiler, I’d recommend using a metal bowl (like a mixing bowl) in a pot of water – just be careful not to fill the pot too full, or you’ll risk burning yourself.

1. Place the white chocolate in the top half of your double boiler, or metal bowl over a pan of simmering (not boiling!) water. Melt the chocolate, stirring occasionally until smooth. Stir in cayenne pepper (or chili powder or chipotle powder) and cinnamon. Whisk in the egg until smooth.
2. Whisk in one cup of the milk until completely mixed – this takes about 2 minutes. Gradually whisk in the rest of the milk, and heat until hot, but not simmering. (You don’t want a skin to form.) When the hot chocolate is at your desired temperature, ladle into mugs and garnish with cinnamon. (I also used a peppermint stick for added flavor.)

Tasty chocolate! (Fruit optional.)

Enjoy!

(Photos provided courtesy of Ilcyira of Aggramar. Chocolate made by Wylson of Aggramar. Chocolate consumed by Ilcyira, Wylson, and Sakuura of Aggramar.)

Check out The Rawrcast for the show on Saturday, Dec. 12 at 4pm CST!

Hope to catch you there!

This isn't my actual photo! The sauce didn't set in time.

This is a wonderful garnish for turkey, or whatever fowl you choose to eat for dinner. Tasty, easy to make, and scratch is always better than canned.

This recipe is also being featured on the Rawrcast Thanksgiving special with Stompalina!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (200 g) sugar
• 1 cup (250 mL) water
• 4 cups (1 12-oz package) fresh or frozen cranberries
• Optional Pecans, orange peel, raisins, currants, blueberries, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice.

1 Wash and pick over cranberries. In a saucepan bring to a boil water and sugar, stirring to dissolve sugar. Add cranberries, return to a boil. Reduce heat, simmer for 10 minutes or until cranberries burst.

2 At this point you can add all number of optional ingredients. We typically mix in a half a cup of roughly chopped pecans with or without a few strips of orange peel. You can add a cup of raisins or currants. You can add up to a pint of fresh or frozen blueberries for added sweetness. Spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg or allspice can be added too.

3 Remove from heat. Cool completely at room temperature and then chill in refrigerator. Cranberry sauce will thicken as it cools.

Cranberry sauce base makes 2 1/4 cups.

This recipe is courtesy of SimplyRecipes.com

I'd recommend washing any produce found in Tirisfal very thoroughly...

This recipe was handed to me from the lead goat, Pixelated Executioner, courtesy of Nihilistic of the Dragonblight server. I merely volunteered to make them. These cookies are delicious, and I only changed two things – one, cook them a bit longer than 10-12 minutes – I found that baking closer to 15 minutes made a better cookie. Also, I didn’t find anything like ‘caramel chips’ around here, so I just used Skor chips, and I am glad I did!

On that note, seriously, I would recommend having a stronger stomach for most of the ‘cuisine’ around the Tirisfal area…the Forsaken are quite nice, just…they’re opinion of good food is a bit different than us living folk.

This recipe is also being featured on the Thanksgiving Rawrcast with Stompalina!

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup Shortening
• 1 Cup Sugar
• 1 Cup Pumpkin Pie Mix
• 1 Egg
• 2 Cups Flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp Cinnamon
• ½  tsp Salt
• 1 Bag Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
• 1 Bag Caramel Chips

1. Pre-Heat your oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a mixing bowl combine 1 Cup of Shortening with 1 Cup of Sugar and blend until light and fluffy. When that is ready, blend in 1 Cup of Pumpkin Pie Mix, and 1 whole egg, mix well. Add in 2 Cups of Flour, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp Cinnamon, and ½ tsp of Salt and blend the mixture until it is smooth.

3. At this point, the desired “chippage” is up to each maker, but combine equal parts chocolate & caramel chips into the cookie dough.

4.  Take about a tablespoon sized dollup of the dough, and ball up onto a cookie sheet. Bake them for 10-12 minutes and then let rest on a flat cooling surface. Don’t use a wire rack for cooling as the caramel and chocolate tend to become very liquefied and make the cookies fall apart between the spaces.

Enjoy!

A favourite of snow-dwelling dwares all-round!

I actually stumbled across this wonderfully spicy and soothing drink in a neutral goblin inn. It’s delicious, easy to make, and best of all, delicious!

Also: this recipe is being featured on the Thanksgiving Special on Rawrcast with Stompalina!

Ingredients:

• 1 half-gallon of apple cider
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 1 tsp. nutmeg
• zest of one orange
• 2 whole cloves
• 2 Tbsp. light brown sugar

These are a pleasant byproduct of carving the jack o’lanterns that appear throughout Azeroth during the Hallow’s End festival. The farms in the south of Elwynn Forest provide the majority of the pumpkins used for the lanterns, and one farm in particular, run by the Stonefield family, is known both for the size of their pumpkins and the quality of their roasted seeds.

This snack takes a little less than an hour and a half to make, all told; most of that is the roasting.

Ingredients

• The seeds from one medium pumpkin
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp ground allspice
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 2 tbsp salt

You can substitute twice as much of any whole spice – remove the cloves from their stems – and reduce them with a spice grinder or mortar and pestle.

Directions

1. Pre-heat the oven to 275 degrees.
2. Extract the seeds from the pumpkin, and remove them from their strands. Discard as much of the pulp and meat of the pumpkin as you can.
3. Place the seeds in a fine collander and wash thoroughly, removing the remaining pulp.
4. Dry the seeds lightly with a cloth or paper towel, and spread evenly on a baking sheet.
5. Sprinkle the spices and half of the salt over the seeds.
6. Place the seeds in the oven and bake for 1 hour.
7. When the seeds are roasted, sprinkle the remaining salt over the seeds. Serve while warm!

A Warm Hug on a Cold Day!

After getting caught in a snowstorm in Howling Fjord, I was grateful to stumble across the local Taunka camp. These wonderful people served me some of the best soup I had ever tasted – they called it Winterhoof Squash Soup. It’s delicious, easy to make, and very good for you! Here’s the recipe they shared with me.

Ingredients:

• 1 small butternut squash, halved, seeded
• 2 tablespoons fresh thyme (dried thyme also works, just in case)
• 2 teaspoons yellow curry powder
• 2 shallots, minced
• 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
• 5 cups chicken stock, warmed
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• Italian flat-leaf parsley, for garnish
• Crème fraîche, for garnish

1. Brush each squash half with 1/2 tablespoon EVOO, 1 tablespoon thyme, and some salt. Roast flesh side up at 350 degrees F until tender and colored, for about 50 minutes. Cool just enough to remove flesh from skin.

2. In a saucepan over very low heat, sauté shallots in EVOO until shallots are translucent. Add 2 teaspoons of curry to bloom.

3. Add squash and 4 1/2 cups stock. Bring to boil.

4. Using an immersion blender, puree until smooth. Add remaining stock to thin if desired. OR – you wait until the soup cools, then transfer the soup to a normal countertop blender. Make sure to blend very thouroughly!

5. Add remaining 2 tablespoons EVOO and season to taste with salt and pepper. Set to rest over very low heat. PROTIP: I found that adding about 3-4 tablespoons of cream during the ‘resting phase’ adds a wonderful bit of creaminess to the soup.  Garnish with Italian flat-leaf parsley and a dollop of crème fraîche.

This soup is a slightly modified version of a soup found on Discovery Health.