Winter is coming.  My little Texan heart doesn't like to admit that, but it is.  And in Austin, that means plenty of weeks where the weather shifts from 70's and sunny to 40's and storming in a matter of hours.  Don't forget about the flash flooding, too!

The cold and rain are NOT my favorite things to deal with, especially as a student who has to be outside for it all in order to get across campus and go to class.  Having a nice, big pot of warm food at the end of the day as I sip some hot tea and strut around in as many layers as I can fit on my body is a good thing to look forward to when I'm sitting in a lecture hall and doing my best to "will away" the oncoming pneumonia.

Photo via Michelle fagone

Photo via Michelle fagone

That being said, I'm always on the lookout for great and unique cold weather food.  Since it's warm most of the year here, we tend to drift toward the same staple cold-weather options.  While those are delicious, I was SO excited to see the variety offered in Ladle, Michelle Fagone of Cavegirl Cuisine's latest ebook.  It's filled with 50 different recipes for soups, chilis, stews, and even things in-between (like the recipe I'm about to share with you!).  Scrolling through this book made me realize how unoriginal I've been in the soup category.  Did you know you could put STRAWBERRIES into tomato-basil soup and it would be GOOD?  Because I never would have thought that one up!

On top of this huge list of recipes to warm up your taste buds, Fagone also includes a quick introduction about herself and the paleo lifestyle, an informational page on the many benefits of soup, a list of soup-cooking kitchen tools that will be useful with her recipes, and even several pages of the different types of broth and how to render them yourself.  She squeezes a ton of information into a concise format that will be great for any beginner without leaving anything out.  The whole look is brought together by beautiful photography (trust me, taking pictures of soup is NOT an easy task) and polished off with the final editing, done by Leslie Auman of The Whole Life Balance.

Long story short:  You need this ebook to get you out of your hot-food rut.  And it is on sale NOW for a steal of a price - $9.99 until November 30th!!  That gets you 50 unique recipes to keep you warm all winter long.  Make sure to grab yourself a copy before the price increases to $14.99 after November!  Go ahead and click here to buy it before you forget. :)

Okay... Michelle is pretty awesome, because she's also letting me share one of the recipes from her ebook FO FREE.  Right now.

This is the Chorizo-Chicken Chiloup from Ladle.  I made it for dinner this week as part of my meal prep, and it is SO.  GOOD.  I really was not sure what to expect when preparing it, because I'll be the first to admit that I over-use spices most of the time in my recipes and this list didn't seem to have too much seasoning involved.  But seriously... the stuff on the ingredients list is all you need.  I'm so happy I have this "chiloup" (part-chili, part-soup) to look forward to before I head off to each night of rehearsals this week.  Do yourself a favor and make it ASAP!

Chorizo-Chicken Chiloup

Directions

Ingredients

  1. In a soup pot or Dutch oven over medium heat, cook chorizo, onion, bell pepper, and mushrooms until chorizo is browned.
  2. Add ghee, celery, carrots, coriander, paprika, salt, and pepper.  Sauté for 5 minutes.  Add chicken, broth, and diced tomatoes.
  3. Cook covered on medium-low heat for 30 minutes.
  4. Continue to simmer uncovered for one hour.  Spoon chili into bowls and garnish with optional toppings.  Enjoy!

1 lb loose chorizo, or cut from the casings

1 red onion, diced

1 small red bell pepper, or color of choice, seeded and diced

8 ounces baby bella mushrooms, or mushrooms of choice, sliced

2 tablespoons ghee or real butter

3 celery stalks, chopped

3 carrots, peeled and chopped

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

Sea salt and ground pepper, to taste

1 pound chicken thighs, lightly cooked and diced (these will continue to cook in the soup)

4 cups chicken or veggie broth

28-ounce can of diced tomatoes, strained

Optional garnishes:

Sliced black olives, fresh cilantro, diced avocado

To purchase Ladle, click here.